Search Results: Literature from Thompson Rare Books

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950. First Edition, First Impression. Octavo, original black cloth, gilt lettering on spine panel, author's facsimile signature in gold on front panel. 308 pp. First edition, first printing with 1950 date on both the title page and the copyright page while also having the Scribner's seal / and the letter "A" present on copyright page, and no additional printings listed. Ink name on front free endpaper; light rubbing to cloth at edges, spine lettering slightly rubbed; a very good clean copy in the first issue dust jacket with "Ernest Hemingway" and "Scribners" printed in yellow lettering on the spine. Jacket has wear at edges, short closed tears and is price-clipped.

New York: John Lane., 1898.. First American Edition. Vellum. Very Good. First American Edition. Small octavo, bound in full vellum titled in black ink on front cover in an Old English script similar to the title page font, decorated endpapers. 43 pp. Vellum boards bowed, Fore-edges of binding trimmed, a very good copy. Likely, a special issue of some form. Very scarce. ¶ Sir Henry Newbolt is mostly remembered as a British poet who wrote patriotic verse. He was Knighted in 1915 and appointed Companion of Honour in 1922. He was also the author of the Medieval-style high fantasy romance novel ALADORE.

London: Putnams, 1955. First Edition, First Impression. Hardcover. Very Good in Dust Jacket. Octavo, original black cloth titled in gilt on spine. 115 pp. Fine in dust jacket, light fading to spine panel, small chip at base of spine.

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. , 1995.. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Fine in Dust Jacket. First edition. Octavo, cloth & boards. Signed by the author on the title page. A fine copy in dust wrapper.

Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Inc., (2000).. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Fine in Dust Jacket. Octavo, original black boards lettered in gilt. 311 pp. Signed by the Author on the title page. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. ¶ Winner of the Prix Medici, Governor- General's Award, Kiriyama Prize and Giller Prize. A small post-it note on the front endpaper (it's removable and didn't leave a mark) shows me that this book comes from the stock of Poor Richard's Books in Victoria BC, where it was priced at $50. Poor Richards, which was Barney and Joanna Hagar, was one of the bookshops that was around when I first started in the trade - or before I started, when I would go out book-hunting on weekends, sometimes alone, sometimes with my daughter Undine in tow. It was a good bookshop, and eventually it ended up in a beautiful heritage building in an old part of Victoria. Barney and Joanna shut Poor Richards down in 2004, and now every once in a while I find something that I know came from… Read More

London: Centaur Press., 1934. First Edition . Octavo, original yellow buckram cloth titled in gilt on spine panel. Issued in a limited edition of 60 copies of which 50 are for sale; this copy unnumbered. 84 pp, frontispiece and two additional full-page plates by Easton printed on white coated paper. This limited and illustrated issue was printed from the same plates as the unillustrated Duckworth trade edition, with a re-set title page, and published about one week later. Cloth very slightly marked but a very nice copy; in the original glassine dust wrapper which is somewhat chipped and frayed. ¶ This volume was designed as an addition to the five-volume WORKS, 1928. Benkovitz A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RONALD FIRBANK, A13(b).

New York: The Macmillan Company., 1915. First American Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Octavo, original red cloth titled in gilt on spine and front panel. 291 pp + [8] pp ads at rear. Heraldic bookplate of George H. Folger on front paste-down, with his signature and date (Mar 13/15) in pencil on front free endpaper. Spine panel very slightly leaned, touch of rubbing to covers, spine lettering a touch dull. A very good. sound copy; quite nice. ¶ A satire of a variety of features of English life on the eve of World War I. These include the popularity of Hegelianism of the British Idealist school, the fashion of weekend parties, the cultivation of wealthy patrons by political parties, the ill-prepared state of the British military, and the egotism of small entrepreneurs.

London: W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., [1921]. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Octavo, original dark blue cloth titled and ruled in red on spine and front panel. 252 pp + [4] pp publisher's catalogue "Mssrs. Collins' Latest Novels" bound in at rear. 750 copies printed. A clean, very good copy with some bubbling to the cloth which is more pronounced on the rear panel, although there is no staining and no evidence of dampness. ¶ The First Edition of the Author's First Book. The first volume of THE FLAX OF DREAM Series.

London: Faber & Faber, [1929]. Revised Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Royal octavo, original blue buckram titled in gilt on spine and front panel. 246 pp. Issued in a limited edition of 200 copies hand-numbered and signed by the author, this being copy No. 61. With an interesting bookplate on the front paste-down: "The Library of Paul Lemperly Henry James Collection. Henry Williamson has crossed out the last name "James" and written in his own last name, along with his initials. A note about this, dated March 8, 1930 and initialed by Lemperly, is loosely laid in. Spine panel sun-faded, lightly bumped, a very good clean copy, without dust jacket, as issued. ¶ The first volume of THE FLAX OF DREAM Series, here reissued in a revised, deluxe signed edition. Former owner Paul Lemperly was an Ohio based book collector, described as "An early and innovative collector of association books."

Manchester: Manchester Institute of Contemporary Arts, March, 1968. First Edition . 12mo, original printed wrappers, sewn at spine. [12] pp. Inscribed by the author to fellow poet J. Michael Yates on the inner front cover: "Mike from Robin / All the Best / R". Issued as MICA Poets No. 8. The recipient was Small scratches, near fine.

London: Arthur Barker Limited. , 1965.. First Edition, First Impression. Hardcover. Very Good in Dust Jacket. Octavo, original green boards titled in gilt on spine panel. 236 pp. A very good or better copy in a good dust jacket which shows some ragged edge-tears and scuffs and has some external tape repairs. An uncommon title.

New York: Harper & Brothers, [1954]. First Edition (& 1st printing). Octavo, original brick paper-covered boards with black cloth spine lettered in white. 358 pp., frontispiece, Map, Index. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket, price corner clipped. ¶ Non-fiction; BLACK POWER is an impassioned chronicle of the author's trip to Africa's Gold Coast before it became the free nation of Ghana. It speaks eloquently of empowerment and possibility, and resonates loudly to this day. Wright is most famous for his 1940 novel NATIVE SON; his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century.

London: Faber and Faber. , [1958].. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine in Dust Jacket. First edition. Octavo, original orange cloth, black titles to spine. 80 pp. Neat ink name on front paste-down (under the jacket flap), a very good clean tight copy in dust jacket, price clipped, one short closed tear.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 549 & 551 Broadway. , 1873.. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very Good. First Edition. Octavo, original green cloth titled and decorated in gilt and black on spine and front panel. Brown coated endpapers. 383 pp. Contemporary ink inscription on preliminary black, dated Jan 26, 1874; moderate foxing, corners very slightly bumped. A very good bright copy. ¶ The author's first book. Some supernaturalism - Spirit of a dying woman, etc - and some crime elements. Listed in Hubin.

London: The Folio Society., 1975. [1996]. Hardcover. Fine in Slipcase. Octavo, original pictorial cloth. 263 pp. Frontispiece plus 93 monochrome reproductions of portraits illustrating the 92 biographical sketches (there are two portraits for the Danvers family). This is the Ninth Impression, dated 1996 on the copyright page. A fine copy in slipcase. ¶ BRIEF LIVES is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century. Truly ahead of his time, the 17th-century historian and gossip John Aubrey is rightly credited as the man who invented biography.

New York: Grosset & Dunlap. [1927] [i.e., actually 1932].. 1st printing of the photoplay edition. Octavo, original green cloth titled in black on spine & front panel. Frontispiece and three additional photographic still plates from the 1932 movie bound in. Light tanning to cloth at edges, hairline creases to spine panel, a very good clean copy in dust wrapper which has some mild dust-soiling and very light wear to the extremities but no significant chips or tears.

London & Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press., No Date [circa 1915]. Full Leather. Very Good. 16mo, small upright oblong format, 40 mm wide x 106 mm tall x 4 mm thick. Bound in the publisher's original limp suede with an inlaid border in blind, gilt titles on spine, all edges gilt. 60 pp, double-page colour frontispiece. Text block pulled very slightly from binding, endpapers cracking & slightly chipped, but overall a very good and completely intact copy. Bound in a very strange reverse oblong format (tall & skinny), almost a miniature book (or, indeed a miniature book, depending on your criteria). No copies are recorded on-line or in Worldcat - certainly a scarce book.

New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. [1966].. Reprint. Small octavo, original burgundy cloth, white title lettering. A reprint of the 1923 edition issued as Vol IV in the Bodley Head Quartos series, which itself was a reprint of the 1592 edition of KIND-HARTES DREAME and the 1600 edition of NI NE DAIES WONDER, both of which are accurately reproduced from copies of the originals in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library and are reprinted line by line with the original title pages, illustrations and typefaces intact. Issued u n d e r t h e g eneral editorship of G.B. Harrison. A fine copy, without dust wrapper, as issued.

[London]: HarperCollins Publishers. , [2007].. First edition, Canadian issue, second impression.. Hardcover. Fine in Dust Jacket. First edition, Canadian issue, second impression. Octavo, original blue boards titled in gold on spine panel. 313 pp. Illustrated with 8 full-page colour plates, plus chapter headings and illustrated dust wrapper, all by Alan Lee. Folding map at rear. The Canadian issue differs from the UK edition in that the front dust jacket flap is priced in Canadian Dollars rather then in Pounds Sterling. Curiously, this second impression is much scarcer then the first. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. ¶ The Children of Húrin is a tale set in a time long before The Lord of the Rings, in an area of Middle-earth that was to be drowned before Hobbits appeared, and when the great enemy was still the fallen Vala, Morgoth, and Sauron was only Morgoth's lieutenant. This heroic romance is the tale of the Man, Húrin, who dared to defy Morgoth, and his family's tragic destiny, as it… Read More

[London]: HarperCollins Publishers., [2007].. First Edition (& 1st printing). Hardcover. Fine in Dust Jacket. Octavo, original blue boards titled in gold on spine panel. 313 pp. Illustrated with 8 full-page colour plates, plus chapter headings and illustrated dust wrapper, all by Alan Lee. Folding map at rear. Canadian issue, differing from the domestic UK edition only in that the front dust jacket flap is priced in Canadian Dollars rather then in Pounds Sterling. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. ¶ The Children of Húrin is a tale set in a time long before The Lord of the Rings, in an area of Middle-earth that was to be drowned before Hobbits appeared, and when the great enemy was still the fallen Vala, Morgoth, and Sauron was only Morgoth's lieutenant. This heroic romance is the tale of the Man, Húrin, who dared to defy Morgoth, and his family's tragic destiny, as it follows his son Túrin Turambar's travels through the lost world of Beleriand. Tolkien wrote the original version of the story… Read More