Search Results: Authors starting with B from Ash Rare Books

London : United Anglo-American Book Co., [ca.1948]. First British edition. Brilliant but clumsy and absent-minded doctor divines from some Rorschach tests that someone is about to be killed and that another guest of nurse Judy Ford will be the murderer. An interesting debut of a murder mystery from the American film producer and maker of Agatha Christie movies in the UK. Originally published by Knopf in New York in 1946. Crown 8vo (19cm). 176pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers, presumably by John Pollack; a little wear and some minor creasing; short split at foot; a few internal spots and some mild tanning, but a very good copy of a scarce production. No copy of this edition found in any major library worldwide.

London : Arthur L. Humphreys, 1903. Second Humphreys edition. A delightfully printed and bound edition of some of the finest essays in the language. Fifty-eight essays from "Of Truth" to "Of Vicissitude of Things" - "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man". Pott 4to (164 x 122mm). viii,(324)pp. Title-page in red and black. Bound (for Hatchard's) in an elegant contemporary half crimson crushed morocco, banded and gilt; top edge gilt; marbled endleaves; a few minor signs of age and use, but a very good and handsome copy.

London : G. W. Bacon & Co., [ca.1905]. An attractively produced map - the south-east portion of the Greater London area on a scale of one-inch to the mile (1:63360) - extending from Rainham in Essex to the north, across to Chatham and Maidstone in Kent, south to include Sevenoaks and Westerham, and west to take in Croydon, Crystal Palace, Sydenham, Peckham, etc. Expressly designed for cyclists and tourists, the major roads and railways are given due prominence, the former giving indications of hills to be attempted with caution, and those considered downright dangerous. Lithograph in two colours on paper. Printed surface 53 x 73 (approx. 21" x 29"). Mounted on linen and folding into the original green cloth case, pictorially blocked in black and red with a scene depicting turn-of-the-century cyclists; a few very minor signs of age and use, a few slight creases, but overall in very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique map. No copy located in major libraries.

London : Studio Editions, (1992). First edition. Golf as seen through the eyes of a collector and dealer in golfing ephemera - golf course architecture; golf balls; women's golf; clubs, bags, etc.; champions; fashions; championships and tournaments; collecting golfiana, etc. With a foreword by Peter Dobereiner. Royal 4to (31cm). 144pp. Illustrations throughout, mainly in colour. Original boards; very good in a just slightly bruised dust-jacket.

London : Adam & Charles Black, 1910. First edition. Legends, Homeric civilisation, Schliemann and his work, Knossos, Minoan culture, etc. Post 8vo (22cm). (xvi),(274),[ii]pp. Plates. Maps. Original decorative cloth; top edge gilt; a very good copy indeed. Contemporary bookplate of Newton Don.

London : Caxton Magazine, [1918]. First edition. Thoughts on the costs and organisation of the printing industry, with "honest proposals for post war reconstruction". Foolscap 8vo (18cm). (288)pp. Colour frontispiece. Folding table. Original boards; upper joint just starting, but still a good copy in the original pictorial dust-jacket - slightly soiled and a little chipped.

London : Laurie & Whittle, 1806. A scarce map of the county, originally engraved by Benjamin Baker, later to become principal engraver for the Ordnance Survey, for a series of county maps issued with the "Universal Magazine" between 1791 and 1797. The present version appeared in the "English Atlas" published by Laurie & Whittle (London : 1806). Copper line engraving on paper. Original hand colour. Engraved surface 231 x 179mm (approx. 9" x 7"). In very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique map.

London : Pocket Books (GB), (1951). Second British edition. "Powerful clash between two women for the men they love, a brilliant picture of New York's glamorous penthouse society". Originally published in the USA in 1940 and subsequently by Robert Hale in the UK. Foolscap 8vo (17cm). [vi],(248),[ii]pp. Original pictorial wrappers - a design by Reginald Heade; all edges red; lightly used and slightly rubbed; crease to lower wrapper; mild tanning of text, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

London : R. Baldwin, [1755]. A charming antique plan of eighteenth-century Plymouth and its surrounds, with a vignette title incorporating an image of the Eddystone Lighthouse. The plan was first issued with the January 1755 issue of the "London Magazine : or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer". Copper line engraving on paper. Engraved surface 179 x 112mm (approx. 6-7/8" x 4-3/8"). In very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique map.

Kineton : Roundwood Press, 1973. First edition. An extraordinarily detailed and thoroughly-researched account of Caslon's life, achievement and connections - with much also on John Baskerville, William Bowyer, Edward Cookes, Benjamin Green, James Green, Thomas Guy, Saloman Negri, John Watts, etc. Medium 8vo (25cm). xxviii,494,[ii]p. Colour frontispiece. Plates (including folding plates of the specimens). Original cloth gilt; some marking and spotting of edges, but otherwise a very good copy in a lightly used dust-jacket, with a single short tear to upper panel.

London : James Nisbet & Co., [1890]. First edition. Young Scotsman unwittingly enters a Babylonian London underworld, including the remarkable Tommy Splint - "Splint, 'cause w'en I was picked up, a small babby, at the work'us door, my left leg was broke, an' they 'ad to put it up in splints; Tommy, 'cause they said I was like a he-cat; w'ich was a lie!". The second novella in this Ballantyne double-bill relates the story of fun-loving, free-and-easy Jeff Benson on the south-east coast. Crown 8vo (20cm). iv,260,32pp advertisements. Frontispiece and three plates. Original pictorial cloth gilt over bevelled boards; spine a touch rubbed; a hint of wear to extremities; some spotting to edges and prelims, but still a very good copy, fresh and bright.

London : James Nisbet & Co., 1886. First edition. "Indian stories are sure of readers, and the scenes of wild life, sport, and exciting adventures admirably described ... will fire the imagination of many a youth. A vein of poetic imagery quite in harmony with the wilds where the scenes are laid runs through the tale" (Leeds Mercury, 3 November 1886). Crown 8vo (19cm). 8,256pp. Frontispiece, extra pictorial title and ten full-page illustrations. Original pictorial cloth gilt over bevelled boards; spine a little rubbed; a hint of wear at to extremities; staples a little rusted; a few marks and light spotting to prelims, but otherwise a very good copy.

London : T. Nelson & Sons, 1859. First edition : the first issue, with the map printed in purple. A charming little tourist guide to the Irish Lakes, illustrated with the distinctive and recently introduced two-colour lithographs made popular by the Nelson firm. Foolscap 8vo (18cm). (112) + 16pp inserted advertisements dated May 1858. Frontispiece, folding map and eleven plates. Original decorative cloth gilt; spine just a touch darkened; some very minor wear at tips; a few faint marks; some spotting to prelims and adverts, but overall a very good copy. Gift inscription dated Christmas Day 1859 from Mrs Hunter to Miss Read on front free endpaper.

London : James Nisbet & Co., 1880. First edition. Ballantyne's fictionalised take on the Bligh Mutiny, Fletcher Christian, Pitcairn, and subsequent events. "He assures the readers that the merest spider-web of fiction has been employed to bind the facts together. In such a work he excels, and he has never done one better than this" (The Scotsman, 2nd November 1880). Crown 8vo (20cm). (viii),(414),[ii],(16)pp. Frontispiece, extra pictorial title, and four plates. Original blue pictorial cloth gilt over bevelled boards; some minor rubbing and wear; endpapers slightly cracked; a little shaken; a few edge spots, but overall still a good copy. Gift inscription dated 1883 to William Lawrence from Howard Gilliat (1848-1906).

London : James Nisbet & Co., 1881. First edition. "Highly realistic and true to nature. Some of the ruffians of society, particularly burglars, are described in such a way as shows that Mr. Ballantyne must have made them a study; while all who know anything of the shady side of life in general in our large cities and towns will see that the author, like Dickens, writes from personal observation. Conspiracy and villainy, innocence and tragedy ..." (Liverpool Mercury, 24 November 1881). Crown 8vo (19cm). [x],(206),[ii]pp. Frontispiece by Walter James Allen, and six illustrations, five full-page. Original pictorial cloth gilt over bevelled boards; all edges gilt; just a touch of rubbing; some rust to staples, but overall a very good copy. Inscribed to Harriet Hardy as a Wickham St Paul's Sunday School prize, Christmas 1884 - the recipient was the sixteen-year-old daughter of an Essex agricultural labourer. A later (1909) gift inscription bequeathes the book in turn to her daughter, Ivy M. Pilgrim, with… Read More

London : Nova Publications, 1961. Two consecutive issues of the magazine containing both parts of Ballard's "Storm-Wind", which later appeared as his subsequently disavowed first novel, "The Wind from Nowhere", first published as a paperback in the USA in 1962. No. 111 also contains a profile of Ballard, with a photograph - "anyone wondering why I've chosen to destroy London quite so thoroughly should try living there for ten years ...". Other contributors include Lee Harding, Colin Kapp, John Kippax, George Langalaan, David Rome, James White, George Whitley, Lan Wright, etc. Two issues. Post 8vo (20cm). 128; 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in designs by Gerard Quinn and Brian Lewis respectively; some very minor wear, mild creasing and light tanning, but overall in very good order.

London : Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, 1927. First edition of this collection of eleven translations of Balzac's "most spell-binding" stories, including "At the Sign of the Cat and Racket", "The Unknown Masterpiece", "The Atheist's Mass", etc. Translated variously by Clara Bell, Ellen Marriage and John Gilmer, and edited and introduced by George Saintsbury (1845-1933). Crown 8vo (191 x 124mm). (548)pp. Bound in an elegant later half green morocco, banded and gilt, for Asprey's; all edges gilt; silk headbands; marbled endpapers; overall a very good copy.

London : MacGibbon & Kee, (1967). Originally published serially in Manchester in the early 1840s and here in a slightly shortened modern edition - one of the most important documents of nineteenth-century radicalism, covering the turbulent years either side of the Peterloo massacre, in the aftermath of which the highly articulate Bamford, both weaver and poet, was charged with treason and wrongly convicted of inciting a riot - "it is a voice that England cannot afford even now to shut its ears to". With a preface by Tim Hilton. Demy 8vo (23cm). 368pp. Original boards; top edge red; very good in a just lightly used and slightly creased dust-jacket.

Chester & Bangor : T. Catherall, [ca.1855]. First edition. Cover title "Views in the North Wales District : Second Series". A set of highly attractive engravings of North Wales engraved by William Banks & Son of Edinburgh for the local publisher Thomas Catherall (1809-1889) - vignette views of Bangor, Penrhyn, Beaumaris, Carnarvon, Snowdon, Llanberis, Beddgelert, Bettws-y-Coed, Conway, Llandudno, Rhyl, Llangollen, Ruthin, etc. - one of which is dated 1855. Long demy 8vo (15 x 23cm). Engraved pictorial title and twenty-nine plates. Original decorative cloth gilt over bevelled boards; all edges gilt; slight wear to head of spine; a touch shaken and slack, but the plates clean, crisp and in very good order.

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (1971). First edition. "This book is a warning about the coming domination of all western economies by the super-corporations - the Juggernauts of the new industrial order ... It argues that the size of the largest corporations has long since passed the point at which they can be managed effectively except at the expense of the consumer and the employee ... sterile conformism ... There is an urgent need to evolve a new public policy ... the alternative will be ... a new Dark Ages in the shadow of the giant corporations". We can't say we weren't warned. Demy 8vo (23cm). xii,(364)pp. Plates. Charts. Original brown boards, lettered in gilt; top edge pink; fore-edge a little spotted, but a good copy in the Behram Kapadia dust-jacket - the jacket a little worn, with a few nicks and repaired tears.