Search Results: Authors starting with D from Biblioctopus

Boston: Henry Hoyt, 1869. First Edition. cloth. Very good. 1st edition of the 3rd baseball novel ever, preceded by Oldfellow's Uncle Nat (1865), and Everett's Changing Base (1868), but The Yachtville Boys cuts some path too. It's the first baseball novel written by a woman, and the first one with a frontispiece illustrating the game being played, although the plate was engraved by an artist who had never seen baseball, so the view looks more like a deformed cricket match, even though the detailed account of the game, as played out in the text, leaves no doubt that the boys are contesting American baseball and no other sport. The Yachtville Boys is also the scarcest of the 3, with just a single defective 1st edition sold at auction in the last 50 years (1993). OCLC verifies that scarcity, locating only 7 copies in libraries worldwide (Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Kansas, Brown, Yale, U. C. L. A. and The American Antiquarian Society). Publisher's cloth, some rubs and wear to the spine tips and corners, (see… Read More

New York: Reynal & Company, 1960. Uncorrected galleys, printed rectos only, ribbon bound in cardboard cover with applied paper label. Very good or better. Prepared for in-house use, usually only a few copies were made. Autobiography of a remarkable Cuban-American lesbian poet, playwright, and socialite reputed to have conducted affairs with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Isadora Duncan, Katharine Cornell, Maude Adams, and others.

London: Dreyden Press, 1886. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. 1st edition of this translation. The 1st French, 1558, 1st in English, 1597, and those that followed, were terribly abridged so this is the first complete and thorough translation into English (see below). Contemporary morocco (5 1/2" X 8 1/2") by Kaufmann. Portrait and 8 plates. Near fine. A dutiful text but a common book, and since you should never discount beauty, ours is a good way to want it, in an extravagant binding. Now, we have priced this book half what we paid for it, because we re-mark our books to market when we catalog them and today $400 is what it's worth. Marguerite (1492-1549), often hailed as the first modern woman, was Queen of Navarre, and forebearer of the Bourbon Kings of France through her grandson Henry IV, first of his line and the last amiable French King of the people. She was smart, adeptly educated, a humanist, and a reformer, and hostessed Leonardo at the Château d' Amboise after he left Italy and… Read More

Paris: Critique, 1969. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. 1st edition. Scarce 1st appearance of Derrida's semiotic critique of "deconstructionism." 2 volumes in Critique magazine (261 and 262) from February and March 1969. Original printed wrappers with some wear and minor stains to the March issue, else both very good. The essay later appeared in a book of the same name (1972).

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1850. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 1st edition. Original (publisher's) green cloth, variant stamping to the binding not recorded by Smith, and though variant often means later, this copy can't be later, as it has the 1850 date on both title pages (the key 1st issue point) and 19 of the 20 internal 1st state points listed by Smith, a percentage greater than many copies in the common binding that Smith does describe and picture. Endpapers toned, short tear to the half title mended, foxing to the margins of the plates (more so at the beginning and end) but the text is clean and let me be unmistakable about what this is. It's otherwise in fine condition, startlingly bright, unfaded, the covers unmarked, and never abused, and rare like this, and you will watch many birthdays pass by before you see another copy that looks like our copy, with an unfaded spine, and intact, unrepaired inner paper hinges, and get this: Copperfield in cloth is the most difficult Dickens novel to… Read More

Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1962. First edition, hardcover issue. Fine in fine dustwrapper with just a touch of tanning at the bottom of the spine. Signed by the author. A superior copy of the author's first solely authored book.

New York: McClure, 1905. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. 1st edition, preceding the London edition.  Original cloth.  Near fine with some rubbing to the extremities.  This copy is in what McClure calls the "special edition" binding, that is different than the 1st issue binding but more common and in no other way special,  Bookplate of Adrian Goldstone.

New York: Doran, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very good. Doyle incorporates a dual narrative structure, as the plot transitions from the present-day investigation by Holmes and Watson to a historical account of the events that led to the central crime. The additional space afforded by a full novel, gave Doyle the opportunity to change and blend genres within the two narratives, from a traditional Sherlockian detective mystery, to the suspenseful exposition. 1st edition of the seventh Sherlock Holmes book, and the 4th Holmes novel, preceding the London edition.  Original cloth, fine in a dustjacket with some chips restored.

New York: Doran, 40BCE. First. very good. 1st edition of the ninth and final Sherlock Holmes, published simultaneously with the London edition. Original cloth. Some rubbing to the extremities, and minor soiling, very good.

New York: McClure, 1905. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition of the sixth Sherlock Holmes, preceding the London edition. Original cloth in the 1st issue, pictorial binding, The color is flaked in a few places but less so than usually seen, some rubbing and soiling, inner paper hinges strengthened, but otherwise very good.

London: Newnes, 1902. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. 9 vols. The 1st appearance anywhere. The serialized novel in the individual Strand Magazines. Original wrappers, 2 rear wrappers have the correct ads but slightly variant wording, all issue have general wear, with chipping to the spines, else very good, complete, so cool, and rarely seen for sale. Significantly rarer in parts than the Adventures or Memoirs.

London: Murray, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition of the eighth Sherlock Holmes.  Original cloth, some soiling, spine faded else very good.

London: Newnes, 1904. First Edition. Wrappers. Good. 13 vols.  1st appearance anywhere (later collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1905).  Front ads removed from no. 164 (vol. 28, August 1904) The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter, else a very good, complete set, so cool, with all 26 covers and all 95 illustrations by Sidney Paget.  10 times scarcer than sets of The Adventures and Memoirs, rarely seen at all, and never seen like this, whereas bound sets are more common than internet lies and more boring than provincial celebrities. The hardest thing about being a detective is trusting your instincts when they are contrary to the evidence.   There have been countless film and television takes on one or another of these stories, the most prominent being the series from 1984 to 1994, starring Jeremy Brett, that did 11 of The Return's 13 adventures before Brett's death in 1995.

Sauk City: Arkham House, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. 1st edition. Fine in a very good dust jacket with toning to the spine rubbing and wear to the extremities. One of the smallest publications of any Arkham House book at 553 copies, Drake self-financed the printing and took 300 copies for her own distribution. This is Drakes first book, but she was already well known from the mid 30s as one of the more popular poets of the horror and fantasy genre, regularly appearing in Weird Tales. They named It the Jabberwock For want of another; But some shook their heads; "It's The Devil's own brother!" Then people came to church Who'd never been yet. Some patched up a quarrel And some paid a debt. -The Jabberwock.

Sauk City: Arkham House, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/fine. 1st edition. Signed. Some rubbing to the corners, toning from acidic binder's glue along the gutters, else near fine in fine (actually fine) dust jacket. One of the smallest publications of any Arkham House book at 553 copies, Drake self-financed the printing and took 300 copies for her own distribution. Fine copies are rare and signed copies scarce. Custom ¼ morocco slip case. This is Drakes first book, but she was already well known from the mid 30s as one of the more popular poets of the horror and fantasy genre, regularly appearing in Weird Tales. They named It the Jabberwock For want of another; But some shook their heads; "It's The Devil's own brother!" Then people came to church Who'd never been yet. Some patched up a quarrel And some paid a debt. -The Jabberwock.

London: Constable, 1932. Uncorrected proof of the English edition. Printed wrappers. A little sunning to the wrappers, a tiny split at the top of the front wrap, else near fine. For those desperate for a new film source, this was the basis for a 1976 Czechoslovakian television series, *Americk ° trag ©dia* ‚Äì don't even ask why we know this.

Brussels: Méline, 1847. First Edition. Half calf. Very good. 10 vols. 1st edition (?), maybe preceded by Cadot's Paris edition (maybe not), and parallel to the Brussels editions of Lebégue's and Muquardt. The timing is close and Munro only addresses his guess towards the first volume published, not the last. He lists Lebégue's edition before Méline's based on the former having 3 vols. (of the 10) dated 1846, versus Méline's, which has 2 vols. so dated. But digging a little deeper than the superficial, his chronology is reversible. The 3 Lebégue volumes dated 1846, have 354 total pages in 24mo. whereas the 2 Méline volsumes dated 1846 have 464 total pages in 16mo. so more of the novel's text is dated 1846 in Méline's edition compared to Lebégue's (the same relationship also applies to the edition of Muquardt). Further, Munro notes 2 states of Méline's imprint, but the books are without textual differences, and there is no priority between them. Half calf, uncut, very good condition, and… Read More

Brussels: Alph. Lebègue, 1846. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. 15 vols. bound in 7. The real 1st edition (in French) with the first 14 volumes dated 1845, and only the last volume dated 1846 (the key and critical identifiers). Rare. RBH says no copies of this edition have sold at auction looking back 50 years, and it is not recorded, precisely, by either Reed or Munro in their Dumas bibliographies (details and analysis to follow). Contemporary 3/4 cloth, marbled boards, slight wear in a few places, vol 1-2 front hinge and rear joint split but holding, vol 9-10 hinges split but holding, vol 13-15 rear joint split but holding, but otherwise all 7 books are near fine, clean, complete, and as sound as a sea anchor, with all 15 half-titles, and they have never been repaired in any way. 3 half-morocco cases. Monte Cristo is an exemplar of what it means for a 19th century 1st edition to have wide appeal, a world classic of sustained imagination, and this is a once in a generation copy of it, dropped… Read More

Paris: Le Siècle, 1851. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 2 vols. 1st complete (?) issue, reprinting the serializations of The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After (pre-originals) in the newspaper Le Siècle and printing here first with them, The Viscount of Bragelonne (The Man in the Iron Mask). This is the 3 novels issued together and simultaneously, for what seems to have been the first time, or at least a very early issue (not listed by Munro in the Dumas bibliography). This publication of the trilogy in Le Siècle was projected to be part of a larger project to publish a run of Dumas' major romances up until that time. Contemporary boards, rebacked with new spines of old paper, contemporary cloth labels laid down. Very good.

Brussels: Alph. Lebègue, 1844. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 5 vols. in 2. 1st edition (published by Lebègue), 1st issue (in 18mo.). Undoubtedly the real 1st edition, listed first by Munro (Alexandre Dumas Pere. A Bibliography of Works Published in French), its priority undisputed by anyone credible, and preceding all other 1844 editions, including those from Meline, Muquardt, 3 editions from Librairie Hauman, Lebègue's reissue in 24mo., and Baudry's 1844 Paris edition (issued last of all the 1844 editions and the most common). Contemporary half calf, some rubbing and wear, joints strengthened, else very good, and complete with all 5 half-titles. Collation: [1]-181, [1 blank]. [1]- 172. [1]-171, [1 blank]. [1]-163.[1 blank]. [1]-223, [1 blank] pp. Fine half morocco and wood veneer case. A scream out loud unearthing, rare by any criterion, and read the next sentence slowly. This is the rarest 1st edition, by census, of any novel, by anyone, that could accurately be called a classic. Munro's… Read More