Search Results: Authors starting with M from Neil Pearson Rare Books

Paris: Flammarion, 1932. 8vo, pp. 278. Original printed wrappers. Leading and lower edges uncut. Tear to front wrapper repaired with tape, some wear to foot of spine. Very good. First edition, one of 50 copies on papier alfa, of a total edition of 70 copies only. French text. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ON HALF-TITLE: 'à la Comtesse Salles "in memoriam" avec l'espoir qu'elle gardera l'image de cet homme, comme celle d'une amitié par elle choisie. Marthe Bibesco.' Christopher, Lord Thomson, was the British military attaché charged with bringing Romania into the First World War alongside the Allies. Bibesco, a belle époque writer and socialite born into the Romanian royal family, met Thomson in 1915, and the two remained close until Thomson's death in the R101 airship disaster in 1930. This book was her tribute to him. Bibesco's high social connectedness is evident not just in her inscription in this copy, but also in the presence of… Read More

New York: Joe Madden, 1939. 8vo, pp. 136. Original orange boards, lettered in blue on front panel and spine. A fine, tight copy, bookplate to front pastedown, in a near fine dustwrapper, entirely unfaded and unrestored, with two tiny closed tears. Illustrated by John Rupe. First edition, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ON FFEP: 'Most Sincerely, Joe Madden'. (A little smudging to 'Joe'). Anecdotage from a 1930s brawling barman, complete with period racism. Dodgy book, but a fabulous copy.

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988. 8vo, pp. 429. Original black boards, lettered in gilt on spine. Very light spotting to top edge, otherwise a fine copy in a dustwrapper sunned at the spine, but otherwise near fine. First edition, WARMLY INSCRIBED TO PETER HAIN BY DONALD WOODS: 'For Peter, on your 40th birthday, an appropriate gift -- your personal contribution to the goals and the liberation of Mandela will never be forgotten. 17/2/1990 Donald and Wendy Woods.' Donald Woods began his professional life in South Africa as a cub reporter on the radical newspaper The Daily Despatch, and rose through the ranks to become its editor in 1965. He was close friends with the Black Consciousness Movement leader Steve Biko, murdered by police in 1977. Woods' secretly-taken photographs of his friend's battered exposed the government cover-up of the cause of Biko's death. Peter Hain's parents were radicals active in the Liberal Party of South Africa. By the age of nineteen Hain was chairman of the Stop The… Read More

London: Chapman and Hall, 1891. 3 vols. 8vos., pp. 302, 320 and 307. Original blue coarse cloth boards, tooling in black to front panels, lettered in gilt on spines, blindstamped publisher's device to rear panels. Edges uncut. Panel listing Meredith's previous works to the verso of each ffep., as usual. A little bumping and wear to corners and spine ends, spines a little faded (less so on vol. II), small stain to front panel of vol. II. A very good set. First edition. Sadleir: 1700

New York: Viking Press, 1961. 8vo, pp. 132. Original beige boards, lettered in red on spine. A fine copy in a slightly dusty, near fine dustwrapper, a little darkened at spine. First edition of Miller's novelisation of his own screenplay. The film starred Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe.

London: Village Press, 1973. Five items, two of 24pp, one of 16pp, two of 8pp. Stiff paper wrappers, printed in black. Small previous ownership signature ('BROLL') to the first leaf of each volume, otherwise a near fine set. Water-colour illustration by Henry Miller to each front panel. First editions thus. First published by Bern Porter in The Happy Rock [1945], these five essays describing Henry Miller's life in Paris are written by those who knew him at the time: Just A Brooklyn Boy by Emil Schnellock; The Happy Rock by Lawrence Durrell; Henry Miller In Villa Seurat by Alfred Perlès; All The Animals In The Zoo by Knud Merrild; and The Genesis Of The Tropic Of Cancer by Michael Frankel. They were published separately for the first time in 1973 by the Village Press, on a variety of coloured papers, and each front panel illustrated with a water colour by Miller.

Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, N.d. [1955]. Small 8vo, pp. 276. Original black boards, lettered in green on front panel and spine. Later edition, INSCRIBED TO SPIKE MILLIGAN:' To TERENCE Milligan, With best wishes and for good memory From Lala and Vladimir Dubinin. October 6, 1959.' MILLIGAN HAS ADDED BENEATH: '-- on board the Williem Ruys -- from Russian Diplomatic party who got on at Wellington. New Zealand'. Science fiction novel, first published in 1923 -- although of course, the association is the thing. (Milligan spent four months in Australia in 1959, where a second series of his TV show Idiot Weekly had been commissioned.)

London: N.p. [BBC], 1955. 22 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. A few pencilled notes to blank of final page, a pencilled tick to title page, otherwise a clean copy. A little edgewear and light age-toning, otherwise a near fine example. First edition. Series six, Number Three, first broadcast on 4 october 1955. the title page carries transmission details only, including the words: 'TRANSCRIPTION. AMERICA: NBC NETWORK.' The second page carries the cast information, as well as a somewhat idiosyncratic synopsis of the episode. The script itself begins on p. 3. From Series Five onwards the BBC Transcription Service made its own recordings of the The Goon Show for broadcast in the United States, later deleting topical or local references which would mean nothing to an American audience. This episode, in its original domestic-consumption form, was released by BBC Audio in 2009 on the Goon Show 3 compilation CD. Very scarce.

London: MacMillan, 1903. 8vo, pp. 216, 4pp. advertisements bound in at rear. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Top edge gilt. Spine ends split and worn, corners bumped, boards a little rubbed. Two ownership stamps to title page and final page of text. First edition, fourth printing. SPIKE MILLIGAN'S COPY, WITH HIS NOTE TO FRONT FREE ENDPAPER: 'I actually got the original fireplace from his home in 54 Hunter Street, Bloomsbury -- alas, as always in my family this treasure was lost. 1975/6. Spike Milligan'. John Ruskin was born at 54, Hunter Street on 8 February 1819. The street was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Brunswick Centre development, so presumably the fireplace became available at that time. (Quite how you lose a fireplace, though, only Spike Milligan would be able to explain.)

London: N.p. [BBC], 1955. 25 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. Slight sunning to title page, a few pencilled notes to final page, light age-toning, otherwise a very good copy which, apart from a single pencilled tick to the title page and an occasional pair of brackets in the text, carries no markings. First edition. Series Six, Number Thirteen, first broadcast on 13 December 1955. A recording of this episode of The Goon Show exists in the BBC Sound Archives, and was issued on the Goon Show 3 compilation CD in 2009.

London: N.p. [BBC], 1955. 24 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. Slight sunning to title page, light age-toning, otherwise a very good copy which, apart from an occasional pencilled pair of brackets in the text, carries no markings. First edition. Series Six, Number Fifteen, first broadcast on 27 December 1955. A recording of this episode of The Goon Show exists in the BBC Sound Archives, and was issued on the Goon Show 4 compilation CD in 2010.

London: N.p. [BBC], 1956. 23 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. Revisions, annotations and doodles throughout, some dampstaining to upper half. First edition. CO-WRITER LARRY STEPHENS' COPY, WITH HIS OWNERSHIP SIGNATURE TO FRONT PAGE AND WITH HIS REVISIONS AND ELABORATE DOODLES THROUGHOUT. 'Larry was an ex-commando captain, who had seen some tough service in the Far East. He had a natural flair for comedy scriptwriting and shared with the Goons their irreverence and sense of the ridiculous, and also their artistic and musical leanings. He was both an able pianist and a meticulous illustrator of the definitive Goon character, with which he was wont to adorn the pages of his script.' (Jimmy Grafton, The Goon Show Companion). Larry Stephens is one of the more elusive figures in British comedy history. He and Spike Milligan were kindred spirits. Both were jazz fanatics (Stephens was a skilled pianist); both had faced the terror of war (Stephens as a Commando… Read More

London: N.p. [BBC], 1955. 20 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. Two title pages (see below). Light age-toning, and some dog-earing to lower front corner, otherwise a very good copy which, apart from an occasional pencilled pair of brackets in the text and a pencilled tick to first title page, carries no markings. First edition. Series Six, Number Five, first broadcast on 18 October 1955. There are two title pages to this script, the first giving the title and recording and transmission details, the second carrying a cast list and synopsis. This format is usually found on BBC Transcription copies, which were edited slightly for the North American market to eliminate any references which would not travel. Usually, such copies carry the words 'TRANSCRIPTION. AMERICA: NBC NETWORK.' on the front title page. No such wording appears on this copy. A recording of this episode of The Goon Show exists in the BBC Sound Archives, and was issued on the Goon Show 3 compilation CD in… Read More

London: N.p. [BBC], 1955. 23 mimeographed pp., secured with split pin to top left. Light age-toning, otherwise a very good copy which, apart from an occasional pencilled pair of brackets in the text and a pencilled tick and circling of 'Fu Manchu' to title page, carries no markings. First edition. Series Six, Number Twelve, first broadcast on 6 December 1955. A recording of this episode of The Goon Show exists in the BBC Sound Archives, and was issued on the Goon Show 3 compilation CD in 2009.

London: Faber, 1991. 8vo, pp. 339. Original blue boards, lettered in white on spine. Text block a little age-toned, otherwise a fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper with some light edgewear to head of spine and top corners. First edition of the author's first novel, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Review copy, with the publisher's slip laid in.

London: Michael Joseph, 1958. 8vo, pp. 239. Original black boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. Endpapers a little marked, but a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with just a little wear to spine ends. Dust jacket design by Kenneth Farnhill. First edition. A Beatrice Bradley title, one of more than sixty of which Mitchell published between 1929 and 1984. HUBIN, p. 295

London: Sceptre, 2004. 8vo, pp. 529. Original red boards, lettered in turquoise on spine. A fine, unread copy in a near fine dustwrapper with minimal edgewear. First edition, first impression. Review copy, with publisher's promotional flyer laid in. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

London: Anthony Blond, 1970. 8vo, pp. 127. Original yellow boards, lettered in silver to spine. Photographically illustrated dustwrapper, author's portrait to rear panel. A near fine copy in a better than very good dustwrapper just a little faded at spine, and with a little light edgewear. First edition, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HER HUSBAND, THE AUTHOR AND CRITIC DEREK MONSEY: 'To my darling author with my love, Yvonne'. A lovely copy, with a peerless association.

New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999. 4to, pp. 223. Original pictorial stiff paper wrappers. Creasing to front panel, a little rubbed and bumped. First trade edition, preceded by the limited edition in boards and zippered rubber jacket. Photographers featured include Bob Carlos Clarke, Pierre et Gilles, Araki, Trevor Watson, Grace Lau, Doris Kloster and Wolfgang Eichler.

Cardiff: N.p., 1970. 2pp. ALS on MMA notepaper, written from the Park Hotel, Cardiff. Faint folds from its past spent in an envelope (not present), but otherwise very well preserved. A 2pp. ALS FROM BOB MONKHOUSE TO TV DIRECTOR EDDIE JOFFE, DISCUSSING THEIR WORK ON THE ATV SHOW THE GOLDEN SHOT. The Golden Shot was a British game show made by ATV for ITV, which ran between 1967 and 1975 and was hosted by Bob Monkhouse for the first five years. In 1970 director Eddie Joffe was a recent recruit to the show; Monkhouse's letter shows the pair's working relationship still finding its feet. The letter, dated 10 February 1970, discusses the most recent episode of the show, broadcast two days previously with guest stars Clement Freud and the actor and singer Dick Haymes, as well as the tone of the show in general. Joffe had asked Monkhouse to refrain from untransmissable ad-libs, which were making the show difficult to edit. Monkhouse writes: 'I'll do my best to stifle ad-libs of a libidinous character… Read More