Search Results: Titles starting with D from Biblioctopus

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954. First edition. Fine in fine dustwrapper. A spectacular copy of Merwin's second book.

Frankfurt: Wilmans, 1820. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition (in German). The 1st appearance anywhere in Taschenbuch für das Jahr 1820-Der Liebe und Freundschaft gewidmet [Dr. St. Schütz]. 12 illustrated poems on unnumbered pages at the front, then Hoffmann's novella is printed on pages 1-122. The remaining 208 pages are additions by others (an almanac). Contemporary full morocco, bound as a leather lined wallet with a pocket and pencil sheath at the back, mirror green endpapers, aeg, 3 little chips to the flap, some small worn spots, frontispiece with one tideline, still very good, complete, the pages white, a little jewel of a book, and rarer than someone who is exactly like their online persona. Scarce among institutional holdings. Coll: Frontis + (6) + 24 pages + 12 monthly plates + 330, pages + 5 plates. The notion that Poe invented the detective story in 1841 from the air is a canard (the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead). What he did invent was C. Auguste Dupin, out… Read More

London: J. Dodsley, 1777. First Edition. Boards. Very good. 1st edition, the first appearance anywhere in England (the arrival) of The Declaration of Independence (printed on pages 261-270), an announcement perceived as delusional arrogance, and a state paper primarily viewed with amusement by the British public at the time, but one that would soon reverberate throughout Britain and around the world. Original paper backed boards, ink script '1776' to the spine with trace of label and ink above, extremities worn, hinges starting but strong, uncut and untrimmed, the contents fresh and clean. Rare in boards.

Northern Italy: Mint Moving with Caesar, 49BCE. Elephant (right) trampling serpent (more standing than walking, like the one plated by Crawford). "CAESAR" in exergue. 4 emblems on reverse (though some, including Crawford, have said the elephant is the rev. side). Cr. (Crawford, RRC) 443/1. BMC (British Museum Catalog) Gaul 27. Kestner 3516. The first silver Caesar and the first to bear his name, a military issue originally struck at the mobile mint traveling with the legions for the sole purpose of paying Caesar's troops on the eve of crossing the Rubicon, and on the march to Rome that followed, commencing the civil war and assuring that no further funds would be forthcoming from the Senate. And Sear says that this coin continued to be struck once Caesar arrived in Rome and had confiscated the reserve bullion stores left in the aerarium (treasury) by the fleeing Pompeians (15,000 bars of gold, 30,000 bars of silver and 7,500,000 denarii in cash). It was however confined to military payment as the… Read More

London: Collins, 1954. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. Spy novels have subtle differences in the hands of a woman. Among those subtleties are these: What is indispensable for the conduct of a man's life is best learned from the most polished of women. The small rules of courtesy, the actions that win us the warmth or deference of others, the words that assure us a welcome, the attitudes that must be varied to mesh with character or situation, in fact, all social strategy. It is listening to women that teaches men how to speak to men. 1st edition. Fine in a dustjacket, slightly dusty, visible only on the spine's white letters and publisher's logo, with some light pushing to the spine ends but otherwise fine. Christie revisits the spy novel in the footsteps of Ian Fleming's first 2 Bond books (Casino Royale, 1953 and Live and Let Die, 1954).

Los Angeles: California Emergency Defense Committee, 1956. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. 1st edition, 1st printing, limited, no. 683 of 750 signed by Trumbo in red ink. There was also an unsigned issue for those who used the request form at the back of this issue to purchase more. Staple bound, stiff printed wrappers with some toning to the edges, else near fine. This is an essay by Trumbo inwhich he describes the conviction of 14 California Communists under the Smith Act of 1940. The 14 defendants were not accused of any illegal act, but rather of conspiring to "teach and advocate the violent overthrow of the government of the United States." Though they had not actually done this, but it was alleged that they were planning the revolutionary education at some future date. In the Late 1940s Trumbo was in the first group of Hollywood blacklistings, and among the first from Hollywood to be called to testify before HUAC.

London: Edward Arnold, 1897. First Edition. Fine. 1st edition. Original cloth, trifling rubs (lighter than a cat's footfall), a fine copy (valor procures, care preserves). Inscribed "With Mary's Love, March 10th '97" on a paper slip contemporaneously laid down on the front free endpaper (she sent the slip to the publisher, then the book with the slip was sent from them, reportedly, to her brother). OCLC locates 21 copies of the 1st edition but RBH lists no auction sales since 1975 (copies may have been sold lotted and hence not recorded), and this is the only presentation copy of any of her books I recall seeing, or even hearing about. Coll: 8vo. pp. [1-9] 10-211 [212-224 (ads)]. Ref: Sadleir 54. Wolff 1211.

London: G. Bigg, 1787. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition in English (originally in German, Dessau and Leipzig, 1783). Contemporary full calf, rebacked (neat but wavy where the calf conjoins), corners worn, light foxing, else very good, complete with half-title and errata. The first scientific examination and the first anthropological description of gypsies, and the first tracing their origins to the Indian subcontinent, pursuing a suggestion based on linguistics, and because it was the first reliable scientific examination of the Romani people, it is respected to this day for its findings.

New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. Raw proof of the 1st edition. Printed on proofing paper (7 7/8" X 6 1/2") on 1 side of the page (rectos) only, and hand bound by the publisher (HB) in brown paper wrappers tied with snips of shoelace (all original). Small control numbers "8476" neatly inked on spine and fly-title, else very good (unrepaired). Need we say primary? Need we say unique? Ok. Literally so for both. Cloth case. A one-off, preceding every other surviving setting in type, and a real movie book, produced with haste, in house, for Jesse Lasky (Famous Players) who was anxious to secure the film rights. On the eve of the depression, and past his prime, Lasky wavered, and then declined, keeping this copy as a souvenir of the opportunity. Dodsworth was ultimately purchased by Sam Goldwyn after he saw the 1934 play scripted by Sidney Howard with Howard's understated realism. M. G. M. prized it highly, so they gave it back to Howard for a screenplay, and the… Read More

New York: Atheneum, 1968. First Edition. Hardcover. fine/very good. 1st edition of Watson's autobiographical account of his 1953 co-discovery of DNA with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins that won all 3 a Nobel Prize. Contemporary, signed presentation copy, and a fine association, inscribed in black ink, on the red endpaper, from Watson to George Wald, a 1967 Nobel laureate in Medicine, and Ruth Wald, an emeritus biology professor at Harvard, "For George and Ruth, from J-" (Watson and George Wald were colleagues and friends at Harvard). A thin line of fading to the base of the spine but near fine in a dustjacket with a short tear to the top of the spine and slight wear to the corners, else near fine. For a long time, the only signed 1st editions of The Double Helix were presentation copies (gifts from the author), almost all of them inscribed at the time of publication because Watson soon ran out of 1st editions and was loath to buy more during the short time they were available. After that he… Read More

New York: Doubleday, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/good. 1st American edition (in English) of the all-time best selling Chinese novel. A laid-in clipping has offset at page 208 else very good in a price clipped dustjacket with chips, tears, and neat strengthening, but a good jacket, and yes it's flawed, but the old anvil laughs at many broken hammers, and it's the only one I've had (the cleanest shirt in the hamper) because this book has been hard to find in jacket since the ark docked. A novel written in, and set in, the 18th century (Qing dynasty) about conflicts undermining a sizable household, their rise and fall, contrasted alongside their loyalties to, and their plots against, one another, a microcosm that often mirrors the macrocosm of Qing Imperial politics, its ethics, customs, education, religion, economics, laws, culture, and intrigues, during the last period of China's feudal era. Our 1st American edition is preceded in English by a quirky 1892-1893 Hong Kong edition, but… 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.