Search Results: Titles starting with L from Henry Sotheran Ltd.

1734. The Hague: Adrien Moetjens. 1734. Folio. Contemporary full mottled calf, blind fillets to sides, spine with raised bands, tooled in blind, red morocco gilt lettering piece to second compartment; pp. [vi] + 256 + 8, frontispiece portrait of author, 61 plates; binding a little rubbed with some loss to foot of spine and to corners, occasional light foxing, previous owner's signature to ffep, very good. First edition. A richly illustrated work of equine anatomy and hippiatrics, written by the inspector of the King of France's High Stable and edited by his son, the riding-master at the Academy of the University of Leiden. It is unusual to see a copy in such an untouched contemporary binding. The plates by Francois Morellon La Cave, among others, show great attention to detail as well as a flair for dramatic composition.

Paris and Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1897. 8vo. Contemporary dark green cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt; pp. 385, [3]; very light rubbing, internally, apart from even browning, as usual due to paper stock, a very good copy; provenance: from the Institution of Naval Architects with bookplate and stamp to half-title and beginning of text. First edition, scarce, of this stock-take of the state of the French Navy, and how it had been rebuilt after 1870, written by the minister of the marine, radical left journalist and politician.

1981. Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing, 1981. 8vo. Original black cloth, title gilt to spine, in decorative dust wrapper; pp. [viii], 561; minor enclosed tear to head of spine of wrapper; very light rubbing to top edge of wrapper; internally bright and clean, near fine. First edition, boldly signed by the author to the front free endpaper. A definitely-not-Glasgow surrealist dystopic nightmare with chapters in the wrong (or right) order depending on who you ask, an epilogue four chapters before the end, an implausible number of rampant orifices, which despite all this is actually rather good. Gray cites Kafka as a major influence on the atmosphere of the novel, as well as his own experiences in the media industry, with the labyrinthine buildings and individuals talking in jargon proving particularly memorable. It has become somewhat of a cult classic, with Anthony Burgess writing that Gray is "the best Scottish novelist since Walter Scott".

1873. London John Murray, 1873. 8vo. Original brick red cloth, lettered in gilt, ornamented in black and gilt; pp. xvi, 408; wood-engraved illustrations including some full-page plates, one folding colour-lithographic map; rubbing to extremities, front inner hinge strengthened, else a very good copy. First edition, very rare. Tristram was a naturalist and geologist who had travelled in the Maghreb for health reasons and was thus well-prepared to study the the Levant. Against the advice of the Palestine Exploration Fund he put together an expedition to explore the land east of the Dead Sea. On this long journey Tristram examines the natural history, minerals and history with scientific scrutiny. For the first time he examines the impressive remains of the large Umayyad winter palace, or Desert Castle, of Mashita (Qasr Al-Mshatta). Thorogh, but accessible, 'Tristram's scientific competence and easy style made his writings both valuable and popular' (ODNB).

1921. Cambridge at the University Press, 1921. 8vo. Original blue cloth, image of sailing ship blocked in gilt to upper cover, lettered in silver to spine, untrimmed; pp. xii, 539; photogravure portrait-frontispiece, black and white plates from illustrations, sketch maps including one double-page; binding darkened on spine with loss of brightness to lettering, marginal tear to frontispiece neatly repaired, a very good tight copy; bookplate Ethel Norah Godrey Pike of Pishiobury House, Sawbridgeworth. First edition. Markham died in 1916 and the present work was completed from the manuscript by F.H.H. Guillemard. The latter is responsible for the chapters on Amundsen's exploration of the North-West Passage and attainment of the South Pole, and for that on Shackleton's attempt on the South Pole. The bulk of the book is, however, Markham's work, including his concluding chapter on "Remaining Antarctic Work". According to Renard, this copy is one of the earlier issues of the first edition with… Read More

Chicago, Skandinaven, [c. 1910]. Printed on stiff, thick paper, measuring 56 x 36 cm; a well-preserved rarity. Most likely printed in 1910 as all the photos were taken in early June 1910 by Norwegian photographer Aners Beer Wilse some days before Amundsen and Fram’s departure from Kristiania. The picture of Fram is taken at Amundsen’s home Uranienborg at Svartskog. The Norwegian periodical Skandinaven offered their readers this commemorative print. 'Norwegian readers ... were served by John Anderson`s daily, Skandinaven, which he founded in 1866 and continued publication until 1941. In its heyday Skandinaven had a larger circulation than any daily paper in Norway, a testimony to a vigorous Norse colony in Chicago at that time' (Chicago Tribune, November 22, 1990, online).

Soviet Union, 1960s. 105 x 127 cm; two repair patches on verso; red a little faded. This survival from the hayday of the Soviet Union was displayed from window sills of public buildings, Labour Day, Victory Day, etc. to celebrate the October Revolution and other highlights of the official calendar. - We currently stock one similar item in Ukrainian.

London, Chatto & Windus, 1959. 8vo. Original boards with illustrate dust-wrappers (price-clipped and with fraying to margins); pp. 211; sketch maps and plates after photographs; a good association copy. First edition. 'The Last Blue Mountain is the heart-rending true story of the 1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp. The Last Blue Mountain is the heart-rending true story of the 1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp. Their brief pause to enjoy the view and take photographs is interrupted by an avalanche which sweeps Bernard Jillott and John Emery hundreds of feet down the mountain into a snow basin. Miraculously, they both survive the fall. Rae Culbert and Tony Streather risk their own lives to rescue their friends, only to become stranded alongside them. The group's efforts to… Read More

1985. [London], Viking, [1985]. 8vo. Original boards with illustrated dust-wrapper (not price-clipped); pp. 176; a few illustrations after line drawings in the text; very light offsetting from endpapers; a very good copy. First edition, inscribed by the author on front fly leaf For Angharad - this first work of fiction, with love - Jan Morris. Jan’s grandchild (Twm’s daughter by his first wife) who was called Angharad (information provided by Mark Morris via email). There are not many cordially inscribed presentation copies by Jan Morris.

1985. [London], Viking, [1985]. 8vo. Original boards with illustrated dust-wrapper (price-clipped for export); pp. 176; a few illustrations after line drawings in the text; a very good copy. First edition, signed and dated Sydney 1988 by the author on title-page.

1936. [London], Corvinus Press, 1936. 4to. Original mottled boards with tan cloth spine and corners, spine lettered in gilt, gilt device at foot of front cover, top edges gilt, others uncut; pp. [40]; slight darkening at head and foot of spine, small skilful repair to initial blank leaf, still a very nice copy. First edition. 128 numbered copies were printed, of which this is no. 3 of 24 copies printed for the authors on Barcham Green 'Medway' handmade paper (this being one of 12 printed for Capt. Liddell Hart), signed by the authors. This copy is inscribed by Liddell Hart to his wife. - Old Henry Sotheran label inside front cover. This book contains the text of two speeches made at a luncheon given in memory of Lawrence about a month after his death. Lord Lloyd was in the chair. Nash and Flavell 2; O'Brien E101.

London, David Bogue [engraved title: Charles Tilt], 1839. Small 8vo. Original maroon morocco, spine lettered in gilt, covers ruled in gilt and with coat-of arms of the Duchy of Buccleuch, all edge gilt; pp. xvi, 303, engraved frontispiece, additional engraved title (in pagiantion), and 10 very fine engravings by leading artists with tissue guards; light dulling to binding, minor offsetting to plates; provenance: 19th-century ownership inscriptions to front fly-leaf and final blank, contemporary Hull bookseller's stamp to front fly-leaf. First illustrated edition of Scott's epic historical borderland tale, involving Ann, Duchess of Buccleuch and her family. The successful novelty publisher Charles Tilt produced a number of copies in different armorial bindings, this one might have been presented to the Scottish noble family.

1985. Diss: Antony Atha Publishers. 1985. Oblong 4to. Original green cloth, gilt rules and stag's head to upper board, gilt lettering and decoration to spine; pp. 176, 12 colour plates and text illustrations by Ian Oates; fine. Provenance: ffep with inscription from Lord Lovat "To my friend Wyndham [Lloyd-Davies]/ armed with rod, gun or rifle". No. 279 of limited edition of 350. Introduction by Lord Lovat. This copy Signed by Lovat and Ian Oates. A handsome reprint of the famous 1848 work on deer stalking by two brothers who were heirs to the royal House of Stuart.

1900. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1900. 8vo., 2 vols; sometime rebound in half vellum over marbled boards; ruled in gilt with decorative floral art nouveau gilt to spine; to contrasting leather labels lettered and decorated to spine, including date to foot; upper edge gilt; with matching marbled endpapers; silk ribbon markers (slightly frayed); pp. [ix], vi-xxviii, [i], 2-439, [v]; [ix], vi-xix, [ii], 2-531, [v]; previous bookseller sticker to front paste-down of Vol. I; beautifully clean copies, with minor patches of rubbing to the rear boards; a near-fine set, otherwise. A charmingly-bound set, from the Library of English Classics. Originally spelled Le Morte Darthur from the Middle French for "The Death of Arthur", this, a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory tells the tale about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore. In order to tell a "complete"… Read More

Dresden, Georg Conrad Walther, 1774. Small 8vo. Contemporary mottled calf, spine ruled in gilt and with gilt-stamped lettering-piece; pp. xxiv, 456, title with engraved vignette incorporating portrait medallions of both the poet and Laura; light wear to extremities, even light toning, a very good copy of a scarce edition. Published 400 years after the celebrated poet's death, this collection was printed for students and lovers of Italian literature in Saxony. The publisher and printer Walther had good relations with the court of the elector Friedrich August II and was one of the most important German publishers of books in foreign languages, including many works of the French enlightement, which were distributed far into Eastern Central Europe.

1860. London, Thomas Cautley Newby, 1860. Two volumes in one, as issued. 8vo. Original brick red cloth, gilt, all edges gilt; pp. ix, 402, iv, 455; steel-engraved frontispiece to each volume (by Bartlett; Mount Lebanon views); expertly rebacked, new endpapers, occasional spotting or embrowning only to beginning and end of the massive volume, engraved armorial bookplate inside front cover, else a very good copy of a book usually found in poor condition and not in the beautiful publisher's binding. Very rare first edition. Urquhart was a British politician and diplomat, as well as the author of several books on Turkey, the Middle East and the Great Game. The present work offers details of a journey made in the Lebanon in 1849-50; the initial 180 pages of the first volume is a history of the Druses and the Maronites, the rest of the work is Urquart's Lebanon travel diary. With geopolitics always in mind, and Russia seen as as an expansionist threat, Urquhart observed the state of the Ottoman… Read More

Saint Petersburg, Shmidt, 1883. 8vo. Modern green half-cloth over boards, original printed wrappers bound in; pp. 214, [2]; wrappers with marginal repairs, apart from occasional very light spotting internally, a very good copy. First edition. Written by a medical practitioner in Yalta, near the southern tip of the Crimean peninsula, this volume describes the medical benefits of the climate, food, of the town and south coast, which had become a fashionable resort. OCLC lists only two copies of the second, 1895, edition, in the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine.

1889. London: Chatto & Windus, 1889. 3 vols; 8vo; original blue cloth, blocked in black with red diagonal stripe across the upper covers, white and grey floral endpapers; vol I. pp. viii, 290, vol II. pp. vi, 264; vol III. pp. vi, 282, (32, advertisements dated 1888); some light wear, with the usual rubbing to corners and head of spine and cloth faded to blue-grey, an internally clean and sturdy copy. First Edition of Collins' penultimate novel, exploring the idea of hereditary evil. The novel is one of Collins' more violent, though by today's standards it veers quickly towards the pastiche, with the murderous Helena running down potential victims in what can only be described as a Victorian Benny Hill chase sequence across three novels. Collins dedicated this novel to his unofficial 'godchild' Mrs Henry Powell Bartley (Carrie Graves) for her help as an amanuensis during his long years of sickness. Rather unfortunately for Caroline (and ironically, given Collins' love of financial crime as a… Read More

Leningrad, State Theatre, [1940]. 8vo. Original printed wrappers in red and black, pp. 70, [2], numerous photographic portraits in the text; wrappers a little dusted, internally good, released from an Estonian library (stamps to title). A very rare survival of the last complete theatre season in Leningrad before the siege, the official booklet for the season 1940-41, with articles on the actors, playwrights and plays. Named in 1989 after its founder and director N. P. Akimov, the Leningrad State Theatre of Comedy was one of the most influential and successful theatres of the Soviet Union. The artistic director Akimov had formed a collectiv of actors, designers, and technicians, who staged plays not only by Russian writers, but as well Shakespeare, Sheridan's School of Scandal or Lope de Vega. The theatre continued during the Siege of Leningrad until December, 1941, when it was evacuated to Siberia.

Paris, Giraud, 1854. Small 8vo. Contemporary green half morocco over pebble-grained cloth, spine with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt; pp. [iv], 320 (recte 318); light wear to extremities, internally a little brown-spotted in places only; 1920s Warsaw library stamp to verso of title, with release stamp. Very rare first edition of this combination of an analysis of the national character of the English with a travelogue full of detailed and sharp observations, written by a French novelist, art critic (the first to write about artistic photography), historian and essayist. Historians of French literature see in this book and details of one trip to England in 1859 as the inspiration for Jules Verne's description of life in London's clubland depicted in Around the World in Eighty Days. Not in COPAC.