Search Results: Titles starting with M from Fine Editions Ltd

New York: Dodd, Mead, 1927. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine+. First Edition (same date on title and copyright pages) of the author's third novel, set in Minnesota. Small 8vo: [6],346pp. Publisher's coarsely woven green cloth, spine and upper cover decorated with a wheat stalk and lettered in gilt, decorated end papers, top edge stained orange, fore-edge untrimmed; green and orange dust jacket lettered in cream and priced $2.50. Former owner's inscription to front fly-leaf, dated 1927. A Fine copy, square and tight; better than Near Fine jacket with short edge tears and minor nicks. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

London: Macmillan [from 1869], 1902. Decorative Cloth. Early reprint of "one of the finest scientific travel books ever written" (DSB) and Wallace's magnum opus, chronicling his eight-year sojourn through the Malay Archipelago. 8vo (196 x 129mm): xvii,[3],515,[1]pp, with tissue-guarded frontispiece, title-page vignette, 10 unnumbered maps (2 folding), and 51 full- or partial-page engravings by Thomas Baines, Walter Hood Fitch, John Gerrard Keulemans, E. W. Robinson, Joseph Wolf, and T. W. Wood. Original publisher's green pebbled cloth, upper cover and spine stamped in gilt, black coated end papers. A gorgeous copy, sound binding (though slightly rolled), minor marks to covers, very occasional foxing, but an excellent example in original cloth of Wallace's most important work. Norman 2176 (for first edition). Garrison-Morton 7439. A nearly identical reprint of the 1890 tenth edition, including bibliographical references and index. Originally published, in two volumes, in 1869. The Malay Archipelago,… Read More

London: Methuen, 1960. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine+. First Printing of this thriller set in a Spanish village. Crown 8vo (200 x 132mm): 200pp. Publisher's forest green finely woven cloth, spine lettered in silver, striking dust jacket illustrated by David Watson and priced 15s. A handsome example, tightly bound and clean throughout (jacket's back panel gently toned and dust-soiled, short closed tear to upper spine panel fold). The first of Ames's late series Juan Llorca stories, featuring a Spanish civil guard who, in this installment, falls for the prime suspect in a murder mystery. Followed by The Man with Three Jaguars (1961) and The Man with Three Chins (1965). N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers… Read More

London: Chatto & Windus, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Near Fine+. First Impression (no further printings noted). 8vo: 399,[1]pp. Publisher's burnt orange imitation cloth, spine stamped in gold, matching burnt-orange top stain; typographic dust jacket designed by John Woodcock, priced 21s. A Fine copy, square and tight with spine gilt undiminished, better than Near Fine jacket, mildly toned with light edge wear. Petersen A52.9. Man Working 146. Burgess 99, p. 73. Final installment in the author's Snopes trilogy, and yet another example of the value to be found in the graphically superior designs of most UK editions of American authors' works. Chapter 13 is a revision of "By the People," a short story first published in Mademoiselle. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions… Read More

New York: Random House, 1959. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine-. First Printing (so stated) of the third (and concluding) novel of the Snopes family saga. 8vo: [12],436pp. Publisher's blue coarsely woven cloth, upper cover and spine ruled in grey and lettered in gold, top edge stained yellow, blue end papers; first-state pictorial dust jacket, price-clipped, but with publisher's code "10/59" on front flap and author's photograph by Ralph R. Thompson on back panel. About Fine, with minor crease to spine toe; about Fine jacket, barely rubbed at spine panel tips. Petersen A52.2b. Man Working 141. Burgess 99, p. 73. Chapter 13 is a revision of "By the People," a short story first published in Mademoiselle. "Turgid and difficult as he is, Faulkner is worth the trouble." (Burgess) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly.… Read More

London: Longman and Co., Paternoster Row, and J. and C. Walker, 3, Burleigh Street, Strand, n.d.. Later Printing. Decorative Cloth. Fine. Hand-colored engraved map (sectioned into 15 parts and mounted on linen) folded into pebbled green cloth wallet with decorative printed paper title label to upper cover. Covers measure 125 x 92mm; map sections, 115 x 85mm; scale, 10 English miles equal 80 mm. Principal roads marked in color; county boundaries hand-colored in outline. Printed sheet of statistics and tables of distances, town populations, market days, and fairs to inner upper cover. An excellent example, clean, tight, and unmarked. Originally published in 1835, as part of Walker's County Maps series (also including Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Devonshire, Durham, Hampshire, Westmoreland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire East Riding, Yorkshire North Riding, and Yorkshire West Riding). N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully… Read More

London: Printed For David Steel, Union-Road, Little Tower Hill, 1794. Full Calf. Fine. Rare First Edition of Steel's exhaustive treatise on shipbuilding (complete in two continuously paginated volumes bound as one), a massive work addressing all things maritime in the age of sail. Demy 4to (262 x 204mm): xv,[3],185,185*,186-240; [4],245*-260*,244-425,[5],147,[1]pp, with 95 inserted copper-engraved plates (some folding and double-page), depicting shipbuilding, masts, ropes, sails, and the like; two volvelles (one defective), and numerous full-page tables. (Pagination is continuous but highly irregular, per ESTC.) Contemporary full tree calf covers with old reback, flat spine gilt in six compartments, red leather lettering piece gilt, marbled end papers, separate title pages. Book plate of conservationist Frederick E. Ellis (1916-2010), of Shaw Island, Washington. A superb example in period binding, tightly bound and clean throughout, with excellent impressions of the plates; compass volvelle absent… Read More

London: Printed for John Richardson, under the Royal Exchange; Black, Parry, and Kingsbury booksellers to the honourable East India Company; and William Heather, Leadenhall Street, 1808. Full Calf. Near Fine+. Rare First Edition, second issue, of this key work on maritime and nautical procedures and equipment in the age of sail. Demy 4to (257 x 204): x,[2],120 pp, profusely illustrated with 110 engraved plates by the author and by William Butterworth of Leeds on 55 sheets showing 587 figures. Contemporary (or slightly later) brown calf spine in six compartments divided by raised bands, titled direct in gilt, covers framed in blind with rope roll; old ownership signature to title page, book plate of conservationist Frederick E. Ellis (1916-2010), of Shaw Island, Washington. A handsome example, soundly bound and generally clean throughout (pages and plates with occasional minor stains and browning, as often, and several neat old edge repairs). Maryne (Language of Sailing), p. 359. Apparently preceded… Read More

A Paris, et se vend à Nantes: chez P. de Heugueville, marchand libraire, à la Bible d'Or. Et chez l'auteur, au Croisic, 1698. First Edition. Full Calf. Fine. Rare First Edition of this early treatise on navigation (all of which, especially those of the Bougeurs, Jean and his son Pierre, have become increasingly scarce), including both celestial and nautical charts. 4to (232 x 184mm): [10] or [8], 224 pages, with etched additional title page, vignette on letterpress title, eleven folding engraved plates (including two constellation charts and three maps), and engraved head pieces and historiated initials. Contemporary calf, spine richly gilt in six compartments between raised bands, all edges gilt, marbled end papers. Book plate of Frank S. Streeter (Christie's sale, 17 April 17, 2007, Lot 56) to front paste-down. A superlative, wide-margined copy (isolated minor spotting) with excellent provenance, tightly bound and clean throughout. Polak 1046. A second edition appeared in 1706. Bouguer was one… Read More

New York: J. W. Bouton, 1880. Decorative Cloth. Fine. First Edition of this consideration claiming correspondences between ancient Egyptian obelisks and Freemasonry, shedding light on the beginnings of civilization. Demy 8vo (231 x 141mm): [2],178,34pp, with tissue-guarded frontispiece, six additional full-page plates of the Central Park obelisk, its construction, and symbols (three in color), and numerous line drawings. Publisher's blue-green cloth, front cover paneled in blind with gilt obelisk device, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, leaf-patterned end papers. Ex libris to front paste-down of freemasonry Lodge "Mark Masons Hall" and of Masonic member Wolfram Kraffert. Faint red band, an ancient Egyptian symbol of regeneration and of Freemasonry, to lower spine. A beautifully preserved example, tightly bound and clean throughout. Weisse was a French-American physician, philologist, and archaeologist with interests in both Freemasonry and ancient Egypt. The focus of his treatise is the connection… Read More

New York: New Directions, 1946. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good+. First Edition (no additional printings noted) of the drama, adapted by the author from her novel for the stage. 8vo; [10],118pp. Publisher's mauve cloth, spine titled in burgundy, fore-edge untrimmed, pictorial price-clipped dust jacket, featuring a photo of a scene from the play. Fine, binding square and secure, pages bright and fresh, in Very Good or better jacket, spine panel lightly faded and rubbed at both ends with several small nicks and chips, front panel with one or two light creases and two barely discernible circular stains (pea-sized or less). Flora & Bain, p. 308. The Broadway production, directed by Harold Clurman, opened on January 5, 1950, at the Empire Theatre, running for 501 performances. The cast included Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, and Brandon De Wilde. The production "solidified her [McCullers] popular sucess." (Flora & Bain) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in… Read More

London: Faber and Gwyer / Faber and Faber [through 1936], 1928. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine-. An uncommonly handsome set of Sassoon's celebrated World War I trilogy, one of the great classics of English literature (Fox-Hunting Man was awarded both the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Prize). First Impressions of the three separately published volumes. Crown 8vo (186 x 122mm): 395,[1]; 334,[2]; 280pp. Uniformly bound in publisher's French blue cloth, spines lettered in gold, top edges stained, respectively, saffron, pink, and reddish brown; plain paper dust jackets, all priced 7/6, cream printed in blue (Fox-Hunting Man), pale yellow printed in black (Infantry Officer), and French blue printed in black and red. Fox-Hunting Man: Published anonymously, in an edition of only 1500 copies. Misprint on line 1 of p. 191 ('merey' for 'merely'), but 'platoon' spelled correctly on penultimate line of p. 365. (According to Keynes, the "typographical irregularities have no significance… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1930. First Impression. Hardcover. Fine/Fine-. First Trade Edition of the second installment in Sassoon's lightly fictionalized autobiographical trilogy. 8vo: 334,[2]pp. Publisher's French blue cloth, spine lettered in gold, top edge stained pink, fore-edge rough-trimmed; pale yellow typographic dust jacket printed in blue and priced 7s/6d. Loosely laid in is a letter on Faber and Faber stationary, replying to a question asking why some copies of the first edition have uncut [rough-cut] page edges and others do not {Keynes describes the edges as "trimmed."]. "As a matter of fact, it was the author's wish that some part of the first edition should be produced with uncut edges and some 3,000 odd were published in this manner. However, as far as we are concerned there is no difference at all between the cut and uncut edges; both issues were printed simultaneously, the only difference being when the sheets reached the binder's cutting room." According to Keynes, 20,000 copies of… Read More

London: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine. First Impression (one of only 1,222 copies) of this "remarkably acute and assured novel about the pre- and post-war generations, seen from both sides of the divide" (ODNB) in the uncommon first-state binding. Crown 8vo (183 x 118mm): 294pp. Publisher's pale pink coarsely woven linen, spine lettered in blue; mid-brown dust jacket illustrated by Jack Banting, printed in blue and priced 7/6. About Fine, tightly bound and clean throughout (apparently unread); jacket virtually pristine. Woolmer 294. According to the Literary Encyclopedia, the death of Isherwood's father in the First World War and the deep, lifelong mourning into which his mother fell provide much of the background for the family dynamics of Isherwood's early novels, including The Memorial, in which Cambridge student Eric Vernon finds himself torn between a desire to emulate his heroic father and his envy… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1939. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition (so stated) of Wilder's classic play and basis for "Hello Dolly." 8vo: [8],180pp. Publisher's peach-colored cloth, burgundy title block stamped gilt laid onto spine and front cover; illustrated end papers by Donald McKay, who also illustrated the dust jacket, which is priced $2.00. Perhaps a review copy, with date of publication (Mar. 30, 1939) rubber-stamped onto front flap. A spectacular example, square, tight ,and clean throughout; bright and brilliant jacket slightly sunned at top of spine. Goldstone & Anderson I-B-ii-5. Adapted by Wilder from Einen Jux will er sich machen (He Will Go on a Spree or He'll Have Himself a Good Time) by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy (also the source of Tom Stoppard's "On the Razzle"), which, in turn had its origin in an 1835 one-act farce, "A Day Well Spent," by the English dramatist John Oxenford. Wilder's version centers on Horace Vandergelder, a wealthy Yonkers businessman… Read More

à Amsterdam: chez E. Maaskamp, près du Palais, 1816. First Edition thus. Half-Calf. Fine. First separate edition of this rare guide for tourists to the northern provinces of the Netherlands, Oblong foolscap 8vo (113 x 162mm): [80]pp, with title-page vignette by W. van Senus and 37 finely executed aquatints printed in sepia by L. Portman after G. J. Michaelis, F. A. Milats and others, each followed by numbered letterpress leaf with descriptive text in Dutch and French translation on verso. Contemporary brown half leather with vertically ribbed matching cloth sides, marbled end papers. The plates are of historic buildings, monuments, and statues, as well a scenes of Dutch cultural life, including ice skating, boating, and the like, in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Delft, Haarlem, and other locales. Old manuscript ex libris (in English) to first blank of Ada Sylverwood [?] Eames, 1880, who has inscribed on facing paste-down: "A sacred relic from old Ruddington." A fine example, tightly bound and… Read More

Mount Vernon, Maine: [Privately Printed] at the Old Colony Press, 1933. Limited Edition. Stiff Wrappers. Near Fine+. No. 71 of 100 copies signed by Caldwell on half-title page and by the illustrator, Alfred Morang, in pencil on frontispiece below image. Slim foolscap 8vo (170 x 102mm): [4],11,[1] pp. Staple-bound stiff pink-brown wrappers printed black, owner's signature in pencil to front inside cover. Faint tide mark along lower edge of text block, also faintly visible on back wrapper, else Near Fine or better. Blanck, p. 95. A single short story, in which love is lost. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

London: printed for Taylor and Hessey, No. 93, Fleet Street, 1815. Full Calf. Fine. Second Edition of this classic of meteorology (first published in 1814), which revolutionized the understanding of ventilation in public places and for which Wells was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society. Demy 8vo (212 x 127mm): [4],150pp. Beautifully bound in contemporary calf, spine richly gilt in six compartments, covers framed in blind and gilt, red leather lettering piece gilt, Prussian blue end papers. Manuscript presentation to title page: "To Dr. [James] Jackson, from the Author," with Jackson's engraved armorial book plate to front paste-down. A gorgeous example, tightly bound and generally clean throughout. Lowndes 2871 ("A valuable little work"). Garrison-Morton 1604. Norman 2199 and (Christies) 848. Blocker, p. 416. Waller 12191. Knight, p. 191 ("Perhaps more important than any writings on induction by philosophers was the splendid example of inductive reasoning by William Charles Wells. . . .… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape, 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Impression ("First published 1980") of Barnes's first novel. Crown 8vo (197 x 125mm): 176pp. Publisher's steel-grey cloth, spine stamped in silver, grey end papers; black typographic dust jacket (priced-clipped) printed in metallic silver and white. Signed book plate of Otis Skinner Blodget (1930-2007), only child of actress and author Cornelia Otis Skinner, laid in. Virtually pristine and apparently unread, a very fine copy. Rees A1a. In 1980, after a prolonged apprenticeship (on staff at the Oxford English Dictionary, reviewing books for the Times Literary Supplement, and as literary editor of the New Statesman), Barnes published this short novel, a charming Bildungsroman centered on a young man growing up in London's northern suburbs (in 1956, Barnes's family moved from Leicester to Northwood, a suburb served by London Underground's Metropolitan line and thus the "Metroland" of his title), obsessed with France (where Barnes… Read More

Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1922. First Edition. Wrappers. Near Fine+. First Issue (with advertisements at rear dated October 1921, without "Printed in England" stamped on title page) of Tolkien's first book, a Middle English dictionary meant to accompany an anthology of fourteenth-century verse and prose assembled by Kenneth Sisam. Only 2,000 copies were printed, and many of these were bound with later editions of Sisam's book, further decreasing the number of copies bound in original wrappers. First State binding (of three), without advertisements printed on recto and verso of front free end paper. Crown 8vo (188 x 121mm): [168]pp. Publisher's original buff wrappers, upper cover titled in black within frame of printer's ornaments, spine lettered in black, text in double columns, unpaginated. Previous owner's script to fly-leaf: "McDuffee Balliol / 1922." Slight wear to spine with minor rubbing at ends, trivial marking to covers. An excellent example of this scarce title in original first state… Read More