Search Results: Titles starting with O from Ash Rare Books

[London : George Virtue, 1836]. A charming antique print - a fleet of yachts in the sound, the town beyond. Engraved by Matthew James Starling (1805-1889) from an original study by the gifted artist-architect Thomas Allom. Originally produced for the part-work series "Scotland Illustrated" (London : 1835-1838). Steel line engraving on paper. Engraved surface 136 x 174mm (approx. 5-3/8" x 6-7/8"). A few faint marks to outer blank margins, but overall in very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique print.

London : Hutchinson, (1990). First edition. Inscribed, signed and dated (1991) by Alan Brownjohn on the title-page. A collection of thirty-two poems, including "What Lovers Do in Novels", "Film Noir", "The Sunshine Coffee Lounge", etc. "Some of the best British poems of the last thirty years" (Gavin Ewart). Post 8vo (20cm). [viii],56pp. Original wrappers, printed in black, red and pale green, and lettered in white; just a hint of bruising, but a very good copy.

London : Jonathan Cape, (1971). First British edition. Lowry's final novel, completed in draft form before his death and edited from his marginal notes and instructions by his widow, Margerie Bonner. A journey "on which hangs the meaning of his being" to the island off Vancouver. "Had he lived and worked it into the dense rich complexity of Under the Volcano it would have been another such masterpiece ... the familiar Lowry hallmarks of occultism, subtlety with words, vivid recurring images, the theme of lost homes and an endless journey ... Lowry's search for humanity's lost equilibrium" (Victoria Brittain in the Illustrated London News, 1st November 1971). "A species of ecstatic prose that has all but gone out of existence" (Matthew Corrigan in the New York Times, 25th October 1970). Post 8vo (21cm). [4],[viii],336pp. Original maroon boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; top edge grey; tiny bruise at foot; some almost imperceptible tanning of endpapers; some spotting of edges, but a very good copy… Read More

London : Michael Joseph, (1965). First edition. Inscribed, signed and dated by Dick Francis in the year of publication. The first Sid Halley novel - steeple-chase jockey turned sleuth investigates the cunningly contrived decline of a race-course. Post 8vo (21cm). (256)pp. Original brown boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; a few tiny marks, but a very good copy in the Broom Lynne dust-jacket - bright, fresh and very good indeed, with only minuscule wear at foot and a couple of marks to inner flaps. A very attractive copy.

London : William Heinemann, 1942. First edition. A collection of eight poems, including "The Burning Glass" and "The Dancer in Darkness". Demy 8vo (22cm). [vi],56,[ii]pp. Original teracotta cloth, blocked in blind on upper cover, blocked and lettered on spine in gilt; a touch darkened and dulled, but a good copy in the original black and white dust-jacket - slightly worn, soiled, nicked, marked and price-clipped, with a short tear on the rear panel.

New York : Magazine Productions, (1953). First edition. "A suspense-packed novel of the guys, the dames, the joints, the creeps who surround our army camps and prey on our soldiers". No. 130 in the Rainbow Book series. Crown 8vo (20cm). [iv],7-130pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - lady in black distracts two soldiers from a shooting gallery; some minor wear and creasing; some water damage to lower wrapper; staples rusting; a few marks and spots; text a little tanned, but a good copy of an uncommon title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

London : Chapman & Hall, 1955. First edition. The second volume in Waugh's "Sword of Honour" trilogy - "'Men at Arms' ended with the death of Apthorpe. 'Officers and Gentlemen' begins with the placation of his spirit, a ritual preparation for the descent into the nether world of Crete". Crown 8vo (20cm). [x],(336),[ii]pp. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt; top edge blue; a few slight marks; a few edge-spots, but a very good copy in the original Val Biro dust-jacket - a design in blue, yellow, white and black - lightly marked, with a few nicks and a very short tear, the lower panel spotted, but complete and attractive still.

Leeds : Yorkshire Conservative Newspaper Co. ("The Yorkshire Post"), 1889. First edition. An absorbing account, with much on the early history, Doncaster, John Frederic Herring, Ferrybridge, Tadcaster, York, Easingwold, Thirsk, Northallerton, Boroughbridge, and especially Leeds - with much incidental local history and numerous illustrations by the author of old coaching inns and local landmarks. Demy 8vo (22cm). (xvi),237,[iv],[1]pp. Illustrations almost throughout. Original pictorial red cloth gilt; just a touch dulled, a touch shaken, but a very good copy.

London : The Studio, 1910. First edition. A handsomely bound and richly illustrated monograph, with an admirably researched history of the genre. Demy 4to (287 x 199mm). xii,(44)pp. 128 plates. Contemporary half red morocco, banded and gilt, for Sotheran, by Alfred & Frank Denny of the Strand; top edge gilt; some minor wear; some occasional spotting, but a very good copy.

[London : 1878 (or later)]. An interesting antique print - Short & Son, a well-stocked fishmonger claiming that the business dates back to the days of Henry VIII . Engraved by Benjamin Fleming (fl.1874-1878) from a study by William Henry Prior. Originally produced for the part-work "Old and New London" (London : 1873-1878). Wood engraving on paper. Engraved surface 145 x 107mm (approx. 5-3/4" x 4-1/4"). Text on verso. In very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique print.

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (1996). First edition. Signed by John Lawton on the title-page. The second of the much-admired Frederick Troy series - Chief Inspector Troy is assigned to bodyguard and spy on Nikita Khrushchev on his visit to England - "A splash of Greene, a twist of Deighton, a small measure of history - Lawton has produced a thrilling cocktail" (The Times). Royal 8vo (25cm). [x],416,[vi]pp. Original maroon boards, lettered in gilt; the merest hint of bruising, but a very good copy indeed - bright, clean and sound - in an equally very good dust-jacket.

London : Hutchinson, (1987). First edition. Warmly inscribed, signed "Alan B." by the poet and dated (1991) on the title-page. A collection of forty-one poems, including "Waterloo Road", "Through Binoculars", "Scene from the Fifties", etc. - "our finest social poet since Larkin" (Peter Porter). Post 8vo (20cm). [iv],(60)pp. Original pictorial wrappers (Jane Russell in The Outlaw); very slightly rubbed and faintly bruised; text a touch tanned as usual, but a very good copy.

London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1951]. First edition. Almost the entire issue of the magazine is given over to this full-length story - a novella in the Deegan "Old Growler" series, a rather attractive British precursor of "Star Trek". The final few leaves are given over to a quiz, a short piece on atoms, some science news, and a couple of short reviews (one for Asimov's I, Robot). Crown 8vo (19cm). 110,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by George Ratcliffe; spine a little worn and discoloured; wrappers rubbed and slightly creased; staples much rusted; text very faintly tanned, but a reasonable copy.

London : Victor Gollancz, 1956. First edition. "As a detective story something of a sell - there is no murder in it; in fact so far as I could make out no crime at all. As a story it is a success, in its bizarre and wholly personal Innes way ... [but] not enough corpse and too much library" (Elizabeth Bowen in The Tatler, 18th April 1956). Crown 8vo (20cm). (224)pp. Original red boards, lettered in gilt; mild spotting of edges and endpapers, but a good and sound copy in the dust-jacket - the jacket price-clipped and a little rubbed and tanned, with some chipping and wear at head.

London : William Heinemann, 1892. First edition. "The Old Maids' Club was founded by Lillie Dulcimer in her sweet seventeenth year. She had always been precocious, and could analyse her own sensations before she could spell. In fact, she divided her time between making sensations and analysing them ...". Twenty entertaining tales from the annals of the club, including the very funny "Algebra of Love", "The Man in the Ironed Mask", "The Old Young Woman and the New", "The Mysterious Advertiser", "The Beautiful Ghoul", etc. - "Two books for the holiday season, to be read lounging in a hammock, or under the shadow of a cliff, are Mr. Zangwill's 'Old Maids' Club', and Mr. Grossmith's 'Diary of a Nobody'. The former is very droll in places ..." (Cheltenham Looker-On, 20th August 1892). "Worth all the inanities of Jerome K. Jerome and all the thin fun of Barry Pain bundled together" (Glasgow Evening Post, 30th June 1892). Crown 8vo (20cm). viii,326,[ii] + 16pp advertisements dated March 1892. Forty-four… Read More

Glasgow : Muir-Watson, [1951]. First edition. Small-town beauty Topaz Gellhart surrenders herself to an itinerant artist and now knows she must experience little old New York. Meanwhile, Jek Arminos, New York gang boss, drives pretty Sally Armour to suicide. Crown 8vo (18cm). (128)pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some light marks, some creasing, and a little wear, but a better than usual copy of a Muir-Watson publication. Just two copies (Bodleian & National Library of Scotland) found in major libraries worldwide.

London : George Routledge & Sons / New York : G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1924. First edition. A well-illustrated and wide-ranging guide in the Home Connoisseur series - with chapters on the engravers; processes; terms; wood blocks; mezzotints; stipples; line engraving; aquatints; lithographs; colour prints; Baxter prints; Arundel prints; early book illustrations; frontispieces and title-pages; dedicatory plates; printers' marks; bookplates; portraits; Japanese colour prints; sporting prints; military prints; costumes; trade cards; tickets, etc. Demy 8vo (22cm). xii,(282),[ii]pp. Plates. Original cloth gilt; just a hint of rubbing; a few plates a little loose (but all present); a very good and bright copy.

London : Victor Gollancz, 1986. First edition. The fourth William Dougal and James Hanbury novel - Hanbury plans to marry into respectability - but on the day they return from their honeymoon, the new bride is electrocuted by a faulty lamp standard. Post 8vo (21cm). (184)pp. Original red boards; very good indeed in the original yellow, black and cerise dust-jacket - price-clipped, but otherwise also very good indeed.

Newton Abbot : David & Charles, (1979). First edition. A fine and detailed study of the extraordinary events - faction, feud and controversy - surrounding the building of the first Westminster Bridge in the mid eighteenth century. With much on Antonio Canaletto, Sir Henry Fielding, Richard Graham, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Andrews Jelfe, Charles Labelye, Batty Langley, Thomas Lediard, etc. Royal 8vo (25cm). (320)pp. Plates. Maps. Original cloth; a very good copy in the dust-jacket - also very good.

London : Herbert Jenkins, 1925. First edition. An engaging anthology of prose and verse relating to gardens and gardening, culled from wide-ranging and often little-known sources from the reign of Charlemagne to the end of the eighteenth century. With separate sections, inter alia, on castle gardens; the joys of gardening; the gardener; women gardeners; lovesome flowers; sundial mottoes; the orchard; bee lore; astrological lore; gardening calendars, etc. With a bibliography of sources. Compiled by the distinguished gardener and garden designer Sophie Rohde of Reigate. "Will interest the gardener and historian alike, and even the general reader cannot fail to find much that will please him in these enchanting pages" (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 4th February 1926). Foolscap 8vo (169 x 105mm). (332)pp. Bound, for Hatchard's, in an elegant near contemporary half crimson morocco; top edge gilt; a couple of tiny marks; slight tanning of the outer edges of the endleaves, but still a very good copy.