Search Results: Titles starting with W from Ash Rare Books

London : J. Wallis, [ca.1814]. First edition : the second state, with the addition of plate numbers to Wallis's delightfully engraved sequence of maps. A very pretty pocket atlas of the English counties, generally dated to 1810, although surely post-dating Wallis's larger county atlas of that year and probably datable to about 1812, with the present issue (distinguished by the addition of plate numbers) probably dating from about 1814. Pott 4to (146 x 109mm). Engraved title-page, contents page, general map of England and Wales, forty-two county maps (one - Yorkshire - double-page), two regional maps of North and South Wales, and a smaller map of the Isle of Wight - all with original hand colour. Original publisher's half sheep, with the publisher's leather label on upper board; some minor wear and marking, with slight splitting; a little shaken and slightly loose; short split to double-page map; one map (Wiltshire) deftly attached or re-attached by two old metal pins, and possibly supplied from… Read More

London : Scion, [1950]. First edition. Anchored between Mars and Jupiter in the year 2150, the royal space cruiser Starwind awaits a royal event. Queen Maylion of Earth is about to give birth to a future king or queen. Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design attributed to Ron Turner; some wear; some creasing; shallow chips to upper wrapper; staples rusted and discoloured; a few small internal flaws, but a reasonable copy. Aside from a microform at the Bodleian, no copy located in any major UK library.

London : Bantam Press, (2008). First edition. Brigadier Mallinson with a further instalment of the much-lauded adventures of Matthew Hervey of the 6th Light Dragoons- South Africa in 1828, Hervey escorts an embassy to Shaka, King of the Zulus. Medium 8vo (25cm). x,(338),[ii],[2]pp. Endpaper maps. Original blue boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; very good in the pictorial Robert Papp dust-jacket - just faintly creased.

London : Scion, (1953). First edition. Duke is swimming with a blonde and a redhead in the Gulf - and then their friend (the brunette) gets shot. Duke Linton was a Scion house-name, but American copyright records give the authors of the present title as Victor John Hanson and Herbert Victor Lowe - the first presumably Victor Joseph Hanson. Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; lightly worn and a little creased and bruised; tiny nicks and chips; text lightly tanned; faint stamp of a Vancouver bookseller on title-page, with an American copyright stamp on verso; American price over-sticker on upper cover, but overall a very good copy of a scarce and fragile production. Just a single copy (Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide.

London : W. H. Allen & Co., 1887. First edition. An interesting study and possible solution to 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', supplied by the prolific writer on astronomy, mathematics, etc. Crown 8vo (19cm). viii,166,[ii] + (48)pp advertisements dated December 1887. Extra engraved title-page. Original decorative cloth gilt; spine slightly tanned; slight wear to tips; endpapers cracking; a little shaken and slack, but a clean and serviceable copy. With the ex-libris label of the well known doctor-cum-actor, Eric John Llewellyn Jones-Evans (1898-1989), and the earlier dated February 1888 ownership inscription of A. M. Heathcote of Winchester - Arthur Malcolm Heathcote (1847-1934), publisher, author of verse plays for children, reciter, entertainer, etc. Loosely inserted is a stamped and receipted 1935 invoice from the booksellers H. M. Gilbert & Son of Southampton to Dr. Jones-Evans.

London : Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830. First British edition. Alida de Barbérie is abducted by pirates - the brigantine "Water Witch" is pursued by Captain Ludlow. Set in and around the still half-Dutch New York of the early eighteenth century - the press was unanimous: "the mystery of the story, and the life and spirit of his characters, have, indeed, seldom been equalled, and is nowhere surpassed" (Morning Chronicle) - "Cooper, the American novelist, has no living superior" (The Scotsman). Precedes the American edition by two months, although a slightly earlier edition improbably published in Dresden is known in a handful of copies. Three volumes. Demy 12mo (188 x 114mm). viii,(322); [ii],316; [ii],308pp. Bound, without the advertisement leaves, in a smart contemporary half blue-green calf, banded and gilt; red labels; marbled sides; sprinkled edges; a few internal marks and spots, but still overall an excellent set. With the contemporary armorial bookplate in each volume of the… Read More

Glasgow : J. Watson, [1943]. First edition. Two stories from James Watson - "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" and "Twins", and two from John Watson - "Workmates" and "Hogmanay". I take the latter to be the John Watson who founded the Muir-Watson publishing house in Glasgow after wartime service in the R.A.F. - here with a first attempt at publishing. Crown 8vo (18cm). 16pp. Original stapled wrappers; a few marks; staples rusted through; but a good copy of a scarce title. Just a single copy (British Library) traced in major libraries worldwide.

London : Robert Hale, (1965). First edition. "Ira Marsh, a provocative blond teenager, arrives at Paradise City, Florida's crime-free, millionaires' playground. Her arrival sparks off a cunningly devised plan to rob the Florida Safe Deposit bank, an impregnable fortress, acclaimed as the safest bank in the world". Post 8vo (21cm). 192pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket - the jacket with some mild wear at extremities and a few slight marks, but also very good. Ownership inscription of S. Hill.

Kettering : Nina Steane, [1971]. First edition. "We are the child dervishes of the Chilterns, We Whirl, We roll in chalk, We strike sparks from flint ..." - a broadside poem dramatically illustrated by Harry Housman of Principal Edwards Magic Theatre. Number 14 in Nina Steane's "All In" series of poetry posters. Single sheet, printed in gold and black. 48 x 37cm. Minor wear, some creasing, and a couple of slight chips to edges, but a very good copy of a particularly fragile item. From the collection of the poet Martin Booth (1944-2004), with his book-label on verso. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

London : Christopher Sandford at the Golden Cockerel Press, 1946. First edition : one of 750 numbered copies. A rousing anthology of verse and prose - from Shakespeare to Churchill, from the well-known to the obscure - extolling the spirit of Britain at war, Britain at sea, and Britain in the air. Over sixty pieces, including both Wellington and Thackeray on Waterloo, Instructions to Captain Cook, Nelson's Prayer before Trafalgar, etc. Illustrated with wood-engravings (made on active service) by John O'Connor (1913-2004), and with an introduction by Dorothy Rutter (1892-1961). Crown 8vo (20cm). [iv],150,[vi]pp. Eleven wood-engravings. Original buckram-backed decorative boards; top edge gilt; a very good copy.

Charlottesville : for the Folger Shakespeare Library, by the University Press of Virginia, (1970). First edition. A thorough, extensive and richly illustrated study of Hollar and his milieu, presenting a fresh interpretation of the man himself. "He has left an invaluable record of seventeenth-century England". Royal 4to (28cm). (xiv),122pp. Folding plates. Numerous illustrations. Original canvas; top edge a touch dusty, but otherwise a very good copy in the dust-jacket - the jacket a little tanned, lightly worn and reinforced at tips.

London : John Murray / J. & H. L. Hunt / John Murray, 1823 / 1824 / 1821. Three Byron first editions bound together - "Werner" (the traditional first issue, without "The End" and the printer's imprint on p.188, Byron's gothic play set in a ruined castle on the Silesian frontier; the scarce "The Deformed Transformed" - a Faustian pact, and "Marino Faliero" (the traditional first issue, with the shorter speech on p.151) - an indecent libel on the Doge's wife sets the action in train. The last also contains Byron's long poem, "The Prophecy of Dante". Three volumes, bound in one. Demy 8vo (210 x 128mm). viii,188; 88; (xxii),(262)pp. Bound, without half-titles and advertisements, in contemporary half russia, now neatly rebacked in a stout and workmanlike morocco; marbled sides and edges; some minor external wear; a few leaves lightly bruised, but very good, clean and crisp texts of these three separately published Byron first editions. With the nineteenth-century armorial bookplate of Robert Hutton.

[London : George Virtue, 1835]. An attractive antique print - a view of the West Bow - and a lively historical scene of Covenanters being led away. Engraved by Charles Cousen (1813-1889) from an original study by the gifted Thomas Allom. Originally produced for the part-work series "Scotland Illustrated" (London : 1835-1838). Steel line engraving on paper. Later hand colour. Engraved surface 190 x 117mm (approx. 7-1/2" x 4-5/8"). In very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique print.

London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (1958). First edition. Wildeblood is best-known for his "Against the Law" (1955) - an account of his imprisonment for homosexuality which led more or less directly to the Wolfenden Report and decriminalisation - but he appears here in much lighter vein with an amusing novel of Soho life - gang warfare interferes with one of the area's staple industries and Cora and the working girls are obliged to found the National Youth Movement for the Prevention of Hooliganism in Soho (NYMPHS for short). Crown 8vo (20cm). 192pp. Original turquoise boards, lettered in silver; lightly marked; edges and prelims somewhat spotted; "Supplied for the Public Service" crown stamp on lower edge, but a good copy in the Charles King dust-jacket - the jacket lightly worn, slightly nicked, and a little marked and spotted - but complete and striking still.

[London : George Virtue, 1829]. A most attractive antique print - the fourteenth-century moated castle and former royal palace - cattle in the moat. Engraved by John Rogers (1800?-1882) from an original study by the landscape artist George Sidney Shepherd. Originally produced for the "England's Topographer" series of Kent views (London : 1828-1831). Steel line engraving on paper. Engraved surface 106 x 156mm (approx. 4-1/8" x 6-1/4"). A few tiny specks, but overall in very good and clean state. A guaranteed genuine antique print.

Cambridge : Macmillan & Co., 1855. First edition. Kingsley's ever-popular saga of the days of Drake, the Armada, etc. - "the most perfect romance that we have yet had from Mr. Kingsley's pen ... he is in love with the manliness, hardihood, and imagination of our forefathers" (Daily News, 4th April 1855). The first novel ever published by Macmillan and probably unique in Victorian fiction in having a holiday resort named after it (much to Kingsley's annoyance). Three volumes. Crown 8vo (185 x 120mm). [2],viii,(304); vi,356; vi,(374)pp. Bound, with half-titles and preliminary advertisement, but without the inserted catalogue sometimes found, in a near contemporary quarter roan, ruled and lettered in gilt; marbled sides; sprinkled edges; some light wear; faint cracking to vol. iii; internally, some soiling, marking and fraying - especially to vol. i; one leaf with a more extensive repaired tear; occasional pencil marks; a reasonable and modestly priced set of a difficult Victorian classic. Small library… Read More

London : Orion, (2019). First edition in this form. Signed by the author on the additional Waterstone's signed first edition title-page. A revised version of Rankin's long-forgotten early techno-thriller, with an interesting new six-page introduction on the book's origins and history by Rankin. Medium 8vo (25cm). [xviii],288pp. Original white boards, lettered in gilt; black edges; very faint bruise to one corner; slight bleed from sprayed black edges to final few leaves, but otherwise a very good copy in a very good dust-jacket. With the publisher's "Signed" and "Lost Classic" stickers on the dust-jacket.

London : Victor Gollancz, 1946. First edition. A baronet murdered in his study. The tale told in part by his widow and in part by the police sergeant - "a triumph of storytelling, humour and wit. Impersonation and a visit to Australia is a tour-de-force. A passing reference to 'poor Insp Appleby' suggests the mood" (Barzun & Taylor 1901). Crown 8vo (19cm). (192)pp. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt; spine a little sunned, and faded at tips where the jacket is a little damaged; endpapers lightly tanned; a few faint edge spots, but otherwise a very good and sound copy in the Gollancz yellow dust-jacket - the jacket a little worn and tanned at spine, with a short tear to the rear panel and a few faint marks and spots, but a welcome survival of a fragile item. Small stamp of D. A. McLean, Belfast bookseller, on rear endpaper.

London : Cassell & Co., (1929). First edition in English of "Climats" (1928) - a story of love and jealousy, a man and two women - "the familiar triangle in an unfamiliar construction" (The Graphic, 19th October 1929) - from a French author immensely popular in the English-speaking world in the interwar years. Translated by Dr Joseph Collins (1866-1950). Crown 8vo (20cm). [iv],(314),[ii]pp. Original black cloth, ruled and lettered in gilt; just slightly bruised; edges spotted, but a very good copy in the original pictorial dust-jacket - lightly sunned and with a little light wear, but also very good.

New York : Avon Publishing Co., (1950). First paperback edition. "Martha Mills was a brunette spitfire whose anatomy was her strong point. She had kept a Broadway show running by hard work and the aid of a scanty costume ...". First published in 1938, but here "specially revised and edited for Avon Books". Avon 241. Foolscap 8vo (17cm). 251,[v]pp. Original pictorial wrappers; all edges red; some light wear and minuscule chipping; text lightly tanned, but overall still a very good copy.