Rare books from BookAddiction

York Street, Covent Garden: George Bell and Sons, 1875. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Elephant Folio - over 15 - 23" tall. Complete in three volumes. Original deep green cloth with gilt lettering and gilt decoration on spine, gilt vignettes in blind stamped decorative borders to the upper covers. Remarkably clean and bright. All three volumes have mild fraying to head of spine, and lightly rubbed on corners. All three volumes have labels on front paste down indicating the volumes once belonged to one William J Clarke - labels have impressed in front free endpapers, and occasional small stamps indicating there were once in the possession of Scarborough public library - accession stamps on copyright page, else no other markings. A beautiful, well preserved set, fresh, clean and bright internally, firmly bound, square and sharp. 232 tissue-guarded colour plates, with accompanying textual descriptions and notes. A large and heavy set which will require an additional charge for overseas… Read More

1964. No Binding. Very Good. A printed, folded card invitation to a preview, to be held at 40 North Parade, Bradford, on 10 January 1964, of David Hockney's 'A Rake's Progress - A Graphic Tale Comprising Sixteen Etchings', exhibition at the Lane Gallery, 10th to 16 January 1964. Card printed in red and black, very slightly rubbed at tips of corners and one short indentation near lower corner. Approximately post card size, being some 16 cm by 11.4c m when folded, and 21.5cm by 11.4 cm when opened out. Clean and crisp. From one of Hockney's earliest exhibitions, his first one man show having taken place just a year earlier at Kasmin Ltd.

London: Printed for J Everingham and T Reynolds for the Author and Sold by W Owen, 1756. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. xliv, 336pp. Title page printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece by J S Miller and wood cut head and tail pieces in text. In a later, perhaps 19th century, binding. Bound in full calfskin leather, with gilt rules and lettering, five raised bands and red leather title label on spine. All edges coloured. Signed and inscribed by the author on the first leaf, presenting the volume to Capel Hanbury, one of the Members of Parliament for the County of Monmouth. Boards a little worn, especially around rounded corners, leather cracking along spine joints, drying on spine. Endpapers edge marks and strained, else internally remarkably clean, fresh and bright. Firmly bound and square. Llandrindod Spa, its origins in Roman times, was rediscovered in the late 17th century and popularised by a poem praising the waters which appeared… Read More

Arundel Street, London: Leonard Smithers, 1896. 1st Edition 1st Impression. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Beardsley, Aubrey. 1st edition, 1st state. 48pp, embroidered with nine full page drawings by Aubrey Beardsley (frontispiece with tissue guard). Green cloth boards with elaborate and extensive gilt decorations, bevelled edges, top edge gilded, all other page edges deckled. (Boards a little rubbed, mildly scuffed at corners and spine folds). Bookplate on front paste down, a little toning to pages, especially the tissue guard over the frontispiece, a couple of chips to page edges. Overall a very good clean and strong copy of this new edition of Pope's Rape, with Beardsley illustrations. One of the extraordinary products of Beardsley's Annus Mirabilis of 1896. The Rape of the Lock was first published in 1712 by Bernard Lintott, at the sign of the Cross-Keys, between the two Temple Gates. Fleet Street. It was then in two cantos. It was occasioned by a… Read More

York, Yorkshire, UK: Printed for the Author by Thomas Wilson and Sons, 1829. 1st Edition 1st Impression. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. First edition (a second part, published by John Murray, followed in 1835/6). xvi, 192pp plus ten maps and charts, all but one of which are hand-coloured, and 14 further plates of monochrome line drawings. Slip bound in giving additional subscribers. In a later library binding of green cloth-covered boards, gilt titles on spine. Rubbed spine ends, cloth worn in at edges in places. General shelf wear to boards. Corners gently rubbed and rounded. Library reference label on front paste down endpaper, pocket on rear paste down. Some page toning and very light foxing. Some light staining, mostly not affecting images, on plates. Stamp on last page. Containing a geological map, sections and plates of the fossil plants and animals, this is the scarce first edition of John Philipp's important study of the geology of Yorkshire, the first… Read More

London: Printed for James and John Knapton, John Darby, Arthur Bettesworth, Francis Fayram, John Osborn and Tho. Longman, John Pemberton Charles Rivington, Francis Clay, Jeremiah Batley and Aaron Ward, 1722. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Elephant Folio - over 15 - 23" tall. The second edition of Camden's Britannia. was first published in Latin in 1586, and in Gibson's English translation in 1695. Awnsham Churchill brought out an issue in 1722. This imprint issued between 1722 and 1725. Complete in two volumes. Vol one: engraved portrait frontispiece, and 9 plate illustrations depicting coins, two smaller illustrations showing Stonehenge and a second stone circle in Oxfordshire, eleven double page county maps by Robert Morden and two double page regional maps. Volume two has eight double map county maps by Robert Morden, 1 plate illustration of coins and relics, three further double page regional maps and two fold out maps. Both volumes have further smaller illustrations in… Read More

London: Printed by Mark Baskett, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett, 1763. Soft cover. Very Good. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. pp359-363; small folio with extra title page, with engraved vignette (chapped and toned at edges, disbound, with a near contemporary clipping relating to the house of Harrison birth pinned at top, text bright and fresh barring on title page which is a tad aged). The 18th century quest to determine longitude at sea is an epic tale of science and law. It was on the one hand, a transformational scientific achievement: John Harrison's marine chronometer provided the solution to a problem which had baffled the likes of Galileo and Newton. On the other, the story ranges into the realms of the rights and wrongs intellectual property and the development of administrative law. So debilitating to trade and shipping was the longitude problem that in 1714 Parliament offered a £20,000 reward (worth several million… Read More

Royal Air Force, 1940. Hardcover. Very Good. Blue cloth-covered boards (a little rubbed at edges, some marks on front cover). The Flying Log Book of Leading WREN, subsequently Petty Officer and then Third Officer, Jean Wilson Hird, a radio mechanic in the Woman's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War. Eight pages of the log book have been completed, showing PO Hird's flights and flying times from her qualification as a radio mechanic in March 1942 to July 1945. Most of the flights appear to have been test flights testing radio equipment but by 1945 PO Hird making longer flights to Ireland etc. Includes details of aircraft flown, pilots and purposes etc. Also laid in to the log book are (1) Jean Wilson Hird's Certificate of Service (showing her enrolment in the WRNS and service at HMS Pembroke, HMS Daedalus etc and noting her promotion, with a letter from HMS Ariel pinned on (2) Certificate of Appointment as a Third Officer for Jean Wilson Hird, dated 24 October 1934 and… Read More

London (18, Princes Street, Cavendish Square): R H Porter, 1892. Hardcover. Very Good. 1892-4. All six text parts, bound in two volumes, with original paper wrappers bound in at rear of each volume. Please note that this set does not include the called for plates or coloured folding map, which would likely have been bound into volume three. The original wrappers bound in at rear all include a note to subscribers - 'the xx plates for this part not being quite finished, these will be issued to subscribers in a separate cover when ready'. Volume One: lv, 298pp (leaf 115-116 duplicated), with original paper wrappers at rear. Volume Two: 297-681pp, plus erratum leaf and original wrappers bound in at rear. Bound in contemporary half leather over cloth, with blind rules and gilt lettering and decoration to spine in five compartments. Top edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Boards a little rubbed at edges, with a few small mild marks; volume one is a little more heavily rubbed at spine ends and… Read More

1541. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. First edition, 1541. 236 pages, 118 leaves (not including modern prelims and end-blanks). Title page printed in red and black within an ornate woodcut architectural-style border with woodcut arms within architectural border, page decorations, also within architectural style border on title page verso. Decorated initial caps throughout. In a later binding: cream vellum with dark brown leather spine straps and cream soft leather ties; modern endpapers (leather covers very slightly rubbed on edges). Occasional early inked marginalia, including a small drawing of a woodpecker on leaf bi and a cuffed hand pointing on leaf bii. Marginal paper repairs and restoration to first leaf and title page, further occasional small marginal and spot paper repairs. Some marginal browning, encroaching on text on last few leaves only. The name Joseph Campi is written at the foot of n4; and that of Hieronymi… Read More

London, UK: Hamish Hamilton, 1954. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. 154pp. Signed on the front free endpaper by Vivien Leigh, Sir Laurence Olivier and Jeremy Spenser. In blue cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on spine (front board very slightly bowed, hint of fading to spine). Internally neat, clean, bright and tight barring a previous owner''s name on the front free endpaper. In its original illustrated dust jacket (a little bumped on upper edge, chipped around spine head, slightly sunned on spine, some visible shelf wear on recto). Dust jacket now protected in an archival quality mylar wrapper, fitted without the use of tapes or adhesives. Terence Rattigan's 'occasional fairy tale' proved a brilliant success at the Phoenix Theatre in London when it opened with Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Oliver in the leading roles, and Jeremy Spenser playing the King. The play recounts what happens when his Royal Highness the… Read More

London, UK: Issued Privately By Arrangement with William Heinemann, 1989. Limited Edition . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. From a limited edition of 56 copies, this being No. 36. Two volumes, both handsomely quarter bound in deep green Nigerian goatskin, with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, over cream tweed cloth, top edges gilt. Both volumes signed by the author on the title page. Volume one: xii, 568pp; Volume two; 569-1188pp. Sparsely illustrated. Presented in a green cloth-covered slipcase (slipcase very slightly rubbed on one edge). Also included in the slipcase in a deep green cloth-covered strong, folding portfolio which contains a number of documents issued with the biography (i) a specimen chapter of the final typesetting proof (ii) several copies of an appeal by A W Lawrence, T E Lawrence's heir and literary executor, for assistance in providing information and access to documents on behalf of T E Lawrence's authorised… Read More

London, UK: Chapman & Hall, 1955. 1st Edition 1st Impression. Hardcover. Good/Good. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. First edition, first printing (true first). 336pp. Black cloth-covered boards, gilt titles on spine. Spine and titles sun faded. Bumped spine ends. Some shelf wear and small stains to covers. Blue stained top edge, light foxing to other edges. Free endpapers and first/last pages tanning. Signed and inscribed by author on front free endpaper 'For Elizabeth with great admiration from Evelyn'. Internally neat, clean, bright and tight. Dust jacket mylar wrapped (not adhered to jacket) has some shelf wear to rear, 3cm closed tear top front and two small tears at front corners. Price unclipped. 8vo. The second novel in the Sword of Honour series recording the tumultuous wartime adventures of Guy Crouchback.

New York, NY, USA: The Vanguard Press, 1957. 1st Edition 1st Impression. Hardcover. Very Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. First edition, first printing. 182pp, with photographs of original cast members on endpapers and sporadically elsewhere in text, all courtesy of Van Damm. With a foreword by Patrick Dennis. Signed on the half title by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee, the co-playwrights; and by Patrick Dennis, author on the novel on which the play is best; and by Constance Bennett who, in the 1930s was Hollywood's highest paid actress and who starred in the play in the title role, Auntie Mame, during its national tour of 1957-58. Quarter-bound in black cloth over speckled paper-covered boards (A little worn and mildly discoloured at edges, cloth rounded at spine ends, slightly cocked; upper text block edge a little dust-toned). Internally neat, clean, bright and tight with just the occasional mild sign of fingering. In its original, worn and torn dust jacket,… Read More

London, UK: George Allen & Unwin, 1979. Hardcover. Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Tolkien, J R R; Riddert, H E. 2nd impression of Deluxe edition. [4] 286pp, [4]. In black cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on spine and gilded, silver and red Smaug the dragon on the front panel. Speckled edges. Two 2 page maps - Thor's map at the beginning of the book and a map of Wilderland at rear. Colour plate frontispiece and 12 further colour plates, eight of which are coloured by H E Riddert. 8vo. There is a small, mild shadow mark on the front panel else the volume is in fine condition throughout. Presented in its original slipcase, a paper label, as called for, on the front. The slipcase is a little worn at edges, lightly rubbed at corners, with some mild spotting on the label. An truly beautiful volume, exquisitely produced.