Rare books from Books Tell You Why, Inc.

Lynbrook, NY: Charnel House. As New. 2004. Limited Edition. Hardcover. A beautifully crafted first edition limited to 300 numbered and 26 lettered copies (this one lettered "I") in unread As New condition in alike slipcase, signed by author Dean Koontz. With the laid-in ticket, "Prepare to be enchanted" as issued; Dean Koontz' tale of five days in the life of Jimmy Tock, who comes into the world on the very night his grandfather leaves it, an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy, a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death, and everything in between; 8vo; Signed by Author .

London: J. M. Dent & Co.. Fine. 1909. Limited Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A most beautiful Limited edition/first printing in very Near Fine condition, limited separation of signatures. SIGNED and numbered 534/750 by illustrator Arthur Rackham. Original white buckram cover and rose-colored silk ties. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Gilt lettering on front cover and spine. Gold illustrations on endpapers. Thirteen mounted full-color illustrations including frontispiece (with tissue guard). Included is also one plate not included in the trade edition; This collection of fourteen comedies and six tragedies retold in prose was first developed in the early 19th century by siblings Charles and Mary Lamb as an introduction for young readers to Shakespeare. As much as possible, the Lambs used Shakespeare's own words, especially in the tragedies. Includes A Midsummer's Night Dream, All's Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and more; Color Illustrations; 4to ; Signed by… Read More

Florence: Appresso Giorgio Marescotti. Very Good. 1573. First Edition; First Printing. Vellum. The first edition of the first comments on the first three books of "Meteorologica" of Aristotle in in the Italian language. Adams V714. Includes index and errata leaf, errori occorsi nello stampare. Original limp vellum, minor worming and soiling. Spine handlettered; With his commentary on the first three books of Aristotle's "Meteorologica", Francesco de Vieri, Professor at the University of Pisa studied not only comets and meteors but also rainbows, earthquakes, the evaporation of water, and the phenomenon of tides. The later edition in 1582 was enhanced with commentary on the fourth book on the inorganic material of the terrestrial sphere; Woodcuts; Small 8vo; [16], 166, [8] pages .

London: Jonathan Cape. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1962. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A handsome first edition/first Impression in Fine condition in alike, crisp dust-jacket without fading, vibrant and bright colors. Variant copy with printer's quad mark on the title page; Central character and narrator is "Vivienne Michel, " a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. When issued, it was banned in some countries as the most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels. Basis for the movie with Roger Moore in his third James Bond role, Barbara Bach as Major Anya Amasova (Agent Triple X) and Curd Jürgens as Karl Stromberg; 8vo ; [10], 11-221, [3] pages .

New York And London: Harper & Brothers. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1905. First Edition; First Printing. Original Cloth. First edition/first printing in bright red cloth in about Fine condition, only light acidic staining to pages opposite from plates, in very scarce dustjacket, lightly edge-worn. Copyright page with "published September 1905". An exceptional copy, hard to imagine a nicer copy to be found. BAL 3665. In custom made leather/cloth slip case; "This volume contains several of Mark Twain's funniest sketches, all narrating various journalistic experiences of his youth. These bits of literary whimsicality and adventure have become widely popular among the veteran humorist's well known writings" (from the dust-jacket) ; 8vo; [vi], 82, 6 plates pages .

London: Jonathan Cape. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1962. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A handsome first edition/first Impression in Fine condition in alike, crisp dust-jacket without fading, vibrant and bright colors; Central character and narrator is "Vivienne Michel, " a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. When issued, it was banned in some countries as the most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels. Basis for the movie with Roger Moore in his third James Bond role, Barbara Bach as Major Anya Amasova (Agent Triple X) and Curd Jürgens as Karl Stromberg; 8vo ; [10], 11-221, [3] pages .

London: Jonathan Cape. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1961. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A beautiful first printing of the first edition in Fine condition in alike dust-jacket with 16s 6d price-sticker. Scarce in collectible condition; In the novel Thunderball, Ian Fleming first introduces the world to perhaps the ultimate Bond villain -- Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Though Bond and Blofeld never actually meet, it is in this book that Bond first battles the schemes of SPECTRE, Blofeld's criminal organization. (in the movie adaptations, SPECTRE is being introduced in Dr. No and Blofeld in From Russia With Love. ) Basis for the James Bond movie starring Sean Connery, and Claudine Auger as Bond girl Dominique "Domino" Derval and Martine Beswick playing Paula Caplan; 8vo ; 253, [3] pages .

London: Jonathan Cape. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1957. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A handsome first Impression of the first edition in Very Near Fine condition in Very Good dust-wrapper showing original price of 13s 6d, slightly chipped along edges, some minor closed tears. Gilbert A5a.1.1; The fifth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming and the second to star Sean Connery as "007", involved in a series of plots and counterplots between the British and the Russian intelligence agencies. It it the first novel in which Bond receives a gadget from Q-Branch. Considered the best Bond novel and best Bond movie by many fans and critics; 8vo ; 253, [3] pages .

London: Macmillan and Co., Limited. Near Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1896. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. First edition, published on 30 October 1896, at 6s; 5,000 copies were printed. Deep blue cloth boards, lettered and illustrated on spine and illustrated on front board in gold, dark bluish green endpapers. All edges trimmed and gilt. Near Fine condition with lightly rubbed extremities. Richards E1-12, Martindell 67, Livingston 133, Stewart 157. In the rare dust-wrapper, only rather minor chipping to spine ends and corners, little tanned, soiled. Small label to paste-down. Second state wrapper with "The Works of Rudyard Kipling" on back panel rather than rectangular vignette of three Indian deities in temple arch, advertising second printing (tenth thousand) of Soldier Tales; Includes "With the Main Guard", "Drums of the Fore and Aft", "The Man Who Was", "The Courting of Dinah Shadd", "The Incarnation of Krishna… Read More

New York: D. Appleton & Company. Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. 1896. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. A handsome first (American) edition, published October 30, 1896, the same day as the English edition. Only predeced by 6 printed copies of the copyright edition on September 9. Richards A92, Livingston 130, Stewart 139. Very Good+ in the light grayish olive, dotted-line cloth, little rubbing along edges, book-plate to front pastedown. Top edges gilt. In the rare light grayish yellowish brown dusts-jacket, gilt lettering and decoration replicating the design on front and spine panels on binding, spotting and light soiling, small chip to front panel; Rudyard Kipling, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1907, wrote this book shortly after his famous Jungle books and dedicated it to the city of Bombay. Contains 209 pages of poems and ballads of sailing and the sea ; 8vo; [2], vii, 209, [9] pages .

London: Jonathan Cape. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1965. First Edition; First Printing. Cloth. A rather attractive and scarce first state of the first edition in very near fine condition, minor spotting to top edge, little bumping to tips in bright dust-jacket with minor chips to edges. Only a very limited number of first state copies (said to be less than 1,000) were made with the famous golden gun embossed on the front cover prior to the design changes for quality reasons. Gilbert A13a,1.1. In custom clamshell case with leather spine; Fleming's thirteenth and last Bond novel, followed one year later by a collection of short-stories (Octopussy and The Living Daylights). A golden bullet with "007" etched in it is received by her Majesty's Secret Service. It is believed to come from Scaramanga, hired to assassinate Bond and sent to scare his new target. Basis for the James Bond movie starring Roger Moore, and Maud Adams as Bond girl Andrea Anders, the first of… Read More

Schweiz, Österreich, et al. Very Good+. 1967. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 38 issues of Micky Maus from 1967, set mostly in very good+. The magazines have some aging to the pages, a few have soiling to the outer inch or so of the covers and rears and some creasing and rubbing to the trims. Heft 18 has a chipped tear to the uppear rear corner. Heft 25 has some corner fodling to the lower right corner. Overall, the magazines are in impressive condition; Issues of Micky Maus from the year 1967 including Heft 12: 25. März; Heft 13: 1. April; Heft 14: 8. April; Heft 15: 15. April; Heft 16: 22. April; Heft 17: 29. April; Heft 18: 6. Mai; Heft 19: 13. Mai; Heft 20; 20. Mai; Heft 21: 27. Mai; Heft 22: 3 Juni; Heft 23: 10. Juni; Heft 24: 6 Juni; Heft 25: 24. Juni; Heft 26: 1. Juli; Heft 27: 8 Juli; Heft 28: 15. Juli; Heft 29; 22. Juli; Heft 30: 29. Juli Heft 31: 5. August; Heft 32: 12. August; Heft 33: 19. August; Heft 34: 26. August; Heft 35: 2. September; Heft 36: 9.… Read More

Schweiz, Österreich, et al. Very Good+. 1968. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. First edition/first printing Micky Maus magazines in overall very good+ condition. There is some general agewear to the volumes as a set, including some page edgewear and light soiling. Heft 7 is a little more edgeworn than the others and has a large tear down the front cover. Impressive collectible editions; Issues of Micky Maus from the year 1968 including Heft 1; 6. Januar; Heft 2: 13. Januar; Heft 3: 20 Januar; Heft 4: 27. Januar; Heft 5: 3. Februar; Heft 6: 10 Februar, Heft 7: 17; . Februar; Heft 8: 24. Februar; Heft 9: 2 März; Heft 10: 9. März; Heft 11: 16. März; Heft 12: 23. März; Heft 13: 30. März; Heft 14: 6. April; Heft 15: 13. April; Heft 16: 20. April; Heft 17: 27. April; Heft 18: 4. Mai; Heft 19: 11. Mai; Heft 20: 18. Mai; Heft 21: 25. Mai; Heft 22: 1Juni; Heft 23: 8. Juni; Heft 24: 15. Juni; Heft 25: 24. Juni; Heft 26: 29. Juni; Heft 27: 6 Juli; Heft 28: 13.… Read More

Schweiz, Saargebiet, et al. Very Good+. 1953. First Edition; First Printing. Softcover. A first printing of the first edition collection of Micky Maus magazines from 1953 in very good+ condition. The magazines are mildly soiled and sport some foxing to the edges of the covers and pages, and are housed in original faded blue hardcover binder ; Collection of Micky Maus magazines featuring Donald Duck stories from 1953 including Nr. 1 - Januar; Nr. 2 - Februar; Nr. 3 - März 1953; Nr. 4 - April; Nr. 5 - Mai; Nr. 6 - Juni; Nr. 7 - Juli; Nr. 8 - August; Nr. 9 - September; Nr. 10 - Oktober; Nr. 11 - November; and Nr. 12 - Dezember ; 8vo .

Schweiz, Saarland, et al. Very Good+. 1959. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Volume 2-3 of Micky Maus Magazines from the year 1959, set overall in very good+ condition, there is some page edge soiling to the edges of most, Nr. 19 has a crease to the upper right corner, Nr. 27 has a small tear to the outside front cover. There is some fraying to the magazine spines. Nr. 43 has a small tear to the lower front corner. Each volume of magazines is in its original binder, cocking to spine and general wear; Issues of Micky Maus magazines from 1959 including Nr. 14: 4. April; Nr. 15: 11. April; Nr. 16: 18. April 1959; Nr. 17: 25. April; Nr. 18: 2. Mai; Nr. 19: 9. Mai; Nr. 20: 16. Mai; Nr. 21: 23. Mai; Nr. 22: 30. Mai; Nr. 23: 6. Juni; Nr. 24: 13 Juni; Nr. 25: 20. Juni; and Nr. 26: 27. Juni; Nr. 27: 4. Juli; Nr. 28: 11. Juli; Nr. 29: 18. Juli; Nr. 30: 25. Juli; Nr. 31: 1. August; Nr. 32: 8. August; Nr. 33: 15. August; Nr. 34: 22. August; Nr. 35: 29. August; Nr. 36: 5. September; Nr. 37:… Read More