Rare books from Capricorn Books

Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, (1997). 367 pp, "Uncorrected Manuscript", Ver. 97.1.14. The author's first novel. "A magnificent love story in the tradition of Ernest Hemingway's 'A Farewell to Arms', 'Cold Mountain' is a breathtaking account of one man's voyage home from the front at the end of the Civil War. Based on true stories passed down by the author's great-great grandfather, 'Cold Mountain' is the tale of a wounded soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of war and back home to his prewar sweethea rt, Ada..." Soft crease/bump to top corner of back cover affecting approx. last 30 pages of text, light bump at bottom of text block causing light creasing to bottom corner of pages 255-288, minor edge wear to covers/corners, lamination at bottom corner of front cover just starting to lift, small soft creases at fore edge of front/rear covers, light rubbing/scuffing, spine flat and uncreased.. Trade Paperback. Good+.

London: J.M. Dent, 1946. 200 pp, small 8vo (approx. 7 1/2" H) - black boards with white lettering on spine. Contains twenty stories selected from 'Midnight House', 'The Beast With Five Fingers', and 'Moods and Tenses'. Richardson 'introduces them with an essay on ghost stories in general and on Dr. Harvey and his stories in particular. Contents: Midnight House; The Dabblers; Unwinding; Mrs. Ormerod; Double Demon; The Tool; The Heart of the Fire; The Clock; Peter Levisham; Miss Cornelius; The Man Who Hated Aspidistras; Sambo; The Star; Across the Moors; The Follower; August Heat; Sarah Bennet's Possession; The Ankardyne Pew; Miss Avenal; The Beast With Five Fingers. Bequest bookplate on front free endpaper (from the actor Raymond Massey to his alma mater), small bookstore label on rear pastedown, minor wrinkle at bottom of spine, minor rubbing to boards. Dust jacket is price-clipped, has light to moderate edgewear, small chips at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds,… Read More

Michael Joseph, London, 1981, first edtion. 206 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H), hard cover in dust jacket. ISBN 0718120396 Charming b&w illustrations. "There is a growing need for the 'quiet fields' in this noisy, restless world. Mercifully, they can still be found by the country-lover and naturalist. This book tells of a year spent deep in the countryside, beginning when the year is young, when trees and hedges are bare to the winter winds, and on through the spring, summer and autumn, to winter once again. Whatever the season of the year there is always something to see in the countryside, even when the 'quiet fields' are sheeted with snow. There are the winter migrants - the wildfowl of the wet places, the delicate fieldfares and redwings - who come to Britain to escape the bitter temperatures of their native lands. 'BB' also describes the advent of the spring migrants, which bring such intense joy to the naturalist that he even had to surrender his studio to a swallow… Read More

Toronto: Frederick D. Goodchild, 1918. 323 pp + ads, small 8vo (7 9/16" H) - maroon cloth with gold lettering and RFC insignia on spine and front board. The first Canadian edition (with Goodchild on the spine) was prepared from sheets of the American first edition (D. Appleton with '1' on last page of text and Appleton's ads at rear) with the Goodchild title page tipped-in. The author's personal reminiscences of his time in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Contents: First Experiences; Training; Overseas; France; Over the Lines; A Bomb Raid; Scrapping; Mainly About Two Seaters; A Night Stunt; Artillery Control; The Day's Work; Zep Straffing; The Somme; The Red Cross Machine. Tiny tear with crease at bottom of page 73/4, Xmas 1919 gift inscription in pencil on front free endpaper, light browning to fore-edge and bottom of textblock, darkening and a few small light stains to top of textblock, very light edgewear, light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, light… Read More

Arthur H. Clark, Cleveland, 1914, first edition. 392 pp, large 8vo (9 5/8" H), hard cover (maroon cloth with gold lettering on spine) - no dust jacket. Top edge gilt. B&w frontispiece. Title continues: "Documents Published for the First Time, From the Original Spanish and French Manuscripts, Chiefly in the Archives of Mexico and Spain; Translated into English; Edited and Annotated". Section Headings: Indian Troubles in Texas, and the Attack on De Mezieres and the Baron de Ripperda; Frontier Problems, 1774-1777; Plan for Joint Campaigns Against the Osages and Apaches by the Nations of the North and the Forces of Texas and Louisiana, 1777-1778; The Expedition of 1778 from Bexar to the Nations of the Upper Trinity, Brazos, and Red Rivers; The Expedition of 1779 to the Nations between Natchitoches and the Middle Brazos; Recommendations for Reforms in the Province of Texas - The Death of De Mezieres, 1779; Errata; Index. Very light browning to pages, light waterstain at top of pages… Read More

London: Souvenir Press, 1985, 1986, 1987., 1985. 220 pp, 220 pp, 203 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H) - 3 volumes. ISBNs 0285626515, 0285627139 & 0285627805. B&w maps. From the dust jacket of 'The Bombay Marines': "Newly returned from a successful assignment to rid the Arabian Sea of pirates, Captain Adam Horne of the frigate 'Eclipse' is summoned to the presence of his commading officer, Commodore Watson, head of the East India Company's private fighting unit, the much derided Bombay Marines. It is 1761, and Pondicherry, last stronghold of the French in the Indian subcontinent, has just fallen to the British. Now Captain Horne is given a strange and secret mission: to capture the defeated French commander Thomas Lally, from his prison at Fort St. George in Madras - or the unit will be disbanded for failure. Due to the deployment of most of the Marines on the east coast of India, Horne's force is seriously undermanned. He is left with only one choice: to take his pick of… Read More

Edinburgh: T.N. Foulis, 1914. 225 pp + publisher's advertisements, 8vo (8 1/2" H) - dark green cloth with gold lettering on spine and front board. Top edge gilt. Fore edges of textblock untrimmed. 12 colour plates from oil paintings by Jack B. Yeats, tipped on to gray stock and tissue-covered (collated). Chapter headings: The Higher Official; The Minor Official; The Policeman; The Squireen; The Politician; The Country Gentleman; The Farmer; The Publican; The Exile from Erin; The Parish Priest; The "Minister"; The Young Lady and Gentleman in Business. Previous owner's name/date on front pastedown, faint pencil erasure marks on free front endpaper, light edgewear, slight browning to spine, some soiling/browning to yapped page edges.. Reprint.. Hard Cover. Very Good-/No Jacket. Illus. by Jack B. Yeats, colour plates..

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. 3 volume set, 9 7/8" H. Map end papers, many b&w photographs (some aerial), maps, charts, graphs, tables, fold-out colour maps. Volume I. Canadian Airmen and the First World War, by S.F. Wise - 771 pp, 1980 first printing, ISBN 0802023797. Section headings: Introduction; Canadian Training and Air Policy; The Admiralty and the Air; Strategic Airpower; Airpower in the Land Battle; Conclusion; Appendices. Volume II. The Creation of a National Air Force, by W.A.B. Douglas - 797 pp,1986 first printing, ISBN 0802025846. Section headings: Between the Wars; The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan; The Air Defence of Canada, 1939-45; The North Atlantic Lifeline; Appendices. Volume III. The Crucible of War, 1939-1945, by Breton Greenhous, Stephen J. Harris, William C. Johnston and William G.P. Rawling - 1096 pp, 1994 first printing, ISBN 0802005748. Section headings: Air Policy; The Fighter War; The Maritime Air War; The Bomber War; Air Transport;… Read More

Goshen, Connecticut: Angler's and Shooter's Press, 1973. (xxxvi), (xvi), 304 pp, 12 3/4" H. No. 115 of 250 copies, initialled on limitation page by both editors. Full dark blue leather with bevelled edges, five raised bands and gilt lettering/decoration on spine, gilt banding and illustration of bird of prey with salmon on front board. Top edge gilt, integral ribbon bookmark, marbled endpapers. A facsimile of the 1888 edition, reproducing the original b&w illustrations, fold-out map, decorative headpieces and initial capitals, etc., with the addition of a tissue-covered colour frontispiece by Charles DeFeo - "Dean Sage's Favorite Flies" (signed) and a colour plate by Ogden M. Pleissner (signed). Chapter headings: The River; Canoes and Indians; Camp Harmony; The Salmon; Tackle and How to Use It; The Salmon of the Matapedia Bridge; Hours for Angling; The Waugan et Infra; The Season of 1885; The Adventures of 1886; Angling Literature. Includes an Introduction by Arnold… Read More

New York: Argophile Press, 1958. xi, 241 pp, 8vo (9 1/4" H), gray cloth with black lettering on spine and front board, light gray endpapers. Number 4 of the first, limited edition of 75 copies, signed by Cummings. B&w illustrations. "This book consists of a cluster of epigrams, forty-nine essays on various subjects, a poem dispraising dogmata, and several selections from an unfinished play. Taken ensemble, the forty-nine astonish and cheer and enlighten their progenitor. He's astonished that, as nearly as anyone can make out, I wrote them. He's cheered because, while re-reading them, I've encountered a great deal of liveliness and nothing dead. Last but not least; he's enlightened via the realization that, whereas times can merely change, an individual may grow." From the author's Foreword. There is a previous owner's erased pencil signature mark at the top of the free front endpaper (some light thinning to the paper) and a very slight indentation of the… Read More

Montreal: William Notman, 1865. 425 pp, 350 pp, 280 pp, - 3 volume set, 8 5/8" H (just under 22 cm). These volumes have been rebound in dark red faux leather cloth with gilt lettering/bands and blind stamped decoration on spines. Speckle decoration to text block edges. New medium brown endpapers and white preliminaries - original text starts with the full title pages. All 84 photographs are present and all except "Honorable Alexander Campbell" have the guards. Each photograph is accompanied by a short biography. Volume I, published in 1865, contains 30 tipped-in photographs, including: John A. Macdonald, George Moffat, George Etienne Cartier, J.William Dawson, Joseph Howe, Rene Edouard Caron, Lt. Colonel Irvine, Thomas Talbot, Isaac Buchanan & Samuel Wentworth Monk. Volume II, published in 1867, contains 30 tipped-in photographs, including: Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Sir John Michel, Alexander Tilloch Galt, John Hamilton Gray, Colonel John Prince, George Brown, Jospeh Ulric Tessier,… Read More