Rare books from Idler Fine Books

Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1943 First printing of the first edition. One of 1,217 copies printed, Publisher's black cloth with gilt spine titles, octavo, 458 pages. The fourth book issued by Arkham House. The companion novel to The Outsider and Others. Accompanied by three letters from August Derleth to Clark Ashton Smith, discussing dust jacket art. Also includes a prepublication announcement card and a subsequent information card, as well as a letter from Derleth verifying an order for copies of Beyond the Wall of Sleep. Light rubbing at head and tail of spine and at corners of boards, text block is faintly age toned, but clean, unmarked, and tight in binding. Scarce dust jacket is slightly rubbed at spine head and tail and at corner tips. Overall near fine to fine condition.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935 First printing of the first edition, first state with pages 349-352 uncancelled and the text unrevised on pages 350 and 351.

One of only 5,100 copies printed.

Original dark bluish green cloth linen-grain cloth with blind single-rule border on front cover and with spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Pages 350.5-7 reads: 'he need not base himself on the adding machine-calculating machine-probability machine-St. Francis of Assis machine any longer.' And at 351.29-30 the text reads: '"Oh, catch it-oh, catch it and take it-oh, catch it," she sighed.'

In the original dust jacket by Doris Spiegel, with drawings of figures from the stories against an orange background on the front panel, $2.50 price on the front and rear flap. Light bump to bottom, back spine, light tanning to end papers, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with some age-toning and offsetting to spine and back cover, with professional conservation, primarily to… Read More

New York : William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, 1886 First printing of the first American edition and first English edition. Brown cloth boards with gilt lettering and black line illustrations. Five volumes of a 6 volume set, missing the last volume, vol. II Borodino 1812-1820. Vol.I Before the Tilsit: head of spine chipped, paper along gutter of endpaper slightly cracked, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. II Before the Tilsit: head of spine chipped, light rubbing to covers, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. I The Invasion: head of spine chipped, light rubbing to board edge, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. II The Invasion: bottom corner slight bump, light rubbing to corners, endpaper slightly cracked, faint age-toning to page margins; vol. II Borodino: 1 inch chip to head of spine, light rubbing to covers, light age-toning to page margins; vol. II Borodino: missing from set. Overall in very good to near fine condition.

Pittsburg, PA: Providence Art Club, 1940 36 x 22 inches, oil on canvas board.. Signed by Norwood MacGilvary on the verso.

Providence, Rhode Island: Providence Art Club , 1920 32 x 26 inches, oil on canvas. Signed by Norwood MacGilvary, with his thumb print directly below his signature, on the bottom right corner. In very good to fine condition.

Providence, Rhode Island: Providence Art Club, 1925 25 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. Signed by Norwood MacGilvary on the bottom left corner. In very good to fine condition.

Pittsburgh, PA / Washington, D.C. : The Associated Artists at Carnegie Institute / The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1928 25 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. Signed by Norwood MacGilvary directly on the bottom right corner.

New York: Viking Press, 1939 First printing/first issue of the first edition; original beige cloth boards, in original first issue dust jacket. Book with mild toning primarily near gutters of the illustrated endpapers and faint rubbing to bottom boards, else in fine condition; dust jacket with a closed tear and diagonal crease to bottom front cover, soft diagonal crease to upper back flap, mild edge wear and shallow creasing, light paper loss to ends and corners, faint toning to spine, a few surface scratches to covers, and light rubbing, else fine. A well preserved collectible.

New York: Random House, 1957 First edition, stated first printing in original unrestored dust jacket. Bottom spine cloth overlay slightly crimped, light toning along gutter of endpapers, back pages slightly moister rippled, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with slight toning to spine and folds, moderate wear to extremities, and a closed tear to bottom front spine fold and bottom front flap fold, else fine.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Read More

New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973 First printing of the stated first edition. Presentation copy (signed and dated in year of publication on the half-title page) to famed civil rights lawyer and activist, Jack Greenberg (1924–2016): "For Jack Greenberg / long in the / Storm. / Sincerely, / Alice Walker / 2-26-73." Provenance: the personal copy of Jack Greenberg, consigned by his adopted son William Cole.
Light rubbing to edge of boards, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with light toning to cover margins, light wear to spine ends, and light shelf wear.

Jack Greenberg was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall.

Greenberg represented Martin Luther King Jr., but was best known for his role in litigating Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the high court rejected “separate but equal” public schools for blacks and… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers / A Story Press Book, 1938 Presentation copy from Richard Wright to Ernest Hemingway: "To Ernest Hemingway / From / Richard Wright." Stated second edition in married original dust jacket, first published with four novellas; two more were added when the book was reprinted in 1940.
In Down by the Riverside, included in this collection, Wright transposes the Italian retreat at the Battle of Caporetto in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms to the American South. Richard Wright was known to be a great admirer of Ernest Hemingway, whom he once named as a modernist writer whose work should be read by aspiring black authors (Scruggs, Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, 58–59).
Mild toning to margins of endpapers, light toning to page margins, spine ends gently crimped, and a light pale stain to bottom front cover, foot of spine, and just an inch to bottom back spine fold, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with professional… Read More

Sauk City: Arkham House, 1943 First printing of the first edition. Publisher's black cloth with gilt spine titles, octavo, 458 pages. The second omnibus collection of Lovecraft's tales and other material. The fourth book issued by Arkham House. 1217 copies printed (the earlier companion volume, THE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS [1939], had a larger print run). Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1041. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 4-158. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-132. Joshi I-A-17.
Accompanied by three letters from August Derleth to Clark Ashton Smith, discussing dust jacket art. Also includes a prepublication announcement card and a subsequent information card, as well as a letter from Derleth verifying an order for copies of Beyond the Wall of Sleep.

Light rubbing at head and tail of spine and at corners of boards, text block is faintly age toned, but clean, unmarked, and tight in binding. Scarce dust jacket is slightly rubbed at spine head and tail and at corner tips. Overall near… Read More

Huntington Woods: Phantasia Press, 1983 A deluxe limited edition of only 35 lettered and signed copies; this being the letter Q. Signed by Isaac Asimov, in silver ink, directly on the colophon page. Full black morocco goat with metal and plastic design elements inset on front board, silver titles and decorations of a metallic robot head, and a metallic positronic brain set in a red and blue ionic setting, metallic endpapers, 8vo, 336 pp; issued without dust jacket. Book in fine, as new condition.

New York: Pantheon Books / Random House, 1975 First printing of the stated first edition, along with the publisher's copyright correction. Signed by Noam Chomsky directly on the half-title page. Book in fine condition; dust jacket with a short closed tear/crease to upper spine end, minimal edge wear, and faint toning to cover margins, else fine. An exceptional copy.