Rare books from JimsOldBooks

Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, 1959. No dustwrapper, some discolouration to cream cloth-covered boards, some foxing to outer pages, otherwise a good clean tight copy of this large hard-cover book. Deals with the graphic works of the Catalan surrealist artist Joan Miro i Ferra. Originally published in the US as ''Joan Miro: his Graphic Work'' in 1958, this is the Spanish language edition published a year later. Limited edition of 500, this copy being number 482. A heavy book, packaged weight is about 1700g, so extra postage will be required from buyers outside the UK. Pages not numbered but about 138pp, pictorial endpapers, numerous b&w and some colour illustrations of Miro's work, some gate-fold, some double page. . Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Miro, Joan. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall.

Oxford: Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1981. Ex university (Royal College of Art) library copy with paper label inside front board and bar-code label on f/ep, ink stamp on f/ep; minor creasing to top edge of unclipped dustwrapper, book smells a bit of being kept in a garage or shed, thugh this should fade. Otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book, part of the publisher's ''Oxford Studies in the History of Art and Architecture'' series, looking at the works of the Italian renaissance painter Sebastiano del Piombo. This was the first detailed assessment of del Piombo's work to have appeared in English. A heavy book, packaged weight would be about 1400g, so extra postage will be required from buyers outside the UK. 175pp plus 144pp showing 204 b&w illustrations of the artist's work.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Ex-Library.

Florence: Origines: Studi e Materiali Pubblicati a cura dell'Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protoistoria, 1996. A very good clean tight copy in similar dustwrapper of this hard-cover book. Originally published in Italian in 1980 as ''Le pitture preistoriche della grotta di Porto Badisco''. Deals with the neolithic cave paintings at Porto Badisco, to the south of Otranto in the heel of Italy, which were first discovered in 1970. 180pp plus 128pp (some folding) of b&w plates (and a few in colour). Please note: this is a heavy book, weighing over 2kg, so extra postage would be required.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

London: Hutchinson Benham, 1978. Quite a few small tears to the edges of unclipped dustwrapper, minor wear to spine ends and corners of green cloth-covered boards, the book smells faintly of being kept in a shed, also the covers are bowed. Otherwise, still a good clean tight copy of this not-very-common hard-cover book. Deals largely with the work of the Dutch marine salvage company Smit International. 270pp, 7 colour and 31 b&w illustrations.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Lagos, Nigeria: Department of Culture, 1987. Some wear to outer edges of cover, but no creasing to the spine of this soft-cover book. A ''Nigeria Magazine'' publication, this book deals with the use of masks in traditional drama of the Igbo (formerly Ibo) people of southern Nigeria. 164pp, 33 b&w illustrations.. Paperback. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2011. No dustwrapper (as issued), slight bumping to spine ends and corners, otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. Contains twenty-six pieces by various authors on aspects of archaeology on sites wholly or partly underwater, including areas whish were dry land in the mesolithic period. Mostly deals with sites in northern Europe, but also with north America and the eastern Mediterranean areas. 338pp, colour and b&w illustration and diagrams throughout.. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2003. English language edition. Very slight creasing to top edge of dustwrapper and some scratching to back panel of same. Original owner's gift message (blacked out) takes up most of f/ep, but otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. Issued to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the Spertus Gallery in 2003-04, deals with the Temple at Jerusalem, and with the ''Temple Scroll'' which was one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 167pp, illustrated throughout, mostly in colour.. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

New York: Columbia University Press, 1941. Slipcase is quite worn, with the lower side being missing, the top part of inner (closed) side torn, and wear to the corners of the outer (open) side. The book itself has minor bumping to spine ends and corners, an old price in pencil on f/ep (66 rupees 8 annas which would have equated to £4 8/8 at the time), but otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. Looks at the hand- and arm-gestures (hasta prana and samyita) used in classical Indian dance and their meaning. The author, originally from Texas and called Russell Meriwether Hughes, studied dance in India in the 1930s. 100pp, over 200 b&w illustrations showing the different gestures. Also includes a small leaflet for a performance of Indian dance, no date but would be just post WW2.. Hard Cover. Good/Fair. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

London: Blackie & Son Ltd, 1911. No dustwrapper, some fading to the spine of red cloth-covered decorated boards but gilt titles thereon are still bright. Some shelf-wear to spine ends and corners, and old water staining to back cover, otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. A biography of G A Henty, the popular Victorian author of adventure stories for boys, by an author of similar tales. This was Manville Fenn's final book. Originally published in 1907, this is a ''New Edition'' from 1911. 370pp, 2 b&w illustrations, many of them previously appearing in Henty's novels.. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co (1933) Ltd., 1942. Original (not facsimile) dustwrapper has a 3 inch tear to the top right-hand corner of front panel and a smaller, 2 inch one at the top end of spine, and some smaller tears and creasing to the edges of dustwrapper. Minor bumping to spine ends and corners of blue boards, an old price (16 rupees which would have been 21/4 sterling, or just over a guinea, so quite expensive back then) in pencil at top corner of f/ep and original (or a slightly later) owner's gift message dated August 1946 on same page. Otherwise a good clean tight copy in not so good dustwrapper of this not-very-common hard-cover book. Deals with big-game hunting (tiger mostly, but also leopard, rhino and other animals) in Nepal in the 1930s, based around hunting trips by the hereditary Prime Minister and ruler of Nepal Juddha Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana. 174pp, 12 colour and 31 b&w plates, 2 folding maps.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" -… Read More

London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1900. No dustwrapper, some bumping and minor shelf-wear to spine ends and corners of blue cloth-covered boards, binding just starting to split at the page between the black free front endpaper and the half-title, which has a previous owner's name in pencil. Minor foxing to outer pages, otherwise a good clean tight copy, with gilt titles on spine and front board all still bright, of this hard-cover book. A tale of revolution in a (fictitious) Mediterranean country, this was Churchill's only novel. This is the first UK edition, one of 1500 copies, published by Longman, Green & Co on 30th January 1900 (a larger {4000 copies} edition was published earlier in the US in November 1899). 345pp, 2pp adverts.. First UK Edition. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

London: Methuen & Co Ltd, 1906. Third and Cheaper Edition, published by Methuen in May 1906. No dustwrapper, wear to edges of boards, spine strip has a four-inch split to the lower left-hand side, top half-inch above the title panel is mostly gone. Top corner of f/ep has been cut out (probably had a previous owner's name on), binding split inside back cover and at half-title, folding map of Lhasa and b&w plate at p331 is loose but still present, last (blank) page also loose but still present, a tear to one of the folds of the map inside back cover. But otherwise a not too bad copy, with all the maps and plates present, of this hard-cover book. Originally published in March 1905, the book describes Tibet, including Gyatse, Lhasa and the Tsangpo Valley, which the author visited while accompanying the British Expedition to Tibet as Cultural Consultant. Please Note: this is a heavy book, packaged weight would be about 1500g, so extra postage would be required from buyers outside the UK.… Read More

London: Abstract Sounds Books Ltd, 2010. No dustwrapper (as issued), the tiniest bit of scuffing to spine ends and corners of cover, otherwise a very good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. Based originally on a previously unpublished interview with Phil Lynott by Dave Thompson in 1980, also includes interviews with original band member Eric Bell and with the band's first manager Terry O'Neill; as well as a track-by-track analysis of all the tracks on the Thin Lizzy albums. Includes four half-hour DVDs containing film and audio interviews with band members including all the original members (Phil Lynott, Eric Bell, Brian Robertson, Snowy White and John Sykes). as well as with producers, management, album sleeve designers, music journalists and with Philomena Lynott (Phil's mother). Not many copies around. 164pp including 12pp colour illustrations, . Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

London: Robert Hale, 1978. Creasing and a couple of small tears to the edges of unclipped dustwrapper, the back panel of which is a bit grubby, minor bumping to spine ends and corners of black boards, some minor yellowing to the pages, and the book does smell a bit of being shut away in a cupboard or similar, but otherwise a not too bad tight copy of this hard-cover book. Part of the publisher's "Hale Science Fiction" series, the story deals with the discovery of a fossilised dinosaur in a clay pit in Bedfordshire. The creature is found with eggs which are all picked up except for one, which hatches out in the countryside and the resulting lizard-man type creature (hence the title) then proceeds to terrorise the area. The first novel by the author, a dentist in Bedford who wrote a few others back in the 1970s, one of which, "Child of Vodyanoi", was adapted by the BBC as "The Nightmare Man" in 1981. Signed and inscribed by the author on f/ep "For .... Kind… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1952. Some creasing and small tears to the edges of price-clipped dustwrapper, the top inch or so of which is torn away at the top end of the spine. Minor bumping to spine ends and corners of orange boards, a small faded bit at the top end of the spine where the dustwrapper has been torn away, but otherwise a good clean tight copy of this hard-cover book. Doesn't seem to be a common book, I see very few copies anywhere online. The book contains eighteen cat stories (and a poem) by different authors, namely: "A Little White Cat" by Dorothy Baker, "A Fine Place for the Cat" by Margaret Bonhan, "Smith" by Ann Chadwick, "When in Doubt - Wash!" by Paul Gallico, "The Blue Flag" by Kay Hill, "God and the Little Cat" by Selwyn Jepson, "The Fat of the Cat" by Gottfried Keller, "Broomsticks" by Walter de la Mare, "New Conquest of the Matterhorn" by T S Blakeney, "Johnnie Poothers"… Read More