Rare books from Lucius Books

Vernacular photography. 1948-1952. 57 Kodachrome colour prints, each stamped in blue ink 'This is a Kodachrome print made by Eastman Kodak Company' specifying the date taken, with US patent office copyright, all approx 7.5 x 11cm (3 x 4 1/4in) with rounded corners. Printed from Kodachrome film- Kodak's first commercially viable colour film available to the general public, developed in the late 1930s- these fascinating images portray post-war Manhattan and Brooklyn shop fronts. Not only was Kodachrome film uncommon, it needed to be sent back to New York for development, and was very expensive, costing $5 per roll. Considering that the minimum wage at the time was just 25 cents per hour, $5 was almost half a week's work. The images include pharmacies, liquor stores, clothes shops, cinemas and general stores. The dispassionate composition and documentary nature of the photos suggest a commercial project, possibly a portfolio of aluminium framing of shop fronts and windows, or neon… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1963. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Inscribed presentation copy. Publisher's original black cloth with white ski track design to upper board, titles in gilt to the spine, in the Richard Chopping illustrated dustwrapper. A very good or better copy, the binding square and firm with a little bumping at the spine tips. The contents with a few spots of foxing to the top edge of the text block are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed and nicked original dustwrapper which is a little toned to the spine and rear panel. Not price-clipped (16s net to the front flap). Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case. Inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front free endpaper "To Aubrey / who wrote some of it! / From Ian". Provenance: Aubrey Forshaw, Managing Director of Pan Books, publisher of the James Bond novels in paperback and Ian Fleming's… Read More

Paris: The Black Sun Press. 1931. First edition. First edition. A rare, inscribed presentation copy from Max Ernst to James Stern. Publisher's black buckram, decorated in gilt to a design by Max Ernst. Illustrated with 19 original photograms by Max Ernst, each with a glassine guard, with the title printed in red. Black endpapers. Housed in a bespoke quarter morocco solander case. A very good copy, the binding square and firm with rubbing and fraying at the spine tips and corners. The contents are entirely complete, clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. This work is a fragment from Crevel's novel Babylone. The 19 photograms of Ernst's frottages were completed with the collaboration of Man Ray in his studio after days of trials, with Ernst's rubbings on transparent paper serving as the negative. Ernst had developed his frottage technique as a visual counterpart to the Surrealist ideal of "automatic writing," and the dark visions he produces here perfectly… Read More

London: John Churchill. 1844 & 1845. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Two volumes. 8vo. Publisher's original red cloth with gilt titles to the spines. A very good set, the bindings square and firm with minor nicks to the head of the spine of "Vestiges", minor cracking to the inner hinges and chipping with loss to the spine ends of "Explanations", the corners of both volumes a little bumped. The contents of "Vestiges" with minor toning to page edges and the occasional minor mark to a couple of page margins are otherwise in excellent order, clean throughout, and without previous owners' inscriptions or stamps. The contents of "Explanations" with a small contemporary bookseller's ticket to the front pastedown, minor toning to the page edges, the odd marginal mark, a few faint pencil underlings, a very minor water mark to the rear pastedown/free endpaper and an original paper flaw to p.59, are otherwise in very good… Read More

Unpublished. 1972-2003. A large collection composed of manuscript and typed letters, many in original envelopes, photographs, albums, menus and other printed and manuscript ephemera relating to the political careers of Sir Fergus and Lady Joyce Montgomery. Also present are several other objects, including two pieces of ceramic. For a list of the principal contents please see below. Beyond a few minor expected issues such as roughly opened envelopes and the odd crease or tear, the condition of the archive is largely very good, with most of the letters and other paper items clean and bright. There is a little fading to some of the letters/photographs that have been framed and glazed, but otherwise the collection is in excellent order. An extensive archive providing a fascinating insight into Margaret Thatcher's hugely influential political career, as well as the fortunes of the Conservative Party more broadly, as shown through the letters of a loyal friend and colleague who was close to the… Read More

Original Artwork: later published by Little Brown, Boston & New York. 1961. Original dustwrapper designs produced for the 1961 first edition of Franny and Zooey, annotated by J. Original dustwrapper designs produced for the 1961 first edition of Franny and Zooey, annotated by J. D. Salinger. Two dustwrapper designs on gloss white card. The first is a trial design in blue, orange and black, folded as a dustwrapper with blank flaps. This design was evidently under early consideration by the author and is referred to in a letter to his editor Ned [Bradford] dated May, 10 1961 "That's a very nice blue. I feel, too, that the red-line border is better, livelier than the black" [a photocopy of the letter is included]. The second artwork is what would become the actual design used for the first edition and is annotated by J. D. Salinger in pencil "This is the one I like, but with the diagonal stripe removed [with an arrow to the subsequently removed (clipped) stripe]. Many… Read More

London: William Heinemann; New York: George H. Doran Company. 1922. First edition, first printing, American issue. First edition, first printing, American issue. Publisher's original pictorial paper-covered boards in dustwrapper. Illustrated with four full page and three double page richly coloured lithographs by William Nicholson. A superb, very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, without paper loss and with a little bumping at the lower edge. The contents are spotlessly clean throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the near fine, very lightly rubbed and dusty dustwrapper that has a couple of tiny nicks at the folds without loss. Both the book and the dustwrapper are entirely without repair or restoration. Housed in a bespoke quarter morocco solander case. This copy is the earliest state of the American issue, the printed paper covered boards a slightly different shade and a few millimetres taller than the UK issue. Correctly dated 1922 and… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1963. Reissue (the first edition with Ian Fleming's introduction). Reissue (the first edition with Ian Fleming's introduction). A rare inscribed presentation copy from Ian Fleming to Paul Gallico. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in the Aedwyn Darroll illustrated dustwrapper. Top edge orange. An excellent near fine copy, the binding firm and the cloth and gilt fresh. The contents are clean throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps, the top edge with a few foxing spots. Complete with the lightly rubbed dustwrapper that is ever so slightly faded to the spine but otherwise without loss or tears. Not price-clipped (16s net to the front flap). Housed in a bespoke, quarter black morocco solander case. Inscribed by Ian Fleming in blue ball point pen on the front endpaper "To Paul / With much / affection for / 1963 / from / Ian". A superlative association copy, inscribed by Fleming to his great friend and… Read More

London: Bloomsbury. 1997. First edition, first impression of the first Harry Potter book. First edition, first impression of the first Harry Potter book. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in red morocco spine and front cover, purple morocco rear cover, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, raised bands, panel to front cover after the original cover design in coloured onlays with title and author's facsimile signature in gilt; rear cover gilt ruled with figure of Dumbledore in various coloured onlays with gilt and silver stars; ivory moiré silk doublures and endpapers; edges silver with hologram stars. Housed in a bespoke red cloth, felt lined, flat-backed solander case with titles in gilt to the spine. A superb example, the binding square and tight. The contents, with a few foxing spots to the edge of the early and last pages are otherwise fine throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. With all the requisite first printing points: Bloomsbury imprint, 10-down-to-1 number line,… Read More

New York: Farrar and Rinehart. 1935. First edition, first printing of the second Nero Wolfe novel. First edition, first printing of the second Nero Wolfe novel. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to the upper board and spine, in the Winfred Earl Lefferts illustrated dustwrapper. Top edge green. An excellent near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt fresh. The contents, with a previous owner's ink inscription and tipped in contemporary newspaper review to the front endpaper, are otherwise clean throughout. The top-stain a little faded. Loosely laid in is a small publisher's printed publicity card quoting a review of Fer-De-Lance by William Lyons Phelps. Complete with the lightly rubbed and nicked dustwrapper that remains without fading, large chips or tears. Not price-clipped (net $2.00 to the upper front flap). An exceptional, unsophisticated example of a notoriously fragile dustwrapper. The second Nero Wolfe novel, and like the first,… Read More

London: Chapman and Hall. 1938. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Original snakeskin effect cloth boards with gilt titles to the spine, in the first state dustwrapper. A superb fine copy, the binding square and tight, the cloth and gilt bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout and without foxing, inscriptions or stamps. Publisher's postcard loosely laid in. Complete with the exceptionally bright, very lightly rubbed dustwrapper that has a couple of tiny nicks at the fold corners and a faint stain to the right edge of the upper panel. Not price-clipped (7s 6d net to the lower front flap). Retaining the original publisher issued wraparound band. Housed in a bespoke black cloth solander case. A stellar example of the earliest state of the first edition (with the '8' in the publication date indistinct and "as" the last word on page 88), in the uncommon first issue dustwrapper. This dustwrapper was quickly withdrawn after the threat of legal… Read More

Original manuscript. 1974-2001.. "Penthouse is working on an article about things people think are better than fucking. They asked me, and I told them about eating frozen blueberries from wild bushes in northern Finland. They were like sherbert, and better than fucking anyday." (Letter, January 5, 1978) "Here it is Christmas eve again, and I have failed again to persuade a wife that Jesus was born tonight and not tomorrow morning […] I ask them: Were the Wise Men wearing pajamas and rubbing sleepers out of their eyes and waiting for the coffee to perk?" (Letter, December 24, 1987) "I find it painful to read the in-depth truths about my friend John Cheever. I would rather not know. As my life nears its end, I suppose I could write a sort of Movable Feast, but that would be like Captain Kangaroo's suddenly turning into a rattlesnake." (Letter, November 25, 1991) "Thank goodness you and Ollie and Phil are still around. Practically everybody I ever cared… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1980. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Signed by Roald Dahl and also signed with an original drawing by Quentin Blake. Publisher's original red cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Brilliantly illustrated by Quentin Blake with black ink wash drawings throughout. A lovely fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout and without foxing or previous owner's marks. Complete with the fine ever so slightly rubbed dustwrapper that remains without fading, loss or tears. Not price clipped (£3.50 to the front flap). Housed in a bespoke quarter red morocco solander box with titles in gilt to the spine. Inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front endpaper "To Ben / love / Roald Dahl / 1980". Overleaf on the half title, the illustrated has inscribed "for Ben / best wishes / Quentin Blake / 2010" around which he has penned an original… Read More

London: William Heinemann. 1909. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Two volumes. Publisher's original blue cloth with titles and illustration in silver to the upper board and titles in gilt to the spine, in original dustwrappers. Top edges gilt, the others untrimmed. Illustrated with a photogravure frontispiece to each volume; 12 colour plates after paintings by George Marston, all with captioned tissue guards; four double-page photographic plates, 271 photographic illustrations on 195 plates; diagrams, maps, plans and graphs in the text, including nine full-page. Also three folding maps and one folding plate containing two panoramic views in end-pocket of vol. II. A near fine set, the bindings square, firm and bright with a hint of fading to the very tips of the spine and board edges. The contents, with a touch of tanning to the endpapers, are otherwise remarkably clean and fresh throughout and remain free from inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the very near fine… Read More

London: The Leadenhall Press; Simpkin Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., Ltd; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1893. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Inscribed presentation copy. Publisher's original thin card covers, with white folded paper wrapper illustrated in red and black to the upper panel. 79 pages. Brown coated endpapers. All edges gilt. A very good copy, the binding square and firm. The wrapper is a little worn to the spine tips and rubbed at the folds with some toning and a few marks. The contents, mildly toned, are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owner's marks. An excellent example. Inscribed by the author and signed with his snake monogram in black ink to the reverse of the front endpaper "Annie E Paskin, the gift of the author". Stenbock's third and final volume of verse, the first edition of which is rare in commerce, and distinctly uncommon institutionally (Library Hub and WorldCat locate only seven copies:… Read More