Literature
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First edition of the Ian Fleming’s first book Casino Royale; Signed by Him
FLEMING, Ian.
Casino Royale.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1953.
First edition of the first novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Boldly signed by Ian Fleming on the front free endpaper. From the library of Mrs. Bowker. This example was given by Fleming to his his char-lady. Near fine in a near fine first state dust jacket (without the Sunday Times review on the inner front flap) with some professional restoration to the extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $98,000.00 Item Number: 130963
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The Catcher In The Rye; Inscribed and dated by J.D. Salinger in the Year of Publication
SALINGER, J.D.
The Catcher In The Rye.
Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1951.
Early printing, printed in the year of publication of the author's classic novel. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "December 24, 1951 To Elizabeth Fueller- with best wishes J.D. Salinger." Salinger's signature is scarce and signed examples of The Catcher in the Rye are rare. Very good in a very good supplied dust jacket. Jacket design by Michael Mitchell. Photograph of Salinger by Lotte Jacobi. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Exceptionally scarce, most rare and desirable inscribed and in the year of…
Price: $98,000.00 Item Number: 140488
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"All human wisdom is contained in these two words--"Wait and Hope": The Manney Copy of the First Edition in English of Dumas’ The Count of Monte-Cristo; In the Rare Original Cloth
DUMAS, Alexandre [Alexander].
The Count of Monte-Cristo.
London: London: Chapman and Hall, 1846.
First edition in English of the author’s masterpiece, published just one year after the original French edition and before the American first, the Richard Manney copy. Octavo, 2 volumes, original publisher's terracotta cloth, decoratively blind-embossed, gilt titles to the spine. Twenty wood-engraved plates after Henry Valentin. In near fine condition with only light rubbing to the extremities and toning, with the bookplate of legendary collector Richard Manney. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise box. A superior example, scarce in the original cloth, with exceptional provenance.
Price: $82,000.00 Item Number: 129384
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"Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it": The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; inscribed by Mark Twain
TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1886.
Early printing of Twain's masterpiece, inscribed by Mark Twain. Octavo, bound in half buckram by Roycroft with paper labels to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece photogravure plate of Gerhardt's bust of Clemens, one hundred and seventy-four illustrations by E. W. Kemble. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Mr. Garth W. Cate: Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it. Truly Yours, Mark Twain, Nov. 25/06." With a lengthy letter of provenance dated October 14, 1964 and signed by the recipient which reads in part, "Dear Mr. Jacobs, If I had been younger…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 123083
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“Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea": First Edition of Ayn Rand's Magnum Opus The Fountainhead; Inscribed by Her
RAND, Ayn.
The Fountainhead.
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943.
First edition, first issue with first edition stated on the copyright page of the author's first major novel, as well as her first best-seller. Octavo, original red cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "To Gertrude Lynneberg- - with my best wishes for long years of happiness- Ayn Rand November 16, 1943." The recipient, Gertrude Lynneberg was the sister-in- law to Linda Lynneberg, also known as Aslaug Lynneberg, a lifelong friend of Rand. Near fine in a very good first issue dust jacket with some chips and wear. Housed in…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 121447
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"To Barbara- for a very heroic achievement- with love- Ayn": Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead; Inscribed by Her to Barbara Branden
RAND, Ayn.
The Fountainhead.
Indianapolis and New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943.
First edition, early printing of Rands’s breakthrough work and her first major literary success. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Barbara- for a very heroic achievement- with love- Ayn April 9,1956." Born in Winnipeg, Barbara Weidman met Nathaniel Branden because of their mutual interest in Ayn Rand's works. They became personal friends of Rand in 1950, and when they married in 1953, Rand and her husband, Frank O'Connor, served as the matron of honor and best man. She earned her M.A. in philosophy, and authored a thesis on free will, under the direction of Sidney Hook at…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 138297
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"I want to be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren": The Lord of the Rings Trilogy; Inscribed by Him in Volume One and signed by him in Volumes Two and Three
TOLKIEN, J.R.R.
The Lord of The Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
London: George Allen and Unwin, 1967.
Second editions of the author's classic trilogy, signed by Tolkien in each volume. Octavo, 3 volumes, original cloth, folding maps. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "Signed for Ethel May with love J. R. R. Tolkien." Volumes two and three are signed by J.R.R. Tolkien on the half-title page. The recipient, Ethel Burchfield was the wife of Robert Burchfield, a lexicographer and scholar who was mentored by Tolkien. Burchfield studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was tutored by Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Burchfield would go on to develop a Tolkien-like fascination with linguistics and would become the editor of the Supplement…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 134590
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"To Una who will at last get to the end!": First edition of From Russia, With Love; inscribed by Ian Fleming to his real-life Miss Moneypenny
FLEMING, Ian.
From Russia, With Love.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1957.
First edition, first state of the fifth James Bond novel and what Fleming considered one of his best books and listed in Life magazine as one of US President John F. Kennedy's top ten favorite books. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, gilt rose and gun emblem to the front panel. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Una who will at last get to the end! from Ian Fleming." The recipient, Una Trueblood, whose surname was later appropriated by Fleming for the character of Mary Trueblood in Dr. No. Una started…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 133890
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SCARCE JACK KEROUAC AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT QUESTIONNAIRE. HIS CAREER GOAL: "BE A GREAT WRITER MAKING EVERYBODY BELIEVE IN HEAVEN"
KEROUAC, Jack.
Jack Kerouac Autograph Manuscript Signed.
February 28,1964.
Autograph manuscript signed, being Kerouac’s answers to twelve typed questions from Robert Dodd, two pages, quarto, 28 February 1964. Kerouac candidly replies to a young man’s questions. Given a ninth-grade classroom assignment to contact his favorite writer, Robert Dodd chose Jack Kerouac. The author provides lengthy answers to the young Dodd's questions. On the question of his changing writing style Kerouac explains: "The Town and the City was my first, young man novel when I was just starting our trying to write like Thomas Wolfe -- Lonesome Traveler is a product of my own style which I developed in later…
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 79098
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“The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring”: First Edition of James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses; number 276 of 750 Numbered Copies
JOYCE, James.
Ulysses.
Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922.
First edition of Joyce's masterpiece, one of 750 numbered copies printed on handmade paper from a total edition of 1000 copies, this is number number 276. Thick quarto, original blue and white wrappers. In near fine condition, square and tight with a touch of rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine. Housed in a custom slipcase. An exceptional example.
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 126933
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“The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What the beautiful is is another question": First Edition of James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; In the rare original dust jacket
JOYCE, James.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
New York: Huebsch, 1916.
First edition of Joyce’s classic stream-of-consciousness work, his first novel, in the exceptionally rare dust jacket. Octavo, original blue cloth with titles to the spine in gilt. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with small chips and wear to the extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare especially in this condition, without any of the usual restoration usually encountered.
Price: $72,000.00 Item Number: 129144
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First Edition of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon; In the Exceptionally Rare Dust Jacket
WELLS, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon.
London: George Newnes, Limited, 1901.
First edition, first issue binding of Wells’ classic work. Octavo, original cloth, 12 plates by Claude Shepperson. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Exceptionally rare in the original dust jacket, especially in this condition.
Price: $72,000.00 Item Number: 124595
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"It is not down on any map; true places never are": Rare First Edition Of Herman Melville's Moby Dick
MELVILLE, Herman.
Moby Dick; Or, The Whale.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851.
First edition, first issue binding, with the circular Harper's device of Melville's masterpiece. Octavo, original purple-brown cloth (BAL's A grain), covers stamped in blind with the publisher's circular device at the center within a heavy blind rule frame, original orange-coated endpapers. Of the 2,951 copies printed, 125 were review copies. About 1,500 sold in 11 days, but then sales slowed to less than 300 the next year. After two years copies of the first edition were still available, and almost 300 were destroyed in the 1853 fire of Harper's warehouse. In near fine condition with some of the usual light…
Price: $65,000.00 Item Number: 99735
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Exceptionally rare first English edition of Mark Twain's The Gilded Age
TWAIN, Mark and Charles Dudley Warner. [Samuel L. Clemens].
The Gilded Age: A Novel.
London: George Routledge and Sons, 1874.
First English edition of the rarest of Mark Twain's works: the only novel he wrote with a collaborator and the book that gave the era its name in history. Octavo, three volumes, original publishers green cloth, gilt titles to the spine, illustrated. The only multi-volume work Clemens produced, except for the two-volume Tramp Abroad (London, 1880), the first English edition of The Gilded Age is the rarest of Mark Twain's major works and the most difficult to obtain. Its rarity is due largely to its format, three volume sets were quite expensive and were produced almost solely for circulating libraries…
Price: $65,000.00 Item Number: 133018
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"If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith": First Edition of Tender Is the Night; Inscribed by F. Scott Fitzgerald
FITZGERALD, F. Scott.
Tender Is The Night. A Romance. Decorations by Edward Shenton.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934.
First edition of the work which Fitzgerald considered to be his finest. Octavo, original green cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For the unknown, unmet parents of Clare (note: double underlined). Knowing her, I hope you will find something to like in this present. Best wishes, F. Scott Fitzgerald." A very good example with some wear to the crown and foot of the spine, extremities of the cloth in a very good unrestored first issue dust jacket that has some rubbing and wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise case.
Price: $62,000.00 Item Number: 3071
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FIRST EDITION OF IAN FLEMING’S GOLDFINGER; INSCRIBED BY HIM TO HIS REAL LIFE MISS MONEYPENNY
FLEMING, Ian.
Goldfinger.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1959.
First edition of the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Una, who again wrote the whole thing! from Ian Fleming." The recipient, Una Trueblood, whose surname was later appropriated by Fleming for the character of Mary Trueblood in Dr. No. Una started working in 1948 at Kemsley Newspapers and The Sunday Times where she was soon appointed secretary to Ian Fleming, where he worked throughout the 1950s. She recalled that Fleming "always said he only wrote Casino Royale, the first Bond book,…
Price: $60,000.00 Item Number: 133728
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"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the heart, and the hammer in your right...": First American edition of Dracula; inscribed by Bram Stoker, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee and dozens of additional icons of horror cinema
STOKER, Bram.
Dracula.
New York: Doubleday & McClure Co, 1899.
First American edition of Bram Stoker's masterpiece, the progenitor of the vampire genre which remains “arguably the most potent literary myth of the twentieth century” (Leatherdale, 11), signed by him and a host of other actors who portraed vampires. Octavo, original pictorial beige cloth stamped in blue and gilt. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Harry Powers from Bram Stoker 16 May 1900." Subsequently from the collection of George W. Fuller with his bookplate to the pastedown, then Forrest "Forry" J. Ackerman who dedicated his life to building what many consider to have been the…
Price: $60,000.00 Item Number: 145817
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“Nothing is so indecent that it cannot be said to another person if the proper words are used to convey it": Rare First Edition in English of Boccaccio's Decameron
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni.
The Decameron.
London: Isaac Jaggard, 1620.
First edition in English of Boccaccio's masterpiece, published by Jaggard published three years prior to his printing of the Shakespeare First Folio. Boccaccio's masterpiece. Folio, 2 volumes, bound in full morocco by Riviere, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, all edges gilt, errata leaf at end of volume one, B1 is a cancellans, woodcut titles each with 6 vignettes, 98 woodcut vignettes in text chiefly repeating the title vignettes, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces. In near fine condition. First editions are rare.
Price: $60,000.00 Item Number: 128726
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“What does the brain matter compared with the heart?”: First Edition of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway; In the Rare Original Dust Jacket
WOOLF, Virginia.
Mrs Dalloway.
London: Hogarth Press, 1925.
First edition of one of Woolf's best-known novels, one of only 2000 copies. Octavo, original orange cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some light wear to the extremities. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest with his bookplate to the pastedown. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example, scarce and desirable in the original dust jacket and in this condition.
Price: $56,000.00 Item Number: 99750
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First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous; In the Rare Original Dust Jacket
WILSON, William [Bill W.].
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism.
New York: Alcoholics Anonymous, 1939.
First edition of Bill Wilson’s classic work, one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold 30 million copies. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with the spine lightly toned, contemporary name to the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example.
Price: $55,000.00 Item Number: 143075