"We were in a beautiful old picture, we were in a beautiful old tale": First Edition of Henry James' The Sacred Fount
The Sacred Fount.
James, Henry.
$125.00Item Number: 80108
London: Methuen & Co, 1901.
First edition of James’ haunting mystery novel. Octavo, original crimson cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel. In good condition.
This strange and haunting mystery classic concerns an unnamed narrator who attempts to discover the truth about the love lives of his fellow guests at a weekend party in the English countryside.
Other Books by this Author
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“Wherever you go, madam, it will matter little what you carry. You will always carry your goodness”: First Edition of Henry James' The Bostonians
James, Henry.
The Bostonians.
London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1886.
First single volume edition of James’ classic tragicomedy. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the crown of the spine.
Price: $425.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Within the Rim and other Essays, 1914-15
James, Henry.
Within the Rim and other Essays, 1914-15.
London: W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, 1918.
First edition of this collection of essays. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine and front panel. In very good condition. BAL 10702.
Price: $75.00
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First Edition of James' Controversial Commentary on the social environment of turn-of-the-century-america: The American Scene
James, Henry.
The American Scene.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1907.
First American edition of James’ account of his trip throughout the United States between 1904 and 1905. Original blue cloth, gilt tooling to the front panel and spine. In very good condition. A nice example.
Price: $100.00
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"Few men of equal genius and of equal eminence can have led on the whole a simpler life": First edition of Henry James' biographical Study on predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne
James, Henry.
English Men of Letters: Hawthorne.
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.
First American edition of James’ classic biographical study of his great predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition with light rubbing. Edited by John Morley.
Price: $30.00
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"She had the oddest charming surprise - the nearest approach to familiarity": First Edition of Henry James' The Finer Grain
James, Henry.
The Finer Grain.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910.
First American edition of this later collection of James novellas. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles and elaborate tooling to the spine. In very good condition.
Price: $35.00
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"The girl had been in England more than a year, but there were some satisfactions she had not got used to yet nor ceased to enjoy": First Edition of Henry James' A London Life and Other Stories
James, Henry .
A London Life.
London and New York: Macmillan and Co, 1889.
First edition of this distinctly ‘Jamesian’ novella. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel. In very good condition with light rubbing.
Price: $75.00
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First Edition of Henry James' The Wings of the Dove
James, Henry.
The Wings of the Dove.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902.
First American edition, and true first, preceding the English edition of James’ classic novel. Octavo, original cloth, two volumes, gilt topstain. In very good condition.
Price: $350.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Notes of a Son and Brother
James, Henry.
Notes of a Son and Brother.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.
First edition of James’ autobiography, in which he writes about his childhood and his family. Octavo, original cloth, gilt topstain, frontispiece, tissue guard. In good condition.
Price: $40.00
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"Few men of equal genius and of equal eminence can have led on the whole a simpler life": First edition of Henry James' biographical Study on predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne
James, Henry.
English Men of Letters: Hawthorne.
London: Macmillan an Co, 1879.
First British edition of James’ classic biographical study of his great predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne. Octavo, original scarlet cloth. In very good condition with light rubbing. Edited by John Morley.
Price: $200.00
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First Edition of Henry James' William Wetmore Story and His Friends
James, Henry.
William Wetmore Story and His Friends.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co, 1903.
First editions of James’ entertaining account of Story’s life in Rome” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). Octavo, original gilt-stamped green cloth, top edges gilt, photogravure frontispiece. In near fine condition, small contemporary bookplates to the front pastedown. BAL 10655.
Price: $150.00
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“Her memory's your love. You want no other”: First Edition of Henry James' The Wings of Dove
James, Henry.
The Wings of the Dove.
London: Westminster and Archibald Constable & Co, 1902.
First edition of Henry James’ landmark novel. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition with some light rubbing to the spine.
Price: $650.00
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The Golden Bowl
James, Henry.
The Golden Bowl.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904.
First edition of this classic James novel. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, gilt topstain. In very good condition with light rubbing and wear. A nice example.
Price: $450.00
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First Edition of Henry James' The American
James, Henry.
The American.
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877.
First edition of this masterly early work by James. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition with light rubbing and wear.
Price: $400.00
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First Edition of Henry James' The Outcry
James, Henry.
The Outcry.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.
First American edition, published simultaneously with the British edition of James’ final novel. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition, bookplate. A very sharp example.
Price: $350.00
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First Edition of Henry James' A Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales
James, Henry.
A Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales.
Boston : James R. Osgood and Company, 1875.
First edition, first state binding, with “J.R. Osgood & Co.” on the spine of Henry James’ first book. Octavo, original cloth. In excellent condition with light rubbing and wear.
Price: $400.00
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First Edition of Henry James' English Hours
James, Henry.
English Hours.
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905.
First American edition, limited to 2,000 copies of this collection of James’s travel essays on English towns and villages. Octavo, original cloth. With Illustrations by Joseph Pennell. In near fine condition with a touch of rubbing. A very sharp example.
Price: $325.00
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"The are moments when I feel that she asked too much of me - especially since our arrival in this country": First Edition of Henry James' Tales of Three Cities
James, Henry.
Tales of Three Cities.
Boston: James R. Osgood, 1884.
First edition of this collection of James novellas. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. In very good condition with light rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine.
Price: $100.00
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First American Edition of Henry James' The Ivory Tower
James, Henry.
The Ivory Tower.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.
First American edition of James’ unfinished novel, published posthumously in 1917. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In near fine condition.
Price: $100.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Essays in London and Elsewhere
James, Henry.
Essays in London and Elsewhere.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1893.
First edition of this book of criticism by Henry James. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition with a touch of wear. A very bright example.
Price: $125.00
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First Edition of Henry James' A Small Boy and Others; Inscribed by Him in the Year of Publication
James, Henry.
A Small Boy and Others.
London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1913.
First edition of the first volume of Henry James’ autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece, tissue guard. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “To dear Gilliard Lapsley Henry James April 5th 1913.” The recipient, Gilliard Lapsley was a young historian with whom James became friends (Leon Edel, Letters p. 28). Bookplate, near fine condition with light rubbing. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed by James.
Price: $3,200.00
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"the luxury of loving Italy": First Edition of Henry James' Italian Hours
James, Henry.
Italian Hours.
London: Heinemann, 1909.
First British edition of this book of travel writing, wonderfully illustrated by Joseph Pennell. Quarto, original cloth, gilt pictorial stamped to the front panel, gilt titles to the spine, top edge gilt. Illustrated by Joseph Pennell with 32 color plates, with tissue guards. In very good condition with light rubbing to the extremities.
Price: $300.00
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"We had, in silence, a little luminous talk about it, in the course of which she seemed to tell me the most interesting things": First edition of Henry James' The Soft Side
James, Henry.
The Soft Side.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1900.
First edition of this collection of James’ novellas. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In very good condition.
Price: $125.00
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"You know as well as you sit there that you'd put a pistol-ball into your brain if you had written my books!" First Edition of Henry James' The Lesson of the Master
James, Henry.
The Lesson of the Master.
New York and London: Macmillan & Co, 1892.
First edition of this novella, which tells the story of a young writer, Paul Overt, who meets Henry St. George, a famous novelist Overt admires. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In near fine condition, contemporary name to the title page. A very sharp example with the spine gilt fresh.
Price: $175.00
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"I have led too serious a life; but that, perhaps, after all, preserves one's youth": First Harper's Half Hour Series edition of Henry James' The Diary of a Man of Fifty and A Bundle of Letters
James, Henry.
The Diary of a Man of Fifty and A Bundle of Letters.
New York: Harpers & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.
First Harper’s Half-Hour Series edition of this duo of James novellas. 12mo, original wrappers as issued. In good condition.
Price: $500.00
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First Edition of Henry James' View and Reviews
James, Henry.
Views and Reviews: Now First Collected.
Boston: The Ball Publishing Company, 1908.
First edition of this series of literary essays written in James’ earlier style. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, gilt topstain. Introduction by Le Roy Phillips. In near fine condition. A very bright example.
Price: $125.00
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"Venice has been painted and described many thousands of times, and of all cities of the world it is the easiest to visit without going there": First edition of Henry James' Portraits of Places
James, Henry.
Portraits of Places.
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1884.
First edition of James’ later collection of travel accounts throughout Europe and the United States. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In very good condition.
Price: $275.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Daisy Miller; Inscribed by Him
James, Henry.
Daisy Miller.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1899.
First edition of the of James’ stage presentation of his classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For an unknown friend Henry James March 8th 1905.” In near fine condition with light rubbing. This example was signed by James on his American tour in 1905. Housed in a custom cloth clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $7,800.00
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"She was so deeply impressed by his grandeur that she thought it impossible to do him honor enough": Henry James' The Last of the Valerii; one of one hundred numbered copies
James, Henry.
The Last of the Valerii.
London: Boydell Press, 1974.
Limited Artists’ Book edition of Henry James’ The Last of the Valerii. Number 46 of one hundred numbered copies printed on Wookey Hole handmade paper by John Baskett in 16 point Blado italic font, the same font used in the original publication in The Atlantic Monthly for January 1874. Frontispiece by Julia Trevelyan Oman. Octavo, gilt title and tooling spine and front panel. In fine condition.
Price: $100.00
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First American Edition of Henry James' The Princess Casamassima
James, Henry.
The Princess Casamassima.
New York: Macmillan and Co, 1886.
First edition of this early novel in the extensive James canon. Octavo, original blue cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. In very good condition.
Price: $200.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Julia Bride
James, Henry.
Julia Bride.
New York & London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1909.
First American edition of this short work by James. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece, tissue guard. In near fine condition.
Price: $45.00
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"For wonder there was plenty of room, but little by little he saw how things had come to pass": First Edition of Henry James' The Wheel of Time, Collaboration, and Owen Wingrave
James, Henry.
The Wheel of Time, Collaboration, and Owen Wingrave.
New York : Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1893.
First edition of this early collection of novellas. Octavo, original illustrated cloth with elaborate gilt tooling to the spine and front panel. In near fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $85.00
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"Only a short time ago it might have been supposed that the English novel was not what the french call discutable": First Edition of Henry James' Partial Portraits
James, Henry.
Partial Portraits.
London and New York: Macmillan and Co, 1888.
First edition of James’ book of collected essays of literary criticism. Octavo, original cloth, gilt title to the spine. In good condition.
Price: $50.00
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"Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild": First Edition of Henry James' The Aspern Papers
James, Henry.
The Aspern Papers.
London: Macmillan and Co, 1888.
First edition of one of James’ best-known longer novellas, based on the letters from Percy Bysshe Shelley to his second wife Mary Shelley’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, whom he was known to have had several affairs with. Octavo, original illustrated cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. In very good condition with light rubbing and wear to the spine.
Price: $350.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Master Eustace
James, Henry.
Master Eustace.
New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1920.
First edition of this short story by James. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition.
Price: $30.00
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“I'm yours for ever--for ever and ever": First Edition of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry.
The Portrait of a Lady.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1881.
First edition of the last and most accomplished work of fiction during James’ apprentice years. Octavo, original cloth. First edition, first issue with 1882 on title page and “1881.” on copyright page. In near fine condition with light rubbing. A very nice example.
Price: $975.00
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First Edition of Henry James' The Real Thing
James, Henry.
The Real Thing.
New York and London: Macmillan & Co, 1893.
First edition, second issue of one of James’ neatest tales. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities, small tear to the front free endpaper.
Price: $125.00
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"What I too fatally lacked was her tone": First Edition of Henry James' The Sacred Fount
James, Henry.
The Sacred Fount.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901.
First edition of this parable of how people shape appearances into an explanation of an impossibly complex world. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, front panel. Contemporary bookplate, in near fine condition with light toning.
Price: $125.00
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First Edition of Henry James' Notes on Novelists with some other notes
James, Henry.
Notes on Novelists with Some Other Notes.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.
First edition of James’ collection of essays of literary criticism spanning the course of two decades. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine and front panel. In very good condition.
Price: $45.00
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"She met, after an instant, his look, and the wan loveliness and stillness of her own had never been greater": first edition of Henry James' The Awkward Age
James, Henry.
The Awkward Age.
New York and London : Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1899.
First edition of James’ classic novel of a girl coming of age in high English society at the turn of the 20th century. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine and front panel. In very good condition.
Price: $75.00
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"A fine worn handsome face, a face that was like an open letter in a foreign tongue": Henry James' The Ambassadors; Lengthily inscribed by Him
James, Henry.
The Ambassadors.
New York : Harper & Brothers, 1903.
First American edition, second issue of this dark comedy, which Henry James considered his finest work. Octavo, original cloth, gilt topstain. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by Henry James with a quotation from the novel in James’ hand on a Bryn Mawr book label, “Henry James November 30th 1905 ‘….a fine worn handsome face, a face that was like an open letter in a foreign tongue’ The Ambassadors.” James visited America in 1904-05, where he addressed Bryn Mawr twice. It is possible James was asked to donate a copy of one of his books for the Bryn Mawr Christmas bookfair to raise funds for the college. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with light rubbing to the extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A unique example.
Price: $9,800.00
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"I have been strolling and restrollling along the ancient wall - so perfect in its antiquity": First edition of Henry James' Transatlantic Sketches
James, Henry.
Transatlantic Sketches.
Boston: James R. Osgood & Co, 1875.
First edition of James’ autobiographical collection of travel pieces. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. In good condition. A nice example of this important work.
Price: $125.00
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"Oh blest Other House, which gives me thus at every step a precedent, a divine little light to walk by": First Edition of Henry James' The Other House
James, Henry.
The Other House.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1896.
First American edition of this terse and startling novel, written just before The Spoils of Poynton and What Maisie Knew, is the story of a struggle for possession—and of its devastating consequences.. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition.
Price: $550.00
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“Her memory's your love. You want no other”: First Edition of Henry James' The Wings of Dove
James, Henry.
The Wings of the Dove.
London: Westminster and Archibald Constable & Co, 1902.
First edition of Henry James’ landmark novel. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition with the spine gilt still bright, light foxing, bookplates. Uncommon in this condition.
Price: $850.00
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First American Edition of Henry James' Collection of five Novellas; including The Author of Beltraffio, Pandora, and Four meetings
James, Henry.
The Author of Beltraffio.
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1885.
First edition of this collection of James novellas. Octavo, original green cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In very good condition. A nice example.
Price: $50.00
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First American Edition of Henry James' The Sense of the Past
James, Henry.
The Sense of the Past.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.
First American edition of one of James’ two unfinished novels, published posthumously. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, in near fine condition.
Price: $75.00
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"This was neither more nor less that the queer extension of her experience, the double life that, in the cage, she grew at last to lead": First Edition of Henry James' In the Cage
James, Henry.
In the Cage.
Chicago & New York: Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1898.
First edition of this classic Henry James novel. Octavo, original green cloth, gilt titles and elaborate gilt tooling to the spine, top edge gilt. In very good condition. A nice example.
Price: $100.00
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"France may be Paris, but Paris is not France": First Edition of Henry James' classic illustrated travel account: A Little Tour in France
James, Henry.
A Little Tour in France.
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1900.
First illustrated edition of James’ classic account of his six-week tour to provincial France between 1883 and 1884. Octavo, original illustrated cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel, top edge gilt, frontispiece of Old Street, Dijon with tissue guard present. Illustrated by Joseph Pennell. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine. A beautiful example.
Price: $225.00
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"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to": First American Edition of Henry James' The Ambassadors
James, Henry.
The Ambassadors.
New York : Harper & Brothers, 1903.
First American edition of this dark comedy, which Henry James considered his finest work. Octavo, original cloth, gilt topstain. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light toning to the spine. A nice example.
Price: $1,750.00
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“The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat": Rare First Edition of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich; Signed by Him
Hill, Napoleon.
Think and Grow Rich.
CT: Ralston Society, 1937.
First edition of this classic bestseller, which has sold over 100 million copies. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Napoleon Hill on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. This is the first example of a first printing we have seen signed. Rare and desirable.
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“Poor little doggie, you saved HIS child!”: First Edition of Mark Twain's A Dog's Tale; In the Rare Original Dust Jacket
Twain, Mark.
A Dog’s Tale.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1904.
First edition of Twain’s famous dog story. Octavo, original cloth. Contemporary inscription to the front free endpaper, near fine in the rare original dust jacket with wear and tear and some writing on the front panel. Illustrations by W. T. Smedley. BAL 3483.
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Courrier Sud, Vol de Nuit, Terre des Hommes and Pilote de Guerre; Each Lengthily Inscribed by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de.
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Paris: Librarie Gallimard, 1931-42.
Early printings of Saint-Exupery’s first four books. Octavo, four volumes bound in contemporary cloth. Each volume lengthily inscribed by Antoine de Saint-Exupery on the half-title page. In the author’s first novel, Courrier Sud, “Pour Madame Stokes, Avec le hont que j’eprouve a signer ce pache de jeunesse. Et en respectueux hommages Antoine de Saint-Exupery.” In his second novel, Vol de Nuit, which deals with his experiences as an airmail pilot, “Pour Madame Stokes, cher que’on retrouve une atmosphere de France en respectueux hommages Antoine de Saint- Exupery.” In his third novel, Terre des Hommes, which went on to win the Grand Prix of the Académie Française, “Pour Madame Stokes, en souvenir d’une epoque recuse ou la Terr des Hommes etait en pix et en respectueux hommages Antoine de Saint- Exupery.” And, finally, in Saint-Exupery’s Pilote de Guerre, his memoir of his role in the French Air Force as pilot during the Battle of Paris in 1940, “Pour Madame Stokes, ces souvenirs d’une pilot de ligne change en Pilote de Guerre et en hommage respectueux, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.” Each volume is in very good condition. An exceptional collection.
Price: $9,800.00
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First Edition of Jurgen Habermas' Knowledge and Human Interests; Signed by Him and Daniel Bell
Habermas, Jurgen (Daniel Bell).
Knowledge and Human Interests.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.
First edition in English of Habermas’ classic work. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by Jurgen Habermas on the front free endpaper. Sociologist Daniel Bell’s copy, with his signature and his extensive notes throughout. Translated by Jeremy J. Shapiro. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket desiged by Richard C. Bartlett.
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