Category: Modern Editions

HAMMOND, Innes

HAMMOND, Innes. The Conquistadors

London, The Arcadia Press, 1970.

4to. Limited edition. 122/265 copies signed by the author. Numerous Coloured and black & white plates, some full-page, marbled end papers, a.e.g., original tan morocco by Zaehnsdorf, signed on front turn-in, raised bands, gilt lettered in second and third compartments, upper cover with geometric onlays in black and blue contained within a double line circle, contained in original cream buckram solander box, fleece lined, gilt leather stamps to spine.

 

MOOREHEAD, Alan

MOOREHEAD, Alan. Darwin and the Beagle

London, The Arcadia Press, 1970.

£500

4to. Limited edition. 122/265 copies, signed by the author. Numerous coloured and black & white plates some full-page, marbled endpapers . a.e.g. original tan morocco by Zaehnsdorf, signed on front turn -in, raised bands, gilt lettered in second and third compartments, upper cover with amorphous onlays in orange and black. Contained in original cream, buckram solander box, fleece lined with gilt leather labels to spine.

PALMER, Samuel

PALMER, Samuel. The Eclogues of Virgil. An English Version. With Illustrations by the Author.

London, published by Seeley & Company, 54 Fleet Street, 1883.

£1500

Folio, pp. xiv [ii] 102 plus 14 full-page illustrations (etchings and facsimiles of drawings), each with a facing leaf with the verse it illustrates, not included in the pagination. Title and half-title in red and black. A good copy bound in original green publisher’s cloth, title and author stamped in gilt on front cover and spine, rustic pitchfork vignette stamped in centre of front cover, uncut. A fine copy.

WELLS, Herbert George

WELLS, Herbert George. The Passionate Friends: A Novel.

London, MacMillan and Co., Limited, 1913.

£2000

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, original green vertically ribbed cloth, spine and front board with gilt lettering and vine motifs in blind, top fore-edge gilt. Light wear to joints, corners and spine caps. A Presentation copy, affectionately inscribed by the author to his friend Daisy Blumenfeld: “D. B. / from Herbert George / and someday we will win at tennis”. Even though we could not find much information on Daisy Blumenfeld, it is known that she was a good friend of Wells and they corresponded frequently. She appears in The Correspondence of H.G. Wells, edited by David C. Smith and Patrick Parrinder (London, 1998).

CROWLEY, Aleister

A REMARKABLE PRESENTATION COPY WITH ADDITIONAL ANNOTATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

CROWLEY, Aleister. Moonchild. A Prologue.

 London, The Mandrake Press, 1929.

£6000

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Original sea-green cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the pictorial Beresford Egan dust jacket almost completely intact, only upper part of dust jacket, covering head of spine, torn away. Text clean and crisp, flawless. An important presentation copy inscribed by the author on front endpaper: “To Clements Hassell with sincere admiration of a fine artist and appreciation of an excellent friend, from Aleister Crowley, Oct 8, ’32 e.v.”. This “Clements Hassell” person is likely to be identified with Hilary Clements Hassell (1871-1949), who was a British painter of interiors, landscapes and some coastal scenes. E.v. stands for ‘era vulgaris’, which is a Latin expression for “common era”. This is placed after the date to differentiate it from Crowley’s Thelemic calendar, which starts in 1904 (the date the author claimed he received the book of the law). On the rear endpaper, very presumably in Crowley’s own handwriting, appear details of a two-day schedule accompanied by planetary symbols. These symbols represent days of the week (Mars, i.e. Tuesday, and Mercury, i.e. Wednesday). Crowley mentions meeting times, the name “Foyle” a “lunch at Grosvenor House”, where it is known he gave a lecture on Magick in 1932: “In September 1932 Crowley was invited to a literary luncheon by Christina Foyle. Christina Foyle’s owned Foyle’s bookshop in London and held a literary lunch every year. This was a small coup for Crowley, to be invited as the guest of honour and speaker. Crowley spoke on The Philosophy of Magick which was well received. A queue of women formed at the end of the luncheon to have him autograph their books.” Marlene Peckwood, The Feng Shui Journey of Mr Aleister Crowley, 2012, P. 205.

EISENHOWER, Dwight

AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION COPY

 

EISENHOWER, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe.

London, William Heinemann, December 1948.

£2500

8vo, 2nd ed. (1st UK ed.), pp. 582, half title, half tone plates, numerous maps to the text. Lacking dust jacket. Red cloth over boards and silver lettering to faded spine. Two small white stains on front cover, pastedowns with maps of occupied Europe. Lower hinge fragile and slightly cracked, still resistant though. Blind-stamped logo of The Windmill Press (Kingswood, Surrey) on rear cover. Author’s presentation copy inscribed on dedication page (To the Allied Soldier, Sailor and Airman of World War II): “For David Halton with greetings and best wishes from a former commander in SHAEF, Dwight Eisenhower, July, 1949.” A very good copy. SHAEF was Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. In December 1943 Eisenhower became commander of the Allied invasion of Europe, and from October 1944 he commanded all the Allied armies in the west. In 1952 he was elected 34th President of the United States.

Eisenhower’s account of war, widely thought to be one of the finest American military biographies, the NY Times considering that it gave “the reader true insight into the most difficult part of a commander’s life.” This is a later printing; the first edition was published the earlier the same year.

JUNG, Carl Gustav

AN IMPORTANT PRESENTATION COPY WITH TWO CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON JUNG AND AN AUTOGRAPH NOTE INSERTED

JUNG, Carl Gustav. Modern Man in Search of a Soul.

London, Kegan Paul, 1936.

£4850

8vo, fifth impression (1st Ed. September 1933), pp. 282, AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION COPY inscribed to his secretary: “To Miss Robinson/ A Sign of Gratitude/ from the Author/ C.G. Jung/ Oct. 1936”, and with an autograph note inserted: “Miss Robinson/ Please ring up E.P. Goldschmidt and Co Ltd, 45 Old Bond Street/ tell them you are my secretary, they should send book of Nicolas Flamel to this place. I want it”*, publisher’s cloth, dust-jacket slightly marked and creased.

*JUNG ORDERS AN ALCHEMICAL TRACT FROM E.P. GOLDSCHMIDT: Flamel, the French mediaeval alchemist, was author principally of Le Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques, as well as Le sommaire philosophique, Le Livre des laveures, and Le Bréviaire de Flamel, his works being first published in the seventeenth century. Jung’s alchemical library is currently in the process of being digitised by the Jung Foundation in collaboration with ETH Zurich.

WARHOL, Andy

INSCRIBED AND HAND-DRAWN BY THE AUTHOR ON HALF TITLE

WARHOL, Andy. The philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again).

London , Cassell, 1975.

£4500

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 241. Presentation copy Provenance; signed by author ‘To Ian [Reddington, “Tricky Dicky” in Eastenders]. Dog . . . Andy Warhol, London 1975’ With an original drawing of dog’s head on the half-title, publisher’s cloth, dust-jacket, with an unusual inscription in that Warhol has drawn a dog’s head, and not the familiar soup. A very fine copy.
Warhol on love, beauty, work, art and success, with piercing glimpses of the contemporary world and his own role in it, written with honesty and a lot of humour.

PINDAR

PINDAR. ΠΙΝΔΑΡΟΥ ΕΠΙΝΙΚΙΑ [Pindarou Epinikia]. Pindar’s Odes of Victory: the Olympian and Pythian Odes with an introduction and a translation into English verse by C.J. Billson. Embellished with wood engravings by John Farleigh.

Oxford: Printed by the Shakespeare Head Press (Stratford-upon-Avon) for Basil Blackwell, 1928.

£650

FRIST EDITION. 4to (282 x 195 x 50mm. (11 1/16 x 7 5/8 x 2in.), two volumes: pp. 1) xxii (ii) 297 (i); 2) xxi (iii) 193 (i). Limited edition of 250 copies (this in no. 100). Greek and Roman letter, parallel Greek and English text. Several woodcut illustrations. Bound in quarter black cloth with orange paper on stiff boards. Greek and English title stamped in black on front cover with an imperial eagle. In brilliant condition, just minor rubbing to edges and corners of covers. Untrimmed, paper label bearing title to spine beneath headcaps.

“There is nothing in the whole range of literature corresponding to the Greek odes of victory, the most splendid examples of which still surviving were composed by Pindar between the years 502 and 442 B.C., during the most flourishing period of the Greeks’ history, and in the high summer of their genius.” The Olympian Odes, introduction, v. “In these complex poems, Pindar commemorates the achievement of athletes and powerful rulers against the backdrop of divine favor, human failure, heroic legend, and the moral ideals of aristocratic Greek society. Readers have long savored them for their rich poetic language and imagery, moral maxims, and vivid portrayals of sacred myths” (Harvard University Press). The present copy was superbly printed at the Shakespeare Head Press of Stratford-upon-Avon on thick paper; an outstanding bilingual production on opposing pages, displaying Charles J. Billson’s delightful English translation. The fine woodcuts by John Farleigh are stylised illustrations in the Etruscan manner.