Category: Symonds

SYMONDS, John. Away to the Moon

Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1956.

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 64, with 6 full-page, and one double-page, illustrations. Title framed within a decorative border, decorated pastedowns. All illustrations by Pamela Bianco. Green buckram and original illustrated dust jacket. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on verso of front free endpaper: ” To Mickey / from his old friend / John / Aug 1956. In very good condition.

SYMONDS, John. William Waste

London, Sampson Low, Marston & CO.

FRIST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 123, with illustrated frontispiece and 14 b&w illustrations, one at the beginning of each chapter, plus illustrated dust jacket, somewhat worn and damaged, but repaired and laid on a layer of new paper. All illustrations by André François. Red buckram with white lettering to spine. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on front free endpaper and dedicated to the scholar and poet Michael Hamburger: “For Mickey / from his friend / John”. A good copy.

SYMONDS, John. The Child

London, Duckworth, 1976.

£300

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 147. Bound in buckram over boards, gilt title to spine. Original dust jacket. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on the left endpaper and dedicated to his friend scholar and poet Michael Hamburger: “To Michael / from the Author / John Symonds / 11 March 1997”. A fine copy.

BUCHNER, Georg (HAMBURGER, Michael, Tr.). Leonce and Lena Lenz-Woyzeck

London, The University of Chicago Press, 1972.

£350

8vo, pp. 99. Bound in purple cloth over boards, gilt title to spine and author’s name stamped on front cover within a blind-tooled coat of arms. Original dust jacket. Translator’s presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title and dedicated to John Symonds: “For Johnny / in the 33rd year / of our friendship / as ever / Michael Hamburger / Aug. 72.” An excellent copy.

SYMONDS, John. The Medusa’s Head

 London, Mandrake Press Ltd, 1991.

£450

FIRST EDITION (on the verso of the title-page: “The Edition is limited to 350 copies, numbers 1-50 being signed by the author and bound in white Aberlave buckram with a matching slipcase, numbers 51-350 are bound in blue Abergave buckram with a laminated dust-wrapper” – this is one of the latter, though unnumbered). 8vo, pp. 216. Author’s presentation copy dedicated to his friend scholar and poet Michael Hamburger, inscribed in black ink on the front endpaper: “To Michael Hamburger / from the author / John Symonds / 3 October 1991”. Very occasional annotations by the author. A fine copy.

SYMONDS, John. William Waste

London, Sampson Low, Marston & CO.

£100

FRIST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 123, with illustrated frontispiece and 14 b&w illustrations, one at the beginning of each chapter, plus illustrated dust jacket, worn and damaged, all by the French illustrator André François. Bound in red buckram with white lettering to spine. A little yellowed internally, though lightly. Autograph of Eleanor Vallange, sister of the author, on front free endpaper.

MANN, Thomas (LINDLEY, Denver, Tr.). Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man

 London, Secker & Warburg, 1955.

£300

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 408. A copy inscribed on the front endpaper by the scholar and poet Michael Hamburger and dedicated to John Symonds, novelist and biographer of Aleister Crowley: “To John / from his friend / Michael / Christmas 1955”. Bound in buckram over boards, gilt title to head of spine, original dust jacket in fair condition designed by Hans Hagedorn. A good copy.

HAMBURGER, Michael. The Take Over

London, Enitharmon Press, 2000.

£150

FIRST EDITION (on recto of rear endpaper: “the text has been hand-set in Monotype (hot metal) Caslon (128) by Gloucester Typesetting Services. Letterpress printed and hand-bound at The Stonehouse Fine Press, on 125 gsm Canaletto paper. The edition is limited to ninety copies numbered 1-90, and twenty hors commerce copies numbered i-xx. Each copy has been numbered and signed by Michael Hamburger. This is number vi”, thus signed by the author in pen). Large 8vo, pp. 20. Printer’s device on title-page. Author’s presentation copy dedicated to his friend John Symonds, novelist and biographer of Aleister Crowley, inscribed on half-title: “For my old friend John Symonds / this only took extension into prose-fiction / Michael Hamburger”. Bound in paper wrappers and decorated dust jacket with title label on front cover. A fine copy.