Search Results: Authors starting with J from Ash Rare Books

London : Hurst & Blackett, 1885. First edition. The earliest history of the subject, tracing the illustrated periodical from the earliest English news-books to the Victorian illustrated newspapers and magazines. Compiled by Mason Jackson, himself a notable engraver and art editor of the "Illustrated London News" for nearly twenty years. Demy 8vo (23cm). xii,(364)pp. Numerous illustrations and facsimiles. Original decorative cloth gilt, expertly repaired, restored and refurbished; a few faint marks, but a very good copy. W. H. Smith Library blind-stamp on front free endpaper.

London : Charles Knight & Co., 1839. First edition. A monumental and attractive treatise on the whole history and practice of wood-engraving, with much on the antiquity of the process, the age of Durer, the revival under Thomas Bewick, the precise techniques and tools employed, etc. Jackson had served part of his apprenticeship under Bewick himself and was one of the finest practitioners of his time. His collaborator, William Andrew Chatto (father of the publisher), also wrote on the history of playing-cards, etc. Elephant 8vo (161 x 174mm). xvi,(750),[ii]pp. Seven plates, some coloured, including a Baxter print of Ovingham and a double-page "patent illuminated map" of Jerusalem by William Hughes. Numerous wood engravings in text, some coloured. Bound in a smart later (late twentieth-century) half calf; marbled sides and endpapers; text a little shaken, but firm in binding; a few slight marks, but overall a very good copy. Occasional interesting pencilled annotation from a widely-read and… Read More

London : H. F.& G. Witherby, (1975). First edition. Includes individual chapters on the finest of the nineteenth-century ornithological illustrators - William Swainson, Edward Lear, John Gould, Henry Leonard Meyer, Josef Wolf, Joseph Smit, John Gerrard Keulemans, Edward Neale, William Foster, Claude Wilmott Wyatt, Frederick William Frohawk, Henrik Grönvold, Archibald Thorburn, and George Edward Lodge - with a preliminary essay, bibliography, index, etc. Crown 4to (26cm). (134),[ii]pp. Fourteen colour plates. Original cloth; mild marking to endpapers, but a very good copy in a just lightly bruised dust-jacket.

London : George Bell & Sons, 1893. A reissue of the original 1890 edition, with a cancel title and inserted advertisements dated 1895. Jacobi was manager of the Chiswick Press and provides a comprehensive illustrated survey, with sections on types, composition and distribution, reading, press-work, motive power, machine printing, warehouse work, etc. Includes a glossary. Foolscap 8vo (19cm). xviii,302,[x] + [iv],(12)pp inserted advertisements. Over 150 illustrations. Tables. Original cloth; some minor wear; endpapers starting; a touch shaken; some small marks, creases and general signs of age and use, but a good and serviceable copy.

London : Chiswick Press, 1891. Second edition. First published in 1887, but "much useful matter has [now] been added, and an attempt has been made to classify it". Jacobi was manager of the Chiswick Press and provides much useful advice. With chapters on the Composing Room; Machine and Press Work; Inks, Varnishes, etc.; Warehouse Work and Stationery; Mucilages; Stereotyping and Electrotyping; Lithography; Engraving and Process Work; Bookbinding, etc. Crown 8vo (19cm). (xiv),360,[viii]pp. Original cloth; expertly rebacked, repaired and refurbished, retaining the original cloth spine; some wear; pervasive mild stain to upper corners, almost throughout; a few leaves slightly chipped, but a good, working copy.

Glasgow : McKenzie Vincent & Co., [ca.1950]. First edition. Murder on the outskirts of St Albans - Scotland Yard is called in. Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Plan. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a few slight creases; staples much rusted with attendant discolouration; small sticker removed from rear wrapper; a good copy of an uncommon production. Just a single copy (National Library of Scotland) located in major libraries worldwide.

London : W. Collins Sons & Co., (1917). First edition : one of just 2,000 copies. James mauling the plutocrats and laissez-faire capitalism - a novel unfinished at the time of his death, but here concluded with his extensive working notes, as well a perceptive preface by Percy Lubbock. "Nearer than anything else we possess to a living image of the creative process itself" (Manchester Guardian). Post 8vo (21cm). (viii),(348)pp. Photogravure portrait frontispiece by Emil Otto Hoppé (1878-1972). Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt; spine a touch darkened; minor wear at tips; a few slight marks; mild tanning of endpapers; some spotting, mainly of edges, but still a good copy.

London : William Heinemann, 1899. First edition : [one of 2,000 copies]. Eighteen-year-old Nanda enters the decadent fin-de-siècle marriage market - "We begin by being afraid that we shall not understand enough, we end by fearing that we may understand too much ... It is a strong book, but there is one thing greater than its strength, and that is its audacity" (Morning Post, 29th June 1899). A copy from the library of Sir Stephen Spender (1909-1995). Spender's "The Destructive Element" (1935) remains one of the most interesting and influential studies of James and his contemporaries. Crown 8vo (20cm). vi,414,[ii] + [32]pp. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt and decorated in blind with an art-nouveau iris design; some very mild rubbing; a few internal marks and spots; a handful of leaves roughly opened, but otherwise a very good copy with an interesting provenance. With the earlier ownership inscription of Mary Lillias Johnston, the small bookseller's label of R. J. Porteus & Co. of Newcastle,… Read More

London : Methuen & Co., 1903. First edition : in the variant and possibly secondary blue binding. Eleven short stories - "Mr. James's best sort ... nearly every story contains an idea of real power and interest" (Westminster Gazette, 21st March 1903). A copy from the library of Sir Stephen Spender (1909-1995), with his occasional pencil markings. Spender's "The Destructive Element" (1935) remains one of the most interesting and influential studies of James and his contemporaries. Crown 8vo (20cm). [viii],312pp. Original blue cloth, ruled in gilt and blind, and lettered in gilt; a little rubbed and slightly marked, but a good copy with an interesting provenance. With the earlier ownership inscription of G. Hastings, and with a facsimile of the Stephen & Natasha Spender bookplate designed by John Craxton neatly inserted.

London : Faber & Faber, (1977). First edition. A young girl found murdered in East Anglia, but then a second death at the forensic laboratory investigating the case - Commander Dalgleish is called in. "One of the most unusual and puzzling cases of his career". Post 8vo (21cm). [vi],(266)pp. Original red boards, ruled and lettered in gilt; a few slight marks; small erasure from foot of title-page, but otherwise a very good copy in the Terry Trott dust-jacket - the spine lettering of the jacket sunned, as usual, but otherwise very good, clean and unworn.

Barnsley : Remember When, (2008). First edition. "Exotic dancer Maud Allan saves the London Olympics from certain failure. 90,000 people fill the previously empty stadium to see the biggest celebrity of the day ... Standing beside her was her lover, the PM's wife Margot Asquith". The story of the sensational libel trial brought against the famous dancer Maud Allan (1873-1956) in 1918, a case which threatened to bring down the British establishment. Medium 8vo (25cm). 480pp. Plates. Portraits. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; a very good copy in a just faintly used dust-jacket.

London : Cambridge University Press, 1972. First edition. A study of this distinctive style, with material on the gothic background, the social setting, origins, styles, embossing machines, materials, etc, with an illustrated catalogue of sixty-two examples, with indices of names, publishers, etc. Cambridge Bibliographical Society Monograph No.7. Crown 4to (26cm). viii,(96)pp. Plates. Original wrappers; lower wrapper a little creased and slightly nicked; top edge a touch dusty, but a good and serviceable copy.

London : New Fiction Press, [1951]. First edition. The first of the Janson titles to appear under the imprint of Reg Carter's New Fiction Press. The new publisher's attitude was cautious and the already printed original Heade artwork was abandoned prior to publication in favour of a plain silhouette design. Later republished under the George Turton imprint as "Bad Girl" in 1959. Crown 8vo (19cm). 124,[iv]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - a silhouette design in green, yellow and red; lightly used, with a little rubbing, slight wear and light creasing; a few faint marks, but a very good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide. Williams & Holland 29.

London : Alexander Moring, [1956]. First edition. Janson in Florida. Crown 8vo (18cm). 159,[i]pp. Original pictorial wrappers; spine a little tanned; small scuff to upper wrapper; lower wrapper a little marked; text tanned at edges, with some occasional deeper discolouration; a serviceable copy. Just four copies (Bodleian, British Library, Melbourne and Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide.

London : Pendulum Publications, (1946). First edition. His first novel - a fictionalised account of a young man growing up in poverty in South London between the wars - stealing second-hand books, left-wing politics, in Spain with the International Brigade, gambling in Monte Carlo, etc. Produced under the imprint of his own Pendulum Publications, a short-lived but extraordinarily diverse publishing house set up in the closing months of the war. Frances subsequently adopted the "Hank Janson" pseudonym and became almost cetainly the best-selling author in the country. Crown 8vo (19cm). 158,[ii]pp. Original reddish cloth, lettered across upper cover and spine in black - the author's name mis-spelt Francis on the upper cover; lightly rubbed and slightly worn and sunned; a few marks, but a good copy of a scarce title.

London : New Fiction Press, [1952]. First edition : the variant listing six "Fourth Series" titles (and two "Specials") on the lower wrapper. The most notorious and most scrutinised of the books in the 1954 obscenity trial, with Heade at his very best on the front cover, with a tenderness sometimes lacking. Evidently based on James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice", it is thought that the outline of the plot was supplied to Frances by Geoffrey Pardoe (Holland p.299). "Powerfully evokes the claustrophobic little café" (John Fraser). Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - a braceleted Heade blonde in lilac and an agony-or-ecstasy pose; minor wear at head; short split at foot; a few slight marks, but a very good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide. Williams and Holland 41.

London : New Fiction Press, [1952]. Second edition : an early reprint of the original 1952 edition - but here with a plain silhouette cover replacing the full-lipped Reginald Heade redhead of the original issue in an attempt to deflect the growing concern of the authorities. Crown 8vo (18cm). 126,[ii]pp. Original stapled wrappers - a design in two shades of blue, lettered in cerise; a little worn, creased and slightly chipped; spine repaired and strengthened with tissue; a serviceable copy of a difficult title.

London : Top Fiction, [1953]. First edition : in the variant wrapper with the coloured advertisement for the forthcoming "Nyloned Avenger" on the rear panel. The last book of the fourth series and the first under the Top Fiction imprint - with a theme of a high-class call-girl racket being used to ensnare public officials, the book opens with an unusual corruption trial at which no defence is offered. Top Fiction Ltd. was a new company hurriedly formed by Reg Carter after police raids and seizures at the premises of the Janson publishers, printers and distributors in September 1953 (Holland pp.135-136). Later republished under the Roberts & Vinter imprint as "Secret Session" in 1960. Crown 8vo (18cm). 142,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - a design by Reginald Heade of a brunette in green with pink champagne and a long cigarette holder; slightly rubbed, worn and a little scuffed and chipped; tiny bruise to fore-edge of opening leaves, but a good copy. Just a single copy (British Library)… Read More

London : S. D. Frances, [1950]. First edition. "Every year there's fifty-five thousand people listed as missing in Chicago alone ... That's why I'm writing this story. The inside story of Judge Pearson. Not the story of what happened to him when he disappeared. But the much more revealing story of what happened earlier and why Judge Pearson disappeared at all". Crown 8vo (19cm). 126,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – an Amazonian Heade redhead in unlikely attire; small repaired tear to spine; some mild creasing; a few faint marks on rear wrapper, but a good and clean copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide. Stamp of Greens Milk Bar in Salford on half-title.

London : New Fiction Press, [1953]. First edition : in the earlier variant wrappers, listing six titles as "in preparation" and just three "specials". Hank Janson of the Chicago Chronicle and the case of a good man turned sour by a false conviction. The book became the subject of nineteen destruction orders from local magistrates and was one of the books featured in the January 1954 Old Bailey obscenity trial - as a result of which both the publisher and distributor were sentenced to prison. This gave rise to a question in the House of Commons as to how many copies had been bought for distribution to the armed services - and the slightly evasive response that a small quantity had been purchased by the NAAFI. Crown 8vo (19cm). 142,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - a sultry blonde in clinging lilac by the incomparable Reginald Heade; lightly worn; small chip and slight split to spine; lower wrapper a little soiled; text lightly tanned, but overall a very good copy. Just a single copy… Read More