Search Results: Authors starting with T from Sumner & Stillman

1839. London: Charles Tilt, 1839. 8 pp undated ads. Original dark green cloth wrappers pictorially decorated in gilt. First Edition, first issue, of this unusual collaboration between Thackeray, Dickens and Cruikshank. The volume consists of 31 quatrains of amusing verse, illustrated with Cruikshank's eleven full-page etchings (as well as the front cover design). According to Van Duzer, "It is now generally conceded that Thackeray wrote the text and that the notes and preface were by Dickens." For Thackeray it was quite early work: it was only the preceding year that was published THE YELLOWPLUSH CORRESPONDENCE, the "first publication in book form of any of Thackeray's writings" [Parrish]. As for Dickens, this fell just after OLIVER TWIST, at about the time NICHOLAS NICKLEBY was being serialized. Cruikshank, the only one of the three identified in the book, was the veteran of the group. This copy is of the first issue, with "wine" in stanza v; in the second issue this was changed to "vine" (even… Read More

1862. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1862. Original violet-blue cloth. First Edition of Thackeray's last completed novel -- involving a sham marriage, blackmail by a clergyman, a family fortune lost by Philip's father who then fled to America, a fiancée therefore opting for a wealthier rival, and of course, the finding of a lost will of a great-uncle. PHILIP is more commonly encountered in one of two brown cloth bindings. Sadleir goes into considerable detail to explain why these violet-blue copies of PHILIP were the first to be bound up but the last to be actually issued; central to his theory is the curious misprint at the foot of the spines: "Smith & Elder" -- curious because the firm had altered its name to "Smith, Elder & Co." no later than 1826, which was prior to the period of brass-imprinting of cloth spines. Carter likewise theorizes in great detail, saying that he had long suspected the bluish copies were earlier but that he was no longer so sure. This is a very good-plus set (spines… Read More

1895. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1895. Original light green cloth pictorially decorated in gilt, all page edges gilt. First Edition of this collection of juvenile tales and verse, published the year after Celia Thaxter's death, and edited (with a brief Preface by) Sarah Orne Jewett. Of the poems, the last thirteen listed appear here in book form for the first time; the others had appeared in earlier Thaxter books. Near-fine (one small rub on the front cover gilt). Blanck 19927.

1936. ["another unprocurable"] London: J. M. Dent & Sons, (1936). Original grey boards, with dust jacket. First Edition of Thomas's second book, which consisted of only 730 copies. His only earlier book had been EIGHTEEN POEMS, a 1934 issue of 250 copies by the Sunday Referee & Parton Bookshop. After the variously toned but never indifferent reception accorded to EIGHTEEN POEMS, Thomas's name began to appear regularly in a number of literary journals. But Victor Neuberg [poetry editor of the Sunday Referee] felt that the opportunities provided by that book and the auguries of 'promise' which it had elicited from the critics should not be left too long in mid air, and early in 1936 he suggested that Thomas might collect together what poems he had written over the past year with a view to preparing a second book. Within a few days Thomas handed him a sheaf of twenty-one poems. Neuberg, having read and been impressed by them, advised making up the number to a round twenty-five. The additional four were… Read More

1884. Edited by H.G.O. Blake. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1884. Original dark green cloth with facsimile signature in gilt, beveled. First Edition, which consisted of only 1260 copies (WALDEN, in comparison, consisted of 2000 copies). This was the second of Thoreau's four "seasons" to be posthumously published from his journal; EARLY SPRING had come out in 1881, and WINTER and AUTUMN (curiously out of order) would come out in 1888 and 1892 respectively. The frontispiece consists of a folding map of Concord, with the homes of R.W. Emerson and Nathl. Hawthorne highlighted (as well as Walden Pond). This is a bright copy, fine except for a little faint speckling on the front cover -- a common difficulty for this Thoreau binding. Borst A9.1.a.; Blanck 20127.

1863. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1863. 1 preliminary page undated ads. Original blind-stamped blue-green cloth with gilt-decorated spine. First Edition, first and only printing that was dated 1863, which consisted of just 1558 copies (1500 of which were bound up) -- priced at $1.00. This posthumous collection of naturalist essays (including "A Winter Walk," "Autumnal Tints" and "Night and Moonlight") was Thoreau's third book, preceded only by A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS (1849) and WALDEN (1854). When Thoreau died of tuberculosis in May 1862 (at the age of 44), nothing of his had been published during the eight years since WALDEN. The editor of this book was the author's sister, Sophia Thoreau; the 26-page "Biographical Sketch" of Thoreau was by his friend and neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ticknor & Fields wished to pay a royalty of 10¢ but Thoreau's sister... preferred 15¢. According to the T&F cost books the matter was settled by paying her 12½¢ per copy [Borst]. This copy is in… Read More

1865. [the E.R. Hoar / Doheny copy] Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865. 24 pp ads dated Dec 1864. Original blind-stamped purple cloth with gilt-decorated spine. First Edition, first printing, which consisted of only 2,000 or 2,040 copies (of which some were sent to England to be issued with a cancel title page) -- printed in December 1864, but not actually published until late March 1865. Edited by the younger William Ellery Channing and by Thoreau's sister Sophia, this was the fifth Thoreau book, preceded by A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS, WALDEN, and the posthumous EXCURSIONS and THE MAINE WOODS. There were four different bindings used (differing in blind-stamping and in "author of" spine verbiage), and in seven different colors and grains of cloth -- without known priority; this copy is in Blanck's "binding A," and is in purple "Z" (triangular-grain) cloth. This is a bright, near-fine copy (a trace of wear at the spine ends); the spine has generally browned -- as is typical for this… Read More

1881. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1881 / 1884 / 1888 / 1892. [Together, four volumes.] Original dark green cloth with facsimile signature in gilt, beveled. First Edition, first printing, of each of Thoreau's "four seasons" edited from his journal by H.G.O. Blake. (It is curious that the four seasons were published not quite in their natural order.) According to Blanck these four printings consisted of only 1018, 1260, 1550 and 1020 copies respectively. These are unusually bright copies -- a touch of rubbing at some corners, perhaps a faint scratch or two, but otherwise Fine. It is not easy to encounter all four Seasons in this condition. Borst A8.1.a + A9.1.a + A10.1.a + A11.1.a; Blanck 20123 + 20127 + 20129 + 20130. Housed in an open-back slipcase.

1876. [preceding the 4-vol. UK edition] Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, n.d. [1876]. Original green cloth decorated in black and gilt. First Edition (preceding the four-volume English edition, but sharing the spotlight with an edition by Harper of New York, as both American editions were published at noon on May 17, 1876). With the serial format dying (following the death of its champion Dickens in mid-1870), Chapman & Hall experimented (unsuccessfully) with issuing THE PRIME MINISTER in eight monthly five-shilling parts from Nov 1875 through June 1876; they then published it in four cloth-bound volumes -- in "May 1876" according to Sadleir, but "on June 12th, 1876" according to Smith. American publication of this title was very curious... Porter & Coates paid Harper 175 pounds for advance sheets and the right to publish simultaneously -- which they did. P&C came out with the novel at three different prices: for 75¢ in paper wrappers in their "Library of Approved Novels," for $1.25 in cream cloth… Read More

1860. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860. 6 pp undated ads. Original blind-stamped red ribbed-morocco grain cloth with spine lettered in gilt. First American Edition of this early Trollope novel, which had first come out in late 1857 (three volumes, London post-dated 1858). This was his sixth novel, following the initial two "Irish" ones, LA VENDÉE set in France, and then THE WARDEN and BARCHESTER TOWERS. It was the success of these latter two that prompted Harper to begin publishing American editions beginning in 1858; this was the fourth Trollope title Harper published. Smith cites five binding variants (no known precedence); this copy is in red ribbed-morocco grain cloth, which is either Smith's binding "A -- dark reddish-brown" or "E -- moderate reddish-brown" (this copy simply looks "red" to us). Condition is very good-plus (quite minor wear at the extremities, a few string-indents on the rear cover, spine gilt less than bright); the original coffee-colored endpapers are intact, and the volume… Read More

1859. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1859. Original blind-stamped brown cloth. First American (and first one-volume) Edition. This was not generally regarded as one of Trollope's better efforts; the author himself remarked in his autobiography, I do not know that I have ever heard it well spoken of by my friends, and I cannot remember that there is any character in it that has dwelt in the minds of novel-readers. Much of the novel's action takes place in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, where George Bertram meets the father he had not seen since his boyhood. THE BERTRAMS was Trollope's second book to be published in America, following DOCTOR THORNE the previous year. This is a very good copy, perhaps near-fine (slight wear at the spine ends, one small nick in the front cover cloth, light foxing as always with this 1850s paper). The front free endpaper bears the blind-stamp of Stanwood & Souther (bookseller in Augusta Maine in 1859), as well as the early signature of a woman from that same town. In our… Read More

1879. London: Chapman & Hall, 1879. Original scarlet cloth decorated in black. First Edition, third binding state (three-volumes-in-one), of this adventurous tale. "The plot is one of his most interesting, ingenious, elaborate, and unexpected" [Walpole]. John Caldigate goes to Australia to seek his fortune in the gold mines, and winds up living with one Euphemia Smith; after his return to England and his subsequent marriage, Euphemia tracks him down to blackmail him, saying he was already married to her. A postal clerk, of all people, carries the day by proving that an envelope addressed by Caldigate to Euphemia as "Mrs. Caldigate" is a forgery. In all, one of Trollope's better yarns -- featuring, in a way, himself!. (Trollope began as a postal clerk at age 19 (in 1834), and continued rising in the organization until 1866; he is credited as being an originator of the British circular red postal box, after the postal service sent him to the Channel Islands to come up with a better way for residents… Read More

1868. London: Virtue & Co., 1868. Original bright green cloth. First Edition of this collection of eight pieces on outdoor "sports and pastimes" -- namely horse-racing, hunting, shooting (birds), fishing, yachting, rowing, alpine climbing and cricket. All had appeared, between December 1867 and August 1868, in Saint Paul's Magazine, of which Trollope was editor. Trollope himself wrote only the piece "On Hunting" (as well as the Preface for this book); two of the others, "On Rowing" and "On Alpine Climbing," were by Leslie Stephen -- who in 14 years would become the father of Virginia Woolf. "No other item in Trollopiana appears in so many different clothes without the indication of there having been earlier issues" [Sadleir]; this was due in part to the fact that Virtue & Co. soon went under and its books were bought out by Strahan & Co., which in turn was bought out by Daldy, Isbister & Co. This, however, is a copy from the first issue, with a Virtue & Co. title page dated 1868 and with "Virtue &… Read More

1923. Edited with a Preface by Michael Sadleir. London: Constable & Company, 1923. Original blind-stamped deep red cloth with gilt-decorated spine. First Edition, which consisted of only 500 copies. This is one of only two plays that Trollope ever wrote, as "the genre was uncomfortable to him." He wrote it early in his career, in 1850, at about the same time as his third novel (LA VENDÉE). He later used the germ of THE NOBLE JILT to create "one of his best known novels; to it is due the existence of CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?" (Sadleir, the editor who had this book published from the original manuscript -- and from whom these quotes are drawn -- gives a character-by-character comparison between this play and that novel in his preface.) The binding is an exact facsimile of that used in 1864 for CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?. This is a near-fine copy, without wear but with the spine slightly faded (as usual with this color cloth). Sadleir (Trollope) 70.

1868. With Illustrations by Marcus Stone. London: Virtue & Company, October 17 [1868] - May 22 [1869]. Original grey-green pictorial wrappers printed in red and black. An incomplete set of the First Edition, 24 of the 32 weekly parts (serialization was also available in eight monthly parts, and at the end the novel was issued in two volumes). The publisher Virtue gave Trollope extremely generous terms in order to be able to publish this novel -- too generous: Virtue "went under" after the 29th part, after which Strahan & Co. picked up the remainder. (Hence the lack of inserted ads in the last three numbers, Strahan's name on those three inside-rear wrappers, and Strahan's name on the book title pages included in the last part.) Included are two plates by Marcus Stone per part, plus, at the end of the final part, the preliminary leaves for both volumes -- for those buyers who wanted to have their parts bound up. The eight parts that are lacking from this set are 8, 10, 12, 20, 22, 24, 25 and 26; of… Read More

1870. Woods, H.. With Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1870. Original purple straight-grain-morocco cloth. First one-volume, first hard-bound, and first obtainable American edition of this novel "written chiefly with the idea of exciting not only pity but also sympathy for a fallen woman" [per Trollope's autobiography]. Carry Brattle, the Bullhampton miller's daughter, seduced and then rejected by a lover, was "exiled" to London with her illegitimate child -- who in turn would years later be accused of a murder; the town Vicar, who had earlier befriended the young boy, steps in to solve the case by finding the real murderers. For decades, it was believed (per Sadleir) that Lippincott's authorized edition and Harper's pirated edition came out at about the same time, May-June 1870. But then Walter Smith's 2002 bibliography told a different story. Keeping up with UK serialization, Lippincott published a Part I in wrappers in September 1869, and a Part II in wrappers in April 1870 -- both… Read More

1873. A Novel. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1873. 4 pp preliminary undated ads. Original printed buff wrappers. Early edition in wrappers, being No. 577 in Harper's "Library of Select Novels." Harper's first edition (published a few days earlier than the 1873-dated London three-decker) came out in October 1872 and was dated 1872 on the title page. Issued both in cloth and in wrappers, it was not a volume in this "Library"; beginning the following year (so dated, as here), printed from the same plates, it became No. 577. This copy was not actually issued for a dozen more years -- as the rear cover ads are dated "for 1885." Condition is perhaps very good for such a fragile paper volume: the two wrappers have translucent archival backing, and three corners are chipped away; most of the spine, with its lettering, is present. See Smith pp 165-169 (and especially his Note 5); Sadleir (TROLLOPE) 39.

1860. [one of Trollope's scarcest] London: Chapman & Hall, 1860. Original blind-stamped dark green cloth. First Edition of this novel sited in Ireland, during the famine of 1846-1847. The author later wrote of it in his autobiography, This novel... is of itself a weak production. The characters do not excite sympathy. The heroine has two lovers, one of whom is a scamp and the other a prig... Trollope had begun writing it when George Smith (of Smith Elder) asked for an English tale to serialize in the new Cornhill Magazine, so the author laid it aside while he wrote FRAMLEY PARSONAGE. When he then returned to finish it, the publisher must have been in a great hurry to get it to press, as evidenced by the sloppy editing. CASTLE RICHMOND has two distinct issues -- a first issue with many misprints (some 43 of which Sadleir identifies), with an ad catalogue dated February 1860, and a second issue with the errors corrected, with an ad catalogue dated May 1860 (the month in which the book was actually… Read More

1883. London: Chatto & Windus, 1883. 32 pp Vol I ads dated March 1883. Original blue-green cloth decorated in reddish-brown. First Edition of this novel about a man who valued his estate above his honor, and who accordingly tried to have his cake and eat it too... "He was luxurious and self-indulgent, and altogether indifferent to the opinion of those around him" (from the novel). John Scarborough, owner of a large landed property in Hertfordshire, resented the restrictions of the law of entail [predetermined succession of estate]. He accordingly devised a scheme whereby he was able by a double marriage, one before and one after the birth of his eldest son, to declare him illegitimate or not, as the future might make desirable... [Gerould] It is not hard to imagine the subterfuge and treachery this scheme creates between father, elder son and younger son. MR. SCARBOROUGH'S FAMILY first appeared serially in "All The Year Round," running weekly from May 1882 to June 1883, during which span (December… Read More

1870. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1870. 4+8 pp terminal ads, undated. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in black. First Edition of this schoolbook written by Trollope, issued as the fourth volume in the "Ancient Classics for English Readers" series. As Sadleir explains: since this book was often reprinted without changing anything but the ad leaves, the vital characteristics of a true first edition is that the book include at least two leaves (four pages) of ads, and that nowhere in the book is there mention of any more than the three previously-published volumes in the series. This copy has the standard four pages of ads, plus an additional eight pages of ads of Blackwood's educational works; both on the half-title verso, and in the ads, only the three earlier titles are cited. It is a very good-plus copy, with minor ruffling at the spine ends. Sadleir (TROLLOPE) 35.