Rare books from Adrian Harrington Rare Books

London: Queen Anne Press, 2011. FINELY BOUND. Ten volumes bound by Shepherds, Sangorski and Sutcliffe in black full goatskin, gilt titles to spine and various onlays. Red endpapers and gilt top edges, each volume housed in a custom, lined slipcase with leather trim. The set housed in a black cloth box lined in red. Profusely illustrated. Set 'C' of 26 sets produced lettered A-Z. An exemplary presentation of Peake's work. A new set listed at the retail price. Fine. The definitive collection of Mervyn Peake's works, comprising four novels (The Gormenghast Trilogy and Mr Pye), two books for children (Letters from a Lost Uncle and Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor), a volume of poetry, a short story collection, a new volume of miscellaneous writings and rarely seen material, and a collection of illustrations painted for his two sons. The Queen Anne Press was founded in 1951 to publish limited editions by notable authors, including such luminaries as Evelyn Waugh, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Cyril Connolly.

Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1951. FIRST EDITION. Octavo., pp.277. Elegantly bound in black full morocco, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, original spine bound in at rear. A clean, fresh copy with one faint mark to half-title, in a fine, unmarked recent leather binding. Callil & Toibin; Modern Library. (200 Best Novels in English since 1950), p.154. Listed in The Observer: All-Time 100 Best Novels [2003];also Time Magazine: 100 Best Modern Novels; Modern Library's Top 100 Novels [1998]; BBC Big Read (200 Best Novels) [2003]; The Times: NovelList Top 60 Poll [2013].

London: Chatto and Windus, 1939. [Classic man-hunt adventure] FIRST EDITION, PROOF COPY, with an original 4-page advert/order form. Octavo, pp.[vii]; 271; [1], imprint. Publisher's brown card softcovers, with printed label to upper, handwritten details to spine. Contents clean, some wrinkling and lean to spine, covers lightly handled. A very good copy indeed, housed in a leather-spined clamshell box. An extremely scarce proof copy with a loose order form from Basil Blackwell, describing this novel as 'A Thriller of Thrillers'. The published book is a celebrated rarity in jacket however this is the first proof we have encountered, with none having appeared at auction. The thrillers of Geoffrey Household greatly influenced the writing of Ian Fleming. Hubin; Crime Fiction IV. p763. Gilbert, Jon; Ian Fleming The Bibliography pp.616-7.

New York, NY: Random House, 1965. [True crime] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[12] 343 [1]. SIGNED by the author in blue ink to a tipped-in blank. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles and silver decoration, red endpapers, top edge green, in the first issue dust-jacket, designed by S. Neil Fujita, with correct date code (1/66) and $5.95 price on front flap. Very light wear to extremities. A lovely fine copy. Capote's ground breaking non-fiction work on the murder of a Nebraska family. Signed on publisher's insert, this is almost certain to be one of the autographed copies received by subscribers to Kroch and Brentano's "First Edition Circle

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1887 [1886]. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.viii; 234 [32]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1886. With 42 wood engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles and black, brown and white decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; cream endpapers. Two plates tipped back in, with a little rubbing to edges. Some very minor occasional marks to leaves, and a gentle tobacco scent. Heavy rubbing to cloth, with some colour lost to both boards, and toning to spine. Very good. A thrilling tale of round the world air travel under the the wing of Robur the master engineer, all the more remarkable for the fact that it was written a good fourteen years before the Wright brothers first got their ideas off the ground. First published in French in 1886, and the rarest mid-period Verne in English.

London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1900. [Adventure] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 408. With 59 wood engraved plates by Roux, and the folding plate of 'The Noble Game of the United States of America' on india paper to preliminaries. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and white, black, and orange decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; patterned green endpapers. Gently toned with a light tobacco scent; slightly cocked. Some light occasional marks to leaves, with a small marginal tear to p.1/2. Moderate rubbing to cloth. Four plates tipped back in; somewhat rubbed and chipped to edges. Very good. One of Verne's later novels, first published in French in 1899, and curiously never published in America, where it is set. In a re-hash of the 'impossibly vast inheritance' genre, an American leaves $60,000,000 to the winner of a huge Goose Game laid out over the whole continent of North America, the seven contestants being specifically named in his Will. Printed in… Read More

London: Queen Anne Press, 2017. Royal quarto, with black and white illustrations throughout plus four suites of eight colour plates. Set in Albertina type and printed in two colours. Elegantly bound in full green cloth with black endpapers, gilt lettering and ornament. SIGNED by the author. Supplied with a felt lined custom slipcase in black cloth with the Fleming crest in gilt. New book, sold at the published RRP of £175, plus bespoke slipcase at £35 and global shipping. A comprehensive guide to the work of Ian Fleming by Jon Gilbert, an expert on the literary James Bond, covering everything from the first draft of "Casino Royale" in 1952 to editions still in print today. Published by Queen Anne Press, the imprint once managed by Ian Fleming, the book includes a preface from his nephew Fergus. First published in 2012 and having rapidly sold out, this award-winning bibliography is now back in print; the 2017 edition features some textual revisions and a handsome new binding of 'racing green' cloth,… Read More

London: Bloomsbury, 2007. [Fantasy adventure] FIRST DELUXE EDITION, SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.607; [1], blank. Publisher's black cloth, all edges gilt, purple endpapers, gilt titles to spine and upper with pictorial illustration laid down. Signed by the artist Jason Cockroft to the upper board. A fine, unread copy, in the scarce accompanying promotional gift bag with ribbon handles and printed details; these were available for one day only- the book launch date 21st July 2007. A unique presentation set. Over many years Adrian Harrington Ltd have built an unequalled relationship with all the illustrators of the Harry Potter jackets and are the primary source for autographs and artwork. Errington A14(aaa).

London: Jonathan Cape, 1965. [Pop culture] UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY IN DUST-WRAPPER, with various differences to the published version. Duodecimo (18 x 14cm), pp.96. Printed sheets, sewn, with blank endleaves, in a proof-only dust-wrapper. Profusely illustrated with Lennon's idiosyncratic drawings. A lovely fine copy, inside and out. The most important and obvious difference between this proof and the trade edition is the presence of a dust jacket. The published version featured photographic covers, but no jacket. This proof jacket has the same design as the hard covers, but carries an exclusive blurb to the front flap and publication details to rear flap. Within the book there are also a number of significant changes, primarily concerning the colour. In the trade version the two colours brown and green are used within the text and for the illustrations. These colours vary in the proof- the brown is much paler and the green less olive and more mint in shade; the most noticeable feature however is the… Read More

London: Bloomsbury, 2000. [Fantasy adventure] FIRST DELUXE EDITION, SIGNED by the author. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.636; [4], blank. Publisher's purple cloth, all edges gilt, gilt titles to spine and upper with pictorial illustration laid down, autographed by Greenfield. This copy autographed by J.K.Rowling at the 2004 Edinburgh International Book Festival, complete with related postcard and dayglo paper entry wristband. A fine, unread copy. This copy was previously sold by Adrian Harrington in 2013, and includes a letter of provenance accompanying that listing.

London: Bloomsbury, 1998. [Fantasy adventure] FIRST EDITION, first impression, in a first state jacket (lacking commas after child's names). Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.251; [blank]; [3 of reviews]; [advertisement]. Printed boards and matching first issue pictorial dust-jacket drawn by Cliff Wright. Neat owner name to flyleaf, jacket price clipped. Otherwise a fine, fresh copy. The second novel of the perennially popular children's series. Harry returns to Hogwarts for his second year, though he gets there by rather unusual means. Voldemort makes another attempt to return to dominate the wizarding world, but Harry, Ron and Hermione continue to defy him. Errington A2(a).

London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1938; 1943; 1945. [Science Fiction] COMPLETE FIRST EDITIONS, First Impressions. Three volumes. Octavo (20 x 13 x 10cm), pp.xii; 264 [6]; pp.256; pp.476 [2]. Recently re-bound in green half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to spines, matching cloth over boards, and top edges gilt. Other edges gently trimmed. Presented in a matching fleece-lined cloth-covered slipcase with a ribbon-pull. Occasional spotting, otherwise crisp, clean copies presented in an attractive new leather binding. An exceedingly rare Science Fiction trilogy (subtitled 'A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups' to 'That Hideous Strength'), preceding Lewis' more famous Christian allegory, The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56).

London: Ward, Lock, and Bowden Ltd., [1895]. [Literature] FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE, showing the imprint as Ward Lock and Bowden (amended from Ward Lock & Co.). Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.334. Bound in the original grey paper-covered bevelled boards with titles and ornate gilt decoration to upper, parchment-backed with gilt titles, grey-green endpapers, all edges untrimmed. Decorative bookplate to pastedown. Contents clean, edges of boards rubbed, some wear to joints, spine toned/browned as expected but with the original ornate gilt titles remaining bright. A very good copy. Uncommon in an un-restored publisher's binding. The most popular of Wilde's books, The Picture of Dorian Gray appeared first in Lippincott's magazine in 1890. The story, as published in book-form, contains six new chapters, many alterations and much additional matter. After the famous trial the publishers, although inundated with orders for copies, withdrew the book from circulation. The unforgettable dark and brooding chiller set… Read More

London: Bloomsbury, 1999. [Fantasy] FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, third state (see below). Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.317; [5]. Publisher's pictorial hardcovers in dust-jacket illustrated by Cliff Wright, priced at £10.99. A lovely fine copy with the usual speckling to the endpapers (poor paperstock was chosen). Shows extremely well. The first state states 'Copyright Joanne Rowling' on the copyright page, whereas the second and third state are amended to 'J.K Rowling'. The first state also has a misaligned text block 'burnt (drop) so much' p.7, which is corrected in the subsequent states. Second and third state identical but for adverts included at the rear of the third issue. All three states feature full strike-line numbers and are therefore 'states' rather than separate impressions.

London: George Allen and Unwin, 1961. [Fantasy Classic] FIRST EDITION, the eleventh, eighth, and eighth impressions respectively. Complete in three volumes. Octavo (23 x 15 x 10cm), pp.423 [1]; pp.352; pp.416. With a folding map at the rear of each volume. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spines and top edges red. With the cream typographic dust-jackets, each priced at 21s. No ink names or ownership. Crisp, clean, fine copies of the books in fine jackets with some gentle tonign to the spines. Housed in a modern card slipcase replicating the publisher's original box. A fantastical trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings" is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed. Basis for the epic film series directed by Peter Jackson, 'The Return' (2003) winning a record 11 Oscars from 11 nominations. This is an attractive set, bought at the same time in 1961 and carefully kept since.