ABA Featured Books

Nattali and Bond. London. No Date.,Circa 1850. THREE VOLUMES. Tall 8vo (10.2 x 6.6 inches). Text and plates taken from the Ninth edition. Complete set of this famous trilogy, with 80 fine hand-coloured, full page, aquatint plates, the colouring still strong and bright, by Thomas Rowlandson. Some minor spots of foxing to a few leaves in each volume but generally clean and bright copies in the scarce original publisher's brown cloth bindings, with gilt lettering and decoration on spines. Decorative blind stamped panels on boards. Original yellow coated endpapers. Previous owners bookplates to front paste downe endpapers. Some rubbing to top and tail of spines and fore-edges, and a couple of the hinges with neatly repaired splits (about 1.5 inches) but generally these are very good examples. Slight uniform fading to spines but overall a very attractive set of this classic work with Rowlandson's humourous plates. Uncommon in the publishers original decorative cloth bindings.:

Amsterdam, Bij de Wed. G.A. Diederichs & Zoon, 1820.. First and Only Edition in Dutch. Large 8°, contemporary speckled wrappers (front wrapper detached), printed spine label (somewhat defective). Scattered minor spotting. Uncut and mostly unopened. In good to very good condition. iv, 154 pp., (2 ll. advertisement). *** First and only edition in Dutch of Gleanings and remarks: collected during many months of residence at Buenos Ayres, and within the upper country; with a prefatory account of the expedition from England, until the surrender of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, under the joint command of Sir D. Baird and Sir Home Popham, originally published in Leeds, 1818. It contains a description of Rio de la Plata and Buenos Aires, with accounts of Montevideo, the Banda Oriental, and Chile at the end.In 1806 Sir Henry Popham (without Admiralty approval) sailed a fleet to Buenos Aires and captured it with ease, aided by General William Beresford and 1,400 soldiers. Led by a French officer (the… Read More

Coimbra, Imprensa Academica, 1876-1877.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. 2 parts. 4°, original gray (part 1) and purple (part 2) printed wrappers (some fading and slight foxing; very slight fraying at edges). Uncut. In very good to fine condition. Numbers 25 (part 1) and 30 (part 2) of 100 copies, none of which were for sale. Inscribed on the half-title of part 1: "Ao Ilm.º Exm.º Snr. // Henrique da Gama Barros // Off. // Annibal Fernandes Thomaz, Louzan [?] 15-2 // 18/77." Also inscribed on the half-title of part 2: "Ao Ilm.º Exm.º Snr. // Counselhr.º [?] Henrique da Gama Barros // Off. o // A.". 61 pp, (1 l.), 2 plates; 99 pp., 3 plates (2 folding). *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION. These bibliographical essays constitute the first book by Annibal Fernandes Thomaz [or Aníbal Fernandes Tomás, 1849-1911]. Writer, government official, and distinguished bibliophile, he was also a collector of ex-libris, super-libris, rare books, and prints. Fernandes Thomaz was born in Figueira-da-Foz and served as a postal… Read More

Lisbon, Na Typografia de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1822-1823.. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes in 1. 4°, contemporary tree sheep (minor wear), smooth spine gilt, crimson morocco lettering piece, gilt letter, marbled endleaves. Woodcut Portuguese royal arms on title pages. Overall in very good to fine condition. Old ink manuscript inscription "N.º 121" in upper outer corner of first title page. Circular white paper ticket with blue border and "481" supplied in ink manuscript in upper outer corner of front pastedown endleaf. 216 pp. *** FIRST EDITION. The text appeared again in the author's Obras completas, [1987?]. It consists of 27 "Cartas". Beginning on p. [65] is a divisional title page, dated 1823, titled Continuação das Cartas aos Portugezes escriptas por José Accursio das Neves.This book attempts to foster the political economy while opposing the new constitutional system. There is much derogatory comment on the French and American revolutions, buttressed with references to Rousseau, Voltaire,… Read More

Bologna, Ex Typ. Sassiana, 1832.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Folio (30 x 22 cm.), contemporary red straight-grain morocco (light wear, a few pinpoint wormholes at the joints), smooth spine richly gilt, sides tooled in gilt with two rolls, "GREGORIO XVI. P.O.M." tooled on upper cover, gilt inner dentelles, cream silk endleaves, red silk endbands and ribbon marker, all edges gilt. Engraved vignette on title-page (perhaps the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna). Clean and crisp. In fine condition. Letterpress shelfmark label ("Hà IV. - 34.") and circular stamp ("G V P F") on front flyleaf. From the libraries of Pope Gregory XVI and King Umberto II of Italy. Engraved allegorical frontispiece (allegorical female figure with starry crown studying an armillary sphere), vi, 340, 12, 23 pp., (2 ll.), 2 engraved folding charts. Text consists almost entirely of tables. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of these tables of ascension and declination for the sun, moon and stars, with formulas and tables for calculating the same… Read More

The First UK printing published by Macmillan in 2004. The BOOK is in near Fine condition with just a hint of pushing at the upper spine tip. A very slight hint of toning to the page edges as usually encountered. A neat previous owner's penned name to the upper red blank end-paper. The WRAPPER is complete and is in near Fine condition. Tiny rub to the extreme upper spine tip and some very light creasing to the extreme wrapper edges. The wrapper artwork looks very striking in the removable Brodart archival cover. The book has been signed by both Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to the title page. Axel Schleffler has also added a doodle of a mouse face. The sequel to the highly acclaimed 'The gruffalo'. A sharp copy of an increasingly scarce title with such attributes. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact.

London: Frederick Warne & Co, 1904. An attractive copy of this scarce first edition. Undated but 1904. The text is by Farrow, but beauty of the book lies in the beautiful red and black illustrations by Harry B. Nielson (1861-1941). Red spine, and illustrated front board. The illustration is bright, but there is a little staining to the front and rear board. Illustrations throughout. The text and illustrations are clean and bright, but the binding has split to the title page. Although still holding, the binding is a little shaken throughout as a result and the text block is threatening to break free. Very small closed tear to the edge of the title page and illustrations leaf. 19 full page illustrations. 325 x 260 mm.

Le Barbier de SevilleBEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre Auguste Caron (1930) Limited Edition Published by Paris, Librairie des Amateurs A. Ferroud (1930) Limited Edition Hand coloured frontice and plates. Color illustrations by Gustave-Adolphe Mossa. Octavo limited to 970 copies. This one no.77 of the 60 on Japon. Initialed by the publisher. Bound by DUHAYON, Henri, binder. in fine 1⁄2 teal morocco, Paris, Librairie des Amateurs. A. Ferroud - 1930 - 177 pages. Original wrap- per bound inn, complete with an extra suite of all illustrations, all hand coloured plates, black and white copies of the couloured illustrations including all small coloured and black and white illustrations that are also found throughout the text. Gustav-Adolf Mossa (1883-1971) is a French symbolist painter, late in the movement of Gustave Moreau, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Ed- gar Maxence or Émile-René Ménard. Steeped in his readings, Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Huysmans, he was inspired by the masters of the Quattrocento, the Pre-Raphaelites,… Read More

The sole UK printing published by Omega Workshops Ltd, London in 1915. This is number '69' of only 500 copies printed (penned in black ink to the lower front blank end-paper as called for). The BOOK is in Very Good++ condition with light wear to the tips and edges. Slightly rubbing to the boards. The binding remains tight. The usual toning to the endpapers, with one neat penned previous owner's name to the front end-papers. Original brown cloth-backed black paper boards with woodcut illustrations to sides, pages untrimmed. 3 full-page wood-engraved illustrations, numerous head- and tail-pieces, and decorative opening initials by Roald Kristian. 'Simpson's Choice' was the first work to be published at the Omega Workshop, which was founded in July 1913, and was to be one of only four books completed by the Press. The original prospectus (not present here) stated the intention of this enterprise, declaring that the press intended to publish works 'of a special character and to give to the setting of the… Read More

Guildford: Genesis Publications, 1998. LIMITED EDITION, text and art by Ronnie Wood, DOUBLE-SIGNED DELUXE ISSIUE. One of only 100 deluxe copies, from a run of 2500 (the remainder being designated 'Collector' copies). Folio (overall dimensions 40 x 32cm), pp.144, four-colour printed leaves, some folding-plates, fully bound in black leather, blocked in gilt to spine, accompanying CD in pouch, housed in Black imitlin slipcase with leather accents. Fine / as new, in all the original packaging, with publisher's address label affixed (trivial wear to carton). Deluxe copies exclusively feature a leather binding, and a leather-trimmed slipcase and a separate sketched print of Keith and his dog SIGNED by Ronnie, housed in a scarlet envelope.

The First UK printing published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, London in 1914. The BOOK is in near Fine condition. The correct first state with the artist's name spelt incorrectly on the 'List of Illustrations'. Light pushing at the spine tips with small bumps to the upper front-end lower rear corners. The gilt titling and decorations remain very bright. Illustrated map endpapers and top edge gilt as issued.A mild light crease to the rear map end-paper. Light toning and spotting to the lower and fore text-block. Free from inscriptions. Frontispiece and five other plates after drawings by Ernest Hazlehurst tipped-in to grey thick paper, as issued, with all captioned tissue guards present. The scarce WRAPPER is complete and is in Very Good++ or better condition. Light edge-wear to the spine ends and corners with a small chip to the lower spine. Light marking and toning to the spine. The wrapper retains the scarce illustrated plate to the front panel with the artist's name spelt correctly. The wrapper… Read More

University Press of New England. Hanover, New Hampshire. 1974. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (8 x 5.3 inches). Illustrated with 25 mono photos and plans, plus 2 large foldout panoramas of the views from the summit, plus a extra, colour printed large folding map, published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, complete with New Hampshire State Police accident report form printed on the reverse, which has been inserted in a specially made pocket inside the rear board. A lovely bright and clean copy, finely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe of London, in full red morocco. Spine with raised bands, each with gilt piping. Compartments ruled and lettered in gilt. Single gilt ruled border on boards. Marbled endpapers. Double gilt ruled lines on turn-ins. Top edge gilt. Orioginal front and rear boards of the book have been bound in. A very pleasing copy.

William Heinemann Ltd. London. 1953. FIRST EDITION. 3 VOLUMES. 8vo. (8 x 5.5 inches). Each volume with a new preface by Maugham, described by Raymond Toole Stott, Maugham's bibliographer, as containing "important material of biographical and bibliographical interest". Each volume comprises three of Maugham's most widely read novels. A very good set in publishers blue cloth bindings. Spines with two black block panels. Front boards and spines are lettered in gilt. School prize labels mounted onto the front paste down endpapers of each volume and the school crest stamped in gilt to the front boards. In the original dustwrappers which have a few minor chips to the edges but are generally in very good condition. A very good set of this important collection. Surprisingly uncommon in this 1953 first printing. --- Stott B21.

Pan. The complete first edition set of the James Bond novels, all published by pan between 1955 and 1968. This is a very good set. The spines for all the copies are in tact and all are well bound. Pleasingly there is no previous owner's ink in any of the copies. The most valuable book is OHMSS and that has a repair to the bottom of the spine but otherwise is in nice condition and in a protective cover. Casino Royale also has very little wear. All the volumes have browned pages as can be expected and some minor wear to the covers. Two or three volumes have creases to the covers. Overall a very good set and rare with all volumes being first print and the earliest state according to Gilbert the bibliography of Fleming's works.  . Very Good. Soft cover. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 1955.

The Second UK printing published by William Heinemann, London in 1964. This, the 'Contemporary Fiction' edition, was published the year after the first Heinemann edition and two years before the Faber edition was published under the author's real name - Sylvia Plath. The BOOK is in Very Good++ condition. Bound in the publisher's original green boards with silver lettering to the spine, with a lilac top-stain which is lightly faded. Slight pushing to the spine tips with light spotting to the prelims and the text-block. Free from inscriptions. The WRAPPER is complete and is in Very Good++ condition. Light edge-wear with some mild creasing and edge-wear at the spine ends and edges. Some fading of the lilac colouring to the spine as usually encountered. Some light age related markings in places with a small closed tear to the lower front panel edge. The wrapper remains very attractive in the removable Brodart archival cover. Loosely inserted are two 'Contemporary Fiction' Newsletters (numbers 21 and 25).… Read More