ABA Featured Books

Chapman and Hall. London. ND. 1870's. Volume from the Household edition. Large 8vo. (9.9 x 7.5 inches). Text in double column. Finely illustrated with Sixty two engravings, some full page. Attractive early leather binding of half black calf. Spine with raised bands, each with gilt floral design. Compartments ruled in gilt and decorated with blind stamped chain borders and floral centre tool. Red and olive morocco labels, ruled and lettered in gilt. Marbled paper on boards. Tan endpapers. Some offsetting to both free endpapers, probably a reaction to the glue used in the paste-downs. All edges speckled. Some minor rubbing to extremities but overall this is a lovely copy in a fine Victorian binding.

Longmans, Green, and Co. London. 1885. FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo. (6.5 x 4.5 inches). One small area of loss (finger nail sized) to the bottom inner margin of one page, well away from the printed text, and a few finger marks but otherwise a very good copy. Finely bound in recent full dark blue morocco leather. Spine with raised bands. Compartments ruled and decorated in gilt. Twin red labels, gilt. Single gilt ruled border to both boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. An attractive copy of this charming book.

Cape Goliard Press. London. 1968. LIMITED EDITION. (12 x 10 inches). One of just 100 numbered and signed copies (this number 4) from a total edition of 500. Printed at the Trigram Press, London, in four colours. 8pp, plus colour printed laminated card covers, designed by Paul Vaughan, and frosted paper wraps with the title printed in blue to the front. The whole booklet is held together with the original white metal clasp spine. First page with a Buckminster Fuller design, printed in bright yellow and with red lettering, the other pages printed in blue and showing detailed diagrams of four of his invented construction ideas. A sharp and bright copy of this rare edition.

First UK edition, first impression (Collins Clear-Type Press, 1958). Originally published in the US the previous year. Signed and inscribed by the author to front endpaper verso: 'for the children of Battersea with Best Wishes... Dr Seuss'. Rare thus.Publisher's original turquoise pictorial boards. Rubbing to edges and to spine with some bumping to corners; very slight bowing to upper board; contents clean and free from names and inscriptions.A good copy of an edition that is rare to find bearing a unique inscription from the author.

8vo (255 x 158mm), 23 volumes and etched steel plate in box; uncut, volumes and box bound in original coloured full buckram by the Leighton-Straker Bookbinding Co., Ltd., gilt morocco lettering-pieces on spines, top edges gilt; a little light wear and occasional soiling, spines of a few volumes lightly sunned; a very good set.
Limited edition of 877, of which 66 sets were destroyed when a bomb hit the bindery in September 1940, so at most 811 complete sets survive (Dreyfus, Nonesuch Press, 108). The steel plate included with this set is number 605, "Solemn reference is made to Mr. Bunsby" from Dombey and Son
(Chapter 23, facing p.458), engraved by H. K. Browne ('Phiz'), with the typed letter of authenticity on Chapman & Hall headed paper, signed by Arthur Waugh.
Intended as a definitive edition of Dickens' works the Nonesuch Press edition was printed using the original steel… Read More

First Canadian edition, first impression (McClelland and Stewart, 1985). Signed and inscribed by the author to half-title: 'For Nancy - Best Wishes - Margaret Atwood'. Featuring striking dust jacket artwork by Tad Aronowicz. The true first edition, preceding that of the UK and the US. Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and more recently adapted into a successful TV series.

Quarter-bound in maroon cloth with cream boards and white lettering to spine. A fine and clean copy with some of the seemingly always present rubbing to the spine ends.

The original and unclipped dust jacket has a nick to spine foot, but is otherwise beautifully crisp and sharp.

A uniquely superior example of a classic of dystopian fiction.

Fifth edition (Chapman & Hall, 1844). Issued the year after the first edition, which was published in December 1843. Hand-coloured etched frontispiece and a further three plates by John Leech with four wood-engravings by W.J. Linton. Two pp advertisements at rear. Gilt edges with publisher's original cinnamon vertically ribbed cloth stamped in blind and gilt. Previous owner name to half-title dated 1844. Small stain on page 25 and one plate detached. A little light soiling/spotting to leaves here and there with some rubbing to edges. Hinges starting and binding a little exposed towards the rear of the book, but all pages, save for the one aforementioned plate, still firmly in place. A very good example.

Macmillan and Co. Ltd. London. 1911. Reprint of the 1899 Golden Treasury edition. Small 8vo. (6.1 x 4.1 inches). Finely bound, by Riviere and Son, in beautiful early full dark green morocco, extra gilt. The spine with raised bands, dotted in gilt. Compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt, including floral centre pieces. Elaborate floral centre design to boards with gilt tooling over beige leather onlays. Inner Dentelles with ruled and dotted border lines and decorated flowers in the corners, all in gilt surrounding green Moire silk centre pieces. Silk endpapers. All edges gilt. A couple of small dents to the spine and corners. Some creasing to the very edges of one of the blank paper endpapers but otherwise the pages are clean and bright throughout and this is a beautiful copy.

Ornithology Foreign avifaunas . 1st. Ed. Pub. Lynx Edicions. 1992-2013. Seventeen volume complete set. With colour photos. and illus. throughout. Large 4to. Fine hardbacks (appear unread) in fine dws. A superb work. A monumental work taking over 20 years to complete. The publishers, Lynx, committed to cover in detail and illustrate every species of bird in the world. The Special Volume contains species new to science since the publication of their respective volumes, and a comprehensive global index for the set.

First edition first impression and first state with 'Joanne Rowling' to the copyright page and dropped text on page 7. It has been confirmed by the publisher that all states of the first impression consisted of 5,150 copies in total, of which, it is believed, 2,500 pertained to the first state. Original pictorial boards. A fine book with the slightest hint of spotting to top edge in a beautiful fine dust jacket without flaws. Rare in such superior condition.

Macmillan and Co. Limited. London. 1894. The Peoples edition. Twenty-third thousand. 8vo. (7.3 x 4.9 inches). Illustrated with fifty line illustrations by John Tenniel. Some foxing to the plain tissue paper guard over the frontispiece and a few minor spots throughout but overall a very clean and bright copy in a fine late 19th century leather binding. Full red calf, the spine with five raised bands, each with double rope design in gilt. Compartments ruled and fully decorated in gilt. Dark green morocco title label, gilt. Leaf and rose roll gilt borders on boards. Decorative gilt design on board edges. Decorative blind stamped inner dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. Red silk page marker bound in. Grantham School arms stamped on the front board in gilt. Previous owners neat name stamp to top of the first leaf after title page. Aside from a small area of loss to the leather on the front board and another on the lower spine hinge this is a very good copy in a fine quality leather binding.… Read More

First edition, first impression in first issue dust jacket.

Original publisher's cloth. Some rubbing to label on spine with toning to edges and a small area of browning to edge of of paste-downs and endpapers. Contents beautifully clean throughout otherwise.

The original and unclipped dust jacket has a little soft crease close to fore-edge of upper panel, else in beautiful, fine condition.

A fantastic example of one of the author's highlight titles.

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS; A NARRATIVE OF 1757
Cooper, James Fenimore.
Published by London: John Miller, 1826,
First English Edition; three volumes; published about a month later than the Philadelphia edition of the same year. Vol. I. TP Preface [v,xi] 287pp, Vol. II. 276pp, Vol. III. 295pp. Bound in ½ reddish brown Morocco, in very good condition, no half title in Vol I. but present in vols. II and III exceptional condition internally housed in a clamshell box. Very Good…
At the time of Cooper's writing, many U.S. settlers believed and perpetuated the myth that Native Americans were disappearing, believing they would ultimately be assimilated or killed off entirely due to the genocidal structure of settler colonialism. Especially in the East, as Native Peoples' land was stolen and settled on in the name of U.S. expansion and Jeffersonian agrarianism, the narrative that many Native Peoples were "vanishing" was prevalent in both novels like Cooper's and local newspapers. This allowed settlers to view… Read More

First edition, first impression. Signed and inscribed by the author to the dedication page: "To Laura and Kat, Who, I hear, are Harry fans - making me like them a lot! J K Rowling". Inscribed copies of this title are exceptionally rare and were usually given to people who were involved in arranging the signing events or had a personal connection with the author.
Some fading to the spine of the book and top edge of upper board with tanning to edges and barely visible pencil impression to the front endpaper from a previous retailer.
The original and unclipped dust jacket has a little fading to spine and a couple of soft creases to spine ends, near fine otherwise.

First UK edition, first impression in first state dust jacket without reviews to verso. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the last of the author's novels to be published in his lifetime.
Original blue cloth with dark red lettering to spine and upper board. A near fine book with the slightest hint of fading to spine. Beautifully clean and bright internally with no previous owner names or inscriptions.
The original and unclipped dust jacket - featuring striking artwork by Hans Tisdall - has some chipping to corners and spine tips with some rubbing and the usual sunning to spine panel. A lovely example.