Rare books from Anniroc Rare Books

First Trade Edition. One of 1000 copies published in May of 1888. Illustrated by Walter Crane and Jacob Hood. Original Japanese vellum pictorial boards - rubbed, small stain at foot of spine, endpapers discolored by binder's glue, else internally clean. Very Good in a great custom folding-case. A solid copy of a title that's rare in nice original condition.
A work that bolstered Wilde's fame and which he described as "partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy, and who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness."

First edition of Thoreau's first book – 1000 copies published at his own expense of which only 550 were bound - less than 300 were sold or given away by the publisher and Thoreau, and in 1853 the remainder was returned to him whereupon he hauled it up to his attic and sarcastically bemoaned the dismal sales. Top edge uncut. Minor wear to spine ends, minor sporadic foxing, lettering at spine foot rubbed off(a common occurrence with the wispy spine cloth), else a Fine, crisp copy with bright gilt. Scarce in this condition, even 100 years ago when this copy sold at auction.
Ex-Jacob Chester Chamberlain, famed turn of the century collector with three lines of text dropped by the publisher penciled in his hand on page 396, along with his acquisition slip from another noted collector, Beverly Chew of the Grolier Club in New York City. Housed in an amazing contemporary custom pull off case with elaborate tooling, commissioned by Chamberlain, as was his custom for many of his most fantastic books. Sold at… Read More

First English edition of one of the most zeitgeist-infiltrating classics. Original buff wrappers, spine chipped and split but holding, scattered spots on rear wrapper, general rubbing, interior largely clean - withal a Very Good, honest copy and increasingly rare in untouched condition. Housed in a cloth chemise, inner flaps foxed. Ex-libris Mary and Donald Hyde, superstar collectors of Harvard fame. Contemporary ink signature "Kate Rae" on front cover.

This U.K. edition was slated for release in December of 1885, but was delayed until January 9th, 1886 as the publisher didn't want it to get lost in the Christmas shuffle. The American edition was published four days earlier on January 5th.

This is a frightening tale, not necessarily because of Mr. Hyde's visible beastliness - but because Stevenson reminds us that the most frightening elements of existence reside within!
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First edition, first printing. Fine red cloth book with minor bumping to spine ends and tiny dent to top edge. Near Fine unclipped, bright jacket with minor crinkling to spine ends and the upper portion of rear panel, spine just a touch toned. A very nice copy of a book that's not as rare to find signed as folks would have you think, but truly rare with a solid provenance like this.
Inscribed and dated in the month of publication(July, 1952) on the front free end paper for his high school English teacher, poet Florence Ripley Mastin, whose classes he described as unusually exciting. An important provenance involving a person uniquely influential in the author's writing development. And as you know, this book was the basis for the 1984 movie of the same name starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Kim Basinger.

Meditations in an EmergencyFrank O'HaraNew York, 1957O'Hara is the poet patron saint for Modern tortured souls from Madison Avenue to Main Street.First trade edition of his first full-length collection of poems. One of 900 copies. Original publisher's stiff wraps. Trivial hints of toning along the extremities, else Fine - appears virtually unread. This edition typically appears either marred with stickers and bookstore markings or simply full-on trashed. So this copy is truly rare. 'Frank O'Hara invented a form of poetry about the instant communication of overwhelming experience. He captures life's excruciating immediacies so directly that they flow and flood into his reader, like an interpersonal nervous system...Like cells firing impulses across synapses, the poems seem unfiltered biorhythms, transmitting desires, daydreams, impulses, emotions, associations, and perceptions as they happen, granting intimate access to a multifarious Frank O'Hara, that would be the envy of Walt Whitman, that other… Read More

The first edition in a modern language of one of the most important historical works.Lhistoire de Thucydide Athenien, de la guerre, qui fut entre les Peloponnesiens et Atheniens(The History of the Peloponnesian War)Thucydides, translated by Claude de SeysselParis, 1527Folio(330 X 230mm). 16 preliminary leaves, 281(CCLXXXI) leaves. Signatures: a8, e8, a-z8, A-L8, M10(the final blank, lacking). Contemporary blind-stamped calf(likely an old remboitage). Apart from a few minor stains and a tiny worm track in the bottom margin of the last quire, the interior is in quite clean, lovely condition. Near Fine. Elaborate woodcut border on the title page with contemporary ownership entry crossed out. Various notes on the pastedowns including a very cool contemporary one in French stating,"Today this book belongs to my lord Jacques du Faux, a cloth merchant." A beautifully printed, wide-margined copy of an important and very rare book.The study of Thucydides was part of the Renaissance tradition of turning to… Read More

Meteor of a madman whose brief, intense flash inspired a significant art movement…First edition in English of Les Chants de Maldoror. One of 100 hand-numbered copies signed by the translator and founder of the notorious Cassanova Society, John Rodker. These special copies comprised the first 100 out of the total edition of 1000.Full vellum. Covers bowed as usual, top half of the front board moderately stained, else Very Good. Printed on handmade paper, uncut and containing three tissue-guarded plates after the French symbolist artist, Odilon Redon. Excitingly, in the rare dust jacket that's unrepaired and integral - adjectives scarcely applicable to the few surviving ones as they most often look like they've endured a tortuous journey through Ducasse's imagined hellscapes. Slightly nicked and dusty, spine a shade darker and creased, else Very Good.'Isidore-Lucien Ducasse(1846-1870) was a Uruguayan-born French poet who, under the pseudonym Comte de Lautréamont, published Les Chants de Maldoror in… Read More

The birth of a new genre First book edition. Uncut in original boards with both the oft-missing half-title and advertising leaves. Rubbed and slightly chipped, excellently rebacked, upper joint neatly repaired, rear board loose. The pages are very fresh, just a few stray spots on some leaves and neat pencil underlining of some passages. A beautiful, Very Good copy and quite rare in boards. Housed in a super lovely custom clamshell case. Contemporary owner inscriptions and bookseller ticket situating the book in Cork, Ireland. Later, this copy made its way into the collection of heavy hitter, Alfred B. Perlman.De Quincey experienced an amazingly tragic life filled with death, loneliness, and the full panoply of suffering, but unlike many others, it ultimately led him to great empathy. For a philosopher should not see with the eyes of the poor limitary creature calling himself a man of the world, and filled with narrow and self-regarding prejudices of birth and education, but should look upon himself as… Read More

First American Edition. First printing. Unclipped jacket with minor rubbing/toning at edges else Fine. Pages with minor toning, edges a touch dusty else a Fine book. A nice copy of the 20th century classic. The dystopia seems upon us.***Please email us for better pricing.***

One of the greatest novels of all time.
First edition, first printing in English- released in two volume increments in January, May, and July of 1886(Before Tilsit Volume 2 a second printing from 1887).
Publisher's elaborately decorated brown cloth, front boards gilt-stamped with Napoleonic and Russian Imperial crests, spines gilt-lettered, brown-coated endpapers. Contemporary owner's signature in Before Tilsit Volume 1. A nice set ranging from Very Good to Near Fine.
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First edition in English, first impression. Translated by the prolific Basil Creighton. Fine, original black cloth book with red top edge, Australian bookseller sticker on front pastedown, seemingly unread and even retains the publisher s laid-in ads. In the rare, intriguingly designed jacket that appears from time to time, but never like this one - a Fine, unsurpassably pristine copy housed in a custom case.*** Hesse s classic, mystically philosophical text speaks to successive generations because it taps into our bone-deep yearning for something more fulfilling than the soul-draining banalities we re taught to appreciatively accept.*** Reality is an especially active force in the rare book world, routinely crushing our dreams of attaining perfect copies of cherished works. Every so often, copies like this stymie its woeful force and enable our dreams to come true. ***Please email us for better pricing.

The genesis of an American mythos *** First edition, first printing. Illustrated plates by Arthur I. Keller. Fine, original tan cloth book with the rare jacket in tremendously satisfying shape - chipped at spine panel ends and corners, a few closed tears else a bright, Near Fine example that retains its visual dynamism. The few Virginian jackets that occasionally surface typically look ravaged. Contemporary female owner signature on front endpaper dated June 1902, Boston. An excellent copy housed in a custom case. *** In 1885, the Harvard educated Wister sought recuperation at a Wyoming ranch after suffering a nervous breakdown. He d begin writing various pieces about the West, culminating in this 1902 magnum opus that he dedicated to his friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. It effectively created the Western genre we know today a mysterious, chivalrous cowboy rides into the West, grapples with moral dilemmas, and encounters a schoolteacher love interest. It also contains classic genre features like… Read More

The first Western edition of Confucius
Confucius Sinarum Philosophus sive Scientia Sinensis Latine Exposita
Philippe Couplet, Prospero Intorcetta, Chrétien Herdtrich, François de Rougemont
Paris, 1687
First Edition. Folio(34 x 21.5 cm.) i-viii, 1-108, 1-21, blank leaf, 1-159, 1-8, ix-cxxiv, i-xx, 1-106, map leaf, 105-108, colophon leaf. With two full-page engraved plates: a portrait of Confucius and Couplet's map of China.
Textblock with some mild browning and light sporadic stains, repaired contemporary vellum. An attractive, Near Fine copy of a really important book.
"The first widely accessible Latin translation of three of the four Confucian classics, The Daxue(The Great Learning), Lunyu(The Analects), and The Zhongyong(The Doctrine of the Mean), as well as a biographical sketch of Confucius…This seminal work was the culmination of a century of Jesuit attempts to translate and interpret the Confucian classics. The bulk of this collective work was composed in China under the leadership of the… Read More

A truly scarce sighting of an inscribed copy!
First edition, "service de presse" review copy, original wrappers. Pronounced foxing on front cover and first few leaves, small split to front lower joint, small chip to upper corner of front endpaper, usual textblock toning due to cheap paper stock, general wear mainly at the edges, uncut, binding solid. Overall, a sound, unread Good copy – other than two leaves from the first gathering, it's completely unopened.
Inscribed by Fanon on the front endpaper.
The legend died of leukemia at only 36, and his signed books are exceptionally scarce – I've only seen one other copy in the trade, and none appear in the sales records.
"Though just 27 at the time of its publication, the work displays incredible literacy in major intellectual trends of the time: psychoanalysis, existentialism, phenomenology, and dialectics, as well as, most prominently, the early Négritude movement and U.S. based critical race work in figures like Richard Wright. Modest in length,… Read More

An iconic work of philosophy and literature.
First edition, first printing. Original publisher's wrappers. In April 1942, 4400 copies were produced with varied imprints - 400 service de presse, 500 with no mention of edition, and 3500 with false mentions of editions from second through eighth. This copy bears the false fifth edition imprint.
Spine toned and chipped with some spotting, cover edges moderately worn, pages browned per usual, overall a Very Good copy. Rare in wrappers.
'The Stranger was completed as Camus worked during the day in a dingy hotel room in Paris, while in the evenings, he worked for a newspaper. It was a time of loneliness and tumult. As the war raged on, Camus moved from Paris to Oran in Algeria…With the Nazis' growing stranglehold over all French institutions, paper production was strictly regulated and censorship was in place. That Camus's book was published appears nothing short of miraculous…In the end, the Nazi head of propaganda in France, who had the final say in… Read More