British History

London: Henry Colburn, 1828 IN VERY GOOD CONDITION. Complete with 3 frontis-pieces as called for. [10] cxcii, 423pp; [4] 543pp; viii, 596pp; [2] 549pp, errata. In decorative library bindings, with bindings and hinges tight. Occasional light foxing. TITLE CONTINUES: With an Introduction, Containing an Account of the Parliament of 1654; from the Journal of Guibon Goddard, Esq. M.P. Also Now First Printed. Edited and Illustrated with Notes Historical and Biographical by John Towhill Rutt. Complete in 4 Volumes.

London: J. Hogarth, 1849. probable Third edition. Hardcover. Good. After the first edition of 1839 and the second of 1841/42, enlarged in size and content. Good folio volumes in quarter black leather and dark cloth with fading on the boards. Edges and corners have visible wear, with small tears in the leather at head and heel of spine, and some wear thru at corners . Bookplate of the Provincetown Art association in both volumes. Sticker with "B" on spine of v. 1. All plates still have original tissues, though some tissues show a bit of soiling. V. 1 has all 47 portrait plates, while Vol. 2 has 45 of 47 listed. However, after checking against 6 other copies of this set, all v. 2 copies checked were missing the same 2 plates - those of Viscountess Jocelyn and Countess Malmsbury. Each plate should have been accompanied by text. This too was missing from the 2 entries. Our presumption is that the plates were not bound in with the book, else (less likely) there existed a very thorough, focused, and… Read More

London: Conservative and Unionist Central Office, April 1951. 1st Edition. Paperback. Here is a scarce publication featuring excerpts from Churchill's broadcast speech of 17 March 1951. This is an important speech from an important year. Churchill makes the case for holding a General Election - which, when finally held in October, returned him to 10 Downing Street for his second premiership. This four page color leaflet produced by the Conservative Party is entitled "The Conservative Aproach", April, 1951, No.27. The front cover prominently features the Churchill speech excerpt. The leaflet is in truly fine condition - crisp, clean, and bright - except for two neat holes punched along the left side for filing and a light horizontal crease where the publication was originally folded in half for posting. The speech was originally published in Listener, Vol. XLV, No.1151, p.462. It would later appear in Stemming the Tide and The Complete Speeches. The full text of the speech may be found in The… Read More

London (and New York): Hodder and Stoughton (for George H. Doran Company), 1908. First U.S. edition, only printing, first state. Hardcover. This is the U.S. first edition, more humble in appearance than its British counterpart, but also far more scarce. My African Journey is Churchill's travelogue on Britain's possessions in East Africa, written while he was serving as Undersecretary of State for the Colonies. This book is notable, among other things, for being the only one of his many books to contain photographs ostensibly taken by the author. This copy is the elusive first state of the first American edition. The first U.S. edition is far scarcer than the British first edition, with only 1400 copies sold (encompassing all three states), in contrast to more than 8000 copies of the more frequently seen British edition. The U.S. first edition was made from British first edition sheets bound in a plain coarse dark red cloth with the same gilt titles on the spine as used on the British. Unlike its… Read More

Various. Very Good+/Near Fine. An unusual treasure trove of the history of the most famous tennis tournament in the world A huge cornucopia for the tennis afficianado The collection includes: 1 Wimbledon-The Official History, by John Barrett, Vision Sports Publishing, 2013, 552 pp In green cloth with gilt titles on spine Just very slight shelf wear at corners, Unclipped DJ is pristine Signed by the author, himself a former tennis player and Wimbledon competitor, on the title page Very scarce signed 2 Wimbledon-The Singles Draws 1877-2012, by John Barrett, Vision Sports Publishing, 2013, 280pp In purple cloth with gilt titles on spine Just very slight shelf wear at corners, Unclipped DJ is excellent, with just a 1" tear on the top rear spine Signed by the author, himself a former tennis player and Wimbledon competitor, on the title page Very scarce signed 3 Fifty Years of Wimbledon 1877 to 1926 - The Story of the Lawn Tennis Champioships, by A Wallis Myers CBE, The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet… Read More

London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1931. 2nd Impression with variant wrapper . Soft cover. Fair/No Jacket. 8vo format - 7" tall. An abused copy of this uncommon book. The 2nd impression of the first edition with the even scarcer orange printed wraps. The rear wrap has been assailed with a spill of indeterminate origin which has penetrated through the wrap and caused edge stains to the rear half of the text from page 59 onwards with no loss of text. PP135-144 also have orange stains to text. Nevertheless the text is legible and complete with occasional light pencil underlining and marginalia. See photos to examine the affect of the stain through the book. If you require additional photos let me know. (Langworth pp151/2).

London: Socialist Labour League, 1960. Pamphlet. Stapled wraps, 7 x 5 inches, 8 pp. Toning to wrappers and pages with "Labor Book Shop" stamp to front wrapper; faint crease marks to upper-right leaves; one-inch chip to top of rear wrapper (along spine); one-inch closed tear to rear wrapper; wrappers pulling from staples. A delicate and rare pamphlet written by Alasdair MacIntyre for the Socialist Labour League. Very good.. Rare original printing of Alasdair MacIntyre's (b. 1929) early pamphlet discussing and debating a proposed change to Clause 4 of the Labour Party Constitution. Celebrated for his monumental work on virtue ethics, After Virtue (1981), MacIntyre was early influenced by Marxist thought and principles, and briefly joined the Socialist Labour League as a young scholar. His first book, Marxism: An Interpretation, published in 1953, evaluated the influence of theological concepts on Marxist thought. Although his Marxist sympathies would evolve throughout his distinguished career,… Read More

London: T. Warner, 1727. First edition, second issue without the words "Conjugal Lewdness" in the main title. Daniel Defoe (ca. 1660-1731) published this essay under the original title of "Conjugal Lewdness or Matrimonial Whoredom" (1717) before being asked to rename it for the sake of propriety. This copy shows the cancel title mounted to a stub (as it should be!) Contemporary full calf, gold-tooled filets, fleurons on boards and coat of arms of Earl Stanley on upper board, ribbed spine with gold-tooling, inner filets in gold-tooling, all edged gilt. Boards have been repaired and the spine re-laid onto the back. Internally clean and tidy throughout, with just a touch of foxing to the pages. vi, [2], 406 pp. 195 x 125mm (7¾ x 5 inches). Despite changing the title, Defoe's text is unchanged. In this essay "concerning the Use and Abuse of the marriage bed", Defoe deals with contraception and compares it with infanticide, "the diabolical practice of attempting to prevent childbearing by physical… Read More

London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1900. First edition, second printing. Hardcover. This is the first edition, second printing of Churchill's second published work, an unrestored, fully intact set in the striking, original bindings. This second printing is readily distinguished from the first printing only by the words "Second Impression" on the title page and a 1900 date replacing 1899. Condition approaches very good. The dark blue cloth bindings are intact and unfaded, with quite respectable shelf presentation, the spines notably unfaded. We note modest wear to extremities, including wrinkling to the spine ends and some overall spine creasing, including some concavity to the upper Volume II spine – a typical toll of the massive text blocks. The illustrated cloth bindings are substantially clean, showing only minor blemishes. The contents are complete - all of the extensive Illustrations, Maps, and Plans are present, as are the frontispiece portraits and tissue guards. A noteworthy oddity is that… Read More

Toronto: Musson Book Co. [circa 1900s]. (Limp leather) 549, 582, 596, 517pp. Near fine. A handsome set in limp red leather. Marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, printed on thin paper, ribbon page markers, indices at the back of vols. 3 and 4. Book about Edward VII--King of England & Queen Victoria. (History--England, History--England, Sets).

Very good copy of Pinkerton's collection of rare portraits of Scottish royalty, clergy and celebrities.

Complete with 63 finely engraved copperplates.

With portrait of cross-dressing Frances Stuart as frontispiece, engraved title page dated 1797, list of subscribers, advertisement to Part I, advertisement to Part III dated 1796, and 56 other portraits (one folding) and six engraved plates of royal seals.

With three portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, and King James IV, two portraits of King James V, and individual portraits of Alexander III, David I, Malcom I, Robert II, Robert III, James I, James II, James III, James VI (later James I of England) and Scottish queens Mary of Guise, Margaret of Denmark, Anne of Denmark.

Among the other interesting characters are the Scottish polymath James Crichton, aka the Admirable Crichton, and Frances Stuart, Duchess of Richmond, a famous beauty at the court of King Charles II of England, cross-dressing as a man, as well as statesmen, clergy, martyrs, etc.… Read More

Shakespear's-Head over-against Katherine Street: J. Tonson, 1724. [title continues...."and an abusive letter to Lord C.]. Third addition. Octavo, title page, pp [xiv], 428, [12], [2], 443-477, (pages 74/75 are mispaginated 82/83, but all is correct), some pencil underlining and marginal lining (see illustration) but nowhere too offensove, otherwise the pages are remarkably clean, rebound in marbled boards and leather spine with paper title label, slightly dull and rubbed but good and sound. [Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville (1670 -1733), was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, he lived most of his life in England and used English for most of his published works. The book was primarily written as a political satire on the state of England in 1705, when the Tories were accusing John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and the ministry of advocating the War of the Spanish Succession for personal reasons. In 1723 a later… Read More

This is a lovely Limited Edition of 150 copies only. Originally was in 10 parts from 1972-1975 the limited edition was published in !975 with a few changes and additional illustrations. Signed by the author - Ivor Waters. The illustrator Mercedes Waters and cartography Bryan Woodfield. Beautiful black and white illustrations,maps and photographs throughout the book. Cream dust jacket with minimal wear, a tiny tear on upper front near spine with some irregularity and wear on the upper spine jacket. Green boards with Gilt writing on the spine in very good condition. The photographs are the actual book showing signatures and the small defect on dust jacket upper spine and tear in Dust jacket as it is.

New York and London: Hodder and Stoughton (for George H. Doran Company), 1908. First U.S. edition, only printing, second state. Hardcover. This is the U.S. first edition, more humble in appearance than its British counterpart, but also far more scarce. My African Journey is Churchill's travelogue on Britain's possessions in East Africa, written while he was serving as Undersecretary of State for the Colonies. This book is notable, among other things, for being the only one of his many books to contain photographs ostensibly taken by the author. The first U.S. edition is far scarcer than the British first edition, with only 1400 copies sold (encompassing all three states), in contrast to more than 8000 copies of the more frequently seen British edition. The U.S. first edition was made from British first edition sheets bound in a plain coarse dark red cloth with the same gilt titles on the spine as used on the British. Unlike its British counterpart, the sheets were left untrimmed on the fore and… Read More

First printing (number line contains "1").
Book cover near new, modest edge wear - pages clean, bright and unmarked – spine solid and undamaged.
Jacket near new, modest edge/shelf wear; protected in fresh mylar cover.
Proceeds benefit Friends of the Library.
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This latest volume in the acclaimed Country Life series examines the English country house from 1800 to 1830, looking in turn at the buildings associated with the Prince Regent himself, from Brighton Pavilion to Buckingham Palace; at the houses of the aristocracy, such as Eastnor Castle and Goodwood; and at the homes of the gentry, including Southill in Befordshire and Luscombe in Devon. The architects whose work is featured include the Wyatt dynasty, Henry Holland, John Nash, C. R. Cockerell, Robert Smirke, William Wilkins, Thomas Hopper, Humphrey Repton, and Sir John Soane. The book also looks at important architectural themes of the period, from the development of the… Read More