Clearwater Books

H.E.BATES. The Last Bread. A play in one act. The Labour Publishing Company Ltd, London 1926. First edition of Bates’ first published work, preceding his first novel by several months. 18pp. Cotton-bound card wrappers with several short tears and three or four small areas of loss from edges. Two-inch tear to dedication leaf. A nice bright copy of quite a fragile production. £35

H.E.BATES. The Seekers. John and Edward Bumpus, London 1926. First edition. Slim 8vo. 32pp. Paper-covered boards. Some fox spotting and a small area of bruising to upper board. A lovely bright copy. No dust wrapper, as issued, and lacking the original tissue protector. Bates third published work, a short story for children, apparently sent out as a Christmas card by the publishers. Eads A4. £15

H.E.BATES. The Hessian Prisoner. [A story]. With a line drawing by John Austen and a foreword by Edward Garnett. William Jackson, ‘The Furnival Books’ series, London 1930. First edition, limited to 550 copies signed by the author and printed at the Chiswick Press. Tall 8vo. 42pp. Maroon buckram gilt lettered at spine and upper board.  Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Buckram a little faded at backstrip, and with a touch of very light speckling to one or two preliminary leaves and several short superficial creases. A very good copy. No dust wrapper required. The first printing of this Bates’ story, which appears here as the second volume of the Furnival Books series, before being subsequently collected two years later in The Black Boxer Tales. Eads A10. £75

H.E.BATES. Charlotte's Row. Jonathan Cape, London 1931. First trade edition, of which 2,000 copies were printed. 8vo. 271pp. With a title page vignette by Ray Garnett, repeated on the dust wrapper. Two or three small areas of discolouration to cloth. A very good copy in edge worn and dust marked dust wrapper, with some significant loss to the spine panel and tanning to the remaining portion. Bates’ third novel. £35

H.E.BATES. Charlotte's Row. Jonathan Cape, London 1931. First trade edition. Spine faded and a little chipped at head. Cloth very lightly marked in one or two small areas. Rear gutter just a little tender. About a good copy, very crisp and bright internally, with a neat ink-stamped initial to front and rear pastedowns. No dust wrapper. £20

H.E.BATES. Holly and Shadow. With an illustration by Frederick Carter. Blue Moon Press [London], 1931. First edition, limited to 100 numbered copies, signed by the author and artist (this being #66). A single printed sheet, folded to form three leaves. Two or three tiny pin pricks of spotting and one tiny area of very light staining. A very good copy of a scarce item – a Christmas card which was issued as part of a portfolio of 35 similar items and never sold separately. Eads D15. £175

H.E.BATES. Sally Go Round the Moon. The White Owl Press, London 1932. First edition, one of 128 numbered and signed copies (out of a total edition of 150). 8vo. 42pp. Printed on wove-paper and half-bound in grey and buff buckram. Illustrated with three unaccredited vignettes which did not appear in the trade edition. Top edge green, others untrimmed. Endpapers lightly browned and with just the merest hint of chafing to corner tips, else a fine copy. No dust wrapper, as issued. Eads A15[c]. £150

H.E.BATES. Cut and Come Again. Stories. Jonathan Cape, London 1935. First edition. 8vo. 285pp + viii publisher’s catalogue bound in at rear. Original publisher’s blue and brown flecked white cloth. Some patchy tanning to backstrip, edges and several preliminary leaves spotted and some browning to endpaper margins. Tip-Ex erasure to front endpaper and a small Times book club plate to the rear. Quite a bright copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. Fourteen short stories, seven of which were previously issued in periodicals or limited editions with the other seven appearing in print here for the first time. 2,000 copies were printed. Eads A25. £15

“Mr. Bates is supreme among English short-story writers; and the work of most authors beside his appears shoddy, trivial or emotional”- Graham Greene reviewing this collection in The Spectator. 

H.E.BATES. The Modern Short Story. A Critical Survey. Nelson, London 1941. First edition. 231pp Cloth-backed boards. Extreme edges of boards lightly spotted and discoloured. Endpapers lightly browned. Neat former owner name to front pastedown. Quite a bright copy in dusty and tanned dust wrapper, a little rubbed at extremities and internally reinforced. £40 

H.E.BATES. The Modern Short Story. A Critical Survey. Nelson, London 1941. First edition. Cloth-backed boards, somewhat dusty and faded and just a little sprung. No jacket. £25 

H.E.BATES (writing as Flying Officer ‘X’).  The Greatest People in the World and other stories. Jonathan Cape and Guild Books, 1942. First edition - the cheap issue published simultaneously with the Jonathan Cape first issue. Stapled card wrappers with a price-clipped self-wrap. 79pp. A bright copy, wrappers just a little chafed and marked in places and with a single small crease to front wrapper. Nine short stories. £5

H.E.BATES. The Bride Comes to Evensford. Jonathan Cape, London 1943. First edition. Slim 8vo. 60pp. A tiny sliver of discolouration to cloth at spine ends where the dust wrapper is fractionally defective. A very good copy in Hans Tisdall-designed dust wrapper, a little chafed and dusty with a single short closed tear and a fraction of loss to spine ends and one or two other extremities. Contemporary former owner name inked to front endpaper, alongside a set of inked initials. 3,000 copies were printed. The first printing of this Bates story, not to be confused with the collection of the same name published six years later. £50

H.E.BATES (writing as Flying Officer “X”). How Sleep the Brave and other stories.  Jonathan Cape, London 1943. First edition. Slim 8vo. 80pp. Light crease to upper board and the ghost of an almost entirely erased former owner inscription to the head of the front free endpaper. Printed on quite cheap war-time paper stock, yet still a nice, crisp copy in dust wrapper, faded at spine panel, chafed at extremities and with a centimetre of loss from the head of the spine panel. Six short stories (two of them making their first bookform appearance) comprising the title story, The Beginning of Things, The Disinherited, Croix de Guerre, Yours is the Earth and There’s Something in the Air. Eads A47. £15

H.E.BATES (Published anonymously). There's Freedom in the Air. The Official Story of the Allied Air Forces from the Occupied Countries.  Illustrated with photographs. H.M.S.O., London 1944. First edition. 35pp. Stapled pictorial wrappers, a little dust marked, spotted and dusty, and with staples rusting. Some damp marking to leaf margins. Quite a bright copy, with the faint trace of a former owner name inked to the head of the upper wrapper. Prepared by Bates whilst serving at the Directorate of Public Relations at the Air Ministry. £5

H.E.BATES. Derriere les Communiques. Cape, Londres 1944. Card wrappers, a little creased and rubbed at overlapping edges. The Greatest People in the World in a French translation, here published for the first time under his own name, rather than his 'Flying Officer X' pseudonym. Published in London, probably for French circulation. £40

H.E.BATES contributes his short novel The Cruise of the Breadwinner to an issue of the periodical The Cornhill No. 967, April 1946. Card wrappers, a little dust marked. This appearance of Breadwinner precedes the book publication by three months, although its very first outing was one month earlier in The Saturday Evening Post. Bates' novel occupies the first 38 pages of this issue. £15

H.E.BATES. The Jacaranda Tree. Michael Joseph, London 1949. First edition (following a serialisation in the periodical John Bull – the very first serial the magazine ever ran). 8vo. 223pp. Cloth lightly faded at extremities, top edge dust marked and paperstock a little tanned. A good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, a little dust marked at predominantly white rear panel and chafed at edges and tips of corners. Some off-setting from the spine panel lettering to the backstrip. Eads A61. £10

H.E.BATES AND JOHN MINTON. The Country Heart. With drawings and a superb dust wrapper design by John Minton. Michael Joseph, London 1949. First edition with these splendid Minton illustrations. 8vo. 239pp. Beige cloth, lettered in green at spine and with the title-page decoration repeated on the upper board. Minton contributes a frontispiece, a title page decoration, two full-page drawings and forty-three header and tail pieces and vignettes. Some unsightly spotting and browning to endpapers, but thereafter a lovely bright copy in double-spread pictorial colour dust wrapper, chafed and a little creased at several extremities and with two areas of loss from the upper edge totalling about 3 centimetres. Twenty-four stories, a considerably revised combination of Bates’ previous collections O More than Happy Countryman (1948) and [In] The Heart of the Country (1942). Eads A62. £30

H.E.BATES. The Scarlet Sword. Michael Joseph, London 1950. First edition. 248pp. Endpapers browned and front hinge just a fraction tender. A very crisp and bright copy in Broom Lynne dust wrapper, lightly chafed at edges, internally reinforced and with a small area of loss to top edge of front panel. Rear panel a little dust marked. £10

H.E.BATES. The Scarlet Sword. Little Brown, Boston 1951. The first American edition. Covers very slightly faded here and there. A bright copy in frayed dust wrapper.  £15

H.E.BATES. The Face of England. With photographs by A.F.Kersting. B.T.Batsford, London 1952. First edition. 4to. 128pp. Illustrated with forty colour photographic plates. A hint of light browning to endpapers and some fox spotting to the first seven or eight leaves, although all of the plates are unmarked. A very good copy in dust wrapper, lightly chafed and spotted with a little uneven fading to unprinted rear panel and two tiny puncture holes to the front panel. Eads A75. £10 

H.E.BATES. The Nature of Love. Three short novels. Michael Joseph, London 1953. First edition. 8vo. 240pp. A little browning and spotting to endpapers. Quite a bright copy in dusty, nicked, chipped and internally repaired dust wrapper with two or three fairly small areas of loss. Three novellas, two of which had been previously printed in periodicals (The Grass God in a 1951 Cornhill Magazine supplement and The Delicate Nature in a July 1952 issue of Argosy), with the first, Dulcima, appearing in print here for the first time. Eads A79. £10

H.E.BATES. The Sleepless Moon. Michael Joseph, London 1956. First edition. 8vo. 383pp. Top edge lightly dust marked and endpapers lightly and partially browned. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, a little nicked at head of spine panel and rubbed at tips of several corners and with a single tiny closed tear to head of rear panel. £20

H.E.BATES. An Aspidistra in Babylon. Four novellas. Michael Joseph, London 1960. First edition. 8vo. 239pp. Some spotting to top- and fore edge, occasionally encroaching to extremes of leaf margins, and a little browning to endpapers. Quite a bright copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, lightly spotted and with just a fraction of edgewear to one or two extremities. Four novellas, one appearing in print for the first time and the other three making their first bookform appearances. Eads A89. £10

H.E.BATES The Day of the Tortoise. With illustrations by Peter Farmer. Michael Joseph, London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 93pp. With a title page illustration, thirteen full-page plates and ten further drawings in the text. Top edge lightly spotted. A very good copy in price-clipped and lightly tanned and rubbed dust wrapper. Eads A92. £10

H.E.BATES. Now Sleep the Crimson Petal and other stories. Michael Joseph, London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 206pp. A trace of light partial browning to half-title. A lovely crisp copy in dust wrapper, dust marked at rear panel, lightly edgeworn and nicked with a small area of loss from the head of the spine panel and another slightly larger area from the base. Twelve stories, four of them appearing here in print for the first time, and the other eight making their first bookform appearance. This collection was published in the US under the title The Enchantress and other stories. Eads A91. £7.50

H.E.BATES. A Crown of Wild Myrtle. Michael Joseph, London 1962. First edition. 8vo. 190pp. Top- and fore edge spotted, else a very crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, a little dust marked, and chipped at head of spine panel with several tiny fractions of loss. Eads A95. £10

H.E.BATES. Achilles and Diana. With illustrations by Carol Barker. Dennis Dobson, London 1963. First edition. 4to. Unpaginated. Colour pictorial boards featuring a design by Carol Barker who also provides a frontispiece, endpaper drawings and numerous plates and colour illustrations in the text. A single tiny indentation to the head of the read board and head of spine just a little rubbed. A virtually fine copy in pictorial dust wrapper, lightly tanned at spine panel, with just a trace spotting and two short jagged tears to the head of the rear panel and an accompanying crease. The second volume of the Achilles trilogy, a collaboration between Bates and Barker which began with Achilles the Donkey (1962) and concluded with Achilles and the Twins (1964). Eads A96. £50

H.E.BATES. The Fabulous Mrs. V. Stories. Michael Joseph, London 1964. First edition. 8vo. 192pp. A single small area of discolouration to the head of the upper board, and edges lightly spotted. A very crisp copy in slightly chafed, marked and stained dust wrapper with three tiny closed tears and a sliver of loss from the head of the spine panel. Twelve short stories, six of them appearing here in print for the first time and the other six making their first bookform appearance. Eads A99. £10

H.E.BATES. A Moment in Time. Michael Joseph, London 1964. First edition. 8vo. 245pp. Some surface abrasion to front pastedown where, presumably, a bookplate has been quite carefully removed. A nice crisp copy in double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, rubbed at tips of corners and chipped at head of spine with several tiny slivers of loss. A novel set during the Battle of Britain, and preceded by Bates’ fourteen-line poem Give them their life, written when he was a Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. and first published in 1944 in the anthology Air Force Poetry. £10

H.E.BATES. The Distant Horns of Summer. A novel. Michael Joseph, Londonn 1967. First edition. 8vo. 276pp. Top edge lightly dust marked and with a small bump to the tip of one corner. A very good copy in very good double-spread pictorial dust wrapper designed by James Broom Lynne, with just a touch of chafing to one or two extremities. Eads A103. £10

H.E.BATES. The Vanished World, The Blossoming World [and] The World in Ripeness. Bates’ autobiography, complete in three volumes, one of them signed. Michael Joseph, London 1969-1972. First editions. A very nice set in dust wrappers. Individual volume descriptions as follows: The Vanished World (1969). First edition. Tall 8vo. 188pp. With endpaper decorations, eleven full-page drawings plus a further forty-seven line drawings in the text, all by John Ward. A small area of surface abrasion to the head of the front free endpaper, else a virtually fine copy in price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper, a little fox spotted, very lightly edgeworn and with a hint of fading to publisher's red spine panel lettering. The Blossoming World (1971). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Tall 8vo. 181pp. Ward endpaper decorations, plus five full-page drawings and thirty-seven line drawings in the text. Just a touch of very minor wear to spine ends, else a fine copy in price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper, lightly chafed at spine panel ends and with a single tiny area of surface abrasion. The World in Ripeness (1972). First edition. Tall 8vo. 152pp. Ward endpaper decorations, plus a frontispiece, six full-page drawings and thirty-six line drawings in the text. A fine copy in lightly chafed and edgeworn price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper. £75

H.E.BATES. A Love of Flowers. With illustrations by Pauline Ellison. Michael Joseph, London 1971. First edition of Bates’ “very personal gardening book”. 8vo. 160pp. A single inked correction to a typo in the author’s preface, else a fine copy in price-clipped and slightly chafed and dust marked dust wrapper. Former owner bookplate to front pastedown. Eads A112. £5

H.E.BATES. The Song of the Wren. Michael Joseph, London 1972. First edition. 8vo. 168pp. Some spotting to top edge and upper board lifting a fraction. A very good copy in pictorial dust wrapper, very lightly faded at spine panel. £10

H.E.BATES. Down the River. With illustrations by Peter Partington. Victor Gollancz, London 1987. The first edition with these Partington illustrations (originally published in 1937 with Agnes Miller Parker wood engravings). Small 4to. 152pp. With pictorial colour endpapers, a frontispiece and eleven colour plates, plus a further twenty-eight colour illustrations serving as header pieces, or in the text. A fine copy in dust wrapper, faded at spine panel. £7.50