Clearwater Books

MARTIN AMIS. The Rachel Papers. Jonathan Cape, London 1973. First edition of the author’s first book. 8vo. 223pp. Publisher’s pink stain to top edge, very slightly patchy. Spine ends just a fraction bruised and with a little light staining to the head of the front free endpaper where the top edge dye has run. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little rubbed and chafed at spine ends and corner tips but with no trace of the usual spine panel fading. £250

SAUL BELLOW. Dangling Man. John Lehmann Ltd., London 1946. The first UK edition of the author’s first book (issued two years earlier in the US). 8vo. 191pp. A minor slant to the binding, with a trace of light spotting to upper and lower gutters and light production fault creases to a number of leaves. A very good copy in the handsome Robert Medley-designed dust wrapper – significantly more striking than the quite plain American equivalent; a little tanned and dust soiled with some uneven discolouration. £150

SAUL BELLOW. Henderson the Rain King. A novel. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1959. First UK edition. 8vo. 341pp. A little light spotting to top edge and the faint ghost of erased former dealer pencilled markings to front endpaper, alongside the inked name and address of a former owner. A very good copy in very good Bill Preston-illustrated dust wrapper, marred only by a short closed tear to the base of the spine panel and a second to the head of the spine panel, this last a little ragged and with a short accompanying crease. Bellow’s fifth book, and his personal favourite. £75

MALCOLM BRADBURY. Eating People is Wrong. Secker & Warburg, London 1959. First edition of the author’s first novel, written in hospital in 1958 whilst he recuperated from heart surgery from which he was not expected to recover. 8vo. 288pp. One or two small areas of staining to the first two or three text leaves and a single small blemish to the rear endpaper. An extremely crisp and bright copy in the Donald Green-designed dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at several extremities and a little dust soiled at the predominantly white rear panel. £50

RICHARD BRAUTIGAN. The Hawkline Monster. A Gothic Western.  Jonathan Cape, London 1975. The first UK edition, significantly more uncommon than the US edition of the previous year. 8vo. 216pp. Pictorial paper-covered boards. A tiny trace of spotting to top edge and a touch of light wear to board extremities. A very good copy in lightly marked and edgeworn dust wrapper with a single tiny closed tear. Former owner bookplate to front endpaper. £50

JOCELYN BROOKE. The Scapegoat. A novella. The Bodley Head, London 1948. First edition. Slim 8vo. 128pp. Publisher’s red top edge stain. The tiniest hint of spotting to endpapers, else a fine copy in very lightly tanned, rubbed and spotted dust wrapper. Former owner name neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. £40

WILLIAM BURROUGHS. The Naked Lunch. John Calder, London in association with Olympia Press 1964. The first UK edition. 8vo. 251pp. Top edge lightly spotted and extreme upper edges of broads slightly discoloured. Very good in price-clipped dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel, and a little chipped, creased and edgeworn with two or three tiny fractions of loss and two short closed tears. The first British edition of Burrough’s equally celebrated and controversial third novel, following the original Olympia Press [Paris] edition of 1959 and the US edition published by Grove Press in 1962. £150

TRUMAN CAPOTE. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Hamish Hamilton, London 1958. First UK edition. 8vo. 159pp. Top edge lightly dust marked with a touch of tanning to leaf margins. Very good indeed in Patricia Davey dust wrapper, lightly dust marked, and nicked with just a little loss at head and base of spine and tips of corners. Former owner name inked to front endpaper. The celebrated title novella (which was first printed in the November 1958 issue of Esquire), plus the short stories House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar and A Christmas Memory.  This UK edition is significantly more uncommon that the US Random House issue. £250

J.L.CARR. A Season in Sinji. A novel. Alan Ross, London 1967. First edition of Carr’s scarce second novel. 8vo. Tiny bump to the tip of a single corner and with just a hint of tanning to leaf margins. A virtually fine copy in super double-spread dust wrapper, lightly chafed at top edge, tips of corners and to a tiny area of the spine panel. Carr’s second novel, drawn from his own experiences as an intelligence officer stationed at RAF Bathurst in Gambia and featuring a wonderfully bizarre cricket match. £400

J.L.CARR. A Month in the Country. The Harvester Press, Sussex 1980. First edition. 8vo. 111pp. Former owner gift inscription neatly and fairly unobtrusively inked to the head of the dedication leaf, else in fine state with dust wrapper, somewhat faded at spine panel as is invariably the case. Carr’s fifth and most celebrated novel, short-listed for the Booker Prize and winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize. Uncommon. £300

ANGELA CARTER. Shadow Dance. Heinemann, London 1966. First edition of the author’s first regularly published book, and the first instalment of the retrospectively dubbed 'Bristol Trilogy', followed by Several Perceptions (1968) and Love (1971). 8vo. 184pp. Edges very lightly spotted and just a hint of wear to spine ends. A very good copy in lightly rubbed and soiled dust wrapper. (“in her spare time [Carter] plays the English concertina and collects Victorian rubbish” – from the wrapper blurb). £150 

ANGELA CARTER. Love. A novel. Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1971. First edition. 8vo. 124pp. Top edge lightly spotted and with a small area of additional spotting to the head of the rear free endpaper. A very crisp and bright copy in very good price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper, marred only by a single miniscule nick. The author’s fifth novel, and the final instalment of the retrospectively dubbed ‘Bristol Trilogy’, preceded by Shadow Dance (1966) and Several Perceptions (1968). £35

WILLA SIBERT CATHER. Alexander’s Bridges. William Heinemann, London 1912. First UK and first illustrated edition of the author’s most uncommon first novel. 8vo. 182pp. With a tissue-guarded frontispiece illustration by F.Graham Cootes and three further plates, none of which appear in the US edition. A scattering of spotting to edges and preliminary leaves, and to some occasional text leaves throughout. A nice bright copy. Originally serialised in three parts under the title Alexander's Masquerade in McClure's, the first US bookform issue appeared in April 1912 with this UK issue following three months later (with Bridge pluralised in the title). Crane does not note a 32-page publisher’s catalogue bound in at the rear. Although several copies have been identified which do have this catalogue, this copy does not but we are unable to determine a priority. £200

J.M.COETZEE. Inner Workings. Literary Essays 2000-2005. Knopf, Sydney 2007. The first Australian edition of this selection of Coetzee’s critical essays. 8vo. 304pp. Edges lightly spotted with some additional sporadic spotting to occasional text leaves. A nice bright copy in dust wrapper, fine bar for a little internal marking. Twenty-one essays, mostly reprinted from the pages of the New York Review of Books. £30

LEONARD COHEN. The Favorite Game. A novel. The Viking Press, New York 1963. The first American edition of the author’s first novel. 8vo. 244pp. Grey cloth lettered and blocked in black and red at spine and upper board, and with a small black-stamped vignette. Publisher’s red top-edge stain very slightly faded, and with a millimetre or so of bleed to the upper margins of two or three preliminary leaves. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, the spine panel colouring and lettering somewhat faded, and with two short tears to the upper edge and a trace of light miscellaneous soiling. Written between 1959-60 while Cohen was living in Hydra and London, and partly financed by a Canada Council grant of $2,000, the finished manuscript was rejected by his Canadian publisher and eventually published in the UK and then in the US following some not insignificant edits (about which Cohen wrote “anyone with an ear will know I've torn apart orchestras to arrive at my straight, melodic line"). It was not published in Canada for a further seven years. £150

ROBERTSON DAVIES. The Salterton Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailties. Chatto & Windus, London / Clarke, Irwin, Torontoo / Scribners, New York 1952-1958. A mongrel set of Davies’ first trilogy of novels which incorporates the first British, Canadian and American editions. Very good in very good dust wrappers. Individual volumes as follows: Tempest-Tost. Chatto & Windus, London 1952. The first UK edition. 8vo. 375pp. Top- and fore edge lightly spotted and with a narrow strip of light partial browning to endpapers. Very good indeed in very good duust wrapper designed by Val Biro, with a touch of chafing to one or two extremities, two tiny closed tears and a little dust marking to predominantly white rear panel. Leaven of Malice. Clarke, Irwin & Co. Ltd, Toronto 1954. The first Canadian edition. 8vo. 312pp. Top edge lightly dust marked. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed and chafed at several edges and with a single short closed tear. A Mixture of Frailties. Scribners, New York 1958. The first American edition. 8vo. 379pp. A virtually fine copy in very slightly chafed and tanned dust wrapper with a single tiny area of loss from read panel. A lovely set of Davies’ trilogy of novels about provincial Canadian life, set in and around the fictional town of Salterton, Ontario (and with a foray into fifties Bohemian London in A Mixture of Frailties). £175

ROBERTSON DAVIES. The Deptford Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. The first English editions of Davies’ magnificent second trilogy of novels. Individual volumes as follows: Fifth Business. Macmillan, London 1971. First English edition. 8vo. 308pp. A trace of surface marking to rear board and just a little bruising to spine ends. Very good indeed in very good dust wrapper, with just a hint of edgewear at several extremities. The Manticore. Macmillan, London 1973. First English edition. 8vo. 310pp. A trace of discolouration to board extremities and some very light tanning to leaf margins. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly rubbed as several edges and with three short tear and one accompanying crease. Contemporary former owner name neatly inked to front endpaper. World of Wonders. W.H.Allen, London 1977. First English edition – this copy signed by the author on the front endpaper. 8vo. 358pp. A hint of light spotting to top- and fore edge and some tanning to paperstock. Very good in very good dust wrapper marred only by some spotting to the flaps and internally. Set in the fictional vilage of Deptford, Ontario (based on Davies’ native Thamesville) the quite masterful sequence revolves around a simple childhood accident and the effect this has on various characters. £250

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES. The Latin America Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Secker & Warburg, London 1990-1992. First Editions. Each volume in virtually fine state, page margins just a little tanned as is invariably the case. With dust wrappers all near fine, one fractionally rubbed and retouched at a few extremities and with a single miniscule closed tear. A really super set of De Bernières' (a self-confessed 'Márquez parasite') celebrated first three novels. The first volume was reputedly limited to 2,500 copies. £200

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES. Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Secker & Warburg, London 1994. First edition. 8vo. 437pp. Top edge lightly spotted with two short marks to the rear board and just a hint of tanning to leaf margins. Contemporary former owner name inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A very good copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, very lightly creased at the base of the spine panel. The author's celebrated fourth book, set on the Greek isaldn of Cephalonia during the Italian and German occupation during the Second World War. £250

LAWRENCE DURRELL. The Black Book. An Agon. The Obelisk Press, ‘Villa Seurat’ series, Paris 1938. The first edition of the author’s third novel, and his first significant critical success, following Pied Piper of Lovers (1935) and the pseudonymous Panic Spring (1937). Large 8vo. 260pp. Card wrappers with French flaps, exhibiting a little edgewear, discolouration and creasing, and with several lengthy readership creases to the spine. A small area of surface abrasion to the head of the front free endpaper, and a small production fault crease to the head of a dozen or so text leaves. A nice bright copy – particularly crisp internally, with only a hint of the paperstock tanning which so often blights this production. A production error resulted in five sequentially numbered leaves (115-118) being incorrectly ordered, an oversight highlighted by an errata slip which was issued with most copies, but not this one. T.S.Eliot had offered to publish an expurgated version of The Black Book but Durrell eventually declined, publishing via Jack Kahane’s Obelisk Press with the help of his friend Henry Miller, and it appeared in June 1938 as the first volume of the short-lived Villa Seurat series (two further books appeared under this imprint: Miller’s Max and the White Phagocytes and Anaïs Nin's Winter of Artifice). Eliot, always the gentleman, offered a celebratory review of the book, which is reproduced on the inner flap. The Black Book was not published in Britain until 1973. Pearson A56. £350

GEOFF DYER. The Search. Hamish Hamilton, London 1993. First edition of the author’s scarce second novel. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. An ink stamp to the bottom edge notes that this copy is damaged, but not in any way that we have been able to identify. An unusual post-modern detective novel that owes something to Kafka and Calvino and reads like early Paul Auster. £50

ROBERT EDRIC. The Song Cycle. Complete in three volumes comprising Cradle Song, Siren Song and Swan Song. Doubleday, London 2003-2005. First editions. A virtually fine set in virtually fine dust wrappers. Individual volume descriptions as follows: Cradle Song (2003). First edition. 8vo. 469pp. A single tiny bump to the tip of one corner and a small area of very light staining to top edge. Paperstock very lightly tanned. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at top edge and with several tiny indentations. Siren Song (2004). First edition. 8vo. 394pp. A single miniscule mark to the bottom edge, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Swan Song (2005). First edition. 8vo. 351pp. A tiny smudge to the tip of the front free endpaper where a pencilled price has been erased, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A super set of Erdic’s criminally underrated ‘Humberside noir’ trilogy. £50

J.G.FARRELL. The Siege of Krishnapur. A novel. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1973. First edition. 8vo. 344pp. Top edge spotted and some staining to the head of upper and lower board, offset to the interior of the dust wrapper. A very good copy – internally in fine state - and housed in a very good example of the dust wrapper, marred only by the aforementioned internal staining and a touch of very minor dust marking to the predominantly white rear panel. Farrell's fifth novel, the second volume of his masterful 'Empire' trilogy (preceded by Troubles and followed by The Singapore Grip), and winner of the 1973 Booker Prize. £75

WILLIAM FAULKNER. Light in August. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1933. The first UK edition. 8vo. 480pp. Edges lightly spotted. A small area of discolouration to the base of the upper board, and a little fading to the cloth at the head and base of the backstrip where the dust wrapper is defective. A narrow strip of light partial browning to endpapers and a hint of very light spotting to one or two leaf margins. A small bump to the lower corner of the rear board impacts the corners of the last two or three leaves. A nice crisp copy in a somewhat distressed example of the uncommon Walter Goetz-designed dust wrapper, a little spotted, tanned at spine panel, chafed and with several short tears and half a dozen areas of edge loss, primarily to the spine ends and upper edge. This copy from the library of noted man of letters Bonamy Dobrée, with his inked signature to the front free endpaper, and also a tiny Poetry Bookshop plate to the base of the front pastedown.  The author’s seventh novel, a Southern Gothic classic, originally published in the US in 1932 in a print run of 11,000 copies, with this significantly more uncommon English edition appearing a year later in a print run of 2,500 copies. £650

WILLIAM FAULKNER. Knight’s Gambit. Six stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1951. First UK edition (originally published in the US in 1949). 8vo. 218pp. Three small areas of miscellaneous staining to rear board, and publisher’s top edge blue stain somewhat faded. A lovely crisp copy in pictorial dust wrapper designed by Lynton Lamb (and much more striking than that housing the US edition), with just a hint of occasional light edge wear, some mild sunning to the spine and rear panels and a single tiny enclosed area of loss to the spine panel. Six stories featuring Faulkner-regular Gavin Stevens. £50

SEBASTIAN FAULKS. The Girl at the Lion D’or. Hutchinson, London 1989. First edition. One preliminary leaf exhibits some outline browning, presumably the result of an ill-advised bookmark, off-set just a fraction to the adjacent leaf.  Ghost of three partially erased stubborn pencilled numerals to tip of half-title. Very good indeed with double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, fine but for some internal spotting. The author’s most uncommon second novel, and the first part of his ‘France trilogy’, followed by  Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. £250

SEBASTIAN FAULKS. Birdsong. Hutchinson, London 1993. First edition. 8vo. 407pp. Bump to the tip of two corners, else in fine state with dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at head and base of spine panel and one corner of front panel. An extremely good copy of Faulk’s celebrated fourth novel, and the central volume of his loose trilogy, following The Girl at the Lion d'Or and preceding Charlotte Gray. £250

HELEN FIELDING. The Bridget Jones Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. Picador, London 1996-2013. First editions in dust wrapper – the latter two volumes signed by the author. Individual volume descriptions as follows: Bridget Jones's Diary. (1996). First edition. 8vo. 310pp. Miniscule creases to the very tips of three text leaves, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, fractionally rubbed at spine ends and with a single tiny nick. A super copy of Fielding's late Twentieth Century-defining second novel. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (1999). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 422pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. (2013). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 390pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper.  £250

PENELOPE FITZGERALD. Offshore. Collins, London 1979. First edition of the author’s Booker Prize winning third novel. 8vo. 141pp. Spine ends very lightly rubbed and with a light production fault ridge to the upper board. An exceptionally crisp and bright copy in double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, correspondingly rubbed at spine panel ends, but still very good indeed. The author’s semi-autobiographical third novel, recalling her time spent living on a boat in the Thames at Battersea. Winner of the 1979 Booker Prize. £75

WILLIAM GOLDING. Pincher Martin. Faber, London 1956. First edition. 8vo. 208pp. Top edge spotted, and with just a trace of further light spotting to endpapers. A lovely crisp copy in the Anthony Gross-designed double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, a little nicked at spine ends with several tiny fractions of loss. The author’s third novel – an existential classic. £125

WILLIAM GOLDING. Free Fall. Faber, London 1959. First edition. 253pp. 8vo. Top edge and endpapers lightly spotted. An extremely crisp and bright copy with price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper designed by Anthony Gross with a trace of dust marking to rear panel, several very faint indications of foxing and a single miniscule surface snag to spine panel. Contemporary former owner name inked to front endpaper (and struck through in pencil) and a former owner bookplate to front pastedown. Golding’s fourth novel. £50

KENNETH GRAHAME. The Wind in the Willows. Charles Scribners, New York 1908. First American edition, published in October 1908. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Tissue-protected frontispiece illustration by G[raham] R[oberston], the tissue a little spotted. Some light marking and staining to boards and a little wear to the cloth at head and base of spine. Lengthy and unsightly crease to front endpaper alongside a bold former owner inked name. Binding just a little tender at pp 88/89. Some very occasional light staining to five or six leaves, almost entirely confined to margins. A really crisp and bright copy of a very scarce and desirable book. £350

GRAHAM GREENE. The Little Horse Bus. With illustrations by Dorothy Craigie. Max Parrish, London 1952. First edition. 35pp. A little light spotting to front endpaper accompanying a millimetre or so of bleeding from publisher’s top edge stain. A lovely copy in lightly dust marked pictorial dust wrapper with two short closed tears and a little rubbing to head and base of spine panel. Some light spotting to wrapper flaps. A delightfully illustrated story for children, Greene and Craigie’s third offering following The Little Train and The Little Fire Engine. £200

GRAHAM GREENE. May We Borrow Your Husband? And Other Comedies of the Sexual Life. The Bodley Head, London 1967. First edition. In fine state with very good Stephen Russ-illustrated pictorial dust wrapper, very lightly faded at spine panel and with some light dust marking to rear panel accompanied by a narrow strip of tanning. Twelve short stories. £35

L.P.HARTLEY. Night Fears and other stories. G.P.Putnam, London 1924. First edition of the author’s scarce first book, a collection of seventeen supernatural stories. Backstrip very lightly faded and several tiny miscellaneous stains to boards. Endpapers unevenly browned. A lovely crisp copy, lacking the dust wrapper. Most uncommon. £150

JIM HARRISON. Legends of the Fall. Three novellas. Collins, London 1980. First English edition of this collection of novellas, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 276pp. Edges lightly spotted. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, very lightly creased at the base of the spine panel and with a small area of discolouration to the upper corner of the front panel where a sticker was once affixed. The first of the author’s seven novella trilogies, this one comprising Revenge, The Man Who Gave Up His Name and Legends of the Fall. £95

ERNEST HEMINGWAY. The Old Man and the Sea. Jonathan Cape, Londonn 1952. The first UK edition. Small 8vo. 127pp. Blue cloth with red-stamped Hans Tisdall decorations to the backstrip and upper board (Tisdall also provides the striking dust wrapper design). Just a touch of spotting to edges, endpaper and half title. A super copy in the handsome double-spread pictorial first-issue dust wrapper, just a little chafed at spine ends and at one or two extremities, with several tiny closed tears and two minute slivers of loss. A small area of sticker residue to the top corner of the front panel. Hemingway’s last full-length work of fiction: a short novella which was originally printed in its entirety in Life magazine, and for which the author received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize. £150

SUSAN HILL. The Woman in Black. A Ghost Story. With illustrations by John Lawrence. Hamish Hamilton, London 1983. First edition. With a double-spread title page design by John Lawrence and thirty illustrations. Some discolouration to board extremities and some off-setting from the dust wrapper to the upper board, but in fine state internally with handsome double-spread John Lawrence-illustrated dust wrapper, very lightly faded at spine panel. A very good copy of Hill’s desirable classic. £150

PETER HØEG. Smilla's Sense of Snow. Translated from the Danish by Tina Nunnally. Farrar, Straus & Girous, New York 1993. First American edition. 453pp. Paper-covered cloth. Map-illustrated endpapers. Just a fraction of rubbing at head and foot of spine, else a fine copy in very lightly rubbed and marked dust wrapper. Hoeg’s celebrated second novel. The same English translation was also used for the UK issue, published by Harvill, but Nunnally was unhappy with some of the changes which the publisher insisted upon and so removed her name from the text, replacing it with the nom de plume F.David. £50

PETER HØEG. Tales of the Night. Translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland. The Harvill Press, London 1997. The first English edition. 8vo. 308pp. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. The author's second book, a collection of eight short stories originally published in Denmark in 1990, two years before his magnificent breakthrough novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. £10

ALDOUS HUXLEY. Little Mexican & Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1924. First edition. A really bright copy in dust wrapper. Fore-edges and jacket slightly fox-spotted. £65

DAVID JONES. Epoch and Artist. Selected Writings. Edited by Harman Grisewood. Faber, London 1959. First edition. 8vo. 320pp. Inscriptional frontispiece. In fine state with very lightly sunned and edge worn dust wrapper, designed by the author. Twenty-six prose pieces. £150

JAMES JONES. From Here to Eternity. Collins, London 1952. The first UK edition (following the US edition which appeared a year earlier). 8vo. 766pp. Printed on India paper. A light scattering of spotting to edges, endpapers and one or two preliminary leaves. A very good copy in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at several extremities and with a touch of dust soiling and marking to the rear panel. The author’s celebrated first novel, loosely based on his experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry, and winner of the National Book Award. £50

JACK KEROUAC (writing as ‘John Kerouac’). The Town and the City. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1951. The first UK edition of the author’s first book. 8vo. 499pp. Backstrip and upper edges of boards lightly spotted. Endpapers partially browned and with some additional light spotting which also impacts several preliminary and (blank) concluding leaves. A very good copy in very good pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, with just a touch of spotting and tanning, several tiny closed tears and several slivers of loss from spine ends. First published by Harcourt Brace in the US in March 1950, this distinctly more uncommon UK edition followed a year later. The novel was not a success: it was trashed by a number of reviewers, Kerouac’s royalties did not exceed his advance of $1,000 and it was six years before the publication of his next novel, On the Road. £750

ARTHUR KOESTLER. Darkness at Noon. Translated from the German by the author’s friend and intimate Daphne Hardy. The Macmillasn Company, New York 1941. First Amercian edition, issued a year after the UK edition. 8vo. 267pp. Spine ends fractionally rubbed and with a touch of browning to margins of endpapers and pastedowns. Ghost of partically erased former owner pencil marks to tip of front free endpaper. Very good indeed in a poor example of the uncommon dust wrapper, split into two two parts, torn, nicked and with several small slivers of loss, some internal repair with offset browning and with some tape residue browning where a repair was once attepted. The first American edition of the author’s most famous novel, and the center part of his trilogy bookended by The Gladiators (1939) and Arrival and Departure (1943). £150

J.M.G.LE CLÉZIO. Fever. Translated from the French of La Fièvre by Daphne Woodward. Hamish Hamilton, London 1966. First English edition of the author’s second book to be published in English, a collection (his first) of nine short stories and novellas which was originally issued in France the previous year. 8vo. 239pp. A small bump to the tips of two corners and a single tiny tape residue mark to front endpapers. A lovely crisp copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, with three short closed tears to top edge and just a trace of occasional dust marking. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio won the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. £95

DORIS LESSING. The Golden Notebook. Michael Joseph, London 1962. First edition of the author’s most celebrated book. 8vo. 567pp. Tips of corners lightly rubbed and with a small indentation to the head of the rear board. Top- and fore edge spotted, encroaching just a fraction some text leaf margins. Endpapers lightly browned and with a tiny nick to the head of half a dozen adjacent leaves. Quite a crisp and bright copy in William Belcher-designed dust wrapper, a little soiled, worn and spotted with a small area of loss to the head of the spine panel (impacting no text), several short tears to the natural folds and a short tear to the head of the rear panel with some accompanying creasing. £150

WYNDHAM LEWIS. The Human Age. Complete in three parts (over two volumes) comprising Childermass, Monstre Gai and Malign Fiesta. With illustrations and dust wrapper designs by Michael Ayrton. Methuen, London 1955-56. The second edition of Childremass, which was first published by Chatto & Windus in 1928 in an edition of 2,500 copies (1,000 of which were pulped) and is here re-issued alongside the first edition of the two later parts Monstre Gai and Malign Fiesta. 8vo. 401pp & 566pp. Original publisher’s decorated cloth, designed by Michael Ayrton. The first volume contains three full-page drawings by Ayrton, with six further illustrations in the second volume. The backstrip of volume one a little discoloured and with a touch of spotting to the top edge, a strip of very light browning to the endpapers and a little wear to the rear hinge, but the binding still perfectly sound. A former owner name to the front free endpaper of volume two. Very good copies housed in the handsome double-spread Ayrton dust wrappers with two small areas of loss to the spine panel of volume one, and the wrapper of the second volume encased in laminate. Originally planned at a tetralogy, Lewis died before the fourth and final volume, to be entitled The Trail of Man, was written, leaving only a draft rejected opening sequence. Pound & Grover A41a & A41b. £100

MARIO VARGAS LLOSA. The Time of the Hero. Translated from the Spanish of La Ciudad y los Perros by Lysander Kemp. Jonathan Cape, London 1967. The first UK edition of the author’s first novel. 8vo. 409pp. A tiny hint of wear to the head of the spine panel. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed, tanned and dust soiled, and with a crease to the front flap. Contemporary former owner inscription neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. The author’s first novel, based on his experiences at Lima's Leoncio Prado Military Academy and originally published in 1963 as La Ciudad y los Perros (literally The City and the Dogs), with a US edition appearing in 1966 and this much scarcer UK edition a year later (both English-language editions use this same Lysander Kemp translation). £50

DAVID LODGE. The Picturegoers. A novel. MacGibbon & Kee, London 1960. First edition. 8vo. 237pp. Top edge fractionally spotted and dust marked. Very good indeed in handsome pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, publisher’s red spine panel colouring just a little faded, else fine. An extremely crisp and bright copy of the author’s debut. £200

ROBERT MCALMON. Explorations. The Egoist Press, London 1921. First edition of the author’s uncommon first book: a collection of forty poems and sixty prose pieces which was reputedly limited to 500 copies. 8vo. 79pp. Cloth chafed at spine ends and corner tips. Front free endpaper very lightly browned, and half-title and final text leaf tanned and with a hint of spotting. Very good. No dust wrapper called for. £325

ROBERT MCALMON. Indefinite Huntress and Other Stories. The Black Sun Press, ‘Crosby Continental Editions, Modern Masterpieces in English’ series, Paris 1932. First edition. Small 8vo. 200pp. Card wrappers with French flaps. A tiny hint of tanning to wrappers, and several light superficial creases, plus a two centimetre tear to the front wrapper / spine joint and several other tiny nicks. Spine ends lightly chipped and with a light but lengthy readership crease to the spine. Shakespeare & Co. inkstamp to the base of the half-title (which double as the free endpaper). A very good copy of quite a fragile production, particularly crisp internally, and housed in a custom made protective case. Eight stories published by Harry and Caresse Crosby’s Black Sun Press and issued as the tenth volume of the ‘Modern Masterpieces in English’ series. £100

CORMAC MCCARTHY. Outer Dark. Andre Deutsch, London 1970. First UK edition of the author’s uncommon second novel (issued two years previously in the US). 8vo. 238pp. Top- and fore edge spotted with some further spotting to the half-title and a hint more to two or three following leaves. A very good copy in dust wrapper featuring a design by Michael Heawood, lightly discoloured at the upper and lower margins of the rear panel and with a single miniscule nick to the base of the spine panel. £400

CORMAC MCCARTHY. Child of God. Chatto & Windus, London 1975. First UK edition of the author’s third novel (issued two years previously in the US). 8vo. 197pp. A very light scattering of spotting to top edge, else a fine copy in dust wrapper featuring a design by Graham Palfrey-Rogers (and far more striking than the fairly plain wrapper which housed the US edition), fractionally rubbed at spine ends and with a touch of spotting to the wrapper flaps. £300

CORMAC MCCARTHY. The Border Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing and Cities of the Plain. Picador, London 1993-98. First UK editions. 8vo. A fine set of McCarthy’s multi award-winning trilogy in virtually fine dust wrappers, one of which is price-clipped and two of which exhibit the tiniest trace of wear to head of spine panels. £150

IAN MCEWAN. In Between the Sheets and other stories. Jonathan Cape, London 1978. First edition. 8vo. 144pp. A tiny bump to the tip of a single corner, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper with just a tiny hint of internal marking. Seven stories, the author’s second book. £150

IAN MCEWAN. The Comfort of Strangers. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1981. First edition. 8vo. 134pp. A hint of tanning to paperstock, else a fine copy in fine double-spread pictorial dust wrapper. Contemporary former owner gift inscription inked to front pastedown (almost entirely obscured by the wrapper flap). The author’s second novel. £60

J.MACLAREN ROSS. Of Love and Hunger. A novel. Allan Wingate, London 1947. First edition 8vo. 217pp. Some tanning to margins to quite cheap paperstock and a small bump to the head of the spine. A very good copy in handsome yet unaccredited pictorial dust wrapper with several tiny internally reinforced nicks and a small portion of loss from head of spine panel. A very good copy of an extremely elusive volume – the author’s undisputed masterpiece. £225

JOHN MASEFIELD. The Midnight Folk. A novel. Heinemann, London 1927. First trade edition (following a limited edition of 265 signed copies). 8vo. 327pp. Top- and fore edge lightly spotted, occasionally encroaching to extreme upper margins. An extremely crisp and bright copy in pictorial dust wrapper, lightly rubbed and chafed in one or two places, with some spotting to rear panel, flaps and internally. A super copy of Masefield’s celebrated childhood classic, marking the first appearance of his hero Kay Harker. £125

JOHN MASEFIELD. The Box of Delights or When the Wolves were Running. William Heinemann, London 1935. First edition of Masefield's seminal children's classic. 8vo. 418pp. With splendid colour endpapers by Masefield’s daughter, Judith, replicating the dust wrapper design, plus a series of chapter header and tail illustrations. A penny-sized area of staining to the top edge and just a trace of fading to the backstrip. Very good indeed in the fugitive dust wrapper, with some tanning to the spine panel, a touch of occasional light spotting and soiling and several slivers of loss from the spine ends. The sequel to Masefield s 1927 novel The Midnight Folk continuing the adventures of Kay Harker. This volume is considerably more uncommon than its predecessor, and elusive indeed with the dust wrapper. £500

TIMOTHY MO. The Monkey King. Andre Deutsch, London 1978. First edition of the author’s first book. 8vo. 269pp. A small area of staining to top edge, encroaching just a fraction to the extreme upper margin of the first twenty or so leaves. A very good copy in pictorial dust wrapper, with some darkening to upper edge. £95

HARUKI MURAKAMI. 1Q84. Books one, two and three. Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin (parts one and two) and Philip Gabriel (part three). Harvill Secker, London 2011. The first English edition of Murakami’s magnum opus, complete in two volumes and preceding the US edition by a week. 8vo. 623pp & 364pp. Two small indentations to the upper edges of the second volume, else both in fine state with fine dust wrappers. £40

VLADIMIR NABOKOV. The Defence. A novel. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1964. The first English edition, translated from the Russian by Michael Scammell in collaboration with the author. 8vo. 256pp. A narrow strip of very light browning to endpapers, else a fine copy in slightly sunned, dust soiled and very lightly rubbed dust wrapper. The first English-language edition of Nabokov’s third novel, written in Berlin in 1929 and originally published under his pseudonym ‘V.Sirin’ in the Russian quarterly Sovremennye Zapiski before appearing in bookform in 1930 as The Luzhin Defense. This collaborative translation was first serialised in The New Yorker before being issued in bookform simultaneously in the UK and US. £60

V.S.NAIPAUL. The Mimic Men. Andre Deutsch, London 1967. First edition. 8vo. 300pp. Edges lightly spotted and with a trace of off-setting from the dust wrapper design to the backstrip. A very good copy in fine dust wrapper. Naipaul’s sixth novel. £30

ALAN NEAME. The Adventures of Maud Noakes [and] Maud Noakes, Guerilla. Chapman & Hall, London 1962 and 1965. The first English editions of the author’s debut and subsequent sequel, the former retaining the original unaccredited controversial Andy Warhol dust wrapper design which graced the US edition of 1961.  8vo. 144pp & 214pp. Top edges lightly spotted and dust soiled, else lovely crisp copies in dust wrappers, the first designed by Andy Warhol (his last wrapper design – pop super-stardom was just around the corner), a little tanned, soiled and chafed at extremities with two or three tiny portions of loss to the spine ends and two or three small areas of staining; the second wrapper, designed by William Belcher, is very lightly dust marked in several places.  Very good copies of the author’s uncommon satirical novels, equally loved and loathed upon publication (Richard Aldington and Nancy Mitford being amongst those who got the joke). £250

FLANN O’BRIEN. The Dalkey Archive. MacGibbon & Kee, London 1964. First edition of O’Brien’s third novel, and the last to be published in the author’s lifetime. 8vo. 222pp. Tip of one corner bumped and with just a trace of light spotting to several preliminary leaves. A very good copy in lightly chafed and dust marked price-clipped dust wrapper, with a little internal spotting and tanning. £150

LIAM O’FLAHERTY. The Assassin. Jonathan Cape, London 1928. First edition. 8vo. 286pp. Top edge dust marked and with a fairly light scattering of spotting to top- and fore edge. A narrow strip of light partial browning to endpapers. A lovely crisp copy in the striking J.L.Carstairs pictorial dust wrapper, price-clipped and a little chafed and nicked at extremities and with two ragged yet mercifully short tears. £95

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Porius. A Romance of the Dark Ages. Macdonald, London 1951. First edition. 8vo. 682pp. A millimetre of bleed from the publisher’s red top edge stain to the front endpaper and pastedown and just a trace of light browning to endpapers. A virtually fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with a little light fading to spine panel, a tiny area of loss to head of spine and two tiny closed tears. The rear panel of the dust wrapper features “certainly one of the most impressive photograph portraits of any of this century’s authors” – Thomas. Official bookmark detailing the cast of characters laid-in, as issued. Thomas A48. £85

BARBARA PYM. Excellent Women. Jonathan Cape, London 1952. First edition. 8vo. 256pp. A small area of damp making to base of front board and endpaper, and some fairly light spotting to top edge, endpaper and margin of half-title. A good, sound copy in dust wrapper, torn at spine panel and internally repaired, tanned at rear panel and with a small area of repaired loss to head of spine and several other tiny slivers of loss. Contemporary former owner name inked to front endpaper. A decent copy of the author’s extremely uncommon and much praised second novel. £200

HENRY ROTH. Call it Sleep. With a foreword by Walter Allen. Michael Joseph, London 1963. The first UK edition of Roth’s debut – a classic of Jewish American literature. 8vo. 446pp. Printed on very slightly substandard paperstock, yet still a virtually fine copy in slightly edgeworn dust wrapper with four or five small slivers of loss. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. Originally published to mixed reviews in 1934, Roth’s novel detailing the coming of age of a Jewish immigrant in New York's Lower East Side was out of print for over twenty-five years before a critical reappraisal saw it hailed as a Depression-era masterpiece. The author was subsequently ravaged by profound writer’s block which lasted until 1979 when he began the earliest drafts of his superb Mercy of a Rude Stream sequence (the first volume of which was eventually published in the mid-1990s). £65

BERNICE RUBENS. Set on Edge. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1960. First edition. 221pp. 8vo. In fine state with very lightly tanned and dust marked dust wrapper, with just a tiny hint of wear to head and base of spine panel and tips of corners. The author's scarce first novel. £75

BERNICE RUBENS. Mate in Three. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1966. First edition of the author’s third book. 8vo. 246pp. Very good indeed in price-clipped dust wrapper, just a little rubbed and chafed at several extremities and with the publisher’s laminate lifting a fraction in one place. £50

BERNICE RUBENS. Go Tell the Lemming. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1973. First edition. 8vo. 232pp. A virtually fine copy in handsome pictorial Leigh Taylor dust wrapper, very lightly dust marked, else fine. The author's seventh book. £20

STEVIE SMITH. Novel on Yellow Paper, or Work it Out for Yourself. Jonathan Cape, London 1936. First edition of the author’s elusive first book. 8vo. 252pp + [viii] publisher’s catalogue at rear. Cloth and top edge very lightly spotted, with a trace of very occasional further spotting to some leaf margins. Very good in the correct first state dust wrapper (Virginia Woolf misspelt), chafed, dust soiled and with several tiny slivers of miniscule loss to the spine ends. Former owner details neatly inked to the front endpaper, alongside two pasted pictures of the author, clipped from newspapers. Two small page reference notations have also been neatly inked to the rear flap of the wrapper. £200

JOHN SOMMERFIELD, They Die Young. William Heinemann, London 1930. First edition. 8vo. 318pp. Top edge dust marked and edges and preliminary leaves lightly spotted. A very good copy in dusty and a little chafed and handled dust wrapper, with some tanning to spine panel. The author’s extremely uncommon first book, drawing upon the then 21-year-old author's experiences as a theatrical stagehand and a merchant seaman. £200

GERTRUDE STEIN. Three Lives. Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and The Gentle Lena.  John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1915.  The first English edition of the author’s first book, one of 300 copies (from an initial print run of 1,000 which made up the 1909 first edition) printed and bound in the US but offered to the UK market with a cancel title page but retaining the US publisher’s imprint at the base of the spine. 8vo. 279pp. Blue vertically ribbed cloth lettered in gold at spine and upper board. Cloth rubbed at spine ends, with a little loss, and with just a touch of further chafing to corner tips. Masonic bookplate (Library of the Masonic Homes Elizabethtown, PA.) to front pastedown alongside a similar inkstamp and with a second stamp to the base of a single text leaf. A lengthy but superficial crease to the half-title, and with a short tear to the head of one text leaf and one more to the base of another. A very good copy of an uncommon book. No dust wrapper called for. Wilson A1b. £350

STEPHEN TENNANT. Leaves from a Missionary’s Notebook. Secker & Warburg, London 1929. First edition of the author’s first regularly published book, of which 125 numbered and signed copies were printed on vellum paper – this copy is neither numbered or signed, but marked “file Secker” in pencil. 4to. Unpaginated. Illustrated throughout with two-colour drawings by the author, many of them full-page and with his facsimile captions. Upper edges of boards a little discoloured, and with a little light finger marking to endpapers and a strip of neigh-on invisible browning. A very good copy in the handsome Tennant-designed pictorial dust wrapper, chipped with half a dozen small areas of loss and some upper edge creasing. A most uncommon book by ‘the brightest’ of the Bright Young Things, and the long-term lover of Siegfried Sassoon. £1,000

WILLIAM TREVOR. The Love Department. A novel. The Bodley Head, London 1966. First edition of the author’s fourth book. 8vo. 295pp. A hint of dust marking to top edge, and a touch of very light spotting to several preliminary leaves and to occasional text leaves. Slight pull to head of backstrip. A lovely crisp copy in the handsome Stephen Russ-illustrated dust wrapper, a little marked and rubbed with several short tears to the spine ends and another enclosed tear to the front panel-spine panel joint, but nothing in the way of significant loss. £50

WILLIAM TREVOR. Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neill’s Hotel. The Bodley Head, London 1969. First edition. 8vo. 304pp. Half a dozen tiny pin-pricks of spotting to top edge, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, chafed, lightly dust marked and a little rubbed at spine ends with several tiny slivers of loss. The author’s fifth novel, his first Booker shortlisted effort. £75

WILLIAM TREVOR. The Ballroom of Romance and other stories. The Bodley Head, London 1972. First edition. 8vo. 269pp. Boards lightly discoloured at edges, and with some off-setting from the dust wrapper design to the upper board and the backstrip. A very good copy in double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, with two strips of light fading to the front pane, a little chafing to one or two extremities and a single short internally repaired tear to the head of the spine panel. Twelve stories, Trevor’s second collection of short fiction. £200

WILLIAM TREVOR. Elizabeth Alone. A novel. The Bodley Head, London 1973. First edition. 8vo. 336pp. Just a hint of dust soiling to the top edge, else in fine state with fine dust wrapper. The author's seventh novel. £65

JOHN UPDIKE. The Poorhouse Fair. A novel. Victor Gollancz, London 1959. First UK edition. 8vo. 185pp. A small smudge to the front free endpaper, and three tiny instances of very light miscellaneous soiling to the fore edge. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, somewhat tanned at the spine panel with five tiny enclosed areas of loss, and a little rubbed at extremities with two tiny closed tears and several further slivers of loss. The author’s second book and first novel – extremely elusive in this UK edition (which was issued the same year as the more common US edition). £300 

KEITH WATERHOUSE. There is a Happy Land. Michael Joseph, London 1957. First edition of the author’s first book. Water damage to base of boards impacting the bottom edge of the first two or three leaves only. Some spotting and partial browning to endpapers. A nice bight copy in William Belcher-designed dust wrapper, a little rubbed at top edge with a single short tear; some staining to rear panel and several internal areas of off-setting from the board dye. The author’s scarce debut novel, published two years before his seminal Billy Liar. £95

EVELYN WAUGH. Decline and Fall. An Illustrated Novelette. Chapman & Hall, London 1928. First edition, first state (including the characters ‘Martin Gaythorn-Brodie’ and ‘Kevin Saunderson’ who were  re-named in all subsequent issues – these portraits of Eddie Gaythorn-Hardie and Gavin Henderson being a little too easy to identify). 8vo. 288pp. Two-tone red and black ‘snakeskin’ cloth lettered in gold at spine. With a frontispiece and five illustrations by the author. Spine ends lightly chafed and with a small area of fraying to the rear gutter. A little light spotting to occasional text leaves and a minor slant to the binding. Some light pink staining to endpapers where the cloth dye has run, and a small Times Book Club label to the base of the rear pastedown, alongside the ghost of almost entirely erased former owner pencilled notes. A nice crisp copy of Waugh’s extremely scarce first novel, alas missing the scarcer still dust wrapper. £750

EVELYN WAUGH. Black Mischief. Chapman & Hall, London 1932. First trade edition (preceded by a limited edition of 250 signed copies). 303pp. Original publisher’s decorated cloth. Frontispiece. Binding just a little cocked and cloth very mildly rubbed at some edges with several short closed tears to head and base of spine. Binding cracked and just a little tender. A little sporadic spotting throughout. A good, bright copy of Waugh’s third novel. Lacking the scarce dust wrapper. £35

EVELYN WAUGH. A Handful of Dust. Chapman & Hall, London 1934. First edition of Waugh’s fourth and probably most celebrated novel. 8vo. 348pp + iii publisher’s advertisements at rear. Original publisher’s decorated cloth. With a frontispiece illustration by J.D.M.Harvey. Backstrip lightly faded with some light wear to board edges. Several superficial scores to upper board. Some fox spotting throughout. Ghost of partially erased former owner pencilled name to front endpaper. Quite a crisp and bright copy of a very scarce volume, inevitably lacking the almost mythical dust wrapper. £250

DENTON WELCH. A Last Sheaf. Compiled and with an introduction by Eric Oliver. John Lehmann Ltd, London 1951. First edition. 8vo. 239pp + vii plates reproducing nine of Welch s paintings. Decorated endpapers. Top edge spotted, binding a little cocked and with a small area of discolouration to the base of the backstrip. Quite a nice, crisp copy in dust wrapper adapted from a design by the author. A posthumous collection of Welch's short stories, poems and a novel fragment, almost all hitherto unpublished. £50

IRVINE WELSH. Trainspotting. W.W.Norton, New York 2002. The first trade casebound edition of Welsh’s celebrated debut, which was originally published in the UK in 1993 as a paperback original with, allegedly, no more that 100 casebound copies produced exclusively for library use. The first US edition followed three years later, issued on the back of the generation-defining film, but the novel was not made available to the general public in casebound format until this Norton issue of 2002. 8vo. 343pp. Quarter-bound paper-covered boards. A tiny hint of wear to the head of the spine, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £50

T.H.WHITE (writing as "James Aston"). They Winter Abroad. Chatto & Windus, London 1932. First edition. Covers a little dust-marked and handled and tear to cloth at foot of spine. A good, quite bright copy in stained, rubbed and slightly chipped pictorial jacket, internally reinforced with tape. The first of his pseudonymous novels. £150

T.H.WHITE. The Ill-Made Knight. The third volume of White’s celebrated Arthurian tetralogy. Collins, London 1941. The first English edition (preceded by the US issue published the previous year). 8vo. 296pp. Illustrated with decorations by the author. Top edge dust marked and with just a trace of minor blemishing to cloth at upper board. Small stain to the margin of three adjacent leaves. A slightly dusty yet very good copy housed in the extremely uncommon dust wrapper, albeit a somewhat handled example – faded and a little stained at spine panel and with a small enclosed tear; nicked and rubbed at edges with several small tears and fractions of loss; and with some dust soiling to rear panel. Handsome former owner bookplate to front pastedown. £350

T.H.WHITE. The Scandalmonger. With illustrations. Jonathan Cape, London 1952. First edition. Front hinge just a little scuffed at endpaper. A very good copy in pictorial dust wrapper, slightly tanned at spine panel and scuffed in one small area at rear panel. £40

RICHARD WRIGHT. Uncle Tom’s Children. Four Novellas. With a foreword by Paul Robeson. Victor Gollancz, London 1939. First UK edition (significantly more uncommon than the US edition of a year earlier). 8vo. 286pp. Backstrip faded and tips of two corners gently knocked. Former owner bookplate to front pastedown, alongside a small dealer plate, and five digits inkstamped to the corner of the front free endpaper (presumably a private library reference code). An extremely crisp copy. No dust wrapper. The author’s second book, a collection of four novellas which received an extremely favourable reception and permitted him sufficient financial freedom to begin his seminal work, Native Son. £150