Clearwater Books

JAMES E.AGATE. Responsibility. A novel. Grant Richards Ltd., London 1919. First edition. 8vo. 329pp. A strip of light browning to the free endpapers and a brief former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper, dated 1943. A remarkably well preserved copy – in virtually fine state with the handsome pictorial dust wrapper, with several small areas of staining to the rear panel and one more to the base of the spine panel. The author’s third book and first novel. Uncommon, and especially so in this state. £150

JERZY ANDRZEJEWSKI (writing as ‘George Andrzeyevski’). The Gates of Paradise. A novel. Translated from the Polish of Bramy raju by James Kirkup. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1962. First English edition. 8vo. 158pp. A scattering of light spotting to the top edge and a narrow strip of near-invisible toning to the rear free endpaper. A virtually fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper designed by Michael Hoare. Tiny dealer plate to the front pastedown (obscured by the wrapper flap). A circa 40,000-word novel of the Children’s Crusade, written in just two sentences, the second of which is only five words long (“And they marched all nigh” – which is just four words in the original Polish). The author’s third appearance in English: this novel published the same year as his most celebrated work, Ashes and Diamonds. Uncommon, and much more so in the dust wrapper. £175

JOHN BANVILLE. Nightspawn. A novel. Secker & Warburg Ltd., London 1971. First edition. 8vo. 224pp. Top edge fractionally spotted, and with just a trace of toning to the rear free endpaper. A virtually fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. The author’s second book and first novel, which he subsequently disowned, judging it "crotchety, posturing, absurdly pretentious". £250

A.L.BARKER. Innocents. Variations on the Theme. Stories. With a dust wrapper design by Duncan Grant. The Hogarth Press, London 1947. First edition. 8vo. 204pp. Top edge spotted and with a narrow strip of partial browning to the free endpapers. Contemporary former owner gift inscription inked to the front free endpaper. Very good in very good Duncan Grant-designed dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the spine panel, with just a touch of dust soiling to the rear panel and several tiny fractions of loss from the spine ends and corner tips. Eight stories, the author’s first book, winner of the inaugural Somerset Maugham Prize. £125

NINA BAWDEN. Carrie’s War. A novel. With illustrations and a dust wrapper design by Faith Jaques. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London 1973. First edition. 8vo. 159pp.. With fifteen chapter header illustrations by Faith Jacques plus an additional three-colour dust wrapper illustration. Half a dozen tiny pinpricks of spotting to the top edge and a shade of near-invisible partial toning to the free endpapers. A virtually fine copy in fine price-clipped dust wrapper. A super copy of the author’s most acclaimed and widely-read work, partly inspired by her own experiences as an evacuee during the Second World War. In 1993 it was awarded the Phoenix Award in honour of its hitherto unrecognised critical longevity. £225

PAUL BOWLES. Let it Come Down. A novel. With a dust wrapper design by John Minton. John Lehmann Ltd., London 1952. First edition, preceding the considerably more common American edition. 8vo. 318pp. The tip of one corner bumped, and with a sliver of discolouration to the cloth at the head of the upper board, and some light offsetting from the dust wrapper artwork to the backstrip. Some light partial toning to the free endpapers, and a contemporary former owner name and date inked to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in the handsome pictorial dust wrapper designed by John Minton, a little toned at the rear panel, and chipped with several tiny areas of loss from the spine panel ends and corner tips. The author’s second novel. £300

KAY BOYLE. Year Before Last. A novel. Harrison Smith, New York 1932. First edition. Crown 8vo. 373pp. A tiny dealer plate to the head of the rear pastedown, else a virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at one or two extremities with just a touch of tanning to the spine panel with several tiny closed tears. A super copy of the author’s second novel. £95

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. The Sun’s Net. Stories. The Hogarth Press, London 1976. First edition. 8vo. 268pp. Top edge lightly speckled, else a fine copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the predominantly white rear panel, with a light but lengthy crease to the spine panel, and the publisher’s laminate lifting in one small area. Ten Orkney-based stories, the author’s fourth collection of short fiction. £25

G.CABRERA INFANTE. Three Trapped Tigers. A novel. Translated from the Spanish of Tres Tristes Tigres by Donald Gardner and Suzanne Jill Levine. Harper & Row, New York 1970. The first English-language edition. 8vo. 487pp. A little bruising to the backstrip ends. A virtually fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, with a single tiny area of wear to the base of the spine panel.  The author’s debut novel, originally published in Spanish in 1967 and an undisputed classic of the Latin American Boom. £75

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. £350

ANGELA CARTER. Several Perceptions. A novel. Heinemann, London 1968. First edition. 8vo. 154pp. A tiny hint of bruising to the base of the backstrip, else a fine copy in lightly rubbed, chafed and marked dust wrapper. The author’s increasingly elusive third novel, and the centrepiece of her ‘Bristol Trilogy’, preceded by Shadow Dance (1966) and followed by Love (1971). Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award. £300

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. Life & Times of Michael K. A novel. Secker & Warburg, London 1983. First English edition. 8vo. 250pp. A tiny hint of bruising to the backstrip ends, else a fine copy in very good price-clipped dust wrapper with as touch of corresponding wear to the spine panel ends and a single tiny closed tear.  The author’s Booker Prize winning fourth novel. £50

JOSEPH CONRAD. The Sisters. With an introduction by Ford Madox Ford. Crosby Gaige, New York 1928. First edition, printed by Bruce Rogers at the press of William Edwin Rudge and limited to 926 copies on handmade paper (there was a further deluxe issue of nine copies). Slim 8vo. 70pp. Marbled paper-covered boards with a gilt lettered and ruled leather spine label. All gatherings uncut at the upper edge. Two former owner bookplates to the front pastedown, one of which is that of John Kobler, the biographer of Al Capone. A trace of rubbing to the tips of two corners. A virtually fine copy of a very handsome production, housed in the original unprinted tissue protector, which is slightly torn and nicked. The first bookform appearance of this incomplete Conrad story, which he started in 1895-96 and set aside following criticism from Edward Garnett (it was first printed in the periodical Bookman in January 1928). Harvey B24. £200

JULIO CORTÁZAR. End of the Game and Other Stories. Translated from the Spanish by Paul Blackburn. Collins and Harvill Press, London 1968. The first UK edition, considerably more uncommon than the US edition which was issued a year earlier. 8vo. 277pp. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a hint of soiling to the rear panel. Fifteen stories from the Argentine magical realist, including Blow-Up (Las babas del Diablo), which was the basis for Antonioni’s celebrated 1966 film. £150

ROBERTSON DAVIES. The Deptford Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising Fifth Business [and] The Manticore, [and] World of Wonders. The Viking Press, New York 1970-1976. The first US editions of Davies’ magnificent second trilogy of novels. Individual volumes as follows: Fifth Business (Viking 1970). First US edition. 8vo. 308pp. Cloth-backed boards with the publisher’s yellow top edge stain. A trace of fading to the boards and just a hint of spotting to the edges. A very good copy in fractionally rubbed, edge-creased and dust soiled dust wrapper. The Manticore (Viking 1972). First US edition. 8vo. 310pp. Cloth-backed boards with the publisher’s green top edge stain, which is just fractionally faded. A virtually fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with a trace of light edge-creasing to several extremities, a short crease to the front flap, and a shade or two of fading to the publisher’s spine panel lettering. World of Wonders (Viking 1976). First US edition. 8vo. 358pp. Cloth-backed boards. Binding a little pulled, and the top edge lightly dust soiled. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly rubbed, chafed and nicked at the upper edge with one tiny closed tear and several tiny fractions of loss. A very nice set of the first American editions of the author’s masterful trilogy of novels, all published the same year as the original Canadian editions bar the final volume which was issued in the US one year later. £200

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

E.R.EDDISON. Keith Henderson. Styrbiorn the Strong. With illustrations by Keith Henderson. Jonathan Cape, London 1926. First edition. 8vo. 284pp. With decorated endpapers, a title page decoration, a frontispiece and twelve Henderson tailpiece decorations. Top edge lightly dust marked and spotted, others untrimmed. A narrow strip of browning to the free endpapers and a touch of soiling to the pastedowns. A very good copy in the most uncommon dust wrapper which reproduces a larger version of the frontispiece design, the wrapper is price-clipped, tanned at the spine panel, a little marked, spotted and stained in places with a tiny sliver of loss from the head of the spine panel, just a fraction of further loss from the tail and several more millimetres of loss from the corner tips and upper edge. A historical novel by the honorary Inkling, retelling The Tale of Styrbjörn the Swedish Champion, written between his celebrated fantasy works The Worm Ouroboros (1922) and the Zimiamvian Trilogy (1935-1958). £500

MARIAN ENGEL. Bear. A novel. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London & Henley 1977. First UK edition, issued a year after the original Canadian edition. 8vo. 141pp. A touch of light uneven toning to the free endpapers and pastedowns, else a fine copy in just fractionally dust soiled price-clipped dust wrapper. The author’s most famous and controversial novel, detailing the erotic love between an archivist and a bear. This UK edition is particularly uncommon. Originally conceived as a 31-page short story for the Writer’s Union of Canada’s collection of pornographic fiction by "serious" writers (Engel herself founded the W.U.C. several years earlier), the story did not make it to publication and was eventually expanded into a 141-page novel. The book was initially rejected by publishers (an editor with Harcourt Brace writing "Its relative brevity coupled with its extreme strangeness presents, I'm afraid, an insuperable obstacle in present circumstances") before being championed by Robertson Davies who commended it to McClelland & Stewart. The book, deemed Canada’s most controversial novel, was well received by critics, and won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. A 2014 internet meme inspired by the Harlequin-like 1970s paperback cover (the Canadian, US and UK first editions, perhaps wisely, opted for plain lettered dust wrapper designs) lead to an equally positive modern reappraisal. £200

J.G.FARRELL. A Girl in the Head. Jonathan Cape, London 1967. First edition of the author’s third novel. 8vo. 223pp. Publisher’s top edge stain very slightly faded, else a fine copy in very good Bill Botten-designed pictorial dust wrapper, clipped and re-price by the publisher, with a little chafing to several extremities, one tiny closed tear and a small area of surface abrasion to the edge of the front panel. Former owner name and accompanying bookplate to the front free endpaper. A super copy of an uncommon book. £200

WILLIAM FAULKNER. Go Down, Moses and Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1942. First UK edition. 8vo. 269pp. A minor slant to the binding and the upper board just a fraction tender. Edges spotted, occasionally encroaching a fraction to the leaf margins. A nice crisp copy in dust wrapper, dust soiled and lightly marked in one or two places, and with several tiny fractions of loss to the spine ends. Seven interrelated stories, two of which (Was and The Fire and the Hearth) are hitherto unprinted, and at least one story (The Bear) significantly revised from previous periodical appearances.  The UK edition was issued the same year as the US equivalent, and yet remains significantly more uncommon. £150

WILLIAM FAULKNER. The Town. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1958. First UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 319pp. The tip of one corner gently bumped, the top and fore edge lightly spotted and a trace of very light partial browning to the free endpapers. Very good indeed in pictorial dust wrapper designed by Dick Hart, lightly dust soiled at the predominantly white rear panel and with two tiny closed edge tears. The middle volume of the author’s Snopes trilogy, preceded by The Hamlet and followed by The Mansion. £35

WILLIAM FAULKNER. Mosquitoes. A novel. With an introduction by Richard Hughes. Chatto & Windus, London 1964. The first UK edition of his second novel, issued here some thirty-five years after the original US edition. 8vo. 288pp. Just a hint of spotting to the top edge, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, clipped and re-priced by the publisher, with a tiny hint of soiling to the rear panel and just a trace of wear to the spine panel ends. £35

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

XAN FIELDING. John Craxton. The Stronghold. An Account of the Four Seasons in The White Mountains of Crete. With photographs by Daphne Bath and a splendid John Craxton dust wrapper design. Secker & Warburg, London 1953. First edition. 8vo. xvii, 317pp. With a photographic portrait frontispiece, map-illustrated endpapers, seventeen captioned photographs and a multi-panel folding map at the rear. Edges lightly spotted, and with a scattering of further light spotting to the margins of a dozen concluding leaves. Some toning and light spotting to the free endpapers. Handsome former owner bookplate to a blank preliminary leaf, and with the inked name of the same owner above. A very good copy in the splendid Craxton colour dust wrapper, with some toning to the spine panel, and a little minor spotting and wear, and several small areas of loss from the spine panel ends (impacting the “The” of the title) and several corner tips. The author’s first book, an uncommon account of his year-long return to Crete after the conclusion of WWII. £225

Fielding was commissioned into the Cyprus Regiment in September 1940, joining the SOE after the fall of Crete. He teamed up with Paddy Fermor (who appears several times in the text) to build an intelligence gathering network which provided detailed information on the movement of Axis troops, and also arranged for the transportation of hundreds of Allied soldiers left behind after the evacuation.

F.SCOTT FITZGERALD. The Last Tycoon. An Unfinished Novel. Edited with a foreword by Edmund Wilson. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York [1958]. The first separate edition of the author’s final, unfinished novel (originally published in 1941 in a volume which also included The Great Gatsby and five stories, this 1958 issue is the first separate American edition of The Last Tycoon, with no Gatsby or other short works included.  It was issued separately in the UK in 1949). 8vo. x, 163pp. Spine ends lightly bruised. Embossed former owner stamp to the front endpaper. A very good copy in dust wrapper, which is nicked, chafed, soiled and faded. Edmund Wilson’s two-page forward (reproduced from the original edition of 1941) precedes the author’s unfinished 131-page novel, plus thirty-pages of notes.  With the inkstamp of the author’s literary agency Harold Ober Associates to the front free endpaper, alongside that of literary agency Frank J.Horch Associated (Roslyn Targ worked at and later ran the Horch agency, and Scott Fitzgerald is one of the authors she produced translations of for the European market, suggesting that this copy was used as the basis of a translation). Occasional penciled marginal ticks and marks. An interesting association copy of an uncommon edition. Bruccoli A18.1.e. £200

IAN FLEMING. You Only Live Twice. A James Bond novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1964. First edition, first state (with no month mentioned on the copyright page, as required). 8vo. 256pp. Bamboo-effect endpapers. Top edge spotted with just a touch of further spotting to the fore edge. The spine ends a little bruised and with a strip of light partial browning to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in virtually fine price-clipped dust wrapper, marred only a touch of tanning to the spine panel and a tiny area of light creasing to the head of the spine panel. A super copy of the eleventh Bond novel (the twelfth book). £300

FORD MADOX FORD. A Little Less Than Gods. A Romance. Duckworth, London 1928. The first UK edition (Harvey speculates that the US and UK editions were published simultaneously). 8vo. ix, 310pp. Top edge dust soiled and lightly spotted with some further light spotting and browning to the free endpapers. Contemporary former owner gift inscription inked to the head of the front free endpaper. Very good in the uncommon dust wrapper, lightly toned and marked with a lengthy vertical crease to the spine panel (suggesting that it was at one time stored within the book), two two-inch tears to the upper edge and a little chafing and creasing. Harvey A66a. £150

C.S.FORESTER. A Pawn Among Kings. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1924. First edition of the author’s first book. 8vo. 220pp. Cloth at the backstrip very slightly faded, with a little bruising to the spine ends, just a touch of wear to the corner tips and to the rear gutter. Cloth very lightly marked in one or two places. Front hinge cracked and just a little tender. A hint of very light spotting and browning to the free endpapers and to the final text leaf. Place marker creases to the corner tips of a number of text leaves. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the rear pastedown.  Armorial bookplate of American journalist and theatre scholar Otis L.Gurnsey to the front free endpaper. A very crisp copy; lacking the most uncommon dust wrapper. £895

C.S.FORESTER. Death to the French. A novel. John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd., London 1932. First edition – the colonial issue, with that text neatly inkstamped to the copyright page. 8vo. 308pp + [iv] publisher’s advertisementsIllustrated with one map. Top edge dust soiled and with some fading to the cloth at the backstrip and upper board. Spine ends gently rubbed and with a minor slant to the binding. Handsome former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. Very good. No dust wrapper. The first edition of this book – colonial edition or otherwise – is now extremely uncommon. £250

C.S.FORESTER. The Gun. A novel. John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd., London 1933. First edition. 8vo. 290pp + [vi] publisher’s advertisements at the rear. Map-illustrated endpapers. The backstrip cloth lightly faded and with a narrow vertical strip of further light fading to the upper board. Place-marker creases to half-a-dozen leaf corners, one of which also exhibits a little further creasing. Handsome former owner bookplate to the front pastedown alongside the neatly inked signature of the same owner and his contemporary date. A very good copy. Laid-in is the front panel (only) of the highly fugitive dust wrapper. £150

DANIEL FUCHS. Summer in Williamsburg. A novel. Constable, London 1935. First UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 407pp + [ii] publisher’s advertisements. Edges spotted, encroaching just a fraction to the extreme margins of occasional text leaves. Former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Very good indeed in price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper designed by Malcolm Easton, very lightly rubbed at the spine panel ends and with a single miniscule triangular area of loss from the head of the front panel. The author’s first novel, depicting Jewish life in Williamsberg, Brooklyn. Both the UK and US editions are uncommon. £250

JOHN GRAY. Park. A Fantastic Story. Sheed & Ward, London 1932. First edition, limited to 250 copies printed by Rene Hague and Eric Gill. With an etched copperplate by Denis Tehetmeier. 8vo. 128pp. Quarter cloth with paper-covered sides. Two corner tips fractionally rubbed. A single tiny pinprick of spotting to the head of four preliminary leaves, and a tiny blemish to the fore edge margin to two adjacent text leaves. A virtually fine copy, lacking the most uncommon dust wrapper. Handsome bookplate of Desmond Chute to the front pastedown, and a pencilled inscription to the front free endpaper “Desmond from Walter [Shewring?] Christmas 1936”. Chute was a close colleague, assistant and "beloved brother" of Eric Gill, and the co-founder of The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, alongside Gill, Joseph Cribb and Hilary Pepler. The inscription to Chute is probably from Walter Shewring, Gill’s literary executor. A super association copy of the author’s only novel, a surreal futuristic allegory set in a post-industrial paradise. £750

F.L.GREEN. Odd Man Out. A novel. Michael Joseph Ltd., London 1945. First edition. 8vo. 224pp. Former owner signature to the front pastedown, partially obscured by the wrapper flap.  Printed on very slightly substandard paperstock, yet a remarkably crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed, tanned and dust soiled with one lengthy yet really quite discreet internally repaired tear. The author’s eighth novel, and certainly his most famous – a Troubles yarn which was memorably filmed by Carol Reed two years later. £150

GRAHAM GREENE. Brighton Rock. A novel. William Heinemann Ltd., London 1938. First edition. 8vo. 361pp. A little light marking to the cloth, the fore edge lightly spotted and just a touch of tanning to the paperstock. Former owner name and date (194) neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Cloth a little marked and with a trace of discolouration to edges. A very good copy. No dust wrapper, naturally. Wobbe A13. £500

MARTHA GRIMES. The Man with a Load of Mischief. A novel. Little, Brown & Co., Boston 1981. First edition, not issued in the UK for a further nine years. This seemingly an early publisher’s sample, with some typographical instructions inked to the title and copyright pages. 8vo. 263pp. Illustrated with one double-spread map. A touch of wear to the backstrip ends, and an area of tape residue marking to the base of the title page. A very good copy in pictorial dust wrapper, very lightly toned at the spine panel, with a tiny area of moisture marking to the lower edge and to one other small area. The author’s first book, and the first instalment of her lengthy series of Scotland Yard Inspector Richard Jury crime novels. £150

PATRICK HAMILTON. Hangover Square; or The Man with Two Minds. A Story of Darkest Earl’s Court in the Year 1939. A novel. Constable, London 1941. First edition. 8vo. [x], 356pp + [ii] publisher’s advertisements. The backstrip cloth very lightly toned, and with just a trace of further uneven toning and marking to the cloth at the upper and lower boards. A tiny sliver of loss to the fore edge of the first text leaf. Very good indeed. No dust wrapper. The author’s most uncommon and highly celebrated novel of alcohol and schizophrenia in pre-WWII London. £400

DASHIELL HAMMETT. The Maltese Falcon. Alfred A.Knopf, London and New York 1930. The first UK edition, issued five months after the US issue. 8vo. 280pp. Blue smooth-weave cloth lettered in red at the spine with a small black-stamped falcon design to the backstrip and the upper corner of the front board. Publisher’s blue top edge stain, very slightly patchy. Just a trace of light bruising to the spine ends and a touch of very light spotting to the fore edge, with a little further spotting to the half-title, title page, and one or two further preliminary and concluding leaves. Free endpapers lightly browned and a tiny bump to the tips of the two lower corners. A touch of very light soiling to occasional leaf margins and, once or twice, to the text block. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. The first and only full-length novel featuring Hammett’s celebrated gumshoe Sam Spade. The print runs of the first US and first UK editions are unknown, but considering the relative availability of the first American edition, this distinctly more uncommon UK edition must surely have been printed in considerably smaller numbers. Layman A3.2. £1,500

DASHIELL HAMMETT. The Thin Man. A novel. Arthur Barker Ltd., London 1934. First UK edition, issued the same year as the considerably more common US edition. 8vo. 284pp. Includes the two required errors: a typographical mistake on p.228 and a spelling error on p.255. The backstrip cloth just slightly faded, and with a little bruising to the backstrip ends. The binding cracked but perfectly sound at the rear hinge. A touch of wear to the cloth at the head of the upper gutter. Neat former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. A very good copy, lacking the fugitive dust wrapper. The author’s fifth and final novel, a light-hearted detective romp introducing married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles. Layman A6.3. £550

HELENE HANFF. 84, Charing Cross Road. Andre Deutsch Ltd., London 1971. First UK edition of Hanff's celebrated account of her twenty-year correspondence with antiquarian bookseller Frank Doel. 8vo. 96pp. The merest hint of toning to the free endpapers. Top edge lightly spotted and with some further light spotting to the head of the rear pastedown and endpaper. Upper board lifting a fraction. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, lifting a fraction at the upper edge and with a trace of edge-wear and one tiny corner-crease. £225

GEORGE WYLIE HENDERSON. Ollie Miss. A novel. Martin Secker, London 1935. First UK edition, issued the same year as the US edition but scarcer still. 8vo. 253pp. Top edge lightly dust soiled, and with a little spotting to the fore edge. Some spotting to the preliminary and concluding leaves, and with a trace more to occasional leaf margins. A very good copy in dust wrapper, toned at the spine panel, with three small areas of edge-loss and with several tiny areas of surface abrasion. The uncommon debut novel from one of the lesser known Harlem Renaissance writers, depicting black sharecroppers in rural Alabama (Henderson was born in Alabama in 1904, later moving to New York during the Great Migration. He worked as a printer for the New York Daily News where nine of his stories also appeared). £95

CHESTER HIMES. If He Hollers Let Him Go. A novel. With a foreword by Jack Aistrop (which did not appear in the US edition).  The Falcon Press, London 1947. First UK edition, issued two years after the somewhat more common US edition. 8vo. viii, 203pp. Top edge dust soiled, with a trace of very light partial toning to the free endpapers, and a scattering of light spotting to the pastedowns. Very good indeed in the striking pictorial dust wrapper accredited to ‘L.A.’, and considerably superior to the dull US equivalent. The wrapper is lightly dust soiled at the predominantly white rear panel and with a trace of minute wear to the spine panel ends and corner tips. The author’s first book, a much acclaimed ‘protest novel’ detailing the travails of an African-American shipyard worker in Los Angeles during the Second World War. Uncommon. £250

“The book is not ‘just another colour-bar story’. It goes deeper, is more penetrating than a study in conflict between black and white. It is the story of any under-privileged minority, an indictment of the blind and unreasoning everyday brutality which can become an accepted part of a national life until some sudden incident throws a spotlight on the characters and picks them out for the amazement of the rest of the world which gapes for a few seconds and hopes that the spotlight will remain where it is and not roam too freely” – from Aistrop’s still astonishingly relevant foreword.

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

WILLIAM HORWOOD. Duncton Wood. A novel. Country Life Books, London 1980. First edition. 8vo. 543pp. Top edge quite lightly spotted, else a fine copy in very good double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, lightly faded at the spine panel with two minuscule edge-nicks, and a single fraction of edge-loss. The author’s debut novel, and the first volume of his two trilogies of allegorical novels about a community of moles. Uncommon in this correct first edition state. £55

NORAH HOULT. Poor Women! Stories. The Scholartis Press, London 1928. First edition, limited to 1,000 copies (960 of which were offered for sale). 8vo. 226pp. Blue cloth with a printed paper spine label (and with a spare tipped in at the rear). A very good copy.  No dust wrapper. The noted Irish author’s critically acclaimed and most uncommon first book, containing five short stories. A trade edition was subsequently issued later the same year. Hoult was ultimately to become one of Ireland’s most censored authors. £250

MICHAEL INNES. Death at the President’s Lodging. A novel. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London 1936. First edition. 8vo. 318pp + a multi-panel folding map at the rear. Some spotting to the edges, encroaching a fraction to occasional leaf margins, and some further spotting a dozen or so preliminary leaves and to three or four concluding leaves. The map lightly creased where it has at some point been mis-folded. Former owner name neatly inked to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in the black and pink lettered yellow first state dust wrapper, with some toning to the spine panel and just a trace of light spotting and edgewear. A super copy of the author’s elusive first novel, and the first of his Detective Inspector John Appleby ‘entertainments’, a ‘closed circle of suspects’ mystery set in a fictional Oxford college. £2,000

WILLIAM KENNEDY. Ironweed. A novel. The Viking Press, New York 1983. First edition. 8vo. 227pp. Quarter paper-covered boards. A short biro mark to the fore edge of the front free endpaper, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, with a touch of rubbing to the head of the spine panel and a vertical crease to the edge of the front flap. Adhesive sticker to the front panel announcing the Pulitzer award. The author’s fourth and most celebrated novel, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. Ironweed was rejected by thirteen US publishers before Saul Bellow urged Viking Press to reconsider. £55

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

IMRE KERTÉSZ. Fatelessness. A novel. Translated from the Hungarian of Sorstalanság by Tim Wilkinson. The Harvill Press, London 2005. The first UK edition. 8vo. 262pp. A trace of toning to the leaf margins, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, lifting just a fraction at the upper edge. The Nobel Laureates’ celebrated first book, a semi-autobiographical story of a 14-year-old Hungarian Jew’s experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and the first volume of his Holocaust Trilogy. Originally published in Hungarian in 1975, the novel was first translated into English in 1992 and issued in the US by the Northwestern University Press under the title Fateless, but there was no UK edition. This present translation is the second into English, and the first to be published in the UK. It correctly retains the original Hungarian title Fatelessness. £50

JOAN LINDSAY. Picnic at Hanging Rock. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1968. First UK edition, preceded by the Australian edition published a year earlier. 8vo. 212pp. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends, and a trace of light soiling to very occasional leaf margins. Small former owner name neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Very good indeed in lightly toned price-clipped dust wrapper, a little chafed at several extremities, with one short edge-tear and an accompanying crease, and a small area of surface abrasion to the head of the front panel. The author’s most celebrated book, and one of the great Australian novels, detailing the disappearance of a group of female boarding school students who vanish during a St. Valentine’s Day picnic at Hanging Rock in the year 1900. £350

MALCOLM LOWRY. Ultramarine. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1933. First edition of the author’s first book. 8vo. 276pp. Blue cloth with very partially defective cream lettering to the spine and the publisher’s motif blind-stamped to the rear board. Top edge lightly dust soiled and a small bump to the tip of one corner. Free endpapers fractionally toned and spotted and with just a touch of occasional spotting and marking to occasional leaf margins. Former owner name inked to the front free endpaper. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. Inspired by Lowry’s late-teenage experiences as a deckhand on a tramp steamer: the voyage formed the basis for two short stories which were printed in the Cambridge periodical Experiment (his first appearances in print), and which were later worked into this debut novel. £450

J.MACLAREN-ROSS. The Stuff to Give the Troops. Twenty-Five Tales of Army Life. Jonathan Cape, London 1944. First edition. 8vo. 164pp. Cloth a little mottled and rubbed at the head of the backstrip. Printed on very slightly substandard wartime paperstock, yet still a very crisp and bright copy in dust Hans Tisdall-designed wrapper, a little dust soiled, chipped and edgeworn, with some fading to the publisher’s red spine panel colouring. The author’s first book. £350

J.MACLAREN ROSS. Of Love and Hunger. A novel. Allan Wingate, London 1947. First edition. 8vo. 217pp. Red cloth with very slightly defective gilt lettering to the spine. Just a touch of discolouration to the cloth at the spine ends where the dust wrapper is defective, some light partial browning to the free endpapers and some tanning to the margins of the lesser quality paperstock. A very good copy in handsome Stephen Russ-designed pictorial dust wrapper, with a small sliver of loss from the head of the spine panel. A little more loss form the base and the red spine panel lettering all but absent. A respectable copy of an extremely elusive volume – the author’s undisputed masterpiece. £300

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

CARSON MCCULLERS. The Member of the Wedding. A novel. The Cresset Press, London 1946. First UK edition, issued the same year as the considerably more common US edition. 8vo. 183pp. The backstrip lettering a little faded in places. A little light spotting to the top edge, and to the rear endpaper and pastedown. A very good copy in dust wrapper, with several tiny fractions of loss from the spine panel ends, a trace of very light dust soiling to the rear panel, and an internally repaired jagged tear to the head of the front panel. The author’s third novel, which she subsequently adapted into a 1950 stage play which ran on Broadway for 501 performances. £250

JAVIER MARÍAS. Your Face Tomorrow. Complete in three volumes comprising Fever and Spear, Dance and Dream [and] Poison, Shadow and Farewell. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. Chatto & Windus, London 2005-2009. First English Editions. Individual volumes as follows: Your Face Tomorrow 1: Fever and Spear (2005). First UK edition. 8vo. 376pp. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a small area of internal spotting. Your Face Tomorrow 2: Dance and Dream (2006). First UK edition. 8vo. 341pp. A touch of light bruising to the backstrip ends and a tiny bump to the tip of a single corner. Very good indeed in very good dust wrapper, with a little corresponding creasing to the spine panel ends and some light creasing to the upper edge. Your Face Tomorrow 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell (2009). First UK Edition. A presentation copy. fondly inscribed by the translator on the title page and dated the year of publication (Costa would go on to win the 2010 Premio Valle-Inclan for her translation of this volume). 8vo. 545pp. Illustrated with a few drawings and reproductions. Backstrip ends bruised, and with a little occasional wear to the board extremities. Tiny crease to the tips of three adjacent text leaves. Very good in very good dust wrapper, with some corresponding creasing to the spine panel ends, a little wear to the upper edge, and a small area of creasing to the base of the rear panel. A very nice set of the author’s breathtakingly ambitions magnum opus. “The first authentic literary masterpiece of the 21st century” – James Lasdun. £150

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ. One Hundred Years of Solitude. A novel. Translated from the Spanish of Cien Año de Soledad by Gregory Rabassa. Jonathan Cape, London 1970. First UK edition. 8vo. 422pp. A trace of very light fading to several board margins, and a light insignificant crease to the base of the upper board. Just a touch of very faint spotting to the free endpapers and half-title. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, with just a touch of wear to the spine ends and corner tips. A super copy of the author’s magical realist masterpiece. £300

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ. No One Writes to the Colonel. Translated from the Spanish by J.S.Bernstein. Jonathan Cape, London 1971. First UK edition. 8vo. 170pp. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly chafed at the spine ends and corner tips with several tiny fractions of surface-loss. Written between 1956-57 and first published in Columbia in 1961, this English-language translation was first used for the 1968 US edition (the first of the author’s books to be translated into English), and also used for this UK edition (which was the second of his books to be published in the UK, following One Hundred Years of Solitude a year earlier). £125

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. Norwegian Wood. A novel. Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin. The Harvill Press, London 2000. The first printing of the second English translation, and the first to be published outside of Japan. Complete in two volumes, housed in the original clamshell presentation case. Small 8vo. 247pp and 247pp. Card wrappers, the first volume with red wrappers, and the second with green wrappers. A fine seemingly unopened copy in in lightly soiled presentation case. £50

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

GEORGE ORWELL. Critical Essays. Secker & Warburg, London 1946. First edition of the author’s first collection of essays. 8vo. 169pp + [i] publisher’s advertisement. Some marking to the cloth, mostly impacting the rear board. A very light scattering of near-invisible spotting to the edges and endpapers, and a small area of rust-marking from a now absent paperclip to the front endpaper and adjacent pastedown, alongside the inked details of a contemporary former owner. Printed on slightly substandard wartime economy paperstock, yet still a nice bright copy in dust wrapper, tanned at the spine panel, rubbed at the spine ends with several tiny fractions of loss, with several short tears and light accompanying creases and one area of internal repair. Ten essays, the subjects including Charles Dickens, Donald McGill, Rudyard Kipling, W.B.Yeats, Salvador Dali, Arthur Koestler and P.G.Wodehouse. Fenwick D1. £295

CHARLES PORTIS. True Grit. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1969. First UK edition, issued the year after the considerably more common US edition. 8vo. 215pp. Top edge spotted and with a little fading to the publisher’s pink top edge stain. A small area of offsetting from a now absent dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. A critical note boldly inked to the title page by a somewhat disgruntled contemporary former owner (“Very good but doesn’t know the language of the west”), prevents this from being graded higher, yet it remains an extremely crisp and bright copy in pictorial dust wrapper with a striking design by Tom Adams which is distinctly superior to the US wrapper design. The wrapper is a little rubbed at the spine ends and corner tips, and with a little light chafing, and a touch of wear to the natural folds. The author’s second novel, somewhat revised from its original serialisation in The Saturday Evening Post, and the basis for two pretty decent film adaptations. £175

ANTHONY POWELL. Afternoon Men. A novel. Duckworth, London 1931. First edition. 8vo. 271pp. Finely rebound in blue leather with five raised bands and gilt lettering, rule, borders and decorations. With marbled endpapers and a gilt top edge. Just a hint of very light fox spotting to the fore edge, and to very occasional leaf margins, impacting no text. A tiny crease to the upper corners of two leaf margins. A super fine binding of the author’s most uncommon first novel, written whilst he was working for the publisher Gerald Duckworth. Powell estimated that circa 2,000 copies of this first impression were printed. His advance was a mighty £25 but with the added bonus that he was to oversee the entire publication: “The production of the book itself – with the natural admonition that everything about it must be cheap – [was] left in my own hands. I think the final result not discreditable, showing the extent to which a volume of decent appearance could be achieved at that date without undue expense; something Duckworth’s did not always being about in their list” – Messengers of Day. Lilley A1(a). £500

THOMAS PYNCHON. The Crying of Lot 49. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1967. First UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 183pp. A trace of very light spotting to the head of the upper board and pastedowns, and a single tiny biro mark to the fore edge margin of the front free endpaper. Very good indeed in fractionally toned dust wrapper with a single miniscule nick to the head of the front panel – front flap fold. A superb copy of the author’s elusive second book, this UK edition vanishing more uncommon than the US equivalent. £400

HENRY ROTH. The Mercy of the Rude Stream. Complete in four volumes comprising A Star Shines over Mt. Morris Park, A Diving Rock on the Hudson, From Bondage [and] Requiem for Harlem. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1994–1998. First UK editions. 8vo. Very good in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at one or two extremities. A very nice set of the author’s monumental epic, published over half a century after his acclaimed debut novel Call it Sleep (1934) following sixty years of writer’s block. Originally conceived as a six-part sequence, parts one and two were issued in the author’s lifetime, and parts three and four issued posthumously (but with the final edit completed by Roth in the last weeks of his life). The final two volumes (known as 'Batch Two') were deemed by his editor and agent to be stylistically and thematically inconsistent with the preceding volumes, but were later edited into his final standalone novel, An American Type (2010). £100

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

EDWARD ST. AUBYN. Some Hope. A Patrick Melrose novel. Heinemann, London 1994. First edition. 8vo. 168pp. Some toning to the leaf margins, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The centrepiece of the author’s celebrated Patrick Melrose sequence, preceded by Never Mind (1992) and Bad News (1992); and followed by Mother's Milk (2006) and At Last (2011). £200

JOSÉ SARAMAGO. Baltasar and Blimunda. A novel. Translated from the Portuguese of Memorial do Convento by Giovanni Pontiero. Jonathan Cape, London 1988. The first UK edition, utilising the same translation as the US edition which appeared a year earlier. 8vo. 336pp. A trace of bruising to the backstrip ends, and some toning to the lesser-quality paperstock. A very good copy in slightly rubbed, scored and dust soiled dust wrapper. This was the Nobel Laureate’s first book to be translated into English. £50

PAUL SCOTT. Johnnie Sahib. A novel. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1952. First edition. 8vo. 226pp. Paper-covered boards. Half a dozen pinpricks of spotting to the top edge. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, a little rubbed and chafed at the spine ends and corner tips and with a little dust soiling and an area of miscellaneous staining to the rear panel. The author’s first novel, a World War Two story set in Bengal and Burma which was initially rejected by seventeen publisher’s before going on to win the Eyre & Spottiswoode Literary Fellowship Prize. Now quite elusive. £150

PAUL SCOTT. The Mark of the Warrior. A novel. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1958. First edition. 8vo. 224pp. Edges, endpapers, and the margins of several preliminary leaves lightly spotted. A very good copy in pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, lightly chafed at the head of the spine panel and with some spotting and dust soiling to the predominantly white rear panel. The author’s fourth novel, a World War Two story set in the Burmese jungles. £35

ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER. Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories. Peter Owen Ltd., London [1958]. First UK edition. 8vo. 205pp. A touch of very light partial browning to the endpapers, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, with some fading to the spine panel, a touch of further very light fading to the head of the front and rear panels, a little minor chafing to the spine ends and a sliver of moisture marking. Twelve short stories, the Nobel laureate’s first collection of English-language short fiction (the title story here is translated from the Yiddish by Saul Bellow, and one other translated by Isaac Rosenfeld). £75

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 the rear. Top edge dust soiled, and with a tiny area of discolouration to the cloth at the head of the backstrip where the dust wrapper is defective. A very good copy in the correct first state dust wrapper (with Virginia Woolf misspelt ‘Virgnia Woolf’ on the front flap), chafed at the natural folds, toned at the spine panel, with some dust soiling and light staining, and some wear, rubbing and nicking to the extremities resulting in several quite small areas of loss. £225

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 in the merchant navy. He later volunteered for the International Brigades, fighting in the Spanish Civil War alongside his friend John Cornford, and afterwards served as an aircraft support mechanic for the R.A.F. in Burma and India. £200

TERRY SOUTHERN. Flash and Filigree. Andre Deutsch, London 1958. First edition. 8vo. 204pp. Some light partial browning to the free endpapers, and the lesser quality paperstock resulting in a little tanning to the leaf margins. A very good copy in pictorial Stephen Russ-designed dust wrapper, with just a trace of darkening to the spine panel, a hint of edgewear and a touch of dust soiling to the predominantly white rear panel. The author’s first novel, preceding the American issue. £95

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

MARY STEWART. The Arthurian Quintet. Complete in four novels comprising The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills , The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day.  Hodder & Stoughton, London 1970-1983. First editions. Individual volumes as follows: The Crystal Cave (1970). First edition. 8vo. 464pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The Hollow Hills (1973). First edition. 8vo. 446pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. A tiny blemish to the upper edge, else a fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with some fading to the spine panel design and lettering. The Last Enchantment (1979). First edition. 8vo. 448pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. The Wicked Day (1983). First edition. 8vo. 350pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. A tiny area of soiling to the fore edge, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper, clipped and re-priced by the publisher. A super set of the author’s most celebrated work, a re-imagining of the Arthurian legend, told from the point of view of Merlin. £75

D.M.THOMAS. The White Hotel. A novel. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London 1981. First edition. 8vo. 240pp. A tiny bump to the base of the backstrip, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, with a hint of creasing to the spine panel ends and just a touch of very light marking and toning. An excellent copy of the author's celebrated third novel, winner of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature and short-listed for the Booker Prize (losing out to Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children). £50

WILLIAM TREVOR. The Love Department. A novel. The Bodley Head, London 1966. First edition. 8vo. 295pp. A fine copy in virtually fine Stephen Russ-designed dust wrapper, lightly toned at the spine panel. The wrapper is not price-clipped although the publisher has pasted a small imprinted slip with a new price over the original price printed to the base of the front flap.  Supplied together with an uncorrected proof copy of the first edition, in the publisher’s yellow card wrappers which are a little spotted and faded, and with the spine curved and displaying readership creases. The author's fourth book. £100

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. Angels at the Ritz and other stories. The Bodley Head, London 1975. First edition. 8vo. 252pp. Two small areas of miscellaneous staining to the top- and fore edge, some very light partial browning to the endpapers and a further small area of staining impacting the upper edge of ten adjacent text leaves. A minor ridge of the backstrip. A very crisp and bright copy in the handsome double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, with a small area of internal marking. The bottom corner of the front flap has been clipped, but the original publisher’s price (£3.50) is still present. Twelve stories, Trevor’s third collection of short fiction. £45

WILLIAM TREVOR. Beyond the Pale. Stories. The Bodley Head, London 1981. First edition. 8vo. 255pp. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper exhibiting several miniscule nicks. The wrapper is non-price clipped, but the printed price has been struck-through. Twelve stories, the author’s sixth collection of short fiction. £35

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 

LAURENS VAN DER POST. In a Province. A novel. Coward-McCann Inc., New York [1934]. The first American edition, printed from the UK sheets. 8vo. 350pp. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends, else a fine copy in slightly dust soiled and nicked dust wrapper with a dozen quite small areas of edge-loss, and the rear flap detached but included. The first American edition of author’s first book, which was issued the same year as the Hogarth Press UK edition and remains even more uncommon (alas, the design of this US dust wrapper is nothing in comparison to the splendid Anthony Butts example which adorned the Hogarth Press edition). £950

ALICE WALKER. The Color Purple. A novel.  The Women’s Press Ltd, London 1986. The first UK casebound edition. 8vo. 245pp. A narrow strip of very light browning to a single preliminary and concluding leaf, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a touch of chafing to the head of the spine panel. The author’s celebrated third novel, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was first issued in the US in 1982; a UK paperback edition followed a year later but somewhat scandalously it was not issued in the UK in casebound format until this 1986 edition. Uncommon. £200

ROBERT PENN WARREN. All the King’s Men. A novel. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1948. The first UK edition, issued two years after the somewhat more common US edition. 8vo. 514pp. A little fading to the publisher’s blue top edge stain, and just a trace of bruising to the base of the backstrip. A very good copy housed in two copies of the original first state (blue, not red) dust wrapper, one of which is price-clipped, lightly nicked and with just a touch of edge-wear, and the other non-clipped but with a quite small triangular area of loss from the head of the front panel. The author’s third novel, winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize (making Warren the only person to have won Pulitzers for both fiction and poetry). £200

EVELYN WAUGH. Black Mischief. Chapman & Hall, London 1932. First edition. 8vo. 303pp. Original publisher’s ‘snakeskin’ cloth. With a frontispiece map, unaccredited but drawn by the author. Top edge lightly dust soiled and with a hint of wear to the backstrip ends, a tiny nick to the fore edge of the rear free endpaper and a pinprick or two of light occasional margin spotting. A very good copy in a good example of the uncommon dust wrapper: a little dust soiled, with several slivers of loss to the spine ends, and an additional small enclosed area of loss and some accompanying surface abrasion. A small area of miscellaneous red staining to the base of the rear panel, and the rear panel-spine panel join tender. The author’s third novel. Davis, Doyle &c. viii. £350

MARY WEBB. Precious Bane. A novel. Jonathan Cape Ltd., London 1924. First edition. 8vo. 320pp. Top edge lightly dust soiled, a hint of bruising to the backstrip ends, and a touch of light occasional marginal spotting. Small rust mark from a now absent paperclip to the head of the half-title. Some toning to the rear free endpaper. A very good copy, lacking the fugitive dust wrapper.  The author’s final novel, and probably her most celebrated. Most uncommon in this first edition state. £350

IRVINE WELSH. Past Tense. Four Stories from a Novel. Clocktower Press, South Queensferry [1992]. First edition [of which 300 copies were printed]. Slim 8vo. [16]pp stapled into red card wrappers featuring a design by Peter Govan, who also contributes four further black and white illustrations. A fine copy. Laid-in is an advertising flyer for a walking tour of Leith (“Experience Trainspotting and Porno on Location”) which has been signed by the author. The author’s first publication, four extracts (Her Man, After the Burning, The Elusive Mr. Hunt, and Winter in West Granton) of what would later become his debut novel Trainspotting. £225

T.H.WHITE (writing as 'James Aston'). They Winter Abroad. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1932. First edition. 8vo. 303pp + [iv] publisher's catalogue at the rear. Yellow cloth with a gilt-lettered blue spine label, and the publisher’s slightly faded blue top edge stain. A light scattering of spotting to the boards and fore edge, and a small area of triangular discolouration to the head of the upper board where the dust wrapper is defective. A very good copy, particularly crisp internally, in good dust wrapper, a little edgeworn with several tiny tears and fractions of edge loss, a centimetre of further loss from the head of the spine panel, and an inch or so of loss from the head of the front panel. The author’s fourth book, and the first his pseudonymous novels. Uncommon, especially so with the dust wrapper. £250

T.H.WHITE. The Goshawk. Jonathan Cape, London 1951. First edition. 8vo. 215pp. Top- and fore edge quite lightly spotted, encroaching just a fraction to the margins of very occasional text leaves. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown (obscured by the wrapper flap), and a contemporary (1952) former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly toned at the spine panel and with just a touch of wear to two or three extremities. The author’s acclaimed account of his efforts to train a northern goshawk using traditional falconry techniques. The book was written in the mid-1930s, but not published until discovered by David Garnett who insisted upon publication. £100

CHARLES WILLIAMS. Many Dimensions. A novel. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London 1931. First edition. 8vo. 317pp. Some fading to the backstrip cloth, a single tiny area of staining to the fore edge of the upper board, and just a little toning to the free endpapers. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. The author’s second supernatural novel. £300

P.G.WODEHOUSE. The Small Bachelor. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1927. First edition. 8vo. 251pp + viii publisher’s catalogue at the rear. Primary binding of blue vertical-weave cloth lettered in black at the spine and upper board. Spine ends gently bruised and with a bump to the tips to two corners. Edges lightly spotted and with some quite light browning to the endpapers and a touch of very occasional light spotting, primarily impacting only the margins. Binding just a fraction tender at several gatherings. Contemporary former owner details inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A nice crisp copy, lacking the most fugitive dust wrapper. Methuen’s New Novels advertising slip lain-in, as called for. McIlvaine A37. £125

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