Clearwater Books

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

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

BRYHER. Development. A novel. Constable, London 1920. First edition. 8vo. 187pp. Top edge dust marked, and with just a touch of rubbing to the spine ends and corner tips. Newspaper clippings have been pasted to the rear pastedown and free endpaper, along with some pencilled notes (which could easily be erased), and a third clipping is pasted to a blank rear flyleaf, with a panel of offset browning to the adjacent verso page. A very good copy in tanned and chipped dust wrapper, with an inch of loss from the base of the spine panel, and several further slivers of edge loss. The front flap of the wrapper is detached but included. The author’s extremely uncommon first novel, a semi-autobiographical narrative which she continued with her second novel, Two Selves (1923). £300

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

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

BARBARA COMYNS. Our Spoons Came from Woolworths. A novel. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1950. First edition. 8vo. 223pp. Some quite notable spotting to the top- and fore edge, occasionally encroaching to some leaf margins (only). A strip of light narrow browning to endpapers. A good bright copy in chafed and a little nicked and tanned dust wrapper (the design unaccredited, but possibly by the author?). The author’s second book, a semi-autobiographical account of her marriage to John Pemberton, set in the poverty of bohemian London of the 1930s. Extremely uncommon. £500

“[the writing is] Rather as if Erskine Caldwell had suddenly taken a flat in Chalk Farm” – wrapper blurb

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

J.P.DONLEAVY. The Ginger Man. The Olympia Press, ‘The Traveller’s Companion’ series, Paris 1958. The first (partly unexpurgated) hardback edition. 8vo. 382pp. Very good indeed in very good dust wrapper with replaced paper flaps, as called for. £150

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. 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

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. 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. £75

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 wrappers. 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. 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 bruised, else in fine state with very good dust wrapper, with a little fading to the spine and rear panels and a touch of light corresponding chafing to the head of the spine panel. The author’s semi-autobiographical third novel, recalling her time spent living on a boat in the Thames at Battersea. £75

F.SCOTT FITZGERALD. The Great Gatsby. Chatto & Windus, London 1926. The first UK edition of Fitzgerald’s classic novel, in Bruccoli’s primary binding of dark blue cloth with gilt spine lettering. 8vo. 218pp. The binding a little tender at several gatherings, the top edge lightly dust soiled and with just a touch of minor wear to the cloth at the spine ends and corner tips. Half-title spotted and darkened, with a touch more spotting to the title page and several subsequent leaves, and just a dash of further spotting to occasional leaf margins and to the final three or four text leaves. Some loss to the fore edge margin (only) of page 151-152, seemingly from where an uncut leaf was inexpertly opened. Contemporary (1928) former owner details boldly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A nice, bright copy of a most uncommon book. No dust wrapper, naturally. Bruccoli A11.1.c. £950

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

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. A Farewell to Arms. Jonathan Cape, London 1929. The first UK edition, first issue (with ‘serious” misspelt on p66). 8vo. 350pp. Top edge dust soiled and spotted. The cloth faded at the backstrip, and with just a little further fading to the head of the upper and lower boards. The binding just fractionally sprung. A touch of light spotting to the endpapers and half-title, and to the margins of occasional text leaves. Quite a crisp and bright copy in good dust wrapper designed by Lee Elliott, with some internal repair and reinforcement, tanned at the spine panel, and with a little further tanning and dust soiling to the rear panel, some quite light edgewear and a small area of loss from the head of the spine panel which has been quite artfully concealed, and several more tiny fractions of loss from the base of the spine and several corner tips. £350

ERNEST HEMINGWAY. A Moveable Feast. Jonathan Cape, London 1964. First UK edition. 8vo. 191pp. Half a dozen small inked ticks to the front free endpaper, else a fine copy in Hans Tisdall-designed dust wrapper, nicked and frayed at the spine panel ends with several short closed tears, a number of tiny fractions of edge loss and a small area of staining to the base of the rear panel. A nice bright copy of Hemingway’s memoir of his Parisian years. £35

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. On The Margin. Notes and Essays. Chatto & Windus, London 1923.  First edition. 8vo. Very first page rather stained, but thereafter an exceptionally clean and bright copy, in fractionally foxed dust wrapper, with tiny nick to head of spine. Spare spine label inserted at rear. A collection of twenty-seven articles, mostly reprinted from the literary periodical Athenaeum where they appeared under the pseudonym ‘Autolycus’. The remainder first appeared in The Weekly Westminster Gazette, The London Mercury and Vanity Fair. £50

ALDOUS HUXLEY. Little Mexican & Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1924. First edition. 8vo. 340pp. Red cloth with a paper spine label (and a spare tipped-in at the rear, as issued). Publisher's vibrant red top-edge stain. Free endpapers a little browned and fore edge a little spotted. A number of text leaves uncut. A really bright copy in fox-spotted dust wrapper. £75

CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD. Prater Violet. A novel. Random House, New York 1945. The correct first edition – preceding the UK edition which appeared a year later. 8vo. 128pp. Some spotting to cloth at board edges, and printed on very slightly substandard wartime economy paperstock. A very crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, lightly dust soiled and chipped with several quite small slivers of loss to the top edge. A tiny dealer plate to the base of the rear pastedown. A short novel based on Isherwood’s experience as a screenwriter on the British film Little Friend (1934): serving as a springboard for the author’s views on life, the commercialization of art and Nazism. £30

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. £95

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

JAMES JOYCE. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Egoist Press, London 1921. The second US edition (and the third overall). 8vo. 299pp. Cloth lightly mottled in places, with just a tiny hint of wear to the spine ends. Endpapers, half-title and title page very lightly fox spotted. A very good copy of Joyce’s first novel. £200

NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS. The Last Temptation. A novel. Translated from the Greek by P.A.Bein, who also provides a ten-page note of the author and his language. Bruno Cassirer, Oxford 1960. The first English edition, posthumously issued three years after the author’s death. 8vo. 519pp. Just a touch of minor marking to the cloth in one or two places, else in fine state with dust wrapper, tanned at the spine panel and with a narrow strip of further tanning to the head of the front panel, and with a touch of dust soiling and light edgewear and creasing, and two tiny slivers of loss from the head of the spine panel. A very good copy of the author’s controversial novel about the life and death of Christ, and the basis for the equally controversial Scorsese movie. £95

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

PHILIP KERR. The Berlin Noir Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising March Violets, The Pale Criminal and A German Requiem. Viking, London 1989-1991.  First editions of the first three volumes of Kerr’s masterful Bernie Gunther series (which was eventually expended into a total of fourteen novels). Individual volumes as follows: March Violets (1989). First edition. 8vo. 246pp. Boards fractionally marked in one or two places, and with a little tanning to the paperstock. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, the publisher’s spine panel colouring lightly faded. The Pale Criminal (1990). First edition. 8vo. 273pp. The merest hint of wear to the spine ends, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, with just a hint of corresponding chafing to the spine panel ends. A German Requiem (1991). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 307pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A super set. £450

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

WYNDHAM LEWIS. Blasting and Bombardiering. Autobiography 1914-1926. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1937. First edition in a later state binding (without the publisher’s top edge stain). 8vo. 312pp. With a self-portraiture frontispiece and various plates of photographs, portraits and paintings. Top edge dust soiled and lightly spotted. A very good copy in dust wrapper, with some tanning to the spine panel, a touch of dust soiling, and some wear to the head of the spine panel with two or three tiny fractions of loss. The Emery recounts adventures with W.H.Auden, Noel Coward, T.S.Eliot, James Joyce, Augustus John &c, and also includes a chapter detailing a series of encounter with T.E.Lawrence.  Pound & Grover A26a. £85

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

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

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

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. 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

OLIVIA MANNING. The Levant Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising The Danger Tree, The Battle Lost and Won and The Sun of Things. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1977-80. Individual volumes as follows: The Danger Tree (1977). First edition. 8vo. 196pp. A touch of wear to the spine ends, else a fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with a touch of darkening to the rear panel and a small area of tape residue to the base of the spine panel. The Battle Lost and Won (1978). First edition. 8vo. 185pp. Spine ends lightly rubbed. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, clipped and re-priced by the publisher and with a touch of corresponding chafing to the spine panel ends. The Sum of Things (1980). First edition. 8vo. 203pp. Spine ends a little rubbed and with an area of quite light offset fading to the front free endpaper, presumably from where a card or clipping was once stored. A very good copy in dust wrapper, with a touch of corresponding chafing to the spine panel ends and a little darkening to the predominantly white rear panel. A super set of Manning's follow up to her celebrated Balkan Trilogy, (and the second and final part of the Fortunes of War sequence) continuing the story of Guy and Harriet Pringle, now sheltering from the German advance in Egypt and the Middle East. £125

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

IRIS MURDOCH. The Sandcastle. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1957. First edition. 8vo. 318pp. Top edge a little dust soiled and with perhaps just a hint of tanning to the paperstock and a small area of staining to the tip of one text leaf. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. A very good copy in the Charles Mozely-designed pictorial dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the spine panel and with just a hint of edge-chafing. The author’s uncommon third novel, with a printed dedication to John Bayley (Murdoch and Bayley married shortly before the novel was published). £150

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

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Ducdame. Grant Richards Ltd., London 1925. The first UK edition, an offset reproduction from the US sheets, with a number of the errors which blighted that edition, issued six-months previously, now corrected. 8vo. 458pp. A shadow of off-setting from the dust wrapper design to the upper board, else a fine copy in remarkable well preserved dust wrapper, exhibiting just the tiniest hint of edgewear, several tiny slivers of loss from the spine ends and one small taped repair. With the handsome bookplate of noted Powys scholar and bibliographer Lloyd Emerson Siberell tipped to the front free endpaper, and a second small ownership label to the head of the front pastedown. Thomas A18. £350

JOHN COWPER POWYS. The Owl, The Duck and - Miss Rowe! Miss Rowe! The Black Archer Press, Chicago 1930. First edition – limited to 250 numbered copies (this being #139), each one signed by the author at the base of the portrait frontispiece. 8vo. 60pp. Parchment boards. A little uneven darkening to backstrip and board edges, and just a touch of chafing to the head of the spine. A very crisp copy, lacking the rarely seen decorated glassine dust wrapper and presentation box. Former owner name plate to the head of the front pastedown. The only published Powys short story, not printed in the UK until the Village Press paperback issue of 1975. Most uncommon. Thomas A22. £200

JOHN COWPER POWYS. A Glastonbury Romance. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1933. First UK edition, published a year after the  US issue. Large 8vo. 1174pp + ii publisher’s adverts. A slip of paper bearing the author’s signature and his inked New York address has been pasted to the title page. Blue cloth lettered in red at spine and upper board. A hint of spotting to endpapers and one or two preliminary leaves, and a lengthy but quite light crease to the front free endpaper and half-title. Cloth  a little discoloured at spine ends where the dust wrapper is defective. A bright if slightly dusty copy in dust soiled dust wrapper, with several fairly small portions of loss to the edges. The second of Powys’ four Wessex novels. After publication Powys was financially crippled following a successful libel case filed by the real-life owner of the Wookey Hole caves. As a result major alterations were made to the UK edition of his next novel Weymouth Sands and it was nearly thirty years before the English publication of that unexpurgated text. Thomas A28. £250

SIMON RAVEN. The Alms for Oblivion series, complete in ten volumes. Anthony Blond 1964-1972 and Blond & Briggs, London 1972-1976. First editions. 8vo. A touch of light spotting to top-edges of several volumes, one of which is accompanied by a small area of staining. Former owner names and/or accompanying bookplates to free endpapers or pastedowns of seven volumes. A very crisp and bright set in the correct first state dust wrappers (i.e. the first seven volumes with the handsome double-spread pictorial wrappers designed by Oliver Elms, and the final three in plain silver wrappers). Three of the wrappers are price-clipped and a number exhibit to touch of very light occasional edgewear. A single volume (Fielding Gray) exhibits a small thumbnail-sized area of loss from the head of the spine panel. A very good set of Raven’s noted novel sequence. £400

ANNE RICE. Interview with the Vampire. A novel. Macdonald / Raven Books, London 1976. The first UK edition (issued the same year as the US edition). 8vo. 371pp. A light scattering of spotting to the top edge, and perhaps a touch of rubbing to the spine ends and corner tips. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, marred by merely a hint of chafing to the head of the spine panel. The author’s first novel, and the first volume of her celebrated Vampire Chronicles series. £95

ISAAC ROSENFELD. Passage from Home. A novel. Secker & Warburg, London 1947. The uncommon first UK edition of the author’s first and only novel. 8vo. 237pp. Just a hint of spotting to the top edge, with some fading to the backstrip cloth and a touch of further fading to the extreme margins of the upper and lower boards, which also exhibit a little blemishing. A very crisp and bright copy in the pictorial dust wrapper, price-clipped, a little rubbed and nicked at the edges with a few short closed tears and some dust soiling to the predominantly white rear panel. Uncommon.  (Rosenfeld was described as “the golden boy of the New York literary elite”. His childhood friend was Saul Bellow and he was the basis for King Dahfu in Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King). £75

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 nigh-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

ROSEMARY TONKS. The Way Out of Berkeley Square. The Bodley Head, London 1970. First edition of the author’s uncommon fifth novel. 8vo. 208pp. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a shallow imprint of text caused by somebody using the book to support a sheet of writing paper (the text imprint can only been seen when angled towards the light). Tonks published two noted collections of verse and six novels before completely vanishing from public life in the 1970s after converting to an apparently puritanical form of Christianity. She died in 2014, but published nothing after the early 1970s, even burning the manuscript of one unpublished novel. £150

WILLIAM TREVOR. The Boarding-House. A novel. The Bodley Head, London 1965. First edition of the author’s third book. 8vo. 287pp. Cloth a little rubbed and faded at several extremities. Top edge lightly spotted and with just a touch of further spotting to endpapers, half title and occasional leaf margins, and with a small area of light miscellaneous staining to the read pastedown. Quite a nice crisp copy in Bernard Blatch-designed dust wrapper, lightly tanned at spine panel and with a touch of dust soiling, edge-chafing and a single carefully repaired tear. £75

WILLIAM TREVOR. The Love Department. A novel. The Bodley Head, London 1966. First edition of the author’s fourth book. 8vo. 295pp. Top edge lightly spotted and with just a hint of chafing to the tip of one corner and to the base of the backstrip. A virtually fine copy in very good Stephen Russ-designed dust wrapper, with a touch of light tanning and staining to the spine panel. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. £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 

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 edition. 8vo. 303pp. Original publisher’s ‘snakeskin’ cloth. Top edge lightly dust soiled and with a hint of wear to spine 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 stain to the base of the rear panel, and the rear panel-spine panel join tender. The author’s third novel. £365

EVELYN WAUGH. Scoop. A Novel About Journalists. Chapman & Hall, London 1938. First edition, first state (with the final word on p.88 being “as” not “a”, and the copyright date slightly misprinted so that “8” looks like “3”). 8vo. 308pp + i publisher’s advertisement. Top edge lightly dust soiled, and with just a touch of spotting, also in evidence on the fore edge. Free endpapers very lightly browned. A touch of very minor wear to the spine ends and corner tips. Former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. A very good copy, particularly crisp internally, and housed in the second state (the first ‘Daily Beast’ masthead example was suppressed) dust wrapper, non-price-clipped, but a little dust soiled, nicked and creased, with several short tears and some fraying and small portions of loss to the spine ends and several corner tips. £450

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. 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

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS. The Stecher Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising White Mule, In the Money and The Build-Up. MacGibbon & Kee, London 1965-1969. The first UK editions. Individual volumes as follows: White Mule (1965). First UK edition. 8vo. 266pp. Some discolouration to the slightly lesser quality paperstock. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned at the spine panel, with a strip of light uneven fading to the rear panel and two or three small instances of light staining. In the Money (1966). First UK edition. 8vo. 352pp. Some staining to the top edge, and the endpapers lightly spotted. A little discolouration to the lesser quality paperstock. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned at the spine panel, very lightly edgeworn and with just a touch of spotting. The Build-Up (1969). First UK edition. 8vo. 335pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the spine panel. A very nice set of Williams’ celebrated trilogy of novels charting the lives of a family of American immigrants. £50

THOMAS WOLFE. The Web and the Rock [and] You Can’t Go Home Again. William Heinemann Ltd., London 1947. The first UK editions of the author’s posthumously issued novel and its sequel. Individual volumes as follows: The Web and the Rock (1947). With an introduction by J.B.Priestley. First UK edition. 8vo. 642pp. The tips of two corners bumped, and the gilt and green blocking just fractionally defective in places. A very good copy in dust wrapper, lightly chafed, browned and edgeworn with four or five tiny slivers of loss from the spine ends and corner tips. You Can’t Go Home Again (1947). First UK edition. 8vo. 600pp. A touch of light dust soiling to the cloth, and the gilt and green blocking just fractionally defective in places. Very good indeed, in fine state internally and housed in the dust wrapper which is a little nicked, chafed and dust soiled with four or five tiny slivers of loss from the spine ends and corner tips. These two novels were posthumously extracted from Wolfe’s vast unpublished manuscript The October Fair by his published and editor Edward Aswell. £75

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