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

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

TRUMAN CAPOTE. Breakfast at Tiffany's. A Short Novel and Three Stories. Random House, New York 1958. First edition. 8vo. 199pp. Pastedowns and free endpapers lightly browned and spotted. One binding string snapped (the binding still perfectly sound) and another possibly replaced as the string is a different colour from the others. Very good indeed in Ismar David-designed dust wrapper, chipped with a little loss at the spine panel ends, and with a touch more loss to two corner tips, a little light chafing to the natural folds and some dust soiling, predominantly to the rear panel. The celebrated title novella (which was first printed in the November 1958 issue of Esquire), plus the short stories House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar and A Christmas Memory. £525

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

JOHN DICKSON CARR. It Walks by Night. A Henri Bencolin mystery. Harper & Brothers, London 1930. The first UK edition, issued the same year as the American edition, printed from the US sheets with a cancel title page. 8vo. 328pp. Navy blue cloth, lettered and ruled in blue at the spine and upper board. Spine ends gently rubbed, cloth very lightly marked in several places and with two small indentations to the cloth at the upper and lower margins of the front board. Title page and dedication leaf spotted and top edge lightly dust soiled. A very good copy, although the printed yellow ‘sealed mystery’ leaf originally tipped between pp. 210-211 and secured at the rear pastedown is now missing. No dust wrapper. The author’s first novel, a ‘locked room’ classic, and the first of five novels featuring his Parisian examining magistrate Henri Bencolin. £95

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

ROBERT CREELEY. The Gold Diggers. Stories. The Divers Press [Mallorca] 1954. First edition. 8vo. 141pp. Plain card wrappers with an integral dust wrapper featuring a red-and-black printed design by René Laubiès. The glue failing just a fraction at the front hinge and with just a touch of tanning to the wrapper and a little very minor chafing to one or two extremities. A light but quite lengthy crease to one leaf. Very good. A two-page preface precedes eleven stories, some reprinted from periodicals and the remainder hitherto unprinted. The author’s fourth book, and first collection of fiction, issued by his own Divers Press imprint founded on Mallorca where he lived with his wife and children between 1951-55 (it was on Mallorca that he wrote almost half of his published prose, including his 1963 novel The Island). £95

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

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

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. 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. £150

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

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

XAN FIELDING. 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. 317pp. With a photographic portrait frontispiece, map-illustrated endpapers, seventeen captioned photographs and a multi-panel fold out map at the rear. Top edge lightly spotted and with a narrow strip of light browning to the free endpapers. A touch of light blemishing to the margins of the title page, and a tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown, with a small area of adjacent offset browning. A very good copy in the splendid Craxton colour dust wrapper, price-clipped, lightly tanned at the spine panel, and with a touch of wear to the spine ends and corner tips, resulting in three or four tiny slivers of loss, and a single short closed tear to the base of the front panel-front flap join. The author’s first book, an uncommon account of his year-long return to Crete after the conclusion of the Second World War. £225

Fielding was commissioned into the Cyprus Regiment in September 1940, joining the S.O.E. after the fall of Crete. He teamed up with Patrick Leigh 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, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

E.M.FORSTER. A Passage to India. Edward Arnold & Co., London 1924. First edition. 8vo. 325pp + [iii] publisher’s advertisements at rear. Spine ends rubbed and just a little frayed, some light wear to the corner tips, and some dust soiling to the top edge. Free endpapers lightly toned, and with some quite light spotting to the first six leaves, and to the final few text and advertisement leaves. The binding just a fraction tender at several gatherings. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. £275

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

GUNTER GRASS. The Tin Drum. A novel. Translated from the German of Die Blechtrommel by Ralph Manheim. Secker & Warburg, London 1962. The first English-language edition of Grass’ celebrated novel, this translation being issued simultaneously in the UK and the US. 8vo. 592pp. Grey boards lettered in gold and red at the spine and with the publisher’s red top edge stain, which is a little faded in places.  Just a touch of wear to the spine ends, else in virtually fine state with dust wrapper featuring the author’s iconic design, a little dust soiled and lightly marked, with shallow chips to the spine ends and several tiny fractions of loss. £65

ALASDAIR GRAY. Lanark. A Life in Four Books. Canongate Publishing, Edinburgh 1981. First edition of the author’s seminal debut novel. 8vo. 560pp. With red endpapers and a title page design and four full-page illustrations by the author. Edges spotted and with just a trace of bruising to the head of the backstrip. Former owner bookplate to the front free endpaper. Very good indeed in very good double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, with a hint of occasional marking, two short closed tears to the head of the spine panel with a little accompanying creasing, and a hint of wear to two or three further extremities. £200

GRAHAM GREENE. The Power and the Glory. A novel. Heinemann, London 1940. First edition of his Hawthornden Prize-winning tenth novel. 8vo. 280pp. Spine ends just a little bruised, and the top edge lightly dust marked. A narrow strip of discolouration to the head of the upper board, and with some notable browning to the half-title, which is also a little tender. Several small tape residue marks to the pastedowns. A nice, crisp copy. No dust wrapper. A slip of paper bearing the author’s signature, the name of a recipient and the date 1982 has been pasted to the front free endpaper. Uncommon. Wobbe A16. £750

GRAHAM GREENE. The Heart of the Matter. A novel. Heinemann, London 1948. First edition. 8vo. 297pp. A double crease to the corner of the upper board and just a touch of wear to one or two extremities. A minor ridge to the backstrip. Former owner name inked to the head of the front free endpaper, alongside a small area of surface abrasion where, presumably, a pencilled price was erased with a little too much vigour. A good copy in lightly faded and soiled dust wrapper, with a little loss from the spine ends and corner tips and a single short tear to one natural fold. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Wobbe A21. £200

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

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

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

LANGSTON HUGHES. The Ways of White Folks. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London 1934. The first UK edition, issued the same year as the slightly more common US edition. 8vo. 248pp. Publisher’s pink top edge stain a little faded. Some spotting to the edges, preliminary and concluding leaves and, sporadically, throughout. Quite a nice crisp copy in the most elusive dust wrapper, slightly nicked, rubbed and soiled with a single small sliver of loss from the base of the front panel. Former owner name neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. Fourteen short stories, the author’s second collection of short fiction. £500

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

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

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. 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

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

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. £250

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

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ. No One Writes to the Colonel. Stories. Translated from the Spanish by J.S.Bernstein. Jonathan Cape, London 1971. The first English edition. 8vo. 170pp. Former owner name neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper, else a fine copy in carefully laminated dust wrapper. The author’s second book to be published in the UK, comprising nine stories which were originally issued in Colombia as the title novella (in 1961), and the short story collection Big Mama's Funeral (in 1962). This English translation was originally used for the US edition, which was issued in 1968. £95

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

ANTHONY POWELL. The Acceptance World. A novel. The third volume of his A Dance to the Music of Time sequence. Heinemann, London 1955. First edition. 8vo. 214pp. A strip of light narrow browning to the free endpapers. A virtually fine copy in slightly browned and rubbed dust wrapper, with several small areas of edge-loss, a near-invisible two-inch crease and a little internal reinforcement. A two-centimetre portion from the head of the spine panel is missing, but has been carefully repaired using a portion from a facsimile wrapper. A very respectable copy of one of the elusive early volumes of Powell’s celebrated sequence. 7,500 copies were printed. Lilley A11. £350

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

GEORGE PYSCHOUNDAKIS. The Cretan Runner. His Story of the German Occupation. Translated from the Greek and with an introduction by Patrick Leigh Fermor and annotations by Fermor and Xan Fielding (both of whom appear in the text). John Murray, London 1955. First edition of Pyschoundakis’ seminal account of the German invasion of Crete and the subsequent Resistance. 8vo. 242pp. Green boards with slightly defective gold lettering to the spine. With a double-spread sketch map by E.G.Morton and twenty-seven captioned photographs. A little discolouration to the backstrip ends and the upper edge of the front board where the dust wrapper is defective, and with some spotting to the edges, endpapers, half-title and to occasional leaf margins. A very good copy in clipped and re-priced pictorial dust wrapper designed by Anthony Baynes, nicked, carefully repaired and internally reinforced at the spine ends and the upper edge of the front panel. £200

MARILYNNE ROBINSON. Gilead. A novel. Virago Press, London 2005. The first UK edition, issued a year after the USS edition. 8vo. 282pp. A single tiny indentation to the head of the upper board and just a touch of very light bruising to the base of the spine. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at several extremities and with a single miniscule nick to the upper edge. The author’s Pulitzer Prize winning second novel, this first UK edition being curiously uncommon. £50

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

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

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

MURIEL SPARK. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Macmillan & Co. Ltd., London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 170pp. Top- and fore edge very lightly spotted and the tips of two corners gently knocked. Former owner name inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A light crease to the corner of one text leaf. A very good copy in the Victor Reinganum-designed pictorial dust wrapper, lightly dust soiled and edgeworn with several miniscule slivers of loss from the spine ends and corner tips and with a single tiny area of light miscellaneous staining to the rear panel. A very respectable copy of the author’s most celebrated novel. £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

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 the endpapers, half title and occasional leaf margins, and with a small area of light miscellaneous staining to the rear 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. 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. £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. Davis, Doyle &c. iv. £750

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 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. Davis, Doyle &c. viii. £365

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 Book of Beasts. Being a Translation From a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century. Jonathan Cape, London 1954. First edition. Royal 8vo. 296pp. With decorated endpapers and illustrated throughout with reproductions from the original manuscript and from later sources. A touch of bruising to the spine ends and the tip of one corner very gently bumped. Former owner name neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A virtually fine copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, lightly chafed at the spine ends and with some unsightly uneven browning to the predominantly white rear panel. £50

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

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