Clearwater Books

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

IAIN BANKS. The Crow Road. A novel. Scribners, London, 1992. First edition. 8vo. 501pp. Top edge lightly soiled. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, marred only by a tiny hint of dust soiling. £50

"It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach".

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

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

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

RICHARD BRAUTIGAN. Willard and his Bowling Trophies. A Perverse Mystery. Jonathan Cape, Londonn1976. First UK edition, considerably more uncommon than US edition of a year earlier. 8vo. 167pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper, faded at the spine panel as is invariably the case. The author’s sixth novel. £35

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. Greenvoe. A novel. The Hogarth Press, London 1972. First edition of the author’s first novel. 8vo. 278pp. A tiny hint of bruising to the backstrip ends, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, lightly dust soiled and chafed, and with some creasing to the extremities. £30

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

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

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

ELEANOR CATTON. The Luminaries. A novel. Granta Books, London 2013. First edition. 8vo. 832pp. With decorated endpapers and a ribbon place-marker. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. The author’s second novel, winner of the 2013 Booker Prize. £50

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

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

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

LEN DEIGHTON. The ‘Harry Palmer’ series, complete in four volumes comprising The IPCRESS File, Horse Under Water, Funeral in Berlin [and] Billion Dollar Brain. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1962 [and] Jonatyhan Cape, London 1963-1966. Individual volumes as follows: The IPCRESS File (1962). First edition. 8vo. 224pp. Edges spotted, encroaching a fraction to the leaf margins. A very good copy in the Raymond Hawkey-designed dust wrapper (seemingly the second state wrapper, with two reviews to the front flap), lightly toned at several extremities, with a single tiny nick and one tiny area of spotting. Horse Under Water (1963). First edition. 8vo. 255pp. Crossword-illustrated endpapers. The tips of two corners gently knocked, and with just a hint of spotting to the edges. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown (obscured by the wrapper flap). A very good copy in the Raymond Hawkey-designed dust wrapper, lightly toned in places and with a small area of rubbing to the head of the spine panel. Separate blank crossword sheet, lightly spotted, laid-in, as required. Funeral in Berlin (1964). First edition. 8vo. 320pp. Document-illustrated endpapers. Top edge lightly spotted and with just a trace of bruising to the backstrip ends. Ghost of a former owner pencilled name to the head of a blank flyleaf and a very minor slant to the binding. A very good copy in the Raymond Hawkey-designed dust wrapper, with just a hint of toning and very light rubbing. Billion Dollar Brain (1966). First edition. 8vo. 312pp. Document-illustrated endpapers. Edges lightly spotted, encroaching just a fraction to occasional leaf margins, and with perhaps a shade of fading to the backstrip cloth. A very good copy in the Raymond Hawkey-designed silver dust wrapper, a little rubbed, scored and chafed, with some creases to the flaps. A very respectable set of the author’s four ‘Harry Palmer’ espionage novels (although the character’s name in never revealed in the books). £950

HELEN DUNMORE. A Spell of Winter. A novel. Viking, London 1995. First edition. 8vo. 313pp. A hint of tanning to the paperstock, else a fine copy in just fractionally toned and rubbed dust wrapper. The author’s uncommon third novel, winner of the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction. £40

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

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

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

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

IAN FLEMING. You Only Live Twice. A James Bond novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1964. First edition, first state (with no month mentioned on the copyright page, as required). 8vo. 256pp. Bamboo-effect endpapers. Top edge spotted with just a touch of further spotting to the fore edge. The spine ends a little bruised and with a strip of light partial browning to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in virtually fine price-clipped dust wrapper, marred only a touch of tanning to the spine panel and a tiny area of light creasing to the head of the spine panel. A super copy of the eleventh Bond novel (the twelfth book). £400

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

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

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

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

JOHN FOWLES. The Collector. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1963. First edition of Fowles’ debut novel. 8vo. 283pp. Board extremities very lightly rubbed with a former owner name partially erased from the head of the front free endpaper. Place-marker creases to the corners of a dozen or so text leaves and the occasional marginal blemish. Quite a crisp and bright copy in the first state dust wrapper, very lightly tanned at the margins of the predominantly white rear panel and with just a tiny hint of chafing to the head of the spine panel and a little minor internal browning. £200

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

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

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

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

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

L.P.HARTLEY. Simonetta Perkins. A novel. G.P.Putnam’s Sons Ltd., London 1925. First edition of the author’s second book and first novel. 8vo. 151pp. Green cloth with batik paper sides. Corner tips rubbed and with a little browning to the free endpapers. Binding just a fraction tender at one gathering and with a little creasing and nicking to the fore-edge margin of a single overlapping text leaf. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. Contemporary ownership signature of Violet Elizabeth Buxton to the front free endpaper and a tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. Laid-in is a letter from the author to Elizabeth Buxton, dated June 1926 and written on his family’s Fletton Tower headed notepaper. In the letter Hartley regretfully cancels a pre-existing appointment, and then humorously adds “I have just had an American review of Simonetta Perkins which says: ‘Hartley suggests importance, but one hesitates to proclaim him great’. Aren’t they a marvellous nation? But I wish they wouldn’t hesitate”. Violet Elizabeth Buxton was a fellow at Oxford with Hartley and he probably met her through his association with Cynthia Asquith. A very nice copy of his ‘dangerous Venice novel’, which Hartley would later come to view as his most accomplished work. £125

"A model of Jamesian clarity and understatement." Adrian Wright, Foreign Country

RICHARD HILLARY. The Last Enemy. Macmillan, London 1942. First edition of the author’s celebrated aviation memoir. 8vo. vii, 221pp. Top- and fore edge very lightly speckled and with just a touch of spotting to several preliminary and concluding leaves. Contemporary ownership signature of J.L.Weightman (2378) of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force to the front free endpaper and to the front pastedown (the latter obscured by the wrapper flap). A virtually fine copy in the fugitive dust wrapper, seemingly price-clipped and with a new price (7s. 6d. net) printed to the base of the front flap, and very lightly toned, rubbed and spotted with a touch of ear to the spine ends and corner tips. A remarkably well preserved example of probably the greatest Second World War aviation text. £450

Richard Hillary joined the Royal Air Force at the start of WWII. He fought in the Battle of Britain and suffered severe burns to his face and hands after a crash, subsequently undergoing plastic surgery in the US under pioneering surgeon Archibald McIndoe. He returned to flying at RAF Charterhall in November 1942 and died on 8th January 1943 when his Blenheim crashed during night training. His memoir, published the year before his death, met with universal acclaim and is heralded as the finest account of the Battle of Britain.

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

KAZUO ISHIGURO. The Unconsoled. A novel. Faber, London 1995. First edition. 8vo. 535pp. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by the merest hint of light dust soiling. The author's fourth novel, somewhat rubbished upon publication but subsequently revaluated (a 2006 poll of various literary critics voted it the third "best British, Irish, or Commonwealth novel from 1980 to 2005" tying with Rushdie's Midnight Children and McEwan's Atonement amongst others). £40

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

KEN KESEY. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A novel. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1962. First UK edition of the author’s seminal madhouse novel. 8vo. 311pp. Purple boards lettered in gold at the spine with a small blue-stamped vignette. A trace of wear to the spine ends and corner tips. The top edge lightly spotted with a little further spotting to the margins of the free endpapers and pastedowns. A very good copy in the Kenneth Farnhill-designed dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the spine panel with a single tiny closed tear and some discolouration to the extreme upper and lower edges where the publisher’s laminate is lifting. The publisher’s pink spine panel lettering a little faded. Scarce, and more so without the usual inked erasure from the copyright page. £450

JOHN LE CARRÉ. The Karla Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [and] The Honourable Schoolboy [and] Smiley’s People. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1974-1980. First editions. Individual volumes as follows: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). First edition. 8vo. 349pp. Just a shade of fading to the publisher’s top edge stain and a hint of wear to the board extremities. Fore edge very lightly spotted and a shadow of partial toning to the free endpapers. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly rubbed and creased at the head of the spine panel and with the merest hint of wear to two or three corner tips. The Honourable Schoolboy (1977). First edition. 8vo. viii, 532pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. Top- and fore edge lightly spotted, encroaching just a fraction to very occasional leaf margins. A hint of wear to the board extremities. Very good in dust wrapper, a little worn at the spine ends and corner tips with several tiny fractions of loss, and with some vertical creases to the front flap. Smiley’s People (1980). First edition. 8vo. 327pp. Top- and fore edge very lightly spotted. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, just fractionally rubbed at three or four extremities. A very respectable set of le Carré’s celebrated trilogy of George Smiley / Karla novels.  £375

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

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

HELEN MACDONALD. H is for Hawk. Jonathan Cape, London 2014. First edition. 8vo. 300pp. Paper-covered boards. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. The author’s third book, an account of her year-long efforts to train a northern goshawk whilst gripped by the grief of her father’s death; and also a shadow-biography of T.H.White. Winner of the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book Award. £50

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

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

LOUIS MACNEICE. Zoo. With illustrations by Nancy Sharp. Michael Joseph Ltd., London 1938. First edition. 8vo. 255pp. With differing endpaper illustrations, twenty plates and nine illustrations in the text. A very minor slant to the binding. The cloth bruised with a single tiny nick to the head of the backstrip, and the binding a little tender at several gatherings. A lovely crisp copy in the most uncommon dust wrapper, a little toned, rubbed, nicked and dust soiled with a single tiny area of loss to the head of the front panel, and a little light spotting and creasing to the front flap. A study of London Zoo, plus a few other English and European zoological parks. 2,000 copies were printed. Armitage & Clarke A11. £200

OLIVIA MANNING. The Levant Trilogy. Complete in three volumes comprising The Danger Tree, The Battle Lost and Won and The Sum of Things. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1977-1980. Individual volumes as follows: The Danger Tree (1977). First edition. 8vo. 196pp. Top edge very lightly spotted and with a little tarnishing to the head of the free endpapers. Very good indeed in fractionally marked, rubbed and toned dust wrapper. The Battle Lost and Won (1978). First edition. 8vo. 185pp. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends and a little spotting to the edges, endpapers and pastedowns. A very good copy in dust wrapper, lightly faded at the spine panel, with some chafing to the upper edge, one tiny tear and a second slightly longer internally repaired tear.  The Sum of Things (1980). First edition. 8vo. 203pp. A strip of very faint partial browning to the front free endpaper and a lengthy vertical crease to one text leaf, yet still a very good copy in dust wrapper, with a little toning to the predominantly white rear panel. A very nice 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

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

TONI MORRISON. Beloved. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1987. First UK edition, issued the same year as the considerably more common US edition. 8vo. 275pp. A slight of light fading to the head of the upper board, and some tanning to the lesser quality paperstock as is invariably the case. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, lightly creased at the head of the spine panel and with a little internal spotting and moisture marking. The author’s fifth novel, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize. £50

IRIS MURDOCH. A Severed Head. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 252pp. A tiny hint of spotting to the top- and fore edge and a touch of very light miscellaneous marking to the boards. Very good indeed in slightly rubbed and marked dust wrapper. The author’s fifth novel. £50

IRIS MURDOCH. The Sea, the Sea. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1978. First edition of the author’s Booker Prize winning novel. 8vo. 501pp. Top edge lightly speckled, else a virtually fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £95

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

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

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

WALKER PERCY. The Movie-Goer. A novel. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1963. First UK edition, issued two years after the US edition. 8vo. 242pp. The merest hint of bruising to the spine ends and a minor ridge to the backstrip. Very good indeed in A.M.Schwartzman-designed dust wrapper, with a hint of toning to the spine panel and one tiny closed tear. The author’s first book, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.  This UK edition (re-titled The Movie-Goer from The Moviegoer) is considerably more uncommon that its US predecessor. £350

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

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

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

JEAN RHYS. After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie. A novel. Alfred A.Knopf, New York 1931. First American edition, issued the same year as the English edition and almost as uncommon. Crown 8vo. 228pp. A little mottled fading to the cloth at the backstrip and the lower board. Some bruising to the backstrip ends. Former owner bookplate to the front pastedown (partially obscured by the wrapper flap), and with a small area of miscellaneous pink staining to the front free endpaper. A lovely crisp copy in the scarce dust wrapper, tanned and somewhat faded at the spine panel, with some dust soiling, light edgewear and several tiny closed tears, and a small area of moisture marking. The author’s third book and second novel. £450

JEAN RHYS. Wide Sargasso Sea. A novel. With an introduction by Francis Wyndham. Andre Deutsch, London 1966. First edition. 8vo. 190pp. Edges quite spotted and with some quite notable uneven browning to the front free endpaper, presumably from where a clipping of some sort was once stored. Just a hint of very light occasional margin spotting. Really quite a crisp and bright copy in the handsome double-spread pictorial dust wrapper designed by Eric Thomas, with just the merest hint of edgewear to two or three extremities. Faint ghost of a former owner pencilled name all but erased from the head of the front free endpaper. A very nice copy of the author’s most famous work, a prequal to Jane Eyre, published over twenty-five years after her previous book. Increasingly scarce. £350

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

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

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

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. Robinson. A novel. Macmillan, London 1958. First edition. 8vo. 185pp. Illustrated with one map. A touch of bruising to the spine ends. In virtually fine state with Victor Reinganum-designed dust wrapper, lightly dust soiled, and chipped with several small areas of edge-loss. A super of the author’s second novel. £200

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

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

WILLIAM TREVOR. The 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 

KURT VONNEGUT JR. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; or Pearls Before Swine. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1965. First English edition in the first state binding of gilt-lettered purple boards.  8vo. 217pp. A hint of bruising to the backstrip ends and the publisher’s pink top edge dye very lightly faded. A small bump to the lower corner of the rear board. very good indeed in slightly rubbed and chafed dust wrapper. Contemporary (1966) former owner name and date neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. The author’s fifth novel. This UK edition is considerably more uncommon than the US equivalent. £200

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

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 the backstrip ends, a tiny nick to the fore edge of the rear free endpaper and a pinprick or two of light occasional margin spotting. A very good copy in a good example of the uncommon dust wrapper: a little dust soiled, with several slivers of loss to the spine ends, and an additional small enclosed area of loss and some accompanying surface abrasion. A small area of miscellaneous red staining to the base of the rear panel, and the rear panel-spine panel join tender. The author’s third novel. Davis, Doyle &c. viii. £350

T.H.WHITE. The Arthurian Sequence, comprising The Sword in the Stone, The Witch in the Wood [and] The Ill-Made Knight; plus The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlin. Collins, London 1938-1941, 1958 and 1977. Individual volumes descriptions as follows: The Sword in the Stone. (Collins 1938). First edition, preceding the US edition. 8vo. 338pp. With decorations and a splendid dust wrapper design by the author. Spine ends lightly bruised and with a little spotting to the top edge, occasionally encroaching a fraction to the upper margins of the text leaves, and just a hint more spotting to the fore edge and to two or three preliminary leaves. Some light uneven browning to the free endpapers. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, nicked at the spine ends and corner tips with just a little loss (impacting 'The' in the title and the publisher's imprint), and with a little wear to the natural folds and a three-inch tear to the spine panel-rear panel joint, but still more than respectable. The Witch in the Wood (Collins 1940). The first UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 281pp. With decorations and a dust wrapper design by the author. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends and some very light spotting to the cloth at two or three extremities with some spotting to the pastedowns and free endpapers. A very good copy in dust wrapper, rubbed and a little chipped at the spine ends and corner tips with just a fraction of loss to the printed lettering, and with a little tenderness to the natural folds. The Ill-Made Knight (Collins, 1941). The first UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 296pp. With decorations by the author. Top edge dust marked and with just a trace of minor blemishing to the cloth at the upper board. Small stain to the margin of three adjacent leaves. A slightly dusty yet very good copy in dust wrapper, albeit a somewhat handled example - faded and a little stained at the spine panel and with a small enclosed tear; nicked and rubbed at the edges with several small tears and fractions of loss; and with some dust soiling to the rear panel. Handsome former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. Supplied together with The Once and Future King (Collins 1958). First edition. 8vo. 677pp. Top edge very lightly spotted, with a little further spotting and some toning to the free endpapers. A very good copy in just fractionally toned dust wrapper, with a small area of tape residue marking to the base of the spine panel. Supplied together with  The Book of Merlin. The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King. With a prologue by Sylvia Townsend Warner and illustrations by Trevor Stubley. (University of Texas Press & Collins 1977). First UK edition. Tall 8vo. xx, 137pp. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at one or two extremities but with none of the usual fading to the publisher's red spine panel colouring. A very nice set of White's Arthurian sequence, including his ‘final-edit’ The Once and Future King (in which is found the fourth volume of the sequence, The Candle in the Wind, which was written in 1940 but not published until its inclusion in this composite edition); and the concluding fifth volume The Book of Merlin (written in 1941 but excluded from the composite edition and hitherto unpublished). £2,500

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

RAYMOND WILLIAMS. Border Country. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1960. First edition. 8vo. 351pp. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends. A very good copy in the handsome pictorial dust wrapper, lightly tanned at the spine panel, with two or three short closed tears and several miniscule fractions of loss. The author’s first novel, and the first part of his important trilogy of novels set (mostly) in working class South Wales. £75

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

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