Clearwater Books

KINGSLEY AMIS. The Old Devils. A novel. Hutchinson, London 1986. First edition of Amis’ Booker Prize winner – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 294pp. Tips of two corners bumped and the merest hint of tanning to paperstock. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little creased at spine ends with one tiny nick and a touch of spotting to the wrapper flaps. £125

J.G.BALLARD. The Empire of the Sun. Gollancz, London 1983. An uncorrected typescript of Ballard’s most celebrated novel - signed by Ballard on the title page. This is the first state proof, from the author's typescript, including a few minor (printed) handwritten corrections and limited to approximately 30 copies and not the more common second state proof [Pringle].  With a copyright date of 1983 which became 1984 in the published issue. 521pp. Printed powder-blue card wrappers. In fine state. Extremely scarce, especially signed. £200

JOHN BANVILLE. The Untouchable. A novel. Picador, London 1997. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 9vo. 405pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A roman à clef, told from the point of view of an art historian and double agent, based largely on Anthony Blunt and with thinly disguised supporting appearances from Graham Greene and Louis MacNeice. £50

GEORGE BARKER. In Memory of David Archer. Faber, London 1973. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the front endpaper and dated 1979. 8vo. 77pp. Former owner details (the recipient of Barker’s inscription) inkstamped to title page. In fine state with virtually fine price-clipped dust wrapper. Fifty-six poems, many of which are inspired by the memory of David Archer, who’s Parton Street bookshop was a gathering point for young British modernists in the 1930s including Barker, David Gascoyne and Dylan Thomas. £50

JULIAN BARNES. Metroland. Jonathan Cape, London 1980. First edition of the author’s first book – this copy signed on the title page. 8vo. 176pp. Edges lightly spotted and upper board lifting just a fraction. A very good copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, marred by a touch of internally spotting. £300

JULIAN BARNES (writing as ‘Dan Kavanagh’). Putting the Boot In. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1985. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 192pp. A touch of tanning to paperstock, else a fine copy in fine price-clipped dust wrapper, with a small yet stubborn price label to the base of the front flap. The author’s sixth novel, and the third issued under his ‘Dan Kavanagh’ pseudonym. £75

JULIAN BARNES. Arthur & George. Jonathan Cape, London 2005. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 360pp. In fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued, but with original vertical wrap-around band to rear board. A fascinating account of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages' and relationship between George Edalji, imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and Arthur Conan Doyle, who strove for years to clear Edalji’s name and uncover the true culprit. Rightfully short-listed for the Booker Prize. £30

NINA BAWDEN. Carrie’s War. With illustrations by Faith Jaques. Victor Gollancz, London 1973. First edition of the author’s most acclaimed and widely-read work (in 1993 it was awarded the Phoenix Award in honour of its hitherto unrecognised critical longevity). This copy inscribed by the author on the front endpaper (“Monica – from Nina”) and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 159pp. With fifteen chapter header illustrations by Jacques plus an additional three-colour dust wrapper illustration. A very minor slant to binding and a miniscule mark to the base of three text leaves. Very good indeed in fractionally dust marked and chafed dust wrapper. A super copy of an extremely uncommon book, splendidly enhanced by the author’s contemporary signature. £500

JOHN BETJEMAN. First and Last Loves. Edited by Myfanwy Piper and with original illustrations and a dust wrapper design by John Piper. John Murray, London 1952. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the front free endpaper and dated April 1974. 8vo. 244pp. Decorated cloth. Illustrated with photographs and reproductions, plus twenty-four drawings and a four-panel fold-out panorama by John Piper. Fore edge and several preliminary leaves lightly spotted, with a little further spotting to occasional text leaf margins. A very good copy housed in the John Piper dust wrapper, a little chafed, spotted and darkened with a little loss to spine ends and corner tips. £175

JOHN BETJEMAN. Ghastly Good Taste. Or a Depressing Story of the Rise and Fall of English Architecture. Anthony Blond, London 1970. The revised edition of the author’s second book, with a new sixteen page introduction, An Aesthete’s Apologia, and with Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh’s splendid folding illustration enlarged from forty inches to a scarcely credible nine feet. This copy signed by Betjeman on the front free endpaper. Small 4to. 112pp. Cloth-backed paper-covered boards, lettered in an assortment of fonts. A small bump to the tips of two corners. Very good indeed in lightly soiled and rubbed dust wrapper with a single short closed tear to the base of the rear panel and a small area of sticker residue. Gammond 33B1c. £150

JOHN BETJEMAN. Uncollected Poems. With a foreword by Bevis Hillier. John Murray, London 1982. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the half-title in a somewhat shaky hand. Slim 8vo. 81pp. In fine state with dust wrapper, a little creased at the head of the spine panel and with just a hint of chafing to the tips of two corners.  The publisher’s red spine panel colouring fractionally faded. Twenty-nine poems, mostly gathered from the archives of Columbia University Library, and edited here by Betjeman with the assistance of John Sparrow, and augmented with an interesting fourteen-page foreword by JB’s friend and biographer, Bevis Hillier. £125

WILLIAM BOYD. Brazzaville Beach. A novel. Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1990. First edition - this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 314pp. A hint of wear to head of spine, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at the head of the spine panel and with several short superficial creases. The author’s sixth book. £25

A.S.BYATT. Sugar and Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1987. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 248pp. Paperstock lightly tanned. Very good indeed in virtually fine dust wrapper with just a touch of rubbing to the spine ends. Eleven stories, the author’s first collection of short fiction. £50

PETER CAREY. Illywhacker. Faber, London 1985. First English edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page. A hint of spotting to top and fore edge, else in fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, just fractionally rubbed at head and base of spine panel and lightly spotted internally. Carey’s second novel, short-listed for the Booker Prize. £35

PETER CAREY. Oscar and Lucinda. Faber, London 1988. First UK edition of his first Booker Prize winner – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 512pp. Edges spotted and with just a tiny trace of wear to spine ends. A very good copy in lightly marked and rubbed dust wrapper with a lengthy yet fairly superficial crease to front panel. £75

J.L.CARR. A Month in the Country. Cornucopia Press, London 1990. The second edition of Carr’s classic, with a slightly revised text and a new foreword by the author. Issue in a limitation of 300 numbered copies signed by the author and by Ronald Blythe who provides an introduction. Printed on mould-made paper by The September Press. Crown 4to. 105pp. Top edge gilt. Former owner gift inscription to half-title, else a fine copy in the original unprinted acetate protector, just a little nicked at the head of the spine panel. £350

JUNG CHANG. Wild Swans. Three Daughters of China. HarperCollins, London 1991. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page and with her decorative red stamp. 8vo. 524pp. Illustrated with various photographs, one map and a family tree and chronology. Cloth a little rubbed at spine ends. A very good copy in virtually fine price-clipped dust wrapper. The author’s celebrated second book: a biography of three generations of Chinese women in 20th century – her grandmother, mother, and herself. Multi-award-winning but perhaps unsurprisingly, banned in mainland China. £95

BRUCE CHATWIN. On the Black Hill. Jonathan Cape, London 1982. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page: “For John with best wishes Bruce 9 Nov 83” and with a former owner name (John Cupper, presumably the recipient of Chatwin’s inscription) inked to the head of the front free endpaper. 8vo. 248pp. A tiny sliver of discolouration to the board edges, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Chatwin's third book, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and, bafflingly, the Whitbread First Novel Award (the judges were presumably unaware of his novel The Viceroy of Ouidah which was published two years previously). Really quite uncommon with the author’s signature. £350

TRACY CHEVALIER. Girl with a Pearl Earring. HarperCollins, London, 1999. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 248pp. A tiny sliver of miscellaneous marking to the upper board, and a hint of tanning to leaf margins. Very good indeed in very good dust wrapper (the first state – with the 'earing' spelling error), lightly faded at several margins of the front panel and with a touch of chafing to the upper edge. The author's hugely successful second novel: a fictional account of Vermeer, his painting of the same name, and the model. £250

W.J.T.COLLINS. The Romance of the Echoing Wood. With an introduction, Romance and Reality, by Arthur Machen, an epilogue by William Henry Davies and delightful decorations by E.Fred Powell. R.H.Johns Limited, Newport 1937. First edition, limited to 250 numbered and signed copies (this one somewhat counterintuitively numbered 889). 4to. Cloth-backed paper boards. Tips of corners rubbed with a small area of discolouration to the base of the upper board, but internally in virtually fine state.  A beautifully produced supernatural story: ‘an All-Monmouthshire volume’ with the three writers, the artist and the master-printer all originating from Sir Fynwy. £125

A.E.COPPARD. Crotty Shinkwin. A Tale of the Strange Adventure that Befell a Butcher of County Clare [and] The Beauty Spot. A Tale Concerning the Chilterns. Two stories, with engravings by Robert Gibbings. The Golden Cockerel Press, Berkshire 1932. First edition, limited to 500 numbered copies (this being #309). This copy additionally signed by the author on the front free endpaper, beneath a lengthy quotation from Joyce’s Ulysses, and dated the year of publication. Above this a second hand has inked a few biographical details about the author. Small 4to. 68pp. Quarter blue-green morocco with decorated cloth sides. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With a title page decoration and seven splendid Gibbings engravings. Morocco quite darkened at the backstrip, and with a little minor chafing to spine ends, and the corner tips a little rubbed. A very good copy. No dust wrapper called for. Neat former owner name plate to the front pastedown. Uncommon – and more so with the author’s signature. £250

A.E.COPPARD. Pink Furniture. A Tale for Lovely Children with Nobel Natures.  Jonathan Cape, London 1930. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 250 specially bound and numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #107). 8vo. 251pp. Full white vellum, lettered in gold at spine. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With twenty-five full-page captioned drawings by Nancy Bankart Gurney. Vellum just a little marked in places, and board edges lifting a little. Some fox spotting to preliminary and concluding text leaves. A very good copy, lacking the dust wrapper. £50

BERNARD CORNWELL. Sharpe’s Regiment. Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, Jun to November 1813. Collins, London 1986. First edition – this copy warmly inscribed by the author on the title page on behalf of himself and his wife (first names only) and with his full signature added beneath. 8vo. 301pp. Some tanning to poor quality paperstock, else a very crisp copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at the spine ends. The seventh Richard Sharpe novel (although appearing at number eighteen in the internal chronology of the series). £125

ROBERTSON DAVIES. The Cunning Man. Viking, London 1995. First UK edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Large 8vo. 469pp. Tip of one corner bumped and with a minor slant to the binding. Boards fractionally marked in one or two places, yet a lovely bright copy internally, housed in slightly edge worn, marked and creased dust wrapper. The author’s final novel and, his publisher maintains, the second volume of his incomplete ‘Toronto trilogy’, part one of which was Murther and Walking Spirits. The magnificent Davies sadly died in the December of the year this UK edition was published. £25

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. Individual volume descriptions as follows: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990). First edition – the copy signed by the author on the title page and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 376pp. A hint of tanning to leaf margins, else in fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a tiny hint of chafing to the head of the spine panel. The print run of this first volume reputedly consisted of 2,500 copies. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord (1991). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 279pp. A little tanning to paper stock and a hint of wear to spine ends. A very good copy in dust wrapper, just fractionally rubbed at several extremities and with a single minute tear to the base of the front panel. The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (1992). First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 387pp. Some tanning to paperstock, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, just fractionally rubbed at spine ends. A super signed set of the author’s first three novels. £350

JUNOT DÍAZ. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Faber, London 2008. First UK edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 339pp. Card wrappers (there was no casebound issue of either the UK or US first edition). A fine copy. The author’s second book and first novel, following his short story collection Drown (1996): the winner of multiple awards including the Pulitzer Prize. £35

NORMAN DOUGLAS. How About Europe? Some Footnotes on East and West. Privately printed by the author [Tipografia Classica, Florence] 1929. First edition, limited to 550 numbered and signed copies, this one additionally inscribed by the author on the title page and dated 1933. 8vo. 216pp. Patterned paper-covered boards with a paper spine label. Fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Spine ends rubbed and just a touch of tanning to backstrip and spotting to endpapers. A very good copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. £75

LAWRENCE DURRELL. The Alexandria Quartet. Faber, London 1962. The special edition of the first single-volume edition, limited to 500 numbered and signed copies. A short preface by Durrell details a few minor textual alterations. 8vo. 884pp. Full buckram with a black hand motif to upper board. Cloth at backstrip lightly faded, else in fine state with original unprinted protector and decorated slipcase, a little chafed at extremities. Marred only by a somewhat over bold former owner gift inscription to front endpaper. £600

LAWRENCE DURRELL. The Black Book. Faber, London 1973. First UK edition of the Durrell’s third book – this copy signed by the author on the half-title and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 243pp. A lovely crisp copy in dust wrapper, lightly chafed at extremities as is so often the case. £85

Durrell’s third book (and the second to be published under his own name) was written in 1936 and first published two years later by Obelisk Press after Durrell declined Faber’s offered to issue an expurgated edition. Issued as volume 1 in the Villa Seurat series, edited by Henry Miller, The Black Book did not receive a UK publication for a further thirty-five years. 

TIMOTHY FINDLEY. Not Wanted on the Voyage. Macmillan, London 1985. The first UK edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page and with an additional presentation inscribed: “For Matthew and Helen – who live on a boat – but not on this boat! With love Tiff. London ’95. Against Despair.” 8vo. 352pp. A touch of light tanning to leaf margins, else a fine copy in pictorial dust wrapper with a single tiny closed tear and a touch of very light spotting to the wrapper flaps. The author’s curiously uncommon magical realist re-telling of the Great Flood. (“Against Despair” in the author’s inscription paraphrases a line from his most famous novel The Wars). £40

TIBOR FISCHER. The Collector Collector. Secker & Warburg, London 1997. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 214pp. Top edge lightly marked else a fine copy in dust wrapper, rear panel a little dust marked. The author’s third book and "unquestionably the finest novel ever narrated by a bowl” – blurb. £20

JOHN FOWLES. Cinderella. Adapted from Perrault’s Cendrillon of 1697 by John Fowles and with delightful illustrations by Sheilah Beckett. Jonathan cape, London 1974. First edition of this Fowles translation – this copy signed by Fowles on the title-page. 4to. 32pp. In fine state with fine publisher price-clipped dust wrapper. £75

CARLOS FUENTES. The Crystal Frontier. A Novel in Nine Stories. Translated from the Spanish of La Frontera de Cristal [by Alfred MacAdam]. Bloomsbury, London 1998. First UK edition - this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 266pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £30

HERB GARDNER. A Piece of the Action. A novel. Simon & Schuster, New York 1958. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 313pp. Cloth-backed boards. Boards very lightly marked in one or two places and with a sliver of discolouration to the upper edge of the rear board. A short crease to the corner of a single text leaf. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little soiled and spotted and with a three-inch tear to the base of the rear panel, a single short tear to the head of the front panel and several small areas of loss from the spine ends and one or two other extremities. The only novel by the noted playwright and cartoonist, a semi-autobiographical satire on the world of advertising. £150

WILLIAM GOLDING. Pincher Martin. Faber, London 1956. First edition – this copy signed by the author by way of a bookplate pasted to the front free endpaper. 8vo. 208pp. The gilt spine lettering very slightly defective and with a touch of dust soiling to the top edge, and just the ghost of an almost entirely erased former owner inscription. A very crisp copy in the Anthony Gross-designed double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, a little nicked at spine ends with several tiny fractions of loss. Small dealer plate to the front pastedown, obscured by the wrapper flap. The author’s third novel – an existential classic. £300

WILLIAM GOLDING. A Moving Target. Faber, London 1982. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the first blank leaf. 8vo. In fine state with fine price-clipped dust wrapper. Golding’s second collection of short non-fiction, and the last book be published before being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. Copies of this text bearing Golding’s signature are really quite uncommon. £150

WILLIAM GOLDING. Fire Down Below. Faber, London 1989. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the half-title. 8vo. 313pp. A little tanning to paperstock and a tiny trace of spotting to top edge. A very good copy in dust wrapper, just a little rubbed at the head of the spine panel. The third and final volume of the author’s To the Ends of the Earth trilogy, preceded by the Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage (1980) and Close Quarters (1987). £65

ALASDAIR GRAY. Old Men in Love. John Tunnock’s Posthumous Papers. With a title page design and decorations by the author. Bloomsbury, London 2007. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the front free endpaper. 8vo. 311pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £30

MARK HADDON. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. David Fickling, Oxford 2003. The edition - the children’s issue, which was published simultaneously with the Jonathan Cape ‘adult issue’. This copy signed by the author by way of a title-specific sticker affixed to the title page. 8vo. 271pp. A fine copy of the author’s Whitbread Book Award winning novel, in fine dust wrapper. £50

ALAN HARRINGTON. The Revelations of Dr. Modesto. A novel. Alfred A.Knopf, New York 1955. First edition – a presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author: “To Milt Kerr. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, thanks so much for helping support this ‘savage and cynical’ book. Please remember that the writer has become a bit easier to get along with, partly because of his association with you. Alan”. 8vo. 256pp. Spine ends just a little rubbed. A selection of relevant newspaper clippings has been pasted to the front pastedowns and flyleaves, these now somewhat browned in places from the paste. Some off-set browning to two adjacent text leaves from where another clipping was once stored. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little dust marked and edge worn with some loss to the spine ends and corner tips, and a lengthy crease of the spine panel. The author’s first book, a satirical take on 1950s American conformity. Harrington was a friend of Jack Kerouac and appeared in On the Road, as ‘Hal Hingham’ – also the name of the protagonist of this novel. £175

L.P.HARTLEY. The Travelling Grave and Other Stories. James Barrie, London 1951. The first UK edition – this copy fondly inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 288pp. A very good copy in dust wrapper, the rear panel a little dust soiled and with several slivers of loss from the spine panel ends and some internal repairs. The base of the front flap has been clipped, but the price remains intact. Twelve mystery/fantasy/horror tales, three of which are hitherto unprinted (this particular selection was first issued in the US in 1948 – his first American-issued collection of fantastic tales). £150

VIOLET HUDSON. Jean-Louis Curtis. The Silken Ladder. Translated by Violet Hudson & E.B.Behrens. Secker & Warburg, London 1957. First English edition. 8vo. Tips of two corners slightly bumped. A bright copy in slightly rubbed and marked dust wrapper. Inscribed by the translator to Mavis Eurich and with a covering typedletter, signed: "I thought you would find 'The Silken Ladder' interesting. I found it remarkable and some of it very original. There are many beautiful and true passages and, indeed, the book is strewn with them. it was frightfully difficult to translate". £25

ALDOUS HUXLEY. The Olive Tree and Other Essays. Chatto & Windus, London 1936. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 160 numbered copies signed by the author (this being #159). 8vo. 303pp. Buckram with bevelled edges and a gilt top edge. Backstrip lightly faded and with a small splash of staining to the upper board. Very good indeed, internally in fine state. £175

C.H.B.KITCHIN. The Book of Life. A novel. Peter Davies, London 1960. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author: “For Roger [Senhouse], with much gratitude for his kindness to me over so many years, from Clifford April ‘60”. 8vo. 211pp. Just of touch of very light spotting to the margin of the front pastedown and following leaf and cloth lightly rubbed at the head of the spine. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, chafed at spine ends and corner tips with several tiny slivers of loss and some dust soiling to the rear panel. Throughout the text, beginning at page 131 where she is introduced, the author has struck-through the character name ‘Aunt Alice’ and inked in ‘Violet’ instead. There are five instance of this correction: presumably either a little joke between Kitchin and Senhouse, or an indication of the basis of the character. £150

Senhouse was a noted translator (primarily of Gide and Colette), bibliophile and Bloomsburyite, for many years the head of Secker & Warburg who had published Kitchin’s previous novel, ‘Ten Pollitt Place’. 

JOHN LANCHESTER. The Debt to Pleasure. Picador, London 1996. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 231pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The author’s first book, a tour de force narrated by the unforgettable erudite gastronome Tarquin Winot; and rightful winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Whitbread Book Award for first novel. £30

JOE R.LANSDALE. Act of Love. Kinnell Publications, London 1989. The first UK and first casebound edition of the author’s debut novel (originally published in the US in 1981, but not appearing in hardback format until this British edition). This copy inscribed by the author on the title page and with a hand-written card laid-in. 8vo. 301pp. A hint of tanning to paperstock, else in fine state with fine dust wrapper. £50

JOE R.LANSDALE. By Bizarre Hands. Stories. With an introduction by Lewis Shiner and illustrations by Mark A.Nelson. Mark V.Ziesing, California 1989. The first trade edition of the author’s first collection of short fiction – this copy boldly inscribed by the author on the half-title and with a signed type written letter from the author laid-in. 8vo. 246pp. With decorated endpapers, a title page design and nine plates. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at the head of the spine panel. Sixteen stories, mostly reproduced from the pages of assorted pulp anthologies and magazines, with two hitherto unprinted and one appearing in its entirety here for the first time. £50

JOHN LE CARRÉ. The Clandestine Muse. The G.Harry Prouder Memorial Lecture delivered by John Le Carré at Johns Hopkins University on May 20, 1986. Charles Seluzicki Fine Books, Portland 1986. First edition – limited to 250 signed copies specially bound and printed at the Janus Press, Vermont for Charles Seluzicki Fine Books, Portland, Oregon. Unpaginated. Sewn into stiff-paper wrappers with handsome integral marbled paper dust wrapper. In fine state. £250

LAURIE LEE. The Firstborn. The Hogarth Press, London 1964. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the front endpaper. Slim 8vo. Five pages of text accompanied by five full-page photographs taken by the author. Extreme upper edge of boards lightly spotted with some additional spotting to the endpapers and several preliminary leaves. A very good copy in dust marked and lightly chafed and soiled price-clipped dust wrapper, with a single short closed tear. ‘Guido’ Morris-designed former owner bookplate to front pastedown. Written originally for publication in the Evening Standard, this brief yet charming celebration of his daughter Jessie (“she was born in the autumn, and was a late fall in my life”) is not without controversy, neglecting as it does his first daughter Yasmin born out of wedlock twenty-four years previously. (Yasmin herself was extremely understanding about it, writing later “I might have felt different if my mother had lived with Laurie and I’d known him on a personal basis as Jessy did. I think Laurie had an extremely conventional idea of honour and propriety. He was married now, and this was their firstborn. His relationship with my mother was something quite other”). £125

LAURIE LEE. Two Women. A Book of Words and Pictures. Andre Deutsch, London 1983. The suppressed first issue of the first edition, which was subsequently recalled and pulped due to the inclusion of a double-spread nude photograph of Lee’s wife. This copy signed by the author on the title-page. Illustrated endpapers. Lavishly illustrated with nearly eighty photographs by the author, many in colour, full-page or double-spread, of his wife and daughter Jessie, accompanied by a charming text detailing his experiences of marriage and fatherhood. A light crease to the tip of the front endpaper, else a fine copy in fractionally edge-worn dust wrapper. £80

ANDREA LEVY. Small Island. Review, London 2004. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 441pp. The merest hint of near-invisible spotting to top edge, else in fine state with fine dust wrapper. The author's acclaimed fourth novel, winner of the Whitbread, Orange and Commonwealth Writer's Prizes. £50

COLUM MCCANN. Transatlantic. Bloomsbury, London 2013. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 298pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The author’s sixth novel. £35

JOHN MASEFIELD. Salt-Water Ballads. Grant Richards, London 1902. First edition of the author’s first book – this copy inscribed on the front free endpaper: “From John Masefield, with his good wishes Dec 23 1902”. Laid in is a hand written card from Masefield written in 1931 to one R.L.Foster, returning an offered photograph as impractical for an illustration for a forthcoming book. A copy of the photograph concerned is also enclosed, as is a newspaper clipping showing Masefield’s original plea for material for his book on H.M.S.Conway. Ownership details of the recipient of Masefield’s card neatly inked to the front free endpaper. 8vo. 112pp. Original publisher’s blue buckram, now considerably faded, lettered in gold at spine. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Spine ends lightly rubbed and with a small indentation to the backstrip and fore edges, suggesting the placement of an elastic band. A touch of spotting to preliminary and concluding leaves. A nice crisp copy of an uncommon book of which 500 copies were printed. Simmons 1. £650

STANLEY MIDDLETON. Holiday. Oak Tree Press, ‘First Chapter’ series, Fyfield 2007. First edition thus. One of 185 copies (out of a total edition of 350 copies) printed on Maxi Silk paper, signed by the author and with a specially written foreword. 42pp. Teal cloth with paper title labels. Includes a delightful watercolour by the author.  Two or three very light marks to cloth, else in fine state save for the faint ghost of somewhat overbold former dealer pencilled notations to flyleaf. No dust wrapper, as issued. A handsomely designed signed reissue of the first chapter of Middleton’s Booker Prize winner novel (he shared the prize in 1974 with Nadime Gordimer). £65

ADRIAN MITCHELL. The Bodyguard. Jonathan Cape, London 1970. First edition – a presentation copy, inscribed by the author: “For John [Conroy] with love and many thanks for Teddy in Woman Overboard. Hoping to work with you again next year! Adrian. Peace 1988” and closing with his familiar elephant drawing. (The inscription relates to John Conroy’s performance as Theodore Custer in Mitchell’s 1988 version of Lope de Vega’s play Woman Overboard). 8vo. 187pp. Publisher’s vibrant maroon stain to top edge. A fine copy in fine price-clipped dust wrapper designed by Ken Sprague. The author’s fourth book and second novel, a dystopian black comedy set in the 1980s (and still strikingly relevant). £30

JOHN MORTIMER. Like Men Betrayed. Collins, London 1953. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Some spotting to preliminary leaves, top- and fore-edge, occasionally encroaching to extremities of leaf margins. Tiny scuff to tip of front endpaper. A very nice, bright copy in like dust wrapper, lightly spotted at rear panel, flaps and internally. The author’s fourth book. £35

J.B.MORTON (i.e. ‘Beachcomber’). 1933 and Still Going Wrong! With drawings by Nicholas Bentley. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1932. First edition – the dedication copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper: “To my darling Mary with all my heart from John”. 4to. 84pp. Some light fox-spotting to half a dozen preliminary and concluding leaves and evidence of a little damp soiling to the rear board. A bright if slightly dusty copy in tanned and spotted dust wrapper, chipped at the spine ends with a little loss and with some minor corresponding signs of damp to the rear panel. A selection of twenty-two satirical poems (Straight-Bat Barrington, The Debasing Influence of a Good Child, Gratuitous Advice to a Lady Who is Kind to Cats, etc.), with a printed dedication To My Wife. Morton met and married Mary O’Leary, an Irish doctor, in 1927. They lived happily together until Mary’s death in 1974, a fact Morton never fully adjusted to, believing in his confusion that she was still alive and even insisting on addressing all of the ladies in his eventual nursing home as ‘Mary’. £450

JOYCE CAROL OATES. Beasts. Orion, London 2003. The first UK edition (originally published in the US in previous year). This copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 138pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A novella set in a New England college town in the 1970s. £25

JOYCE CAROL OATES. Rape. A Love Story. Atlantic Books, London 2005. The first UK edition (originally published in the US in 2003). This copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 1648pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £25

ORHAN PAMUK. My Name is Red. Translated from the Turkish of Benim Adım Kırmızı by Erdağ M.Göknar. Faber, London 2001. The English edition – preceding the US edition. This copy signed by the author on the title page. Card wrappers (never issued in the UK in casebound format). A fine unread copy in fine dust wrapper. The author’s sixth novel, but the fourth to be published in English. The winner of multiple awards, the book established Pamuk’s international reputation and contributed to his selection as Nobel laureate five years later. £200

ORHAN PAMUK. Other Colours. Essays and a Story. Translated from the Turkish of Öteki Renkler by Maureen Freely. Faber, London 2007. First UK edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 433pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The author’s first collection of non-fiction: a three-page preface precedes a selection of over seventy essays, plus the short story My Father’s Suitcase. £35

LAURA RIDING. Four Unposted Letters to Catherine. Hours Press, Paris [1930]. First edition, limited to 200 copies handset and printed by Frazier-Soye and numbered (#87) and signed by the author. 8vo. 50pp. Leather-backed boards featuring a striking Surrealist design by Len Lye. Tipped-in dedicatory leaf. Spine ends rubbed and the tip of one corner bumped. A tiny hint of spotting to the front endpaper. Very good indeed. Former owner name plate pated to the head of the front pastedown. A series of essays in the form of letters to Catherine Graves, the eight-year-old daughter of Robert Graves and his first wife Nancy Nicholson, written by the poet and long-term friend of the couple. £300

SALMAN RUSHDIE. The Moor’s Last Sigh. Jonathan Cape, London 1995. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 434pp. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, just very lightly rubbed at top edge. The author’s Whitbread Award-winning fifth novel. £20

SALMAN RUSHDIE. The Ground Beneath her Feet. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1999. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the half-title and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 575pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The author’s sixth novel, a variation on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth set in a fictional world parallel with our own, and reintroducing a number of characters and settings from his previous novels £25

SALMAN RUSHDIE. Joseph Anton. A Memoir. Jonathan Cape, London 2012. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Large 8vo. 636pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. An account of the author’s nine-year period in-hiding under the assumed name ‘Joseph Anton’ (from Conrad and Chekhov). £35

SACHEVERELL SITWELL. Agamemnon’s Tomb. A poem. The Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1972. The first separate edition (this poem originally appeared in the 1933 sequence Canons of Giant Art). One of a deluxe issue of 85 signed copies printed on Batchelor hand-made paper (out of a total edition of 265). Fifteen unpaginated leaves of printed text, sewn into plain card wrappers with a handsome decorated dust wrapper. Wrappers lightly browned and with a little additional browning and miscellaneous marking to endpapers. Corners a little creased. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper.  £35

JAMES STEPHENS. Theme and Variations. The Fountain Press, New York 1930. First edition, limited to 892 signed and numbered copies (850 of which were for sale), printed on hand-made paper at The Curwen Press. Slim 8vo. 31pp. Emerald smooth-weave cloth with a gold-stamped decoration. Fore- and bottom edge untrimmed. In fine state with cardboard slipcase. A short introductory verse followed by eighteen poems. £30

JULIAN SYMONS. The Modern Crime Story. The Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1980. The deluxe issue of the first edition, one of twenty-five signed copies (out of a total edition of 125). 25pp sewn into card wrappers with an integral marbled dust wrapper (the un-signed issue was bound in plain green wrapper). The text of Symons’ December 1975 lecture at York University, Toronto, here very slightly revised. A hint of minor wear to spine ends, but thereafter in fine state. £35

DONNA TARTT. The Little Friend. Bloomsbury, London 2002. First UK edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 555pp. Ribbon place marker. The merest hint of tanning to paperstock, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, with a touch of discolouration to spine panel, a hint of wear to spine ends and a single tiny indentation. The author’s second novel, published a decade after her debut, The Secret History. £40

PAUL THEROUX. London Snow. A Christmas Story. With wood engravings by John Lawrence. Michael Russell, Salisbury 1979. First edition, limited to 450 numbered copies signed by both the author and artist. Slim 8vo. 50pp. Decorated cloth. With a handsome wood engraved frontispiece, a title page decoration, and five header pieces by Lawrence. In fine state. No dust wrapper called for, but housed in the original unprinted tissue protector, this last very slightly defective. Apparently the first of any of Theroux’s books to be published in a signed limited edition. £75

COLM TÓIBÍN. The South. Serpent’s Tail, London 1990. The correct first edition of the Tóibín’s first novel, issued as a paperback original. This copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 238pp. Card wrappers with French flaps. A small area of surface abrasion to the head of the spine, else in fine state. £60

COLM TÓIBÍN. The Blackwater Lightship. Picador, London 1999. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 273pp. A touch of bruising to spine ends, else in fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, lightly chafed at the head of the spine panel. The author’s fourth novel, shortlisted for The Booker Prize. £50

COLM TÓIBÍN. Mothers and Sons. Picador, London 2006. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 309pp. Nine stories, the author’s first collection of short fiction. £35

COLM TÓIBÍN. The Empty Family. Stories. Viking, London 2010. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 214pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Nine short stories, the author’s second collection of short fiction. £35

MICHAEL TOLKIN. The Player. Faber, London 1988. First UK edition - this copy inscribed by the author on the title page. 8vo. Poor-quality paperstock really quite tanned as is invariably the case with Faber publications of this period, else a very crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, a little creased at head of spine panel and with a single tiny nick. Tolkin's first book, a splendid Hollywood novel partly based on the author's own frustrated screenwriting experiences. Tolkin adapted it for the screen four years later, winning the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay in the process and the film was superbly directed by a revitalised Robert Altman and featured a cast comprising just about the whole of tinseltown. £20

ALAN WALL. A to Z. A novella. Colophon Press, London 1997. First edition, one of a limited issue of 50 casebound signed and numbered copies with a holograph quotation from the text (out of a total edition of 206 copies). With two handsome vignettes by Philip Byrne. In fine state with original unprinted acetate protector. £25

ROBERT JAMES WALLER. The Bridges of Madison County. A novel. Heinemann, London 1993. The first UK casebound edition - this copy signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Small 8vo. 170pp. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a tiny crease to the base of the front flap. Waller's debut novel became one of the top-selling books of the twentieth century and was successfully filmed by Clint Eastwood in 1995. Originally issued in the UK as a paperback under the title Love in Black and White, this curiously uncommon casebound issue appeared later the same year, reinstating the author's photographs which the paperback issue had omitted. £95

COLIN WILSON. Religion and the Rebel. Victor Gollancz, London 1957. First edition of Wilson’s second book – this copy boldly inscribed by the author on the front endpaper and dated 1976. 333pp. Top edge dust marked. Quite a crisp and bright copy in slightly dusty dust wrapper, lightly tanned at spine panel and a little chipped at head of spine with several tiny slivers of loss. Small label partially removed from front wrapper flap. £50

COLIN WILSON. The Space Vampires. Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, London 1976. First edition – this copy boldly inscribed by the author to John [Crabbe]  and with Crabbe’s signature also added. Demy 8vo. Some spotting to top edge and a little bruising and damage to extreme outer margin of a dozen leaves. A very good copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, just fractionally chafed at head of spine panel and with the publisher’s red spine lettering a shade or two faded. £50

R.D.WINGFIELD. Frost at Christmas. Constable, London 1989. First UK edition of Wingfield’s first book – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 284pp. The merest trace of tanning to leaf margins and a short crease to one corner of the rear free endpaper. In virtually fine state with fine dust wrapper. The first of the author’s Inspector Frost mysteries, originally written in 1972 at the prompting of Macmillan (and spurred on by a non-refundable advance of £50), the manuscript was promptly rejected, before eventually being published in Canada in 1984. This UK edition followed some five years later and the Yorkshire Television adoptions staring David Jason appeared soon after. £350