Clearwater Books

P.S.ALLFREE. Hawks of the Hadhramaut. Robert Hale, London, 1967. First edition. 8vo. 192pp. Illustrated with twenty photographs and a map. A lovely crisp copy in very lightly chafed, stained and edge worn dust wrapper, just a little spotted at rear panel and internally. The author's second book, an account of the year and a half he spent as political officer amongst the Bedouin in Arabia's 'Empty Quarter'. £35

DIANA ATHILL. A Florence Diary. Granta, London 2016. First edition. Small 8vo. 64pp. With ten black and white photographic plates. A bump to the head of the backstrip, else in fine state with dust wrapper, with a touch of very minor corresponding creasing to the spine panel ends. A diary of the author’s two-week trip to Florence in August 1947. £15

JULIAN W.BILBY. Nanook of the North. Arrowsmith, London 1925. First edition. 318pp. Ribbed green cloth lettered in gold at spine and with a blind-stamped border to the upper board. Illustrated with a frontispiece and twenty-eight photographic plates taken from Robert Flaherty’s celebrated 1922 film of the same name. Tips of two corners bumped and several snags to the cloth at head and base of the backstrip. A little spotting to preliminary leaves, a tiny closed tear to the head of the title page and a small corner of one text leaf missing but no text is impacted. Handsome former owner bookplate. Two rectangular pieces have been clipped from the front endpaper, presumably to excise former details. Quite a bright copy. “The present volume gives I words the life-story of a typical Eskimo…The author has lived amongst the Central Eskimo for many years, and this book is the outcome of his knowledge acquired from close observation and personal friendship with the people” – Publisher’s note. £25

ROBERT BYRON. Europe in the Looking-Glass. Reflections of a Motor Drive from Grimsby to Athens. George Routledge & Sons Ltd., London 1926. First edition. 8vo. 229pp. The backstrip faded and with a touch of much lighter uneven fading to the margins of the rear board and a small area of light soiling to the base of the upper board. Top edge dust soiled and with a touch of spotting, also to the fore edge and, very lightly, to half a dozen preliminary leaves. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. The author’s first book, a splendid travelogue with the increasingly relevant closing lines: “The world seemed larger now than it had done in 1909. Private school, public school, university; intermittent trips abroad, intermittent Wiltshire; and last of all this tour, had all intervened. Leaning forward to warm my hands over the logs, I experienced a new price of race: the pride of being, as well as English, European”. £325

DONALD CAMERON. Sons of El Dorado. Venezuelan Adventure. With drawings by Peter Edwards. Longmans, London 1968. First edition. 8vo. 215pp. A little light spotting to top edge and just a hint of light partial browning to endpapers. A very good copy in fine pictorial dust wrapper. The author’s second book, an account of several month period he spent teaching English in Caracas, followed by just under a year of diamond prospecting in the steaming forests of the Interior. £15

BRUCE CHATWIN. In Patagonia. Jonathan Cape, London 1977. First edition of Chatwin's desirable first book. 8vo. 204pp. Map-illustrated endpapers with a frontispiece map and fourteen captioned photographs by the author. Contemporary former owner gift inscription inked to the head of the half-title. Very good indeed, but lacking the dust wrapper. The author's first book – an account of his six-month travels in Patagonia beginning in December 1974. Winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the E.M.Forster Award. £50

NEGLEY FARSON. Caucasian Journey. Evans Brothers Ltd., ‘Windows on the World’ series, London 1951. First edition, preceding the US edition by seven years. 8vo. 154pp. With map-illustrated endpapers, a photographic frontispiece and sixteen full-page black and white photographic plates, all bar one taken by the author. A dash of spotting to the top- and fore edge. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, which is a little dust soiled, chafed and rubbed, with several short closed tears and one or two tiny fractions of loss. An account of the author’s 1929 expedition to the mountains of the western Caucasus. "The record of an unrepeatable journey - adventurous, wry and robustly evocative" – Colin Thubron. £35

HENNY HARALD HANSEN. Daughters of Allah. Among Moslem Women in Kurdistan. Translated from the Dutch of Allah’s Døtre by Reginald Spink. George Allen & Unwin, London 1960.  The first English edition. 8vo. 191pp. With a portrait frontispiece, twelve captioned photographs, two maps and various chapter header line drawings. A lovely crisp copy in dust wrapper, marred by a little dust soiling to the white rear panel, and with a touch of chafing and fraying to the spine ends. An account of the author’s experiences living amongst the Moslem women of “the most turbulent tribes of the Middle East”. £30

HEINRICH HARRER. Seven Years in Tibet. Translated from the German by Richard Graves and with an introduction by Peter Fleming. Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1953. The First English edition. 8vo. xiii, 288pp. With a colour frontispiece, one double-spread map and twenty-fine black and white photographs, mostly full-page or double-spread. A little fading to the publisher’s top edge stain, and a little spotting to the edges and endpapers. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little spotted and chafed at the natural folds, and with some nicks, creasing and several tiny fractions of loss from the upper edge. £175

THOR HEYERDAHL. The Tigris Expedition. In Search for Our Beginnings. George Allen & Unwin Ltd.,  London 1980. First edition. This copy signed by the author on the half-title and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 333pp. With colour map-illustrated endpapers and scores of colour photographs. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. An account of the author’s five-month Red Sea voyage in a reed boat, initiated to demonstrate that trade and migration could have linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley Civilization. Uncommon with the author’s signature. £95

KENNETH HOPKINS. A Trip to Texas. Macdonald, London 1962. First edition. 8vo. 214pp. With a frontispiece and 25 plates of photographs and illustrations. A strip of moisture marking to the head of the boards, and some spotting to the free endpapers. A good copy in lightly spotted, rubbed and dust marked dust wrapper. An account of the author’s US travels and adventures (“from New York to The Panhandle and back again”), whilst on a six-month secondment to the University of Texas in Austin. £10

NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS. Travels in Greece (Journey to the Morea). Translated from the Greek by F.A.Reed, with photographs by Alexander Artemakis, and a title page drawing by Katerina Wilczynski. Bruno Cassirer, Oxford 1966. First UK edition, utilising the same translation as the US edition which appeared a year earlier under the title Journey to the Morea. 8vo. 190pp. With sixteen captioned black and white photographs. Edges lightly spotted. A virtually fine copy in fractionally chafed and dust soiled dust wrapper. Kazantzakis’s journals detailing various travels in his beloved home country. £25

THOMAS KENEALLY. The Place Where Souls are Born. A Journey to the Southwest [of America]. With an introduction by Jan Morris. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1992. The first UK edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page to an un-named recipient and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 249pp. Cloth-backed paper boards. Illustrated with a double-spread map. Front pastedown lifting in one small area, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. An account of Keneally’s travels from the Rocky Mountains to the Mexican border. £25

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. The Traveller's Tree. A Journey through the Caribbean Islands. John Murray, London 1950. First edition. Large 8vo. 403pp + 50 pages of unpaginated photographic plates. With an illustrated frontispiece and sixty-one photographs by A.Costa [i.e. Costa Achillopoulos], plus a double-spread sketch-map by H.W.Hawes. Edges lightly spotted. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, chafed with a little loss to spine ends and corner tips and with two short tears and several light accompanying creases. Former owner bookplate and accompanying inked inscription to the front free endpaper. £350

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. The Traveller's Tree. A Journey through the Caribbean Islands. John Murray, London 1950. First edition. Large 8vo. 403pp + 50 pages of unpaginated photographic plates. With an illustrated frontispiece and sixty-one photographs by A.Costa [i.e. Costa Achillopoulos], plus a double-spread sketch-map by H.W.Hawes. Cloth lightly marked in one or two places and with just a touch of spotting to several preliminary leaves. A very good copy of Fermor's celebrated debut, housed in a price-clipped dust wrapper with several short jagged tears and a little accompanying creasing, and several small portions of loss from the head of the spine panel, and a larger area of loss from the base. £250

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. Mani. Travels in the Southern Peloponnese [and] Roumeli. Travels in Northern Greece. John Murray, London 1958 and 1966. First editions of Leigh Fermor’s celebrated duo of Greek travelogues. Individual volume description as follows: Mani. Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958). First edition. 8vo. xiii, 320pp. Illustrated with photographs, one map, and with a splendid John Craxton frontispiece and a title page decoration. The top- and fore edge lightly spotted and dust soiled, and with a trace of very light partial toning to the free endpapers. A lovely bright copy in the pictorial John Craxton-designed colour dust wrapper, price-clipped and lightly rubbed and nicked at the spine panel ends with several tiny slivers of loss, several short closed edge-tears, and some spotting and chafing. Roumeli. Travels in Northern Greece (1966). First edition. 8vo. viii, 248pp. With twenty photographs and a double-spread sketch map by John Craxton printed on different paperstock. Top- and fore edge lightly spotted and dust soiled, and with a little partial toning and spotting to the half-title and to the final index leaf. A trace of off-setting from the dust wrapper design to the backstrip cloth. A very good in the splendid John Craxton-designed dust wrapper, very lightly toned at the spine panel and with some spotting and staining to the rear panel. £200

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. Between the Woods and the Water. On Foot to Constantinople from The Hook of Holland: The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates. John Murray, London 1986. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the front free endpaper. 8vo. 248pp. With a double-spread map printed on green paper. Some light off-set browning to front free endpaper where a newspaper clipping was once stored, but otherwise a fine copy in the delightful John Craxton dust wrapper with just the tiniest hint of wear to the head of the spine panel. The second part of Fermor's celebrated trilogy, following A Time of Gifts (1977) and preceding the posthumously published The Broken Road (2013). £200

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. Three Letters from the Andes. John Murray, London 1991. First edition. 8vo. 118pp. With a map, several illustrations and a small title-page design by John Craxton who also contributes a splendid dust wrapper illustration. A fine copy with virtually fine pictorial dust wrapper, marred only by a trace of dust soiling to the margins of the rear panel. "This was a private account of an Andean journey organised and led by Robin Fedden in 1971. As I had no particular task during the journey, except looking after the Primus stove, I wrote down a rough and ready description of our doings in the form of three long letters to my wife". £15

NORMAN LEWIS. A Dragon Apparent. Travels in Indo-China. Jonathan Cape, Londonn 1951. First edition. 8vo. 317pp. Illustrated with a colour frontispiece, a multi-panel fold-out map and twenty-seven photographs taken by the author. A tiny hint of wear to several corner tips and just a hint of very light marginal spotting to a dozen or so leaves. A very good copy in slightly rubbed and chafed dust wrapper, with two tiny edge-tears and a little accompanying creasing. Former owner bookplate to the front free endpaper. The first volume of his trilogy of South-East Asian travelogues, which was completed by Golden Earth (1952) and A Goddess in the Stones (1991). £75

ROBIN MAUGHAM. Nomad. Chapman & Hall, London 1947. First edition. This copy humorously inscribed by the author on the half-title: “For Andy, once again to get his - - sideburns CUT. With love from Robin 23 Nov 1957”. 8vo. 243pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. Printed on lesser quality economy wartime paperstock, yet still a very crisp copy in toned, rubbed and lightly spotted dust wrapper, with a short internally repaired snag to the rear panel.  The author’s second book, an account of his travels in the Levant, and including encounters with Glubb Pasha and Ernest Altounyan (the basis for the “Swallow’s” father in Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, and a close friend of T.E.Lawrence). £50

PAUL MORAND. Hester Sainsbury. Earth Girdled. Translated from the French of Rien que la Terre by Charles-Emile Roche and with woodcuts by Hester Sainsbury. Alfred A.Knopf, London 1928.  First English edition. 8vo. 175pp. Quarter cloth with marbled paper sides. With a small title page decoration in red, six full-page woodcuts and one chapter header decoration, all by Hester Sainsbury. Several text leaves uncut. Free endpapers lightly and partially browned and with just a hint of wear to the corner tips. Former owner name neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper. With ten instances of light pencilled marginalia, and two more in ink. A very good copy in dust wrapper, nicked at the upper edge with several tiny fractions of loss and with some careful internal repair. Both wrapper flaps have been neatly severed from the main body of the wrapper, and each reattached with a single tiny piece of tape. A series of travel essays from the noted Modernist and Imagist (and later Nazi collaborator), original published in France in 1926.  £50

DERVLA MURPHY. A Place Apart. John Murray, London 1978. First edition. 8vo. 290pp. With a photographic frontispiece and one map. The fore edge and free endpapers lightly spotted. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, with a little creasing to the base of the spine panel. The author’s curiously uncommon seventh book, an account of her bicycle trip to Northern Ireland during the height of The Troubles. Winner of the 1979 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. £50

DERVLA MURPHY. Cameroon with Egbert. John Murray, London 1989. First edition. This copy signed by the author on the title page with her printed name struck-through, and with her affectionate contemporary presentation inscription to her great friend Brendan [Lehane] inked to the front free endpaper. 8vo. 282pp. With a double-spread map and fourteen black and white photographs. Top edge lightly spotted and the tips of two corners very gently bumped. Very good indeed in price-clipped dust wrapper with a tiny hint of creasing to the upper edge. £75

REDMOND O’HANLON. Congo Journey. Hamish Hamilton, London 1996. First edition of the author’s third travelogue; an account of his trip across Congo-Brazzaville in search of a legendary Congo dinosaur. A presentation copy, inscribed by the author: “To David Stewart, a real traveller and scholar and bibliophile, with a big thank you. From Redmond, July 1997”. 8vo. 472pp. Illustrated with twenty-eight monochrome photographs and three maps. Boards very lightly marked and with a minor slant to the binding. A very good copy in fine dust wrapper. £35

F.D.OMMANNEY. South Latitude. Longmans Green, London 1938. First edition - this copy signed by the author. 8vo. 308pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. With a frontispiece and fifteen photographic plates. Binding cocked. Covers slightly grubby and bumped at one corner. Former owner bookplate to half-title. No jacket. £30

RICHARD A.VAN ORMAN. The Explorers. Nineteenth Century Expeditions in Africa and the American West. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1984. First edition. 8vo. 243pp. A tiny strip of narrow browning to endpapers, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. An authoritative account of the travels of numerous celebrated nineteenth century explorers, with chapters devoted to David Livingstone, Richard Burton, Lewis and Clark, Mungo Park, Jedediah Smith, John Charles Frémont and others, drawn primarily from contemporary sources. £15

STEWART PEROWNE. The One Remains. [A Report from Jerusalem]. Hodder & Stoughton,  London 1954. First edition. 8vo. 192pp. With map-illustrated endpapers, one map and thirty-five captioned black and white photographs and reproductions. Some spotting to the edges, preliminary leaves and to some text leaf margins (mostly) throughout. A good sound copy in dust wrapper, a little rubbed, chafed and dust soiled with some internal taped repair.  A personal reflection on the “Eternal City”. £10

V.S.PRITCHETT. Marching Spain. Ernest Benn, London 1928. First edition, in apparently a later state binding with the spine lettering in gilt not black. 8vo. xiii, 224pp. With eight black and white photographs and one map in the text. Fore edge untrimmed. A strip of partial toning to one blank preliminary leaf, and also to the final text leaf. Very good indeed in the uncommon dust wrapper, with some toning, a little wear to the upper edge, a small splash of staining, and two inches of loss from the base of the spine panel. The author’s first book, recounting his three-hundred mile tramp through Spain. £150

JOHN RUSKIN. The Stones of Venice. Introductory Chapters and Local Indices for the use of Travellers while Staying in Venice and Verona. Complete in two volumes. Bernard Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1906. A new edition, utilizing Ruskin’s edited and abridged text from the ‘Traveller’s Edition’. 8vo. 333pp & 302pp. Presented in a handsome half-binding with decorated paper sides and gilt lettering and rule. Illustrated with seven plates. A lovely crisp set of Ruskin’s celebrated treatise on Venetian art and architecture, seen here as volumes 3870 and 3871 in the Tauchnitz ‘Collection of British Authors’ series. £35

JEREMY SCOTT. Dancing on Ice. Old Street Publishing, London 2008. First edition – this copy signed by the author and additionally inscribed: “For Judi. This chilly tale is best enjoyed when well-fed, warm and in bed. With love”. 8vo. 246pp. Illustrated with photographs. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little chafed at spine ends and tips of corners. Former owner name (the recipient of the author’s inscription) inked to the front endpaper. An account of the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition, written by the nephew of expedition leader Gino Watkins, also the son of one of his fourteen-man party (which included F.Spencer Chapman and Augustine Courtauld, the latter noted for his extraordinary five-winter-month solo-manning of a meteorological observation post in the interior of the Greenland ice pack). £25

TIM SEVERIN. In Search of Genghis Khan. With photographs by Paul Harris. Hutchinson, London 1993. Reprint, issued in the same year as the first edition. This copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 276pp. With map-illustrated endpapers, two double-spread maps and fifty-two captioned colour photographs. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, with just a touch of rubbing to the spine panel ends. An account of the author’s autumn 1989 exploits riding across Mongolia in the company of a band of Mongolia horsemen, re-enacting the feat of Genghis Khan’s courier riders. £20

ANTHONY SMITH. A Persian Quarter Century. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1979. First edition. 8vo. 192pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. With thirty-seven photographs. Minor scuff to front board, else a virtually fine copy in very good dust wrapper with a single tiny tear to upper rear panel. Neat inked name of former owner to front endpaper. £5

HENRY M.STANLEY. Through the Dark Continent; or The Sources of the Nile Around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London 1878. First edition, complete in two volumes. 8vo. xv, 522pp and ix, 566pp + xxxii publisher’s advertisements (dated April 1878). Original publisher’s brown cloth, gilt- and black lettered at the spine and upper boards with a double rule and brown and gilt stamped topographical design. With a different portrait frontispiece to each volume, 34 plates, 115 illustrations, and 10 maps including two large folding examples in pockets to the rear boards (one of which is a facsimile, and the other exhibiting some careful taped repair to some of the natural folds). Some bruising to the backstrip ends. Edges spotted and with a little discolouration to the rear board of the first volume. The protective frontispiece tissue absent from both volumes, resulting in some off-set browning from the plates to the adjacent title pages, and some spotting to the preliminary leaves and to very occasional leaves throughout. The outer rear hinge of the second volume slightly split (a result of the facsimile map being on slightly thicker paperstock). Some unsightly creasing to the final page of the publisher’s catalogue. A nice sound set of Stanley's account of his 1874-77 Central African expedition: a 7,000 mile trek exploring Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and the Lualaba and Congo rivers, and ultimately determining the source of the Nile. £500

FREYA STARK. East is West. John Murray, London 1945. First edition. 8vo. xxii, 218pp. Title page printed in black and red. With a photographic frontispiece, one map printed on thick green paperstock, and eighty-five photographs, mostly taken by the author. Just a touch of wear to the cloth at the extremities, and former owner details neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Printed on fractionally lesser quality wartime economy paperstock, yet still a very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, toned at the spine panel, and three or four small areas of edge-loss. Accounts of the author’s wartime experiences in Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Persia, where she served with the Diplomatic Corps. £35 

FREYA STARK. The Zodiac Arch. John Murray, London 1968. First edition. 8vo. 230pp. With a frontispiece self-portrait sketch and various wood-engraved decorations by Reynolds Stone. Endpapers lightly browned, and with some offsetting of the lettering from the wrapper flaps. Publisher’s green top edge stain slightly faded. A very good copy in good price-clipped dust wrapper, lightly chafed at two or three extremities, with a shot surface tear to the head of the rear panel, and some lifting of the publisher’s laminate in one or two small areas. A brief foreword by the author precedes thirty-five assorted travelling tales, all hitherto unprinted. £10

LAURENCE STERNE. A Sentimental Journey – Through France and Italy. Designed by Eric Gill (and printed in a type he composed specially for this book) with etchings by Denis Tegetmeier. The Limited Editions Club, High Wycombe 1936. The first edition with these illustrations, limited to 1,500 numbered copies, signed by Gill and Tegetmeier (this being #605). 4to. 136pp. Original publisher's decorated cloth with bevelled edges. Backstrip darkened, and with a touch of occasional marking to the boards. A little light browning to the endpapers. Neat former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. A very good copy in the original cloth-covered slipcase, chafed and a little marked in places and with a tanned, faded and slightly chipped paper spine label. No dust wrapper called for. £200

PAUL THEROUX. Fresh-Air Fiend. Travel Writings 1985-2000. Hamish Hamilton, London 2000. First edition. 8vo. 453pp. Leaf margins lightly tanned. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, with several tiny closed tears to the head of the spine panel. Over fifty of the author’s shorter travel pieces, the majority of which were hitherto unpublished in the UK. £15

WILFRED THESIGER. The Marsh Arabs. HarperCollins, London 2000. Reprint – this copy inscribed by the author on the half-title in a rather shaky hand and dated the year of publication. 8vo. Illustrated with three maps and fifty-four photographs by the author. Paperstock a little tanned, else a fine copy in lightly rubbed and fractionally dust marked dust wrapper. A scarce inscribed re-issue of Thesiger’s second book, an account of the eight years the author spent living with the indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq. Sadly, this re-issue omits about half of Thesiger’s superb photographs which appeared in the original 1964 edition. £150

WILFRED THESIGER. Visions of a Nomad. Collins, London 1987. First edition. 4to. 224pp. A little uneven offset browning to the front free endpaper where a newspaper clipping was once stored, and a trace of very light spotting to the top edge. A very good copy in fractionally rubbed price-clipped dust wrapper. Over one hundred and sixty of Thesiger’s superb photographs, predominantly full-page or double-spread and with many hitherto unpublished; plus a series of short introductory essays by the author. £35

WILFRED THESIGER. My Kenya Days. HarperCollins, London 1994. First edition. This copy signed by the author on the title page. Small 4to. xiv + 224pp. Illustrated with nearly 150 of the author’s monochrome photographs, plus one full-page map. In fine state with very good dust wrapper, lightly faded at the spine panel and with a touch of further uneven fading to the upper margin of the rear panel. A record of Thesiger’s thirty years living and travelling in Kenya. £125

WILFRED THESIGER. The Danakil Diary. Journeys Through Abyssinia 1930-1934. HarperCollins, London 1996. First edition. 8vo. xvii, 214pp. 8vo. Illustrated with two colour maps, forty-six photographs by the author, many hitherto unpublished, and with several of the author’s sketch maps in the text. A touch of tanning to paperstock and a tiny hint of spotting to the top edge. A virtually fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, lightly toned at the spine panel. £35

WILFRED THESIGER. Wilfred Thesiger in Africa. Edited by Christopher Morton and Philip N.Grover. HarperPress, London 2010. First edition, published to accompany a centenary exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum. 4to. 280pp. Illustrated with nearly two hundred photographs from Thesiger’s personal collection, many hitherto unpublished, and with essays by Alexander Maitland, Sir David Attenborough, Benedict Allen, Jeremy Coote, Elizabeth Edwards and Schuyler Jones. Two tiny indentations to the upper board else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. £20

MARK TWAIN. Life on the Mississippi. Chatto & Windus, London 1883. First edition in the correct first state binding, this UK issue preceding the American edition by a matter of days. 8vo. xxv, 561pp + xxxii publisher’s (first state) catalogue dated March 1883. Pictorial red cloth, gilt lettered at the spine and upper board. Patterned endpapers. With a tissue-protected frontispiece, and title page decoration and over three hundred illustrations as plates and in the text. The backstrip cloth very slightly faded. Some wear to the spine ends and just a touch more to the corner tips, and a strip of discolouration to the fore edge of the upper board. Fore edge lightly spotted, and with some spotting to several preliminary and concluding leaves. A good copy, really very crisp internally.  The author’s memoirs of his life as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, plus an account of his post-war river trip from New Orleans and Saint Paul. £225

EVELYN WAUGH. Labels. A Mediterranean Journal. Duckworth, London 1930. First edition of the author’s fourth book. 8vo. 206pp. With a frontispiece (drawn by the author), three pages of plates, a double-spread map and another map in the text. Cloth a little faded at the backstrip and at the margins of the rear board, and with a little marking and chafing to the upper board. Edges spotted and the endpapers browned, with a little more quite light spotting to preliminary and concluding leaves. Quite a crisp and bright copy in the uncommon dust wrapper, somewhat tanned, worn, chafed and nicked with some loss to the spine ends and the upper edge. Book Society Recommendation label affixed to the front panel, fitting in quite splendidly with the wrapper design. £300

RICHARD WRIGHT. Pagan Spain. The Bodley Head, London 1960. First UK edition. 8vo. 191pp. Just a hint of soiling to the top edge. Very good indeed in very lightly rubbed and dust soiled dust wrapper.  An account of the author’s two visits to Spain, recording encounters with aristocrats, intellectuals, priests, flamenco dancers, clerks, bull-fighters, pimps and prostitutes. £35

GAVIN YOUNG. Slow Boats to China. With illustrations by Salim. Hutchinson, London 1981. First edition. This copy inscribed by the author on the title page: “For Fred – (who?) – sorry, John – a memento of our talks about sea travel and its demise – and an appalling error. But even so – All best wishes from Gavin Young” (the ‘appalling error’ in question presumably being the mis-naming of the recipient). 8vo. 489pp. With map-illustrated powder-blue endpapers and various maps and drawings in the text. A virtually fine copy in fractionally marked dust wrapper, with a single tiny tear to one natural fold and a touch of very light accompanying creasing. An account of the author’s journeys from Greece to China using a variety of local waterborne transport, twenty-three vessels in all. £35

GAVIN YOUNG. From Sea to Shining Sea. A Present-Day Journey into America's Past. With illustrations by Jack McCarthy. Hutchinson, London 1995. First edition. 8vo. 297pp. Map-illustrated endpapers. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper. Former owner book plate to front pastedown. £10