Naughton, Bill: Alfie. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1966. First edition. 8vo., pp.208. Bright and clean within. Dark brown cloth, gilt title to spine. Top edge a little dusty, near fine. Some faint creases to dust jacket, slightly chipped at tail of spine, very good indeed. Alfie began life as a radio play called Alfie Elkins and His Little Life, first broadcast by the BBC in 1962. It was adapted for the stage in 1963, and debuted at the Mermaid Theatre before transferring the West End and, briefly, to Broadway. 1966 saw the appearance of both this novel and the celebrated film version starring Michael Caine in the title role. Ref: 54971show full image..
Nelson, E. Charles & Elliott. David J. (eds.): The Curious Mister Catesby: A "Truly Ingenious" Naturalist Explores New Worlds. Athens & London: The University of Georgia Press, 2015. First edition. Large format (287mm x 212mm), pp. xx, 424. Illustrations throughout. Hardback: brown cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. Small bumps to top corners, otherwise very good. Dust-jacket, two small tears to spine, otherwise very good. Edited for the Catesby Commemorative Trust by F. Charles Nelson and David J. Elliott. Foreword by Jane O. Waring. Ref: 54818
Origo, Iris: (Smith, Denis Mack, intro.:) War in Val d'Orcia. A Diary London: John Murray, 1984. Reissue, first edition thus. 8vo., pp.xvi, 239, [i]. Red cloth, gilt title to spine, near fine. Dust wrapper with a scratch travelling the width of the upper side but otherwise very good indeed. Reissue (with a new introduction by the historian Denis Mack Smith) of the wartime memoir of the writer and philanthropist Iris Origo (1902-1988), written from her home in rural Italy. The New York Times called the book "a remarkably moving document that, like the best of the elemental war stories, eventually becomes a statement about the unplanned nature and folly of war." (29th May 1984) Ref: 54653
Owen, Mrs. Henry: (Egerton, Mary Margaret, ed.:) The Illuminated Book of Needlework: The Illuminated Book of Needlework: Comprising Knitting, Netting, Crochet and Embroidery [...] Preceded by A History of Needlework, including An Account of the Ancient Historical Tapestries. (Bound with) The Illuminated Ladies' Book of Useful and Orn London: Henry G. Bohn, 1847. 8vo., pp. ix, [i], 405, [i], 114 + gilded and coloured additional title-page, with tissue guard, and 18 further colour plates across 13 leaves plus one further plate in black and white. With separate title-page and pagination at rear, The Illuminated Ladies' Book of Useful and Ornamental Needlework, with same publisher and date. Tiny faint spots here and there but clean and bright internally. Red cloth, spine ornately gilt, cliund debossed borders to boards, a.e.g. Endcaps slightly tattered, joints worn, endpaper split at rear hinge, a little worn but very good. To ffep, an inscription: 'Mrs Sutherland, In memory of dear Mrs Mayer - at rest Dec. 28th, 1884. New Year's Day, 1885.' To rear paste-down, small label of Bone and Son, binders of Fleet Street, London. A compilation by Mrs Owen of 'The Illuminated Book of Embroidery' (1847) and 'The Art of Needlework' (1840, here retitled 'A History of Needlework'). The combined book contains chapters on knitting, netting, crochet, and embroidery patterns, and was also issued as 'The Illuminated Ladies' Book of Useful and Ornamental Needlework'. Ref: 55077show full image..
Pevsner, Nikolaus: An Outline of European Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009. Revised edition. Large format (286mm x 227mm), pp. 256. Hardback: grey cloth, silver-lettered to spine. Dust-jacket. Light rubbing to edges of boards and creasing to edges of jacket, but still very good. First published in 1943 by Penguin Books. This revised edition now with a Preface and Postscript by Michael Forsyth. Ref: 54679
Pinter, Harold: The Dwarfs, A Novel. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. First, limited edition. Signed by the author. 8vo., pp.[x], 183, [i]. Lightly toned. Quarter pale terracotta cloth, gilt title to spine, marbled boards, near fine. With original glassine wrapper tattered at edges but whole. 'One of 150 numbered copies of the First Edition of The Dwarfs signed by the author and specially bound. No.49.' Signed beneath by Pinter. Ref: 54719show full image..
Pinter, Harold: [Fowles, John, foreword:] The Screenplay of The French Lieutenant's Woman. London: Jonathan Cape in association with Eyre Methuen, 1981. First UK edition, signed by John Fowles. 8vo., pp.xvi, 104. Black cloth, gilt title to spine. Endcaps a bit creased, endpapers lightly toned, very good indeed. Dust jacket a little creased at head and tail of spine, small bookseller's label stuck over price on inner flap, very good indeed. Signature of John Fowles to title-page. Two address ink stamps of a previous owner to front pastedown. Label of Serendip Books of Lyme Regis to front flap. Pinter wrote several screenplay adaptations of others' works, including The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The Trail (1993) and Sleuth (2007). This adaptation of Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman was nominated for an Oscar in 1981. Ref: 54986show full image..
Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury, 1999. First edition, third printing. 8vo., pp.317, [i]. Light toning, very slight separation between half-title and title. Pictorial boards. Top edge a little foxed, very good indeed. Dust jacket very mildly creased at ends of spine, near fine. Third instalment in the Harry Potter series. Ref: 54861show full image..
Sartre, Jean-Paul: Words. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1964. First UK edition, first printing. 8vo., pp.173, [i]. Dark brown cloth, gilt title to spine. Head-cap a little crumpled but still fine. Dust jacket tattered at top edge, price-clipped, rear flap creased, good. Translated by Irene Clephane and published in the same year as the first French edition (Mots). Ref: 54676
[Scott, Walter:] The Monastery. A Romance. London; Edinburgh: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; and for Archibald Cons 1820. First edition. 3 vols., 12mo., pp. [iv], 331, [i]; [iv], 333, [i]; [iv], 351, [i]. Each volume with its half-title; the second and third volumes each with a second half-title bound after the title-page. The misspelling 'attentoin' appears in volume one, in the final line of p.226; volume two has "Chapter II" on both p. 26 and p. 63, and "Chapter III" on pp. 89 and 123. A few spots and smudges, but very good. Near contemporary half brown calf, spines gilt terracotta and blue marbled boards, edges and endpapers. Rubbed, joints and edges worn, a few chips, very good. Ownership inscription of Robert Taylor in an old hand to the head of each title-page, though barely visible in vol. I. The first edition of The Monastery, in three volumes. Published with a print run of 10,000 and a price ?1 4s (?1.20). Like all the other Waverley novels before 1827, it was published anonymously. Ref: 54924show full image..
