First Editions by Top Authors

A first edition copy of The River War.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Winston Churchill (English).</li><li>Edited by F. Rhodes.</li><li>Illustrated by Angus McNeill.</li><li>The River War: An Historical Account Of The Reconquest Of The Sudan.</li><li>London:&nbsp;Longman, Green, and Co.,&nbsp;1899.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Both volumes feature frontispiece and illustrations throughout.</li><li>Bound in publisher's dark blue cloth with gilt lettering and decoration.</li></ul>

The River War

An inscribed first edition, first printing of A Game Of Thrones.<ul><li>George R.R. Martin (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Banta,&nbsp;1996.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>694 pages.</li><li>Inscribed by the author on the half-title page.</li><li>Spine silver with blue lettering, dust jacket protected in mylar covering, with price uncut.</li></ul>

A Game Of Thrones

A finely bound, first edition of A History Of The English Speaking Peoples.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4 volumes.</li><li>Winston Churchill (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Cassell &amp; Company,&nbsp;1956.</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in full red morocco with gilt-tooling on the covers and raised band spines, all edges gilt, with marbled endpapers with red morocco dentelles. </li></ul>

A History Of The English Speaking Peoples

A first English edition copy of A Tramp Abroad.<ul><li>Mark Twain (American).</li><li>London: Chatto &amp; Windus, 1880.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

A Tramp Abroad

A first edition copy of Mark Twain's novel&nbsp;Roughing It.<ul><li>Mark Twain (American).</li><li>Hartford, Connecticut:&nbsp;American Publishing Company,&nbsp;1872.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Roughing It

A first edition copy of The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress.<ul><li>Mark Twain (American).</li><li>Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1869.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress

A first edition copy of Sketches, New and Old.<ul><li>Mark Twain (American).</li><li>Hartford, Connecticut: The American Publishing Company, 1875.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Sketches, New And Old

A first American edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.<ul><li>Mark Twain (American).</li><li>New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A first edition of Dickens' Bleak House.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Bradbury and Evans, March 1852 – September 1853.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Bleak House

A first edition of Dickens' Hard Times.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>Hard Times. For these times.</li><li>London: Bradbury and Evans, 1854.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Hard Times

A first edition of Dickens' novel Little Dorrit.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Bradbury and Evans, December 1855-June 1857.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Little Dorrit

A first edition of Dickens' novel A Tale Of Two Cities.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, June-December 1859.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

 A Tale of Two Cities

A first edition of Charles Dickens The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby... Edited by "Boz."</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, April 1838 - October 1839.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

A first edition of Charles Dickens' The Adventures Of Oliver Twist.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Bradbury and Evans, January – October 1846.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

The Adventures Of Oliver Twist

First edition of Charles Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, April 1836 - November 1837.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club

A first edition of Dicken's David Copperfield.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Bradbury &amp; Evans, May 1849-November 1850.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

David Copperfield

The first edition of Dickens' Great Expectations.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman &amp; Hall, 1860-1861.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

Great Expectations

A first edition, first issue of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. </li><li>London: Chapman &amp; Hall, 1843.</li><li>Please note the image is a representative image of this item and not a photograph of the exact item available for purchase. For exact specifications, please Enquire.</li><li>Please note that availability of this item is subject to change. For details, please Enquire.</li></ul>

A Christmas Carol

A first edition, finely bound set of Churchill's History of English Speaking Peoples.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4 volumes.</li><li>Winston Churchill (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Cassell &amp; Co. Ltd.,&nbsp;1956-58.</li><li>Bound in full red morocco by Bayntun, with gilt-tooled signature on front cover and gilt-tooling on raised band spine, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers.</li></ul>

History of English Speaking Peoples

A first edition, first impression, trade-issue copy of Joyce’s last and most innovative prose work, Finnegans Wake.<ul><li>James Joyce (Irish).</li><li>London: Faber &amp; Faber, 1939.</li><li>Large octavo.</li><li>Bound in the publisher’s burgundy cloth, titles to spine gilt, with the unclipped dust jacket, housed in green morocco gilt solander box.&nbsp;</li></ul> One of 3,400 sets of sheets for the trade edition of Finnegans Wake which were printed for Faber. Of these, 2,255 were bound and sold at 25 shillings, 950 were destroyed by the publisher and the remaining were gratis copies. It is possible that the 950 discarded sets of sheets remained unsold because of the price, which Joyce believed was too high. "'A way alone aloved alost along the…' If Finnegans Wake is a key book, it is a key which needs a key" (Connolly). "His work is enriched by such large resources of invention and allusion that its total effect is infinite variety" (Harry Levin).

Finnegans Wake

A first edition, finely bound copy of The Raven and Other Poems.<ul><li>Edgar Allan Poe (American).</li><li>The Raven and Other Poems [and:] Tales.</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Wiley and Putnam,&nbsp;1845.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Raven with half title, "Wiley and Putnam's Library of American Books," name of stereotyper T. B. Smith on the title verso; Tales, third printing with three-line copyright.</li><li>Bound in three quarter blue morocco gilt, t.e.g., by Riviere &amp; Son.</li></ul> Students all over the world know of the title poem, and many know others as well: "The Conqueror Worm," "Eulalie," "Leonore," "To Helen," etc. "The most important volume of poetry that had been issued up to that time in America..." —Grolier American 56 A choice set of the major books published during Poe’s lifetime, BAL’s “reissue B,” issued by Wiley and Putnam in April 1846, comprising the first edition sheets of The Raven and The Tales in either second or third printing (here in BAL’s third printing, distinguishable by the three-line copyright notice). BAL notes that “impressions from the plates of several pages vary in an anomalous way. For instance, the first three letters of the last three lines of p. 160 appear both battered and intact within the three printings.” This copy has slight battering to “I” and “o” on p. 160, while the “v” is intact. The “E” in the running head on p. 187 is broken here (as in most copies of all printings. BAL cautions, “It is possible that the printings designated below as second and third are in fact two states of the same printing.” This copy is textually complete in both books, including the integral ads; the volume has been rebound without the separate gatherings of advertisements that followed the text.

The Raven and Other Poems

A first UK edition, first printing copy of C.S. Lewis'&nbsp;The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.<ul><li>C.S. Lewis (English, 1898-1963).</li><li>Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.</li><li>London: Geoffrey Bles, 1952.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>223 pages.</li><li>Dust jacket protected with a mylar covering, price uncut: "10s. 6d. net."</li></ul>

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

A first UK edition, first printing copy of C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian.<ul><li>C.S. Lewis (English, 1898-1963).</li><li>Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.</li><li>London: Geoffrey Bles, 1952.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>223 pages.</li><li>Dust jacket protected with a mylar covering, price uncut: "10s. 6d. net."</li></ul>

Prince Caspian: The Return To Narnia

A first edition, first printing copy of The Old Man and the Sea.<ul><li>Ernest Hemingway (American, 1899-1961).</li><li>New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>140 pages.</li><li>Blue and brown pictorial spine with black and tan text, with first state dust jacket, housed in custom blue cloth clamshell box with gilt lettering on blue leather spine label, price uncut "$3.00."</li><li>First state dust jacket indicated by brown lettering, blue tint on rear cover photo, "$3.00" price and "Jacket Design by A." on front flap.</li></ul>

The Old Man and the Sea

A first edition, second state copy of A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870).</li><li>London: Chapman &amp; Hall, 1843.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>166 pages.</li><li>Bound in publisher's original raw sienna cloth, stamped in blind and gilt with gilt title and wreath to spine and front cover, all edges gilt, pale yellow endpapers.</li></ul>

A first English language edition of de Tocqueville's Democracy in America.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Alexis de Tocqueville (French, 1805-1859)</li><li>Translated by Henry Reeve.</li><li>London:&nbsp;Saunders and Otley,&nbsp;1835.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavos.</li><li>With hand-colored foldout map in volume 2.&nbsp;</li><li>Both volumes with one leaf of ads in rear.</li><li>Bound in contemporary half brown leather with marbled paper boards, morocco labels with gilt lettering to spines.</li></ul>

Democracy in America

A signed, first edition copy of Go Set a Watchman.<ul><li>Harper Lee (American, 1926-2016).</li><li>London:&nbsp;William Heinemann,&nbsp;2015.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>278 pages.</li><li>Part of a limited first edition of 100, this being number 98.</li><li>Signed by Harper Lee on limitation page.</li><li>Bound in brown leather with brown text on spine and blackbird decoration on front cover, housed in publisher's green cloth box with black lettering, protected by publisher's cardboard box, gilt text block edges, silk ribbon bookmark, patterned brown and black endpapers.</li></ul>

Go Set a Watchman

A first trade edition of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination.<ul><li>Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849).</li><li>Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.</li><li>London: George G. Harrap &amp; Co., Ltd., 1935.</li><li>Small folio.</li><li>With 12 tissue guarded color plates and 17 others.</li><li>Bound in full black morocco, raised bands, gilt lettered spine, gilt skeleton and title to front cover, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt, by Zaensdorf for E. Joseph.</li></ul>

Tales of Mystery and Imagination

An illustrated, first edition copy of Churchill's Great Contemporaries.<ul><li>Winston Churchill (English, 1874-1965).</li><li>London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1937.</li><li>Bound in full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul>

Great Contemporaries

A first edition, first issue copy of the holiday classic&nbsp;A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand-colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in fine full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled and paneled in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt, by Sangorski &amp; Sutcliffe.</li></ul> Regarded as Dickens' most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) selling more than 6,000 copies in the few days leading up to Christmas. The work was extravagantly costly as Dickens for the first time (and incidentally his last) used color in the title-page and etchings, as he wanted to make the book a beautiful gift and to be a celebration of the Christmas spirit. After the initial success, Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated and repressed.

A first edition, second issue copy of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand-colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose-colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul> Regarded as Dickens' most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) selling more than 6,000 copies in the few days leading up to Christmas. The work was extravagantly costly as Dickens for the first time (and incidentally his last) used color in the title-page and etchings, as he wanted to make the book a beautiful gift and to be a celebration of the Christmas spirit. After the initial success, Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated and repressed.

A first edition, first issue copy of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand-colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled and paneled in gilt, front cover with gilt portrait of Dickens, rear cover with Dickens signature in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt, original cloth covers and green endpaper bound in by Bayntun.</li></ul> Regarded as Dickens' most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) selling more than 6,000 copies in the few days leading up to Christmas. The work was extravagantly costly as Dickens for the first time (and incidentally his last) used color in the title-page and etchings, as he wanted to make the book a beautiful gift and to be a celebration of the Christmas spirit. After the initial success, Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated and repressed.

 A Christmas Carol

A first edition, first printing of this mammoth anthology, including Hemingway's only play and four previously uncollected stories.<ul><li>Ernest Hemingway (American).</li><li>New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.&nbsp;</li><li>597 pages.</li><li>Bound in the original red cloth stamped in black and gilt, in original unclipped ($2.75) red and gilt typographic dust jacket designed by Neely, Scribner's A and seal on copyright page.</li></ul> This anthology leads with Hemingway's play about an American spy in the Spanish Civil War, The Fifth Column, but the meat of the collection has always been his short stories. Two of the best of his career, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," appear first in book form here (after their appearances in Esquire and Cosmopolitan respectively in 1936). This anthology also collects many of his best short works from the previous collections In Our Time, Men Without Women and Winner Take Nothing, such as "Big Two-Hearted River" and "Hills Like White Elephants."

The Fifth Column

A signed limited first American edition of the third book in the Pooh series.<ul><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>Illustrated by E.H. Shepard.</li><li>New York: E.P. Dutton &amp; Company, 1927.</li><li>103 pages.</li><li>Signed by Milne and Shepard on limitation page.</li><li>Bound in original half pink cloth, light blue paper boards with vignettes in black, in original light blue pictorial dust jacket, with light blue endpapers, fore-edge and bottom edge uncut, text block unopened, printed on Japanese vellum.</li></ul> The furry friends of the Hundred Acre Wood, based on real-life toys, are incorporated into these children's poems. Winnie the Pooh is Christopher Robin's constant companion, but readers also run into Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Roo. Within only a couple months of publication, this installment of the Pooh series had already outsold its (bestselling) predecessor, Winnie the Pooh. This deluxe production for the United States was limited to only 200 copies.

Now We Are Six

An inscribed first edition, with a purple ink inscription by Carroll in the year of publication to the wife of the playwright who tried to take Alice to the theater.<ul><li>Lewis Carroll (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Harry Furniss.</li><li>London: Macmillan, 1889.</li><li>400 pages.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Inscribed by Carroll in purple ink on half title.</li><li>Bound in original full gilt-stamped red cloth, all edges gilt.</li></ul> This copy is inscribed to "Mrs. Dubourg": the Dubourgs appear a number of times in the journals and letters of Lewis Carroll. Augustus William Dubourg was an author and playwright who attempted to get Alice's Adventures in Wonderland produced on stage. Carroll also formed a friendship with their daughter Evelyn, who was either 10 or 12 when they first met. He frequently met with the family when in town, and continued to make special visits with them over the course of many years. Sylvie and Bruno is a tale of Fairyland, which grew from the episodic stories of two characters that Carroll would often tell to children. In it, Carroll sought to create an entirely original approach to the fairy story—just as he had with Alice, which now had so many imitations that Carroll hoped once more to prove his ingenuity; a few of the scenes were apparently inspired by dreams.

Sylvie and Bruno

First edition, first printing of this selection of Poe's tales, including "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."<ul><li>Edgar Allan Poe (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Wiley and Putnam,&nbsp;1845.</li><li>[6], 228 pages.</li><li>Bound in modern half brown goatskin with contemporary marbled boards, spine ruled with gilt lettering.</li><li>Housed in custom quarter green goatskin slipcase and green cloth chemise.</li></ul>

First Editions by Top Authors

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Winston Churchill

J.R.R. Tolkien

Winston Churchill

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

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C.S. Lewis

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Alexis de Tocqueville

Harper Lee

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Winston Churchill

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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Ernest Hemingway

A.A. Milne

Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]

Edgar Allan Poe