A Separate Peace by Knowles, John - 1960

Boston: Francis A. Niccolls & Company, 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. Edition Magnifique limited to twenty-six lettered copies, this being G. Twenty-four volumes. Edited by Nathan Haskell Doyle. Full burgundy morocco, sides and spines elaborately decorated in gold with Art Noveau motifs, top edges gilt, others uncut, red and white morocco doublures decorated in gold, pearl silk moire endpapers. Frontispieces and plates in three states, one colored. Spines uniformly darkened, some wear to extremities, a few of the hinges a bit tender. Four volumes show small loss to the head of the spine; one has the cover partially detached. In all, two very elegant complete sets with matching letters. ; Octavo.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935 First printing of the first edition, first state with pages 349-352 uncancelled and the text unrevised on pages 350 and 351.

One of only 5,100 copies printed.

Original dark bluish green cloth linen-grain cloth with blind single-rule border on front cover and with spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Pages 350.5-7 reads: 'he need not base himself on the adding machine-calculating machine-probability machine-St. Francis of Assis machine any longer.' And at 351.29-30 the text reads: '"Oh, catch it-oh, catch it and take it-oh, catch it," she sighed.'

In the original dust jacket by Doris Spiegel, with drawings of figures from the stories against an orange background on the front panel, $2.50 price on the front and rear flap. Light bump to bottom, back spine, light tanning to end papers, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with some age-toning and offsetting to spine and back cover, with professional conservation, primarily to edges… Read More

John Lane at The Sign of The Bodley Head. London. 1894. FIRST EDITION. One of just 50 large paper copies printed on hand made paper. Small 4to.(8.4 X 6.3 inches). Original buckram with gilt lettering to the spine. Attractive floral designs by Charles Shannon in gilt to the spine and both boards. Spine and hinge edges of boards cloth is darkened but the gilt is still bright. Fore and bottom page edges are untrimmed. Offsetting to the blank free endpapers otherwise a bright and clean copy throughout. --- Mason 365.

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1886. 1st edition. Cloth. Good +. 1st edition. 2 volume set, complete. A Good+ set. 8vo. [Vol.1] 313, (2); [Vol.2] 312, (5) pp. Bound in the publisher's blue cloth with title and decoration in black. Floral end papers. Moderate edge wear, particularly at the spines' crowns. Vol.1's front board a bit rubbed, with uneven sunning. Front joints just beginning to loosen. A very scarce set, in the original cloth. Part of Hardy's Wessex books, with Casterbridge taking Dorset's place. This first edition was of a very small run of 750 printed, the result of a reader from Smith and Elder not being impressed with the story, as it had a lack of gentry (Claire Tomalin, Thomas Hardy: The Time-torn Man, 2006). Considered to be one of Hardy's masterpieces.

Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. London. 1876. FIRST EDITION. First impression. 8vo. (7.8 x 5.9 inches). A few small marks to just a handful of pages but generally this is a clean and bright copy throughout. Finely bound in recent full red morocco. Spine with five raised bands. Gilt ruling, lettering and decorations to compartments. Single gilt ruled border on boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Original publishers decorative front board and spine, which is rubbed and toned, have been bound in at the rear. Overall a very good attractive copy of the true first edition of this classic book. First published in England in order to secure a British copyright, the London edition precedes the American edition by about six months.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935 First printing of the first edition, first state with pages 349-352 uncancelled and the text unrevised on pages 350 and 351.

One of only 5,100 copies printed.

Original dark bluish green cloth linen-grain cloth with blind single-rule border on front cover and with spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Pages 350.5-7 reads: 'he need not base himself on the adding machine-calculating machine-probability machine-St. Francis of Assis machine any longer.' And at 351.29-30 the text reads: '"Oh, catch it-oh, catch it and take it-oh, catch it," she sighed.'

In the original dust jacket by Doris Spiegel, with drawings of figures from the stories against an orange background on the front panel, $2.50 price on the front and rear flap. Light bump to bottom, back spine, light tanning to end papers, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with some age-toning and offsetting to spine and back cover, with professional conservation, primarily to edges… Read More

John Lane at The Sign of The Bodley Head. London. 1894. FIRST EDITION. One of just 50 large paper copies printed on hand made paper. Small 4to.(8.4 X 6.3 inches). Original buckram with gilt lettering to the spine. Attractive floral designs by Charles Shannon in gilt to the spine and both boards. Spine and hinge edges of boards cloth is darkened but the gilt is still bright. Fore and bottom page edges are untrimmed. Offsetting to the blank free endpapers otherwise a bright and clean copy throughout. --- Mason 365.

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1886. 1st edition. Cloth. Good +. 1st edition. 2 volume set, complete. A Good+ set. 8vo. [Vol.1] 313, (2); [Vol.2] 312, (5) pp. Bound in the publisher's blue cloth with title and decoration in black. Floral end papers. Moderate edge wear, particularly at the spines' crowns. Vol.1's front board a bit rubbed, with uneven sunning. Front joints just beginning to loosen. A very scarce set, in the original cloth. Part of Hardy's Wessex books, with Casterbridge taking Dorset's place. This first edition was of a very small run of 750 printed, the result of a reader from Smith and Elder not being impressed with the story, as it had a lack of gentry (Claire Tomalin, Thomas Hardy: The Time-torn Man, 2006). Considered to be one of Hardy's masterpieces.

Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. London. 1876. FIRST EDITION. First impression. 8vo. (7.8 x 5.9 inches). A few small marks to just a handful of pages but generally this is a clean and bright copy throughout. Finely bound in recent full red morocco. Spine with five raised bands. Gilt ruling, lettering and decorations to compartments. Single gilt ruled border on boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Original publishers decorative front board and spine, which is rubbed and toned, have been bound in at the rear. Overall a very good attractive copy of the true first edition of this classic book. First published in England in order to secure a British copyright, the London edition precedes the American edition by about six months.

New York: Viking Press, 1939 First printing/first issue of the first edition; original beige cloth boards, in original first issue dust jacket. Book with mild toning primarily near gutters of the illustrated endpapers and faint rubbing to bottom boards, else in fine condition; dust jacket with a closed tear and diagonal crease to bottom front cover, soft diagonal crease to upper back flap, mild edge wear and shallow creasing, light paper loss to ends and corners, faint toning to spine, a few surface scratches to covers, and light rubbing, else fine. A well preserved collectible.