The Looking-Glass War. (SIGNED) by JOHN LE CARRÉ - 1965

Faber, London, 1962. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). Limited Edition. The special issue of the first single-volume edition, limited to 500 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #184). A short preface by the author details a few minor textual alterations. 8vo. 884pp. Orange buckram lettered and ruled in gold at the spine and with a hand motif black-stamped to the upper board. Cloth at backstrip lightly faded, else in fine state with original unprinted protector and decorated slipcase, a little chafed at extremities. Somewhat over bold former owner gift inscription to the front free endpaper..

Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1951. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. The first UK edition (first printing) of the author's first book. 8vo. 499pp. Beige cloth lettered in red at the spine. Backstrip and upper edges of the boards lightly spotted. Endpapers partially browned and with some additional light spotting which also impacts several preliminary and (blank) concluding leaves. A very good copy in very good non-price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, with just a touch of spotting and tanning, several tiny closed tears and several slivers of loss from the spine panel ends. First published by Harcourt Brace in the US in March 1950, this distinctly more uncommon UK edition followed a year later. The novel was not a success: it was trashed by a number of reviewers, Kerouac's royalties did not exceed his advance of $1,000 and it was six years before the publication of his next novel, 'On the Road'..

Victor Gollancz, London, 1959. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First UK Edition (first printing). 8vo. 185pp. Pink pebbled cloth lettered in gold at the spine. A small smudge to the front free endpaper, and three tiny instances of very light miscellaneous soiling to the fore edge. Very good indeed in non-price-clipped dust wrapper, somewhat tanned at the spine panel with five tiny enclosed areas of loss, and a little rubbed at extremities with two tiny closed tears and several further slivers of loss. The author's second book and first novel - extremely elusive in this UK edition (which was issued the same year as the more common US edition)..

Constable, London, 1920. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 187pp. Brown cloth, lettered in black at the spine and upper board and with a black-stamped decoration. Top edge dust marked, and with just a touch of rubbing to the spine ends and corner tips. Newspaper clippings have been pasted to the rear pastedown and free endpaper, along with some pencilled notes (which could easily be erased), and a third clipping is pasted to a blank rear flyleaf, with a panel of offset browning to the adjacent verso page. A very good copy in tanned and chipped dust wrapper, with an inch of loss from the base of the spine panel, and several further slivers of edge loss. The front flap of the wrapper is detached but included. The author's extremely uncommon first novel, a semi-autobiographical narrative which she continued with her second novel, 'Two Selves' (1923)..

Chapman & Hall, London, 1942. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 255pp. Publisher's original oatmeal cloth, lettered in blue at the spine and with the blue top edge stain, resulting in just a fraction of bleeding to the upper margin of a single text leaf. The binding just a fraction cocked and with some fairly light fox spotting throughout. Former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. Very good in lightly rubbed, marked and chipped yet still very crisp price-clipped dust wrapper. The author's sixth novel, detailing the early months of the Second World War, written in July 1941 following Waugh's return home after the evacuation of Crete, and with a printed dedication to Randolph Churchill who was instrumental in Waugh's wartime commission. Davis, Doyle &c xvii..

Hutchinson, London, 1993. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 407pp. Green boards lettered in silver at the spine. Bump to the tips of two corners, else in fine state with non-price-clipped dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at the head and base of the spine panel, and also at one corner of the front panel. An extremely good copy of Faulk's celebrated fourth novel, and the central volume of his loose trilogy, following 'The Girl at the Lion d'Or' and preceding 'Charlotte Gray'..

Faber, London, 1933. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition - one of the deluxe issue of seventy specially bound, numbered and signed copies printed on handmade paper - this copy unsigned and marked 'Out of Series'. Green parchment-vellum, lettered in gold at the spine. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Illustrated with fifteen full-page wood-engravings, eighteen tailpieces and two vignettes by C.F.Tunnicliffe. Boards lifting a fraction and vellum quite faded at the backstrip. Internally in fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued. One of the scarcest editions in the Williamson canon. This deluxe issue was originally to be limited to fifty copies but the print run was increased quite late in the publication process necessitating the disposal of the first gathering which Williamson had already signed. Included with this volume is one of those original fifty signed colophons..

Faber, London, 1962. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). Limited Edition. The special issue of the first single-volume edition, limited to 500 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #184). A short preface by the author details a few minor textual alterations. 8vo. 884pp. Orange buckram lettered and ruled in gold at the spine and with a hand motif black-stamped to the upper board. Cloth at backstrip lightly faded, else in fine state with original unprinted protector and decorated slipcase, a little chafed at extremities. Somewhat over bold former owner gift inscription to the front free endpaper..

Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1951. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. The first UK edition (first printing) of the author's first book. 8vo. 499pp. Beige cloth lettered in red at the spine. Backstrip and upper edges of the boards lightly spotted. Endpapers partially browned and with some additional light spotting which also impacts several preliminary and (blank) concluding leaves. A very good copy in very good non-price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, with just a touch of spotting and tanning, several tiny closed tears and several slivers of loss from the spine panel ends. First published by Harcourt Brace in the US in March 1950, this distinctly more uncommon UK edition followed a year later. The novel was not a success: it was trashed by a number of reviewers, Kerouac's royalties did not exceed his advance of $1,000 and it was six years before the publication of his next novel, 'On the Road'..

Jonathan Cape, London, 1933. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of the author's first book. 8vo. 276pp. Blue cloth with very partially defective cream lettering to the spine, and with the publisher's motif blind-stamped to the rear board. Top edge lightly dust soiled and a small bump to the tip of one corner. Free endpapers fractionally toned and spotted and with just a touch of occasional spotting and marking to occasional leaf margins. Former owner name inked to the front free endpaper. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. Inspired by Lowry's late-teenage experiences as a deckhand on a tramp steamer: the voyage formed the basis for two short stories which were printed in the Cambridge periodical 'Experiment' (his first appearances in print), and which were later worked into this debut novel..