Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - 1949

New York:: Viking Press,, 1938.. First Printing of the First US Edition. A Near Fine copy with the usual age darkening to the cloth binding in a Very Good plus unclipped dust jacket with gentle wear to the extremities, a tiny chip missing near the head of the spine and a glue bleed through running along the fold of the rear panel. Otherwise a respectable copy of this collection of classic Steinbeck short stories that includes The Chrysanthemums, The White Quail, Flight, The Snake, Breakfast, The Raid, The Harness, The Vigilante, Johnny Bear, The Murder, St. Katy The Virgin, the Complete Red Pony, The Leader of the People. There were only 8000 copies of this title published in the First Edition.

Good+ hardcover. Text in Dutch. Contemporary vellum over boards; blind stamped central strapwork lozenge on each cover; raised bands on spine; 3 engraved title pages; woodcut decorative drop-cap initials and head and tail pieces; 686 numbered woodcuts by van Sichem. The vellum is in Very Good condition with some scuffing/light soiling; small splits at cover joints, head and tail but vellum remains supple; tightly bound; generally bright and clean interior with woodcuts ranging from Good to Fine condition; one leaf (3C6) has 2 cm abraded hole that doesn't affect text on recto but slightly affects woodcut on verso; leaf 3C7 has 2 small areas of text effacement (2 cm each). The work is complete but has numerous pagination errors and some signature errors. Pagination: Title Page 1, 2-598,Title Page 2, 600-722, Title Page 3 ,723-800. Collation: A-V8 2A-2V8 3A-3H8. 8vo, 19 x 13 cm. Cf, STCN #ppn 842875999; OCLC #1008001235.

CELINE, Louis-Ferdinand (1894-1961)
Autograph letter signed "LFCéline" to his friends Descaves
Copenhagen, 7th July [1947], (c/o Mikkelsen), 2 pages in-folio
"France does not deserve its writers"
Moving letter from Céline looking back with despair on his eighteen months in prison


"Chers amis, Voici bien longtemps que nous sommes demeurés sans nouvelles. De notre côté une légère amélioration au point de vue légal grâce à la visite que Mikkelsen a faite à Paris à Naud et à d'autres amis. La Butte a donné à fond ! s'est donné à fond en ma faveur. L'impression a été admirable ! Je ne suis plus le damné total, la pourriture absolue. On commence à se rendre compte que l'on m'a bien martyrisé injustement alors que tant d'autres… s'en tirent glorieusement et fructueusement. Lucette heureusement a repris forme et santé. Je ne suis pas brillant. Je traîne. J'ai refait de la pellagre et une crise de rhumatisme abominable en dépit de la chaleur. La cellule, les hivers en cellule… Read More

First Edition. New. One of 150 Numbered copies of the Special Issue. Copy No. 38, signed by the Editor and the Printer.Printed on Magnani Mouldmade 130g deckle-edged paper. Royal quarto. Bound in full black calfskin over boards, gilt-stamped on front cover and spine. Presented in a black cloth-covered slipcase with a companion volume of introductory essays hardbound in grey paper over boards. Dublin, Houyhnhnm Press. 2010.The first critically emended and completely reset edition of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake since its original publication in 1939. Edited by Danis Rose and John O'Hanlon, designed by Martino Mardersteig, set in the Dante Val typeface, and printed offset and bound by Stamperia Valdonega, Verona for Houyhnhnm Press, Dublin. This First Edition was limited to a Special Issue consisting of 26 Lettered, 150 Numbered and 24 Hors Commerce copies printed on Magnani Mould made paper and hardbound in black calfskin; and a Trade Issue of 800 copies printed on Arcoprint and hardbound in black… Read More

Roma: Generoso Salomone, 1760. Hardcover. Very good +. 12mo, 2 parts in one volume, 418pp., plus eighteen folding plates, four of which are signed in plate by Piranesi. A very nice unrestored copy in a contemporary full vellum binding, with no repairs or sophistications; very good or better. Vellum evenly soiled, inked title to spine still bold, crisp, tight, and clean, with an old amrginal dampstain at the base of the gutter, affecting many pages, but not approaching any text. The folding plates are in excellent condition. Two stately bookplates on the front endpapers. A charming guidebook to Rome, which went through many editions. Chronologically, this is the second of several editions to include engravings by Piranesi. The book appears infrequently in commerce, but when it does, it is often lacking at least one plate; this copy is complete.

Leeuwarden, Hendrik Halma, 1725.2 volumes. Large folio. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. With allegorical frontispiece, 2 title-pages printed in red and black, engraved portrait of the author, 27 engraved double-page maps and 37 engraved portraits. (12),470; 408 pp. 'François Halma (1653-1722) was boekhandelaar en academiedrukker, eerst te Utrecht, later te Amsterdam en vanaf 1710 te Leeuwarden. Het ‘Tooneel’ is een soort encyclopedie op plaatsnamen en persoonsnamen. Bij zijn overlijden was Halma bijna gereed met de tekst. Brouërius van Nidek nam toen de letters W, Y en Z voor zijn rekening en voegde een levensbeschrijving van Halma toe (Haitsma Mulier & Van der Lem 202b). With fine portraits of the earls of Holland and maps of the Netherlands. - Age-browned otherwise a very fine copy.

Paris, Maradan, 1794.8 volumes + atlas volume. 8vo and large 4to. Contemporary half calf (some extremities of spines sl. dam.). Atlas volume with 108 engraved plates and maps, many folding or double-page.Second French edition, first published in 1788-1793; translation of the German edition Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. St. Petersburg 1771-1776 . - The German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and at the request of Catherine, he was placed in charge of an academy expedition into Russia and Siberia. The expedition set out from Moscow in April 1768 with five naturalists and seven astronomers. Pallas arrived back in St. Petersburg in July 1774 with a vast amount of data and many fossil specimens, but broken in health (Howgego p.784). His expedition was concerned with natural history in the widest sense, including geography, agriculture, and other disciplines. Also included descriptions of journeys in the… Read More

London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1924. First Edition. hardcover. Fine. 9 3/8" × 6 1/8" × 1". The Kelmscott Press and William Morris Master-Craftsman; by Sparling, H. Halliday. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited. Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. 1924. First Edition. First Printing. Tall 8vo: 9 3/8" x 6 1/8" x 1" (23.8 x 15.6 x 2.5 cm). Bound in publisher's original hardcover quarter Holland-backed blue paper boards, with white linen spine and paper title label. Uncut. [ix], [1], 176, [4] pp. Photogravure frontispiece portrait of Morris engraved by Emery Walker from a photograph by Sparling, with tissue guard present. Includes 16 plates and examples of types and illustrations from the Kelmscott Press. Henry Halliday Sparling (1860–1924) provides an informative history of William Morris's Press. Sparling was a former Kelmscott Press employee and as the husband of Morris's daughter, May Morris, from 1890–1898, was keenly familiar with Morris and his Press. Sparling provides a… Read More

Frankfurt & Berlin: J.J. Speier, 1765. First Edition . Half Leather. Very Good. 4to. 1. Theil und 2. Theil bound together. 124pp+123pp.First part called "'Ir Heshbon," on Arithmetic and Algebra; the second part : "Berure Middot," on Geometry. MODERN HALF LEATHER BINDING WITH MARBLED BOARDS. Title page with stamp, , some old handwriting and markings. Upper corner of title page some 3 cm missing and replaced with old repair. Pages with some browning and occasional minor soiling. First pages of the second part trimmrd to text. Last page of the second part with repair to edges, End papers with some old writing and minor soiling . OTHERWISE VERY GOOD.AN EXTREMELY RARE AND INTERESTING WORK of MATHEMATICS in HEBREW. (this work is mentioned in Zeitlkin, Bibliotheca Hebraica....)- Elijah ben Moses Gershon Zahalon was a Jewish Talmudist, mathematician and physician living in Pinczcow, Russian Poland.

CELINE, Louis-Ferdinand (1894-1961)
Autograph letter signed "LFCéline" to his friends Descaves
Copenhagen, 7th July [1947], (c/o Mikkelsen), 2 pages in-folio
"France does not deserve its writers"
Moving letter from Céline looking back with despair on his eighteen months in prison


"Chers amis, Voici bien longtemps que nous sommes demeurés sans nouvelles. De notre côté une légère amélioration au point de vue légal grâce à la visite que Mikkelsen a faite à Paris à Naud et à d'autres amis. La Butte a donné à fond ! s'est donné à fond en ma faveur. L'impression a été admirable ! Je ne suis plus le damné total, la pourriture absolue. On commence à se rendre compte que l'on m'a bien martyrisé injustement alors que tant d'autres… s'en tirent glorieusement et fructueusement. Lucette heureusement a repris forme et santé. Je ne suis pas brillant. Je traîne. J'ai refait de la pellagre et une crise de rhumatisme abominable en dépit de la chaleur. La cellule, les hivers en cellule… Read More