The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - 1952

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'..

10 x12.5cm. 28pp. Pictorial wrappers. One of a series of 6 tales written and illustrated by Edward Bawden for his children in 1944. It was redrawn on lithographic plates (by Sheila Robinson) for George Rainbird and Ruari McLean in 1952 in an edition of 350 copies of which 100 were for the personal use of the Bawdens. This is one of the latter copies Signed to the upper front cover by Edward Bawden: ' Best wishes from C & E.B. 1952'. The Book is in near Fine condition with just mild creasing to the upper corner of the last few pages. Wonderful colour illustrations throughout. Housed within an inset shelf within a striking custom solander box. A very scarce copy with such attributes. More images available on request. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact.

Black Sparrow Press: Santa Rosa, CA, 1997. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Robert Crumb. Folio. SIGNED BY ARTIST. Fine cream decorated cloth in red cloth slipcase. Number 36 of 175 numbered copies only, with 5 colour serigraphs, each signed by Robert Crumb.120 pp. Bukowski's last book, published three years after his death, in a nice edition in fine condition. The text is excerpts from his diaries, with entries focused on gambling, writing, aging, and everday life.

New York: Horace Liveright, Inc., 1931. Hardcover in slipcase. Good/No Jacket, as issued. SIGNED Presentation Copy in Slipcase, #524 of the special limited edition (501-550 were for presentation). Signed by O'Neill in black ink. Though not indicated, this volume is from the library of T. R. Smith, chief editor and adviser at Liveright throughout its heyday in the 1920s and responsible for publishing some of O'Neill's works (including an early volume of one-act plays and Strange Interlude in 1928). Trilogy of plays containing Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunted. Includes Working Notes and Extracts from a fragmentary work diary, facsimile pages inserted in rear pocket. Stained & spotted white vellum with beveled edges, gilt-stamping and black spine label. Scarce slipcase in fair condition with fragile & cracked edges and old tape repairs. Binding solid and untrimmed/uncut, but covers are rather spotted & darkened. O'Neill was a Puitzer and Nobel Prize winning American playwright, considered one of… Read More

Washington, D. C.: The National Geographic Association, 1967. Signed by Jane Goodall on a bookplate attached to the half-title page. First edition / First printing. Green cloth. Fine in near fine dust jacket. The first of a generation of women in Africa, initially without scientific training, who revolutionized our view of nature, conservation and the appropriate treatment of wild animals. Mentored by Louis Leakey, she began studying chimpanzees in Gombe in 1960. Her close studies of the Chimpanzees in the wild led to several major breakthroughs. Winner of the Kyoto Award 1n 1990, The Hubbard Medal in 1995, The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1997, Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2004, and The Templeton Prize in 2021. She studied at Cambridge in the mid 1960's and received a Doctor of Philosophy in 1966. She has been a vocal environmentalist since the beginning, and founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and Roots and Shoots for the environmental education of children in 1991.

Berlin-Wilmersdorf, A. R. Meyer, [1913]. . Erste Ausgabe der zweiten Veröffentlichung des Dichters (WG˛ 2. Lohner-Zenner 1.6.). Mit Druckwidmung für Else Lasker-Schüler: "Ich grüsse Else Lasker-Schüler: Ziellose Hand aus Spiel und Blut". - Der Titelholzschnitt von Ludwig Meidner (1884-1966, Maler, Graphiker u. Dichter) im Stock sign. u. datiert. - Zeitbedingt gebräunt, Heftfalz abgewetzt, kleine Randläsuren. Erfreulich gut erhaltenes Exemplar des seltenen Heftes

Steinbeck, John. The Long Valley. New York: Viking Press, 1938. First Printing of the First US Edition. First Printing. A Near Fine copy with the usual age darkening to the front pastedown in a Very Good plus unclipped dust jacket with gentle wear to the extremities, and a short closed edge tear at the head of the spine. A collectible copy of this collection of classic Steinbeck fiction. This volume of stories collected with the encouragement of his longtime editor Pascal Covici serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Set in the beautiful Salinas Valley of California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, these stories reflect Steinbeck's characteristic interests: the tensions between town and country, laborers and owners, past and present. Included here are the O. Henry Prize-winning story "The Murder"; "The Chrysanthemums," perhaps Steinbeck's most challenging story, both personally and artistically;… Read More

William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1940. Book. Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of his Hawthornden Prize-winning tenth novel. 8vo. 280pp. Yellow cloth lettered in red at the spine. Spine ends just a little bruised, and the top edge lightly dust marked. A narrow strip of discolouration to the head of the upper board, and with some notable browning to the half-title, which is also a little tender. Several small tape residue marks to the pastedowns. A nice, crisp copy. No dust wrapper. A slip of paper bearing the author's signature, the name of a recipient and the date 1982 has been pasted to the front free endpaper. Uncommon. Wobbe A16..

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1928. Hardcover, purple paper, white cloth spine, slipcase but missing glassine. Very Good in Good slipcase/No Jacket. Signed, limited edition in slipcase, presentation copy. Purple paper is faded, and there are some small ink (?) spots on back cover, as well as a small smudge on the bottom corner of the limitation page. SIGNED limitation page with 'Dorothy Parker' in blue ink, states Ôthis edition limited to 275 copies, of which 250 are for sale.Õ This copy is numbered in the same blue ink as 322, and the word ÔPresentationÕ in black ink follows. 75 pages, many unopened, printed on Boni & Liveright watermarked paper. Slipcase worn and faded, all edges rubbed, splitting at top and bottom. Label affixed to slipcase states ÔAutographed Edition. This edition is limited to 275 numbered copies. Each copy is signed by the author.Õ At the upper right corner is the number 322 in ink, mirroring the number on the limitation page of the volume. From the family of T. R. Smith, who… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930. First edition. 8vo. 284pp. + xxxivpp. Index. Publisher's blue grey cloth titled and decorated in red and brown, minor wear, and very good copy indeed in a similarly attractive example of the dustjacket, lightly discoloured to spine and with some very light chipping to the extremities. Strong and bright. Internally clean. Found within this copy is a letter about Gertrude Bell's involvement with the anti-suffrage movement, from Lady Jersey to Lady Bell written in April 1927. The letter is in reply to a request for Lady Jersey's memories on this topic by Lady Bell, who was editing and publishing Gertrude Bell's writings. Lady Jersey was President of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League. The letter begins "As regards the Anti-Suff in which Gertrude took such inspiring care, I fear nothing beyond memory remains." After detailing some recollections, Lady Jersey writes: "The last thing I clearly remember about Gertrude in this connection is that she and I as… Read More