Search Results: Titles starting with I from Sumner & Stillman

1926. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. Original green-blue cloth with spine label, with dust jacket. First American Edition of the author's first book, published fifteen years after the 500-copy English edition (and three years after her death). In 1909, Kathleen Beauchamp's mother traveled to London from their native New Zealand to check on her daughter -- and discovered 20-year-old Kathleen pregnant by one man, married to but quickly separated from (the same day!) another man, and living with a woman. Her mother sent Kathleen off to spend 1909-1910 in a German pension -- which specialized in "hosing down" its guests with ice water! Kathleen quickly moved to a cheaper (and presumably less-invigorating) pension; during these months she suffered a miscarriage. As pointed out by John Middleton Murry (her subsequent second husband), in the Introduction that he wrote for this (and the second English) edition, "Katherine" would not allow this book to be reprinted. In 1920 she had written to Murry, "I… Read More

1878. [RLS's first book] London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1878. Original light blue cloth decorated in black and gilt, beveled boards. First Edition of Stevenson's first book, which consisted of just 750 copies. It was preceded only by several tracts such as THE PENTLAND RISING and ON THE THERMAL INFLUENCE OF FORESTS. Included is a frontispiece by Walter Crane. In September 1876, Stevenson and Walter Simpson had taken a canoe trip in Belgium and France together; during the trip RLS had maintained a journal. Back in Edinburgh over a year later, Stevenson rewrote his journal into this book. It did not sell well; to quote from Calder: Louis and Simpson made a complementary pair. They began their trip on the Scheldt in Antwerp, paddled along canals and navigated the Oise, returning to the Loing. It was a gentle pastime but, unfortunately for the book, remarkably uneventful. Although many people have enjoyed it, the book is about very little. Not very much happened. There is a lack of distinct individuality… Read More

1869. ... With Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Illustrations. Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [plus six others], 1869. 5 pp undated ads. Original very dark brown cloth stamped in gilt. First Edition of Twain's second book, published in July 1869, preceded only by THE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY. This is Twain's account, filled with shrewd observation and humor, of his steamship journey to Europe and the Levant -- originally in the form of letters to American newspapers. It proved to be Twain's first commercial success; as with most books produced by The American Publishing Company, copies were sold on a subscription basis -- door-to-door, by salesmen who had dummy copies showing the various bindings available, rather than through bookshops. Blanck cites three issues of this book: a first and second that have five differing "points" -- plus a third issue differing from the second only in its ads. This copy is entirely first-issue -- with all five points in the earliest state.… Read More

1893. Consisting of The Beach of Falesa / The Bottle Imp / The Isle of Voices. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne and W. Hatherell. London Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, 1893. 16 pp ads dated Mar 1893. Original blue-grey cloth pictorially decorated in gilt. First English Edition, published five days after the American. "The Bottle Imp" is one of Stevenson's weirdest tales -- a supernatural blend of Aladdin's lamp, the monkey's paw, and a game of hot potato. As with most (if not all) copies, the book's price on the preliminary ad leaf was raised by hand. Some copies have ads dated as early as Sept 1892; however, since the book wasn't published until early April 1893, we would regard the ads in this copy as "primary." This is a bright, near-fine copy (light bubbling of the cloth near the top of each cover, front endpaper cracking). Beinecke 577; Princeton 53A, copies 2-3.

1893. Consisting of The Beach of Falesa / The Bottle Imp / The Isle of Voices. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne and W. Hatherell. London Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, 1893. 16 pp ads dated Mar 1893. Original blue-grey cloth pictorially decorated in gilt. First English Edition, published five days after the American. "The Bottle Imp" is one of Stevenson's weirdest tales -- a supernatural blend of Aladdin's lamp, the monkey's paw, and a game of hot potato. As with most (if not all) copies, the book's price on the preliminary ad leaf was raised by hand. Some copies have ads dated as early as Sept 1892; however, since the book wasn't published until early April 1893, we would regard the ads in this copy (March 1893) as "primary." This is a near-fine copy (minor cracking of the rear endpaper, spine very slightly darkened). Beinecke 577; Princeton 53A, copies 2-3.

1893. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893. Original tan cloth decorated in brown and black. First Edition, published five days before the English one. This collection consists of "The Beach at Falesa," "The Bottle Imp" and "The Isle of Voices"; the middle one is one of Stevenson's weirdest tales -- a supernatural blend of Aladdin's lamp, the monkey's paw, and a game of hot potato. Included are 26 illustrations. This is a very good-plus copy of this busily-decorated volume, with scarcely any wear but (as usual for this cloth) the spine is sunned. This American edition is not at all common: we see at least five English copies for every American one. Beinecke 575; Princeton 53. Provenance: armorial bookplate of Gilbert Burgess, who was a literary and dramatic critic for London Sketch, perhaps best-known for his interviews with Oscar Wilde.

1936. London: Hodder and Stoughton, (1936). Original green cloth, with dust jacket. First British Edition, published two days after the American edition which was titled THE MAN FROM THE NORLANDS. This was the fifth and last of Buchan's Richard Hannay mysteries, following THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS (1915), GREENMANTLE (1916), MR STANDFAST (1919) and THE THREE HOSTAGES (1924). (It is not to be confused with Buchan's 1919 book that also bears the title THE ISLAND OF SHEEP, by "Cadmus and Harmonia," pseudonyms for Buchan and his wife, which is a symposium of political, economic and social issues.) THE ISLAND OF SHEEP is Johnnie Buchan's [JB's son's] book: dedicated to him, full of his enthusiasm for birds and for wild places, and with a thirteen-year-old boy, Dick Hannay's son, added to the cast... The Island of Sheep is a name for the Færoes, where he and Johnnie spent a fortnight in 1932. The plot involves happenings in a Rhodesian kraal, a Chinese jade tablet with a strange inscription... Peter John… Read More