Rare books from Idler Fine Books

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / Borzoi Books, 1972 First printing, stated first edition. 1972 movie titled, Pursuit. Book and dust jacket in fine condition. A lovely copy.

New York : Ballantine Books, 1955 First printing of the first edition, first state, with the "BB" monogram on spine of book inverted, red cloth with black lettering on spine, 8vo, 306pp. Preceded by a limited edition of 50 copies bound for the author. Signed by Ray Bradbury directly on the title page. Minor rubbing to board edge (primarily to spine ends), else book in fine condition; dust jacket with tanning to spine, minor paper loss to spine ends, lightly rubbed/soiled panels, a few short close tears to top and bottom front cover, and light paper loss (primarily at spine ends), else fine.

Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1943 First printing of the first edition. One of 1,217 copies printed, Publisher's black cloth with gilt spine titles, octavo, 458 pages. The fourth book issued by Arkham House. The companion novel to The Outsider and Others.

Accompanied by three letters from August Derleth to Clark Ashton Smith, discussing dust jacket art. Also includes a prepublication announcement card and a subsequent information card, as well as a letter from Derleth verifying an order for copies of Beyond the Wall of Sleep.

Light rubbing at head and tail of spine and at corners of boards, text block is faintly age toned, but clean, unmarked, and tight in binding. Scarce dust jacket is slightly rubbed at spine head and tail and at corner tips. Overall near fine to fine condition.

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

London : Frederick Etchells & Hugh Macdonald, 1928 Limited edition, 1 of 55 signed and numbered copies, this being number 11; rebound in custom quarter leather marbled boards, ribbed spine and gilt-lettered, xxvi, 84pp. printed on Millbourn, hand-made paper, no dust wrapper issued for this signed edition [Gallup B7a]. Signed by T. S. Eliot. Small stain to front endpaper and light rubbing to corners of boards and spine ends, else book in fine condition.

London: The Aquilla Press, 1930 Original typed Manuscript, Signed by Nancy Cunard, with 5 corrections. First appeared in print under the title, "Poems (Two) 1925"; published 1930 by The Aquilla Press. Three loose 8vo sheets, previously stapled. Three of the corrections are minor but one alters the original 40th line from "Cools at the still, yeasts raise his auburn flour" to Yeast raising auburn flour." In line 47 Cunard corrects the spelling of the word, "orgu[e]illeux" by adding the e, but it never made it into the published work. Signed in pencil, "Nancy Cunard 1925'" at the bottom of the poem. Age toning, paper-clip ghost, minimal wear, else in fine condition.

New York : William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, 1886 First printing of the first American edition and first English edition. Brown cloth boards with gilt lettering and black line illustrations. Five volumes of a 6 volume set, missing the last volume, vol. II Borodino 1812-1820. Vol.I Before the Tilsit: head of spine chipped, paper along gutter of endpaper slightly cracked, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. II Before the Tilsit: head of spine chipped, light rubbing to covers, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. I The Invasion: head of spine chipped, light rubbing to board edge, moderate age-toning to page margins; vol. II The Invasion: bottom corner slight bump, light rubbing to corners, endpaper slightly cracked, faint age-toning to page margins; vol. II Borodino: 1 inch chip to head of spine, light rubbing to covers, light age-toning to page margins; vol. II Borodino: missing from set. Overall in very good to near fine condition.

New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2000 First printing of the first American edition. Signed by Paul McCartney directly on the half-title page. Light shelf wear else book and dust jacket in fine condition.

New York: Viking Press, 1952 First printing of the first edition, first state. Original green cloth boards, front cover printed in dark green, spine printed in black on brown background, pictorial jacket., 602pp., with the word "bite" present on page 281, line 38. First issue jacket with photo of Steinbeck on rear panel with no photo credit mentioned. Steinbeck's epic novel about two families who settle in the rich farmlands of California [Goldstone-Payne A32.b.]. Book with light toning to edge of boards and two small, faint blemishes to top page edge, else in fine condition; dust jacket with a couple tiny rubbed spots, edges lightly toned, and light wear to extremities, else fine. A lovely copy, seldom seen in this condition. Basis for the 1955 film starring James Dean.

Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1977 First printing of the stated first edition, first issue with the publisher’s code “R49” printed in the gutter of p. 447; in original first issue dust jacket. Basis for the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation starring Jack Nicholson. Book with light rubbing to spine ends and a tiny crimp to the bottom front corner, else in fine condition; dust jacket with faint toning to spine and flap margins, faint crimping to upper spine end, very faint crease to upper front corner, and light wear to extremities, primarily at the edge of bottom spine, else fine. an exceptional copy indeed.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 First printing of the first edition, in first state dust jacket. Basis for the 1943 classic Technicolor film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. Book with light toning to spine and endpapers, else in fine condition; first issue dust jacket with moderate edge wear, a closed tear to the upper back cover / bottom back fold, and light rubbing to folds, else fine.

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.

New York: Random House, 1972 First printing of the stated first edition. A trace of rubbing to corner tips of jacket, else book and dust jacket in fine condition. An exemplary copy.

Baltimore / Colorado Springs: Borderlands Press / Gauntlet Press, 2018 First edition of the deluxe, signed limited edition of Neil Gaiman’s novella, “Doctor Who,” this offering being #7. Signed by Neil Gaiman directly on the colophon page. Book and dust jacket in fine, as new condition.

New York: Scribner Poetry / Simon & Schuster, 2005 First printing of the first edition. Signed by David Lehman directly on the title page; additionally signed at their page of contribution by John Ashbery, Stephen Dunn, Galway Kinnell, and D. Nurkse. Light shallow crimping at spine ends, else book and dust jacket in fine condition.