Rare books from Inklings & Yarnspinners

London: Faber & Faber, 1936. 1st. hardback. Fine, signed, limited (1 of 300) 1st edition, no d/j, sunning on ffep, otherwise clean and excellent condition.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). As the capstone of Sassoon's masterful Sherston trilogy, Sherston's Progress--whose evocation of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is not at all accidental--literally brings home the unforgettable journey of George Sherston from aristocratic childhood through war hero and anti-war martyr, all the way to wounded veteran trying to move on from the Great War.

London: J. Sturt, 1717. hardback. The Pryce family copy of the BCP with records of family baptisms on 2nd fep, from 1770 to 1781. Very good contemporary leather binding, with gilt decoerations front and back and on with ribbed spine; marbled pastedowns, with owners emblem and label on front paste down. Pages good and print very clear. Beautiful copy.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramanets, under King George 1717, beautifully illustrated throughout.

Manchester: R. Whiteworth, 1740. hardback. Good, contemporary reverse calf (rubbed, with variable spotting, staining and browning, a few darker spots); title printed in red and black, initials and ornaments, engraved plate (lacks all before title [i.e. ?blank] and all after Fff4 [p. 44] of ""Meditations and Prayers for Sick Persons"", Provenance: old pen trials to margin of title; Anthony Willis & Michael Fisher (old inscriptions, dated 1748 and 1769, on verso of plate). 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). Thomas ˆ Kempis (1379-1471). The Christian's Pattern: or, a Treatise on the Imitation of Jesus Christ. In Four Books ... Now render'd into English. To which are added, Prayers and Meditations for Sick Persons. By George Stanhope. Manchester: Printed by R. Whitworth, 1740.

London: Benjamin Tooke, 1686. 4th. hardback. Very good for its age, brown full leather binding, ribbed spine with titling plate glued; front guttering loosening (ffep detached); otherwise pages tightly bound, crisp and unmarked. Neat owner's inscription ffep (D. Walbrooke, Feb 25 1704). 8vo: crown (200 x 140 / 8"" x 5_""). Full title: An answer to a challenge made by a Jesuite in Ireland wherein, the judgment of antiquity in the points questioned is truly delivered, and the novelty of the new Romish doctrine plainly discovered (1686) To which is added A Discourse of the Religion anciently professed by the Irish and the British (1687); A sermon before the King's Majesty20th June, 1625 at Wanstead (1687)

London: Faber & Faber, 1930. 1st. hardback. Very good, signed, limited (1 of 750 - no 12) 1st edition, no d/j, spine faded, otherwise clean and excellent condition.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). As the capstone of Sassoon's masterful Sherston trilogy, Sherston's Progress--whose evocation of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is not at all accidental--literally brings home the unforgettable journey of George Sherston from aristocratic childhood through war hero and anti-war martyr, all the way to wounded veteran trying to move on from the Great War.

London: Arthur Bettesworth, John Pemberton and Edward Symon, 1727. 3rd ed corrected. hardback. Very good, rebound in full calf (using original boards, replaced ribbe spine gilt titling on red; Title page a little chipped and browned but text block firm and pages crisp and unmarked. 4to (300 x 240 / 12"" x 9_). Vol II of John Locke's Works containing: Considerations on Lowering Interest and rasing money; On Coining Silver money; On the Value of Money; Two Treatises of Government; 3 Letters on Toleration; On the Reasonableness of Christinaty with 2 vindications. With index

London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1931. 1st. hardback. Near fine, limited & numbered edition (no 4 of 250), signed by all 17 authors: Thomas Burke, Martin Armstrong, H.R. Barbor, Elizabeth Bowen, Gerald Bullett, G.K. Chesterton, A.E. Coppard, E.M. Delafield, L.P. Hartley, Storm Jameson, Margaret Kennedy, Edward Shanks, Helen Simpson, J.C. Squire, L.A.G. Strong, Frank Swinnerton, and Rebecca West. Green leather-bound boards, gilt cover design and spine titling bright; discolouration on spine otherwise protected in mylar sleeve; text block firm, top edge gilt, pages unmarked and crisp.. 8vo: crown (200 x 140 / 8"" x 5_""). The Fothergill Omnibus 'for which Seventeen Eminent Authors have written short stories upon one and the same plot:A man gets into a correspondence with a woman whom he doesn't know and he finds romance in it. Then he sees a girl, falls in love with her in the ordinary way, marries her and drops the academic correspondence. Happiness, then friction. He writes again to the unknown woman… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape, 1966. 1st. hardback. Signed 1st edition. Good condition, very good unclipped d/j. Cloth-covered boards good, slight bumping at base of spine. Pages slightly tanned. End board loose.Message: Best Wishes, John Fowles, 18 July 1967.. 8vo: crown (200 x 140 / 8"" x 5_""). On a remote Greek Island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. As reality and illusion intertwine, Urfe is caught up in the darkest of psychological games. John Fowles expertly unfolds a tale that is lush with over-powering imagery in a spellbinding exploration of human complexities. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a feast for the mind and the senses.

London: Macmillan and Co, 1905. 1st. hardback. Very good, no d/j, both volumes green cloth-bound, gilt-pressed design on cover & spine titling (slightly faded on vol1); text blocks firm, top edge gilt, pages unmarked and crisp; multiple b/w plates and drawings. Vol 1: Inscribed on ffep: ""This book belongs to Kate Holliday, written by her old friend W. Holman Hunt"". Vol 2: tipped in on front paste down, proforma letter, signed W. Holman Hunt.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). William Holman Hunt (1827Ð1910) chronicled the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in this well-illustrated two-volume memoir of 1905, controversially presenting himself as the movement's founding father. Popular when first published, it illuminates the search for authenticity of treatment and depth of meaning in his own work and that of Millais, Rossetti and their circle. Stressing the contributions of himself and Millais, Hunt sets out to defend the Brotherhood's ideals, from which he never departed. After his success with The Light of… Read More

Persia: unknown. hardback. Good, some wear and tear on boards but binding reasonably firm and pages unmarked. Donor's inscription on ffep: 'a Nestorian hymn book used in our congregations in Qroomiah, Persia'; on title page 'Miss Susan Jenkins, Pittsfield, N.H. with love from Anna J. Beach.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). American missionaries in Iran: Perkins (Justin, translator) Ktaba da-zmaryate qadi_e [Book of Holy Hymns], Urmia, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1860.

London: William Heinemann, 1912. 1st thus. hardback. Very good, 1st thus edition, original white cloth, spine and front board lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, 13 tipped-in colour plates with tissue-guards, spine darkened, finger-soiling to covers, endpapers spotted, mounts offset onto adjacent text-leaves as often (qty: 1) First edition thus, number 743 of 1450 copies signed by the illustrator.. 4to (300 x 240 / 12"" x 9_). "The peculiar secret of Rackham's success in seizing upon the essence of the human and portraying it in animal form, which is after all the basic device of the morality, is unwittingly touched upon in Chesterton's delightful introduction to the 1912 edition of Aesop's Fables: 'There can be no good fable with human beings in it. There can be no good fairy tale without them.' Rackham's genius is such that it bridges the two, and carries the didactic fable into the realm of fairy story, and lends to the imaginative world of fairies a tangible and… Read More

London: F. Newbery, 1776. 2nd. h/b. Good, 2nd edition in 2 volumes, original full brown calf-bound (some markings and scratches), 5-banded spine (both very worn, multiple creasemarks, chips on vol 1), vol 2 has gilt-spine titling just visible; text block binding reasonable and intact, but stitching visible in multiple places. Occasional creases but pages crisp and very clear for age of books.. 18mo (170 x 100 / 6_"" x 4""). The Vicar of Wakefield is a Victorian novel that is narrated by Dr. Charles Primrose, the fictional Vicar of Wakefield. Specifically, it follows the Primrose family, humble and moral in spite of its material wealth and indicative of Goldsmith's idealization of pastoral life, after they fall into poverty and subsequent dilemmas as a result, not of their own misdeeds, but of the corrupt and depraved individuals around them. One of the most highly regarded and widely read books of the eighteenth century, The Vicar of Wakefield is mentioned in several notable subsequent publications,… Read More

London: Faber & Faber, 1947. 1st. h/b. Nearly fine with good unclipped d/j (vg), fading on ffep, tight binding and crisp pages. Stapled to ffep, genuine, signed letter by Eliot to Evan Glyn Lewis (a Welsh educator and linguist) on 3rd Nov 1934 (just a few months before publication of Murder in the Cathedral) in his capacity as editor of The Criterion.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). Eliot's brilliant dramatisation of the killing of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury CathedralProvenance: BBC Political journalist Peter Hardiman Scott (plate on ffep)

London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1835. 1st thus (revised). h/b. Very good, 4-vol set of 3rd edition (revised), green patterned clothbound boards (some professional repairs), gilt spine titling, ex-library (Latimer Trust). Text blocks all firm, untrimmed pages crisp. Occasional pencil marking. Bound within vol 3 - signed note from Hannah More dated Dec 24 1828 AND authenticating covering letter from Arthur Roberts). 8vo: crown (200 x 140 / 8"" x 5_""). 3rd edition (revused with new preface). The first edition of a biography of Hannah More (1745-1833) by William Roberts (1767-1849). More's reputation rests firstly as a bluestocking poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick; secondly as an immensely successful author of moral and religious works; and, finally as a practical philanthropist. Her writings were heavily influenced by her time teaching at the girl's boarding school founded by her father, where she herself had been educated as a child. The first two editions of… Read More

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1953. 1st. h/b. Very good, 1st edition, d/j (v.g. in protective sleeve); blue cloth boards; gilt spine titling bright; text block firm, pages unmarked. Signed to title by Sir Edmund Hillary (1st successful climber with Tenzing Norgay) and Sir Charles Evans (expedition deputy leader). 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). This is the story of how, on 29 May, 1953, two men, both endowed with outstanding stamina and skill, reached the top of Everest and came back unscathed to rejoin their comrades. 'Yet this will not be the whole story, for the ascent of Everest was not the work of one day, nor even of those few anxious, unforgettable weeks in which we prepared and climbed this summer. It is, in fact, a tale of sustained and tenacious endeavour by many, over a long period of time... We of the 1953 Everest Expedition are proud to share the glory with our predecessors.' Foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh, chapter 16 by Sir Edmund Hillary and appendices by members of the expedition.