Rare books from TBCL The Book Collection Library

New Orleans: Parish of New Orleans, 1924. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. Signed. First Edition. Truman Capote's original Birth Certificate - issued in the parish of New Orleans & registered the 3rd day of October, 1924 & showing the birth of Truman Streckfus Persons, September 30th, 1924. A unique document. A bit tattered but still quite bright & clean. In 1928, when Truman was 4, the Certificate was given by Capote's mother, Lillie Mae Faulk Persons [soon to be Capote] to her sister, Lucille Faulk Ingram for safekeeping. Lillie Mae was off to New York to make a new life leaving Truman to the care & nurturing of his Monroeville relatives. Outside of the cousins Truman lived with as a child, Lucille Faulk Ingram & her daughter, Cecilia, were his closest kin. As a fledgling writer looking for solitude, it was in the comfort of Lucille Ingram's home that Truman began to write his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

New York: Random House, 1965. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. First Edition. Presentation Copy. This is TC's Aunt Lucille Faulk Ingram's own copy with a Random House " Compliments of " printed card taped to the front pastedown on which is written in a presumed secretarial hand in blue ink: " .the author, who wishes you a Merry Christmas". On the front fly, aunt Lucille Ingram has neatly inscribed in red ink: "Given to Lucille Ingram by Truman Capote". She has also signed the back endpapers twice. Near fine in a very good dustwrapper with some old tap e remains visible. [old tape removed]. A very special copy of one of Capote's highlights. Of All of the cousins Truman lived with as a child, Lucille Faulk Ingram & her daughter were his closest kin. As a fledgling writer looking for solitude, it was in the comfort of Lucille Ingram's home that Truman began to write his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, 1929. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. Hardcover. Hanneman A8d. Black cloth, [7 1/4" x 5 1/4"] red decorative border on the title page. Embossed Grosset emblem on the upper cover. Printed red paper labels on the upper cover & spine. A very rare book especially in the correct silver, black & red dustwrapper & much less available than the true first trade - [Hanneman A8a]. Almost all of the Grosset reprints are incorrectly listed & are much later & usually taller printings. This is a superb, indeed stunning copy [neat name on the ffe - just a hint of archival restoration to the rare dustwrapper]. Excellent.

Saint Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1970. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author (Francis Israel Regardie). Presentation Copy. 8vo., A near fine copy in the publisher's black cloth, gilt - in a lightly used dustwrapper. Regardie has warmly inscribed this book to Ursula Greville: "For Ursula / who did some editing on this magnum opus / Love, Francis." {Regardie dedicated AHA! to Ursula Greville a 'loving, generous, devoted friend of many years who, like Aleister Crowley changed the entire course of my life.'} This is a stated First Edition / First Printing. There is some light wear to the board's extremities & to the crown and foot of the book's spine. There are three small page notations on the final free endpaper. The dustwrapper is not price clipped; with the original publisher's price of $10.00 still intact on the front flap. There is a 1" x 2" chip missing from the top right corner of the front panel and a 2" closed tear in the same… Read More

New York: Random House, 1951. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. First Trade Edition, First state, with dark grey top-edge in the First Issue Dust Jacket [E. McKnight Kauffer misspelled, $3.00 price]. 8vo., 286pp. A fine copy. [No indication of edition stated as called for]. Nicely signed by Faulkner in black fountain pen at the top of the front free endpaper. Quarter-bound in black cloth over sea green cloth with gilt lettering to the spine. A very nice example of this work; a play, with long narrative sections, continuing the story of Temple Drake introduced two decades earlier in 'Sanctuary'. Faulkner's first book after winning the Nobel Prize. "I Decline to accept the end of man. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice but he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance". W.F. - Nobel Speech. While signed limited editions abound, signed trade editions are very uncommon as… Read More

London: Chatto & Windus, 1930. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. Signed First English Edition of the author's first novel. The first of Faulkner's titles to appear in England. Preface by Richard Hughes [who also wrote the preface for The Sound And The Fury in 1931, which appeared in similar format]. 8vo., 326pp., 4 pages of ads. One of 2000 copies printed from new plates. Publisher's green cloth stamped in gilt on the spine, top edge stained green. An extremely nice copy in the original cream coloured dustwrapper lettered in red & black showing very light use. Signed by Faulkner in full on the dedication page in black fountain pen, "William Faulkner". The dustwrapper states: "NOT A 'WAR BOOK" on front panel with the Hughes quotation on the back: ". if I were asked who seems to me at the moment the most interesting novelist in America, I should not hesitate in naming one who is not only unknown in England but practically unknown in America also -… Read More

London: John Long, Limited, [1935] & ;1937] Two Volumes, 1935. 1st Edition. Soft cover. 1st Edition. Soft cover. [NABOKOV, Vladimir] NABOKOFF-SIRIN, Vladimir. CAMERA OBSCURA. DESPAIR. Both of the John Long Nabokov Rarities. Translated from the Russian by Winifred Roy & the first translation of any of Nabokov's books into English. [Juliar D14.4] 8vo., 288pp + 16 pp ads. Original black cloth, titles to upper board & spine gilt. Small, neat mostly faded name on the front pastedown. A very good or better copy of the First English Language Edition. The very uncommon first of Long's Nabokov publications. With: DESPAIR. Translated from the Russian by the author. [Juliar A15.2]. 8vo., 288pp. + 24 pp ads. Original black cloth, titles to upper board & spine gilt. A very good or better copy of the First English Edition. The second of Long's publications of Nabokov & almost as uncommon as the first. The first substantial publication by the author in English. Both volumes together. Custom cut stiff Mylar clear… Read More

Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. Salinger, J.D. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Signed. Boston: Little Brown, 1952. A fine SIGNED copy of the March, 1952 reprint of the first edition. [The first issue was July, 1951]. 8vo., 277pp., black cloth, gilt. Salinger's remarkable first book, neatly signed in black fountain pen at the top of the title page. An excellent example of Salinger's elusive signature - The binding is fine; the dustwrapper very good or better with the $3.00 price present & nine reviews on the back panel replacing Salinger's photo after the first few early printings at his insistence. Custom clamshell case in very fine condition. The probable High Spot in Modern American Lit collecting, "The Catcher In The Rye is undoubtedly a 20th-century classic. It struck a popular note, particularly with young readers, who strongly identified with Holden Caulfield and his yearning for lost innocence.… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1957. First Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. Kerouac, Jack. ON THE ROAD. Signed. New York: Viking Press, 1957. 8vo., 310pp. A very good or better copy, the white spine lettering partially rubbed, evidence of a bookplate having been removed from the front free endpaper otherwise the book block is clean & free of blemish. Kerouac has signed in black ink at the top of the second blank page which has likely been added later to this copy. Notwithstanding it is indeed signed & as such not to be toyed with as there are only a handful of really top-of-mind modern titles & right beside Catcher & Mockingbird sits OTR or is it the other way round? The dustwrapper is very good or better having been professionally restored with work done primarily at the spine heel & crown. An extremely good copy.

Paris: Olympia Press, 1959. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Famous Green Wrappers. Number 77 in the Traveller's Companion Series. 12mo., 301pp. This copy with the original colourful outer dustwrapper. First Traveller's Companion Edition, first issue/printing [green border to title page], of TC-77. Second, re vised edition, with a new preface by the author. Originally published by Jack Kahane, Maurice Girodias father, of Obelisk Press in 1938. Kearney, 152. - A fine fresh example. Rarely seen as such. In a clear stiff Mylar protective outer wrapper. [From a comprehensive TBCL Durrell collection of first editions in superb condition].

Montreal: Dawson Brothers, Publisher, 1885. First Canadian Edition. Hardcover. First Canadian Edition. Hardcover. First Canadian Edition. Very Scarce. 4to., pp. 366. Maroon cloth, gilt lettered at the spine. A very good copy with some expert archival restoration at the extremities of the spine panel, endpapers renewed. A superior travail. Very interesting mixed points: frontis. Kemble portrait of Huck with rabbit & numerous in-text illustrations; Early copyright notice dated 1884; p.13, the illustration captioned "Him and another man" is listed at p.88 not p.87 as in later copies; p.57, the eleventh line from the bottom reads "with the was" not "with the saw" as in later copies; p.155, has a slightly different typeface for the final "5" in the page number; p.161, has the signature mark, "11"; p.283 is integral without a pronounced curve to the trousers. An interesting note concerning the manufacture of this book. When in the hands of the our book restorer, archivalist & surgeon doing the masterful… Read More

London, [1953, 1966 Book Date]: Jonathan Cape, 1953. 1st Edition Clamshell Collector's Case. No Binding. Not A Book/Clamshell As New. 1st Edition Clamshell Collector's Case. No Binding. First Edition Clamshell Case. A complete set of 14 Clamshell Cases [Not Including Any Books] for all of the Fleming / Bond 007 Novels: Fine black cloth [or Nuba®], with various color sides corresponding the the individual book's dustwrapper, black velour interiors with the exception of Casino Royale which is red velour, Gilt-stamped custom designed very dark grey Nuba® title-pieces on the cloth set, gilt-stamped custom designed titles on the Nuba® set , "Sculpted" multi-layered individual designs on the side of each case. A superb & unique set including: CASINO ROYALE - 1953, LIVE AND LET DIE - 1954, MOONRAKER - 1955, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - 1956, - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - 1957, DR NO - 1958, GOLDFINGER - 1959, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - 1960, THUNDERBALL - 1961, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - 1962, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET… Read More

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1927. First Edition. Vanessa Bell. Vanessa Bell. First Edition. Woolf, Virginia. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company's sixth impression of the First Edition of Virginia Woolf's fifth novel. "In writing To The Lighthouse, Woolf consciously used her own childhood memories of summer vacations in St. Ives, Cornwall, at Talland House (from where she could see the Godrevy Lighthouse) and drew portraits of her parents, Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Stephen, in the figures of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. Woolf noted in her Diary, "to have father's character done complete in it; & mother's; & St. Ives; & childhood; & all the usual things I try to put in - life, death, & c". Hussey, Mark. It was named by Modern Library as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. This classic was later adapted to film. 8vo. 312 pp.Green green cloth boards, gilt titles to the spine in a lovely example of the Vanessa Bell designed dustwrapper showing… Read More

Hong Kong: Liewellyn, 1969. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. First Edition THOTH TAROT CARDS Liewellyn Box "A" First O.T.O approved Liewellyn Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot. The THOTH TAROT CARDS were painted by Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962) under the guidance of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) during WWII. They both created the concepts for the illustrations between 1938 and 1943. Unfortunately they were only printed after their deaths. There are 78 tarot cards. In this First Edition the cards are without borders to the backs of cards and the faces have a powder blue border, plus 2 cards including the "Caliph Card," each measuring 5 1/2" X 3 3/4". The First Early Printing also has two errors: The "Eight of Cups" is lacking the Roman number that is normally stamped in the upper margin, and The "Ace of Disks" is printed upside down. The white card has the P.O. Box as 2043 which was changed in subsequent printings. Box measures 5 3/4" X 4 1/8" X 1 1/2". Overall VG condition slight bump on the gold package.… Read More

Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1909. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 1st Edition. Hardcover. NETSUKE. Versuch einer Geschichte der japanischen Schnitzkunst. Second Improved Edition. [First edition published in 1905]. Thick 4to. Gilt stamped, decorated & lettered mottled grey calf with a bit of rubbing at the spine & tips. Some rubbing on the inside marble boards. TEG. 482pp. with numerous black & white illustrations throughout. 53 full page colour illustrations - each [one] majestic example, centred on a single page of high quality paper stock, the impressions very crisp with striking colour definition. All printed 53 tissue guards present & in excellent condition. The pages bright & free of blemish. A striking example of this Cornerstone Volume of Netsuke. NUC locates 5 copies.