Rare books from The Last Word

New Zealand: Heinemann, 1977. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Fair. First Edition First Printing. 122 pages, plastic cover over dust wrapper, owner name on fixed front flyleaf and dedication on back of free front fly leaf.

London: Thames and Hudson, 1982. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.

Great Britain: Hodder & Stroughton, 1988. First Edition. Mass Market Paperback. Very Good +/No Jacket. Signed First Edition First Printing. Mint first printing 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Flat signed to title page

Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press, 1998. First Edition. Glossy Pictorial Cover. Very Good. In clear mylar Brodart cover - Owners single name also. Flat signed by author on title page. First editions/first printings have no mention of any awards on the cover and have the number line ending with a 1 Publisher Notes A novel of angels, wine, and love without boundaries set in nineteenth-century Burgundy. One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family's vineyard. Drunk, he stumbles on an angel: "Someone had set a statue down on the ridge. Sobran blinked and swayed. For a second he saw what he knew--gilt, paint and varnish, the sculpted labial eye of a church statue. Then he swooned while still walking forward, and the angel stood quickly to catch him." Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more… Read More

Christchurch, New Zealand: Pegasus, 1957. First Edition. Cloth. Fair/Good. cover is in good condition - unfaded with few chips but some of edge on lower rear missing 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. New endpapers Janet Frame's first novel, Owls Do Cry draws on many details of her own life. Her childhood was shadowed by poverty, sickness, and accidental death, and shaped by the power of the spoken and written word. At twenty-one, she was institutionalized in a mental hospital and later saved from a threatened lobotomy only by her achievement as a writer. Owls Do Cry explores the life of the Withers family in a New Zealand town "halfway between the South Pole and the equator." Poverty and a reputation for strangeness exclude the Withers from the hollow conventions and artifacts of suburban life. They do not possess revolving clotheslines, walkie talkie dolls or uncomfortable chairs, yet the children's lives are rich in "wonder currency:" rhymes and rituals, play and dreams. Twenty years later, this… Read More

New Zealand: Penguin, 2006. First Edition. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. first printing 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

London: Sceptre, 2006. First Edition in Slip Case. Cloth. As New/As New. Book Description: (London) Sceptre (2006)., 2006. The first British edition of the author's highly praised fourth book, a semi-autobiographical novel of a year in the life of a 13 year-old boy. Mitchell has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize twice, and his prior books had been praised for the complex structures and elaborate style. This book, a more straightforward narrative, was a notable departure for such a highly praised author, and earned excellent critical reviews and something of a cult following. A signed limited edition was later produced by Waterstone's,. Signed by the author, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

New York: Braziller, 1967. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Dust Jacket protected in a new Brodart cover. Dedicated to a publisher in USA. Some rubbing to dustjacket. Signed with a dedication to Helen Dresser - a Random House Representative. It is very rare to find a signed book by Janet Frame.

London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1899. First Edition. Buckram. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan. Longmans & Co, 1899 First edition. Two volumes, both in original black cloth with gilt titles and decorations to spine and upper cover. Seven photogravure plates and 34 plans and fold out maps, as well as many illustrations by Angus McNeill in the text. A lovely, fine set bright and clean with some wear to the cloth. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Some trace of sticker on front covers - see scan. Owners signature in front G C Williams Monjokuri? 11 of the maps in Volume 1 and 11 in volume 2 are printed in colour - all these maps are in very good condition except last one of vol. 1 has some extra folds in it. Some foxing here and there but nothing major.

Christchurch, New Zealand: Pegasus, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/good. Hard Cover," 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Tape reside where covers have been in plastic binding - there are also some number stamps - possibly from a private library? Dust jacket is good except for tape residue to flaps and some tape residue to top and bottom edges of DJ.

Christchurch, New Zealand: Pegasus, 1958. Second. Cloth. Good/Good. Janet Frame's first novel, Owls Do Cry draws on many details of her own life. Her childhood was shadowed by poverty, sickness, and accidental death, and shaped by the power of the spoken and written word. At twenty-one, she was institutionalized in a mental hospital and later saved from a threatened lobotomy only by her achievement as a writer. Owls Do Cry explores the life of the Withers family in a New Zealand town "halfway between the South Pole and the equator." Poverty and a reputation for strangeness exclude the Withers from the hollow conventions and artifacts of suburban life. They do not possess revolving clotheslines, walkie talkie dolls or uncomfortable chairs, yet the children's lives are rich in "wonder currency:" rhymes and rituals, play and dreams. Twenty years later, this currency is subsumed for each of them into vivid, haunted inner lives. Owls Do Cry lyrically evokes "the private and lonely night, with a room of… Read More

London: J& R Tonson and S Draper, 1747. First edition. Full-Leather. Very Good. Hardcover Publisher: 1747 Printed for J& R Tonson and S Draper, London, 1747 A small book, as was usual in those days, convenient for a man to keep in a pocket. This is written like a diary, recording events of the day and Addisons thoughts on fundamental matters, letters he received after the publication of his other volumes, reports of other men's ideas, advice, and poems he heard (Solomon's Song), etc. Beginning with Monday March 10th 1712 (entry 322) it continues to June 2nd (entry 394). An invaluable work for anyone interested or studying this period as it is so... (Georgian Diary Record 17* Poems Advice Spectator) 8 volumes. Printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, London n.d. [1747]. First edition. The 8 volumes running from Thursday, March 1, 1710-11 till Monday, December 20, 1714. Each volume with engraved frontispiece by C. Grignion after… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape, 2007. First Edition. Hardcover. As New/As New. First edition First printing, flat signed to title page, FIRST EDITION and FIRST PRINTING. A very fine hard back in a very fine dust wrapper. SIGNED by the AUTHOR on the title page WON THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE FOR 2007. The book is unread and is in mint condition. The dust wrapper is protected with a Brodart archival clear protector 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

England: Airlife Publishing Ltd, 1996. First printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/fine. Small amount of foxing on one preliminary page other wise spotless. Dust Jacket in clear mylar cover.

Chicago: George M Hill Co, 1900. First printing. Hardcover. Good. W W Denslow. 24 inserted colour plates (including title). No dust jacket. First edition, in the rare and not first state of both text (first state listed at $58,800 USD) see Blanck, Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 111-113. Greene and Hanff, pp. 25-27. 261 pgs. Maps. Illustrated with 24 Colour Plates (including the title page). First edition, first printing; second state of the text ( no box around ads on page 2, 1st line on page 14 reads "low wail of", p.81 fourth line from bottom spells "pieces" correctly, p.[227] 1st line reads "While the Woodman", colophon in 13 lines with no box, verso title page has copyright, imperfect type on pages 100, 186, colour plates perfect on p. 34 and 92). Bound in later red cloth boards with no title and tape for spine. Previous owner's gift inscription present to the FFEP "Sept. 7th 1907" New endpapers. Many pages have a discreet strip of tape or paper at the spine end for reinforcement. Some tears… Read More