Rare books from William Reese Company - Literature ABAA-ILAB

London: Duckworth, 1932.. Gray cloth, lettered in gilt. Endsheets slightly tanned, light foxing to top edge, crown of spine a bit rubbed, else a very good copy, without dust jacket. First edition of the author's second book, likely published, according to the author's recollection, in an edition of less than three thousand copies. This copy bears his early presentation inscription: "For Hans Martin, from the author Anthony Powell June 8th 1933 In memory of a delightful visit to Holland and in admiration of the K.L.M. - and its chief." LILLEY A2a.

London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, [1971].. Cloth and boards. A few marks and smudges to fore-edge, else about fine in dust jacket. First edition, British issue, consisting of (contrary to the imprint on the verso of the title) U.S. sheets with a cancel title and prelim, in the U.S. binding, still bearing the Simon & Schuster imprint. Inscribed and signed by the author.

London: Printed for T. Cadell ... and E. Moxon, 1830.. vii,[1],284pp. Octavo. Elegantly bound in unsigned full contemporary forest green morocco, heavily gilt extra, gilt and blind-stamped ornamental frame side panels, with insets of gilt floral elements and lyre devices, a.e.g. Engraved head and tail-pieces. Extremities rubbed, with short crack at crown of lower joint, bound without ad leaf, inner hinges cracked (but sound), some foxing and offsetting from images, yellow coated endsheets stained, otherwise about very good. First illustrated edition, with fifty-five vignettes engraved after designs by Turner, Stothard and others. Turner's "delicate and graceful vignettes, which are miracles of fine detail, seem fairly to float upon the page" - Ray. A uniform edition of Rogers's POEMS appeared the same year. RAY 13. NCBEL III:181.

New York: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, [1932].. Large octavo. Rough woven tan cloth, lettered in blue and orange. A fine copy in equally fine and unusually bright and fresh pictorial dust jacket, with the very slightly chipped and tanned outer glassine wrapper carefully preserved. First edition, first printing, first binding. The first printing consisted of 8500 copies, a relatively small number of which appeared with blue stamping only (a characteristic of the bindings of the later impressions). The error "Jefferson" on p.340 has no bibliographic significance, as it reoccurs in the reprints. PETERSEN A13a. MASSEY 103.

Buenos Aires: Nuestro Pabellón, 1958.. Small oblong quarto. Specially bound (without wrappers) in full piebald cowhide, with silk moiré endsheets. Hide a bit bald along the lower edges of the boards, and with a couple of tiny patches of natural balding on the lower board, otherwise about fine. First edition. Borges's Foreword appears in Spanish, English, German and French, and the index, with captions to Thorlichen's 94 photographs, appears in Spanish, German and English. The text and photographs were printed in Stuttgart in May 1958.

London: Printed by Thomas Harrison [later: Edward Johnston] in Warwick Lane, 2/5 January to 25/28 December 1790.. A slightly broken run of over 90 issues encompassing (with exceptions noted below) whole numbers 13163 through 13268. Small folio. Chiefly 4 or 8pp per number. Extracted, with residue of old binding along spine; moderate tide-mark in lower margin through first half of volume, revenue stamps as usual, occasional marginal discolorations limited to individual issues; still, good and crisp. A close to full year's issues of the original official newspaper of record in England. It was founded in November 1665, while the Court was resident in Oxford due to the plague in London, and the early numbers appeared as the OXFORD GAZETTE. Shortly after the Court returned to London, beginning with whole number 24, the name was altered to reflect the change, and it persisted through the following centuries as the publisher of official information in regard to politics, business, public notices, elections… Read More

Los Angeles, Various dates but chiefly 1962 - 1963.. Two carbon typescripts, plus file of correspondence. Generally good to very good. A small but interesting file of material relating to this unproduced film project, a fictionalized treatment of UN Peace Keeping Forces drawing on their involvement in the Congo. The lot includes two variant drafts of a treatment, 99 leaves and 86 leaves, the latter in specially printed production binder, with several rather frayed revised inserts laid in, with scattered manuscript corrections and deletions. Also present is a file of a dozen pieces of correspondence relating largely to research, but as well to trying to place the project. The most significant item among the latter is a long, single-spaced typed letter to Nugent from Frank Capra, rather messily typed, with corrections, signed "Warmest regards, Frank," responding in enthusiastic detail after his reading of the treatment, but declining to get involved due to commitment to another project. He writes, in… Read More

[Paris & Nice: Published by the Author and Artist, 1985 - 6].. Folio (15.75 x 11.5"; 39 x 29 cm). Loose bifolia laid into hand calligraphed wrappers. Wrappers faintly dusty, but about fine. First edition thus. Copy #8 of ten numbered copies, utilizing serigraphed text sheets from INTEMPÉRIES (1985), reconceived and heavily worked over by the artist in acrylic and black ink with ten illustrations (some double-spread), at least five of them signed with initials by the artist, with a special short colophon in manuscript, signed by the author and artist in one of the images, and with a second, more detailed colophon in manuscript reproduced via serigraph.

[New York: The Artist, 1984].. Small octavo (125 x 102 mm). Accordion fold between cloth boards. About fine. A unique photographic artist's book by the installation artist, comprised of a sequence of seven 6.5 x 5 cm original silver print photographs, mounted on decorated Japanese paper, with rubber-stamped title. The photographs result in a sequential revelation of the subject of the book. Signed and dated by the artist, and with his business card laid in with ms. note on verso. Colp's installation, "The Commuter's Lament - A Close Shave," was commissioned by the NYC MTA, and is his most widely recognized work.

New York: Dial Press, 1966.. Trimmed, loose printed sheets, punched and plastic spiralbound between stiff green card sheets. Fine in near fine, lightly nicked and smudged pictorial dust jacket. Advance reading copy, bound up from printed sheets, of the first edition of the author's third novel, source for the multiple award- winning and nominated 1971 film adaptation, based on McMurtry's collaborative screenplay with director Bogdanovich. Preceded by a minute handful of sets of actual uncorrected page proofs, a wholly different animal than this state, although this format is sometimes confused with the other.

[Moscow]: State Publishing House of Graphic Arts, October 1932.. Folio (41.5 x 30cm). Pictorial wrappers. A good copy only: the extreme lower forecorners are a bit creased and occasionally ragged; the front wrapper has the lower extreme fore- corner chipped away and, there is a short tear near the toe of the spine resulting in the loss of the extreme lower spine corner of the lower wrapper and last leaf; there is a small chip in the lower wrapper at the spine crown; there is an 11 cm internally mended tear in the rear wrapper up from the lower edge and another internally mended 7 cm tear in the fore-edge, each with small chips associated; and one panel of the enormous center four panel gatefold is neatly separated along the fold; still, a reasonably good copy of an issue seldom found in ideal condition. Founded by Maxim Gorky and published in the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1941 (and 1949), under the general editorship of G. Piatakov. An important issue of this innovative periodical, devoted to the… Read More

New York: Printed by C.S. Van Winkle, 1819 - 1820.. Seven parts bound in two volumes. Large octavo. 19th century calf, spines gilt extra. Bound without wrappers and adverts. Early manuscript index on front binder's blank in both volumes. Spines darkened and slightly crazed, joints a bit worn and slightly cracked in places (but sound), occasional spotting and foxing to Part I, brown spot in fore-edge of Part VII, clean 5 cm tear in top edge of leaf 63/4 of Part VII, with no loss, still a good set in contemporary dress. Old morocco faced slipcase. First editions, first printings, of each part of Irving's second major sequence publication, with BAL's state 'A' of the text on page 240. Neither the terminal blank for Part I, nor the slip against piracy that was inserted in some copies of Part II are present. THE SKETCH BOOK is among Irving's masterworks, printing for the first time in complete book form "Rip Van Winkle" (Pt. I), "Old Christmas" (Pt. V), and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (Pt. VI). "That… Read More

Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1990.. Large octavo. Quarter morocco and gilt lettered Fabriano over boards. Fine. First edition. From an edition of one hundred copies printed on Rives at the Firefly Press and signed by the author. This is designated as one of fifteen copies specially bound for the publisher. This copy is denoted on the colophon as "for the author." Eminescu (1850- 1889) is regarded as one of the chief poets of 19th century Romania.

[New York]: Harper Trophy / HarperCollins, 1999 through 2006.. Fourteen volumes, plus related. Publisher's pictorial and paper boards, except for PENULTIMATE PERIL (plain boards, pictorial dust jacket) and ... AUTOBIOGRAPHY (glazed pictorial boards, dust jacket). Illustrated throughout by Brett Helquist. Volume 6 is priced $8.95. Volume 4 has a small rust-like spot on the fore-edge, volume 9 has soft creases to the lower fore-corners of two leaves, some very minimal shelf- rubbing to a few lower edges, otherwise an excellent set. First editions, all but one being first printings -- the exception, THE AUSTERE ACADEMY (5), is the second printing. All but one volume, THE PENULTIMATE PERIL (12), bear the author's characteristic blindstamp, the first two additionally dated, but the remainder inscribed in various ways to, or embellished for, two close friends, one of whom supplies a name for a character in the final chapter of THE GRIM GROTTO (so referenced in Handler's inscription - "To Kit in Chapter 13… Read More

London: Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen, 1856.. Large folio (57 x 38 cm; 22.5 x 15 inches). Publisher's three quarter dark maroon morocco and brown cloth, with large gilt red morocco title label on upper board. Letterpress title in red and black, additional chromolithographed title and one hundred chromolithographed plates (a few tinted, the majority in brilliant colors). Joints and extremities worn, with cracking to upper joint (with 20 cm narrow separation down from top), thumb-size surface snag in cloth on lower board, 9 x 6 cm light angular discoloration at top of front board, two 20th century ownership inscriptions on front endsheet, occasional offset from plates to tissue guards, tissue guard for plate 46 torn and detached, rare modest foxing and/or finger smudging to the margins of an occasional plate and more often to tissue guards, rear endsheets heavily foxed, with consequent foxing to plate 100, which also has a shallow tidemark in the top margin toward the gutter. Withal,… Read More