Rare books from BUCKINGHAM BOOKS

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939., 1939. First edition. First edition. Author's first book. Fine, bright square copy with top edge dark blue and un-faded in dust jacket with a tiny (1/8") closed tear to top edge of rear panel and a tiny (1/8") closed tear and one inch wrinkle to bottom edge of the rear panel. A Haycraft/Queen Cornerstone mystery novel and an exceptional copy. Made into two films of the same name, in 1946 starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and in 1978 starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles. Housed in a two-tone quarter leather and cloth clam shell case with a leather label on the spine and the titles stamped in gold gilt.

Minneapolis: Litho. Dept. of International Stock Food Company, n.d. (ca 1910)., 1910. First edition. 20 1/2" x 28 1/4" colorful chromolithograph that promotes how International Stock Food will make the sows raise more healthy pigs. An elaborate and colorful broadside that was taken from a book given to purchasers of 25 pounds of International Stock Animal Feed. The lithographs were originally folded within the book so it is normal to see horizontal and vertical folds. The company was founded in Minneapolis in 1886, by Marion Willis Savage, and still is in operation today. It was sold in 2007 to new owners and the headquarters are now located in Canada. Savage manufactured and sold animal feed as well as veterinary supplies and used these posters as a means of advertising. The front side of the poster is colorful and promotes the use of hog feed in order to help sows to raise more healthy pigs. Testimonials tell of one sow raising 21 pigs or three sows raising 52 pigs. The reverse side… Read More

London: Collins Crime Club, [1941]., 1941. First edition. First edition. The Dark Page says, "Anthony Gilbert was born Lucy Beatrice Malleson in 1899 and was an English author of novels and short stories. Although her mother wanted her to be a schoolteacher, Ms. Malleson succeeded in fulfilling her own ambition and became a novelist. After seeing John Willard's play, THE CAT AND THE CANARY in 1922 she became thriller-concious, and in 1927 published her first mystery as Anthony Gilbert. For many years Gilbert's true identity was kept secret and most readers assumed that the author was a man." Some color fading to top edges of the cloth, else near fine in price-clipped, lightly professionally restored dust jacket at head of spine, and lightly sunned on the spine. Julia Ross secures employment through an employment agency with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. Two days later, she awakens in a different house in different clothes and with a new identity. She… Read More

London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1927., 1927. First edition. First edition. 8vo. One of only 250 copies signed by the author. Fine copy in printed wrappers. Queen's Quorum says "... a decade before, Susan Glaspell had written a one-act play called 'Trifles,' suggested by a murder account she had read in an Iowa newspaper. After the play had become famous, Miss Glaspell recast the material into a short story and titled it A JURY OF HER PEERS. Like the play, the short story became a celebrated piece of literature. It was first printed in 'Every Week,' issue of May 5, 1917, and later reprinted by Edward J. O'Brien in his THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1917. The story, however, has never been included in any of Susan Glaspell's own books published in America; but what is not generally known ... and this is an important bibliographic revelation .... is that the story has had a separate book publication in England. The first edition of A JURY OF HER PEERS is one of the series of… Read More

London: The Cresset Press, 1950., 1950. First edition. First U. K. edition of her first and best known novel brilliantly filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay written in large part by Raymond Chandler. Publisher's File Copy with slip affixed to front fly leaf. Near fine in dust jacket with some light professional restoration to the spine ends and corners. In her first novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday life. Two men meet quite casually on the Washington-to-New York train, Guy Haines, a tennis star, and Bruno Anthony, who makes an offer to exchange murders. Bruno Anthony, will kill Guy Haines' estranged wife if Guy will kill Bruno's hated father. Guy doesn't take Bruno seriously until his wife, Miriam, is found murdered in an amusement park. Guy becomes the chief suspect, which threatens his tennis career; his romantic involvement with a U.S. senator's daughter, Anne Morton; his hopes for a… Read More

London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, [1939]., 1939. First edition. First edition. Signed and inscribed on the title page in ink by the author to fellow mystery writer and journalist Wayne Warga, "Wayne Warga from Eric Ambler. Los Angeles, 25 February 1982. Dear Wayne, This must be the rarest of my first editions. I'm glad to have seen it again. Eric." This copy also has the bookplate of the renown mystery collector, Adrian Homer Goldstone, which is affixed to the front pastedown sheet. Near fine, bright, square copy in dust jacket with light professional restoration by an expert paper conservationist. Housed in a cloth clamshell case with a leather label on the spine and titles stamped in gold gilt. A rare book in the first edition as most copies were lost when Nazi bombs destroyed the Hodder & Stoughton warehouse during World War II. A Haycraft/Queen cornerstone of detective and mystery fiction and the basis of the classic film starring Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. As… Read More

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., Publishers, [1934]., 1934. First edition. First edition. Introduces Nero Wolfe. Fine in a fine, professionally restored dust jacket, lightly faded on the spine. Introduces Nero Wolfe, the brilliant, idiosyncratic, and obese armchair detective. PI Wolfe is asked to find Carlo Maffei, who has simply disappeared. Shortly thereafter, his body is found murdered on a golf course. Wolfe`s inquiries reveal a possible connection with the sudden death of university president Barstow. As Wolfe looks into the murders, he finds that he is getting very close to solving the murders when a fer-de-lance (one of the most deadly snakes known to man) is delivered and a ball boy from the golf course provides a crucial clue. A Haycraft/Queen Cornerstone mystery and a beautiful copy.

N. P.: Privately written by le Carre and drawn by Chas, 1995 & 1991., 1995 & 1991. First edition. An autograph letter signed from John Le Carré regarding the retirement of George Smiley. Written in black ink on the author's letterhead and dated 19th November 1995 he writes "I think George Smiley has earned his retirement now, and I must write about other people and other times. But thank you for wanting him back, which is the greatest compliment you can pay him - Best wishes John Le Carré". Together with an original ink caricature of John Le Carré in pencil and black ink on white paper, signed by the artist Chas. bottom right. The drawing is also inscribed by the subject in black in at the upper right corner "For Phil Smallwood with my good wishes and thanks for his support! - John Le Carré, London Feb 21 1991". Both items are presented side by side within a white card mount. Condition is excellent, the letter… Read More

Vietnam, Thailand, and elsewhere in Asia as well as the United States, Europe, and the Middle East ca. 1964-1974: Compiled by Jacob Harris, an American who served as a Senior Police Advisor in Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War, 1964 - 1974., 1964 - 1974. First edition. A large and remarkable archive of images from Vietnam and Thailand, covering the decade from the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the beginning of the buildup of American forces in Vietnam to a year before the evacuation of the American embassy. Most notable are the many images showing the training of local security forces by American civil and military advisors. The collection was compiled by Jacob Harris, an employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Public Safety (OPS), whose task was to train Vietnamese and Thai police and counterinsurgency forces. Most of the images, in the form of photographs and photographic slides, were created by Harris, his wife, or his associates, and… Read More

N. P.: Robert McChesney, n. d. (ca 1915)., 1915. First edition. The classic straight shank by Robert McChesney, 1/2" wide bands with four overlays on one side and triangular mountings on the other side. The rowel is a five-point star. The Oklahoma Historical Society says "Producer of handmade spurs and bits of one piece, John Robert McChesney was the first spur maker to widely market those Texas-style Western-gear items. He was born to Thomas Carvin and Rosetta Mattison McChesney on September 26, 1866, in South Bend, Indiana. In 1884 the family moved to Rogers, Arkansas, where John McChesney met and married Tabitha Thomas. In 1887 the young couple relocated to Broken Arrow, Indian Territory, and he opened a blacksmith shop. McChesney had a natural metal working ability and an innovative mind. He discovered that making decorative spurs and bits, forged in one piece from locally acquired harrow teeth, for local cowboys, was much more lucrative than doing traditional blacksmith work. While at… Read More

Coffeyville: 1892., 1892. First edition. THE BOLDEST BANK ROBBERY ATTEMPT IN AMERICAN HISTORY ... EIGHT MEN DEAD & SEVERAL OTHERS WOUNDED! On the morning of October 5, 1892, Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton, along with fellow gang members Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers rode into Coffeyville, Kansas, with ambitious plans to rob the C.M. Condon Co. Bank and the First National Bank ... at the same time! Fortunately for him, gang member Bill Doolin was left behind due to his lame horse. Although the Dalton Brothers had all briefly served as Deputy U.S. Marshals in Oklahoma and Kansas, shortly thereafter they had become notorious for cattle rustling and a variety of robberies, including several train robberies in 1891 and 1892. In addition to the Dalton Brothers, most other gang member got together while working as cowboys on Oscar Halsell's HX Bar Ranch in Oklahoma. Known to many Coffeyville citizens, the Dalton's wore disguises, but as they approached the banks they were recognized by some… Read More

London: George Routledge and Sons, 1887., 1887. First edition. First edition. 8vo. Original color pictorial wrappers, vi, 7-192 pp., frontispiece, advertisements on front and rear inside covers and rear outer cover. Quite possibly the rarest Buffalo Bill item. Howes W454. Graff 4677. Adams Six Guns 2401: "Rare." Being a British biography of Buffalo Bill. A very early Buffalo Bill item from the first European tour of the Wild West Show. Ramon Adams says, "This is said to be the rarest book about Buffalo Bill..." A small portion of the spine title missing, faint evidence of an old corner creases to bottom edge of front and rear covers, top edges of front and rear covers have small corner chips, and minor occasional wear to a few page fore-edges, else a very good copy, housed in a cloth slipcase.

Kingsville: Printed For The King Ranch, 1967., 1957. First edition. First edition. Limited Two volumes. Large, thick octavo. Bound in heavy linen. Illus. by the author. Vol I: 467pp. 24 x 18.8 cm. 24 drawings by Lea, 6 maps, 9 facsimiles. Crash linen with running "W" brand. Vol II: 469-838pp. 24 x 18.8cm. Frontispiece, 19 drawings by Lea, 2 facsimiles. Crush linen with running "W" brand. In linen slipcase with leather label.. The special edition of this important ranch history, printed on rag paper with the Running W Brand watermark, after a design by Carl Hertzog, for distribution on a private basis by the ranch owners. Although 3000 sets were printed, the exclusivity of distribution accounts for the relative scarcity of copies on the market. As new, unread copy with the original prospectus laid-in along with an addressed mailing postcard. Housed in the original cloth slipcase with titles stamped on a leather spine label.

Philadelphia: The Curtis Publishing Company, 1939., 1939. First edition. First edition. Seven 4to magazine issues in color, pictorial, stapled wrappers, 116 - 112 - 92 - 128 - 108 - 104 - 88 pp., with color and black & white illustrations throughout by Henry Raleigh. Four issues with contemporary address labels, first five issues with modest wear and handling, scattered foxing, tiny tears and attendant creases, and the occasional stain or splash mark; May 20 issue with some more pronounced wear along the edge of the rear wrapper, with a shallow tide-mark to several terminal leaves; Very Good. June 24 and July 1 issues about Near Fine, without labels. First appearance in any format of one of the best of Christie's novels, counted among her favorites in her autobiography. "Ten men and women are lured to a solitary house built by an eccentric millionaire on a tiny island off the coast of Devon which is inaccessible except in calm weather. In each bedroom, over the fireplace, hangs a framed… Read More

London: Grayson & Grayson, Ltd., [1952]., 1952. First edition. First U. K. edition. First impression. Originally published in the U. S. in 1950 Light offsetting to front and rear endpapers, with a London bookseller's rubber stamped address at lower front free fly leaf; else contents fresh and in fine condition, in a fine, bright dust jacket with a small closed tear to top of rear cover panel professionally restored. Asimov's best-known work, a collection of "Nine "postironic" robot stories, originally published 1940-1950, with new material added for continuity. Contains Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics and involves the history of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., and the strong-willed "robopsychologist" Dr. Susan Calvin" (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 3-20). An attractive and exceptional edition, considerably scarcer than it's American counterpart. -- (Reginald 00564).