Rare books from Fortuna Books

London: Cassell Petter Galpin 5 vols First to Fifth Series, all in uniform blue cloth with gilt and black titling and decoration and with an inset "window" on upper board in which in all but the first series is a different flower illustration painted onto a gilt background, In the first series the flower illustration has worn off somewhat, Each vol has 40 coloured plates, and a title vignette in line, Some of the bindings may be slightly faded or rubbed at extremities but all are still VG ,some vols may have just the earliest hints of foxing to a few pages, and the front hinges are starting on some of the vols, mainly showing in weakness where the frontis opens, tissue guards are present as are original endpapers. SECOND SERIES; endpaper and frontis detached but present. FIFTH SERIES; frontis detached but present, lacks frontis tissue guard, one 2 leaf section in the synopsis at the front is detached but present, 5 vols all all edges gilt, each vol approx xv, 160 + about 6 leaves of… Read More

London: The Studio Limited, 1927 240 x 310mm, blue cloth boards some mottling to lower third, DW some dust soiling to bottom and a small mark, spine is lightly sunned, has tipped on photo plate, Foyles bookshop label to paste down, lxii (text) 304pp (plates) black and white photogravures (full page) of American buildings, scenery and the occasional individual. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by E O Hoppe. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall.

London: Rich & Cowan, 1955 (500 grams) First edition in second issue wrapper which mentions World of Chance, on back panel, Dick's second book being his first collection of short fiction,and his first hardcover book, ex-library, lacks front fep, rear fep has left half neatly removed, rubber stamps to paste down, half title and title, some ballpen numbers to paste down and half title, tape residue to paste downs and half title, closed edges browned, pp 23-27 has some minor staining, small tear top margin edge of pp19-20, BUT the price clipped DW is very tidy, just being slightly chipped to spine tail, collection of 15 short stories, includes, The Preserving Machine, TIDY DW MAY BE USEFUL TO UPGRADE ANOTHER COPY. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Very Good. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall. Ex-Library.

London: Smith Elder & Co, 1867 (excess shipping charge due to weight and value) ORIGINAL CLOTH Victorian double decker first British edition in book form (after Cornhill serialisation), scarce, tidy copies in green cloth with extra gilt decorative titling to spine and boards, spines have some black blocking, lower boards stamped in blind, original chocolate endpapers, VOL 1 = rubbed at spine ends, minor patch of white at tail, corners of bevelled boards starting to split, small patch soiling to upper board, (i-ii) 1- 313 (+1 printers imprint) +2pp adverts, VOL 2= lightly rubbed spine ends with minor fraying, two small holes rubbed into upper joint, corners rubbed but not yet frayed, (i-vi) (1-)309 + 2pp adverts, No half-titles called for, all sixteen engraved plates by H. Harral after M. Ellen Edwards (including frontispiece in each volume) with tissue guards intact, plate facing pp 225 of vol 1 has small water mark to top margin, faint sporadic foxing throughout both volumes, this is very… Read More

London: Luxor Press, 1968 (500 gram rate) Luxor Press yellow wrappered classics, pictorial stiff paper wrapper, approx 150pp + adverts, many B&W photos of young ladies in boots and not much else, some light soiling to a few internal pages, tape at heel of spine, small scuff top edge of front cover. reprint. Soft Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Kidge Wurdak. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

New York: Random House, 1977 Stated first edition of the first Shannara book, with publisher's number line starting at 2 which is correct for the first edition from Random House, Illustrated by The Brothers Hildebrandt in two full page black and white and one full colour folding plate at the centre of the book. Quarter black cloth over fawn papered boards with TB initial stamped on upper board by publisher, head and tail of cloth spine sunned to very edges where light crept under the wrapper and leached the pigment, unclipped DW has minor edgewear with light rubbing to corners and a few small edge splits, and bears no publishers price, Light crease to front fold in flap. DW spine is sunned with the title now a pale blueish colour, the background still deep black, nice bright copy, SCARCE, EXPEDITED SHIPPING REQUIRED. First Edition. Quarter cloth. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Hildebrandt. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Hamilton plain red boards with a cream paper title label lettered in black to spine, tail of spine sunned where dust jacket is missing piece, lightly browned endpapers and some mild foxing to page edges, dust jacket unclipped but has heavily sunned and rubbed spine with loss at ends, rear panel has once been partially stuck to the board due to humidity but now it is free but has left some minor paper residue to the board, there is some offset red dye from the boards to the rear dust jacket panel as well as some pen doodlings ( see scan), tidy used copy, undated assumed first edition, by the author of Biggles. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Fair. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Hutchinson SIGNED INSCRIPTION by COWARD, red leather with gilt titling, Hutchinson's Booklovers Library issue, undated but 44th thousand, lacks fep but there is a free fly before the half-title, minor spotting to closed edge, tidy copy with inscription to title " For Thora Knowles from Noel Coward" we have compared this signature with one in the book 'Noel' by Charles Castle (pg 120) and we believe it to be genuine, 288pp + adverts at rear and port. frontis. DUSTWRAPPER is unclipped with minimal handling wear, short black marker stripe to spine, small ink 'squiggle' to rear panel, dust jacket is from a 14th thousandth copy. Signed by Author. reprint. Full-Leather. Very Good/Very Good. 16mo - over 5? - 6? tall.

London: Cassell, 1917 dark green cloth with black decoration and titling, india ink name to paste down dated 1918, small ownership label at head of pastedown, clean copy excepting some light foxing to closed edges, v 295pp. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: George Bell & Sons, 1878 full leather, upper board has gilt "ALL SAINTS' SCHOOL BLOXHAM.", spine 5 raised bands, gilt dec panels, morocco label, gilt to fore edges of boards, marbled closed edges and endpapers, All Saints' School prize plate for the Cambridge Syndicate Examination of 1883, for A Wilks who won the ivth division prize, very minor browning or foxing to some margins or plates, tissue guarded frontis. xxiv 416pp + 40 engravings on plates. First Edition. Full-Leather. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Hamilton, 1965 1965 THIRD IMPRESSION of first edition (1961) , pictorial papered boards replicated on the DW, written and illustrated by Raymond Briggs, unclipped DW has light edge wear and short split along the lower ( rear) corner fold, 4 line name and address in pen to fep, minor handling soiling to DW, 95pp, rare item, the first one Briggs both wrote and illustrated, shipping charge includes fast air shipping with insurance. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Raymond Briggs. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1964 VG tidy first edition, first state, black papered boards tidy, unclipped DW, vertical edges of the DW fold in flaps have some tape staining, tiny amount of wear or splitting to DW spine ends, faint dust soiling to closed edges. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Richard Chopping. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2008 cloth issued without DW, this copy has the publisher's wrap around band, has a few minor spots to the ends of the band where the tacky glue that held it around the book has been carefully removed, just shows as darker area to the paper, boards clean, red endpapers, unmarked, contains all of the nine original James Bond short stories and novellas, previously issued in For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, plus two titles never before included in a UK hardcover edition, N>B> in the stock photo there seems to be a darker area at base of spine, this is a shadow in the photo and there is no mark to the book cloth. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Heinemann, 1968 unclipped DW has wear to spine ends with minor chipping, slightly sunned to spine, endpapers offset toned, DW shows minor handling, book is clean, scarce in this condition. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967 Second impressions of the second edition, 3 volumes uniform in red cloth with dust jackets with the Ring and Elvish script about the Eye of Sauron, all are price clipped and with rubbed joints and fore edge folds, some splitting to ends of joints etc., slightly rubbed or chipped at ends of spines, Vol 1 has a short tear to the front bottom corner, a name and date to fep, and a pasted down photo of Tolkien taken from a newspaper, there is a tape stain to the paste down, Vol 3 has small name and date to the fep, otherwise they are a tidy set with just some expected handling wear and dust soiling, obviously they have been read a few times but no faults noted, each vol has a folding map at the rear, Revised Second Edition (2 kg rate, double standard shipping charge) . Second Edition. Cloth. Good/Good. Illus. by J R R Tolkien. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.