Search Results: Authors starting with C from Biblioctopus

Northern Italy: Mint Moving with Caesar, 49BCE. Elephant (right) trampling serpent (more standing than walking, like the one plated by Crawford). "CAESAR" in exergue. 4 emblems on reverse (though some, including Crawford, have said the elephant is the rev. side). Cr. (Crawford, RRC) 443/1. BMC (British Museum Catalog) Gaul 27. Kestner 3516. The first silver Caesar and the first to bear his name, a military issue originally struck at the mobile mint traveling with the legions for the sole purpose of paying Caesar's troops on the eve of crossing the Rubicon, and on the march to Rome that followed, commencing the civil war and assuring that no further funds would be forthcoming from the Senate. And Sear says that this coin continued to be struck once Caesar arrived in Rome and had confiscated the reserve bullion stores left in the aerarium (treasury) by the fleeing Pompeians (15,000 bars of gold, 30,000 bars of silver and 7,500,000 denarii in cash). It was however confined to military payment as the… Read More

London: Humphrey Moseley, 1655. First Edition. Full calf. good. 1st edition in English (the Portuguese 1st was 1572). 19th century full calf, spine base chipped, top and joints strengthened, frontispiece and title darkened, as are the text margins, some stains, spots, and marginal tears, frontispiece of de Camõens neatly mounted, 1/4" chip from its upper corner, small chip from the title page's fore margin repaired, else good (6 1/2" X 10 7/8"), and we're being fussier here than is usual with a 361 year old book. Not really a rare edition, but an undying one. With the large portraits of Henry the Navigator and Vasco de Gama neatly folded at the borders, not trimmed, to fit. Ex-George C. M. Birdwood, his name on the title page, occasional near-contemporary notes in the text, Birdwood (late 19th century) has copius notes on the the rear binder's blank—his favorite symbol in a few places too. Coll: 4to. [xxii], 224 pages. Ref: Pforzheimer 362. The heroes are the Lusiads, the children of Lusus (the… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1950. First English edition. Fine in fine dustwrapper. A lovely copy of the author's second book, and first collection of stories. As nice a copy as you are likely to see of the English edition, which, unlike the U.S. edition, used leftover stocks of cheap wartime paper.

London: Macmillan, 1886. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 1st edition of the replication of Carroll's original manuscript for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with his original title, his own 37 illustrations, and reproducing his own handwriting. This edition differs from the published book in that Macmillan had Carroll change the title, delete a few personal references, and add 2 chapters, and they hired a professional illustrator, but our book is the original. Presentation copy from the author to the publisher, inscribed (to Emma Macmillan), "Mrs. Macmillan from the author" and dated in January, the month that all the earliest presentation copies were inscribed. A bright and beautiful copy, near fine in original cloth. Best copy in the world? Probably.

London: Heinemann, 1967. First Edition. Hardcover. fine/near fine. 1st edition, preceding the American. Her 2nd novel and much her rarest, a fiendish horror that's hardly ever for sale at all, and never for sale this nice (the scary jacket illustration was quickly replaced for Heinemann's 2nd printing). The book has a 3-line gift inscription otherwise it is fine. The 1st printing dustjacket has a single 1/2" edge tear otherwise it is near fine, and this jacket fades easily and soils even easier, but the whites on our jacket are so white that they call the cops on all the other jackets. The Magic Toyshop found some praise from reviewers but sold slowly and it took her a few more books to get a following of readers. Now, 30 years after her death, she remains the principal maker of women's lore. The universities know all about her, and their students hear lectures on her all the time but, so far, her 1st editions have not been eagerly hunted by collectors to the degree they will be, and The Magic… Read More

Paris: Firmin Didot Fréres, 1841. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. 1st edition, folio, in the original printed wrappers of Champollion's monumental work, a foundation of Egyptology.  Grammaire égyptienne contains the first printed list of hieroglyphs. It was compiled from Champollion's manuscripts using a combination of standard typesetting and lithographic engravings (260 of them).  Some wear to the extremities, toning to the spine and a closed tear to the rear wrapper, else very good, remarkable condition and rare, with only 3 copies in the original wrappers listed as sold at auction in the last 50 years. Half buffalo and Japanese silk case.  Folio, pp. [VIII], XXIII and 555. One of the 2 books by Champollion (the other being his, later, dictionary printed in 1841-[1843]) that laid the base for all future Egyptology and all study of the ancients before the Greeks.  It gave to the world Champollion's theory and classification of hieroglyphic signs, with their values and their… Read More

London: Edward Arnold, 1897. First Edition. Fine. 1st edition. Original cloth, trifling rubs (lighter than a cat's footfall), a fine copy (valor procures, care preserves). Inscribed "With Mary's Love, March 10th '97" on a paper slip contemporaneously laid down on the front free endpaper (she sent the slip to the publisher, then the book with the slip was sent from them, reportedly, to her brother). OCLC locates 21 copies of the 1st edition but RBH lists no auction sales since 1975 (copies may have been sold lotted and hence not recorded), and this is the only presentation copy of any of her books I recall seeing, or even hearing about. Coll: 8vo. pp. [1-9] 10-211 [212-224 (ads)]. Ref: Sadleir 54. Wolff 1211.

Philadelphia: Curtis, 1933. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. 6 vols. 1st appearance anywhere of Murder on the Orient Express, under its original title, Murder in the Calais Coach, in 6 issues of The Saturday Evening Post from Sep. 30 to Nov. 4, 1933 (illustrated by William Hoople). It precedes British serialization in Grand Magazine (Mar. to May 1934), and both book editions (London, Jan. 1, 1934, and NY, Feb. 28, 1934). Original wrappers, very good and well preserved, and these are fragile paper ephemera so any other set is likely to look like a plush toy washed on hot, and have a murky description ignoring its wounds, like The Black Knight in Monty Python, his arm cut off and gushing blood, saying, "Tis but a scratch.". A rousing Christie showpiece circling an assassination on a moving train that soon becomes snowbound. There is a first-class coach filled with passengers using aliases, false clues, and convincing alibies, but it is a collaborative kabuki dance quickly penetrated by Hercule… Read More

London: Collins, 1954. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. Spy novels have subtle differences in the hands of a woman. Among those subtleties are these: What is indispensable for the conduct of a man's life is best learned from the most polished of women. The small rules of courtesy, the actions that win us the warmth or deference of others, the words that assure us a welcome, the attitudes that must be varied to mesh with character or situation, in fact, all social strategy. It is listening to women that teaches men how to speak to men. 1st edition. Fine in a dustjacket, slightly dusty, visible only on the spine's white letters and publisher's logo, with some light pushing to the spine ends but otherwise fine. Christie revisits the spy novel in the footsteps of Ian Fleming's first 2 Bond books (Casino Royale, 1953 and Live and Let Die, 1954).

New York: Viking Press, 1935. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. 1st edition of his first book.  Fine in fine 1st printing dustjacket.  Signed copies are common, with a dozen out there for sale, but years pass between strictly fine dustjacket like this one being offered for sale. A gritty World War I novel, a war started by the last generation of those who believed in the divine right of Kings.  It was made into a 1957 film by Stanley Kubrick (arguably his greatest) that was banned in France because of its authentic depiction of a coverup by French commanding officers deflecting their incompetent stupidity.

Denver: United States Mint, 2000. Mint State. What? 2000-D Jefferson Nickel. Double denomination, mistakenly struck on a one cent, copper colored blank. PCGS slabbed and graded "MS 66 RD" (MS is mint state and as made, including the cloud in front of Jefferson's face, 66 is gem uncirculated, and RD is red, the original undulled, untoned penny color). 25 or so are known to us in all dates (this is the only 2000-D), and "MS 66 RD" is the highest grade for any of them in any date though a few with higher grades exist for other kinds of errors. Finest of all, so matchless for its condition, and for its date, so far, and explaining it seems as unnecessary as directions on a shampoo bottle, since its startling oddity is visually obvious immediately. Ex-Don Bonser, the foremost collection of error coins at auction in recent times (HA, $2,406 in 2021, probably what it's worth for now).

London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good. 1st editon, "First Issue of this Edition, March 1917" on copyright page. Near fine in an unrstorted dust jacket with chips and splitting along the spine and front flap fold, else good.

New York: Boni and Liveright, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. 1st edition. The title page is a cancel, with Allen Tate's name (who wrote the Foreword) spelled correctly. One of Crane's own copies of his first book (the only one that's ever surfaced, and the only one that's likely to) with his bookplate and his ownership signature (in ink) "Hart Crane, Aug ‘31" (he drowned in 1932). This copy should not be confused with 1st editions that just have his bookplate for evidence of ownership, as his family (with all the integrity of hyenas) sold bookplates after his death. Fine in a beautiful dustjacket with the spine faded half a shade else fine condition, quality that parts the clouds to let the Sun shine down, and quite a rare jacket in such condition. Since the title page was canceled immediately, Crane logically opted for author's copies with his friend Tate's name spelled properly. Heavy. Singular. Best copy in the world, so far.

New York: Boni and Liveright, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 1st edition of his first book (500 printed). Contemporary signed presentation copy inscribed by Crane (in ink), "For John Wolcott in memoriam the Cleveland days ‘where cuckoos clucked to finches' Hart Crane." The quote is from Crane's poem, For the Marriage of Faustus and Helen, page 37 of this book (I found no other copy of White Buildings inscribed with a quotation). Very good in a 1st printing dustjacket, the spine faded and one fold strengthened, else very good. Rare, one of only 2 inscribed copies sold at auction in the last 40 years, the other in a defective jacket. Cancelled title page with Allan Tate's name correctly spelled, but only review copies had the uncorrected state so our copy is not a 2nd issue since it exactly replicates the book as it was for sale on the day it was published, and Crane's own copy was also in this state. The line "Where cuckoos clucked to finches" appears in the penultimate stanza… Read More

London and New York: Harper, 1901. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 1st edition of this group of stories, including the 3 tales that comprised the whole of the American edition (The Monster, The Blue Hotel, and His New Mittens), and adding 4 more (Twelve O'clock, Moonlight on the Snow, Manacled, and An Illusion in Red and White) that were not in the American edition. Fine in a very good dustjacket (ads on the back panel confirm it as the correct jacket) with light edgewear and a horizontal tear at the top of the spine neatly strengthened, but pretty, and integral, and a great rarity. RBH list only one copy in jacket sold at auction and that was 82 years ago. Short stories by a virtuoso, writing at the pivot between the American short fiction masters before him (Irving, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, and Twain) and laying the ground for his own generation (Bierce, and O. Henry), and the one that followed (Cather, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway). The Monster is set in fictional Whilomville, New York. It tells… Read More

Springfield: Colliers, 1947. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. December 6 issue. 1st appearance in print, anywhere, of the story adapted by Carl Foreman for the legendary 1952 Western film, "High Noon" starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Original pictorial wrappers, very good, untouched, complete, clean, and integral. The 85-minute movie runs in nearly real time, from about 10:30 AM to just after Noon, serving as a reminder that, we are here, it is now, and all the rest is a dream. Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor, the A.F.I. ranked High Noon the 27th best picture of all time in 2007, and in 2008, they cited it as the number 2 Western.

China: Ming Emperor Hongwu, 8211. very fine. 1 Kuan note manufactured under Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang), the first Ming Emperor. Block printed, in black ink, on gray mulberry paper, from a series of the earliest numismatic, printing on paper, and the earliest obtainable commercial printing on paper, 2 generations before Gutenberg (but 700 years after any printing on paper and 500 years after the first block printed book), and it is the largest paper money ever issued (8 3/4" X 13 3/16"). Small nicks and tears at the edges, all are natural paper flaws to 14th century paper making, and all are outside the borders, the red seals a little faded but it's PMG (the leading assessor of currency) slabbed and graded "Very Fine 35" and thus certified as unrepaired (important) and authentic (more important), over and above dispute. The Chinese text at the top reads "Da Ming tong xing bao chao" (right to left, in regular K'ai Shu style), translating as "Great Ming Circulating Treasure Note." Below this the… Read More