Search Results: Authors starting with D from Peter Harrington

Edinburgh., 1850. Large and accurate map of Asia in two parts, north and south. Although aspects of the map are in a copperplate style, the degree of detail and the date suggest this is a steel engraving. Lizars illustrated natural history books, and also engraved bank notes Steel engraving. Original colour. Very good condition, good margins Size: 87 x 77 cm. MacKenzie, British Prints

Paris: Denys Thierry,, 1681. When I look at you even for a short time, it is no longer possible for me to speak First edition of the first translation of Sappho by a woman, paired with her version of Anacreon, in a contemporary binding and complete with the often-lacking frontispiece. Prior to Dacier, Louise Labé in France and Gaspara Stampa in Italy published poetic imitations of Sappho, but Dacier was the first woman to translate the poems themselves into any modern language. The only daughter of the noted Hellenist Tanneguy Lefèvre, Anne Dacier (c.1654-1720) translated classical works from an early age, beginning with Callimachus and progressing to Anacreon and Sappho. "By choosing to translate Anacreon and Sappho into French, instead of presenting them with a Latin translation, as her father did, Anne Le Fèvre was seeking to introduce these two authors to a larger audience. That is indeed what she says in her preface to Anacreon, specifying that she is particularly thinking about women: 'By… Read More

Paris: Rigaud,, 1716. The first female translator of Homer First Dacier edition, in a beautiful contemporary French binding decorated with small gilt shell tools. Dacier's celebrated translation into French of the Odyssey is considered her "crowning achievement" (Folger, p. 34) alongside her equally successful translation of the Iliad (1711). The only daughter of the noted Hellenist Tanneguy Lefèvre, Anne Dacier (c.1654-1720) began translating classical works from an early age, beginning with Callimachus and progressing to versions of the poems of Anacreon and Sappho. She was a staunch champion of Homer in the Ancients and Moderns debate, in which she defended his works against what she saw as the contemporary decline in standards of taste. Despite literary feuds with Antoine Houdar de la Motte and Thémiseul de Saint-Hyacinthe, and her differences in particular with Alexander Pope, with whom she fundamentally disagreed on how best to approach translating Homer, Dacier was held in high regard by her… Read More

London., 1892. Size: 255 x 350 mm. Mounted size: 447 x 540 mm. Lithograph from the Graphic Magazine. Hand coloured. Good condition.

Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Company,, 1903. The Boxer Rebellion, as recounted by America's last Union general First edition, first printing, familial association copy, with the ownership signature of the author's daughter Helen Daggett Patterson (1881-1970) on the front free endpaper. Patterson subsequently passed this copy to Trevor Washington Swett Jr, a US Army colonel; his ownership inscription is below her signature. Aaron Daggett (1837-1938) was appointed brivet brigadier general by Andrew Johnson in February 1866, having served with distinction during the Civil War. Following service in the Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War, he was appointed brigadier general in the regular army in 1900, leading the 14th Infantry Regiment during the Boxer Rebellion. By his death, he was the last surviving high-ranking officer to have fought on the Union side. His account describes American and allied troop movements in China, as well as day-to-day experiences of battle and the conduct of key… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1986. First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author on the half-title: "To Ivan Hargreaves, Best wishes, Roald Dahl, Sept. 1986". Going Solo continues Dahl's autobiography from his account of his childhood years in Boy, describing his travels in Africa and his experiences in the RAF. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt, illustrated endpapers. With dust jacket. Portrait frontispiece, two maps, numerous photographs throughout text. Head of spine slightly bumped; unclipped jacket, minor stain to foot of jacket spine, shallow scratch to front panel: a near-fine copy in a very good jacket.

London: Michael Joseph,, 1980. First edition, first impression of this edition of nine short stories by Dahl, published to accompany an earlier volume entitled Tales of the Unexpected (published 1979), and to complement the television series Tales of the Unexpected broadcast between 24 March 1979 and 13 May 1988. Octavo. Original black boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Head and foot of spine very slightly bumped, top edge slightly soiled; extremities of unclipped and unpriced jacket slightly rubbed, spine very slightly sunned: a very good copy in like jacket.

London: Puffin,, 2016. First edition thus, first impression, containing new Quentin Blake illustrations not seen in the original publication of 1982. Blake's re-illustration of the work coincided with the 2016 film directed by Steven Spielberg. Octavo. Original illustrated white and blue boards, spine lettered in white, pictorial endpapers. With dust jacket. Line drawings by Quentin Blake. A fine copy in fine, unclipped jacket.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1989. A signed copy First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. This work contains 15 comic poems based on well-known children's stories. "The marvellously dastardly Dahl has joined forces with that bounder Blake to plunder a wealth of nursery heritage for the delight of the older reader in this wonderful addition to the literature of the absurd" (jacket blurb). Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Illustrated throughout by Quentin Blake. Spine ends bumped, small abrasion on front pastedown from gift label removal (now loosely inserted), contents clean; jacket bright, unclipped: a near-fine copy in like jacket.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf,, 1960. An inscribed copy First edition, first printing, of this collection of 11 short stories for adults, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Christopher Radmell, with all good wishes, from, Roald Dahl". The recipient is known to have had other books signed by Dahl including Fantastic Mr Fox and The Magic Finger. As noted by the blurb, "ever since his stories first appeared in the United States, people have been retelling each other... Roald Dahl's sometimes shocking and always unpredictable plots. The stories in Kiss Kiss are no less haunting and no less brilliantly told". Octavo. Original light purple cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black on pink ground, rear cover with publisher's device in black, top edge pink. With dust jacket. Extremities slightly bumped; jacket somewhat toned, extremities and hinges worn, damp staining to verso together with small adhesive tape repair to spine, paper slightly rippled, not price-clipped; a very good copy in… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf,, 1953. A remarkably fresh copy First edition, first printing, signed on the title page. This is a crisp example of Dahl's collection of short stories which have, as noted by the dust jacket blurb, "a touch of the fantastic or the macabre". The US edition was published a year before the UK publication. Octavo. Original cream cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black on purple ground, rear cover lettered in black, top edge light purple, fore edge untrimmed. With dust jacket. Extremities very slightly bumped; jacket very slightly faded on spine, offsetting to reverse of jacket, not price-clipped: a near-fine copy in like jacket.

New York: Random House,, 1943. I do not believe in gremlins First edition, first printing, of the author's first book. As noted by the dust jacket blurb, "Everybody has heard about the gremlins, the fantastic Little People whose antics have become one of the great legends of the R.A.F." The book was written as a promotional device for a feature-length Disney animation that was never produced, partly because the studio could not establish firm copyright in the "gremlin" characters (Dahl claimed to have invented them, though they had been common currency in the RAF and had appeared in print at least once before), and partly because the British Air Ministry wanted final approval of the script and production. It was eventually agreed that royalties would be split between the RAF Benevolent Fund and Dahl. The book is described on the title and the front cover as being "From the Walt Disney Production"; the Disney studio would write to Dahl in August 1943 after publication cancelling any further… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1980. First edition, first impression. The dust jacket blurb commences "Mr and Mrs Twit are dreadful". Dahl wrote this tale as a deliberate reaction to the typical saccharine story for children he thought flooded the market. In a letter to Dahl about The Twits, his editor agreed: "I like it VERY MUCH... You're right: what we want (or should want) for these little ones is stuff with meat, not the yuchy [sic] sweetly pretty material we're exposed to" (Sturrock, p. 504). Octavo. Original red cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Illustrated throughout by Quentin Blake. Head and foot of spine slightly bumped, some minor finger-soiling, shallow creases to a few leaves, minor marks to top edge; extremities of unclipped jacket a little rubbed with minor nicks, slight cracking to laminate at joints, spine a little sunned: a very good copy in like jacket. Donald Sturrock, Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, 2010.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1991. First edition, first impression. This was Roald Dahl's final work written for children, published posthumously. Minpin was the nickname Dahl used for his daughter, Ophelia, to whom he dedicated the book. Quarto. Original pictorial boards, spine and front cover lettered in red and black, orange endpapers. With dust jacket. Colour illustrations throughout by Patrick Benson. Couple of tiny marks to spine, a near-fine copy in very good, unclipped dust jacket, lightly creased at extremities, faint damp stains to verso.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1997. First edition, first impression. This anthology includes eight previously unpublished works: "Letter from America", "Letters from Abroad", "The Owl and the Pussy-cat", "Hickety, Pickety", "The Crocodile", "A Poem in Reply to Schoolchildren", "Roald Dahl Talking", and "As I Grow Old". It also prints extracts from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, and others. Quarto. Original red boards, spine lettered in yellow, cream endpapers. With dust jacket. Illustrations by Quentin Blake, Patrick Benson, Raymond Briggs, Babette Cole, Ralph Steadman, and others. Spine ends rubbed; unclipped jacket gently sunned at spine and head of front panel, lightly rubbed with small abrasion to rear panel: a near-fine copy in very good jacket.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1980. A playfully inscribed copy First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author in the year of publication, "To Jonathan with love Roald Dahl, Dec. 1980". The inscription is written on the rear free endpaper upside-down, in keeping with the topsy-turvy rear panel of the dust jacket. The jacket blurb commences, "Mr and Mrs Twit are dreadful". Dahl wrote this tale as a deliberate reaction to the typical saccharine story for children he thought flooded the market. In a letter to Dahl about The Twits, his editor agreed: "I like it VERY MUCH... You're right: what we want (or should want) for these little ones is stuff with meat, not the yuchy [sic] sweetly pretty material we're exposed to" (Sturrock, p. 504). Octavo. Original red boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Illustrated throughout by Quentin Blake. Internally fresh; jacket spine sunned, panels bright, a little marked and creased, a couple of nicks and one short closed tear, unclipped: a near-fine… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1982. Uncorrected proof copy with provisional publication details on the front wrapper and the publisher's adhesive label. Dahl's fantastical tale was expanded from a short story found in his 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World, and was described in the first edition dust jacket blurb as "Dahl's most startling and wonderful tale since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". A film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in 2016. Jeremy Treglown assesses Dahl's legacy in his biography and notes that not all of the author's books will last, but concludes "the best - especially The BFG - surely will" (Treglown, p. 9). Octavo. Original orange wrappers, lettering in black, publisher's device repeated in black. Black and white illustrations within the text, all by Quentin Blake. Extremities a little rubbed, crease to spine and rear wrapper: a very good copy. Jeremy Treglown, Roald Dahl, 1994.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf,, 1970. First edition, first printing. It is believed that the US edition was published earlier in the same year than the UK edition. Fantastic Mr Fox formed the basis for Wes Anderson's 2009 film of the same name and has been successfully adapted into both a stage play and an opera. Octavo. Original cream cloth, spine lettered in metallic green, front cover with vignette in gilt, green endpapers. With dust jacket. Black and white illustrations within the text by Donald Chaffin. Ownership inscription dated May 1971 to front free endpaper. Head of spine and one corner bumped, some minor foxing to binding, occasional light foxing to some leaves; child's felt tip to front panel partially removed, some tears and minor loss, some toning, adhesive tape and paper repairs to reverse, price-clipped, rear flap clipped: a very good copy in good jacket.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1989. First edition, first impression. "The marvellously dastardly Dahl has joined forces with that bounder Blake to plunder a wealth of nursery heritage for the delight of the older reader in this wonderful addition to the literature of the absurd" (jacket blurb). The volume contains 15 comic poems based on well-known children's stories. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Illustrated throughout by Quentin Blake. Trace of foxing to reverse of unclipped jacket: a fine copy in a near-fine jacket.

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1984. An intriguing inscription First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author on the half-title "To Brian, who saved my life, Roald Dahl, 1985". The recipient's role in saving the author's life is not apparently recorded. In his autobiographical collection of stories from childhood, Dahl includes his fondness for confectionery, his Norwegian ancestry, and his loathing for most schoolteachers. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers. With dust jacket. Black and white illustrations, and photographic reproductions in the text. Head and foot of spine slightly bumped, some minor marks to covers; unclipped jacket slightly worn at extremities, minor production crease to lower panel: a very good copy in like jacket.