Search Results: Authors starting with S from Biblioctopus

Edinburgh: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, Bookseller to the King, Edinburgh, 1820. First Edition. Boards. Very good. 3 vols. 1st edition. Original boards and labels, rebacked with new endpapers (a fitting match). Soiled and worn else very good, but troublesome to weigh against other sets, because variables won't and constants aren't. Just after publishing Ivanhoe, Scott returned to his Scottish roots for this novel. The monastery of the title is Saint Mary's Cistercian Abbey and the action is mostly within or surrounding it. The time is the Scottish Reformation (16th century) when the religious question had not been settled, but Scott wrote as the detached narrator, and presents its resolution as inevitable. The characters are (as is the custom in historical romance) a gathering (or a compaction) of real and fictional figures, playing out their personal, petty roles, rendered (and contrasted) against the great… Read More

London: Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, at the Anchor in the New Exchange, The Crane in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and in Russel-Street Covent-Garden, London, 1685. Full morocco. Near fine. 4th folio, 1st issue of Shakespeare's plays, the heart of English literature. 19th century full black morocco, fine condition and unrestored, beautiful beyond good fortune and with all of the visual satisfaction so prized by the parts of us that are superficial, a particularly appropriate and resonant antique. That said, these folios should be valued from the inside out and that is where this one's merits excel. Flaws first: The portrait has some light foxing (mostly at the margins), the title page and 5% of the text pages have intermittent stains, there are a few small chips and tears at the edges (all of them confined to the blank margins), some of them closed, and some of them left alone, tiny rust holes of no impact, and half a dozen margins are very slightly miscut, but don't be deceived… Read More

London: by H[enry]. H[ills]. Jun. for Hen Herringman and R Bentley, and sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, 1691. First Edition. hardcover. Near fine. 2nd or 3rd separate edition, an internally fine copy of it and other copies are not fine. As rare as any of the 17th century editions of Julius Caesar including the 1st of 1684 (census data is vague). That said, the glory of this copy is its quality. Early 20th century full red morocco by Rivière & Son, spine gilt titled, ruled in gilt with a French fillet, intricate gilt inner dentelles, gilt edges. Small paper flaw to the blank margin of page 21, else fine and rare in this condition, with large margins all around (8 7/8" X 6 1/2"), but most important, the pages are fresh and unrepaired. And it is also much finer than the other copies of it at auction in the last 40 years, all defective, or with repairs, or trimmed, and/or in poor condition, with only one copy at auction, of any 17th century Caesar separate edition, in condition close to… Read More

New York: Everybody's Magazine, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good. 1st separate edition (unauthorized), and 1st separate issue in English, comprised of sheets from the periodical publication, specially bound up and distributed by Putnam. When advised by Shaw's agent that they had acquired only the serial rights, distribution in this format was halted. Formal book publication in English finally happened in 1916. Near fine original violet cloth, dustjacket chipped and with a split to spine strengthened, else good. An early pencil note on the endpaper promulgates the lie that this is one of 50 copies given to Shaw by the publisher, but this is not a common book and it is scarce in the original jacket. Cloth slipcase and chemise.

London: Reeves & Turner, 1892. Third Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 2 vols. A reprinting of the 1839 original, the edition selected by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, England's premier bindery, as the best choice for the binding they planned, based on its typeface, paper, size, and inclusion of all the notes by Shelley's wife Mary, an essential source for the study of Percy's work. A fastidiously executed dark blue crushed morocco, gilt binding. The outside covers with central gilt panel formed by multiple plain and decorative rolls, with cornerpiece clusters of three inlaid lavender morocco pansies, front boards with central inlaid cerulean morocco medallion stamped with the poet's gilt monogram, rear boards with lavender morocco medallion stamped with a gilt pansy within the quote "Pansies let my flowers be" (from "Remembrance"), raised bands, spine compartments gilt in a latticed pattern. Inside, the Doublures are in sky blue morocco, the one at the front of the first volume is a Cosway style miniature… Read More

London: Ollier, 1819. First Edition. Near fine. 1st edition. Gilt and inlaid crushed green morocco, signed by Riviere & Son in gilt on the turn-in. Inlaid morocco doublures, green silk moire endpapers, original wrappers preserved and bound in. Slightest bit of rubbing at the extremities, clean and fresh internally, near fine. Written after Shelley had left England for good and with a preface dated in Naples, December 20, 1818, Rosalind and Helen tells the story of two lovers (based on Percy and Mary Shelley) whose love is sacred and justified, though unconsecrated by marriage. One of the "Other Poems" included here is the well-known Ozymandias, a sonnet exploring the impermanence of grandeur (a piece apparently inspired by the British Museum's acquisition of a massive Egyptian statue of Ramesses II).

New York: Doubleday, 1906. First Edition. hardcover. fine/good. 1st edition, 1st printing, the trade issue (there was also a subscriber's issue from this same printing, but all copies were printed by Doubleday and ours is the 1st state with the Doubleday imprint on title page and "1" in the date on the copyright page in perfect type). Former owner's stamp to endpaper, else fine (the white stamping to the cloth is unworn), in a dustjacket that's been restored but with no facsimile and it is a rare jacket with no sales at auction going back 50 years. In a visual aid to authenticity, offsetting from the jacket flaps to the endpapers confirms that this jacket was always on this copy of the book. A transcendent copy for this 1st edition. Arguably the most widely influential 20th century book published in America, expectedly awakening the public to corruption in the meat trust while unexpectedly begetting fundamental Federal action with the Pure Food and Drug Act. And though this kind of government… Read More

New Orleans: Simon and Schuster, 1935. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. 1st edition, 1st printing. Neatly inscribed by Slesinger to her editor at Vanity Fair on the front endpaper: "To Frank Crowninshield / with a sophisticated bush / Tess Slesinger / May 8, 1935." Upper front corner lightly pushed, else clean and fine, dust jacket with light rubbing to the extremities, else near fine. This is Slesinger's second book and first collection of short stories. Known for her only novel, "The Unpossessed" (1939) and the adapted screenplays for "The Good Earth" (1937), "Remember the Day" (1941) and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1946). She was active with the leftist intellectual scene in 1930s New York and participated in founding the Screen Writers Guild. "Out-of-door shouts from another world floated, far-off and crazy, through the half-closed window; the veil of satisfaction trembled, shot through with sound." The Answer (page 338).

London: D. Wilson, 1754. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition of the finest, most accurate, and largest obstetrical atlas published up to that time. Large folio (21 1/2" X 14 9/16"), 22 leaves of text, unsigned and unpaginated, errata on recto of last leaf, 39 engraved plates, numbered I-XXXIX. 19th century half morocco with gilt leather label to front board, endpapers renewed, but this is a very good and superior copy with no repair, and no stains. Rare (Norman says, "presumably issued in only 100 copies"). The plates in this pioneering book give everywhere, and for the first time, a masterly representation, true to nature, of the relations of the parts of mother and child, and have contributed more to spreading correct ideas of labor than all the books that had previously been written on the subject. Of the 39 plates, 26 were based on drawings by the Dutch comparative anatomist Jan van Rymsdyck. 11 other plates were by one of Smellie's students from Holland, Dr. Pieter Camper, and… Read More

Providence: Buffalo Book Company, 1946. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. 1st edition (preceded only by the novel's appearance as a 3 part serial in Amazing Stories magazine). Smith's first book Just 500 copies were published (Hadley's 1947 edition is a reprint). Near fine in a very good dustjacket. Ref: Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 2-114, "The archetypal pulp space opera...". Although earlier snippets of science fiction, imaginary voyages, and futuristic military fiction, touched the concept of what is now called space opera, The Skylark of Space is the modern template, the first significant science fiction sub-genre development since H. G. Wells, and one of monumental effect, encompassing among its themes the vast interstellar stage, horrific alien civilizations (the despotic circumstance), and ongoing battles with arch-enemies possessing advanced technologies, laying the baseline for the likes of Asimov's Foundation, Herbert's Dune, Roddenberry's Star Trek, Lucas' Star Wars, and all… Read More

Washington DC: War Department, 1945. First Edition. Wrappers. Near fine. Stapled into the original printed wrappers as issued. Typed label, "Copy No. 5 Division V Lieut. R. S. Dunham." A pre-publication lithoprint (not to be confused with the later reprint or the later clothbound or paperbound Princeton edition), issued shortly (days) after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and not only an early copy (number 5 of about 1,000 printed), but a complete one— page VI-12 is found blank in most other copies (redacted), as it outlines plutonium production rates. And there's more. The original press release, a letter of commendation from the Army Corps of Engineers and an original shoulder patch awarded to about 3500 Army officers and enlisted men who were assigned to the Manhattan Engineer District of the Manhattan Project (Ref. Los Alamos Natl. Lab and Bradbury Museum). Copies of correct issue Smyth Report are scarce (regardless of how many copies are currently for sale), but scarcer still with a known and… Read More

Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation, 1965. First Edition. Wrappers. Fine. 1st edition. Stapled printed wrappers, pencil mark erased from upper right corner, else fine. Issued as 'Writing 9.'.

London: Macmillan, 1959. First edition. A little cocked, spine a little faded, and three light tape shadows on the front fly, else very good lacking the dustwrapper. Signed by the author.

New York: European Publishing Co, 1898. First Edition. hardcover. Very good. 1st edition. Signed by Stanton, in ink, on the endpaper. Rare signed (RBH says no signed copies at auction, and logs only one signed copy sold in the trade and that was 37 years ago). Original cloth, 5 pinholes to title (whatever was pinned there is now gone), small bookplate, rubbing to the extremities else a bright, very good copy. Cloth case. Stanton was the organizer and leader of the 1848 women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, the first such convention in the U. S. and the birth of the American women's movement. Her signature is in the wavering hand of the period (she was 86), but it is undeniably authentic, and dated (in another hand) "Aug 29-‘01" a year before she died.

New York: The Viking Press, 1962. First edition. Fine in wrappers and fine dustwrapper. One of 3200 copies. A lovely copy.

New York: The North American Review Corporation, 1934. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. 3 volumes, individual issues (November 1933, December 1933 and April 1934) of the magazine, each containing the first appearance of Steinbeck stories. Original printed wrappers bound in plain brown paper covered boards, the front cover of the November '33 issue and the rear cover of the April '34 issue are used as a paste downs. Signed 'J.E. Steinbeck' in pencil on the top of the front cover of each issue (the impression can be read on the back of the November cover that has been pasted down), signed 'John Steinbeck' in pen on the title page of the November '33 issue, along with a stamp reading "This book belongs to Carol and John Steinbeck" on the same title page. Front board has a watercolor of a woman reading (likely by Carol Steinbeck). Rubbing, chips to the spine, soiling, hinges split but holding, else internally very good. Ex- Steinbeck nephew in-law David Heyler.

New York: Covici Fried, 1937. First Edition. hardcover. fine/fine. 1st edition. Fine in fine dustjacket without excuses or qualifiers, and entirely lacking in disappointments, 20 times scarcer than near fine copies at about the same price and rarely seen thus these days, a reminder that the bargains remain at the top of the market. Half buffalo case.

London: Longmans, Green, 1934. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. 1st edition. Signed and inscribed, in ink, "With my best wishes Irving Stone." Spine gilt a bit tarnished, else fine, dustjacket with a 1/2" edge tear, else near fine.

London: Boardman, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. 1st edition. Offsetting to endpapers from jacket flaps else fine in a very good dustjacket. A man's corpse is found on a hillside. 3 villagers each believe they killed him and they and a fourth man bury, move, and rebury the body trying to cover up the crime. Hitchcock's 1955 film captures the farce with an ending that harkens a Shakespeare comedy.

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1951. First edition. Fine in fine dustwrapper with just a touch of rubbing. A superb copy of the author's first book.