New York: Vanguard Press, 1947. Hardcover. First Edition. Signed by the author on the title page. The author’s second novel. Very good in black cloth boards with blue title to spine. Minor wear to corners and spine ends and very light evidence of a minor dampstain to the rear board. Signed by the previous owner on the front free endpaper, and browning to both gutters; otherwise, a clean copy. In a good light blue dust jacket with white title to spine and front panel. There are several large chips to the top edges of the dust jacket and there are a few small chips to the bottom edge. Browning to the spine panel and dampstaining to rear panel. 294 pages. LIT.052511. Very Good in Good Dust Jacket / Chipped. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2017. Number 31 of 42 copies. Signed by the printers and the author of the introduction, who are ardent and well-known Carroll admirers. The Cheshire Cat Press was formed by book designer and printer George Walker in 1991. The press began when he and two colleagues produced new editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Edward Wakeling, who wrote the introduction, is an internationally known authority on Carroll. From the prospectus: "Here finally is a book collecting all the Alice associated images into one volume. In this book is the work of the other PUNCH illustrators who were influenced by John Tenniel’s pictures for Lewis Carroll’s Alice. Oh yes we include Tenniel too! Through the many decades that Punch existed (1841-2002), references to the Alice books have been a common feature. Now you can have them all in one volume. The images are printed by hand directly from polymer plates made by Boxcar Press, except Alice Reigns Supreme (page 27) which is printed photo-mechanically. The plates were created from high resolution scans made directly from the original PUNCH publications. Printed on 115 gsm Rives Lightweight Buff 100% rag paper using a Vandercook Sp15 letterpress." Bound in green cloth with gilt title to spine and gilt ruling and Punch figure to front cover. Punch figure repetitive design to endpapers. Housed in a green cloth slipcase. In fine condition. 10 x 13 inches. 57 pages. PRI/031221. More

London: Macmillan & Co., 1891. Hardcover. First Edition. Lanoe Falconer was the pseudonym of Mary Elizabeth Hawker (1848-1908), the Scottish novelist, pianist, and short story writer. This scarce book was a very popular supernatural novel in its day. In very good condition in original dark blue cloth boards. Light bumping to corners and chipping to spine. Interior pages clean with some splitting to signatures but text block is holding. 197 pages plus 44 page classified catalogue. LIT/031511. Very Good. More

London: Tower Publishing Co., 1895. Piffarrd, Harold. Hardcover. First Edition. Author's rare first book. Edgar Jepson (1863-1938) was a popular English writer of adventure and detective stories. Very good in original red cloth boards with gilt title to spine and front board. The front cover is illustrated with a ship and the spine with a man hailing a ship from the shore. There is minor wear to the edges of the boards and there are a few dark markings to the boards and spine. Aside from a few light smudge marks, the interior is clean and bright with eight illustrations and cover design by Harold Piffard. Bookplate to front pastedown. 316 pages. LIT/062910. Very Good. More

Iowa City: Emily Martin, 2022. Number 21 of 25 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Emily Martin says of this personal and inventive book: " Madness was created during the pandemic and went through many forms before it became what you see here. It’s appearance and content are very much shaped by my time in isolation. Initially, I copied out the play Hamlet by hand starting in March 2020 because I was too anxious to sit and read. I also was making paper puppets for companionship. The project kept changing as events swirled around me. I struggled to make sense of the project in a world gone crazy. The text is a crazy quilt arrangement of lines from Hamlet and my writing on repeating themes of fear, disease, Black Lives Matter, Asian hate crimes, the insurrection, so much death and isolation. " She further comments on her colophon: "Madness went through many forms before it became what you see here. It has taken me much longer to figure than any book I have ever made before. The combination of subject matter that was centuries old with happenings in the minute complicated my thinking beyond measure." About the artist: Emily Martin earned an MFA degree in painting, from the University of Iowa in 1979 and made her first artist’s books at that time. Martin joined the faculty of the University of Iowa Center for the Book in 1998 where she teaches artists books, paper engineering, and traditional bookbinding classes. Martin made limited edition artists books first as the Naughty Dog Press, but now uses her name only. She has produced over fifty artist’s books, often using movable and/or sculptural paper engineering techniques. Martin’s books are included in public and private collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands; The Victoria and Albert Museum; The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; the Tate Britain; the Library of Congress and among many others. Madness was printed letterpress with polymer plates from Boxcar Press on Arches Text wove paper. The background pattern of the pages is made up of my renderings of tears, drops of blood, Covid-19 particles and bullet holes. The paper puppet inclusions were printed on University of Iowa Center for the Book Chancery paper and are costumed in papers of wheat straw, sisal, daylily fibers, and abaca paste papers made by Andrea Peterson. The puppets are attached to their pages but are engineered to be able to be lifted away from them and gently move. The book was constructed as an accordion and the pages can be extended and displayed. The non-adhesive brown covers are flax and abaca papers made by Mary Hark for the outside and flax papers from the University of Iowa Center for the Book for the inside. White title label is affixed to the front cover and to the spine of its box. Housed in a black cloth covered clamshell box. A fascinating book in fine condition. Measures 8 x 11 inches. Unpaginated. ARTB/051623. Fine. More

London: John Parker & Son, 1854 and 1856. Hardcover. First Editions. Inscribed by the author, “With the author’s compliments” in first volume. The Angel of the House became extremely popular in its time, and the title became a Victorian phrase used to describe the ideal wife/woman. Patmore wrote this about his wife, Emily, whom he thought was perfect. John Everett Millais painted her portrait and used the same title as the book. After the first book there were three subsequent installments. This and the first installment formed a coherent poem. The later two were a separate poem inspired by the first. Bound in original rippled brown cloth with paper spine labels. Rubbed and bumped, and tears to The Espousals label. Interior pages generally very good. Pastedown to first volume stained and has remains of a bookplate. Second volume has a light ink inscription on pastedown and a pencil drawing and signature on the free front endpaper. Volume I: 191 pages; Volume II: 182 pages plus 16 page publisher catalog. This set may require an extra shipping fee. LIT/040912. Very Good. More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1898. Hardcover. First Edition of this rare work. William Platt was a peculiar 1890s writer whose works concern the role of the sexes and inhabit an area between regular fiction and the risque. A very nice copy in original grey cloth with a gilt cover design attributed to Sidney H. Sime. In very good plus condition. With book plate of Mark Samuels Lasner. 88 pages. LIT/032513. Very Good+. More

London: Macmillan and Co., 1886. Hardcover. First Edition. A Presentation Copy, inscribed "Edward Shorthouse from his affectionate brother & sister J Henry & Sarah Shorthouse." John Henry Shorthouse (1834-1903) was an English novelist probably most famous for his book John Inglesant. The recipient was also an author. With the bookplate of Ohio book collector Paul Lemperly, with Lemperly's inscription stating that he received the book as a gift from Morris L. Parris, whose collection of Victorian novels is now at Princeton. Parrish's letter of presentation is inserted. Bound in original dark blue cloth with gilt stripes and embossed design on front cover and spine. In fine condition. Housed in a fine custom half-red morocco slipcase. Octavo. 300 pages. LIT/053013. Fine. More

Mad Parrot Press, 2022. Hardcover. Number 45 of 75 copies signed by the printer and binder, Chad Pastotnik. This is a marvelous edition of The Wind in the Willows, the incomparable book by Kenneth Grahame. In his introduction, Peter Hunt, author of The Making of The Wind in the Willows, writes: "It is a book which makes you feel that, though everybody in the house loves it, it is only you who really appreciate it at its true value, and that others are scarcely worthy of it." This book is beautifully produced, with fine letterpress printing on special paper, and is accompanied by artist Vladimir Zimakov's exuberant linoleum cut illustrations of the characters and their adventures. Quarter bound in green Moroccan goatskin and orange cloth. Orange titling to spine and leather and gilt illustration affixed to the front cover. Printed in the Centaur font with Arrighi for italic on special Saint Armand Canal paper developed especially for this work. There are 12 full page color illustrations and numerous text illustrations throughout. Housed in a black cloth slipcase. In fine condition. Measures 10.25 x 14.25 inches. 132 pages. PRI/050522. Fine. More

London: Smith, Elder, 1888. Hardcover. 8vo. FIRST EDITION. SIGNED LETTER. Includes a one and a half page handwritten and signed letter by Ward to her publisher. Also features the bookplate of accomplished Danish actor, Jean Hersholt (1886 - 1956), which is pasted down to the front end page of Volume I. Hersholt, perhaps best known for his role as Shirley Temple’s grandfather in Heidi (1937), appeared in over one hundred films, directed several films, won a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. He was also an eminent collector of books by Hans Christian Andersen and translated many of Andersen’s fairy tales into English. These were later published in six volumes and are still considered to be one of the best English translations. Born in Australia, British author Mary Augusta Ward (1851 - 1920) published under her married name, Mrs. Humphry Ward. She was passionate about improving education for the poor, and supported opening Oxford University to women. She helped form the Association for the Education of Women in 1878; however, she was also an anti-suffragette and served as the founding president of the Women's National Anti-Suffragette League in the early 1900s. A very good triple decker set in the original blue cloth with gilt titles to spines and black titles to front boards. There is a small closed tear along the exterior front joint of Volumes I.and II All volumes have minor wear and a few chips to the book cloth along the corners, edges, and hinges. Bumping to corners, minor rubbing to boards, and wear to joints. The interiors remain very clean overall. There are floral patterned end pages in first two volumes and variant chocolate colored end pages in Volume III. The set is housed in an attractive dark green half-morocco slipcase with maroon and gilt leather labels to spine. There are a few minor scuff marks to the case and a closed tear to the hinge of the tri-fold sleeve which fits within. Volume I has 371 pages; Volume II has 374 pages plus ads; Volume III has 411 pages. LIT/031908. Very good. More