Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2018 Issue

Chiswick Auctions’ forthcoming sale of Printed Books on 30 May

Highlights from Chiswick Auctions' May 30 sale

Highlights from Chiswick Auctions' May 30 sale

Chiswick Auctions sale on May 30th  will feature many classic and highly collectable editions, in sought-after dust-jackets together with rare  inscribed copies.  English and American  literature included in the sale are first editions of popular titles by Ernest Hemingway: In Our Time, first edition one of 170 copies, original printed boards, 1924.  est.  £15,000 - £18,000, first editions in original dust-jackets of  A Farewell to Arms, inscribed by Hemingway, 1929. est. £4,000 - £6,000 and Dashiell Hammet’s The Maltese Falcon, 1930.  est. £8,000 - £12,000.

 

Children’s  literature includes; Anna Sewell: Black Beauty, first edition, 1877. est. £3000 - £4000  Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, first edition, one of 250 copies privately printed, 1901, together with a 1902 first published edition of the same title, est.  £12,000 - £15,000 GBP, plus other Beatrix Potter titles,  Lewis Carroll’s The Nursery Alice, first edition inscribed by the author to the dedicatee 'Marie Van de Gucht, with the Author's love. Mar. 25. 1890’. 1890.  est. £8,000 - £10,000,  a complete set of Winne the Pooh Books and a complete set of Harry Potter Deluxe Editions.

 

Full descriptions.-

 

Hemingway (Ernest)

In Our Time, first edition, number 137 of 170 copies
, woodcut frontispiece by Henry Strater, original decorated boards with newspaper cuttings design, edges uncut, light rubbing to head and tail of spine, usual browning to endpapers, bookplate to front pastedown, tall 8vo., Three Mountains Press, Paris, 1924

 

 

Hemingway (Ernest)
A Farewell to Arms, first edition, inscribed by the author
 'To Mike Murphy, Good luck, Ernest Hemingway' on fly-leaf, original black cloth, printed label on upper cover and spine, top edge trimmed other edges uncut, book-plate to front paste-down, original dust-jacket, very light rubbing to extremities and labels, custom slipcase, 8vo., New York, 1929

***Mike Murphy was a Hemingway biographer and scholar. A loose note explains that this copy was inscribed by Hemingway in Havana.

 

Hammett (Dashiell)
The Maltese Falcon, first edition
original decorated cloth, top edge stained blue/green, original pictorial dust-jacket, light damp stain to inner margin first few leaves not affecting text, small chip to base of dust-jacket, with some other minor wear to extremities, price-clipped 9as usual, preserved in quarter morocco fold-over box, 8vo., New York, 1930

***A very good copy of the most influential of detective fiction novels.

 

Sewell (Anna)

Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions. The Autobiography of a Horse. Translated from the original Equine, FIRST EDITION, engraved frontispiece, 8 pp. publisher's advertisements at end, some overall foxing, text-block almost broken between gatherings G and H, original red cloth with gilt and black design [variant of Carter's B binding], hinges split, extremities worn, preserved in a red morocco folding case, 8vo, Jarrold and Sons [1877]

 

Carroll, Lewis [Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge]

The Nursery Alice, FIRST EDITION, inscribed 'Marie Van de Gucht, with the Author's love. Mar. 25. 1890.' on the half-title, to the dedicatee, printed in brown throughout, illustrations in colour by John Tenniel, original cloth-backed pictorial glazed boards, foxing to title-page and frontispiece, end-papers slightly browned, slightly rubbed and soiled, spine frayed at head and tail, 1890


*** Dodgson first met Maria on July 24th., 1885. On July 29th., 1885 Dodgson asked her if she would like to accompany him to Eastbourne. She initially said 'yes' with her mother's consent, but she lost courage. On April 10th., 1886 Dodgson took her to see The Mikado at the Savoy Theatre and also spent time together in Eastbourne and Guildford. 
The only other known dedication copies of this book being the Liddell/Hargreave copy, and another copy sold at Sotheby's July 2012. The printed dedication is hidden in the dedicatory verse 'A Nursery Darling' using the second letters of each line to spell out the name Marie Van der Gutch.

 

Telephone:  +44 (0)208 992 4442

Email: info@chiswickauctions.co.uk

 

The website:  https://chiswickauctions.co.uk

 

 

Chiswick:

1 Colville Road,

London W3 8BL.

 

South Kensington:

127 Fulham Road,

London SW3 6RT.

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