A DOZEN ALL TOLD
by Henty, G.A. (and others)
1894. Being a Set of Twelve Stories by [twelve different authors] with Twelve Illustrations by [twelve different illustrators]. London: Blackie and Son, 1894. Original dark blue cloth decorated in orange and green. First Edition of this anthology of twelve original tales (for adults) accompanied by twelve illustrations. Henty's contribution is "A Shark's Fin" (illustrated by Frank Brangwyn) -- which Newbolt notes is "probably his only adult fiction published by Blackie." Newbolt also notes that there is no copy... Read More
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NOW FOR A STORY!
by Henty, G.A. (and others)
1893. A Collection of Short Original Stories for Children. London: Skeffington and Son, 1893. Original light blue paper-covered boards decorated in white, pink, green and black. First Edition of this anthology of 18 "short original stories for children" by 13 different authors of the day -- including G. A. Henty ("The Wreckers of Pendarven"); others include L.T. Meade, Mrs. Molesworth and Mabel Wotton. It is a very delicate book, because it was bound in paper-covered boards rather than... Read More
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SOME PERSONS UNKNOWN
by Hornung, E[rnest]. W[illiam]
1898. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898. Original brown cloth blocked in white. First American Edition of this early Hornung collection of eleven imaginative tales, including "The Widow of Piper's Point," "The Magic Cigar" and "A Spin of the Coin." This book came out five years after Hornung married Constance, sister of Arthur Conan Doyle, and one year before Hornung created his most memorable character, Raffles the gentleman cricketer (and crook). Except for one small blemish on the... Read More
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THE FIELD OF CLOVER
by Housman, Laurence
1898. Housman, Laurence. [H.M. Brock's copy] Engraved by Clemence Housman. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1898. 6+ pp undated ads. Original apple-green cloth pictorially decorated in dark green and gilt. First Edition. This was the third of Laurence Housman's four books of original fairy tales; the two earlier ones (same publisher and binding style) were A FARM IN FAIRYLAND (1894) and THE HOUSE OF JOY (1895); the later one (published by John Murray in decorated blue... Read More
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A FARM IN FAIRYLAND
by Housman, Laurence
1894. Housman, Laurence. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1894. Original apple-green cloth pictorially decorated in dark green and gilt. First Edition of Laurence Housman's first book, a collection of twelve fairy tales he wrote and illustrated. He subsequently produced three similar collections of fairy tales (the illustrations of which were engraved by his sister Clemence) -- THE HOUSE OF JOY (1895), THE FIELD OF CLOVER (1898) and THE BLUE MOON (1904). (As an aside: what a... Read More
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THE HOUSE OF JOY
by Housman, Laurence
1895. Housman, Laurence. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1895. Original apple-green cloth pictorially decorated in dark green and gilt. First Edition of Housman's second book -- following his similar-content and similarly-bound A FARM IN FAIRYLAND of 1894 -- a collection of eight fairy tales written and illustrated by him, and with the illustrations engraved by his sister Clemence. (Their brother A[lfred]. E[dward]. wasn't too shabby a literary guy, as well.) The illustrations are some of Laurence's... Read More
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THE CASTLE OF EHRENSTEIN; Its Lords Spiritual and Temporal; Its Inhabitants Earthly and Unearthly. In Three Volumes
by James, G[eorge]. P[ayne]. R[ainsford]
1847. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1847. 4+32+1 pp Vol I ads dated January 1847. Original drab boards with purple ribbed cloth spines and printed spine labels, title pages printed in black and red. First Edition of this supernatural tale about the goings-on in a haunted castle -- with the opening line (borrowing from a notorious 1830 Bulwer-Lytton novel) "It was an awfully dark and tempestuous night...". James (1800-1860) trained for medicine but became a prolific novelist after... Read More
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NOTES ON NOVELISTS with Some Other Notes
by James, Henry
1914. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. Original olive-brown cloth. First American Edition, which consisted of 2000 copies and was published one day after Dent's London edition. Novelists covered by James include Robert Louis Stevenson, Emile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, Honore de Balzac and George Sand. This was one of several James titles that was unfortunately bound for Scribner's in this unattractive olive-brown cloth that is very prone to soil and fading; this, however, is a fine copy with... Read More
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STORIES REVIVED. In Three Volumes
by James, Henry
1885. London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. 2 pp undated Vol III ads. Original dark blue-green cloth. First Edition, which consisted of only 500 copies. These three volumes consist of fourteen tales here "revived," that James had written some years earlier -- most from the 1870s, with some from the 1860s. Eight of them had been collected in America, either in A PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1875) or in THE AUTHOR OF BELTRAFFIO (1885, three months earlier). The other six appear... Read More
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WILLIAM WETMORE STORY and His Friends. In Two Volumes
by James, Henry
1903. From Letters, Diaries, and Recollections. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1903. Original dark green cloth. First American Edition, first state, of this bibliographically-complex biography by James. William Wetmore Story (1819-1895) graduated from Harvard College in 1838 and Harvard Law School in 1840, but after practicing under his father for a decade, in 1850 he moved permanently to Rome to follow his real passion, sculpture. HJ had met Story in Rome in the 1870s. After Story's death, his... Read More
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PORTRAITS OF PLACES
by James, Henry
1884. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1884. Original chocolate brown cloth. First American Edition, which consisted of 1500 copies printed from the plates of Macmillan's London edition, issued a month earlier. The "places" portrayed are on the Continent, in England and in North America. This copy is in chocolate brown cloth (one of five colors used, without priority), with the JRO monogram at the foot of the spine. This is a near-fine copy, mildly rubbed at the... Read More
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THE AWKWARD AGE
by James, Henry
1899. London: William Heinemann, 1899. 2 pp undated ads. Original blind-stamped blue cloth. First Edition of this novel, written almost entirely in dialogue, of Nanda Brookenham's "awkward age" of transition away from her mother's marriage-marketing and toward taking charge of her own life. This appears to have been a colonial copy that was transferred back for domestic use (according to E&L, 475 copies were so transferred): the book is in the second binding state (with nine tulip buds... Read More
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THE PRIVATE LIFE | Lord Beaupré | The Visits
by James, Henry
1893. [the John Quinn copy] New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893. 4 pp undated ads. Original blue-grey cloth decorated in silver and gilt. First American Edition, primary binding state (with the elaborate silver grille-work on front cover and spine, and with the leaves' top edge stained ochre). This primary binding also appears, less commonly, in olive cloth; there is also a total of seven secondary, less ornate, bindings. THE WHEEL OF TIME... was soon issued as the companion... Read More
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PICTURE AND TEXT
by James, Henry
1893. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1893. Original dark green cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of this collection of seven literary essays, issued as a volume in the "Harper's American Essayists" series. There was no corresponding English edition. This copy is in the primary, elaborately-gilt binding (there were also four secondary bindings), and is in bright, just-about-fine condition. Supino 38.1.0; Edel & Laurence A38.
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A PASSIONATE PILGRIM, and Other Tales
by James, Henry Jr.
1875. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1875. Original terra-cotta cloth, beveled. First Edition of Henry James's first book, which consisted of only 1,500 copies. This is a collection of six tales that had appeared in American periodicals (mostly the Atlantic Monthly) over the preceding years. In 1873 James's father wrote him to say that he had had discussions with Osgood about publication of some of the son's tales, but Henry Jr. replied (to his mother, not his... Read More
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STORIES REVIVED. In Three Volumes
by James, Henry
1885. [the fine Currie / Sendak copy] London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. 2 pp undated Vol III ads. Original dark blue-green cloth. First Edition, which consisted of only 500 copies. These three volumes consist of fourteen tales here "revived," that James had written some years earlier -- most from the 1870s, with some from the 1860s. Eight of them had been collected in America, either in A PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1875) or in THE AUTHOR OF BELTRAFFIO (1885, three... Read More
Offered by Sumner & Stillman
STORIES REVIVED. In Three Volumes
by James, Henry
1885. London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. 2 pp undated Vol III ads. Original dark blue-green cloth. First Edition, which consisted of only 500 copies. These three volumes consist of fourteen tales here "revived," that James had written some years earlier -- most from the 1870s, with some from the 1860s. Eight of them had been collected in America, either in A PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1875) or in THE AUTHOR OF BELTRAFFIO (1885, three months earlier). The other six appear... Read More
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THE AWKWARD AGE. A Novel
by James, Henry
1899. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1899. 2 pp undated ads. Original brown cloth. First American Edition, which consisted of only 1,000 copies (half as many as the English edition published a few weeks earlier). Nanda Brookenham's "awkward age" begins when her mother enters her into the marriage market and ends when she decides to be in charge of her own life. This copy is what Edel & Laurence calls the primary state, and is Supino's... Read More
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TRANSATLANTIC SKETCHES
by James, Henry Jr.
1875. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1875. One preliminary page undated ads. Original green cloth, beveled. First Edition of Henry James's second book, which consisted of either 1500 (per E&L) or 1578 (per Blanck) copies. Published in the same year as his first (A PASSIONATE PILGRIM), this is a collection of travel sketches from his journeys around Europe in 1872-1874. This copy is in the first binding state, with "J.R. Osgood & Co." at the foot of... Read More
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CONFIDENCE
by James, Henry Jr.
1880. [a fine copy] Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1880. Original green cloth, beveled. First American Edition, which consisted of 1500 copies -- issued two months after the 500-copy English two-decker (which is now quite scarce). And what is interesting is that in the ensuing weeks [following his brother William's marriage], Henry wrote his worst novel... it bears the uncommonly ineffectual title of CONFIDENCE. Its plot is like an old eighteenth century comedy, or a theme for a... Read More
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NOTES ON NOVELISTS with Some Other Notes
by James, Henry
1914. [Sendak copy in 1914 dj] New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. Original olive-brown cloth, with dust jacket. First American Edition, which consisted of 2000 copies and was published one day after Dent's London edition. Novelists covered by James include Robert Louis Stevenson, Emile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac and George Sand. This was one of several James titles that was unfortunately bound for Scribner's in this unattractive olive-brown cloth that is very prone to soil and... Read More
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BLAKE OF THE "RATTLESNAKE." Or The Man Who Saved England. A Study of Torpedo Warfare in 189-
by Jane, Fred T.
1895. Illustrated by the Author. London: Tower Publishing Company, 1895. 2 pp undated ads. Original grey-green cloth pictorially decorated in black and orange. First Edition of the first of Jane's scientific romances -- visions of future war, fought with future ships and aircraft. Not only is the book by Jane, but the action illustrations are too. Subsequent Jane titles, published over the following four years, included THE INCUBATED GIRL, TO VENUS IN FIVE SECONDS and THE VIOLET FLAME... Read More
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THE TORY LOVER
by Jewett, Sarah Orne
1901. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1901. Original green cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of this historical romance sited around and about Hamilton House, the author's home in South Berwick, Maine. It concerns "a young American officer during the Revolution and his conflicting duty to his king and to his native land" [OCAL]. There were five printings dated 1901, but only the first (as here) has all three points: "Published September, 1901" on the... Read More
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REWARDS AND FAIRIES
by Kipling, Rudyard
1910. With Illustrations by Frank Craig. London: Macmillan and Co., 1910. 2+8 pp undated ads. Original red cloth with ganesha device in gilt. First Edition of this collection of tales and poems that form a continuation of the Puck stories begun in PUCK OF POOK'S HILL (1906). Included are four plates by Frank Craig; in later editions these were replaced with twelve illustrations by Charles Brock. REWARDS AND FAIRIES contains the first appearance in book form of the... Read More
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THE LIGHT THAT FAILED. In Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
by Kipling, Rudyard
1890. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., January 1891 [actually Dec 1890]. Original printed wrappers. First American Appearance of this novel, occupying almost the entirety (97 pages) of this monthly issue. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was on a roll! Over the course of twelve months they introduced readers to three amazing novels: Arthur Conan Doyle's THE SIGN OF FOUR complete in the February 1890 issue, Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY complete in the July 1890 issue, and then this... Read More
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