![Tropic of Cancer [with] Tropic of Capricorn](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/483/359/1674359483.0.l.jpg)
Tropic of Cancer [with] Tropic of Capricorn
by Miller, Henry
Paris: The Obelisk Press, 1939. First Editions. Minor rubbing and split to the spine of Tropic of Cancer, else two near fine books, in the originl wrappers, without restoration. Both with custom boxes. Tropic of Cancer is primarily set in Bohemian Paris around 1930, where the locals could stay up on New Year’s Eve and watch their hopes drop. It’s half autobiography and half exaggerated fantasy, but it’s mainly lighthearted, and its promiscuous carnal zeal is from a more sincere time. Tropic... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Eight Offprints on Extreme Ultraviolet Spectroscopy
by Millikan, Robert A. and Bowen, Ira S.
1926. First Edition. Millikan received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 for his measurement of the elementary electric charge and his work on the photoelectric effect, but the papers offered here belong to the sustained research program he conducted with Ira Sprague Bowen at the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at Caltech in the years immediately following; a program that produced some of the most precise and significant experimental confirmations of the Bohr atomic model ever obtained. Working... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
A Complete Set of the Pooh Books
by Milne, A.A.
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1928. First Editions. Fine. 4 vols. When We Were Very Young (1924), first edition, first state without the page number ‘ix’ at the bottom of the contents page, fine in a fine dust jacket with a few light spots of foxing to the rear flap. Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), first edition, first state with “117th Thousand” on the rear flap, fine in a fine dust jacket. Now We Are Six (1927), first edition, first state,... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
![Ámes de Guerre [The Souls of War]; A Handwritten Manuscript](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/190/112/1679112190.0.l.jpg)
Ámes de Guerre [The Souls of War]; A Handwritten Manuscript
by Mirbeau, Octave
1904. Near fine. 3pp, 4to. Holograph manuscript in pen (in French), writing on the rectos only, the first two pages are filled with text, the last page is trimmed, with only 4 lines and Mirbeau’s signature. Creases, stains, smudges, offsetting, but cleanly written, legible and very good. An article for the left-wing newspaper L’Humanité, published 25/Sept/1904. The newspaper was founded only a few months earlier by SFIO leader Jean Jaures, who also served as editor. In the article,... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
![The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan [and] The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/938/023/1041023938.0.l.jpg)
The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan [and] The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England
by Morier, James
London: John Murray, 1828. First Edition. Adventures of Hajji Baba": 3 vols. The first literary peek into Persia in English literature, and the best ever capturing of it, in that time, fact or fiction. 1st issue with the dedication to Dr Fundgruben intact. Original boards, sympathetically rebacked with identical gray paper, original paper labels laid down (vol. I label 70% chipped, vol. III label with a smaller chip), owner’s name on paste downs, else fine. Original boards and paper... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
A Fragment of Apollo 11; Flown Hatch Plug
by [NASA]
Kennedy Space Center: NASA, 1969. First Edition. Composition hatch plug, flown to the Moon and back on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing. 23mm long x 12.5mm diameter. An actual piece of the Columbia command module, removed after the spacecraft was recovered aboard USS Hornet in the South Pacific on July 24, 1969. As Dick Williamson writes, "This plug is one of several that are removed from certain areas of the spacecraft in order to gain access to... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Complete Blanche White Series
by Neely, Barbara
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. First Edition. Complete set of the Blanche White detective series by Barbara Neely: 4 volumes, all in fine condition with fine dustjackets, each signed by the author. Also included is an advance proof of the debut novel, "Blanche on the Lam" (1992), fine in the original printed wrappers. This pioneering series features the first Black woman amateur detective as protagonist in American crime fiction. The collection is comprised of: "Blanche on... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
![The Catechism of the Shamans [Buddhism]; or The Laws and Regulations of the Priesthood of Buddha, in China](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/791/140/1694140791.0.l.jpg)
The Catechism of the Shamans [Buddhism]; or The Laws and Regulations of the Priesthood of Buddha, in China
by [Translated by Charles F. Neumann]
London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1831. First Edition. Fine. The first book of Buddhism in English. 4to (227 x 145mm), pp. [i]-xxxii, [2], [34]-152. Modern marbled wrappers, French folded. Complete with half-title and errata sheet. Text in English accompanied by Chinese characters. This is the first book "of" Buddhism in English-that is, the first translation of instructional Buddhist text into the language. It is preceded by two years by an English text examining Buddhism from the outside, Edward Upham's... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Slant Book
by Newell, Peter
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1910. First Edition. good. Slanted (like a parallelogram), octavo. 22 color illustrations by the author on the page verso. A poem about a runaway baby stroller. A unique part of binding history in the scarce pictorial dust jacket. Book good with soiling, foxing, bumped and rubbed extremities, but internally clean other than the foxed end leaves. Jacket is chipped, foxed and soiled, else good and without restoration. An abused but interesting book. ... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Man Hunt (Original Script for the 1941 Film)
by Nichols, Dudley (screenwriter); Fritz Lang (director); Geoffrey Household (based on the novel Rogue Male, 1939); Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders (starring)
Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 1940. Letter (295 x 230mm), pp. [Title], [1], 2-186 (mimeographed duplication, rectos only). First draft continuity script for the 1941 film. Orange titled continuous card wrapper, rubber stamped, internal three brass brad binding. Noted as FIRST DRAFT CONTINUITY on the front wrapper, production number 559, copy number 29, dated October 7, 1940. Title page present, also dated October 7, 1940 and noted as 1st Draft Continuity. Pages very good but for a... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy
by Nordhoff, Charles [and] Hall, James
Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1934. First Editions. 4 vols. All are fine in fine dustjackets. The basic triple decker is ex–Jean Hersholt. His first volume (Mutiny on the Bounty) is a first edition in the second binding, with pictorial endpapers, however, supplementing his copy is a 1st edition of it in the 1st binding with plain endpapers, and this additional copy is also fine in a fine dustjacket. The reasoning was to keep the three Hersholt books together... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Harriet and the Piper
by Norris, Kathleen
Garden City: Double-day, Page & Co, 1920. First Edition. 1st edition. Near fine in a very good, jacket with chiping and small tears. A scarce romance and adventure novel in the original jacket.
Offered by Biblioctopus
A Collection of Nineteen Works ; Including: The Maximus Poems; Projective Verse; The Special View of History; Anecdotes of the Late War
by Olson, Charles
various: various, 2000. 18 volumes and ephemeral items in various formats including hardcovers, wrappers, broadsides, and proofs. Condition generally fine or near fine. Notable items include Anecdotes of the Late War (1955)-Jargon Broadside I, inscribed by Olson to his wife and son; The Maximus Poems / 1-10 and 11-22 (1953, 1956)-first editions with calligraphic covers by Jonathan Williams, the first volume in original publisher's stamped wrapping paper; The Maximus Poems combined edition (1960)-one of 101 hardcover copies, unmarked "Presentation"... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
On the Theory of the Electron and Positive; FromThe Physical Review, vol. 45, February 15, 1934. pp. 245-262
by Oppenheimer, Robert, W. H. Furry
Minneapolis: Physical Review, 1934. First Edition. Offprint, 8vo (267 x 201mm), pp. 18, [2]. With an addendum reprinted from The Physical Review, Vol. 45, No. 5. March 1, 1934, 8vo (267 x 201mm), p. 1. This paper is a direct ancestor of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), the most accurate theory in the history of science. It established the "Symmetry" between matter and antimatter that remains a cornerstone of physics today. Within this groundbreaking contribution to quantum field theory, Oppenheimer and... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The California and Oregon Trail
by Parkman, Francis
New York: Putnam, 1849. First Edition. 8vo (193 x 137mm), pp. [4], 448, [4]. First printing, with pages 1–2 advertisements, lithographed frontispiece, and B.A.L.’s terminal catalog A with ads at back numbered 3–6, no type wear on pages 436–437, these being the hallmarks of the 1,000 copy first printing. All the other points that identify the 1st printing are present though in this copy the back ads are bound in. Original brown cloth, slightest bit of rubbing to spine... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Crystal Structure of Molybdenite; From the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. XLV, No. 6., pp.1466–1471
by Pauling, Linus [with] Dickenson, Roscoe G.
Easton, PA: The American Chemical Society, 1923. First Edition. Offprint, 8vo (234 × 161mm), pp. [1], 6, [1]. Original printed green wrappers, staple-bound, toned and lightly rubbed to the extremities, very good. Signed by Pauling on the front wrapper. Pauling's first published scientific paper, and a formative one: the crystallographic habits of mind it demanded (precise geometric reasoning, the disciplined interpretation of structural evidence) would prove constitutive of the scientific sensibility he brought to everything that followed. Published during... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Homecoming
by Pinter, Harold
London: Methuen & Co, 1965. First Edition. 1st edition. Near fine in a very good dustjacket (just rubbing to its edges). Contemporary signed, presentation copy, inscribed in ink using his stage name, David Baron, to Vivien Merchant, his wife, the lead actress and the only woman in the play (she is seen on the jacket in a scene from the play). Half morocco case. Ex–Edwin Erbe, publicity director at New Directions. In 1965 The Homecoming premiered at London’s Aldwych... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Birthday Party
by Pinter, Harold
London: Encore, 1959. First Edition. Preceding all others. The dedication copy of his second play and first book. Original pictorial wrappers, nearly fine. Signed presentation copy to his wife, dated Dec. 1959, and although the dedication wasn’t confirmed in type until the American edition published in 1961, this is it, as tectonic a copy as this book can be.
Offered by Biblioctopus
The Pumpkin Eater; the Release Script
by Pinter, Harold [from the Penelope Mortimer novel]
London: Mai Harris, 1964. Unbound folio sheets mimeographed on rectos only and stapled along the top edge. Some wear and tear, mostly on the first and last leaf, 2 different types of staples used, else very good. Evidence of handwritten changes. Laid in is a small note indicating that this was purchased by Edwin V. Erbe from Serendipity Books for $75 in 1975. Pinter's first screenplay adaptation for a feature film based on the work of another author. He... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
![The Raven [Facsimile of the manuscript]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/803/241/1731241803.0.l.jpg)
The Raven [Facsimile of the manuscript]
by Poe, Edgar Allan
Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1971. A facsimile of a signed and inscribed manuscript of the Raven in holdings at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Fine. Richard Gimbel, a veteran of both world wars, was a major book collector. He bought Poe’s Philadelphia home, restored it. Filled it with rare books and manuscripts and opened it as a museum. When Gimbel died in 1970, his book collection went to the Free Library of Philadelphia, including several Poe manuscripts—this... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Mesmerism; "In Articulo Mortis
by Poe, Edgar Allan
London: A. Munro, 1846. First Edition. Original self-wrappers, 16 pages, stitched. Foxed, else near fine, uncut, and complete as issued. First separate printing of the story originally printed as "Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" in the American Review of December 1845. Poe's tale of a mesmerist who attempts to explore the prolonging of life by hypnotizing a man at the moment he is dying. The mesmerist succeeds in suspending his subject between not quite alive and not quite dead,... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Etiquette in Society, in Business, and at Home
by Post, Emily
New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1922. First Edition. First edition of “the blue book of social usage” with an enormous, and largely positive, impact on modern life, suggesting throughout, that today’s pervasive love of lights, noise, and commotion are not social instincts. Near fine with some minimal rubbing and offsetting to the endpapers (as usual), in the scarce dustjacket, with rubbing, chips, and short splits to the flap folds, but without restoration or strengthening. Emily Post’s comprehensive manual emerged... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
Stories From the Dial
by [The Dial Press]
New York: Lincoln MacVeagh, the Dial Press, 1924. First Edition. 1st edition. Near fine, in a dust jacket with edge chips and some spotting, else very good. A book of stories by Thomas Mann, Sherwood Anderson, D.H. Lawrence, James Stephens and others.
Offered by Biblioctopus
A Collection of His Novels, Short Stories and Secondary Materials
by Pynchon, Thomas
v.p., 2025. First Edition. 68 vols. All of the novels, a majority of his short stories (in one or more forms), some non-fiction articles, a group of secondary materials. See the full list below or on our website. Most are near fine or better. Thomas Pynchon is the archetypal postmodern figure whose literary trajectory reflects both remarkable consistency and subtle evolution. With his debut novel "V." (1963), Pynchon established an unmistakable voice characterized by labyrinthine narratives, information overload, and... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus
In a Moment of Passion
by Christel [Frank Radcliffe]
London: F.V. White & Co, 1886. First Edition. 3 vols. A novel of propinquity, suggesting that short memory is a poor substitute for clear conscience. Original cloth. Near fine, with only the lightest rubbing to the corners and spine ends, beautiful beyond good fortune and take a look at the numbers. A great rarity, not buyable elsewhere, in any condition, let alone like this. RBH records no set at auction, Wolff didn't have it, and there are only 5... Read More
Offered by Biblioctopus