Coveted by antiquarians, leather bound, gilt-tooled illustrated sets of classic works of literature by Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen and others, all displaying the finest in bookbinding.

Fine Bindings

A finely bound, limited edition of Pushkin and Shukhaev’s La Dame de Pique with two additional suites, signed 'J. Sch'.&nbsp;<ul><li>Alexander Pushkin (Russian).</li><li>Vasily Shukhaev (Russian).</li><li>Paris,&nbsp;J Schiffrin &amp; Cie.,&nbsp;1923.</li><li>One of twenty-five limited-edition copies, from a total edition of 345.</li><li>On japon impérial.</li><li>Translated by André Gide and Jacques Schiffrin, signed J. Sch on the limitation page, foreword by Gide, illustrations in color by Shukhaev including 7 plates hors-texte, with two additional suites of 19 illustrations each, loose in a separate portfolio, one in color on japon and one in black on chine, with tissue guards, a.e.g.</li><li>20th century fine binding by Hélène Cauchetier, full green morocco with original wrappers bound in, upper cover with playing card motif inlay design of various colors, doubles with green patterned paper guards, green marbled endpapers.</li><li>Chemise and slipcase, extra suites in a corresponding chemise.</li></ul> Pushkin’s much loved story The Queen of Spades illustrated by the artist Vasiliy Shukhaev who was a member of Mir Isskustva and studied under master draughtsman Dmitry Kardovsky. Shukhaev, along with other influential members of the movement such as Benois and Somov, was inspired by the paintings of Watteau and Fragonard. Although closely associated with Russian avant-garde painters, Shukhaev be it consciously or unconsciously fought against their extremism. He never betrayed his allegiance to the canons of the rococo period and his pochoir illustrations to The Queen of Spades demonstrated his endeavor to maintain the elegance and measured taste of the Mir Isskustva. The Moscow Museum of Modern Art exhibited a large-scale retrospective exhibition of Shukhaev in 2014 of which his illustrations of La Dame de Pique were a highlight.

La Dame de Pique / The Queen of Spades

A first edition, first issue, finely bound copy of The Holy Land.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>David Roberts (Scottish).</li><li>London: Moon, 1842.</li><li>Folio.</li><li>Includes two lithographic title pages (as issued) and 120 lithograph plates by Louis Haghe after David Roberts (60 full-page), with lithographic portrait of Roberts by C. Baugniet on india paper, the half-page plates with descriptive text below image.</li><li>Bound in contemporary morocco-backed cloth gilt, top edge gilt.</li></ul>&nbsp;Roberts' Holy Land was one of the most elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing, providing the most comprehensive series of views of the monuments, landscape and people of the region. It is one of the greatest illustrated books published in the nineteenth century. This copy is from the earliest issue, before the map and the title page for the third volume were produced in 1849. David Roberts arrived in Cairo in September 1838. He crossed the desert by way of Suez, Mount Sinai and Petra to Gaza and Jerusalem accompanied by tribes of Bedouins, friends and guides. He later visited the Dead Sea, the Lake of Tiberias, Lebanon and the ruins of Baalbek. Returning to England in late 1839, he sought a publisher willing to produce a lavish edition of his views. Rejected by the Finden Brothers and by John Murray, he signed a contract with Francis Moon in 1840. He and Moon shrewdly promoted their project by organizing a private viewing of Roberts' watercolors and drawings for Queen Victoria, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other influential people who immediately subscribed. They mounted public exhibitions of some travel sketches in many British cities, and the favorable press notices attracted additional subscriptions, amounting to nearly double what the project required.

The Holy Land 

A finely bound edition of The Emperor Francis Joseph and His Times.<ul><li>Baron von Margutti (English).</li><li>London: Hutchinson &amp; Co., 1921.</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in three-quarter brown morocco and linen boards, the covers and raised band spine are gilt-tooled, the tip edge is gilt with marbled endpapers.</li></ul>

The Emperor Francis Joseph and His Times

Inscribed first edition, first printing of Dunbar's poem; born to formerly enslaved parents, he became known for his use of dialect to capture the African American experience.<ul><li>Paul Laurence Dunbar (American).</li><li>Decorations by Margaret Armstrong.</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Dodd Mead and Co.,&nbsp;1903.&nbsp;</li><li>144 pages.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Inscribed by Dunbar from his poem 'Philosophy': "It's easy enough to titter w'en de stew is smokin' hot, But hit's mighty ha'd to giggle w'en dey's nuffin in de pot." Interestingly, he spells out 'enough' rather than using the published version '‘nough'.</li><li>Contains a different ownership name dated 1903 below Dunbar's inscription.</li><li>Bound in publisher's pictorial cloth binding, gilt titling and pink and green vines to spine.</li></ul>

When Malindy Sings

The iconic modernist book, signed by Matisse, is one of the great editions of one of the great books.<ul><li>James Joyce (Irish).</li><li>Illustrations by Henri Matisse (French).</li><li>Introduction by Stuart Gilbert (English).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;The Limited Editions Club,&nbsp;1935.</li><li>363, [1] pages.</li><li>Illustrated with six etchings and 20 tipped-in drawings on blue and yellow paper.</li><li>Limited edition of 1,500 numbered copies signed by Matisse, this being number 1,264.</li><li>Bound in original brown Bancroft buckram with gilt globe stamped to front board.</li><li>Housed in a custom quarter leather over black cloth archival clamshell box with gilt title spine.</li></ul> Joyce's masterpiece, in the deluxe edition published after the 1933 landmark ruling in the case of United States v. One Book Called Ulysses. Eleven years after the book's initial publication, a US court affirmed that in the matter of obscenity, One Book Called Ulysses had soundly defeated the United States, and immediately thereafter, Limited Editions Club founder George Macy began to plan what would be a monumental achievement: a landmark among Matisse's livres d'artiste, reproducing his preparatory drawings alongside the final soft-ground etchings; the only illustrated Ulysses with an introduction that Joyce allowed to be published; and the most accurate text of the novel published in the US until 1961. In the early days of the project, believing that the artist "[knew] the French translation very well" and only wanted for an idea of the Irish context, Joyce proposed to send him an illustrated Dublin Weekly of 1904 for visual reference. But Matisse had no interest in the specificities of Ireland, and, though his drawings were organized around the Odyssey itself, barely more interest in the specificities of Greece (the two struggling women of his "Calypso," Hillary Spurling suggests, were "an image that had more to do with the artist's own home life that summer than with either Joyce or Homer"). Seeing the sample drawings, George Macy began to plea for some connection, any connection between image and text: "While we understand, and admire, the idea by which the plates are to be illustrative of Homer's Odyssey, it is essential that the incidents of the Odyssey which are illustrated must also make reference to incidents in Joyce's book." This was no way to speak to a great artist. Matisse responded by matching his drawings to individual chapters without explanation, saying only that they represented "reactions of my mind before Joyce's work" and, by the way, "Mr. James Joyce, who knows about the way I am illustrating his book, quite agrees with me on it." This would perhaps have been news to Mr. James Joyce, whose best-known comment on the finished product was: "If they had been signed L.J. [Lucia Joyce] instead of H.M. people would have had a different tale to tell. I am only too painfully aware that Lucia has no future but that does not prevent me from seeing the difference between what is beautiful and shapely and what is ugly and shapeless. As usual I am in a minority of one." Setting aside Joyce's opinion, Matisse's work may be viewed as conceptually linked to his own: not illustrations in any conventional sense, but a parallel artistic project, a second great modernist manipulation of the Odyssey. Another plausible interpretation of Matisse's drawings understands them as a response not to the text but to "the critical apparatus that developed around the novel during the 1930s" (Brown), and specifically to Stuart Gilbert's perceptive introduction. As for contemporary reception, members of the Limited Editions Club expressed one of three reactions: A vile book, dressed up with great art; a great book, ruined by "crackpot drawings"; or a magnificent work, the expression of "perfect rapport among author, illustrator and designer." The third judgment has held up quite well. Luca Crispi, "A French Homer in America: James Joyce, Henri Matisse, and the Limited Editions Club "Ulysses;" Willard Goodwin, "A Very Pretty Picture M. Matisse But You Must Not Call It Joyce": The Making of the Limited Editions Club "Ulysses"; Kathryn Brown, Matisse's Poets: Critical Performance in the Artist's Book.

Ulysses

Limited folio edition of Joyce's&nbsp;Ulysses.<ul><li>James Joyce (Irish).</li><li>Preface by Stephen James Joyce (French).</li><li>Introduction by Jacques Aubert (French).</li><li>Illustrations by Mimmo Paladino (Italian).</li><li>London: Folio Society, 2004.</li><li>735 pages.</li><li>Limited-edition number 149 of 1,750.</li><li>Bound in blue goatskin, top edge gilt with cloth page divider attached to the head of spine.</li><li>Housed in a buckram clamshell solander box.</li></ul>

Elaborately ornamented edition of Shelley's 1820 poem, lavishly illustrated and in the scarcest of the edition's bindings.<ul><li>Percy Bysse Shelley (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Charles Robinson (English).</li><li>Introduction by Edmund Gosse (English).</li><li>London and Philadelphia: William Heinemann &amp; J.P. Lippincott Co, [1911].</li><li>Bound in full maroon morocco with a gilt-stamped garden vignette.</li></ul>

The Sensitive Plant

A finely bound, first edition copy of In the Nicobar Islands.<ul><li>George Whitehead (American).</li><li>Preface by Sir Richard C. Temple.</li><li>London: Seeley, Service &amp; Co., Ltd., 1924.</li><li>Includes many illustrations and a map.</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in three-quarter brown morocco and linen boards, the covers and raised band spine are gilt-tooled, the top edge is gilt with marbled endpapers.</li></ul>

In the Nicobar Islands

Finely bound and illustrated copy of The Romance of King Arthur.<ul><li>Thomas Malory (British).</li><li>Illustrated by Arthur Rackham (English).</li><li>The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.</li><li>London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1917.</li><li>Illustrated with 16 tipped-in color plates with titled tissue guards after each plate and 7 black-and-white illustrations.</li><li>Limited numbered edition of 500; this is number 227.</li><li>Signed by the illustrator, Arthur Rackham.</li><li>Bound by Asprey in full dark blue morocco with onlays depicting Sir Lancelot fighting a dragon, with top edge gilt, blue silk morie pastedowns and endpapers.</li></ul>

The Romance of King Arthur

Finely bound copy of Histoire de L'Empereur Napoléon with French binding.<ul><li>P.-M. Laurent de l'Ardeche (French).</li><li>Paris:&nbsp;J.-J. Dubochet et C[i]e,&nbsp;1839.</li><li>802 pages.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Bound in full contemporary straight-grained citron-brown morocco, gilt-stamped covers with a large “N” and eagle emblem surrounded by large floral sprays and volutes with all edges gilt and green moiré endpapers.</li><li>Housed in morocco-tipped crimson cloth open-faced slipcase.</li></ul>

Histoire de L'Empereur Napoléon

A finely bound and illustrated copy of Old Court Life In France.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Francis Elliot (English).</li><li>New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893.</li><li>Bound in three-quarter navy morocco and marbled boards bordered in gilt-tooling, the raised band spines are gilt-tooled, the top edges are gilt with marbled endpapers.</li></ul> Price: $750.00

Old Court Life in France

Finely bound first-edition copy of Grahame's&nbsp;The Wind in the Willows.<ul><li>Kenneth Grahame (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Methuen &amp; Co. Ltd.,&nbsp;1908.</li><li>pp.[viii]; 302; [1], blank; [1], imprint.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Bound in full green polished morocco, gilt, by Trevor Lloyd, M.B.E., with raised bands, extra gilt back, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, triple gilt fillet to sides, double gilt border to pastedown, original cloth cover preserved at rear.</li></ul>

The Wind in the Willows

First UK edition of Tolstoy's masterpiece, in a spectacular artist's binding.<ul><li>Leo Tolstoy (Russian).</li><li>Binding by Derek Hood (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Vizetelly &amp; Co,&nbsp;1887.</li><li>769, [3] pages, followed by 32-page publisher's catalogue.</li><li>Bound in dark blue goatskin with colored leather inlays, decorated with white gold dots in concentric circles, deep blue-gray endpapers stamped in white gold, all edges gilt.</li><li>Housed in a grey felt-lined black cloth chemise with peacock blue leather spine label and matching slipcase.</li></ul> "I read the book thoroughly and then forget about it. What I can't forget is then used as the catalyst for the design." — Derek HoodThe geometric shapes of Hood's 2017 binding represent the flashes of Moscow and St. Petersburg visible from a moving train, while the receding dotted rings suggest bright lights seen through a mist. The design shares several elements with Hood's interpretation of Cendrars &amp; Delaunay's La Prose du Trassibérien, which likewise evokes a sense of movement inspired by a Russian train journey, but is bright and light where his Anna Karenina is dark-bordered and inescapable. The edition selected for transformation was the anonymously translated version published 140 years earlier as no. XX of Vizetelly's One-Volume Novels, a series responsible for first introducing British readers to Tolstoy, Flaubert, and Zola. Publishing the last of those three brought obscenity prosecution, imprisonment, and bankruptcy to Henry Vizetelly. Trained in bookbinding at Napier University in Edinburgh and St. Andrews University, Hood was also an accomplished drummer, touring and recording with bands like All About Eve and The Auteurs throughout the 1990s before returning to his studio. His work was frequently commissioned by the organizers of the Booker Prize for special presentation copies, and his books have been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Grolier Club. A unique metamorphic binding, paired with a major edition of this classic novel. Blume, "The Reader-Brand: Tolstoy in England at the Turn of the Century," Doyle, "Derek Hood Obituary," The Guardian; Minnesota Center for Book Arts, "Drop Dead Gorgeous: Fine Bindings of La Prose du Transsibérien Re-creation."

Anna Karenina

A finely bound and illustrated collection of the Thorton Edition of the novels of the Brontë sisters.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 12.</li><li>Charlotte Brontë (English).</li><li>Emily Brontë&nbsp;(English).</li><li>Anne Brontë&nbsp;(English).</li><li>Includes The Life of Charlotte Brontë by E.C. Gaskell.</li><li>Edinburgh: John Grant, 1924.</li><li>Bound in half maroon morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spines, textblock uncut as issued, by Atkinson.</li></ul>

The Novels of The Sisters Brontë

A finely bound, illustrated edition of Portraits of the Eighteenth Century.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (French).</li><li>Translated by Katharine P. Wormeley.</li><li>New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905.</li><li>Bound in three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards, the covers and raised band spines are gilt-tooled, the top edges are gilt with marbled endpapers. </li></ul>

Portraits of the Eighteenth Century

Stunning signed onlaid leather binding by Sangorski &amp; Sutcliffe of&nbsp;The Diamond Smugglers,&nbsp;part of&nbsp;The Works of Ian Fleming,&nbsp;which is considered the definitive collection of his works.&nbsp;<ul><li>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Queen Anne Press, 2008.</li><li>Limited to 56 lettered editions (26 lettered according to the English alphabet and 30 lettered according to the Russian alphabet), with this volume being Russian letter 3 (English translation is Z).</li><li>Bound in full morocco with a pictorial onlaid leather multicolored design that follows the theme of the book and includes a diamond on the cover, and hand-sewn headbands, handmade watermarked endpapers and all edges gilt, with binders stamp in gilt on the bottom of the inside back cover.</li><li>Housed in a blue silk cloth slipcase with leather entry and the title appears in gold gilt on the spine.</li></ul> From the Ian Fleming Estate and Publications, “On September 15, 1957, Ian Fleming’s true account of diamond smuggling in Africa was serialized by the&nbsp;Sunday Times. The articles were then bound together and published as a book the following year. The million carat network…that was the name given by the men of the International Diamond Security Organization to a fantastic smuggling racket which spirited away ten million pounds worth of diamonds from Africa every year. That was the challenge which faced ex-MI-5 Chief, Sir Percy Sillitoe and his anti-smuggling squad. Master thriller-writer Ian Fleming tells the true story of the fight against the web of intrigue which covered two continents — and it is as exciting and gripping as any work of fiction."

The Diamond Smugglers

Limited-edition print of the complete facsimile of&nbsp;The Book of Kells&nbsp;in three volumes.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3.</li><li>The Book of Kells: Evangeliorum Auattuor Codex Cenannensis.</li><li>Introduction by E.H. Alton (Irish).</li><li>A study of the illuminations by Prof. Peter Meyer.</li><li>Collation of the text with the Vulgate by Dr. George O. Simms, Archbishop of Dublin.</li><li>Berne: Urs Graf, 1950.</li><li>Three-volume limited edition, this is 218 of 500.</li><li>Volumes 1-2 are bound in the original gilt-stamped full vellum and contain 48 pages in full color and 652 in monochrome.</li><li>Volume 3 is bound in the original vellum-backed blue boards and contains the collection of introductions.</li><li>Original shipping boxes included.</li></ul>

The Book of Kells

Stunning signed onlaid leather binding by Sangorski &amp; Sutcliffe of&nbsp;Live and Let Die,&nbsp;part of&nbsp;The Works of Ian Fleming,&nbsp;which is considered the definitive collection of his works.&nbsp;<ul><li>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Queen Anne Press, 2008.</li><li>Limited to 56 lettered editions (26 lettered according to the English alphabet and 30 lettered according to the Russian alphabet), with this volume being Russian letter 3 (English translation is Z).</li><li>Bound in full morocco with a pictorial onlaid leather multicolored design that follows the theme of the book, and with hand-sewn headbands, handmade watermarked endpapers and all edges gilt, with binders stamp in gilt on the bottom of the inside back cover.</li><li>Housed in a blue silk cloth slipcase with leather entry and the title appears in gold gilt on the spine.</li></ul> From the Ian Fleming Estate and Publications, “Fleming’s second James Bond novel, following on from Casino Royale. James Bond is not a superstitious man, but it’s hard not to feel unnerved in the presence of Mr. Big. A ruthless Harlem gangster who uses voodoo to control his criminal empire, he’s also one of SMERSH’s top American operatives. Mr. Big has been smuggling British pirate treasure to New York from a remote Jamaican island—and funneling the proceeds to Moscow. With help from Solitaire, Mr. Big’s beautiful and enigmatic Creole fortune-teller, and his old friend Felix Leiter, 007 must locate the crime lord’s hideout, sabotage his operation, and reclaim the pirate hoard for England. From the jazz joints of Harlem to the shark-infested waters of the Florida Everglades,&nbsp;Live and Let Die&nbsp;sends Bond headlong into the exotic."

Live and Let Die

Finely bound limited-edition copy of English Fairy Tales.<ul><li>Flora Annie Steel (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Arthur Rackham (English).</li><li>New York: Macmillan Co., 1918.</li><li>Illustrated with tipped-in color plates with titled tissue guards and in-text black-and-white illustrations.</li><li>Limited numbered edition of 250, this being number 105.</li><li>Bound in full green morocco with gilt center medallion and all edges gilt with marbled pastedowns and endpapers by Sangorski &amp; Sutcliffe.</li></ul>

English Fairy Tales

Finely bound and illustrated limited-edition copy of Chaucer's&nbsp;Troilus and Criseyde.<ul><li>Geoffrey Chaucer (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Eric Gill (English).</li><li>London: Folio Society, 2011.</li><li>328 pages.</li><li>Limited edition of 1,250 copies, this being number 275.&nbsp;</li><li>Accompanying 48-page commentary volume.</li><li>Bound in full black goatskin with illustrated design, top edge gilt, satin bookmark.</li><li>Housed in a buckram clamshell solander box.</li></ul>

Troilus and Criseyde

Contemporary binding of Walton's&nbsp;The Compleat Angler.<ul><li>Izaak Walton (English).</li><li>Illustrated by James Thorpe (English).</li><li>The Compleat Angler,&nbsp;or,&nbsp;The Contemplative Man’s Recreation.</li><li>London: Hodder &amp; Stoughton, 1911.</li><li>167 pages.</li><li>25 tipped-in charming illustrations by James Thorpe each with a captioned tissue guard.</li><li>Bound in three-quarter green morocco leather with raised bands, gilt titles, hand-marbled endpapers, hand-sewn silk endbands and laid into the book is a signed card from Andrew Sims stating that the book was bound by the Sims Bindery.</li></ul>

The Compleat Angler

King George II of England's prayer book from the royal chapel.<ul><li>The Book of Common Prayer: And Administration of the Sacraments: And Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England: Together With the Psalter, or Psalms of David, Pointed as They Are to be Sung or Said in Churches.</li><li>London: Printed by Thomas Baskett, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett, 1745.</li><li>Bound in contemporary full black morocco over cords, covers ruled and with full gilt borders, in the middle of each cover are the Arms of George II, and on the front cover only the words "St. James's Chapel, 1749," spine panels with royal crowned monogram repeated seven times, all edges gilt, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.</li></ul>

King George II's The Book of Common Prayer from the Royal Chapel

A finely bound limited-edition collection of The Writings Of Oscar Wilde.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 15.</li><li>Oscar Wilde (Irish).</li><li>London: Keller-Farmer Co., 1907.</li><li>Profusely illustrated throughout with photogravures.</li><li>Limited edition of 200 numbered sets, this being number 75.</li><li>Bound in half green morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spines, top edges gilt, others uncut as issued.</li></ul> This collection contains Wilde's complete works, including his plays, The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome (reproducing four of Aubrey Beardsley's famous illustrations); his only novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray); his poems, fairy tales, translations and a biography of Wilde.

The Writings of Oscar Wilde

A finely bound first London edition copy of Churchill's&nbsp;A History Of The English Speaking Peoples.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>Winston Churchill (English).</li><li>London: Cassell and Co, Ltd., 1956-8.</li><li>Illustrated throughout.</li><li>Bound in fine half black morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spines, top edges gilt, by J. May-London.</li></ul>

A History of The English Speaking Peoples

A finely bound copy of The France of Joan of Arc.<ul><li>Andrew C.P. Haggard (English).</li><li>London: Stanley Paul &amp; Co., 1911.</li><li>Includes photogravure frontispieces and 16 other illustrations.</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in three-quarter red morocco and linen boards, the covers and raised band spine display gilt-tooled detailing, the top edge is gilt with marbled endpapers.</li></ul>

The France of Joan of Arc

Uncommonly complete and exquisitely preserved set of the landmark Nonesuch Press publication, one of the most fully realized and beautifully executed Dickens collections ever produced — this with the original packing material and documents and in rare, likely original dust jackets. 	<ul><li>Sold as a set of 24.</li><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>Designed by Francis Meynell (English).</li><li>Edited by Arthur Waugh and Hugh Walpole</li><li>Bloomsbury: Nonesuch Press, 1937-1938.</li><li>130; 6; 748; 548; 364; 872; 852; 482; 766; 874; 594; 880; 798; 844; 418; 866; 836; 928; 826; 898; 854; 892; 817; 858; 874 pages. </li><li>Illustrated in black-and-white throughout.</li><li>Woodblock and matted print housed in original purple buckram box, also wrapped in blue paper.</li><li>Letter of authenticity and letter on “Australian Book Co.” letterhead, addressed to Leonard George, laid in.</li><li>Woodblock box contained in original Nonesuch Press cardboard shipping carton, addressed to “Australian Book Co.” and “Leonard H. George,” noting that this is set no. 152 with plate no. 346.</li><li>One pamphlet in original pink wrappers, side-stitched.</li><li>Great Expectations with postmarked envelope addressed to “Mr. &amp; Mrs. L. H. George” loosely laid in.</li><li>24 volumes in original buckram bindings in a variety of colors, with black goatskin spine labels and gilt lettering, 22 of which with likely original blue paper dust jackets, one volume in original glassine, top edges gilt, other edges machine deckle.</li></ul> “[I]t will never be possible for a more complete or more perfect edition than the Nonesuch Dickens to be put on the market.” – Prospectus. “[P]ortable and handy enough even for those who like to read their Dickens in bed; imposing enough for those to whom a shelf of fine books is the most pleasant of pictures”: such were Francis Meynell’s goals when he designed the Nonesuch Dickens. Meynell had a hand in all the aesthetic decisions that make this set an achievement, from the choice of paper (which “delights the paper fancier”) to the typeface (”of conscious ‘beauty’ it is happily free”) to the cloth chosen for the bindings (”a brave array of reds and yellows and blues and browns”).&nbsp;The Nonesuch Dickens includes classic titles such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickelby, A Tale of Two Cities, and Bleak House, as well as three volumes of Dickens’s letters and two volumes of his collected papers. This set also includes the “even more difficult to lay hands on” Nonesuch Dickensia, which features an essay on the illustrators of Dickens by Arthur Waugh, and a prospectus for the series (Montagu, 132). The edition was “limited, not artificially but of necessity” by the 877 remaining original Dickens woodblocks and plates that were included with the publication; the present set includes the woodblock numbered 346, for “The Old Man and the Robbers” illustration from The Old Curiosity Shop. A remarkable aspect of this set is its uniform blue paper dust jackets. These are very likely the original packing materials for the books: the same blue paper is used as padding for the woodblock box inside the original Nonesuch shipping carton. A rare copy that retains so many ephemeral assets.

The Complete Nonesuch Dickens 

Complete set of first editions of the Pooh Books, all in original dust jackets, with When We Were Very Young signed by Milne and Shepard.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>When We Were Very Young; Winnie The Pooh; Now We Are Six; The House At Pooh Corner.</li><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>Illustrated by E.H. Shepard (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Methuen,&nbsp;1924; 1926; 1927; 1928.</li><li>Signed by Milne and Shepard on title page of When We Were Very Young.</li><li>Bound in original blue, green, red and pink cloths, and in original color printed dust jackets, top edges gilt.</li><li>Housed in blue goatskin box with in-laid Pooh design on front board.</li></ul> "It was a drowsy summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all seemed to be saying to Pooh, 'Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me.' So he got in a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit."In 1933, Compton Mackenzie described the publication of the first Pooh Book, When We Were Very Young, as marking "an epoch as positively as any children's book has ever marked one. It is not extravagant to surmise that a distant posterity may find in that volume of children's verse a key with which to unlock the present more easily than with any contemporary novel, poem, or play" (quoted in Thwaite). The series is an evocative reflection of English childhood in the 1920s, yet transcends the time and place of its making for each new generation to discover—and fall for. As the first book in the series, When We Were Very Young is the most difficult to find signed, making this an especially desirable set.Thwaite, Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-The-Pooh.

The Pooh Books

Hand-painted vellum copy of&nbsp;Novello's Original Octavo Edition&nbsp;of Handel's&nbsp;The Messiah.<ul><li>George Frideric Handel (German-British).</li><li>The Messiah: A Sacred Oratorio in Vocal Score Composed in the Year 1741 by G. F. Handel. Edited, and the Pianoforte Accompaniment Arranged by Vincent Novello.</li><li>"Novello's Original Octavo Edition."</li><li>London: Novello and Co, c. 1890.</li><li>182 pages.</li><li>The front cover is painted with a border of foliage framed with angels playing instruments and reading in the corners, and the title written at the head and foot, enclosing a portrait of the Messiah surrounded by angels on a grid background.</li><li>Smooth spine painted with angel heads and a sacred monogram, plain endleaves, gilt edges.</li><li>Housed in a new green cloth drop-over box.</li></ul>

The Messiah

One-of-a-kind rebinding by Richard Tuttle of&nbsp;a collection that he entitled&nbsp;The Pilgrimage,&nbsp;consisting of four novels.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>Rebinding by artist Richard Tuttle (American,&nbsp;b. 1951).</li><li>Bound in lambskin over sculpted boards that feature his footprints imprinted into the front covers and artist’s symbol signature appears on the first free endpaper of each book.</li></ul> Beige binding of&nbsp;The Wanderer&nbsp;with sculptural footprint and illustrations.<ul><li>Alain-Fournier&nbsp;[Henri-Alban Fournier] (French).</li><li>The Wanderer: Le Grand Meaulnes.</li><li>New York: Heritage Press, 1958.</li></ul> Red-brown binding of&nbsp;Canterbury Tales&nbsp;with sculptural footprint and frontispiece.<ul><li>Geoffrey Chaucer (English).</li><li>New York: Heritage Press, 1974.</li></ul> White-beige binding of&nbsp;Pilgrim’s Progress&nbsp;with sculptural footprint.<ul><li>John Bunyan (English).</li><li>The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which is to Come.</li><li>New York: Heritage Press, 1969.</li><li>12 illustrations from watercolors by William Blake.</li></ul> Dark brown binding of&nbsp;On the Road&nbsp;with sculptural footprint.<ul><li>Jack Kerouac (American).</li><li>New York: Penguin Group, 1997.</li></ul> Richard Tuttle in his artist statement for&nbsp;The Pilgrimage:&nbsp;“One foot in front of the other. One word in front of the other. We could argue that all writing is pilgrimage. But we will settle for pointing out how much great literature is about the pilgrimage. From Chaucer’s&nbsp;Canterbury Tales&nbsp;through Bunyan’s&nbsp;Pilgrim’s Progress&nbsp;to Alain-Fournier’s&nbsp;The Wanderer&nbsp;and Kerouac’s&nbsp;On the Road. These are the first four books in my pilgrimage series which will encompass fifty or more books displayed as a walk through literature and the thoughts that have gotten us where we are and will continue to take us into our future. I walk, and work on the backs of great books. Imprinting my foot into their covers, my hope is to see how far I can walk on them.”

The Pilgrimage Collection

Finely bound copy of Taylor's biography of Leonardo da Vinci with a note on the author's work by Gilbert Murray. <ul><li>Rachel Annand Taylor (Scottish).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Harper &amp; Brothers Publishers,&nbsp;1929.</li><li>Bound in three-quarter brown morocco and decorative boards bordered in gilt-tooling, raised band spine with gilt-tooled detailing, top edge gilt with decorative endpapers.</li></ul>

Leonardo the Florentine

Finely bound and illustrated copy of Skelton's biography&nbsp;Mary Stuart&nbsp;with hand-colored frontispiece.<ul><li>John Skelton (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Goupil &amp; Co.,&nbsp;1898.</li><li>Limited to 500 copies.</li><li>Bound in full green morocco by Tapley, top edges gilt, raised bands, gilt on covers and spine.</li></ul>

Mary Stuart

First edition, first printing of&nbsp;Baron at the Ballet&nbsp;that features the stunning photography of Baron Sterling Nahum, the official photographer for Sadler's Wells Ballet, London, and court photographer to the British Royal Family.<ul><li>Baron Sterling Nahum (English).</li><li>Introduction and commentary is by Arnold L. Haskell (English).</li><li>London: Collins, 1950.</li><li>222 printed pages with 8 full-page color photographs and a collection of over 270 monochrome images.</li><li>Bound in full dark brown morocco leather Bayntun Riviere, onlaid in the center of the front cover in various colors of morocco leather is a theater mask, spine treatment consists of raised bands, an onlaid treatment of masks that replicate the front cover design, and a compartment with the title in gold gilt, with gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers and top page ends gilt.</li></ul> The book is divided into sections devoted to illustrating, describing and assessing the work of many famous ballet companies as well as dancers such as Markova, Argyle, Fonteyn, Shearer, Grey and Helpmann, Pagava, Vyroubova, Danilova, Baronova and Kaye. From the publisher, "This book covers Baron's work as a photographer of ballet from 1935 to 1950 and as such it is probably the most comprehensive collection of ballet photographs by one photographer ever to have been published."

Baron at the Ballet

First edition second impression and the first with color plates of The Hobbit, Tolkien's best-known work.<ul><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>The Hobbit or There and Back Again.</li><li>London: George Allen &amp; Unwin Ltd, 1937.</li><li>Five plates (4 color), 8 illustrations by the author, advertisement leaf at end.</li><li>Bound in full dark green morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled in gilt, Smaug the dragon gilt to lower right corner of the front cover, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, original cloth covers and spine bound in rear, original front and rear map pastedowns and endpapers bound in, by Bayntun.</li></ul> Tolkien began writing The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, as a professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University. Tolkien's creative perspective was born from a childhood spent briefly in South Africa and then rural England, a short but wretched tour during World War I, and an avid fascination with German philology. Although it was originally billed as a children's book, The Hobbit attracted a varied audience and has been wildly popular since its initial publication. Tolkien built upon the tradition of fantasy literature developed by George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll and the folk tales of Arabian Nights by inventing a new language—Elvish—and making it accessible for modern-day readers. Such creativity brought rave reviews for The Hobbit, which sold out of its original print run of 1,500 copies three months after publication.

The Hobbit

First edition, limited issue and one of only 100 copies of Ian Fleming: The Notes.<ul><li>John Pearson (British).</li><li>Introduction by Fergus Fleming (British).</li><li>London: Queen Anne Press, 2020.</li><li>pp.375; [1], blank.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Bound in dark-blue Plike paper-covered boards, red endpapers, blocked in gilt to spine and front cover, semi-opaque dust jacket with printed titles.</li></ul> Never before published, these are the notes that John Pearson made in 1965 while researching The Life of Ian Fleming, which chart not only Fleming’s life—with details that never made it into the finished biography—but John’s own journey while investigating his subject. As such, they form less a series of aides memoirs than a book about writing a book. Compelling, insightful, irreverent and written in John’s inimitable style, they make an outstanding read.

Ian Fleming: The Notes

A first edition, finely bound copy of Remarkable Women of France.<ul><li>Andrew C.P. Haggard (English).</li><li>London: Stanley Paul &amp; Co., 1914.</li><li>Includes a frontispiece in photogravure and 16 other illustrations in half-tone.</li><li>Covers the period: 1431-1749.&nbsp;</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in three-quarter red morocco and linen boards, the covers and raised band spine display gilt-tooling, the top edge is gilt with marbled endpapers.</li></ul>

Remarkable Women of France

A finely bound copy of From Pole to Pole.<ul><li>Sven Hedin (Swedish).</li><li>London: Macmillan &amp; Co., Ltd., 1914.</li><li>Portrait frontispiece.</li><li>Bound by Bayntun in three-quarter green morocco and linen boards, the covers and raised band spine are gilt-tooled, the top edge is gilt with marbled endpapers. Various images and maps.</li></ul>

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Vasily Ivanovich Shukhaev, Alexander Pushkin

David Roberts

Baron von Margutti

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Henri Matisse, James Joyce

James Joyce

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

George Whitehead

Sir Thomas Malory

P.-M. Laurent de l'Ardeche

Frances Elliot

Kenneth Grahame

Leo Tolstoy

Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming

Flora Annie Steel

Geoffrey Chaucer, Eric Gill

Izaak Walton, James Thorpe

Oscar Wilde

Winston Churchill

Andrew C.P. Haggard

Charles Dickens

A.A. Milne

Handel, George Frideric

Jack Kerouac, Geoffrey Chaucer, Alain-Fournier, Richard Tuttle, John Bunyan

Rachel Annand Taylor

Sir John Skelton

Baron Sterling Nahum

J.R.R. Tolkien

John Pearson

Andrew C.P. Haggard

Sven Hedin