First Edition Literature

George Orwell

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first impression presentation copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four, inscribed by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=George+Owell&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">George Owell</a>.<ul><li>George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] (British).</li><li>London: Secker &amp; Warburg, 1949.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Inscribed by the author on the front pastedown,&nbsp;“To Eleanor [Jacques], with much love Eric.”</li><li>Bound in the original green cloth, housed in a custom black morocco-backed drop-back box and with supplied dust wrapper.&nbsp;</li></ul> A highly important presentation copy of Orwell’s last and most influential novel, inscribed to Eleanor Jacques, an early romantic attachment and lifelong correspondent, whose relationship with the author has often been linked to the emotional and physical template for Julia in&nbsp;Nineteen Eighty-Four. Inscribed copies of the novel are of the utmost rarity, and this example was almost certainly signed during Orwell’s final illness, either at Cranham Sanatorium or at University College Hospital, in the last months of his life. Orwell met Eleanor Jacques in Southwold in the early 1930s while staying with his parents. The two formed an intimate and enduring friendship, preserved in correspondence until Orwell’s death in 1950. Their meetings, frequently arranged in the countryside and away from public view, have been thought to inform the clandestine encounters between Winston and Julia in the novel. In one surviving letter Orwell recalled, of a day spent together, “the deep beds of moss... I shall always remember that, &amp; your nice white body in the dark green moss,” a passage that has often been compared to his description of Julia’s body “gleam[ing] white in the sun.” Jacques’s marriage in 1934 to Orwell’s friend Dennis Collings appears to have closed off any prospect of a fuller attachment, though the bond between them remained close. Published in June 1949,&nbsp;Nineteen Eighty-Four&nbsp;appeared only months before Orwell’s health finally collapsed. By September he had been admitted to University College Hospital with advanced tuberculosis; he died on 21 January 1950. Presentation copies of the novel are therefore exceptionally uncommon. Only two inscribed copies appear to have surfaced at auction in the past sixty years, of which only one was a true first edition; both were signed “Geo. Orwell,” making the present inscription, signed with the deeply personal “Eric,” especially notable.

Nineteen Eighty-Four [1984]

William Faulkner

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first issue of Light in August by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=William+Faulkner&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">William Faulkner</a>.<ul><li>William Faulkner (American).</li><li>New York: Harrison Smith &amp; Robert Haas, 1932.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>First issue, with 'Jefferson' for 'Mottstown' on page 340, line 1.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's tan cloth, titles to upper board in orange and to spine in blue, orange top stain, with the art deco dust-jacket.</li></ul> An exceptional copy of a novel that contrasts stark tragedy with hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality; featuring some of Faulkner's most memorable characters: guileless, dauntless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; Reverend Gail Hightower, a lonely outcast haunted by visions of Confederate glory; as well as Joe Christmas, a desperate, enigmatic drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry.

Light in August First Edition

Evelyn Waugh

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of Scoop by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Evelyn+Waugh&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Evelyn Waugh</a>.<ul><li>Evelyn Waugh (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1938.</li><li>Signed by the author on the front endpaper, ‘For Elizabeth Herbert/Evelyn Waugh’. </li><li>In the first state, unclipped dust wrapper with Daily Beast to the front panel, with the rare wrap-around band, stating ‘Stop Press’ – Chosen by the Book Society.</li></ul> The recipient, Elizabeth Herbert was sister to Laura, the author’s second wife (after Evelyn). Scarce with these attributes.&nbsp;

Scoop Signed First Edition

J.R.R. Tolkien

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of The Return of the King by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.R.R.+Tolkien&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>United Kingdom: George Allen and Unwin, 1955.</li><li>Original fold out map is still present to the rear.</li><li>Bound in the publisher’s rich red boards, in the dustwrapper.</li></ul> The third installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Return of the King First Edition

B. Traven

The <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first American edition</a> of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=B.+Traven&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">B. Traven</a>.<ul><li>B. Traven (unkown).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Alfred A. Knopf,&nbsp;1935.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[vi], 366 pages.</li><li>Bound in black cloth, with the dust jacket, in a custom morroco backed box.</li></ul> The American edition is an original English language version by Traven. This book is the basis of the John Huston directed film classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston. "The treasure which you think not worth taking trouble and pains to find, this one alone is the real treasure you are longing for all your life. The glittering treasure you are hunting for day and night lies buried on the other side of that hill yonder."

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | First American Edition

Stephen King

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of The Dark Half by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=stephen+king&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stephen King</a>.<ul><li>Stephen King (American).</li><li>United States: Viking Press, 1989.</li><li>Signed and dated 2/8/90 by Stephen King to the title page.</li><li>In the unclipped dust wrapper.</li></ul>

The Dark Half | Signed First Edition

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=stephen+king&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stephen King</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inscribed</a> by the author, and accompanied by a letter from King's secretary.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 1 book and 1 postcard.</li><li>Stephen King (American).</li><li>United States: Grant, 1987.</li><li>Signed to the front endpaper, ‘For Cassey Clark-/With best wishes/from Roland...and me,/Stephen King/19/27/92.'</li><li>In the clipped wrapper.</li></ul> Accompanying the book is a signed postcard, stating, ‘Dear Cassy, Enclosed please find your books which Stephen has signed for you. Please be advised that he has had to set a two-book limit, total due to the large amount of requests he receives. Thank you and enjoy. Nancy.’ Nancy Gilbert worked as a secretary and administrative assistant to Stephen King during the earlier years of his career. She was involved in handling correspondence and office administration at a time when King’s popularity — and fan mail — was expanding rapidly. Her name appears in acknowledgements in some of King’s earlier books and is occasionally encountered in relation to typed letters or office responses sent on King’s behalf. The 'Roland' in the inscription refers to The Dark Tower’s protagonist, Roland Deschain.

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three | Signed First Edition Book, with a Letter from the Author's Secretary

Ernest Hemingway

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of For Whom the Bell Tolls by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ernest+Hemingway&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ernest Hemingway</a>.<ul><li>Ernest Hemingway (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Scribner's,&nbsp;1940.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>471 pages.</li><li>In the first state dust jacket, publisher's coarse calico grain cloth with facsimile of the author's signature in black on the uppers cover in custom half-morocco clamshell box.</li></ul> Hemingway's celebrated novel of the Spanish Civil War, difficult to find in such nice condition, as any rubbing stands out against the black background, and the red and blue of the spine are generally found faded.

For Whom the Bell Tolls First Edition

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Nineteen Eighty-Four by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=George+Orwell&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">George Orwell</a>.<ul><li>George Orwell (English).</li><li>United Kingdom: Secker and Warburg, 1949.</li><li>In the original unclipped maroon wrapper, designed by Michael Kennard.</li></ul> Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published in 1949, almost simultaneously in Britain and the United States. The British first edition appeared on 8 June 1949 from Secker &amp; Warburg, Orwell’s long-time publisher, while Harcourt, Brace &amp; Company issued the American edition five days later. Both printings reflected wartime paper shortages, resulting in modest production quality.

Nineteen Eighty-Four [1984] First Edition

Michael Bond

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of A Bear Called Paddington by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Michael+Bond&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael Bond</a>.<ul><li>Michael Bond (English).</li><li>London: Collins, 1958.</li><li>In the unclipped wrapper.</li></ul>

A Bear Called Paddington First Edition

Dashiell Hammett

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of The Maltese Falcon by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Dashiell+Hammett&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dashiell Hammett</a>.<ul><li>Dashiell Hammett (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Alfred Knopf,&nbsp;1930.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Original light gray cloth decoratively stamped in dark grayish blue and black on front cover and spine, top edge stained dark blue with deckled fore-edges, in a custom morocco backed box. </li></ul>

The Maltese Falcon First Edition

Émile Zola

An <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inscribed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=%C3%89mile+Zola&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Émile Zola</a>'s first book.<ul><li>Émile Zola (French).</li><li>Paris:&nbsp;J. Hetzel et A. Lacroix,&nbsp;[1864].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[4], 320 pages.</li><li>Inscribed on the half-title to the distinguished literary critic and author, Jules Levallois (1829 - 1903): “à M. Jules Levallois “temoignage du devouement et de la sympathie de l’auteur [a testimony of the author’s devotion and sympathy] Emile Zola.”</li><li>With loosely inserted calling card of the author.</li><li>Text is in French.</li><li>Full blue morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, by Taffin, with the original yellow printed wrappers bound in.</li></ul> First edition of the author’s first book. Zola was 24 years old when Contes à Ninon, was published. The calling card, circa 1890 is engraved "Emile Zola / rue de Bruxelles, 21 bis" and inscribed in pen by Zola, "Avec mes remerciements et l'expression de ma sympathie [with my thanks and the expression of my sympathy]."

Contes à Ninon | Inscribed First Edition

Truman Capote

A <a href="sothebys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Breakfast+at+Tiffany%27s&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Breakfast at Tiffany's</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Truman+Capote&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Truman Capote</a>.<ul><li>Truman Capote (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Random House,&nbsp;[1958].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>179 pages.</li><li>Publisher's yellow cloth with black leather spine label lettered in gilt, with original typographic dust jacket, In a quarter red morocco clamshell box.</li></ul> With three stories in addition to the title novella: "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar," and "A Christmas Memory."

Breakfast at Tiffany's | A Short Novel and Three Stories | First Edition

E. M. Forster

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a>, limited <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of Passage to India by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=E.M.+Forster&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">E.M. Forster</a>.<ul><li>E.M. Forster (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Edward Arnold,&nbsp;1924.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[2, blank], [i, half title], [ii, limitation], [1]-[4], 5-325, [326, blank], [2, blank] pages.</li><li>Number 188 of 200 copies signed by the author.</li><li>Title page printed in red and black.</li><li>Grey boards, brown cloth spine with paper label, extra label at back, in the original grey board slipcase.</li></ul>

A Passage to India | Signed First Edition

A set of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printings of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=The+Lord+of+the+Rings&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> trilogy by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.R.R.+Tolkien&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3 volumes.</li><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>Published by George Allen &amp; Unwin.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Half-titles, folding maps printed in red and black at rear of each volume.</li><li>Original publisher’s red cloth, spines lettered and decorated in gilt with Tolkien’s ring device, top edges stained red; original first issue dust-jackets, priced 21s net.</li><li> </li></ul>The Fellowship of the Ring (1954):<ul><li>[vi], 423, [1] pages.</li><li>“First published in 1954” to verso.</li></ul> The Two Towers (1954):<ul><li>[vi], 352 pages.</li><li>“First published in 1954” to verso.</li></ul> The Return of the King (1955):<ul><li>[vi], 416 pages.</li><li>“First published in 1955” to verso, text complete with Appendix and Index, the name “Legolas” in its characteristic staggered typographical setting, corrected in later impressions.</li></ul> All three volumes retaining correct early maps and red top stain. Rear panels with advertisements referencing The Hobbit (Second Edition, Fifth Impression) and Farmer Giles of Ham, consistent with early states. When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen &amp; Unwin. Tolkien’s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy. The trilogy’s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring numbered only 3,000 copies; The Two Towers followed at 3,250; The Return of the King at 7,000. Survival rates in original, unrestored dust-jackets were never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most widely read and culturally resonant works of the modern era. The present set — preserved in its original cloth and correctly priced dust-jackets — represents not only a landmark of imaginative literature but a cornerstone of serious book collecting.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy | First Edition, First Printings

Walter Tevis

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of The Hustler by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Walter+Tevis&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Walter Tevis</a>.<ul><li>Walter Tevis (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Harper and Brothers,&nbsp;[1959].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Signed by the author on the title page.</li><li>In the original dust jacket, now in a custom morocco backed box.</li></ul> A crisp signed copy of the author's signature title, chronicling the rise and fall of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. Basis for the classic 1961 film of the same name, starring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott.

The Hustler Signed First Edition

Ernest Thayer

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of Casey at the Bat by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ernest+Thayer&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ernest Thayer</a>.<ul><li>Ernest Thayer (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;New Amsterdam Book Co,&nbsp;[1901].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Illustrations printed in sepia.</li><li>Bound in the original publisher's illustrated wrappers, enclosed in a quarter-leather slipcase.</li></ul> The famous baseball poem, one of the most celebrated of all American popular poems, was first published in The San Francisco Examiner in June 1888. This is its first appearance in book form, which is now extremely scarce, especially in its fragile original wrappers.

Casey at the Bat First Edition

Lewis Carroll

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> presentation copy of Notes by an Oxford Chiel by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Lewis+Carroll&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lewis Carroll</a>.<ul><li>Charles L. Dodgson [Lewis Carroll] (English).&nbsp;</li><li>Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1865-74.</li><li>6 parts in 1.</li><li>Inscribed on the front pastedown "General Rigaud / from the Author. / March. 1882", with Gibbes Rigaud ownership stamp below inscription and to front endleaf.</li><li>Bound in the original publisher's gilt stamped green cloth, all edges gilt.</li></ul> The work includes 1) Evaluation 2) Dynamics 3) Facts, &amp;c. 4) New Belfry 5) Three T's 6) Blank Check. Major-General Gibbs Rigaud, served in the Kaffir War and in China.&nbsp;Dodgson from time to time applied to John Rigaud, Gibbs' brother, who was a Fellow at Magdalen College for permission to take visitors to Magdalen Chapel.&nbsp;Gibbs on one occasion called on Dodgson with a niece to look at photographs.&nbsp;There is also one letter, dated 1875, to John inquiring about his brother who hearing he had some "beautiful Indian (or Japanese?) shawls or other articles of dress" that he would like to borrow.

Notes by an Oxford Chiel | Inscribed First Edition

Ernest Howard Shepard | A.A. Milne

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of The House At Pooh Corner by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=A.A.+Milne&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A.A. Milne</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> by the illustrator <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=E.H.+Shepard&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">E.H. Shepard</a>, with an additional signed letter tipped in.<ul><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>E.H. Shepard (English).</li><li>London: Methuen &amp; Co. Ltd., 1928.</li><li>Signed by the illustrator E. H. Shepard on the title page.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's original gilt stamped pink cloth, pictorial pastedowns and endpapers, top edge gilt.</li></ul> Tipped to the verso of the front endleaf is a one page signed letter by Shepard which reads: "28 November: 57Dear Mrs. McCreedy,I have heard from Miss George of the Oxford University Press that you are staying in the neighborhood. It will give great pleasure to my wife and to myself if you will come and see us. I would like to suggest Dec. 17th Tuesday, at 4 oclock, If your husband and daughter are able to come as well we shall bt most pleased,Yours SincerelyErnest H. Shepard"

The House At Pooh Corner | First Edition Signed by the Illustrator

Theodor Seuss Geisel

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inscribed</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Dr.+Seuss&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Seuss</a>.<ul><li>Dr. Seuss (American).</li><li>New York: Random House, 1957.</li><li>Inscribed by Seuss on the verso of the front end leaf "for Martha with Best Wishes - Dr. Seuss."</li><li>Bound in the publisher's original pictorial boards, pictorial pastedowns and endpapers.</li></ul> All first issue points present.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas | Inscribed First Edition

A.A. Milne

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first American edition</a> of When We Were Very Young by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=A.A.+Milne&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A.A. Milne</a>.<ul><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>New York: E. P. Dutton &amp; Co., 1924.</li><li>Inscribed by Milne to the recto of the frontis "For Mrs. Burnside from A. A. Milne Christmas 1924."</li><li>Bound in the publisher's original gilt stamped red cloth, pictorial pastedowns and endpapers, with the original dust jacket.</li></ul>

When We Were Very Young | Inscribed First Edition

Charles Dickens

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, second issue of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>' A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave One."</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, front cover has a perfect 'D' in 'Dickens', yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul>

A Christmas Carol | First Edition

J.K. Rowling

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first paperback edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Harry+Potter&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> and the Philosopher's Stone by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.K.+Rowling&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a>.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling (English).</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 1997.</li><li>Includes relevant first edition points: "1 wand" twice on page 53; 'philosphers' misspelling on rear; correct print line number and date.</li><li>Paperback, in a custom red cloth display box.</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone First Edition

Anthony Trollope

The <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> in parts of The Way We Live Now by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Anthony+Trollope&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anthony Trollope</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 18 parts.</li><li>Anthony Trollope (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Chapman &amp; Hall,&nbsp;1874-1875.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Includes parts 1-4, 6-10, 12-20.</li><li>Housed in custom quarter bound dark green leather and cloth clamshell box, spine with gilt lettering.</li></ul> Contains 18 of the 20 parts in publisher's wraps.

The Way We Live Now | First Edition in Parts

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of Farewell to Arms by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ernest+Hemingway&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ernest Hemingway</a>.<ul><li>Ernest Hemingway (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Scribners,&nbsp;1929.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[10], 355 pages.</li><li>Number 56 of 510 copies signed by the author on the limitation leaf.&nbsp;</li><li>Publisher's light bluish-green boards backed and cornered with vellum, black morocco spine label lettered in gold, in custom half-morocco clamshell box.</li></ul> The only signed limited issue of Hemingway's work, and one of the greatest war novels of all time.

A Farewell to Arms | Signed First Edition

Charles Portis

<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Signed</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Portis's True Grit, inscribed just months after publication.<ul><li>Charles Portis (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Simon and Schuster,&nbsp;(1968).</li><li>215 pages.</li><li>Inscribed on the front free endpaper by Portis: "For Gerald Cathey / who I hope has / given me a clean / title, with every / good wish / Jan 7, 1969 / Charles Portis."</li><li>Original blue-grey cloth, in original unclipped ($4.95) dust jacket designed by Paul Davis, ochre endpapers.</li></ul> "People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day."

True Grit | Signed First Edition

Ian Fleming

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a>, limited <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ian+Fleming&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ian Fleming</a>.<ul><li>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>Oxford: Jonathan Cape, [1963].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>288 pages.</li><li>Signed Limited Edition, one of 250 copies, this being number 38.</li><li>Frontispiece portrait in color of Ian Fleming from the painting by Amherst Villiers.</li><li>Publisher's quarter vellum and black boards, gilt titles and stamp to spine, white wavy line decoration to front boards, top edge gilt, complete with original clear mylar, in a custom quarter blue morocco slipcase with chemise.</li></ul> The only signed limited edition of any of Fleming's books.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service Signed First Edition

A signed <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> novel Thunderball by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ian+Fleming&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ian Fleming</a>, with a fine proof pull of the jacket.<ul><li>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Jonathan Cape,&nbsp;1961.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Signed by Ian Fleming on the front flyleaf.</li><li>Jacket signed by artist Richard Chopping.</li><li>Original black boards, titles to spine in silver, skeletal hand motif to upper board in blind, with two states of the dust jacket; proof jacket with variant text on front flap and back flap blank, housed in a black morocco backed folding box.</li></ul> Of the preliminary dust jacket, Gilbert notes “a very few copies of the published book came in a trial dust-jacket … likely a tiny number were produced.”

Thunderball  Signed First Edition

The Mademoiselle magazine file copy of the typescript of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Truman+Capote&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Truman Capote</a>’s acclaimed story, “House of Flowers,” with a note from Capote’s agent.<ul><li>Truman Capote (American).</li><li>New York: Mademoiselle, April 1951.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>17 pages.</li><li>Carbon typescript with manuscript and typed corrections, dated August 3, 1950, and marked 'Inventory.'</li></ul> The Mademoiselle magazine file copy of the typescript, with editorial corrections, of Truman Capote’s acclaimed story, “House of Flowers.” With a short typed note from Capote’s agent Marian Ives to Rita, the long-time editor Margarita G. Smith, dated 7/24/50, which reads, in part: “Although I don’t think this is for MLLE, nor did T think so, yet it is honestly the best story he’s done recently and I wanted you to take a look at it anyway …”, and with a pencil reader’s report, “whether this particular story isn’t a bit too strong for those in less sophisticated areas (and in Catholic schools‚ … believe it or not, there are still a lot of college girls who are utterly naive”, and three Mademoiselle reader’s report forms recording considerable editorial back and forth, responses from Catholic readers, and Smith’s decision, “I think we should buy it. M.G.S.”, with a note of a payment of $750. “House of Flowers” was published in the issue for April 1951, and was winner of the third prize in that year’s O. Henry Awards. The story was adapted into a musical in collaboration with composer and lyricist Harold Arlen, and ran for 165 performances on Broadway in 1954. “House of Flowers” was later collected in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The sale of this item includes only the physical object itself. No copyright, reproduction rights, or intellectual property rights are transferred with the purchase. All such rights remain with the original copyright holder, the Truman Capote Literary Trust.

The House of Flowers | Corrected Typescript

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.K.+Rowling&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a>.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling (English).</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 1999.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>The&nbsp;first&nbsp;issue&nbsp;with 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1,&nbsp;and&nbsp;with Joanne Rowling&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;copyright page,&nbsp;the&nbsp;incorrectly dropped text block on page 7,&nbsp;and&nbsp;no advertisements at&nbsp;the&nbsp;end.</li><li>Publisher's pictorial boards with illustration by Cliff Wright; publisher's pictorial dust-jacket, correctly priced at £10.99, now housed in a solander box.</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | First Issue

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Harry+Potter&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> and the Chamber of Secrets, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.K.+Rowling&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a>.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling (English).</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 1998.</li><li>Signed without dedication to&nbsp;the&nbsp;dedication page by Rowling.</li><li>In&nbsp;the&nbsp;correct&nbsp;first&nbsp;issue&nbsp;dust wrapper with&nbsp;all points: "front flap&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;dust jacket: Paragraph 5, lines 1&nbsp;and&nbsp;2: "Harry&nbsp;Potter&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Philosopher's Stone" is not italicized; Paragraph 5, line 7: "Tom El-Shawk Age 11" has no comma after&nbsp;the&nbsp;name&nbsp;and&nbsp;age has a capital "A"; Paragraph 6, line 1: "Harry&nbsp;Potter" is not italicized; Paragraph 6, line 5: "Harry&nbsp;is not italicized; Paragraph 6, line 7: "Katrina Farrant Age 10" has no comma after&nbsp;the&nbsp;name&nbsp;and&nbsp;age has a capital "A".</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Signed First Edition

J.M. Barrie

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of The Little White Bird by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.M.+Barrie&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.M. Barrie</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inscribed</a> to his friend and agent.<ul><li>J.M. Barrie (Scottish).</li><li>London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1902.</li><li>With contemporary gift inscription from Barrie on the half title page, ‘To Addison Bright the best of friends from J. M. Barrie, Nov. 1902’,</li><li>Includes a frontispiece map of Kensington Gardens.</li><li>Boards bound in publisher’s original black morocco cloth with gilt titling to the spine, gilt top edge to the text block.</li></ul> The very first appearance of Peter Pan, inscribed by Barrie to his closest friend and literary agent. Arthur Addison Bright (1861-1906) was a theatrical agent, most famous for his close friendship with J.M.Barrie, but who also acted for a number of successful playwrights including Arthur Conan Doyle, E.W. Hornung and Stephen Phillips. Bright was more than an agent to Barrie; he was a close friend and confidential adviser and played a key role in persuading Barrie to take up play writing. It was Bright who introduced Barrie to the Broadway producer Charles Frohman, who was ultimately responsible for the production of Peter Pan in Britain and America. In 1906 it was discovered that Bright had embezzled royalties from many of his clients, including Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle. In spite of the financial loss, Barrie staunchly supported his agent. Bright however, found the prospect of legal proceedings too much to bear and on a trip to Lucerne, ostensibly to take the air, he committed suicide. Barrie wrote a short but loving obituary for Bright, which appeared in the Times on Friday, 1st June, 1906, "To the many to whom the keenly intellectual face and noble character of Arthur Addison Bright were incentives to well-doing, it will come as a painful shock that he died suddenly on Tuesday night... Mr Bright had represented a number of authors besides myself in their affairs of the theatre, and it was owing to his encouragement and zealous help more than any other cause that novelists and poets have of late years produced plays. He was a man of a mind the most catholic and cultured, and so beautiful and modest a nature that it may be said of him, he had never time to be much interested in himself, he was so interested in his friends. For many years he had been my most loved friend." The&nbsp;Little&nbsp;White&nbsp;Bird&nbsp;introduces Peter Pan as a magical baby who escapes from being human as an infant, and flies around Kensington Gardens with fairies. This episode, which began as a single chapter, grew into an "elaborate book within a book" as Barrie worked on the novel. Seeing the appeal of the character, Barrie developed Peter Pan into a play first performed in 1904, and following its outstanding success, published a slightly expanded version of the Peter Pan chapters as a single work, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published in 1906, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham.

The Little White Bird | Inscribed First Edition

Chinua Achebe

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> first printing of Things Fall Apart by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Chinua+Achebe&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chinua Achebe</a>.<ul><li>Chinua Achebe (Nigerian).</li><li>London / Melbourne / Toronta:&nbsp;Heinemann,&nbsp;(1958).</li><li>[viii], 188 pages.&nbsp;</li><li>One of 2000 copies.</li><li>Original full orange cloth, in original price-clipped color pictorial jacket designed by C.W. Bacon.</li></ul> "Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." First in the Nigerian author's African trilogy, which also includes No Longer At Ease (1960) and Arrow Of God (1964), Things Fall Apart was selected by Time magazine on one of its "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005," and by the BBC for its "100 Novels That Shaped Our World." An enduring and landmark book, central to the development of the 20th-centuy novel in English.

Things Fall Apart First Edition

W. Heath Robinson | Hans C. Andersen

A limited <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Hans+Andersen&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hans Andersen</a>'s Fairy Tales, one of only 100 copies signed by the illustrator, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=W.+Heath+Robinson&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">W. Heath Robinson</a>.<ul><li>Hans Anderson (Danish).</li><li>Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson (British).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Constable &amp; Co. Ltd,&nbsp;1913.</li><li>XII, 288, [2] pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Illustrated by Robinsin with 16 full-page color plates mounted under captioned tissue guards, pictorial title page, and 88 black-and-white illustrations.</li><li>Signed by Robinson on the limitation page.</li><li>Original full publisher's vellum boards elaborately stamped in gilt after design by Robinson, spine ornamented in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges uncut and partially unopened, housed in a custom clamshell box with the front cover stamped in gilt after Robinson's design.</li></ul> Among the stories included are many that have deeply influenced our modern culture, including "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Emperor's New Clothes," and "The Snow Queen." Robinson, a respected illustrator who became one of the more prominent artists during the Golden Age of Illustration, would soon make a name as a satirical cartoonist during World War I.

Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales | Limited First Edition, Signed by the Illustrator

James Joyce

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Dubliners by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=James+Joyce&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Joyce</a>.<ul><li>James Joyce (Irish).</li><li>United Kingdom: Grant Richards, 1914.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's red cloth with gilt title.</li></ul> James Joyce’s landmark collection of fifteen short stories portraying ordinary Dublin life in the early 20th century. Through characters trapped by routine, poverty, and social expectation, Joyce explores themes of paralysis, epiphany, and the quiet struggles of everyday existence. Stories like “Araby,” “Eveline,” and “The Dead” reveal moments of painful insight that illuminate the gap between aspiration and reality. Written in a clear, restrained style, ‘Dubliners’ offers a profound, humane portrait of a city and its people on the edge of modernity.

Dubliners First Edition

John Steinbeck

<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">First edition</a>, first printing of the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning novel that made <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Steinbeck&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Steinbeck</a> a household name.<ul><li>John Steinbeck (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;The Viking Press,&nbsp;(1939).</li><li>620 pages.</li><li>Original tan buckram binding with brown titles and line art, in original unclipped ($2.75) color pictorial dust jacket illustrated by Elmer Hader, yellow topstain, endpapers with illustration of the Battle Hymn of the Republic in yellow and orange.</li></ul> "They was on'y one thing to do – ever – an' we done it." Grapes Of Wrath has been generations of students' introduction to the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck's extensive use of symbolism and Biblical motifs also makes it an excellent exercise in literary criticism for both high schoolers and hardcore academics, all pulled together with exceptionally lyrical prose. This first edition, with its hyperbolic but prescient dust jacket editorial copy ("Perhaps Grapes Of Wrath is the greatest modern American novel... the greatest single creative work this country has ever produced"), captures the tipping point of Steinbeck's career.

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George Orwell

William Faulkner

Evelyn Waugh

J.R.R. Tolkien

B. Traven

Stephen King

Stephen King

Ernest Hemingway

George Orwell

Michael Bond

Dashiell Hammett

Émile Zola

Truman Capote

E. M. Forster

J.R.R. Tolkien

Walter Tevis

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A.A. Milne

Charles Dickens

J.K. Rowling

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Ernest Hemingway

Charles Portis

Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming

Truman Capote

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

J.M. Barrie

Chinua Achebe

W. Heath Robinson, Hans C. Andersen

James Joyce

John Steinbeck