Modern First Editions

Ernest H. 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>, first printing of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Winnie+The+Pooh&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Winnie The Pooh</a> by A.A. Milne.<ul><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>Illustrated by E.H. Shepard (English).</li><li>London: Methuen, 1926.</li><li>Illustrated, map endpapers.</li><li>Bound in the original publisher’s green pictorial cloth gilt, top edge gilt, in dust jacket with ‘7/6 Net’ to spine and ‘117th Thousand’ at the head of the rear flap.</li></ul> A timeless children’s classic about the gentle adventures of a loveable bear, Pooh, and his friends—Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin—in the Hundred Acre Wood. Through simple stories and quiet humor, Milne captures themes of friendship, imagination, and kindness. Inspired by his son’s toys, the book’s charm and Ernest H. Shepard’s illustrations made it an enduring favourite, celebrating innocence, curiosity, and the joy of everyday life.

Winnie The Pooh | First Edition, First Printing

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 printing of Animal Farm 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, 1945.</li><li>'Searchlight Books’ advertisement printed in red to the verso as called for.</li><li>In the unclipped dust wrapper, housed in a custom-made solander box.</li></ul> A political allegory that uses farm animals to depict the corruption of socialist ideals and the rise of totalitarianism, mirroring the Russian Revolution and Stalin’s regime. The story follows the animals’ rebellion against their human owner, only for their leader, Napoleon the pig, to become as oppressive as the humans they overthrew. Written during World War II, the novel was initially rejected by several publishers due to its criticism of the Soviet Union but was finally published in 1945 by Secker &amp; Warburg, achieving immediate success and lasting global influence.

Animal Farm | First Edition First Printing

Thomas Wolfe

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 Of Time and the River by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Thomas+Wolfe&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Thomas Wolfe</a>.<ul><li>Thomas Wolfe (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Charles Scribner's Sons,&nbsp;1935.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[xii], 912 pages.</li><li>Dark blue cloth.</li></ul> Wolfe’s masterpiece, inscribed, “For Hazel Abrams. Sincerely, Thomas Wolfe, Hollywood. — Sept. 3, 1935.”

Of Time and the River: A Legend of Man's Hunger in His Youth | Inscribed First Edition

Henry Roth

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 Call it Sleep by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Henry+Roth&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Henry Roth</a>.<ul><li>Henry Roth (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Robert O. Ballou,&nbsp;[1934].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>v, [i], [1]-599 pages.</li><li>Original blue cloth.</li></ul> Near fine copy in the scarce first state dust jacket by Stuyvesant Van Veen.

Call it Sleep | First Edition

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 Kitchen Confidential by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Anthony+Bourdain&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anthony Bourdain</a>.<ul><li>Anthony Bourdain (American).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Bloomsbury,&nbsp;2000.</li><li>Large octavo.</li><li>307 pages.</li><li>First British edition, first printing.</li><li>Flat signed on the title page.</li><li>Black cloth.</li></ul>

Kitchen Confidential | Signed First British Edition

Bill Gates

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Bill+Gates&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bill Gates</a>, with a card <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 editor, Robert Gottlieb.<ul><li>Bill Gates (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Knopf,&nbsp;2021.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Printed card with autograph inscription held loosely at front.</li><li>Quarter-bound blue cloth and white paper boards, stamped in silver on spine; text-only dust jacket.</li></ul> Written at what he called "a crucial moment," Bill Gates' plan for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions outlines how governments and companies around the world can turn the existing momentum on climate change into the practical steps necessary to achieve big global goals. On a promotional card for the book held at front, he writes a note of appreciation to his editor, the renowned Robert Gottlieb: "Dear Bob, / Thanks for everything you did to bring this book to life. From the beginning to the end your advice steered us right every time. / Thanks! / Bill."

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need | First Edition, with Autographed Card

Margery Williams Bianco | William Nicholson

The rarest variant of 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> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Margery+Williams+Bianco&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Margery Williams Bianco</a>'s beloved children's tale, The Velveteen Rabbit.<ul><li>Margery Williams Bianco (American).</li><li>Illustrated by William Nicholson (British).</li><li>New York &amp; London:&nbsp;George H. Doran &amp; Heinemann,&nbsp;1922.</li><li>[8], 19, [1] pages.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 full-page and 3 double-page color lithographs.</li><li>First printing, US issue in a variant (likely trial) UK jacket.</li><li>Original pictorial paper boards, original unclipped (no price) variant pictorial dust jacket (printed in single color, no logo on spine, blank rear panel), color pictorial rabbit endpapers, housed in a custom full leather clamshell box.</li></ul> "The truth is I don't think I've ever found anything as purely 'moving' as the end of The Velveteen Rabbit" – David Foster Wallace This book captures the wistful attachment to our childhood toys through the story of a stuffed rabbit that hopes the love of its owner can make it real. It is one of the great collaborations in modern children's books, with the lithographs and the text equally invoking bittersweet affection: "You were Real to the Boy [...] because he loved you." Later printings did not use lithography to produce Nicholson's drawings, making the first printing especially distinctive in the quality of its lustrous illustrations. This is a remarkable copy of one of the first modern picture books. Scarce, in an unrestored dust jacket, and especially in this variant.

The Velveteen Rabbit | First Edition

Andy Warhol

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 In the Bottom of my Garden by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=andy+warhol&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andy Warhol</a>, with a hand-colored cover and lithograph.<ul><li>Andy Warhol (American).</li><li>Oblong quarto.</li><li>19 of 20 lithographs, one hand-colored, with lithograph cover, hand-colored.</li><li>Paper-covered boards with hand-colored printed cover.</li></ul> One of Warhol's pre-Pop book publications, in which his whimsical drawings are annotated by his mother's elegant calligraphy. Inspired by Flower Fairies of Autumn by Cicely Mary Barker from 1926, its title is taken from a song sung by Gay Icon Beatrice Lillie "There are Faires in the Bottom of Our Garden." "According to Charles Lisanby, Warhol's close friend at the time, In the Bottom of My Garden came about when Warhol was influenced by books he had seen in Amsterdam, the last stop on the two men's world tour. This is also the sole basis on which to date the book. Lisanby mentioned by name the artist Grandville, whose engravings Warhol had already used for Love Is a Pink Cake and from whom Warhol now took ideas for flora and fauna. He adapted some putti from Jack Stella. To these inspirations one can add the famous Dance of Cupids (after Raphael) by Marcantonio Raimondi, from which Warhol borrowed the round dance of the putti. It is tempting to suppose that he found a book on putti containing all of these examples during his travels in Europe. The illustrations do not follow a storyline, and moreover the copies (that still exist) differ in sequencing. The blotted-line drawings focus on outlines and omit any detailing. Their comic effect, however, does not rely on the use of watercolors, which were applied (unevenly) to some pages of the book."

In the Bottom of my Garden First Edition

Rupert Brooke

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 1914 and Other Poems by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Rupert+Brooke&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rupert Brooke</a>.<ul><li>Rupert Brooke (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Sidgwick &amp; Jackson [Printed at the Complete Press, West Norwood],&nbsp;1915.</li><li>Small octavo.</li><li>63 pages.</li><li>Inscribed by Eddie Marsh to John Drinkwater.</li><li>Photogravure frontispiece portrait in profile view by Sherril Schell. </li><li>Blue cloth, printed spine label, morocco book label of John Drinkwater.</li></ul> First edition of the poet's posthumous second book.&nbsp;Inscribed before publication from Edward Marsh to John Drinkwater on the front flyleaf: John from Eddie, June 4th 1915. Marsh, who was Brooke’s agent, edited the Collected Poems. Both he and Drinkwater wrote memoirs of Brooke. An outstanding association from the inner circle of Rupert Brooke’s poet friends.

1914 and Other Poems | First Edition

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Martin+Luther+King%2C+Jr&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Martin Luther King, Jr</a>.'s first book.<ul><li>Martin Luther King, Jr. (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Harper &amp; Brothers,&nbsp;1958.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>320 pages.</li><li>First edition, first printing.</li><li>Signed on the front pastedown.&nbsp;</li><li>Black and white images to pages 65-68 and 165-168.</li><li>Publisher's black and blue cloth, publisher's device stamped in silver to upper cover, spine lettered in silver, in original unclipped jacket, housed in a gilt half-morocco marbled clamshell box.</li></ul> A signed first edition of Dr King's first book on the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and 1956, and the succeeding court cases. In the text, King espouses nonviolent direct action: "I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom." The month after this book was published, while signing copies at a department store in Harlem, a member of the public (convinced King was conspiring with communists against her) stabbed him with a letter opener and he was hospitalized for weeks – this did nothing to halt his nonviolent advocacy for civil rights. The inscription, evidently obtained in person given the signature on the pastedown, reads "Best Wishes Martin L. King Jr."

Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story | Signed First Edition

Benjamin Graham

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 Intelligent Investor by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Benjamin+Graham&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Benjamin Graham</a>.<ul><li>Benjamin Graham (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Harper &amp; Brothers Publishers,&nbsp;[1949].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>276 pages.</li><li>Several black-and-white charts and graphs.</li><li>First edition, early printing (code of F-Y, i.e. June 1949, on copyright page, the earliest being April 1949).</li><li>Black cloth, publisher's logo blind stamped on cover, gilt stamping on spine.</li></ul> An early book on value investing by Warren Buffet's mentor. The Intelligent Investor, first published in 1949, was based on a speculating philosophy developed by Benjamin Graham (1894–1976) and David Dodd while they were teaching Columbia Business School in 1928, then later developed into their 1934 book, Security Analysis. At the center of both volumes is the concept of value investing, which promotes taking into account a company’s potential for long-term growth, rather than short-term gain, when purchasing seemingly underpriced securities. However, in Intelligent Investor, Graham deviated slightly from his earlier work, advocating that instead of performing extensive company analyses, an application of simple earning criteria would be sufficient research for potential investors. The book was almost instantly influential, not least on a 20-year-old Warren Buffett, who began using its precepts to build his own successful investment portfolio. It has sold millions of copies since the publication of this first edition, undergoing several revisions, including the last in 1973, which featured a preface by Buffett. It remains highly regarded by the public, particularly for those involved in mutual funds, hedge funds, diversified holding companies, and other investment vehicles. In the scarce original dust jacket.

The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel | First Edition

Andy Warhol | Julia Warhola

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 Holy Cats by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Andy+Warhol&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andy Warhol</a>'s mother Julia Warhola, <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 Andy Warhol.<ul><li>Julia Warhola (Slovak-American).</li><li>Signed by Andy Warhol (American).</li><li>[New York]: [privately printed], [1954].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>21 offset lithographs on various colored paper (including cover).</li><li>Signed by Warhol at the bottom of the front blank facing the title and with a hand drawn copyright symbol.</li><li>Original boards with offset lithographic covers.</li></ul> Julia Warhola was an accomplished artist in her own right whose whimsical style was an influence on her son. Her calligraphy was integral to Warhol's early work as a book designer and commercial artist, where it often appeared in his designs. Printed privately by Warhol in the early to mid 1950s while a commercial artist. Very scarce, particularly in good condition and rarely found signed.

Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol

James Joyce

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> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=James+Joyce&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Joyce</a>'s first fiction, Dubliners.<ul><li>James Joyce (Irish).</li><li>London: Grant Richards Ltd, [1914].</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>278 pages.</li><li>One of 746 bound for Richards (1250 copies printed).</li><li>Original dark red cloth, gilt stamped lettering on the spine and front cover.</li></ul> The rocky publishing history of Dubliners is well documented: finished in 1905, it was rejected by 15 publishers before Grant Richards accepted it. Richards' printers refused to set some of the type – inaugurating Joyce's lifelong struggle with censorship – and Joyce refused most of Richards' changes. It was then taken up by Maunsel &amp; Roberts of Dublin, who eventually came to a similar conclusion. Maunsel even burned all but one of the copies of the sheets, which Joyce managed to wheedle out of him, and it was given back to Richards, who set the type from the lone Maunsel sheet saved from the flames. Joyce subsequently added "A Little Cloud" and "The Dead" – possibly his most famous single story – to the collection.

Dubliners | First Edition

J.K. Rowling

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>, first impression, hardback issue of the first <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Harry+Potter&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> book; the rarest and most desirable format of the series 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>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 1997.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Original matt laminated printed paper boards, spine and front cover lettered in white, yellow, dark green and black, without dust jacket, as issued, housed in a red quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery.&nbsp;</li></ul> All the required points of the first printing are present: Bloomsbury imprint, 10-down-to-1 number line, no space between “Thomas” and “Taylor” on p. 4, the list of equipment on p. 53 with “1 wand” appearing twice, and the misprint “Philospher’s” on the rear cover. Both paperback and hardback issues of the first impression were published on 26 June 1997. Only 500 copies of the first printing of Philosopher’s Stone were issued in hardback, of which it is thought around 300 were sold to libraries and schools. The publisher has stated “I think the assumption in 1997 would have been that you would sell 500 hardcovers of any good book to public libraries so that edition would be aimed at them. The general edition for the market would be a paperback” (Errington, p. 4). Identifying libraries as the intended buyers of this issue explains the lack of a dust jacket (Errington states a jacket “was simply not required by libraries”). The small number of copies not accessioned by libraries explains the scarcity of this issue, and why copies in collectible condition are rare. This copy, bearing a price sticker from W. H. Smith on the rear cover, identifies it as one of a small number sold on the high street.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | First Edition, First Impression

Robert Gober | Joyce Carol Oates

One volume of a two-volume set of Heat, Issued as the 7th volume of the Whitney Museum's Artists and Writers series.<ul><li>Joyce Carol Oates (American).</li><li>Design and illustrations by Robert Gober (American).</li><li>New York: Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of Art, 1989.</li><li>Text handwritten by Robert Gober and printed on Saunders paper at the Allethaire Press, Hadley, MA.</li><li>Hand-binding supervised by Craig Jensen at the Book lab, Austin, TX.</li><li>Edition of one hundred and forty copies.</li><li>Bound in white leather with gilt cover title and metal clasps.</li></ul>

Heat

Winston Churchill

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> set of The Second World War by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Winston+Churchill&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Winston Churchill</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 6 volumes.</li><li>Winston Churchill (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Cassel and Co. Ltd,&nbsp;1953.</li><li>Signed by Winston Churchill. </li><li>Inscribed with blue ink to Howard Bayne by Alfred Charles Bossom, English Conservative Party Politican, his brother-in-law. </li><li>Bound by Sangorski &amp; Sutcliffe, London, full blue Morocco leather covers, gilt borders on covers, gilt emblem on front board, ornate gilt decoration on spine panels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, raised bands.</li></ul>

The Second World War Signed First Edition 

Thomas S. Kuhn

A true <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 Kuhn's hugely influential monograph, which redefined <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=History%252C%2520Travel%252C%2520Exploration&amp;Book%20Subject=Mathematics&amp;Book%20Subject=Social%2520Sciences&amp;Book%20Subject=Zoology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">scientific progress</a> not as a series of slow developments but rather abrupt leaps forward — a book whose impact and ideas extended far beyond academic circles.<ul><li>Thomas S. Kuhn (American).</li><li>(Chicago): The University of Chicago Press, (1962).</li><li>[xvi], 172 pages.</li><li>First printing.</li><li>Original printed yellow wrappers.</li></ul> "Perhaps science does not develop by the accumulation of individual discoveries and inventions." Kuhn, a trained physicist who came to identify himself as a "practicing historian of science," made a great impact on the thought of specialists and the general public alike, superseding Karl Popper as the most widely read and influential philosopher of science. The influence of Structure was so pervasive and long-lasting that the "really quite shocking" quality of his thought has faded from view for wanderers in a rhetorical landscape now littered, thanks to Kuhn, with paradigms and revolutions. This is the true first edition of Kuhn's classic, issued no later than September of 1962 (as noted on the inside rear cover) as Volume II, Number 2 of The International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, published as part of the University of Chicago Foundations of the Unity of Science series (a hardcover trade edition followed in October of that same year).

The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions First Edition

William Pène du Bois

<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=P%C3%A8ne+du+Bois&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pène du Bois</a>'s notoriously scarce first book, about the ghost of a cow who is a little too sweet to scare people.<ul><li>Pène du BoisPène du Bois (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Thomas Nelson,&nbsp;1936.</li><li>48 pages.</li><li>&nbsp;Illustrated by Pène du Bois with yellow title page and 21 full-page images, a number with the cow ghost highlighted in yellow.</li><li>Original yellow cloth stamped in blue, in original unclipped ($.75) black and yellow pictorial dust jacket.</li></ul> "I am the ghost of the fiercest cow that ever existed. I shall haunt you and scare you day and night." Earliest version of this tale of the afterlife of the gentlest cow, sold to the publisher when du Bois was only 19 and a student at the Carnegie School of Technical Architecture; seizing the opportunity of this early success, he left school and never went back. In 1964, du Bois rewrote the text of this first edition and re-drew the illustrations for a new publication of the engagingly tragic tale; the exceedingly hard-to-find original shows starker scenes in black and white, with a haunting, floating Elisabeth the Cow the only subject in color: a fetching buttercup yellow. The Cow's trouble, familiar to many frustrated young children, lies in her inability to terrify a grown man; this is due to her gentle nature and frankly adorable physique, the former of which cannot be camouflaged by any fearful disguise.

Elisabeth The Cow Ghost 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 Christmas Carol by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave One", illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in fine full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled and paneled in gilt, front cover with gilt portrait of Dickens, rear cover with Dickens signature in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt, original cloth covers and 1 yellow endpaper bound in, by Bayntun.</li></ul> Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" selling more than 6000 copies in the few days leading up to Christmas. The work was extravagantly costly as Dickens for the first time (and incidentally his last) used color in the title-page and etchings as he wanted to make the book a beautiful gift and to be a celebration of the Christmas spirit. After the initial success, Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840's, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed.

A Christmas Carol First Edition

Dylan Thomas

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 of Twenty-Five Poems by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Dylan+Thomas&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dylan Thomas</a>.<ul><li>Dylan Thomas (Welsh).</li><li>London: J.M. Dent &amp; Sons Ltd., 1936.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Publisher's grey boards, titles to spine in blue, with the dust jacket.</li></ul>

Twenty-Five Poems First Edition

Robert Graves

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=Robert+Graves&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Robert Graves</a>' autobiography Goodbye to All That.<ul><li>Robert Graves (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1929.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Photographic frontispiece portrait, 7 plates and maps including one double-page.</li><li>First edition, first issue, with reference to spiritualism on page 290 and un-authorised transcription of poem by Siegfried Sassoon on pages 341-343.</li><li>Publisher's light red cloth, in the original dust-jacket.</li></ul> The rare first issue of the first edition of Good-Bye to All That by Robert Graves, complete with the Siegfried Sassoon poem he published without the author's permission, much to Sassoon's dismay. Sassoon took umbrage at much of the content of the first edition of Good-Bye to All That, and alongside fellow poet Edmund Blunden wrote extensive marginal notes in Blunden's copy contradicting Robert Graves' original text; that annotated copy now resides in the New York Public Library.

Good-Bye to all That: An Autobiography First Edition

E. M. Forster

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 Where Angels Fear to Tread 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>Edinburgh &amp; London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1905.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>2 pages, advertisements, followed by 32 pages.</li><li>Publisher's catalogue correctly dated '5/05' and with Forster not listed.</li><li>Burgundy endpapers, publisher's cloth with title blocked in black on upper cover and lettered in gilt at spine.</li></ul> The first novel by E.M. Forster, contrasting English and Italian sensibilities, the title derived from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism: 'For fools rush in where angels fear to tread'. The novel's success established the author as a leading literary light of the twentieth century.

Where Angels Fear to Tread First Edition

Len Deighton

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 SS-GB by Len Deighton, with an uncorrected proof copy.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Len Deighton (British).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1978.</li><li>Red top stain, in dust wrapper.</li></ul> Complete with the rare pack of stamps, an ephemera item issued in small numbers to promote the launch of Len Deighton's 'what if?' WW2 thriller SS-GB. The tiny item, the same size as a pack of royal mail stamps was issued alongside the book in a small number of locations on its launch date in 1978. With the rare uncorrected Proof (which is actually titled SS -). SS-GB is a story about what would have happened if Hitler and the Nazis had invaded Great Britain. The ephemeral pack of stamps features 18 stamps in 3 different denominations and colors. Each stamp in the style of King George VI but instead with Hitlers head. There are also adverts along with a page that states 'Observe the Curfew'. Not many of these are left due to many being recalled and destroyed - mainly by the Royal Mail, as they looked so real.

SS-GB First Edition, with Uncorrected Proof

Terry Pratchett

Science Fantasy, No. 60 Volume 20, Terry Pratchett's First Commercial Appearance in&nbsp;print.<ul><li>Mervyn Peake [Terry Pratchett] (English).</li><li>London: Nova, 1963.</li><li>Small Octavo.</li><li>112 pages.</li><li>First edition.</li><li>Card wrappers featuring a design by Gerard Quinn.</li></ul> Terry Pratchett's very first published work, an eleven-page story&nbsp;written when he was just fifteen years old. This issue also includes Mervyn Peake's hitherto&nbsp;unpublished story Same Time, Same Place, which is preceded by a four-page appreciation&nbsp;of Peake by Michael Moorcock.

Science Fantasy - No. 60 Volume 20 First Edition

Thornton Wilder

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 Bridge of San Luis Rey by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Thornton+Wilder&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Thornton Wilder</a>, accompanied by a handwritten and <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> letter discussing the novel.<ul><li>Thornton Wilder (American).</li><li>London: Longmans, 1927.</li><li>In an unclipped wrapper.</li></ul> Within, a page long hand-written letter SIGNED by Wilder is affixed and unfurls from the front pastedown and is dated October 9th 1934 (originating from The University of Chicago). The letter discusses the letters of Marquesa de Montemayor and states her character is based on ‘that of Mme de Sevigne’. A marvelous association to the novel. A bridge in Peru collapses, killing five people. Brother Juniper investigates, seeking divine meaning in the tragedy. One victim is the Marquesa de Montemayor, a wealthy, lonely woman estranged from her daughter. Known for her eloquent letters, she transforms from bitterness to compassion through her unrequited love. Her death, along with the others, forms part of Wilder’s meditation on fate, love, and human connection. The novel ultimately suggests that love endures beyond life’s seeming randomness, giving meaning where reason fails.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey First Edition | With Signed Letter

Clifford D. Simak

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 All Flesh is Grass, <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 author <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Clifford+D.+Simak&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Clifford D. Simak</a>.<ul><li>Clifford D. Simak (American).</li><li>United States: Berkley Medallion, 1966.</li><li>Signed on the title-page.</li></ul>

All Flesh Is Grass Signed First Paperback Edition

Theodor Seuss Geisel

The <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first and only edition</a> of The Log of the Good Ship, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Dr.+Seuss&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Seuss</a> under the pseudonym 'Old Captain Taylor.'<ul><li>Old Captain Taylor [Dr. Seuss - Theodor Geisel].</li><li>Esso: Standard Oil, 1947.</li><li>36 pages.</li><li>Illustrated by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) in blue and red throughout.</li><li>Pictorial wrappers, stapled.</li></ul> A ship's log with jaunty marketer's text by Esso (formerly Standard Oil, later Exxon). Issued nearly two decades before Seuss would become a household name, he illustrated advertisements for various companies including Ford, NBC, and Standard Oil. This postwar follow-up to Esso's two previous Secrets of the Deep, likewise written by Seuss as "Old Captain Taylor," rises above its petroleum-advertising origins by virtue of Seuss's charming and playful illustrations, typical of his best advertising work.

Old Captain Taylor | The Log Of The Good Ship | First Edition

Victor Canning

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 Mr. Finchley Takes The Road, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Victor+Canning&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Victor Canning</a>.<ul><li>Victor Canning (English).</li><li>London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940.</li><li>Bright green boards, in a very good unclipped wrapper, showing 9s.</li></ul> A charming sequel to&nbsp;Mr&nbsp;Finchley&nbsp;Discovers His England. In this novel,&nbsp;the&nbsp;mild-mannered&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Finchley, now free from office work, sets out on a whimsical journey across England in a horse-drawn caravan. Along&nbsp;the&nbsp;way, he encounters eccentric characters and humorous adventures, reflecting a nostalgic and warm view of British life.

Mr Finchley Takes The Road First Edition

Stephen King

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 Stand 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>USA: Doubleday, 1978.</li><li>In an unclipped wrapper.</li></ul> The&nbsp;author's fifth novel of 70,000 copies, identifiable by&nbsp;the&nbsp;'First Edition' statement on&nbsp;the&nbsp;copyright page and 'T39' printing code to&nbsp;the&nbsp;bottom gutter of page 823. A post-apocalyptic epic where a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity. Survivors are drawn to two opposing figures:&nbsp;the&nbsp;benevolent Mother Abagail and&nbsp;the&nbsp;evil Randall Flagg. As society rebuilds, a final battle between good and evil unfolds. Blending horror, fantasy, and social commentary, King explores human nature, morality, and resilience. The&nbsp;Stand is a gripping tale of survival, faith, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;choices that define&nbsp;the&nbsp;future of civilzation.

The Stand First Edition

John F. Kennedy

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 Profiles In Courage by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=John+F.+Kennedy&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John F. Kennedy</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 Lem Billings.<ul><li>John F. Kennedy (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Harper &amp; Brothers,&nbsp;1956.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>xix, [2], 266 pages, plus [8] pages of captioned images.</li><li>Inscribed in black ink on front flyleaf by John F. Kennedy: "To Lem / my "oldest" friend / John Kennedy", with bookplate on front pastedown of K. LeMoyne Billings.</li><li>In black buckram quarter binding with blue cloth boards, with gilt lettering to spine, jacket is beige and blue with red, white, and blue lettering, additionally, jacket is wrapped in an archival mylar sleeve, price uncut: "$3.50." </li></ul> This is an incredible association copy, evidencing the close and enduring relationship between Kennedy and Billings.

Profiles In Courage | First Edition, Inscribed to Lem Billings

Ezra Pound | Henry Strater

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> draft of XVI Cantos of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Ezra+Pound&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ezra Pound</a> for the beginning of a <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?Book%20Subject=Poetry" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">poem</a> of some length, with two prospectuses for Cantos XVI-XXVII.<ul><li>Ezra Pound (American).</li><li>Engravings by Henry Strater (American).</li><li>Paris and London:&nbsp;Three Mountains Press; John Rooker,&nbsp;1925; 1927.&nbsp;</li><li>Tall Quarto.</li><li>65, [2] pages, with duplicates of the first, second, and third cantos (p. 5-12) and a partial duplicate of the eighth and sixth cantos (p. 27-28, 21-22), plus 2 prospectuses of [4] pages each.</li><li>Limited First Edition: #65/70.</li><li>Signatures of the&nbsp;Draft of XVI. Cantos&nbsp;and the prospectus are printed on Roma paper with deckled edges; pages of the&nbsp;Draft&nbsp;are watermarked "Ezra Pound" followed by the colophon for the Three Mountains Press.</li><li>Each canto is accompanied by an engraved initial, with titles and initial caps appearing in vibrant red ink.</li><li>Prospectuses contain the first pages of the twenty first and twenty fifth cantos as specimens, each with engraved initials. </li><li>Unbound, housed in a paper wrap.</li></ul>

A Draft Of XVI. Cantos Of Ezra Pound, with Two Prospectuses For Cantos XVI-XXVII

H.G. Wells

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 Passionate Friends: A Novel by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=H.G.+Wells&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">H.G. Wells</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.<ul><li>H.G. Wells (English).</li><li>London: MacMillan and Co., 1913.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Presentation copy, affectionately inscribed by the author to his friend Daisy Blumenfeld: “D. B. / from H. G. / and someday we will win at tennis.”</li><li>Bound in the original green vertically ribbed cloth, spine and front board with gilt lettering and vine motifs in blind, top fore-edge gilt.</li></ul> Daisy Blumenfeld was the wife of R. D. Blumenfeld, chief editor of the Daily Express for over 30 years. He was a close friend and a neighbor of Wells, who was often invited at the residence to play tennis and discuss politics and narrative.

The Passionate Friends: A Novel | Inscribed First Edition

Oscar Wilde

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=A+Woman+of+No+Importance&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Woman of No Importance</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Oscar+Wilde&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oscar Wilde</a>.<ul><li>Oscar Wilde (Irish).</li><li>London: John Lane, 1894.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>One of 50 large paper copies, printed on hand-made paper.</li><li>Publisher’s straw colored buckram with gilt decorations by Charles Ricketts, gilt lettering to spine, housed in custom purple cloth chemise and matching quarter morocco slipcase.</li></ul> One of only 50 large paper copies. This play contains some of Wilde's most famous epigrams. First performed in April 1893, prior to being published in book form, A Woman of No Importance addresses many social issues with Wilde’s wit and dark humor. The run of the play was cut short as a result of Wilde’s arrest and prosecution. The scandal dampened enthusiasm for Wilde’s work until after his death in 1900, when interest in his work began to revive.

A Woman of No Importance First Edition

Boris Zworykin

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 this classic Russian fairy tale, beautifully <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">illustrated</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Boris+Zworykin&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Boris Zworykin</a> and heightened in gold. <ul><li>Boris Zworykin (Russian).</li><li>Skazka Pro Mar'iu Morevnu [Maria Morevna].</li><li>Moscow: B. Avantso, 1904.</li><li>Folio.</li><li>Illustrations throughout heightened in gold.</li><li>Text in Russian.</li><li>Printed on thick paper, original wrappers bound in, recent decorative paper boards, green morocco label to upper cover.</li></ul> Born in Moscow in 1872, Zvorykin devoted himself to decorative art after graduating from the Moscow Academy of Painting. He followed Ivan Bilibin's style inspired by medieval Russia and traditional folk culture, and became in his own right one of the greatest Russian book illustrators. Zvorykin left Russia after the Revolution and settled finally in Paris, where he found employment in the publishing house of H. Piazza.

Skazka Pro Mar’iu Morevnu First Edition

Joseph Conrad

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 of The Secret Agent by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Joseph+Conrad&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joseph Conrad</a>.<ul><li>Joseph Conrad (Polish-British).</li><li>London: Methuen, 1907.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>First issue with 40 page publisher's catalog (dated September 1907) at end.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's red cloth, titles to spine gilt.</li></ul> Conrad’s thriller was based on a true incident from the late nineteenth century - a bombing in Greenwich Park. His treatment of the psychology of his protagonists in this novel is truly one of his greatest achievements. A Haycraft Queen cornerstone.

The Secret Agent First Edition

Alfred Stieglitz

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 America and <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Alfred+Stieglitz&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alfred Stieglitz</a>.<ul><li>Alfred Stieglitz (American).</li><li>Edited by Waldo Frank, Lewis Mumford, Dorothy Norman, Paul Rosenfeld &amp; Harold Rugg.</li><li>Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran &amp; Company, 1934.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[ii], x, 339, [1] pages.</li><li>64 pages of black and white plates.</li><li>Presentation copy with a lengthy inscription in black ink on the first page;.</li><li>Black topstain, plain endpapers, black cloth-covered boards, titles in silver and design stamped to spine in blind, Stieglitz's monogram in blind to upper board, dust jacket illustrated with photographs and reproductions of artworks, printed in black and silver, text in black and white.</li></ul> &nbsp;A presentation copy, inscribed to abstract realist painter De Hirsh Margules and his sister Annette, both active in Greenwich Village social circles: 'Why am I asked to ruin this / nice clean book? And why do I / acquiesce? And why will the / printer turn out spotty pages of / illustrations? And why / must I when seeing them feel / impelled to "retouch" them / &amp; or cover up the faults of / one not caring? Oh why oh / why? - In spite of why, I / think this Book a Book - / It is a Book - so a / rare event - in my life / &amp; all the lives of those / who may see the Book / whether they know it or not. / [?]. For Margules - / him &amp; her — / [signed] Stieglitz / Dec. 2 1934 / An American Place'. De Hirsh Margules (1899-1965) was born in Romania and arrived in New York City with his parents aged ten months. In 1929, he met Alfred Stieglitz, who quickly became one of his most trusted friends and advisors. Between 1936 and 1937, Margules established 'Another Place,' an exhibition space set up in his New York City apartment at 43 West 8th Street, which showed fourteen solo exhibitions by Margules and other artists.

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Ernest H. Shepard, A.A. Milne