First Edition Specialist Selections

Arthur Dobbs

Dobbs, Arthur | A scarce work, advocating for the continued search for a Northwest Passage

John Thomson

(China) — John Thomson | One of the most extensive photobooks of China in the nineteenth century

Jane Austen

The <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first US edition</a>, first printing of Pride and Prejudice by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=jane+austen&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jane Austen</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Jane Austen (English).</li><li>Philadelphia:&nbsp;Carey &amp; Lea,&nbsp;1832.</li><li>12mo.</li><li>199, [1]; 209, [1] pages</li><li>Publisher's catalogue bound at front of Volume I.</li><li>Modern full peach design binding by Sol Rébora in Can Can structure with one layer of cotton cloth and two layers of Japanese paper, each element hand-painted with acrylics and textured with a patterned design impressed with deep-relief hot-stamping from silk; spines and boards stamped in dark grey, cotton and abaca handmade paper peach endpapers.</li></ul> First US edition in a stunning fine art binding by the acclaimed Argentinian design bookbinder Sol Rébora. Austen's most beloved novel is simultaneously a unique production of profound artistic confidence and an entertaining popular love story: it builds on a long-established tradition of English courtship novels in conversation with many women authors before her like Frances Burney (from whose book Cecelia Austen may have borrowed the very phrase "pride and prejudice"). Austen admitted in a letter that she thought her book's heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print" (29 January 1813) – and generations of readers have agreed with her. First published in 1813 in three volumes, this is the first edition to appear in the United States, published in two volumes by Carey &amp; Lea in an edition of only 750 copies. Sol Rébora is an internationally recognized design bookbinder based in Buenos Aires. Her works embody a minimalistic elegance that is nevertheless subtly complex, as in the carefully structured multiple layers used here. They are not only visually stunning, but supremely tactile. From Rèbora's artist statement: "The cloth texture is achieved using silk with a patterned design that evokes the aesthetic of the time period in which the original edition was produced, creating a visual connection with antique paper. This design also appeals to the collective memory of how custom bindings from the early 19th century might have appeared, complete with deep-relief hot-stamping impressions." A magnificent, unique copy of an Austen first.

Pride And Prejudice | First American Edition

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

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

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

Andy Warhol

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 From A to B and Back Again: The Philosophy of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Andy+Warhol&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andy Warhol</a>.<ul><li>Andy Warhol (American).</li><li>London: Cassell, 1975.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>241 pages.</li><li>Presentation copy, signed by author ‘To Ian / Dog / Andy Warhol, London 1975’. </li><li>With an original drawing of dog’s head on the half-title.</li><li>Publisher’s cloth, dust-jacket.</li></ul> With a very rare inscription in that Warhol has drawn a dog’s head, and not the familiar soup.

From A to B And Back Again: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol | Signed 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

Martin Luther King, Jr.

An undocumented <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first printing</a> of The Riverside Church Speech by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Martin%20Luther%20King%20Jr&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Martin Luther King Jr</a>.<ul><li>Martin Luther King Jr. (American).</li><li>Later titled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence.</li><li>n.p.:&nbsp;n.p,&nbsp;[1967].</li><li>8 pages.</li><li>Printed rectos only.</li><li>Top stapled self-wrappers.</li></ul> Previously unrecorded first printing of one of King's most important speeches: his anti-war address at The Riverside Church, delivered exactly one year to the day before his assassination. "If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood." King's Riverside Church Speech (later titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence," but here untitled) was the civil rights leader's first sustained and major public statement regarding the Vietnam War. Before a crowd of more than 3000, King called for not only an end to the war, but explicitly linked the anti-war movement to the larger movements for civil rights and economic justice: "Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem." This edition is unknown and unrecorded. It is not mentioned in the major King bibliographies. The introductory paragraph ("The following is the exclusive and authorized publication of the address [...] sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam") suggests it was likely printed either by that group or King's camp. Such a printing could have been issued for members not in attendance, for press distribution at or immediately following the event, or simply to secure copyright. (The text also ends with a copyright notice by King, dated 1967.) This version differs in a number of significant ways from final published versions that appeared later. Some of these differences are accounted for by this printing's "slightly condensed" version. Others, however, clearly predate King's later revisions and finalizations which, along with the lack of title on this edition, all clearly mark the text as an early version, contemporaneous or nearly so with the event itself — and almost certainly preceding the earliest (also very rare) reprints undertaken by a number of California groups (where Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam were based, and all under the title "Beyond Vietnam") in the subsequent months. Indeed, the ditto'd presentation strongly suggests a smaller, more immediate circulation. The speech was widely criticized at the time. In the following days, more than 150 newspapers around the country condemned King, and in the aftermath of the address President Johnson dis-invited King from the White House, a rift in their relationship from which they never recovered. Among Black leaders the reception was also decidedly mixed, with many believing King's focus on the war distracted from more pressing concerns. As journalist Tavis Smiley, who produced a documentary on the speech, explained: "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. It was the speech he labored over the most [and] got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done." Nevertheless, its reputation has only grown in the ensuing years. James Bevel considered it King's greatest speech, and King's intersectional understanding has been increasingly recognized as prescient. A rare and revealing document from one of King's most enduring public addresses.

The Riverside Church Speech: "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence"

Gabriel García Márquez

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>, first printing in English of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Garc%C3%ADa%20Marquez&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">García Marquez</a>'s ode to the persistence of romantic memory.<ul><li>Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian).</li><li>Translated by Edith Grossman.</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Alfred A. Knopf,&nbsp;1988.</li><li>[10], 348, [4] pages.</li><li>Signed by García Márquez at colophon and numbered 107 of 350 signed and numbered copies of the first edition.</li><li>Original quarter pink cloth with black cloth boards, gilt-stamped spine, in original decorative black lace-printed mylar protective jacket, with original yellow and black slipcase, bright pink endpapers, fore-edge machine deckle.</li></ul> There is no greater glory than to die for love." "It would be presumptuous to speak of moving 'beyond' One Hundred Years of Solitude but clearly García Márquez has moved somewhere else, not least into deeper awareness of the ways in which, as Florentino comes to learn, 'nobody teaches life anything.'" — Thomas Pynchon Gorgeously designed edition of the author's acclaimed novel, first published in Spanish in 1985. The English translation was praised by Thomas Pynchon to the utmost reaches of superlative adjectives, and was the recipient of less frenzied but still glowing compliments from Michiko Kakutani. García Márquez's theme – romantic love that never fades, vows never broken; or, seen another way, the nightmare impossibility of permanently dismissing a determined suitor – struck Pynchon as "revolutionary," though his judgment that working in "love's vernacular" is a "daring step for any writer" may raise eyebrows among those familiar with genres and modes of writing in which these themes and treatments have never fallen out of fashion. García Márquez himself once said, with perhaps greater perception, that the revolutionary part of writing consists simply of doing it well: and he did. A beautiful copy of this signed limited US edition, which preceded the UK edition by several months.

Love in the Time of Cholera Signed Limited 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>, first issue of the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles%20Dickens&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a> classic, <a href="sothebys.com/en/search?query=A%20Christmas%20Carol&amp;tab=objects" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Christmas Carol</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>Illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.&nbsp;</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave I."</li><li>Bound in the publisher's original gilt and blind stamped mauve cloth, back corners square, front cover has a perfect 'D' in 'Dickens', green pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul> Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language."

A Christmas Carol First Edition First Issue

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>, first issue of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Dr.+Seuss&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Seuss</a>'s <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=The+Cat+in+the+Hat&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Cat in the Hat</a>.<ul><li>Dr. Seuss (American).</li><li>New York: Random House, 1957.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>62 pages.</li><li>Illustrated throughout.</li><li>Bound in publisher’s pictorial blue boards, in illustrated unclipped dust-jacket repeating the cover design.</li></ul> Two siblings caught between the demands of a sensible goldfish, and an irresponsible giant cat.

The Cat in the Hat First Edition

<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/search?query=Encyclopaedia%20Britannica&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Encyclopaedia Britannica</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3 volumes.</li><li>Edited by William Smellie (Scottish).</li><li>Engravings by Andrew Bell.</li><li>Printed by Colin Macfarquhar.</li><li>Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences compiled upon a New Plan. In which the Different Sciences and Arts are digested into Distinct Treatises or Systems; and the Various Technical Terms, etc. are explained as they occur in the order of the Alphabet.</li><li>Edinburgh: Printed for A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar, 1771.</li><li>Quarto in half-sheets.</li><li>Half-title to each volume, 159 engraved plates (of 160, lacking plate 112 in 'Midwifery' section').</li><li>viii, 586, [10], 587-697; [4] 1009, [3]; [4], 280, 283-678, 879-953, [1]pp.</li><li>Contemporary calf-backed glazed blue paper boards,&nbsp;</li></ul> The first edition of 'the most famous of all encyclopaedias in the English language' (PMM). A landmark Enlightenment text, the Britannica was the brainchild of the Edinburgh-based bookseller and printer, Colin Macfarquhar, and the engraver Andrew Bell. At the time, the city was arguably the intellectual center of Britain, host to many of the nation's leading thinkers from David Hume to Adam Smith, and the gathering place of discussion clubs like The Select Society and The Poker Club where members met to debate advances in the arts and sciences. Macfarquhar and Bell conceived of the Britannica as a conservative reaction to the French Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot (published 1751 to 1766), which was widely viewed as heretical, but the key initiative that set the Britannica apart from other earlier encyclopaedias was its layout. Related topics were to be grouped together into longer essays, then organized alphabetically. Previously technical terms had been listed generally in alphabetical order, an approach that the Britannica derided as 'dismembering the sciences' (Preface). The 28-year-old press-corrector William Smellie was employed to provide the text. The result was originally issued in 100 parts (called 'numbers' and equivalent to thick pamphlets), which were later bound into three volumes. The first number appeared on December 6, 1768 in Edinburgh, priced 6d or 8d on finer paper, with the last issued in 1771. With two of the three midwifery plates depicting childbirth in clinical detail that so shocked King George III that he commanded that the pages be ripped from every copy. These plates are consequently rarely found (see Kogan, The Great EB: The Story Of The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1958, p.13). The other plates include human anatomy, animals and other natural history subjects, scientific instruments and industrial apparatus, geometrical propositions, and miscellaneous subjects ranging from types of cannon to specimens of shorthand; there are also several plates of music score and a small number of maps. Sets in any state of completeness are rare.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Ian Fleming

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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1953.</li><li>Inscribed to Lisl Popper.</li></ul> Inscribed to the front endpaper by the Author - ‘To Lisl/Despite whose loving/care this book was/written/X/Ian.' Ian Fleming first met Lisl Popper (then Lisa Jokl) at age nineteen during the "golden time" at Kitzbuhel in Austria in 1926. She was eight years older than Fleming, and worked a local cafe. Described as a "plain-looking Jewish girl", she and her friends first spotted young Fleming when he walked into their cafe and ordered coffee. As was usual for Fleming, he sat and read a book by himself. Lisl recalled his appearance "with sleepy blue eyes and a romantic face" - but his good looks were not the only factor attracting the girls. He wore a navy blue knitted shirt of a kind which had never been seen in Kutzbhel before. Fleming soon became acquainted with Lisl and her friends at the cafe and her simple outdoor lifestyle appealed to Fleming immensely - skiing in winter, and swimming and tennis in the summer. Another physical activity - sex - kept Fleming and Lisl very active as lovers, and some years later he commented that despite the air of sexual liberation, he did show some reservation about the manner in which Austrian girls threw themselves at his young English body. Lisl and Fleming became lifelong friends, and in 1960, Fleming signed a copy of his latest James Bond installment For Your Eyes Only (a collection of five short stories) to Lisl with the personal inscription "noch ein paar Eier fr Ostern!" ("yet another pair of eggs for Easter"). It is perhaps no coincidence that the female character in the fifth short story in the collection is named Lisl Baum. Upon Fleming's death in 1964, he left Lisl £500 in his will. Lisl later said that "all the things said about Ian -- his gloom, his melancholy, his solitariness -- frankly amaze. To all of us who knew him in Kitzbuhel he was exactly the opposite -- gay, care-free, terribly happy, the most exciting and vital sort of person. Not like an Englishman at all." Lisl Popper makes a brief appearance in archive footage used in the documentary "Ian Fleming - 007's Creator" on "The Living Daylights" Special Edition DVD. This is perhaps the most important signed copy of the first installment of the James Bond series ever to come on to the market. The book had been in a private family collection until 1992, then to a prominent collector and on to another collector.

James Bond Casino Royale Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book You Only Live Twice, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1964.</li><li>Signed and inscribed to Aubrey Forshaw.</li><li>With presentation note in blue ink to flyleaf; 'To / Forshaw-san / from / Fleming-san [underline].'</li><li>Publisher’s black cloth-effect paper over boards with silver titles to spine and Japanese characters in gilt to upper, bamboo patterned endpapers, in original pictorial dust-wrapper by Richard Chopping.</li></ul> This is the first issue with ‘First published 1964’ to the copyright page. This copy was presented by Ian Fleming to Aubrey Forshaw. The inscription incorporates the traditional Japanese honorary title ‘san’, used to show respect to the person being mentioned. In the novel, Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Secret Service, refers to 007 throughout as ‘Bondo-san’. Fleming used this device only when inscribing the book to his closest friends and colleagues. Examples presented in this way include: “Brilliant Chopping-san” [for the jacket artist Richard Chopping], “Dikko-san” [Richard Hughes, journalist and model for the character 'Dikko Henderson' in the novel], “Connolly-san” [author Cyril Connolly], and “From Fleming-san” [to Sunday Times editor Denis Hamilton, the dedicatee of Fleming's Thrilling Cities]. The present 'Forshaw-san' is thus far unrecorded. Forshaw was Managing Director at Pan Books from 1952, following the death of its founder Alan Bott. The first Bond novel Casino Royale was published as a Pan edition in 1955 and each subsequent Bond novel would be published by Pan, as well as Fleming’s other three books The Diamond Smugglers, Thrilling Cities and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. In The Man With the Golden Typewriter, letters between Fleming and Forshaw are included on pages 319, 321, 322 and 371. It also appears that Fleming consulter Forshaw about the details of Bond’s Bentley Continental. The car was owned by Fleming and was driven and one by Bond in the film Thunderball. One of the letters from The Man With The Golden Typewriter from Forshaw to Fleming is an invite to an awards dinner to celebrate the fact that Casino Royale has sold over a million copies. By the 1960’s Pan was the second-largest paperback publisher (after Penguin), largely thanks to the phenomenal global success of Ian Fleming and his James Bond series.

James Bond You Only Live Twice Signed and Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book On Her Majesty's Secret Service, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1963.</li><li>Signed and inscribed to Joss Pender.</li></ul> Inscribed by the author on the front free end-paper: "To/ Joss/ from/ Ian/ 1963." With the former owner's name Pender and date in his own hand on the front paste-down. Joss Pender was a member with Ian Fleming of the Royal St George's Golf Club in Kent. Pender and Fleming were contemporaries at Eton. They died within a year of each other at relatively young ages. The families were subsequently to be linked through marriage and Denison-Penders and Flemings can still be found playing golf together at Sandwich to this day.&nbsp;

James Bond On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Signed and Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book Live and Let Die, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1954.</li><li>Inscribed to Muriel Williams&nbsp;.</li><li>The book is accompanied by the correct first state dust wrapper without the artist's (Kenneth Lewis] credit on the front flap, correctly priced at 10s.6d. net to both the front and rear flaps.</li></ul> Inscribed by the author on the front free end-paper: "To/ MW/ The faithful &amp;/ true!/ from/ The Author". With an additional ownership inscription and date (1954) of M J Williams on the front paste-down. Muriel Williams (often referred to as MJW or MW) was Fleming's Assistant at Kemsley Newspapers when he was the Foreign Manager. She was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Department in particular liaison with the "stringers" who, from far flung parts of the world, submitted stories for inclusion in the Kemsley Publications (including the Sunday Times). The dust wrapper artist, Kenneth Lewis (who worked in the Art Department at Kemsley), remembers her well commenting on her flat-chested appearance, strong and forceful personality, her use of bright red lipstick and that Fleming deferred to her. Fleming inscribed several of his other early novels to her, including Casino Royale and Moonraker.

James Bond Live and Let Die Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book Moonraker, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1955.</li><li>Inscribed to Joyce Emerson on the front end paper.</li><li>The dust wrapper is correctly priced at 10s.6d net to both the front and rear flaps.</li></ul> The inscription reads - To Joyce / The happy ghost / from / Ian Fleming / 1955. The Joyce in question was Joyce Emerson (1921-1979), a journalist by trade, who worked at The Sunday Times during the 1950's and 60’s. She befriended Fleming whilst working on the Atticus team alongside Ian Fleming. Atticus was a weekly society gossip column, which Fleming joined in the autumn of 1953 (during the release time of his first novel Casino Royale). As the inscription suggests, Emerson would (almost certainly) have ghost-written many of the pieces carrying his name. The book is free of any owner names or inscriptions, with the correctly printed SHOOT found to page 10. An incredibly scarce title to acquire, signed and inscribed by the author and more so as the inscription includes Fleming’s full name as well as the year of publication.&nbsp;

James Bond Moonraker Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/james-bond" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Bond</a> book From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming, which has been <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>Ian Fleming (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1957.</li><li>Inscribed by Fleming to R. Singleton-Ward&nbsp;.</li><li>Bound in the original black boards with silver titles on spine, red rose and metallic gun to the front board, in the rare dust wrapper.</li></ul> The book is inscribed with the author’s signed presentation inscription to the front endpaper, ‘To R. Singleton-Ward/ In (I hope)/Gratitude/ Ian Fleming/ 1957.’ Singleton-Ward was born in Droitwich at the turn of the century and studied as a masseur and physiotherapist in the area and was certainly still operating in the area in the 1940s. Singleton-Ward operated in Harley Street as a specialist physiotherapist in the 1950s and 1960s. This is born out in his book, My Two Hands Talk, published by Christopher Johnson in the same year as From Russia With Love, 1957. It is possible that Fleming used the book as background (as he had for Patrick Leigh Fermor’s, Traveller’s Tree for Live and Let Die) for the health clinic scenes in the book of Thunderball, either introduced to the text by a member of the publishing house, or introduced to it by one of the man Harley Street specialists he used to visit. There is a no coincidence perhaps that Thunderball (published 4 years later) opens with Bond on the physiotherapist’s table having a massage. It is possible that Singleton-Ward was able to give Fleming some background about this. The association in the presentation inscription suggests they were close or certainly friends. The rare use of Fleming's full name and date in an inscription (1957) is evidence of this. With the early Bond books, he invariably preferred to use just his Christian name or the more formal "The Author". Singleton-Ward’s address appears as 46 Portland Place W1 in 1965 (London Phone Book), but no trace after this with no mention after 1965 in the British General Chiropractors register/council.

James Bond From Russia With Love Inscribed 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=The%20Lord%20of%20the%20Rings&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.R.R.%20Tolkien&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968.</li><li>Rebound in full red morocco leather with Sauron vignette and in custom-made slip-case.</li></ul> The first complete collection of The Lord of the Rings - Containing the trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King and preceding the Deluxe Edition of 1969.

The Lord of the Rings First Edition

Roald Dahl | Quentin Blake

A deluxe limited <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first US edition</a> of this <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=roald+dahl&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dahl</a> classic, <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 both the author and illustrator.<ul><li>Roald Dahl (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Quentin Blake (English).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Farrar, Straus, Giroux,&nbsp;(1982). </li><li>x, 222 pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Limited edition, one of 300 numbered copies, this #208, signed by both Dahl and Blake to the limitation page.&nbsp;</li><li>Original red publisher's cloth with gilt titles, in original blue-grey slipcase.</li></ul>

The BFG | First Edition, Signed by Both Author and Illustrator

William Golding

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>, first printing of the classic novel <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Lord+of+the+Flies&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lord of the Flies</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=William+Golding&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">William Golding</a>.<ul><li>William Golding (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Faber and Faber Ltd,&nbsp;(1954).</li><li>248 pages.</li><li>Original red cloth, in original unclipped (12s 6d, with summary on front flap) first issue color pictorial jacket.</li></ul> Frequently challenged for its portrayals of violence and grim assessment of human nature, Lord of the Flies remains a classic — if psychologically dark — young adult novel. It is also a reflection of the post-World War II white British mindset, as the boys use racial slurs and stereotypes as comparisons for their increasingly unruly behavior; these ideas are made explicit as their rescuer remarks, "I should have thought that a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that."

Lord of the Flies 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 <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Harry%20Potter&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> and the Deathly Hallows, <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.%20Rowling&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a>.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling (English).</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 2007.</li><li>Signed and inscribed by the author on the title page in blue ink.</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Signed First Edition

Patricia Highsmith

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=The%20Talented%20Mr%20Ripley&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Talented Mr Ripley</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Patricia%20Highsmith&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Patricia Highsmith</a>.<ul><li>Patricia Highsmith (American).</li><li>London: Cresset, 1957.</li><li>In a fine, neatly clipped wrapper. </li></ul> The author's second book and notably filmed in 1999 starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Jude Law. An excellent title to possess and very scarce.

The Talented Mr Ripley First Edition

John Tenniel | Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first London edition</a> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Alice%27s%20Adventures%20in%20Wonderland&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Lewis%20Carroll&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lewis Carroll</a>.<ul><li>Lewis Carroll (English).</li><li>Illustrated by John Tenniel (English).</li><li>London: Macmillan &amp; Co., 1866.</li><li>Final 'S' on the contents page inverted, page '30' numbered '3.'</li><li>Bound in fine full red morocco, in the style of the original cloth, gilt Alice and pig to front cover and the Cheshire cat to rear cover, covers ruled in gilt, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, both blue endpapers bound in, the front blue endpaper with a gift inscription dated Christmas 1866, original cloth covers and spine bound in the rear, by Bayntun.</li></ul>

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland First Edition

D.H. Lawrence

The pre-publication proof of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Lady%20Chatterley%E2%80%99s%20Lover&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lady Chatterley’s Lover</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=D.H.%20Lawrence&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">D.H. Lawrence</a>, withdrawn by Hazell Watson and Viney.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>D.H.&nbsp;Lawrence (English).</li><li>London: Penguin, 1959-60.</li><li>This proof copy constitutes the first appearance in English of the unexpurgated version of the novel, meant for readers in 1928 by Lawrence and is of institutional importance. </li><li>Accompanied by a first edition of the Penguin paperback printed by Western Printing Services. </li><li>Presented in archival box and with a first edition of the transcripts from the trial with a foreword by Hyde.&nbsp;</li></ul> A pre-publication 'dummy,' or proof copy of Penguin's unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, printed before the landmark trial of Regina vs Penguin Books.&nbsp; The proof, bound in buff colored card with front and rear staples was printed for Penguin by Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd. The company later withdrew from printing the book as workers at Hazell Watson and Viney felt the book inappropriate. It was later printed by Western Printing Services. Western Printing Services were responsible for the 200,000 copies of the first Penguin edition, printed prior to the outcome of the trial. The 1960 trial of Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd over the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence marked a watershed moment in British literary, legal, and cultural history. It was the first major test of the Obscene Publications Act 1959, a law intended to protect the public from explicit material unless it could be shown to have redeeming literary or artistic value. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, originally published privately in Italy in 1928, had long been banned in the United Kingdom due to its explicit depiction of sex and frequent use of then-taboo language. The novel centers on the passionate affair between Constance Chatterley, an upper-class woman, and Oliver Mellors, a working-class gamekeeper. It challenged social class boundaries and is notable for its frank portrayal of physical intimacy, especially from a female perspective. In 1960, Penguin Books decided to publish an unexpurgated version of the novel. As part of its mission to make great literature available to the public at affordable prices, Penguin believed the book’s literary merit outweighed its controversial content. However, the British government quickly brought charges against the publisher under the new Obscene Publications Act. The trial began at the Old Bailey in London on October 20, 1960. The prosecution, led by Mervyn Griffith-Jones, argued that the novel was obscene and would corrupt readers, famously asking in his opening statement: “Is it a book that you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?” This outdated sentiment immediately alienated many observers and highlighted the generational and class divides at the heart of the case. Penguin’s defense, led by Gerald Gardiner QC (later Lord Chancellor), brought in an impressive list of expert witnesses, including academics, writers, clergy, and critics, who testified to the novel’s serious literary, moral, and social value. They argued that Lawrence’s use of explicit language was not pornographic, but integral to his message about emotional and physical connection, human dignity, and the dehumanizing effects of industrial society. After a six-day trial, the jury found Penguin Books not guilty. The verdict was a landmark victory for freedom of expression, effectively ending book censorship in the UK and opening the door for more open discussions of sexuality and class in literature. Penguin sold over 200,000 copies on the first day of release, with sales reaching millions soon after. Over just three months following the verdict, three million copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover were sold, reportedly outselling the bible. Selfridges sold 250 copies in minutes. A spokesman told The Times newspaper: “It's bedlam here. We could have sold 10,000 copies if we had had them.” The trial became symbolic of the liberalizing cultural shifts of the 1960s, representing a victory not just for Penguin and literature, but for changing attitudes toward morality, authority, and individual freedom.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover Pre-publication Proof

Aldous Huxley

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 Brave New World by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Aldous%20Huxley&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aldous Huxley</a>.<ul><li>Aldous Huxley (English).</li><li>London: Chatto and Windus, 1932.</li><li>With bright gilt titles and no inscriptions, housed in custom-made solander box and with the laid in Chatto and Windus Advertisement. </li></ul> Brave New World, a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley published in 1932, presents a future society where technological advancements and state control have eradicated individuality, freedom, and emotional depth. The World State, a global government, maintains order through genetic engineering, conditioning, and the drug "soma," which ensures citizens’ perpetual happiness. People are stratified into rigid castes, from the intelligent Alphas to the menial Epsilons, each conditioned to accept their role without question. In this society, traditional family structures, personal relationships, and religious beliefs are obsolete. Instead, promiscuity is encouraged, and consumerism is the cornerstone of existence. The protagonist, Bernard Marx, an Alpha who feels out of place, questions the superficial contentment around him. His encounter with John, a "Savage" who was raised outside the World State's influence, intensifies his doubts. John, who has a profound attachment to literature and human emotion, becomes a tragic figure as he struggles to reconcile his values with the alien world he encounters.

Brave New World First Edition

Roald Dahl

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=Roald%20Dahl&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roald Dahl</a>'s The BFG, <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 and inscribed</a> by the author.<ul><li>Roald Dahl (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1982.</li><li>Inscribed ‘To Helen/Love/Roald Dahl’.</li><li>In an unclipped dust wrapper.</li></ul>

The BFG 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 Matilda by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Roald%20Dahl&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roald Dahl</a>, accompanied by a jacketed uncorrected proof of the same.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Roald Dahl (English).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1988.</li></ul> The red card covers state that the provisional United Kingdom publish date is April 21st, 1988, and the provisional price will be £8.50. This price corresponds to the that of the over-sized dust wrapper in which the book is now housed.

Matilda First Edition with Uncorrected Proof

Robert Frost

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 Boy's Will, <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 Robert Frost.<ul><li>Robert Frost (American).</li><li>London:&nbsp;David Nutt,&nbsp;1913.</li><li>Small octavo.</li><li>50, [2] pages.</li><li>First Edition, Second Issue, Binding D.</li><li>Number 126 of 135 copies, signed and numbered by Frost.</li><li>Cream wrapper.</li></ul>

A Boy's Will | First Edition Signed by Frost

Hunter S. Thompson

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 Screwjack by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Hunter%20S.%20Thompson&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hunter S. Thompson</a>.<ul><li>Hunter S. Thompson (American).</li><li>Printed by Patrick Reagh. </li><li>Santa Barbara, California:&nbsp;Neville,&nbsp;1991.</li><li>38, [2, blank], [1, colophon] pages.</li><li>Copy H of 26 copies, signed by Hunter S. Thompson.&nbsp;</li><li>Title page printed in red and grey and black.</li><li>Brown rexine titled in gilt upper cover stamped in gilt.</li></ul>

Screwjack Signed First Edition

Kenneth Grahame

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=Kenneth%20Grahame&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kenneth Grahame</a>'s <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=The%20Wind%20in%20the%20Willows&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Wind in the Willows</a>, in the second issue dust-jacket.<ul><li>Kenneth Grahame (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Methuen,&nbsp;1908.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>302 pages.</li><li>Frontispiece by Graham Robertson with tissue guard.</li><li>Original blue cloth with gilt decoration and lettering on front cover and spine, top edge gilt, others uncut.</li></ul> This classic was developed out of bedtime stories Grahame told to his son Alastair, known in the family as Mouse.

The Wind in the Willows First Edition

Toni Morrison

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=Toni%20Morrison&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Toni Morrison</a>'s Song of Solomon.<ul><li>Toni Morrison (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Alfred A. Knopf,&nbsp;1977.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>337 pages.</li><li>Inscribed by Toni Morrison on front free endpaper reading, "A delight meeting you Angie. Warm best wishes from Toni / 12.55.1977"</li><li>Spine yellow with red and black lettering.</li></ul>

Song Of Solomon Inscribed 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> of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Andy%20Warhol&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andy Warhol</a>'s Index, <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> eleven times by the artist.<ul><li>Andy Warhol (American).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Random House,&nbsp;1967.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Profusely illustrated from "Factory Fotos," with all pop-ups and inserted items, as issued.</li><li>Number 26 of 355 copies signed by Warhol on the cover.</li><li>The first fifty copies included a slipcase and Warhol's autograph initials on all ten pop-up segments.&nbsp;</li><li>Half cloth and paper covered boards with holographic cover.</li></ul> One of the most iconic photobooks ever printed. Completed with the assistance of Factory regulars Stephen Shore, Paul Morrissey, Ondine, Nico, Christopher Cerf, Alan Rinzler, Gerald Harrison, Akihito Shirakawa and David Paul, with photographs by Nat Finklestein and Billy Name. The special sections are all initialed by Warhol, as issued: 1) castle pop-up; 2) red accordion; 3) bi-plane pop-up; 4) Chelsea Girls disk on a spring; 5) polyhedron on the string (pages still sealed shut); 6) Lou Reed record; 7) the triple-page fold-out nose; 8) Hunt's Tomato Paste can pop-up; 9) Andy Warhol tabs; 10) balloon, melted and sealing together facing pages, as usual. "Index (Book) is one of the important and exuberant Pop art objects ever published. From its holographic bubble-wrap cover to the various pop-ups and 'gifts'... it is also on of the most ultimate photobooks-as-objects. It is, in addition, the primary Factory photo album, one of the most authoritative biographies of Warhol" (Parr/Badger).

Index Signed First Edition

Virginia Woolf

<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 Night and Day by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Virginia%20Woolf&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Virginia Woolf</a>, in the rare dust jacket.<ul><li>Virginia Woolf (English).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;George H. Doran Company,&nbsp;1920.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>508 pages.</li><li>Bound in green cloth, in a custom cloth clamshell box.</li></ul>

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Arthur Dobbs

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Margery Williams Bianco, William Nicholson

James Joyce

J.K. Rowling

John F. Kennedy

Andy Warhol

Oscar Wilde

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gabriel García Márquez

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Ian Fleming

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John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]

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Roald Dahl

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Andy Warhol

Virginia Woolf