First Edition Literature & Children's Books

Winston Churchill

The World Crisis 1911-1914, <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>, 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 5 volumes in 6.</li><li>Winston Churchill (British).</li><li>London: Thornton Butterworth, 1923-1931.</li><li>Octavos.</li><li>Volume V 'Inscribed by/ Winston S. Churchill/ June 21 1929.'</li><li>Staggered publication from 1923 - 1931.</li><li>Vols I, IV &amp; V with the errata slip.</li><li>Illustrated throughout with portraits, maps and plans, some folding.</li><li>Publisher's navy blue cloth, blind embossed panels to upper boards, gilt lettering to spine.</li></ul> A superlative account of the prelude to and events of the First World War. It is still regarded as a defining work of twentieth-century history, reconstructing the action on the Western and Eastern Fronts, the wars at sea and in the air and the advent of tanks and U-boats. Churchill describes the Lusitania's sinking, the heroics of the Battle of Jutland, Verdun's 'soul-stirring frenzy', the bloodshed of Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele, as well as the USA's entry into the conflict. It confirmed the author's reputation as a brilliant historian.

The World Crisis 1911-1914 | 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 large paper edition</a> of A Woman of No Importance 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.</li><li>Printed on hand-made paper, 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 slip-case.</li></ul> 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 | Large Paper 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 one of 50 large paper copies of Lady Windermre's Fan 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: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893.</li><li>Small quarto.</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 slip-case.</li></ul> One of 50 large paper copies of Wilde's four-act comedy, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. Like many of Wilde's plays, it bitingly satirizes the morals of society.

Lady Windermere's Fan | First Edition

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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 All The Sad Young Men by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=F.+Scott+Fitzgerald&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">F. Scott Fitzgerald</a>.<ul><li>F. Scott Fitzgerald (American).</li><li>New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926.</li><li>Original full green cloth, lettered in blind on front board and in gilt on spine, original unclipped brown pictorial dust jacket with flapper on front panel by Cleonike Damianakes Wilkins, Scribner's seal on copyright page.</li></ul> Fitzgerald's third collection of short stories, this book followed directly in the wake of Gatsby's success.&nbsp;

All The Sad Young Men | First Edition

Graham Greene

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 Man Within by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Graham+Greene&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Graham Greene</a>.<ul><li>Graham Greene (English).</li><li>Heinemann: 1929.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>[x], 354 pages.</li><li>In the first issue dust wrapper, with original black cloth with blind-stamped border and publisher’s device to upper and lower board respectively, the spine is lettered in gilt.</li></ul> The wrapper is the correct first issue with the price of 7/6 net to the spine and the Oliver Onions ‘Painted Face’ review to the rear flap. A tale of betrayal among smugglers – the author’s first novel, preceded only by a book of poems entitled Babbling April. The title for the book was taken from Sir Thomas Browne’s (1605-1682) ‘There’s another man within me that’s angry with me’. The film adaptation of the book, starring Michael Redgrave &amp; Richard Attenborough, was made in 1947.

The Man Within | First Edition

J.R.R. Tolkien

<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">First editions</a>, early mixed impressions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, each <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.R.R.+Tolkien&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3 volumes.</li><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (British).</li><li>London: George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1965-1966.</li><li>Each individually signed by J.R.R. Tolkien. </li><li>With the folding map at the end of each volume. </li><li>Publisher’s red cloth, in the original dust-jackets</li></ul> A complete signed set of The Lord of the Rings, with Tolkien’s signature appearing in each of the three volumes. The present set combines early impressions, Tolkien’s signature in all three volumes and an unusually attractive group of original dust-jackets.

The Lord of the Rings | Signed First Editions, Early Impressions

Langston Hughes

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 Simple Speaks His Mind by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Langston+Hughes&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Langston Hughes</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>Langston Hughes (American).</li><li>New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>231 pages.</li><li>Inscribed by the author to Harold Courlander on front free endpaper; inscription reads: "For Harold Courlander, / with gratitude for the fine work you've done in the folk field ~ / Sincerely, Langston Hughes / New York, January 20, 1954."</li><li>Bound in publisher's green cloth boards with black and gilt lettering to spine, top edge of text block dyed black.</li></ul> Harold Courlander was a prolific and much-awarded novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist specializing in African, Caribbean, and African-American cultures.

Simple Speaks His Mind | Inscribed First Edition

Roald Dahl

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>, first printing of The BFG by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Roald+Dahl&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roald Dahl</a>.<ul><li>Roald Dahl (British).</li><li>London: Jonathan Cape, 1982.</li><li>Signed on the front endpaper by Dahl (‘To Richard/love/Roald Dahl/7/4/85/). </li><li>In the unclipped dust wrapper.</li></ul>

The BFG | Inscribed First Edition

William Faulkner

Faulkner, WilliamThe Sound and the Fury. New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, [1929] 8vo. Original black and white boards with white cloth spine; some fading to head and foot of spine, and rubbing along bottom edge. No price on dust jacket and $3.00 price on rear panel for "Humanity Uprooted"; unrestored dust-jacket with usual fading to spine, two small chips to top of back panel and one to top of front panel, small bit of loss to head of spine, spine with visible crease. First edition, first printing of Faulkner's pioneering work of American modernism. The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel and employed a stream-of-consciousness technique and multiple narrators. The flap copy says it "suggests Joyce in its technique and the Russians, – perhaps Dostoyevsky – in its theme," but in retrospect the work is purest Faulkner, with multiple narrators and cascading layers of history, telling the story of the fall of a grand Southern family through the generations. REFERENCESPeterson A6b

The Sound and the Fury, first edition

James Hilton

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> first edition, first printing of Goodbye Mr Chips! by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=james+hilton&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Hilton</a>.<ul><li>James Hilton (British-American).</li><li>Hodder and Stoughton, 1934.</li><li>Signed on the title page: “Anne Scott-Russell / Sincerely / James Hilton.”</li><li>Hilton has additionally written the passage from page 95: “For the first time in his life he felt necessary — and necessary to something that was nearest his heart. There is no sublimer feeling in the world, and it was his at last.”</li><li>In the unclipped Bip Pares-designed dust wrapper, complete with the rare Evening Standard Book of the Month wrap-around band.</li></ul>

Goodbye Mr Chips! | Signed First Edition

Vargo Statten

A first edition of The Creature From the Black Lagoon.<ul><li>Vargo Statten.</li><li>Dragon Publications Limited, 1954.</li><li>In publisher’s blue boards with pictorial dust jacket.</li></ul> A first edition, first printing The Creature From The Black Lagoon published by Dragon Publications Limited, [Luton, Beds.], 1954. Written by John Russell Fearn, using his pseudonym Vargo Statten.

The Creature From The Black Lagoon | 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 The Return of the King by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.R.R.+Tolkien&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>London: George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1955.</li><li>[vi], 423, [1] pages.</li><li>“First published in 1955” to verso.</li><li>In the unrestored dust wrapper.</li></ul> When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen &amp; Unwin. Tolkien’s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy. The trilogy’s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of The Return of the King at 7,000 copies and the amount of unrestored dust-jackets now, was never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most widely read and culturally resonant works of the modern era.

The Return of the King | 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 The Fellowship of the Ring by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.R.R.+Tolkien&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.R.R. Tolkien</a>.<ul><li>J.R.R. Tolkien (English).</li><li>London: &nbsp;George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1954.</li><li>[vi], 423, [1] pages.</li><li>“First published in 1954” to verso.</li><li>Presented in the original unclipped dust wrapper.</li></ul> When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen &amp; Unwin. Tolkien’s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy. The trilogy’s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring numbered only 3,000 copies and the amount of unrestored dust-jackets now, was never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most widely read and culturally resonant works of the modern era.

The Fellowship of the Ring | 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 set of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=stephen+king&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stephen King</a>'s The Dark Tower series.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 9 volumes.</li><li>Stephen King (American).</li><li>Includes: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower, with The Wind Through the Keyhole, and related short story The Little Sisters of Eluria as issued in Legends.</li><li>Each is in its original dust jacket.</li></ul> All volumes are first editions, first printings, a notably scarce assembly when found complete in such uniform and well-preserved condition. King’s genre-defining fusion of fantasy, western, and speculative fiction unfolds across these volumes in an expansive narrative centered on Roland Deschain and his quest for the Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower Series | First Editions

John Le Carré

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 Spy Who Came in from the Cold, <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> with the first line of the story and dated by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=john+le+Carr%C3%A9&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">le Carré</a>.<ul><li>John le Carré (English).</li><li>United Kingdom: Gollancz, 1963.</li><li>Inscribed by the author to the title page, ‘The American handed Leamas another cup of coffee and said, ‘Why don’t you go back and sleep? We can ring you if he shows up’ – John Le Carre/New Year/2009.’</li><li>Presented in the unclipped dust wrapper, accompanied by the wrap-around band with Graham Greene’s quote about the book.</li></ul> A first edition, first printing of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. A bleak Cold War thriller about Alec Leamas, a weary British agent drawn into one last operation against East German intelligence. What begins as a spy mission becomes a study in deception, sacrifice, and moral compromise. Le Carré strips glamour from espionage, showing it as brutal, shabby, and ethically corrosive, which helped redefine the modern spy novel. Le Carre, a reluctant inscriber, inscribed this unique copy using the opening line of the novel.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | First Edition Inscribed by the Author

Evelyn Waugh

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Black Mischief by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Evelyn+Waugh&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Evelyn Waugh</a>.<ul><li>Evelyn Waugh (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1932.</li><li>With frontispiece, map on page 303.</li><li>Signed by the Author to the endpaper ‘With Best Wishes From/ Evelyn.’</li><li>In the original patterned faux-snakeskin cloth, with spine lettered in gilt, in the unclipped wrapper, accompanied by the rare Book Society ‘Book of the Month For October’ wrap-around band. </li></ul> A sharp, comic satire about politics, modernization, and imperial absurdity. Set in the fictional African state of Azania, it follows the well-meaning but chaotic Emperor Seth as he tries to westernize his country, helped by the dubious Englishman Basil Seal. Waugh uses farce, cruelty, and brilliant exaggeration to expose vanity, incompetence, and cultural arrogance, making the novel funny, unsettling, and deliberately outrageous all at once

Black Mischief | Signed First Edition

V.S. Naipaul

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a>, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of A House For Mr Biswas by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=V.S.+Naipaul&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">V.S. Naipaul</a>.<ul><li>V.S. Naipaul (British).</li><li>London: Andre Deutsch Limited, 1961.</li><li>Signed on the title page without dedication, and additionally dated: “New York / April 1 1961.”</li><li>In the vibrantly pink dust wrapper.</li></ul> Naipaul’s masterpiece: comic, poignant, and deeply humane in its account of Mohun Biswas’s struggle for independence, dignity, and a house of his own.

A House For Mr Biswas | Signed First Edition

A.A. Milne | Ernest H. Shepard

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first Deluxe edition</a> of The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne, <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> and numbered by the author and illustrator.<ul><li>A.A. Milne (English).</li><li>Illustrated by E.H. Shepard (English).</li><li>London: Methuen &amp; Co. Ltd., 1928.</li><li>Limited to 350 numbered and signed copies by Milne &amp; Shepard, this being copy #224.</li><li>Bound in the publisher’s original blue cloth backed boards, entirely uncut and unopened, with the original dust jacket.</li></ul>

The House At Pooh Corner | Signed First Deluxe Edition

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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 Cenci: A Tragedy, In Five Acts by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Percy+Bysshe+Shelley&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Percy Bysshe Shelley</a>.<ul><li>Percy Bysshe Shelley (English).</li><li>[Livorno], Italy: for C. And J. Ollier, Vere Street, Bond Street, London, 1819.</li><li>(xiv)104 pages.</li><li>Bound in full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers triple ruled in gilt, gilt dentelles, top edge gilt, others entirely uncut as issued, by Zaehnsdorf with their exhibition stamp to the lower edge of the rear pastedown.</li></ul> First edition of Shelley's dramatization of this dark tale of parricide, child abuse, and incest based on actual events and arguably the most enduring Romantic verse-play. Only 250 copies were printed, according to Shelley himself. According to Granniss, "With the exception of Queen Mab, The Cenci is the only one of Shelley's works which reached a second edition during his lifetime ." On the other hand, the play was never staged until the Shelley Society produced it on the occasion of Robert Browning's birthday, on May 7, 1886.

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

Scoop Signed First Edition

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

The Return of the King First Edition

B. Traven

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

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | First American Edition

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

The Dark Half | Signed First Edition

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

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

Ernest Hemingway

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

For Whom the Bell Tolls First Edition

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

Nineteen Eighty-Four [1984] First Edition

Michael Bond

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

A Bear Called Paddington First Edition

Dashiell Hammett

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

The Maltese Falcon First Edition

J.K. Rowling

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 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">signed</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.K.+Rowling&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a> and actor <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Daniel+Radcliffe&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Daniel Radcliffe</a>, who portrayed the boy wizard in the Harry Potter films.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling (English).</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 2000.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Signed by both J.K. Rowling (without dedication) and actor, Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter in the eight motion pictures.&nbsp;</li><li>Accompanied by a typed Letter with a facsimile signature from the author to a fan thanking them for enjoying the book (having been signed) loosely inserted.</li><li>In the original dust wrapper.</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | First Edition Signed by the Author and Daniel Radcliffe

Émile Zola

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

Contes à Ninon | Inscribed First Edition

Truman Capote

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

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

E. M. Forster

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

A Passage to India | Signed First Edition

Walter Tevis

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

The Hustler Signed First Edition

Ernest Thayer

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

Casey at the Bat First Edition

Lewis Carroll

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

Notes by an Oxford Chiel | Inscribed First Edition

A.A. Milne | Ernest Howard Shepard

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

First Edition Literature & Children's Books

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Winston Churchill

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Graham Greene

J.R.R. Tolkien

Langston Hughes

Roald Dahl

William Faulkner

James Hilton

Vargo Statten

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Evelyn Waugh

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A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Evelyn Waugh

J.R.R. Tolkien

B. Traven

Stephen King

Stephen King

Ernest Hemingway

George Orwell

Michael Bond

Dashiell Hammett

J.K. Rowling

Émile Zola

Truman Capote

E. M. Forster

Walter Tevis

Ernest Thayer

Lewis Carroll

A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard