Women Authors

Beatrix Potter

Deluxe edition, and first or second printing of The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse.<ul><li>Beatrix Potter (English).</li><li>London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1910.</li><li>Sextodecimo.</li><li>Color frontispiece, plain title vignette and 26 color plates, contemporary ink gift inscription dated Christmas 1910 to half-title.</li><li>Bound in publisher’s blue moiré cloth with fielded illustrative paste-down of Mrs. Tittlemouse, all edges gilt.</li><li>Custom-made solander box.</li></ul>

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Nancy Mitford

An important archive of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?Book%20Subject=Manuscripts%252C%2520Letters%252C%2520Documents%252C%2520Ephemera" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">correspondence</a> and editorial notes by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Nancy+Mitford&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nancy Mitford</a> to Kay Gaudin, her secretary, typist and research assistant, relating chiefly to the preparation of Louis XIV and Frederick the Great, 1961–1971.&nbsp;<ul><li>Nancy Mitford (English).</li><li>Comprising 27 autograph letters signed, “Nancy Mitford,” “Nancy Rodd,” “Nancy” and “N,” 13 autograph postcards signed, and 1 autograph card signed, with envelopes, written from Paris, Versailles and elsewhere between 24 August 1961 and 20 October 1971. </li><li>Also includes 2 typed letters from Kay Gaudin, a small group of related newspaper cuttings, and a first edition signed copy of Charlotte Mosley’s Love from Nancy, in dust wrapper, for which the archive was used as source material.</li></ul> A remarkable and highly revealing archive, tracing Mitford’s relationship with Gaudin from professional typist to trusted friend and literary assistant. The letters center on the typing, revision and publication of Mitford’s historical works, particularly Frederick the Great, and include editorial instructions, historical corrections and references to Fredersdorf, Winterfeldt and other figures from Frederick’s circle. Of particular interest are a series of editorial memoranda for Frederick the Great, preserving Mitford’s revisions and historical corrections in her own hand, and offering direct evidence of her working methods. The correspondence also contains vivid autobiographical material from the final decade of Mitford’s life. She writes with characteristic humor of daily life in Versailles, literary engagements, domestic mishaps, travel, publishers, reviews, television appearances, family, health and illness. In one typically comic domestic aside she notes: “A plastic bag full of cow manure is drying on the bathroom radiator, for my pot plants.” Later letters record, with striking candor, the illness that would dominate her last years: “I’m to see the surgeon next Thurs: I only wish it could have been sooner &amp; then I shall know when &amp; where the chopping is to take place,” and, after surgery, “they have sawn me in ½ but I never felt much &amp; the agony of my back went at once.” Other letters refer to her sister Pamela, faith healers, the practicalities of publication, and the everyday movement between Versailles and London. The archive is rich in wit, affection and personality, while also documenting the composition of Mitford’s final major historical biography. An unusually desirable literary archive, combining unpublished autobiographical material, important editorial evidence, and a warm record of one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated writers in the closing years of her life and career.&nbsp;

Archive of Correspondence and Editorial Notes

First commercially published edition, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first issue</a> of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Beatrix+Potter&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beatrix Potter</a>.<ul><li>Beatrix Potter (English).</li><li>London: F. Warne and Co., 1902.</li><li>Grey boards, leaf-patterned end-papers, all first issue points sated.</li></ul> The first trade edition has leaf-pattern end-papers and the text "wept big tears" on page 51 (the text reads "cried big tears" in the privately printed edition; "wept big tears" in the first three impressions of the trade edition; and "shed big tears" from the fourth impression onwards).

The Tale of Peter Rabbit | First Issue

Agatha Christie

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 Murder is Easy by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Agatha+Christie&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Agatha Christie</a>.<ul><li>Agatha Christie (British).</li><li>London: Collins [The Crime Club], 1939.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>First printing.</li><li>Signed by Agatha Christie on the front free endpaper.</li><li>Publisher’s original orange cloth, lettered in black to the spine, with two pages of advertisements at the rear, complete with the original dust wrapper, correctly priced at 7s. 6d. to the front flap,</li></ul> One of Christie’s most ingenious village mysteries, in which retired policeman Luke Fitzwilliam becomes convinced that a succession of apparently accidental deaths in the quiet village of Wychwood-under-Ashe are, in fact, the work of a calculating murderer.&nbsp;

Murder Is Easy | Signed First Edition

Melanie Grant | Phaidon

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/jewelry?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jewelry</a>&nbsp;Book, a stunning&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/art-&amp;-design" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">photographic</a>&nbsp;collection of 300 of jewelry’s greatest names, spanning over 200 years.<ul><li>Edited by Melanie Grant (English).</li><li>New York: Phaidon, 2025.</li><li>Hardcover.</li><li>Cover with a luxe, faceted deboss on a metallic material to evoke a dazzling gemstone.</li></ul> The Jewelry Book&nbsp;is a deep dive into the designers, creative houses, artists, collectors, and style icons from around the world who have produced and inspired the most memorable designs in jewelry. Edited by Melanie Grant, author of&nbsp;Coveted: Art and Innovation in High Jewelry, in collaboration with an international panel of experts, this book spans more than two centuries of rich history, showcasing 300 of the industry’s greatest contributors in one lavish, collectible volume. The Jewelry Book&nbsp;is arranged in A to Z order, placing early stars and iconic brands alongside today’s most innovative designers and creatives. Entries ranging from Boucheron, Buccellati, Cartier, René Lalique, Elsa Peretti, Hemmerle, Tiffany &amp; Co and Van Cleef &amp; Arpels to Iris Apfel, Wallace Chan, Loulou de la Falaise, Olivier Rousteing, James de Givenchy, and Elizabeth Taylor reveal the jewelry world’s inextricable connection to fashion, art, and culture. Filled with inspirational images, the book is designed as a gorgeous object in its own right, with a cover featuring a luxe, faceted deboss on a metallic material to evoke a dazzling gemstone. Melanie Grant&nbsp;is a luxury writer and curator based in London, specializing in the interplay between art, jewelry, and economics in society. With more than two decades as a journalist, she has worked at&nbsp;The Times, the&nbsp;Financial Times,&nbsp;Independent,&nbsp;Guardian, the BBC, and the&nbsp;Economist, where she spent sixteen years overseeing luxury content and photography for their&nbsp;1843 Magazine.

The Jewelry Book

Virginia Woolf

A limited edition of A Room of One's Own, signed by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Virginia+Woolf&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Virginia Woolf</a>.<ul><li>Virginia Woolf (English).</li><li>New York / London:&nbsp;The Fountain Press / Hogarth Press,&nbsp;1929.&nbsp;</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>159 [1] pages.</li><li>Limited Edition, #408/450.&nbsp;</li><li>Signed flat by Virginia Woolf on the half-title page.</li><li>Bound in publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering along the spine.</li></ul>

A Room Of One's Own | Signed by Woolf

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

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | First Issue

Elizabeth Frazer

<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">First edition</a>, in the rare original dust jacket, of this Jazz-Age introduction to investing, "told by a woman for others of her sex," by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Elizabeth+Frazer&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elizabeth Frazer</a>.<ul><li>Elizabeth Frazer (English).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;George H. Doran Company,&nbsp;(1926).</li><li>VIII, [4], 13-194 pages.</li><li>Green cloth-backed light green paper boards, front board stamped in blind, gilt-stamped spine. In original unclipped (flaps blank) typographic dust jacket with text in red; early printed paper jacket protector.</li></ul> "What every woman ought to know about investments" "More and more, women are taking an active interest in the management of their moneys and estates; many have revealed extraordinary business acumen and shrewd insight in their market transactions with stocks and bonds," the preface notes. But these women aren't Frazer's audience: "the vast majority of women, unversed in business ways [...] still lean heavily on husbands, fathers, brothers, [and] male friends." This book collects and expands upon articles first published by Frazer in the Saturday Evening Post, treating a variety of basic principles of investing: diversification and risk, the strengths and weakness of various types of securities, the mechanics of the stock market, and more. Each topic is presented in narrative as a dialogue between a financial advisor and her clients — all women — rather than as lessons in a textbook. However, this copy may well have been used as a textbook; tucked into the leaves is a circa 1930s report card from one Hilda A. Gier at Utica Free Academy, formerly a high school in New York. Further, the "adjustable book cover" added to this copy (which has kept the scarce jacket so well intact) suggests school use. A handbook for women's financial autonomy amidst the flush of stock market boom of the pre-Crash '20s.

A Woman And Her Money First Edition

Elizabeth Bishop

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 North and South by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Elizabeth+Bishop&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elizabeth Bishop</a>, along with the ticket from Bishop's reading where the book was signed.<ul><li>Elizabeth Bishop (American).</li><li>Boston:&nbsp;Houghton Mifflin,&nbsp;1946.</li><li>[viii], 54, [2] pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Inscribed by Bishop on the title page: "Elizabeth Bishop - many years later -."</li><li>Loosely laid in is the original event ticket to Bishop's May 21st, 1968 reading at The Academy of American Poets, with its original envelope.</li><li>Publisher's original full blue cloth with gilt titles, in original price-clipped color typographic jacket designed by Samuel Hanks Bryant.</li></ul> Bishop's famed debut, containing several of her best-known and most beloved poems, such as "The Fish," "The Man-Moth," and "The Map."

North and South | 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 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Signed%2520and%2520Inscribed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">signed</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=J.K.+Rowling&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a>.<ul><li>J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – First UK Edition 2000 – SIGNED by Rowling</li><li>London: Bloomsbury, 2000.</li><li>Signed without dedication by the Rowling to the dedication page.</li><li>In the unclipped wrapper.</li></ul>

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire First Edition Signed by Rowling

A preparatory sketch for the 1905 <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 Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Beatrix+Potter&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beatrix Potter</a>, accompanied by a first printing of the book.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2.</li><li>Beatrix Potter (English).</li><li>London: Warne, 1905.</li><li>Sketch is pencil on paper, and has been mounted, framed and glazed.</li><li>The illustration itself appears on page 22 in the 1905 edition.</li></ul> Potter’s enchanting tale of the little hedgehog washer woman, an exceptionally scarce item, coupled with the first edition book; with an association to writer and Beatrix Potter expert Leslie Linder.

The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle First Edition, with Preparatory Sketch

Emily Dickinson

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Fine%2520Bindings%2520and%2520Sets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">set</a> of early 20th-century printings of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Emily+Dickinson&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Emily Dickinson</a>'s first book-length series of poetry.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3 volumes.</li><li>Emily Dickinson (American).</li><li>Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1908, 1906. </li><li>152; 230; 200 pages.</li><li>Original gilt-stamped grey cloth, top edges gilt. </li></ul> "I died for beauty, but was scarce / Adjusted in the tomb, / When one who died for truth was lain / In an adjoining room." In her lifetime, Dickinson was viewed as an eccentric recluse with an unusual gift at poetry. She would send poems to friends as "flowers," but less than a dozen of her poems appeared in print during her lifetime (anonymously, and some possibly unauthorized). Upon her death in 1886, Dickinson's sister Lavinia discovered a chest full of verse. Nearly half of them were bound in forty fascicles, little booklets sewn together by Dickinson herself. All told, there were nearly 1800 poems. Dickinson's reputation as "the Myth," the odd woman in white, persisted: no one in the family believed there would be an audience for these poems except Lavinia. It was at Lavinia's request that Mabel Loomis Todd became involved, one of the few friends of the family with a deep conviction of the importance of the poems. They also approached Dickinson's old friend, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, but he "did not think a volume advisable — they were too crude in form, he said, and the public would not accept even fine ideas in such rough and mystical dress" (Todd, November 1889, quoted in Sewell, 220). Nevertheless, Todd persevered, showing Higginson some of her favorites and obtaining a commitment to "look them over" if she organized them. Todd is often justly criticized for her editorial overreach (especially in punctuation and capitalization), but as Richard B. Sewell notes, "without the spiritual kinship she [Mabel Todd] felt with the poet and with the poems we might have had no poems (or letters) at all" (219). The poems were rejected by the first publisher Todd and Higginson approached, Houghton Mifflin, who called them "queer — the rhymes were all wrong" (Sewell, 221). The next publisher, Roberts Brothers, agreed to take on the project if the family paid for the plates, issuing POEMS in 1890. The Second Series followed in 1891, and the Third Series in 1896. Until 1914, these were the only published collections of Dickinson's poetry. These publications, later printings but issued before 1914, retain all the quirks of poems' complicated publication history: the titles supplied by Higginson, the smoothed out bits by Todd, the organization of poems into topics like "life," "love," and "nature." They retain the iconic cover design of early variants — in especially fresh condition, the beveled edges of the cloth boards sharp, the grey shade bright and clean. An unusually lovely set of early editions from this distinctly American voice.

Poems | First, Second, And Third Series

Fine copy of Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester, privately printed by the author.<ul><li>Beatrix Potter (English).</li><li>London: Privately Printed by Strangeways &amp; Sons, 1902.</li><li>Unpaginated.</li><li>Illustrated with a frontis and 15 color plates by Potter.</li><li>Limited to 500 copies.</li><li>Bound in the original pink pictorial boards.</li></ul>

The Tailor of Gloucester

Jane Austen

<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 Northanger Abbey by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Jane+Austen&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jane Austen</a>, in a <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Subject=Fine%2520bindings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fine art binding</a> by the acclaimed Argentinian design bookbinder Sol Rébora.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Jane Austen (English).</li><li>Philadelphia:&nbsp;Carey &amp; Lea,&nbsp;1833.</li><li>12mo.</li><li>195, [1]; 196 pages.</li><li>Cotton and abaca handmade paper grey-pink endpapers.&nbsp;</li><li>Modern full grey-lavender 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.</li></ul> Often misread as critical of the gothic novels that were popular at the period of its first composition, Northanger Abbey is a more complex exploration of the genre that is especially notable for its passages in defense of the novel form – written, uncharacteristically, in first person directly from the narrator. First published in late 1817 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 1250 copies; it includes the famous "Biographical Notice of the Author" that first revealed Austen's name to the public as the author (as her books were all published anonymously in her lifetime). 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."

Northanger Abbey First American Edition

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

First edition of Shelley's second novel Valperga.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3.</li><li>Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (English).</li><li>Valperga: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca.</li><li>London: for G. &amp; W. B. Whittaker, 1823.</li><li>Bound in half tan speckled calf, gilt decorated spines, gilt lettered black morocco spine labels, marbled edges.</li></ul>

Valperga

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 Mansfield Park by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Jane+Austen&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jane Austen</a>, in a silk-impressed <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Subject=Fine%2520bindings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fine binding</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>4, 200; 204 pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Publisher's catalogue bound at front of volume I. </li><li>Cotton and abaca handmade paper peach endpapers.</li><li>Modern full pink 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. </li></ul> First US edition of Austen's third published novel — in a stunning fine art binding by the acclaimed Argentinian design bookbinder Sol Rébora. "I was quiet but I was not blind." Among Austen's works, Mansfield Park especially demonstrates how careful contrasts of characters and plot twists can bring out subtle ironies. First published in 1814 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 1250 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."

Mansfield Park | First American Edition

First US edition of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=jane+austen&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Austen</a>'s first novel — in a stunning <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Subject=Fine%2520bindings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fine art binding</a> by the acclaimed Argentinian design bookbinder Sol Rébora.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2 volumes.</li><li>Jane Austen (English).</li><li>Philadelphia:&nbsp;Carey &amp; Lea,&nbsp;1833.</li><li>12mo.</li><li>199, [1]; 189, [1] pages.</li><li>Modern full grey-pink 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 grey-pink endpapers.</li></ul> Austen's first novel uses the love stories of two sisters to explore the complexities and contradictions in the gendered expectations of the Regency era: a woman will be praised for her capacity to feel emotion (her sensibility), but not too much; a woman will be praised for her independent and responsible nature (her sense), but not too much. First published in late 1811 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 1250 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.

Sense And Sensibility | First American Edition

Finely bound set of the novels, works and letters of Jane Austen.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 12.</li><li>Jane Austen (English).</li><li>Edinburgh: John Grant, 1911-12.</li><li>Engraved frontis portrait plate in volume one.</li><li>The Winchester Edition.</li><li>Bound by Atkinson in full tan morocco, gilt lettered red and green morocco spine labels, top edges gilt with marbled pastedowns and endpapers.</li></ul>

The Novels of 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

Charlotte Brontë | Emily Brontë | Anne Brontë | Elizabeth Gaskell

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Type=Fine%2520Bindings%2520and%2520Sets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finely bound</a> and illustrated Haworth edition of works by the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Bront%C3%AB+sisters&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Brontë sisters</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 7 volumes.</li><li>The Life and Works of Charlotte Brontë and her Sisters. With Introductions to the Works by Mrs. Humphry Ward and an Introduction and Notes to the Life by Clement K. Shorter.</li><li>Charlotte Brontë (English).</li><li>Emily Brontë (English).</li><li>Ann Brontë (English).</li><li>Elizabeth Gaskell (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Smith, Elder, &amp; Co,&nbsp;1905-1914.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Illustrated with frontispieces in each volume.</li><li>Full red morocco, spines gilt with raised bands, boards ruled in gilt, turn-ins gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, by Zaehnsdorf.</li></ul> An excellent set of these classics of world literature by the Brontë sisters: Wuthering Heights by Emily; Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne; Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley, and The Professor, by Charlotte; with the Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; and Mrs. Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë.

Works of the Bronte Sisters, with The Life and Works of Charlotte Brontë and her Sisters

William Nicholson | Margery Williams Bianco

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

Mary Shelley | Frederick Schiller

Third edition, fourth printing of the first revised edition of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Mary+Shelley&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mary Shelley</a>'s masterpiece <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=frankenstein&amp;pfilters.dateRange=past" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frankenstein</a>, and the last to contain an illustration with the first printing of the engraved frontis and additional engraved title-page dated 1831.<ul><li>Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (English).</li><li>Frederick Schiller (German)[Author of The Ghost-Seer].&nbsp;</li><li>London: Richard Bentley, 1839.</li><li>Bound in the publisher's original blind stamped straight grained brown-maroon cloth.</li></ul> In her introduction, Shelley contextualizes the creation of her tale: "It proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French, fell into our hands… 'We will each write a ghost story,' said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to."

Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus, [bound with] The Ghost-Seer

Emma Wolf

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 Other Things Being Equal by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Emma%20Wolf&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Emma Wolf</a>, inscribed by the author to her brother.<ul><li>Emma Wolf (American).</li><li>Chicago:&nbsp;A.C. McClurg and Company,&nbsp;1892.</li><li>&nbsp;275, [1], [4] pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Inscribed by Wolf: "With 'the author's' love to her dear, every day dearer brother."&nbsp;</li><li>Original brown cloth with black-stamped floral frame on front board, gilt-lettered spine, publisher's ads at rear.</li></ul> "Two ideas held him in a desperate struggle, — his child's happiness; the prejudice of a lifetime." Wolf was a Jewish woman and wheelchair user born in California; her father, an immigrant from France, helped settle the Bay area in the 1840s. In the Gilded Age, most Jewish representation focused on the Eastern European immigrants living on the East Coast, especially New York City: Wolf's novels of high society in the West add welcome complexity to the literary landscape and counteract monolithic interpretations of US Jewish culture. This was Wolf's first novel, and its importance was immediately recognized, as evidenced in a letter Israel Zangill sent to the author, telling her: "Certainly you are the best product of American Judaism since Emma Lazarus."

Other Things Being Equal Inscribed First Edition

Dorothy Ripley

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 Extraordinary Conversion, and <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book?locale=en&amp;Book%20Subject=Religion&amp;Book%20Subject=Religious%2520manuscripts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Religious</a> Experience of Dorothy Ripley.<ul><li>Dorothy Ripley (English).</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Printed by G. and R. Waite, for the author,&nbsp;1810.&nbsp;</li><li>Small sexto.</li><li>168, 8 pages, [2].</li><li>"The end of the first volume."--p. 168. Presumed no more published. Last page blank.</li><li>"An address to the mayor and corporation of New York, by Dorothy Ripley. New York, 2d, 7th month, 1810": 8 p. at end.</li><li>Disbound; leather spine with morocco label.</li></ul>

The Extraordinary Conversion, And Religious Experience Of Dorothy Ripley, With Her First Voyage And Travels In America

Rebecca West | Anthony West

<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> of the novels The Return of the Soldier and Heritage, with 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> letter by the author <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Rebecca%20West&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rebecca West</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3: 2 books and 1 letter.</li><li>Rebecca West (English) [Return of the Soldier].</li><li>Anthony West (English) [Heritage].</li><li>London: Nisbet/Random House, 1918-1955.</li><li>The letter, on headed notepaper (48 Kingston House North, Prince’s Gate, SW7) is dated January 19, 1974.</li></ul> The Return&nbsp;of&nbsp;the Soldier with&nbsp;Heritage, with a hand written letter from Rebecca West&nbsp;to&nbsp;publisher Hamish Hamilton, discussing&nbsp;her&nbsp;son Anthony&nbsp;and&nbsp;the breakdown&nbsp;of&nbsp;their relationship. The letter in black ink, covering two pages reads: My dear Jamie, How kind&nbsp;of&nbsp;you&nbsp;to&nbsp;write me that long letter, recalling my ancient triumphs&nbsp;and&nbsp;the sweet nature&nbsp;of&nbsp;Tommy. What a sad, sad story about the Hardy’s mistaken severity [sic], particularly as Thomas Hardy was I’m sure kept alive by pleasant company, which warmed the chill&nbsp;of&nbsp;that dreadful house. It was a terrible punishment for him,&nbsp;to&nbsp;be punished for being a bad architect by spending his old age on one&nbsp;of&nbsp;his own house when he had justified his existence by being a good writer. Not fair. But what is? I am having a dreadful time over Anthony’s articles. You cannot imagine what it is like&nbsp;to&nbsp;see in black&nbsp;and&nbsp;white or as newspaper statements by your son about a fictitious universe. He went&nbsp;to&nbsp;only four schools, a baby school, one preparatory school for which I&nbsp;took him away, another which he liked&nbsp;and&nbsp;Stove. He writes&nbsp;of&nbsp;being shunted over the country from one shabby boarding school&nbsp;to&nbsp;another - including one at Christie (?) in Kent, which specialised in taking the ?&nbsp;of&nbsp;? real people. I never heard&nbsp;of&nbsp;the place. I don’t know where this will end. Or rather I do.&nbsp;And&nbsp;hope I won’t live&nbsp;to&nbsp;see it. But one’s friends console one -&nbsp;and&nbsp;your letter was a great pleasure, Yours ever, Rebecca Rebecca West&nbsp;and&nbsp;Anthony West had a complex&nbsp;and&nbsp;often strained mother-son relationship. Anthony was the illegitimate son&nbsp;of&nbsp;Rebecca West, a prominent British author,&nbsp;and&nbsp;H.G. Wells, the famous science fiction writer. Raised primarily by West, Anthony struggled with feelings&nbsp;of&nbsp;abandonment&nbsp;and&nbsp;resentment, especially regarding his parents' unconventional relationship&nbsp;and&nbsp;his mother’s domineering nature. As an adult, Anthony became a writer himself. His roman a clef, Heritage (1955) portrayed a harshly critical view&nbsp;of&nbsp;his mother, which deeply hurt Rebecca. Their relationship deteriorated further after its publication,&nbsp;and&nbsp;they were estranged for much&nbsp;of&nbsp;their later lives. Despite occasional attempts at reconciliation, their bond remained difficult&nbsp;and&nbsp;distant until Rebecca West’s death. The&nbsp;collection&nbsp;and&nbsp;specifically the letter, highlights the distress caused within the relationship for Rebecca&nbsp;and&nbsp;is&nbsp;of&nbsp;institutional importance.&nbsp;

The Return of the Soldier, with Heritage, and a Hand Written From Rebecca West

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

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 Orlando 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>.<ul><li>Virginia Woolf (English).</li><li>London: The Hogarth Press, 1928.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>299 pages.</li><li>8 plates.</li><li>Publisher’s original orange cloth, in the dust wrapper.</li></ul> This, the UK first edition is preceded by a signed limited American edition. Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf, published in 1928, is a seminal work of modernist literature that defies traditional genre classifications. The novel follows the life of its titular character, Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabethan England who mysteriously transforms into a woman at the age of 30, living for centuries without ageing significantly. Through Orlando's journey across time, Woolf explores themes of gender and identity fluidity, the nature of literature and history, and the constraints imposed by society. Orlando's interactions with various historical figures and experiences across different epochs reflect Woolf's commentary on the rigid gender roles and expectations of her time. The character's transformation from male to female allows Woolf to challenge and critique the gender norms and patriarchal structures of the early 20th century. Woolf's innovative narrative structure blends biography, fiction, and fantasy, characterized by a playful, satirical tone and rich, poetic prose. The novel is also notable for its exploration of sexuality and the fluidity of love, making it a pioneering text in LGBTQ+ literature. "Orlando" remains a vibrant and influential work, celebrated for its bold experimentation and profound insights into human experience.

Orlando First Edition

A third edition, fourth printing of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Frankenstein&amp;redirect=true&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frankenstein</a> by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Mary%20Shelley&amp;redirect=true&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mary Shelley</a>, bound with The Ghost-Seer by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Frederick%20Schiller&amp;redirect=true&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frederick Schiller</a>.<ul><li>Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (English).</li><li>Frederick Schiller (German).</li><li>Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus - bound with - The Ghost-Seer.</li><li>London: Richard Bentley, 1839.</li><li>Bound in contemporary half tan calf, blind tooled spine, hand written paper spine label.</li></ul> The first revised edition of Shelley's masterpiece and the last to contain an illustration with the first printing of the engraved frontis and additional engraved title-page dated 1831. The frontis depicts the creature coming to life. In her introduction, Shelley contextualizes the creation of her tale: "It proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French, fell into our hands… 'We will each write a ghost story,' said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to." This printing was apparently issued with and without the additional engraved frontis dated 1831.

Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus, bound with The Ghost-Seer

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 Poirot Investigates by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Agatha%20Christie&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Agatha Christie</a>.<ul><li>Agatha Christie (English).</li><li>London: The Bodley Head / John Lane, 1924.</li></ul> Poirot Investigates is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie featuring the renowned Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. This compilation marks an early exploration of Poirot’s methodical and cerebral approach to solving mysteries, highlighting his use of "little grey cells" to unravel complex cases. The stories, including "The Adventure of the Western Star" and "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," showcase Poirot's deductive reasoning, often contrasting with the more action-oriented tendencies of his companion, Captain Hastings. Christie's narrative style in this collection emphasises psychological insight, misdirection, and meticulous plot construction, establishing key elements that would define her subsequent works in the detective fiction genre.

Poirot Investigates First Edition

Enid Blyton

A collection of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first printings of The Famous Five series by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Enid%20Blyton&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enid Blyton</a>.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 21 books.</li><li>Enid Blyton (English).</li><li>London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1942-1962.</li><li>Each in its original dust wrapper, Run Away Together is in a second issue dust wrapper.&nbsp;</li></ul>

The Famous Five Series, All First Editions

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&nbsp;of The Secret of Chimneys by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Agatha%20Christie&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Agatha Christie</a>.<ul><li>Agatha Christie (English).</li><li>London: John Lane/The Bodley Head, 1925.</li><li>True first issue with two pages of adverts to the rear.</li></ul> The Secret of Chimneys is a 1925 detective novel by Agatha Christie. It follows adventurer Anthony Cade, who is tasked with delivering a political memoir and a cache of letters. His journey leads him to Chimneys, an English country estate tied to royal intrigue, blackmail, and murder. A prince’s assassination, a missing jewel, and numerous suspects - including aristocrats, spies, and politicians—make for a gripping mystery. Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Battle investigates, uncovering hidden identities and secret agendas.

The Secret of Chimneys 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 Magic Faraway Tree by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Enid%20Blyton&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enid Blyton</a>.<ul><li>Enid Blyton (English).</li><li>London: Newnes, 1943.</li><li>The correct first issue dust wrapper with a description of ‘The Enchanted Wood’ to the rear flap. </li><li>In its unclipped dust jacket, showing the correct price of 6-/.</li></ul> The Magic Faraway Tree is a magical tale set in the enchanting Enchanted Wood, where siblings Jo, Bessie, and Fanny discover a colossal, magical tree. The Faraway Tree is alive with fantastic creatures, including the mischievous Moon-Face, kind Silky the Fairy, and clumsy Saucepan Man. The tree’s top leads to ever-changing magical lands, such as the delightful Land of Birthdays or the chaotic Land of Topsy-Turvy, each offering thrilling adventures and challenges. The second in the Magic Faraway series, following The Enchanted Wood. Excessively scarce in any condition.

The Magic Faraway Tree First Edition

Daphne Du Maurier

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 Jamaica Inn by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Daphne%20Du%20Maurier&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Daphne Du Maurier</a>.<ul><li>Daphne&nbsp;Du&nbsp;Maurier (English).</li><li>London:&nbsp;Gollancz,&nbsp;1936.</li><li>In&nbsp;the scarce&nbsp;dust&nbsp;wrapper.</li></ul>&nbsp;A gothic novel set on the bleak Cornish moors. It follows Mary Yellan, a young woman who uncovers dark secrets about her aunt’s&nbsp;inn, which is a hub for smugglers and wreckers. The novel explores themes of isolation, moral ambiguity, and female resilience. Its suspenseful atmosphere and vivid setting made it a literary success and cemented&nbsp;du&nbsp;Maurier’s reputation. The book&nbsp;inspired multiple adaptations,&nbsp;including a film by Alfred Hitchcock.&nbsp;Jamaica&nbsp;Inn&nbsp;had a lasting impact on gothic fiction,&nbsp;influencing both popular and critical views of suspenseful, female-led narratives.&nbsp;

Jamaica Inn First Edition

Martha Finley

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 first book in the Elsie Dinsmore series by <a href="Martha Finley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Martha Finley</a>, a major precursor to the Nancy Drew books.<ul><li>Martha Finley (American).</li><li>New York: M.W. Dodd, 1867.</li><li>288 pages.</li><li>Illustrated frontispiece with intact tissue guard.</li><li>Original embossed purple cloth boards with decorative gilt titling to spine, housed in custom purple leather and blue-grey clamshell box.</li></ul> Rare and beautiful copy of this early young adult novel, equal parts exciting melodrama and sentimental moral instruction with Presbyterian overtones. Elsie Dinsmore attained an extraordinary prominence in the canon of girls' series books, with her adventures running to 28 books; an institution to be rebelled against by all the less pious dreamers and intrepid detectives of 20th-century children's literature who followed in her footsteps, such as Nancy Drew.

Elsie Dinsmore

Margaret Bourke-White

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="Margaret Bourke-White" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Margaret Bourke-White</a>'s Halfway to Freedom, <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 Edward Steichen.<ul><li>Margaret Bourke-White (American).</li><li>Halfway to Freedom. A Report on the New India in the Words and Photographs of ….</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Simon and Schuster,&nbsp;1949.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>xi, [i], [1]-244, [2] pages.</li><li>Illustrated, with 115 photographs.</li><li>Inscribed on the half-title: "For Edward Steichen/ I couldn't do a book/ without sending it to you./ Maggy"</li><li>Black cloth and green paper over boards, in dustjacket.</li></ul>

Halfway to Freedom Inscribed 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 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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Beatrix Potter

Nancy Mitford

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Agatha Christie

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