Fantastic First Editions and Where to Find Them

Fantastic First Editions and Where to Find Them

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  Edgard Rice Burroughs,
  Tarzan of the Apes
  First edition, first issue, 1914.
  Estimate £2,600–3,000.

  This was Burrough’s first book and the first in the Tarzan series.

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  William Golding,
  Lord of the Flies
  First edition, signed by the author, 1954.
  Estimate £10,000–15,000.

  A signed copy of the author’s seminal re-interpretation of the classic English adventure story. “Lord of the Flies is not an examination of the idiosyncratic nature of a group of young English boys, but of the essential nature of humanity itself, its predisposition to violence and cruelty when removed from the restraining influences of civilization…” (Kevin McCarron, Oxford DNB). This copy is in the very rare trial binding. Bibliographers record this binding: “there was a trial binding in greyish purplish blue cloth (204) of which four copies [including this one] have been located”.

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  Seamus Heaney,
  Night Drive
  1/100 copies, signed by the author with additional poem in manuscript, 1970.
  Estimate £2,600–3,000.

  This copy is no. 44 which includes the autograph manuscript fair copy of the poem “Night Drive” bound opposite the printed text.

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  Ernest Hemingway,
  For Whom the Bell Tolls
  First edition, presentation copy, 1940.
  Estimate £6,000–8,000.

  Inscribed by Hemingway: “To F. Scott Duplaix | You shoot Well”. | Papa”. The inscription, fondly signed “Papa”, is likely to for George Duplaix, friend and sometimes translator of Hemingway (although under the pseudonym Ott de Weymer). Hemingway collected material for For Whom the Bell Tolls while covering the Spanish Civil War as a war correspondent. At 211,000 words, this is Hemingway’s longest work.

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• 

  Aldous Huxley,
  Brave New World
  First edition, limited issue, signed, 1932.
  Estimate £5,000–7,000.

  The limited signed issue of Huxley’s great dystopian novel in which a massively cloned population is controlled by political bosses through a combination of infant conditioning, drugs and social engineering. Unlike Orwell’s later vision of government autocracy (in Nineteen Eighty-Four), Huxley’s vision was a population of slaves “who do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude” (Huxley, writing to Orwell, see Letters, 604). This copy in a very handsome and striking binding by the celebrated binder Roger Powell.

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• 

  James Joyce,
  Ulysses
  First English edition printed in England, signed, 1936.
  Estimate £10,000–15,000.

  This first English edition printed in England of Joyce’s seminal work is no. 44 of 100 copies on mould made paper and signed by the artist. The limited issue, published at Bodley Head is arguably the most handsome edition of the masterpiece ever published. The text in this edition was based on the Odyssey Press edition (1932), revised by Stuart Gilbert at the request of Joyce, and generally considered to be the most accurate and authoritative text of the novel.

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• 

  Arthur Miller,
  Death of a Salesman
  First edition, signed by Miller, 1949.
  Estimate £1,500–2,000.

  Death of a Salesman premiered on February 10^th, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre. The production ran for 742 performances and has since been revived four times on Broadway to continuous critical acclaim. It became the first play to win all three major drama awards upon its opening: The Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award and the Drama Critics Circle Award.

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• 

  Henry Miller,
  Tropic of Capricorn
  First edition, presentation copy, 1939.
  Estimate £2,000–3,000.

  The publication of Tropic of Capricorn was scheduled for February 1939 but was “delayed for three months, as a result of which few copies were sold before the beginning of the war, the death of Kahane and the shutting down of the Obelisk Press” (Pearson). This copy is inscribed before the actual publication date of 10 May 1939 and presumably, sufficiently early that it does not include the printed errata slip.

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• 

  George Orwell,
  Nineteen Eighty-Four
  First edition, dust-jacket, 1949.
  Estimate £2,000–3,000.

  The first edition of arguably the greatest dystopian novel of modern times Nineteen Eighty-Four is now almost incessantly referenced in any debate about the use of technology and algorithms by the surveillance state or trans-global corporations to track, control, or influence citizens across.

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  J. K. Rowling,
  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
  First edition, 1997.
  Estimate £1,000–1,500.

  Publishers have confirmed there were only 500 copies of the hardback first edition first issue. In this first edition on page 53 in Harry’s list of supplies the item ‘1 wand’ is listed twice.

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• • 

    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    English Literature, History, Science, Children’s Books & Illustrations Online

    30 November–10 December 2018 | 2:00 PM GMT

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    History of Science & Technology, Including the Nobel Prize and Papers of Richard P. Feynman

    30 November 2018 | 10:00 AM EST | New York

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    Fine Books & Manuscripts Online

    3–17 December 2018 | 5:00 PM GMT

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    Music, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental Books

    4 December 2018 | 10:30 AM GMT | London

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    La bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé - Vente en association avec Pierre Bergé & Associés

    14 December 2018 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    Important Judaica, including a Distinguished Private Collection

    19 December 2018 | 10:00 AM EST | New York

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