Literature
Rare and first edition literature from Peter Harrington. On our shelves you'll discover rare poetry, English, American & modern literature, pre-1900 rare books, plays, world literature and much more.
-
JOYCE, James. Dubliners.London : 1914
First edition, first issue, of the author's short story debut, his first major work and second book overall. The final story, "The Dead", is roundly considered among the finest ever written. "In its lyrical, melancholy acceptance of all that life and death offer, 'The Dead' is a linchpin in Joyce's work" (Ellmann, p. 252).
Joyce spent years... Learn More -
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. The Hobbit or There and Back Again.Boston : [1951]
Second US edition, first printing, one of 1,000 copies thus, imported from the sheets of the larger second British edition. This was the first American edition to use the same binding and jacket artwork which Tolkien designed for the British editions. The runes on the American dust jacket were eventually updated after a reader pointed out they... Learn More -
ELIOT, George. Autograph letter signed, to Oscar Browning.London : 21 November 1867
An unpublished letter to Eliot's friend and later biographer, Oscar Browning, discussing their views on education: "I cannot just emphasize my hatred, in common with yours, of negative destructive teaching given to the young". Browning was an assistant master at Eton from 1860 to 1875.
The two met in 1866, when Browning ran a... Learn More -
LE CARRÉ, John. A Small Town in Germany.London : 1968
First edition, signed by the author on the title page, of his first non-George Smiley novel. Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapters 10 and 19 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the US in... Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapter 8 and 14 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the US in... Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapters 4, 12, and 21 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the... Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapters 2 and 20 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the US in... Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapter 31 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the US in 1933... Learn More -
BRONTË, Emily - EICHENBERG, Fritz (illus.). Wood-engraved proof for Wuthering Heights.[New York : 1946]
The artist's copy of this proof wood engraving, signed by him in pencil, and from his estate. This illustration headed Chapters 9 and 27 in Eichenberg's brooding edition of Wuthering Heights (1946, expanded from 1943). The initial run of proofs consisted of no more than ten unnumbered copies.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) moved to the US in... Learn More -
DUMAS, Alexander. Celebrated Crimes.Philadelphia : 1895
First edition of this translation, deluxe limited issue, number 7 of 12 sets bound for subscribers. Dumas wrote Crimes Célèbres (1829-40), a collection of violent historical tales, before his famous novels.
The subscriber to this set was one Mrs M. A. Quincy. Given that such deluxe editions were typically purchased by individuals of... Learn More -
YONGDEN, Lama Aphur. Mipam: The Land of the Five Wisdoms.London : 1938
First edition in English of "the first fictional attempt by a Tibetan to depict true Tibetan life" (Winks, p. 89). Written by Aphur Yongden in collaboration with David-Néel, Mipam was also the first novel by a Tibetan lama targeted at Western readers.
Yongden, also known as Lopon Tenzin Namdak (1899-1955), met David-Néel in 1919, and the... Learn More -
DUPUCH, Eugene. Smokey Joe Says: A Volume in Bahamian Dialect.Nassau : 1936
First collected edition, scarce. Dupuch wrote the short stories to portray the Bahamian people's "elastic fibre of character and sense of spiritual freedom without which [their] forefathers would never have survived the miasmal squalor of physical bondage" (p. 6). They were initially serialized in the Nassau Daily Tribune from 1935 to 1936.... Learn More -
WILDE, Oscar. The Trials of Oscar Wilde.London : 1948
First edition, number 30 of 50 copies signed by Hyde and Humphreys. Hyde co-wrote the screenplay for the 1960 film of the same name, directed by Ken Hughes. A barrister and politician as well as an author, Hyde was a vocal supporter of the decriminalization of homosexuality. Learn More -
PUSHKIN, Aleksandr; NABOKOV, Vladimir (trans.) Eugene Onegin.New York : 1964
First Nabokov edition: "arising out of the needs of his Russian literature students and serving also as a means of establishing his academic credentials" (Boyd, p. 13). Eugene Onegin was one of Nabokov's favourite novels, and his accompanying commentary to his translation "is a product of supreme intellectual and artistic maturity" (Irene Ronen,... Learn More -
COLLINS, Wilkie. Little Novels.London : 1887
New edition, collecting in one volume 14 short stories following themes of love and marriage while also including the detective elements that made Collins's name. It was publihshed earlier in 1887 in three volumes. Learn More -
BANKS, Iain M. The Player of Games.London : 1988
First edition, signed by the author on the title page. This is the second novel in Banks's Culture series, works which "combine extravagant, high-tech invention with real human drama" (Walter). Learn More -
ORWELL, George. The English People.London : 1947
First edition of this celebrated study of the English character, commissioned to promote Britain as a free society during the Second World War. Orwell's essay ranges from English faults - snobbishness, insularity, class obsessions - to English achievements, and their essentially humane political culture: an important model for war-torn Europe.... Learn More -
COLLINS, Wilkie. Basil; A Story of Modern Life.New York : 1853
First American edition of the author's first novel with a contemporary setting. Collins received mixed reviews for the work's departure from the conventional mid-Victorian romance plot, with Basil becoming one of the earliest examples of his famous "sensation novel". The novel was first published in Britain in 1852. Learn More -
COLLINS, Wilkie. Alicia Warlock (A Mystery), and Other Stories.Boston : 1875
First edition of this scarce collection. The supernatural title story originally appeared as "The Ostler" in Household Words in 1855. Collins later revised it as "The Dream Woman" in The Frozen Deep and Other Stories (1874). Other stories contained in the present collection are "A Sane Madman", "The Fatal Cradle", "Blow Up with the Brig!", "The... Learn More
