Books
Browse our collection of rare books, first editions, signed editions and valuable printed books, written by the world's greatest authors, in a wide range of subjects.
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DESPARD, Edward Marcus. Manuscript documents recording the expenditure on prisoners in custody at Despard's trial.Whitehall : 1803
A fascinating set of documents, one signed by Lord Pelham as home secretary. They itemize the cost of maintaining three of Despard's co-conspirators, including the key witness for the prosecution, Thomas Windsor, during their imprisonment before trial. The costs include buying a great coat, hiring coaches to tour the conspirators' meeting... Learn More -
DESPARD, Edward Marcus. Signed expenses voucher for necessities given to the poor of Convention Town, Honduras.Honduras : 1787
A remarkable survival documenting Despard's attempt to support British colonists in the Bay of Honduras. One Peter Henry is required to remit 142 Jamaican pounds to James Hutchison, one of Despard's deputies, for "sundry necessaries supplied the poorer People at Convention Town". This included the construction of a house for a George Rayburn,... Learn More -
DE LA MOTTE, François - ADAIR, James. A warrant for the arrest and execution of François Henri de la Motte, a spy charged with high treason.[London] : 1781
Signed and sealed by the judge, James Adair. De la Motte was found guilty of sending secret intelligence to France, supporters of the America during the Revolutionary War. The trial became synonymous with the "inescapable grotesquerie and horror of eighteenth-century justice" (Lockwood, p. 484) and Dickens used it as a model for the trial scene in... Learn More -
BLAKE, James Alexander Jeffrey. A collection of 67 letters to his family from the trenches, December 1915 to August 1916.[France : 1915-6]
A wonderfully presented and moving vignette of service during the First World War. The letters relate the experiences of Lieutenant Jeffrey Blake RFA as he was posted to France, betraying a "fatalist" outlook on the horrors of war. The collection includes his commanding officer's letter notifying the family of Blake's death on 18 August... Learn More -
NEW GUINEA EXPLORATION EXPEDITION. Two illuminated addresses presented to members of the New Guinea Exploratory Expedition.Australia : 1885 & 1886
Two elaborately decorated manuscripts presented to Captain Henry Charles Everill, congratulating him and the members of the New Guinea Exploratory Expedition on a successful voyage.
The quarto manuscript was presented by the Geographical Society of Australasia who funded the expedition, and the folio by the Victorian Branch of the... Learn More -
SAUVEUR, Joseph. Geometrie pratique.[Paris] : c. 1720s
A meticulously constructed manuscript treatise on geometry with 27 hand-drawn and coloured plates, a fascinating example of manuscript intellectual culture in early 18th-century France.
Joseph Sauveur (1653-1716) overcame a serious hearing impediment to make fundamental contributions in hydrostatics and acoustics - a term coined by him. In... Learn More -
LOUIS XIV, King of France. Document signed by Louis XIV, bound into: Louis XIV et ses amours, galerie historique.Paris : 1824
Louis XIV orders Frédéric-Magnus, Prince de Salm, to disband a company in the foreign cavalry regiment under his command.
Dated 10 January 1660, the document instructs Salm to send the officers home with assurances of the king's satisfaction with their conduct, and to enrol the light horsemen in other companies. It is countersigned by... Learn More -
CHURCHILL, Winston S. - MOUNTAIN, Edward Mortimer. Album of letters thanking Mountain for signed artist's proofs of A. Egerton Cooper's portrait of Churchill, "Profile for Victory".1944
A substantial collection of letters from senior public and business figures thanking Edward Mortimer Mountain for presenting them with signed artist's proofs of A. Egerton Cooper's portrait of Churchill, "Profile for Victory". Mountain, chairman of the Eagle Star Insurance Company, purchased the portrait and commissioned the proofs for... Learn More -
BEARDSLEY, Aubrey. Autograph letter signed, to Louis Octave Uzanne.Pavillon Louis XIV, Rue de Pontoise, St Germain : 1897]
An unpublished autograph letter by Beardsley, discussing an abortive collaboration with the French publisher Louis Octave Uzanne. Beardsley writes that he would be "charmed" to illustrate the 18th-century libertine novel Thémidore for Uzanne, but cautions that the project would require the consent of his British publisher, Leonard Smithers, who... Learn More -
IMPERIAL CHINA. Imperial edict granted to the government official Yu Shimei and written in Chinese and Manchu.China : 1908
A document from final weeks of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, rewarding a dedicated imperial servant with a more illustrious ancestry. Guangxu died suddenly on 14 November - recent tests suggest he was poisoned with arsenic - only two days before his possible murderer, the gravely ill Empress Dowager Cixi. Within three years, the Qing dynasty... Learn More -
WALLACE, Alfred Russel. Autograph letter signed, on British endemic flora.Parkstone, Dorset : 1901
An encouraging and insightful letter demonstrating Wallace's process for establishing his lists of endemic flora to Britain. The lists first appeared in Island Life (1880). He continuously gathered evidence for revised editions, the third of which came out in 1911.
The recipient was William Haddon Beeby (1849-1910), an amateur botanist who... Learn More -
TIBETAN BUDDHISM. Rules of the Samye monastery.[Tibet : c. 1900]
A beautiful devotional manuscript, the decoration at the head showing Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and his two spiritual sons, Gyaltsabje and Khedrupje. The three figures at the foot are dharmapalas ("hell protectors"), who protect Buddhists and the Dharma.
This example was deaccessioned by the Samye... Learn More -
YAO PEOPLE. Calligraphic scroll describing a Yao origin story.[Likely southern China : 19th century]
A manuscript version of the Pinghuang quandie ("Charter of Emperor Ping"), a central part of Yao history and folklore.
According to tradition, the Yao are "the descendants of the dragon-dog Panhu, who they revere as their primogenitor, and on whom their claims of autonomy from the state are based. Because of the great merit he achieved in... Learn More -
YAO PEOPLE. Calligraphic scroll describing a Yao origin story.[Likely southern China : 19th century]
A manuscript version of the Pinghuang quandie ("Charter of Emperor Ping"), a central part of Yao history and folklore.
According to tradition, the Yao are "the descendants of the dragon-dog Panhu, who they revere as their primogenitor, and on whom their claims of autonomy from the state are based. Because of the great merit he achieved in... Learn More -
NAKAHAMA, Manjiro - OGAWA, Ryosuke. Manuscript report of Manjiro's interview in Nagasaki.[Edo] : 1853
A manuscript copy of the report made by the magistrate of Nagasaki, Maki Shima no Kami, after he interviewed Nakahama Manjiro in 1851. It recounts the story of Nakahama's shipwreck and rescue, life in America, and return to Japan. It also features an in-depth description of O'ahu in Hawai'i.
In 1841, Nakahama (1827-1898) and his four... Learn More -
ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA. Scrapbook recording sorority activities at West Virginia State College, an HBCU.[Institute, West Virginia : 1950-52]
A handcrafted record of Earline Martin's membership of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), the first Greek-letter sorority established by Black women. The scrapbook binding is carved from wood in the AKA motif of an ivy leaf and the front cover and pages are carefully decorated in Martin's hand. The contents include manuscript biographical information on AKA... Learn More -
WELSH, James & Bellina Sophia Maxtone. Manuscript commonplace book with original drawings.India : 1838-44
A family commonplace book closely associated with the East India Company officer and author James Welsh, containing a substantial body of original material by Welsh alongside musical, literary, and devotional extracts copied by his daughter, Bellina Sophia Maxtone. Pencil annotation from a later descendant of the Welsh family identify the family... Learn More -
HUGHES, Ted. The Coming of the Kings and Other Plays.London : 1970
An unbound, uncorrected proof copy with Hughes's manuscript corrections in ink, together with a bound uncorrected proof. Hughes's corrections amend spelling, change spacing, and add line breaks. In one instance, he crosses out the word "Jerusalem" to supply the alternative "Bethlehem".
Published in 1970, the work brings together four... Learn More -
WORLD WAR I - HARRISON, Walter J. Manuscript diary recording his service with 27th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.[Western front : 1914-15]
An intimate record of a year of service in France, written for the author's wife and three children. Along with several of his gunner comrades, Harrison received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his service at Ligny, where he showed "bravery and devotion in withdrawing guns by hand under a heavy fire" (London Gazette).
Harrison's diary... Learn More -
MILLER, Henry. Unpublished essay, "Looking Down from the Empire State".Paris : 1930s
A satirical unpublished essay from the perspective of an enthusiastic future tour guide for the Empire State building, with several hand corrections by Miller.
The Empire State Building was finished in spring 1931. Miller was sceptical of the project and viewed it as a grotesque, sterile imitation of European cathedrals. This essay contains... Learn More
