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MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò. The Prince.London : 1929
First De La More Press edition, number 92 of 115 copies on English Hand-made paper. This was the first English-language private press edition of Machiavelli's classic, and is attractively designed and printed.
The text reproduces the first English translation of 1640, "chosen as the one which keeps most closely to the original, being in... Learn More -
MOOREHEAD, Alan. Darwin and The Beagle.London : 1970
Signed limited edition, number 90 of 265 copies signed by the author and specially bound by Zaehnsdorf. Moorehead's popular account of Darwin's historic voyage on the Beagle in 1831 draws on the naturalist's original diary, is richly illustrated, and explores the impact of Darwin's work on our understanding of the natural world.
The signed... Learn More -
LISSITZKY, El (designer). USSR.Moscow : 1939
First edition of this propaganda album glorifying the transformation of the Soviet Union since the 1917 Revolution, produced in English for distribution at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Under the artistic direction of El Lissitzky, the album employs striking Isotype graphics to present Soviet Communism as a model of modernity, prosperity, and... Learn More -
GUILD OF WOMEN-BINDERS. The Bindings of To-Morrow.London : 1902
First edition, out-of-series from 500 copies only, this inscribed "the dedication copy" on the limitation page. The exhibition catalogue was dedicated to the Princess of Wales. The presentation binding, with its elaborate art nouveau onlays, is a particularly fine and untraced example of the Guild's style.
The Guild of Women-Binders was... Learn More -
GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust. Ein Fragment. Ächte Ausgabe; [together with] -- Faust. Eine Tragödie; [and] -- Faust. Eine Tragödie. Zweyter Theil in fünf Acten.Leipzig; Tübingen; Stuttgart and Tübingen : 1790-1808-33
First separate issue of the Faust fragment, together with the first separate edition of Part I and the first separate issue of Part II, all in contemporary German bindings. The three publications trace the evolution of Goethe's tragedy from its first published form in 1790 to its posthumous completion.
Goethe began writing Faust in 1773,... Learn More -
ROSSETTI, William Michael (his copy) - PHILIPPS, Janetta. Poems.Oxford : 1811
First and only edition, bound within a sammelband assembled by William Michael Rossetti and bearing his ownership inscription and an autograph index in his hand. Janetta Philipps's collection appears as the third work in the assemblage, and Rossetti notes on the first blank that it "is a curiosity associated with Shelley".
Percy Bysshe... Learn More -
BARNHAM, Denis. One Man's Window.London : 1956
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Jan Cordner, with abundant thanks for all his help in making this book." Cordner, one of only two individuals thanked in the acknowledgements, photographed Barnham's sketches for the plates.
In One Man's Window, Flight Commander Denis Barnham (1920-1981), a... Learn More -
TULIP MANIA. De drie t'Zamenspraeken Tuschen Waermondt en Gaergoedt, over de Op- en Ondergang van Flora;Haarlem : 1734
Second collected edition of these cautionary texts on Dutch tulip speculation in the 1630s, republished as the Netherlands was gripped by hyacinth fever.
The first work is a collection opening with the Samenspraecken, three dialogues between Waermondt and Gaergoedt, "the most important contemporary source for the speculation" (Krelage, p.... Learn More -
MARPERGER, Paul Jacob. Kurtzgefaste Geographische, Historische und Mercatorische Beschreibung Aller derjenigen Länder und Provintzien, Welche den Königlich Preussischen Und Chur=Brandenburgischen Scepter in Deutschland unterworffen;Berlin : 1710
First editions of Marperger's economic geography of Brandenburg-Prussia and Abel's general history of the emerging Prussian state, both published nine years after Frederick I's elevation to the Prussian kingship in 1701, and together celebrating the state's prosperity and potential.
Paul Jacob Marperger (1656-1730), trade adviser to the... Learn More -
LA LOUBÈRE, Simon de. A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam.London : 1693
First edition in English. This "magisterial description" (Lach & Kley, p. 1196) of Thailand and its monarchy is richly illustrated with engravings of Thai people, palaces, flora, the Ayutthaya script, and sheet music. It is famous for containing the earliest description of a parachute, and one of the earliest European references to and... Learn More -
CLARENDON, Edward Hyde, Earl of. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England,Oxford : 1826
An attractively bound set of Clarendon's acclaimed work. From its first publication between 1702 and 1704, the work remained an essential component of a gentleman's library for two centuries. Learn More -
NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Der Fall Wagner. Ein Musikanten-Problem;Leipzig : 1888 [& 1886]
First edition, first issue, of Nietzsche's scathing attack on his former hero Richard Wagner, bound with his earlier celebration of the composer.
Nietzsche's admiration for and friendship with Wagner profoundly influenced his early philosophy. He nevertheless grew disillusioned with the philistinism of Wagner's followers and the composer's... Learn More -
ROWLING, J. K. Complete set of the Harry Potter collector's deluxe editions.London : 1999-2007
First deluxe editions, first impressions. Produced for the gift book market, the deluxe Harry Potters are much sought after by collectors, being larger than their trade counterparts, handsomely cased in full cloth, stamped in gilt with the author's signature on the front covers, and featuring the cover art of the trade editions in the form of... Learn More -
PLAYFAIR, William. Lineal Arithmetic;London : 1798
First edition of this pioneering display of data visualization by Playfair, who effectively invented the line graph, bar chart, and pie chart "without significant precursors" (ODNB). Playfair writes in his introduction that through such visualization, "as much information may be obtained in five minutes as would require whole days to imprint on... Learn More -
TURNBULL, James H. Opium Narcotics: A World Survey of the Illicit Traffic.Shrivenham : 1972
First edition, WorldCat showing King's College London only. The final section of this study is devoted to opium production in the People's Republic of China and Beijing's use of the trade to raise hard currency, subvert Western societies, and undermine US military operations in Southeast Asia.
The second map represents international... Learn More -
SANGER, Frederick. The Disulphide Bonds of Insulin.[Cambridge] / Lons-le-Saunier : 1955 & 1955
First editions, offprint issues, each signed by the author on the first page and front wrapper respectively. The Disulphide Bonds of Insulin is the definitive account of the location of insulin's disulphide bridges, the discovery of which completed the first sequencing of the primary structure of any protein. It was for this work that Sanger... Learn More -
PAULING, Linus, & Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson. The Crystal Structure of Molybdenite.[Easton, Pennsylvania : 1923
First edition, offprint issue, signed by Pauling on the front wrapper. This was Pauling's first published scientific paper, written while he was a graduate student at the Gates Chemical Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. It was an early contribution to X-ray crystallography, a discipline that was then only a decade... Learn More -
LAWRENCE, T. E. A substantial group of proof plates for the subscribers' edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.[London : 1926]
A collection of 47 proofs before letters, representative of Lawrence's fastidious approach to the aesthetics of his masterpiece and giving a snapshot of the work's prolonged and expensive printing process. Each illustration was proofed up to 17 times, the examples here showing variations from the final versions.
Lawrence began commissioning... Learn More -
RAMSAY, Andrew Michael. The Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion.Glasgow : 1748-49
First edition of Ramsay's final and most ambitious work, published posthumously through the efforts of his widow and friends. It seeks to reconcile Christian theology with reason and Newtonian philosophy, while mounting a sustained attack on Spinoza. Learn More -
MAWSON, John (comp.). Records of the Indian Command of General Sir Charles James Napier, G.C.B.,Calcutta : 1851
First edition, scarce in any condition, being held in only four UK libraries. Napier commanded the British army in Sind - he wished "to catch the rupees for my girls" (quoted by ODNB) - and served as governor following the August 1843 annexation.
Having arrived in India in 1841, Napier (1782-1853) was appointed the following year, in the... Learn More
