Christmas
From enchanting children's tales and celebrated works of literature to fascinating accounts of scientific discovery, politics, and travel, explore our Christmas catalogue of rare books and works of art, brought together for the joy of giving and collecting.
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MANDELA, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom.Randburg, South Africa : 1994
First edition, signed by the author and dated 14 June 1997.
Mandela's internationally acclaimed autobiography chronicles his undercover activities, imprisonment for treason and quarter-century behind bars, his rise to international icon, the end of apartheid, and his landslide victory to become South Africa's first black president. The UK,... Learn More -
CONFUCIANISM - WALEY, Arthur (trans.). The Analects of Confucius.London : 1938
First edition. Waley's interpretation is highly regarded not only for its readability but also for his introductory remarks on the historical context of the Analects and the text's complex terminology.
Of the 2,000 copies of the first edition, a portion were issued to members of the China Society in June 1939. These were cased in green... Learn More -
HARTLEY, Dorothy. Food in England.London : 1954
First edition. The "treasury of information on the gathering, storing, and cooking of food from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries" (ODNB) is widely regarded as the definitive history of English food and cooking techniques.
Dorothy Hartley (1893-1985) travelled the country writing a weekly column on English country living for the Daily... Learn More -
FLEMING, Ian. Dr No.London : 1958
First edition, first impression, of the first Bond novel adapted for cinema. Starring Sean Connery in 1962, the film established the iconic theme music and opening gun barrel sequence used throughout the franchise. Learn More -
ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four.London : 1949
First edition. Orwell's last book has exerted a monumental impact on both political consciousness and the English language, coining terms such as "doublethink" and "Big Brother". It was published in green and red jackets simultaneously, in proportions of about two green to one red.
"No novel of the past century has had more influence than... Learn More -
CHURCHILL, Winston S. The River War.London : 1899
First edition of Churchill's second book, his account of the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of Sudan, written from his experience as a war correspondent and participant in the campaign.
"Arguably the most aesthetically beautiful of original trade editions of Churchill's books, The River War is a brilliant history of British involvement in the... Learn More -
FRIEDMAN, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom.Chicago : 1962
First edition of this canonical text for the neoliberal movement, reasserting the 19th-century conception of liberalism as laissez-faire government. Learn More -
ROWLING, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.London : 2007
First edition, first impression, children's artwork issue, inscribed by the author on the title page in black ink, "to Rosemarie, with love from JKRowling", with the authentication hologram. Inscribed at the book launch on 20-21 July 2007 at the Natural History Museum in London.
The letter is from the Bloomsbury Marketing Department, and... Learn More -
ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. On Our Way.New York : 1934
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the 32nd President on the front free endpaper, "For Bertha H. Reynolds Merry Christmas from Franklin D. Roosevelt 1934". In On Our Way, Roosevelt assesses the state of the nation and defends the New Deal programme.
Bertha Hurwitz Reynolds (1903-1991) joined the White House secretarial staff in... Learn More -
DULAC, Edmund (illus.). Stories from the Arabian Nights.London : 1907
Signed limited edition, number 44 of 350 numbered and signed by the illustrator. Dulac's work rivalled Rackham's in popularity and was largely confined to deluxe editions. Among the popular stories included in this edition is "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves".
It was this book that first announced Dulac's status as a popular artist,... Learn More -
DAHL, Roald. Rhyme Stew.London : 1989
First edition, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Josh, Love Roald Dahl" in black felt tip pen. "The marvellously dastardly Dahl has joined forces with that bounder Blake to plunder a wealth of nursery heritage for the delight of the older reader in this wonderful addition to the literature of the absurd" (dust jacket... Learn More -
WILDE, Oscar. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. By C.3.3.London : 1898
First edition, one of 800 unnumbered copies printed on handmade paper; a further 30 copies on japon were published simultaneously. The first edition sold out rapidly, and a second edition was issued within weeks. Learn More -
LORDE, Audre. Between Our Selves.Point Reyes : 1976
First edition, number 15 of 100 copies specially bound, signed, and numbered from a total edition of 1,100. This is Lorde's fifth poetry anthology and contains seven poems, including "Power", "School Note", and "Scar", which explore racial injustice, police brutality, and her celebration of black womanhood. Learn More -
KELMSCOTT PRESS: SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works.Hammersmith : 1895
First Kelmscott edition, one of 250 paper copies, finely bound by the Knickerbocker Press bindery. Both press and bindery were established by the publishing house G. P. Putnam to cater to the flourishing bibliophilic culture in late 19th-century America. This copy belonged to steel magnate Veryl Preston (1865-1943) and is a lovely example of how... Learn More -
PARKER, Dorothy. Enough Rope.New York : 1926
First edition of the author's first book. Enough Rope made Parker's reputation as one of America's greatest wits almost overnight. The Nation praised her prose as "caked with a salty humor, rough with splinters of disillusion, and tarred with a bright black authenticity" (Meade, p. 177).
Parker lived and worked in New York throught the late... Learn More -
BALDWIN, James. Giovanni's Room.New York : 1956
First edition of the author's second novel, one of the most important and influential texts of 20th-century gay fiction. Knopf, the publishers of Baldwin's debut Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), turned down the manuscript of Giovanni's Room for its homosexual themes, which they feared would alienate Baldwin's existing readers. The novel was... Learn More -
POGÁNY, Willy (illus.). Rubáiyát. The First and Fourth Renderings in English Verse by Edward FitzGerald.London : 1930
Signed limited edition, British issue, number 150 of 750 copies signed by the artist, specially bound, and with an original etching also signed by Pogány. Pogány's illustrated edition was first published in 1909. A further 500 copies were issued in America. Learn More -
POGANY, Willy (illus.); COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.London : 1926
A handsomely produced publication, a reissue of the 1910 deluxe edition with a new elaborate binding featuring intricate onlays and text reproduced in Pogany's manuscript-style lettering. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was among the artist's most ambitious exercises in total book design, drawing consciously on the tradition of medieval... Learn More -
DAHL, Roald. The BFG.London : 1982
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front free endpaper, "Dear Anne, I am sorry it took so long to sign but it wasn't my fault, Love, Roald Dahl, 1985". It is unknown why Dahl took three years to sign this copy, but in apologising he passes the blame to others in a typical deflection of... Learn More -
GÖDEL, Kurt. On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems.Edinburgh : 1962
First edition in English of the famed incompleteness theorems. Gödel's tract overturned a century of efforts to place the whole of mathematics on an axiomatic basis and proved that the bounds of mathematics cannot be those of one formal system. This edition includes a preface by R. B. Braithwaite (1900-1990), Knightbridge Professor of Moral... Learn More
