New York International Antiquarian Book Fair
We're thrilled to be exhibiting again at the one of the highlights in our fair calendar, the New York Fair at the Park Avenue Armory. Our showcase gathers some of our very best books, including a Chinese Buddhist text printed from 12th-century woodblocks and the only portfolio Gustav Klimt produced in his lifetime.
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MELVILLE, HERMAN (inscr.); PALMER, J. W. The Golden Dagon; or, Up and Down the Irrawaddi.New York : 1856
First edition, a gift from Herman Melville to his younger brother Allan, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "Allan Melville from Herman Melville Oct. 11th, 1856". Melville inscribed the book the day he sailed for Europe on the steamer Glasgow, embarking on his six-month Grand Tour.
Melville likely acquired Palmer's travelogue directly... Learn More -
CLAXTON, William, & Joachim E. Berendt. Jazz Life.Offenburg : 1961
First edition, from the library of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, presented to him as a Christmas gift by Mick Jagger, with a gift tag inscribed (not in Jagger's hand), "Charlie, Happy Christmas, from Mick", and with Watts's posthumous bookplate.
The true first edition, with the two 45 RPM discs still present in the retaining band... Learn More -
CORNELL, Joseph. Collection of artefacts, from the estate of his great nephew.1959-72
An extraordinary trove of trinkets and first draft diary entries from the "dossiers" of Joseph Cornell, the first artist to devote his entire career to the art of assemblage. Mostly dating from the 1960s, the contents shed light on Cornell's obsession with Marilyn Monroe and the development of the shadow boxes he dedicated to the star.
The... Learn More -
AUSTEN, Jane. Emma:London : 1816 [1815]
First edition of the last novel the author published in her lifetime. Writing at the height of her powers, Austen finished Emma in just 14 months. As she had fallen out with Thomas Egerton, who issued her previous three works, Austen engaged John Murray to published the novel at her own expense. The first copies sold on 23 December 1815 (the title... Learn More -
LEWIS, James Otto. The Aboriginal Port Folio.Philadelphia : 1835-36
First edition of the first major colour plate book on Native Americans, one of the rarest 19th-century American colour plate books, and a landmark in the depiction of indigenous Americans. It is one of the earliest extended projects in American hand-coloured lithography.
Lewis, under commission from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, attended... Learn More -
PLATH, Sylvia (her copy) - FREEMAN, Don. Come One, Come All!New York : 1949
Sylvia Plath's copy of the first edition, signed on her ex-libris bookplate, and with a gift inscription from her cherished friend Ruth Freeman on the half-title: "With Love from Ruthie to Sylvia on her [19th] Birthday, October 27, 1951". Plath wrote of this copy in her letters, "I love Come One, Come All!. The illustrations alone are exquisite,... Learn More -
SCHIELE, Egon. Zeichnungen, 12 blätter in originalgrösse. [Folio of drawings, 12 sheets in original size.]Vienna : 1917
First edition, only printing, no. 148 of 400 copies, signed, dated and numbered in ink pen by Schiele on the limitation page. The 12 heliotype prints consisting of portraits and nudes by Schiele were drawn between 1913 and 1917, printed by Max Jaffé in Vienna under the artist's supervision to the size of the original drawings. The negatives and... Learn More -
RUNYON, Damon. Guys and Dolls.New York : 1931
First edition, first printing, inscribed by Runyon five days before publication, "To Fred Kelly, who makes good kellys, from Damon Runyon, August 15, 1931".
Fred Kelly was a well-known haberdasher near Times Square. According to their shop boy Martin Rackin, Runyon bought a new hat there every Saturday, and – always a gentleman of the... Learn More -
THOMPSON, Hunter S. Watergate research materials.[Washington DC] : 1973-74
A significant trove of contemporary materials relating to the Watergate scandal, collected by Hunter S. Thompson, one of Richard Nixon's most scathing and high-profile critics. This working collection, with handwritten notes and annotations by Thompson, is a time capsule of the biggest scandal of 20th-century American politics from the perspective... Learn More -
LAURENTS, Arthur. West Side Story. A Musical.New York : 1958
First edition, inscribed by the lyricist Stephen Sondheim, composer Leonard Bernstein, playwright Arthur Laurents, and producer Hal Prince on the front free endpaper. Copies of this landmark of the Broadway stage inscribed by more than one of the collaborators are scarce.
Choreographer Jerome Robbins first proposed a collaboration on a... Learn More -
WISE, Joseph Beeby. A Treatise on Dialling. Followed by A Treatise on the Construction of Magic Squares.[Reading : c.1820]
A meticulously illustrated mathematical manuscript on sundials and magic squares, crosses, and circles. Diligently mimicking the typographic layout of a printed book, the author pairs personal reflections on his education with commentary on well-known contemporary mathematicians. The many hundreds of diagrams are beautifully executed and often... Learn More -
NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Also sprach Zarathustra.Leipzig : [1886]
First edition, first collected issue, of the first three parts of Nietzsche's masterpiece: at once the most readable and the widely read of his books. The original front wrapper has been bound in at the front.
The prose-poem Zarathustra was originally published in three separate parts by Ernst Schmeitzner between 1883 and 1884. On... Learn More -
POPPER, Karl. The Poverty of Historicism.London : 1957
First edition in book form in English, signed by Popper on the front free endpaper and from the collection of his friend, the philosophical broadcaster Bryan Magee, with his 1957 ownership initials also on the front free endpaper.
By the 1970s, Popper and Magee (1930-2019) were both friends and close intellectual allies. Popper had... Learn More -
POPPER, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery.London : 1959
First edition in English, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to his friend, the philosophical broadcaster Bryan Magee, "Diffidently hoping that you will enjoy this book. K. R. Popper".
By 1959, Bryan Magee (1930-2019) was establishing himself as a political and intellectual broadcaster. In 1970, he hosted... Learn More -
FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice.London : 1964
First edition, first impression, presentation copy to Cyril Connolly, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To 'Great Ox' Connolly-san, from 'Butterfly' Fleming-san". Fleming's inscription incorporates the Japanese honorary title "san", which he also used in the novel: Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Secret Service, refers to... Learn More -
SCHERESCHEWSKY, Samuel Isaac Joseph (trans.). Jiu yue quan shu ("The Old Testament, Translated into Mandarin Chinese").Beijing : 1874
First edition of a sinological milestone: the first translation of the Old Testament into northern colloquial "Mandarin" Chinese, the language spoken by most potential Chinese converts. Schereschewsky was also the first sinologist to translate directly from the Hebrew masoretic text and his efforts formed the basis of the 1919 Union Bible, the... Learn More -
BERKELEY, George. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowlege [sic].Dublin : 1710
First edition of the author's major work, "the classic exposition of [Berkeley's] philosophy of immaterialism as an antidote to infidelity" (ODNB), in which he famously puts forward the idea that "no object can exist without a mind to conceive it". Part II of the work was lost while still in manuscript form.
Although Berkeley's works did... Learn More -
EMERSON, Ralph Waldo. "Give All to Love", autograph manuscript poem.[c.1846]
A rare manuscript copy of one of the Sage of Concord's most profound and celebrated poems, which combines his radical individualism with Platonic and Romantic apprehensions of love and nature. The manuscript exhibits half a dozen corrections and three lines vary slightly from the text printed in his debut collection Poems (1847), suggesting this... Learn More -
OLD BELIEVERS. The Passion Narrative,[Russia : 18th century]
A richly illustrated, finely bound collection of five religious didactic manuscripts, produced in 18th-century Russia. The 143 miniatures, with their clear layout, bright contrasts, and visionary style, are fine examples of the Old Believers' manuscript tradition.
"Old Believer book culture inherited and developed an ancient tradition that... Learn More -
PLAYFAIR, William (trans.); DONNANT, Denis François. Statistical Account of the United States of America.London : 1805
First edition in English of this scarce statistical study of the early US economy, government, and landscape. The Statistical Account is translated and includes a lavish hand-coloured pie chart by William Playfair, one of the earliest known examples of its kind. This copy was formerly owned by the Tory Prime Minister George Canning, from whom it... Learn More
