Gifts

Persian Miniature Painting. [Ancient Game of Polo].

.

Rare Persian miniature painting depicting an ancient game of Chovgan, later adopted in the Western World as the game of polo. Affixed to an elaborately decorated paper mount, the painting depicts two opposing teams engaged in a game of Chovgan before a Persian cityscape. The ancient game of Chovgan originated in the middle of theContinue reading "Persian Miniature Painting. [Ancient Game of Polo]."

McCartney, Paul. [The Beatles]

Paul McCartney Signed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.

Hollywood : Capitol Records, 1967.

Rare Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, boldly signed by Paul McCartney, one of the most-admired and influential lyricists of the twentieth century. Quarto, signed by Paul McCartney on the front panel. Recording produced by George Martin. Cover by M C Productions and The Apple. Staged by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. Photographed byContinue reading "Paul McCartney Signed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP."

Sondheim, Stephen; James Lapine; Adapted and Illustrated by Hudson Talbott

Into The Woods.

New York : Crown Publishers, 1989.

First edition of this classic work, the basis for the Broadway musical and subsequent film. Quarto, original cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by Stephen Sondheim on the half-title page, “To Harold Merry, with best wishes from Stephen Sondheim 1/12/89.” Sondheim has also added a drawing of a musical notation with the lyrics, “MotherContinue reading "Into The Woods."

Warburg, Sandol Stoddard. Illustrated by Jacqueline Chwast

I Like You.

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965.

First edition of Warburg’s children’s classic. 16mo, original illustrated boards, illustrated by Jacqueline Chwast. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Ownership inscription.

Wharton, Edith & Ogden Codman Jr

The Decoration of Houses.

New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897.

First edition of Edith Wharton’s first published book. Quarto, original marbled paper boards. Illustrated with 56 plates. In very good condition. First editions are uncommon.

Highsmith, Patricia

Deep Water.

New York : Harper & Brothers, 1957.

First edition of the author’s classic fifth novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Very best wishes, Pat Highsmith.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Polly Cameron. Rare and desirable signed.

Lee, Ang and James Schamus. [Sigourney Weaver]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A Portrait of the Ang Lee Film Including the Complete Screenplay.

New York : Newmarket Press, 2000.

First edition of the book companion to the epic Academy Award-winning film. Octavo, original boards, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by director Ang Lee on the front free endpaper, “To dear Sigourney & Jim With Love Ang Lee 李安.” The recipient, Golden Globe Award-winning American actress Sigourney Weaver, is best known for her pioneering action heroineContinue reading "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A Portrait of the Ang Lee Film Including the Complete Screenplay."

Tolstoi, Count Lyof N. [Leo Tolstoy]

Ivan Ilyitch and Other Stories.

New York : Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, 1887.

First edition in English of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Translated from the Russian by Nathan Haskell Dole with a preface by him. In near fine condition. An exceptional example.

Hamsun, Knut

Vagabonds.

New York : Coward-McCann, 1930.

First edition in English of the first novel in the Nobel Prize-winning author’s “August” trilogy—Hamsun’s magnum opus. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket which is in near fine condition.

Hemingway, Ernest

The Torrents of Spring.

New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926.

First edition of Hemingway’s first novel, one of 1250 printed. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, double gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, gilt signature of Hemingway to the front panel, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptionalContinue reading "The Torrents of Spring."

Lodge, Edmund

Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain. Engraved From Authentic Pictures in the Galleries of the Nobility and the Public Collections of the Country. With Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Their Lives and Actions.

London : Printed for Harding and Lepard, 1835.

Finely bound set of Lodge’s Portraits of Illustrious Personages. Folio, six volumes, bound in full morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, quadruple gilt ruling and fleuron cornerpieces to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, all edges gilt, illustrated with 240 tissue-guardedContinue reading "Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain. Engraved From Authentic Pictures in the Galleries of the Nobility and the Public Collections of the Country. With Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Their Lives and Actions."

Updike, John

Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; Licks of Love.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1960-2000.

First editions of each volume in the Rabbit quartet. Octavos, 5 volumes, original half cloth. Each volume signed by John Updike. Each volume is near fine to fine in near fine dust jackets. An exceptional signed set.

Charles Dickens

The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

London : Chapman and Hall, 1843-48.

Complete set of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol, in Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a tenth edition with the half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printedContinue reading "The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain."

Dickens, Charles

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

London : Chapman and Hall, 1837.

First edition in book form of Dickens’ first novel and one of his greatest works. Octavo, bound in three full quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, with 43 engraved plates by Seymour and Browne. In very good condition.

Dinsdale, Alfred

Television: Seeing by Wire or Wireless.

London : Sir Issac Pitman & Sons Ltd, 1926.

First edition of the first book on television, a key work on the history of technology. Octavo, original stiff boards, frontispiece halftone reproduction of photograph of John Logie Baird. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear, small tape repair on the front panel. Housed in a custom slipcase.

Wright, Richard

Native Son.

New York : Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940.

First edition, first issue binding with “A – P” on the copyright page. Octavo, bound in full morocco, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, raised bands, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation.

Durrell, Lawrence

Black Book: An Agnon.

Paris : The Obelisk Press, 1938.

First edition, first issue of the first volume in the Villa Seurat Series. Octavo, original wrappers. In near fine condition. A very sharp example, uncommon in this condition.

Schrödinger, Erwin

What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell.

Cambridge : University Press, 1944.

Rare first edition of this collection of lectures by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist in which he presents the early theoretical description of the storage of genetic information cited by Crick and Watson as a source of inspiration for their initial research into the discovery of DNA. Small octavo, original cloth. Near fine in the rareContinue reading "What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell."

De Cervantes, Miguel [Gabriel Garcia Marquez]

Don Quixote.

New York : Ecco/ Harper Collins Publishers, 2003.

First edition of this new translation which is considered one of the finest English-language translations of the Spanish novel, by authors and critics including Carlos Fuentes and Harold Bloom, who called her “the Glenn Gould of translators, because she, too, articulates every note.” Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez on the front free endpaper, whoContinue reading "Don Quixote."

Barnes, Djuna

Nightwood.

London : Faber and Faber, 1935.

First edition of this masterpiece―one of the greatest novels of the Modernist era. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket with a few small chips and notes notes to the flaps. The British edition precedes the American edition by one year.

Stegner, Wallace

Angle of Repose.

Garden City, NY : Doubleday & Company, 1971.

First edition of the author’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “To John with best wishes Wallace Stegner November 9, 1972.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Jacket design by E.D.N. Designs. Photograph of the author by Alex Gotfryd.Continue reading "Angle of Repose."

[Steinbeck, John]

Two Russian Books From the Library of John Steinbeck.

Moscow : Various, c. 1960.

Two volumes in Russian from the library of American literary master John Steinbeck. Quarto, two volumes including a book of early Russian Orthodox paintings with many in color and a folio of loose plates featuring artwork from the Hermitage Museum. From the library of John Steinbeck. In very good condition.

New Orleans Souvenir Album and Travel Brochure Collection.

: Various, 1938-1960.

Rare collection of 5 souvenir albums and nine pictorial travel brochures printed between 1938 and 1960. The souvenir albums include a “Souvenir Condensed History of New Orleans for the Tourist” (c. 1955), a “Souvenir du Restaurant Antoine”, “New Orleans, America’s Most Interesting City”, an early accordion-style pictorial album, and “Winter in New Orleans: Season 1908-1909”Continue reading "New Orleans Souvenir Album and Travel Brochure Collection."

Conroy, Pat

The Great Santini.

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976.

First edition of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, warmly inscribed and dated by the author on the half-title page, “To Virginia Norwood, Merry Christmas to Betty B’s sister and Jean’s aunt (Conroy has crossed this out) Please count the silver when brother Mike comes over for Christmas dinner Pat Conroy Dec.Continue reading "The Great Santini."