Literature

  • The Pobble who has no toes

    # 45905

    LEAR, Edward; LOCK, Margaret

    The Pobble who has no toes

    Brisbane : Locks’ Press, 1979. Quarto, linen with engraved illustration by Margaret Lock on upper board, unpaginated, pp. [16]; illustrated with eight original etchings, printed on veil Arches white, 250 gsm, by Margaret Lock, a fine copy. Printed in an edition limited to 60 signed and numbered copies, a couple of very small spots of foxing, …

    $1,850.00 AUD Read more
  • The poetical works of Robert Burns. Printed for the booksellers in Australia, 1832.

    # 44524

    BURNS, Robert (1759-1796)

    The poetical works of Robert Burns. Printed for the booksellers in Australia, 1832.

    [Edinburgh?] : s.n., 1832. Small octavo (177 x 110 mm), later black morocco, spine ruled and lettered in gilt;  woodcut frontispiece portrait of the poet from Taylor’s Authenticated Picture, title-page with vignette woodcut of Tam O’Shanter and Souter Johnny captioned His ancient trusty drouthy crony, pp. ix, [1 blank], xiv, 284, 23 (glossary); front free-endpaper with original …

    GBP £1,250 Read more
  • Commonplace album of Emma Juana Balcombe (Reid), of "The Briars", Mornington, Victoria. 1860s-80s.

    # 43243

    BALCOMBE, Emma Juana (1823-1907)

    Commonplace album of Emma Juana Balcombe (Reid), of “The Briars”, Mornington, Victoria. 1860s-80s.

    Quarto (290 x 240 mm), lacking the upper board, but retaining the original elaborately tooled leather lower board and backstrip; approximately [70] leaves of paper in a variety of colours, containing more than 30 original pencil sketches and watercolour drawings by amateur artist Emma Juana Balcombe (Mrs Alexander Beatson Balcombe), including studies of native flowers, …

    $1,850.00 AUD Read more
  • The Soul's Journey : a metrical fantasy

    # 45472

    HAILES, Nathaniel (1802-1879)

    The Soul’s Journey : a metrical fantasy

    / by Nathaniel Hailes. Adelaide : Printed by Hussey, Shawyer, and Gall, King William Street, 1856. Octavo (200 x 130 mm), later half cloth over moire silk (upper board with a few small marks), publisher’s printed blue wrappers bound in, pp. [4], 31; lower wrapper with publisher’s advertisement: ‘Shortly will be published (or as soon as …

    $1,900.00 AUD Read more
  • New Year's Eve in Lan-Fang : a Judge Dee story.

    # 42344

    Van Gulik, Robert (1910-1967)

    New Year’s Eve in Lan-Fang : a Judge Dee story.

    Beirut : [Imprimerie Catholique], 1958. First edition. Limited to 200 copies. Inscribed by the author, in Dutch, on the half-title: ‘Met beste wenschen voor 1959! R. H. en F. van Gulik, Beyrouth, Dec. ’58.’ Small octavo (175 x 115 mm), original printed wrappers (upper wrapper sunned at top edge); 32 pp., with a frontispiece illustration, …

    $1,500.00 AUD Read more
  • The letters of Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Orford

    # 45915

    CUNNINGHAM, Peter (editor)

    The letters of Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Orford

    Edited by Peter Cunningham,. Now first chronologically arranged. London : Richard Bentley, 1891. Nine volumes, octavo, finely bound by Riviere & Son in full polished tan calf, their binder’s stamps to versos of front free endpapers, decorative gilt borders, spines in compartments with raised bands, glued and decorated in gilt, contrasting morocco title labels lettered …

    $2,500.00 AUD Read more
  • [SHANGHAI MISSION IMPRINT] Selected poems of Paul DeWitt Twinem : special days, student days, soldier days, missionary days, courtship days.

    # 46013

    TWINEM, Paul DeWitt (1894-1923)

    [SHANGHAI MISSION IMPRINT] Selected poems of Paul DeWitt Twinem : special days, student days, soldier days, missionary days, courtship days.

    Cover title: Poems by Paul DeWitt Twinem : Printed in Memoriam. Shanghai : printed by The Presbyterian Mission Press [for Mary Dorothy Fine Twinem], 1929. Octavo (20 x 135 mm), original purple silk over boards, upper board with title in English and Chinese in gilt; frontispiece half-tone photographic portrait of poet and missionary Paul deWitt …

    $450.00 AUD Read more
  • Ruins and visions : poems by Stephen Spender. (Geoffrey Dutton's copy)

    # 45839

    SPENDER, Stephen (1909-1995)

    Ruins and visions : poems by Stephen Spender. (Geoffrey Dutton’s copy)

    London : Faber and Faber, 1942. First edition, first impression. Octavo, publisher’s green cloth with gilt-lettered spine (tiny ink mark to upper board, else fine); front pastedown with ticket of Adelaide bookseller F. W. Preece, front free-endpaper with dated ownership inscription of Australian literary giant Geoffrey Dutton ‘G. H. Dutton 1942’; pp. 84; contents very …

    $100.00 AUD Read more
  • Plant and phantom : poems by Louis MacNeice. (Geoffrey Dutton's copy)

    # 45840

    MACNEICE, Louis (1907-1963)

    Plant and phantom : poems by Louis MacNeice. (Geoffrey Dutton’s copy)

    London : Faber and Faber, April 1941. First edition. Octavo, publisher’s green cloth with gilt-lettered spine (fine); front pastedown with ticket of Adelaide bookseller F. W. Preece; pp. 86; contents very clean throughout, an excellent copy. Provenance: Geoffrey Dutton AO (1922-1998), Australian author and historian; by inheritance to Robin Lucas, formerly Robin Dutton, wife of …

    $80.00 AUD Read more
  • The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

    # 45638

    CERVANTES, Miguel de (1547 - 1616)

    The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

    Done into English by Henry Edward Watts. A new edition, with notes, original and selected. In four volumes. London : Adam and Charles Black, 1894. Four volumes, octavo, finely bound by Denny of London in half-calf over cloth, the spines in compartments with contrasting morocco title labels lettered in gilt, attractive air nouveau ornamentation, marbled …

    $1,100.00 AUD Read more
  • Xmas Ballad for John Kinmont Moir

    # 42630

    SWAN, Bob and Marie

    Xmas Ballad for John Kinmont Moir

    Lower Ferntree Gully, Vic. :  John T. Kirtley, 1951 . Folio, unbound sheets as issued, pp. [4] plus four blanks, printed letterpress. One of only eight hand-printed copies, numbered and signed by the author and printer. Inscribed on preliminary blank ‘Keith. From John. Felicitations 1951 / 1952. No 5 / 8’. John Kirtley (1897-1967) is …

    $1,100.00 AUD Read more
  • The Savoy : an illustrated monthly. No. 3, July 1896

    # 45030

    SYMONS, Arthur (editor)

    The Savoy : an illustrated monthly. No. 3, July 1896

    London : Leonard Smithers, 1896. Quarto, illustrated wrappers by Aubrey Beardsley (light foxing, spine chipped), pp. 110, occasional light foxing, illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Charles Shannon, William Blake, literary contributions by W. B. Yeats, Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Symons, Havelock Ellis and others, a very good copy. One of the most famous art and …

    $375.00 AUD Read more
  • Don't die before your death : an almost documentary novel. (Inscribed and signed by Yevtushenko)

    # 45837

    YEVTUSHENKO, Yevgeny (1932-2017)

    Don’t die before your death : an almost documentary novel. (Inscribed and signed by Yevtushenko)

    Port Melbourne, Vic. : William Heinemann, 1994. First Australian edition. Trade paperback (235 x 153 mm), pictorial wrappers; a presentation copy inscribed on the title page by the author in black ballpoint ‘To Geoffrey Dutton – to the outstanding midwife and nanny of this book. Thank you for your midwife’s decisiveness  & tenderness. Yevtushenko’; pp 454; …

    $200.00 AUD Read more
  • Dogalypse : San Francisco poetry reading. (Inscribed and signed by Voznesensky, with an original photograph of the poet)

    # 45836

    VOZNESENSKY, Andrei (1933-2010)

    Dogalypse : San Francisco poetry reading. (Inscribed and signed by Voznesensky, with an original photograph of the poet)

    San Francisco, CA : City Lights Books, 1972. The Pocket Poets Series: Number Twenty-Nine. Square duodecimo (158 x 123 mm), pictorial wrappers (spine a little sunned, lower wrapper with small tear at bottom edge); a presentation copy inscribed on the half title by the poet in blue ballpoint ‘With admiration for Nin & Geoffrey – …

    $350.00 AUD Read more
  • [POETRY] Weather Event / Merry War (of Never Meeting and Never Ending) / Clouded / Catullan Rag LXV-LXXXI

    # 43631

    GASKIN, Claire; HOLT, LK; MEAD, Philip; ROSE, Peter

    [POETRY] Weather Event / Merry War (of Never Meeting and Never Ending) / Clouded / Catullan Rag LXV-LXXXI

    Melbourne : Life Before Man (Gazebo Books), December 2023. “Red-Letter Series”. Limited edition of 25 numbered and signed copies. Four volumes, uniform octavo (210 x 120 mm), each title in chapbook format with original woodcut wrappers by Phil Day, comprising 1. Claire Gaskin Weather Event, 24 pp.; 2. LK Holt Merry War (of Never Meeting …

    $120.00 AUD Read more
  • The Lacquer Screen. A Chinese detective story.

    # 44898

    VAN GULIK, Robert

    The Lacquer Screen. A Chinese detective story.

    Kuala Lumpur : Art Printing Works, 1962. First Edition. Octavo, illustrated wrappers (spine a little sunned, toning to edges of lower wrapper), pp. [viii]; 185, illustrated, a very good copy.

    $200.00 AUD Read more