Search Results: Literature from 20 Ants Fine Books, IOBA

Kingswood, Surrey: William Heinemann Ltd. - The Windmill Press. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1927. Press Proof; First Printing. Hardcover. The first copy has a 3" split, without loss, along the front of the spine at head and a tiny spot to a page with offsetting to the adjacent page. The second copy has a 1/2" closed tear, without loss, to the leather at the spine head, a 5/15" split, without loss, to leather at the spine tail and a pinpoint spot to a page. Common to both copies: Boards are splayed, common to most copies of this book. Overall wear and scuffing to all surfaces and extremities. Spines have wear and some sun-lightening Faint toning at the edges of all pages. Verso of free endpapers has offsetting from some production process. Lack the ephemeral, plain dustwrappers.; TWO of only 12 copies of the press proof of the first pages composed and printed at The Windmill Press, Kingsmill, Surrey, on December 8th, 1927. The proof pages are the facing pages 2 and 3 from… Read More

New York: Random House. Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1975. Facsimile; First Printing. Hardcover. Slipcase has slight wear to the corners at the opening, wear across the head end of the spine, and more wear and a short paper split at the tail end. Faint soil and an ink line on the bottom surface.; Written in 1762, Voltaire's classic Candide: or, Optimism is a satire featuring a young, French gentleman lurching through life, bemoaning his various ill fortunes, yet cheerfully optimistic about himself and living in "the best of all possible worlds." He discusses life and his own foibles, constantly, with his long-suffering companion and tutor Panglos. Witty and clever on the surface, the work is savage in its attacks on society, religion, the political establishment, and the philosophy of optimism. Those entrenched interests attacked Voltaire and Candide's content, earning him denouncement and scorn. This was in keeping with his life of abrading nearly all he encountered,… Read More

New York: Washington Square Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1966. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Volume I has an imperfection to the rear pastedown at the head corner and this has impressed the lightest crease at the same corner of a few leaves. Minor marks to the slipcase.; The Divine Comedy is Dante Alighieri's medieval vision of the afterlife, rendered in verse, eleven syllables per line. Three spiritual guides take the protagonist through the three realms of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This journey incorporates the author's 14th Century Catholic concepts of the soul, sin, and divine judgement that leads to punishment or reward, damnation or salvation. Considered by many to be the pre-eminent work of Italian literature, essentially a Christian epic poem, and written in the Tuscan language, it helped elevate Tuscan to be the standard Italian language. Translated into English blank verse by Louis Biancolli using the Moore-Toynbee text of an early Oxford… Read More

Ipswich: Limited Editions Club. Fine with no dust jacket. 1961. Limited/Numbered Signed Edition. Hardcover. Slightest scuffing to bottom of slipcase.; Like much of Thackeray's work, Pendennis is a satire on the foibles of human nature and high society. Somewhat autobiographical, it reads like a farce with the frequently bewildered Pendennis climbing through London's upper crust from one doomed romance to another, gambling, and stumbling through social interaction. This author of Vanity Fair was able to take more time with this novel than the previous one and Pendennis was originally published in 20 periodical installments. This understated presentation by Limited Editions Club is in 2 slipcased volumes and is copy 817 of an edition of 1500. Signed on the colophon of Volume II by Charles W. Stewart who was commissioned to produce thirty illustrated plates in his characteristic ink and color wash. Stewart had a multi-faceted creative mind and was also a ballet dancer, costume… Read More

Santa Barbara, CA: Unicorn Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1971. Limited Signed Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. A few thin, dark marks to the paper of the back cover. Slightest bumps to the lower tips of the covers.; This poem is written in Levine's characteristic style of short, declarative phrasing and the lines speak in the voice of a child, the voice of an adult, and the voice of the wall, all presumed to be in Spain. The dedication references the girl Pili, the author's wife, and Spain, for which he had a long-standing fascination. Prior to his 2011 appointment as Poet Laureate of the United States, Philip Levine won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lily Prize in Poetry and the Wallace Stevens Award. The author was also named Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Copy 43 of an edition of 50, numbered in yellow ink and signed in black by Levine. From a total edition of 750, the 50 numbered and signed copes are specially bound in… Read More

Boston: Small, Maynard & Company. Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. 1925. First American Edition. Hardcover. Spine ends slightly bumped and bump to one corner. Light soil to the head and tail edges of the front cover, two tiny marks at the head. Faint toning at the edges of the pastedowns and endpapers. Dust jacket is intact with considerable wear and soil. Chips to head and tail of spine, all edges, and corners. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. ; At once mystic and a celebration of life, the rubaiyat (quatrains) form a beautiful, poetic work by Omar Khaiyam [Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami] (1040-1131) the Persian Sufi poet, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. The rubaiyat are considered by some to exalt earthly pleasure, consider death, and point out the unreliability of religion in addressing human issues. This English translation by Frederick Rolfe ["Baron Corvo"] (1860-1913) was based on the French… Read More

Cleveland: Fine Editions Press. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1946. Hardcover. The spine is sunned, but gilt lettering is strong and attractive. Nick at center of rear hinge. Wear and small spot to the edge of the spine head. 3/8" stray red ink mark at the head corner and tiny bump to the tail corner of the front cover. Slight offsetting to front endpaper. ; This classic work of American literature recounts the life of Hester Prynne in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s. Hester and a lover she refuses to name conceive a daughter, without being married, and Hester winds her way through a story of sin, guilt, societal recrimination, dignity, and redemption while raising her daughter Pearl. The scarlet letter is the letter "A,", in red, that she is forced to wear to brand her as an adulterer. One of the first mass-produced books in the United States, it remains a powerful statement about society, religion, and dignity. With an insightful Introduction of the work… Read More

New York: New York University Press. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1971. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. University library withdrawal stamp in ink on the front pastedown, library withdrawal stamp in ink to the head edge of the text block. Evidence of removal of a label at the upper left of front cover. Spine tail a bit rubbed. Lacks the dust jacket.; Thackeray's humorous farce that satirizes relationships and proper society: as applicable today, as then. This novel was never fully developed or completed, but ends at a logical point in the story. Includes the Author's brief explanation of why the work was left unfinished. Each chapter begins with an engraved cut illustration that functions as a dropped capital and incorporates the appropriate alphabetic letter. Various engraved cuts throughout. Text reproduced as-typeset in the 1879 edition by Smith, Elder & Co., London. Printed by The Scolar Press, Ltd., Menston, Yorkshire, England on laid, watermarked, Abby Mill paper.… Read More

Westwood, NJ: Kindle Press. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1971. Limited/Numbered Edition. Hardcover. Common to this edition, the spine is quite sunned compared to the dark green half cloth, but gilt lettering remains bright. A pinpoint speck to the front cover's paper. The slipcase has minor wear to corners, the tail is bumped.; Sir Walter Scott's arguably best short story of the rough life of two cattle drivers in Scotland, privately printed in celebration of his bicentennial birthday. Copy 242 of an edition of 680 and signed on the colophon by Coleman O. Parsons who wrote an extensive Foreword for this edition. Frontispiece is a fanciful lion with spread claws, printed in red. The front pastedown bears a portrait of Scott, but I'm partial to the frontis, instead. Text block trimmed at the head edge. Printed by Meriden Gravure on Hale Paper's mould-made rag paper designed by F. T. Jackson and bearing a facsimile of Sir Walter Scott's signature of 1827. Bound by A.… Read More

San Francisco, CA: Arion Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1986. Limited Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. The World is Round lacks the ephemeral printed balloon. The World is Not Flat has a slight splay to the boards. The box has the slightest rubbing at the corners. The trade edition's dust jacket has sun-lightened spine, a dark spec to the front, 3/4" closed tear to the back, overall light rubbing.; The World is Round is the only children's book written by Gertrude Stein, though written to be appreciated by adults. The prose and poetry describe Rose, a French child, a cousin, dogs, a pet lion, and the blue chair that Rose carries up a hill she imagines to be a "mountain." The plot isn't the real story, which is a young girl's determination and discovery that "Rose" is simply what she is and that who she is is far deeper than that. Written in a stream of words, like one would hear from an enthusiastic child describing something important.… Read More