Search Results: 19th Century Literature from Charles Agvent

New York: The Century Company, January 1893. First Edition. Wraps. Spine with short tears at tips; small chip at outer edge of front wrap. Near Fine. Original printed wraps. The first appearance of Twain's story. Also includes articles on John Greenleaf Whittier (with a portrait); Halbot Knight Browne "Phiz," with illustrations by him; the Great Wall of China; and the Kindergarten Movement. Illustrated with engravings.

New York: B. W. Dodge & Co., 1909. First Edition. hardcover. Hinge cracked at the rear but very tight; covers bright and fresh. The dustwrapper is complete with only minor chipping at the spine tips and corners. Near Fine in a Near Fine dustwrapper. Livingston 328. Pirated Edition, preceding the first edition of this collection of stories. This is one of the last copies to be bound with the front cover lettered in red rather than gold.

London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1862. First Edition. Hardcover. All hinges are cracked to varying degrees with several covers loose but all attached. Uncommon in original cloth. But for the cracked hinges, this would be a Near Fine set. Three volumes in the Second Issue binding (Sadleir 3186) of brown morocco cloth with more conventional blocking than the first issue. According to Carter (BINDING VARIANTS, pages 158-159), 1520 copies were printed.

London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. First British Edition. Hardcover. Typical sunning to spine with mild fraying to head and neat cloth repair to heel. Minor spotting to covers. Near Fine. Decorated red cloth. Preceding the American edition by four months. With 174 illustrations by E.W. Kemble. BAL 3414: Sequence B with the gatherings saddle-stitched with wire staples as opposed to sewn. BAL assigns no priority to the sequences. With the publisher's catalogue insert at rear dated October 1884, per BAL.

Cleveland: World Syndicate, n.d. Reprint. Hardcover. Fine in a bright and colorful Very Good dustwrapper with moderate edgewear. Dustwrapper art by Irwin Weltman, dated 1933.

[New York]: Limited Editions Club, 1963. Hardcover. Slight darkening to the spine. About Fine in a Fine slipcase. Leslie Saalburg. Quarto (7-1/4" x 10-5/8") bound in buckram with a white spine and red boards with a small oval decorative device in gilt on a white background at the center of the front cover. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 15 color tipped-in plates by Leslie Saalburg. Copy #887 of 1500 SIGNED by the illustrator on the colophon page. Monthly Letter laid in.

[New York]: Limited Editions Club, 1963. Hardcover. Bookplate on the front pastedown. Very mild darkening to the spine. About Fine in a Fine slipcase. Leslie Saalburg. Quarto (7-1/4" x 10-5/8") bound in buckram with a white spine and red boards with a small oval decorative device in gilt on a white background at the center of the front cover. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 15 color tipped-in plates by Leslie Saalburg. Copy #39 of 1500 SIGNED by the illustrator on the colophon page. Monthly Letter laid in.

[New York]: Limited Editions Club, 1963. Hardcover. Small university bookplate on the front pastedown. Spotting to the spine. Still Near Fine in a Very Good slipcase with a sunned spine and a small split at the bottom edge. Leslie Saalburg. Quarto (7-1/4" x 10-5/8") bound in buckram with a white spine and red boards with a small oval decorative device in gilt on a white background at the center of the front cover. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 15 color tipped-in plates by Leslie Saalburg. Copy #1185 of 1500 SIGNED by the illustrator on the colophon page.

Bristol: Biggs and Co., 1799 & 1800. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine, handsomely bound. Two volumes (4" x 6-1/2") bound in recent half brown morocco with matching corners retaining the original marbled boards, all edges marbled. Leaf B8 (pages 31-32) lacking in first volume, as usual; C3 in second volume in uncancelled state, with word "wicked" present on page 37, line 9. [Tinker 1953; Wise, Coleridge, 15]. Contributions by Samuel T. Coleridge (27 poems, some previously unpublished), Poet Laureate Robert Southey, Charles Lamb, Robert Lovell, Humphry Davy, Amelia Opie, and others. Pages 31-32 contained Southey's "War Poem," but were canceled in all but two known copies as the poem was considered unpatriotic. A third volume was advertised but never published. A remarkable and important collection of early Romantic poetry, here in unusually nice condition.

1853 & 1868. Letter. Creases from folding. Near Fine. Two one-page handwritten letters, both in French, dated 27 November 1853 and 29 February 1868, on 5-1/4" x 8-1/4" sheets of paper, each addressed to an unidentified publisher asking for the return of two manuscripts. Roughly, "After four unfruitful visits I finally secured an appointment and a promise of a reply. You did not keep the appointment. I believe it useless to prolong this game of hide and seek to which I am not accustomed and which it does not suit me to continue any further. Be so kind, Sir, as to put at my disposal the two manuscripts which I entrusted to you...." Jules de Goncourt published books together with his brother Edmond. Letters by Edmond are plentiful, but due to Jules's death at the age of 39 of a stroke brought on by syphilis, his letters are rather scarce on the market. The Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious prize in French language literature, is named for them.

Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850. First Edition. Hardcover. Spine, as is usually the case, partly eroded. Rubbed and edgeworn. Contents partly soiled, foxed. Good+. BAL 8757: State A, Binding A of original glazed boards: 2500 copies.

Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1858. First Edition. Hardcover. Moderate foxing, later owner name on front endpaper. Despite the two missing plates, a Near Fine copy. BAL 8781: Printing 2, Binding C of original brown cloth, no rings. The sheets measure 7-1/2 x 4-3/4, which falls between the paper size of the regular issue and the large paper issue. One of the Grolier 100 Influential American Books Printed Before 1900. This copy bound with only six (of eight) plates.

Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1858. First Edition. Hardcover. Spine frayed head and heel with frayed spots on spine edge as well. Corners open. Internally very clean. Very Good. First Printing. With engraved title and eight plates. BAL 8781: Binding A, brown cloth with all first issue points. A Grolier American 100 book. Former owner inscription in pencil "Compliments of G. Y.(?) J." dated "Boston Nov. 14--1858." The earliest dated copy, in the Medical History Library of Yale University, bears the flyleaf date of November 13.

Cambridge, 25 April 1880. Letter. Normal folds from mailing. Near Fine. A 2-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED on two sides of an 8-3/4" x 7" sheet of paper, folded once, to an unidentified recipient inviting him to dine at his home and telling him which "horse-car" would be best to take from Boston. SIGNED "Henry W. Longfellow."

Cambridge, 29 November 1864. Letter. Faint folds from mailing. Fine. Interesting 1-1/2-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED on both sides of a 7-3/4" x 6" sheet of paper, folded once, to Miss Smith. In full: "I return with many thanks the documents you were kind enough to send me - a charming poem and two very clever letters. I am very glad you did not send yours to the Emperor. That sly individual would only have laughed in his sleeve!" SIGNED "Henry W. Longfellow."

Cambridge, 8 October 1872. Letter. Normal fold from mailing. Near Fine. A 2-1/2-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED with his initials on three sides of a 7-3/4" x 4-7/8" sheet of paper, folded once, to his publisher James Fields. In full: "I want you and Mrs. Fields, with all your guests, to come to supper after W. MacDonald's lecture at the Port on Thursday evening next. Will you arrange this little party, and let me know if it be possible? And do you think it will be agreeable to the Lecturer? I enclose a note of invitation to him [not present]." SIGNED "H. W. L."

Sorrento, 10 March 1868. Manuscript. Faint creases, light staining to verso. Fine. On a 5" x 7-1/2" piece of paper Taylor has written his complete poem "Proposal" and dated and SIGNED it below. The poem was first published in the November 1859 issue of HARPER'S MONTHLY and is one of the best known by the Quaker poet. The violet loves a sunny bank, The cowslip loves the lea; The scarlet creeper loves the elm, But I love—thee. The sunshine kisses mount and vale, The stars, they kiss the sea; The west winds kiss the clover bloom, But I kiss—thee! The oriole weds his mottled mate; The lily's… Read More

Deer Island near Newburyport, MA, 9 August 1916. Letter. Normal folds from mailing. Near Fine. One-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED. In full: "My Dear General: What a splendid letter that is about Greenland! Full of magnanimity, and nobility. I was delighted with it, and felt most proud and glad of you!" Spofford was a widely-published American author whose career spanned more than six decades and included many literary genres. When Emily Dickinson was asked whether she had read Spofford's work CIRCUMSTANCE, Dickinson replied, “I read Miss Prescott's CIRCUMSTANCE, but it followed me in the dark, so I avoided her" (ATLANTIC MONTHLY, October 1891).

Boston, 30 November 1884. Letter. Near Fine. One-page brief AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "W. D. Howells" to Mr. Cary submitting an "Open Letter" (not present) and asking to see a proof.

Cambridge, 1867. Letter. Normal folds from mailing; ink a bit light. Near Fine. Superb 4-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "Henry W. Longfellow" on a 9" x 7" sheet of paper, folded once, to "My Dear Charlie," a young boy as obvious by the content. In full: "I have been so long in answering your letter, that no doubt you begin to think that I am not going to answer it at all. But you see, I am; and my letter will be longer than yours. It comes very naturally to me to begin with 'My Dear Charlie,' because I have a boy named Charlie. He was in the war; and was shot through the body; but has got well again, and is now in St. Petersburg; and whenever I write to him I begin my letters with 'My Dear Charlie,' just as I do this. I suppose you have a sled; and I wonder of what color it is, and what its name is. I used to have one named the 'Vanguard'; but that was a good while ago, and I do not know what has become of it. And what do you think of this great snow? You may live to be an old man without seeing the… Read More