Search Results: Fiction (19th Century) from Sumner & Stillman

1893. New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1893. 9 pp undated ads. Original tan cloth decorated in brown, black and gilt. First Edition of this collection of nine pieces -- some fiction and some non-fiction. The title tale speculates what would happen if a perfectly honest American chap were turned adrift in London with nothing but a million-pound bank note issued by the Bank of England, and no way to account for his being in possession of it. This is a close-to-fine copy -- spine slightly darkened (as usual), but scarcely any of the usual cover soil. Blanck 3436; McBride p. 158.

1876. Hartford [etc.]: The American Publishing Company, 1876. 4 pp ads dated 1 Dec 1876. Original blue cloth decorated in black and gilt. First American Edition, second state (i.e. with the frontispiece on the verso of the half-title, rather than on a separate adjacent leaf). Because such copies appear on laid paper, on wove paper, or on a combination of both papers, it is uncertain whether this second state consists of one or two (or possibly even three) printings. This copy is printed throughout on laid paper, and has mispaginated preliminary leaves (Blanck's "arbitrarily designated" state A). In our experience this second state is the variant of TOM SAWYER usually encountered -- though TOM has become somewhat uncommon in any state (much less common than HUCKLEBERRY FINN, for example). Close to near-fine, this copy is unusually bright, including the gilt both on the front cover and on the spine. It does have moderate wear at the extremities, and along the fore-edge of the first two (blank) leaves;… Read More

1862. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1862. Original violet-blue cloth. First Edition of Thackeray's last completed novel -- involving a sham marriage, blackmail by a clergyman, a family fortune lost by Philip's father who then fled to America, a fiancée therefore opting for a wealthier rival, and of course, the finding of a lost will of a great-uncle. PHILIP is more commonly encountered in one of two brown cloth bindings. Sadleir goes into considerable detail to explain why these violet-blue copies of PHILIP were the first to be bound up but the last to be actually issued; central to his theory is the curious misprint at the foot of the spines: "Smith & Elder" -- curious because the firm had altered its name to "Smith, Elder & Co." no later than 1826, which was prior to the period of brass-imprinting of cloth spines. Carter likewise theorizes in great detail, saying that he had long suspected the bluish copies were earlier but that he was no longer so sure. This is a very good-plus set (spines… Read More

1895. New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. 3 pp undated ads. Original black cloth. First American Edition of Conrad's first book, with a text that varies considerably from the English edition (because it was typeset from uncorrected proofs). We find the American edition to be somewhat scarcer than the English one (as well it should be, since only about half as many were issued: according to Keating "only 650 copies of this edition were printed, and it is a rare book"). This copy is in Supino's binding "B" (Cagle's binding "b"), black cloth with a double blind­stamped border rule on the covers and with "The Macmillan Company" at the foot of the spine. Since 2022, when Supino cited an "A" copy bearing the date 30 April 1895, plus he had an "A" copy bearing an advance review slip, it is considered likely that "A" is the earlier binding state; until then, it was considered a toss-up. This is a very good-plus copy (light edge-wear, a little faint soil). Supino A1.11.0; Cagle A1b.2. Provenance: discreet… Read More

1895. [a handsome copy] London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. Original dark green cloth. First Edition of Joseph Conrad's first book, an edition believed to have consisted of 1000-1250 copies. Conrad, after meeting the real "Olmeijer" in East Borneo in 1887, gradually produced the manuscript of this book over the six years 1889-1895. He submitted it to Unwin for consideration in their "Pseudonym Library", using the pseudonym "Kamudi" (Malayan for "rudder") -- enclosing the return postage, so sure was he of its rejection. However, Unwin's reader Edward Garnett saw the manuscript's promise and accepted it for non-pseudonymous publication. This copy is in the first state (as are most copies), with the letters missing from the last two lines of page 110. Condition is unusually fine, with virtually no wear at all (there are no nicks or chips in the spine ends, and only hair-line cracking of the original endpapers); about the only flaw we can come up with is the almost-unavoidable slight browning of the olive… Read More

1895. New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. 3 pp undated ads. Original black cloth. First American Edition of Conrad's first book, with a text that varies considerably from the English edition (because it was typeset from uncorrected proofs). We find the American edition to be somewhat scarcer than the English one (as well it should be, since only about half as many were issued: according to Keating "only 650 copies of this edition were printed, and it is a rare book"). This copy is in Supino's binding "B" (Cagle's binding "b"), black cloth with a double blind­stamped border rule on the covers and with "The Macmillan Company" at the foot of the spine. Since 1922, when Supino had an "A" copy bearing the date 30 April 1895, plus an "A" copy bearing an advance review slip, it is considered likely that "A" is the earlier binding state; until then, it was considered a toss-up. This is a close-to-fine copy (a touch of rubbing at the extremities). Supino A1.11.0; Cagle A1b.2. Provenance: discreet bookplates… Read More

1895. [advance review copy] New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. 3 pp undated ads. Original very dark blue cloth. First American Edition of Conrad's first book, with a text that varies considerably from the English edition (because it was typeset from uncorrected proofs). We find the American edition to be scarcer than the English one (as well it should be, since only about half as many were issued: according to Keating "only 650 copies of this edition were printed, and it is a rare book"). This copy is in Supino's binding "A" (Cagle's binding "a") -- very dark blue cloth with double blind rules framing each cover, and with "Macmillan & Co" at the foot of the spine. It is a bright copy that would be fine except that there is some speckling of the spine cloth, and the volume is slightly aslant. Supino A1.11.0, binding (A); Cagle A1b.2, binding (a). Onto the front free endpaper is tipped a publisher's advance review slip ("This book is furnished for editorial purposes... and it is respectfully… Read More

1895. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. Original dark olive-green cloth. First Edition of Joseph Conrad's first book, an edition believed to have consisted of 1000-1250 copies. Conrad, after meeting the real "Olmeijer" in East Borneo in 1887, gradually produced the manuscript of this book over the six years 1889-1895. He submitted it to Unwin for consideration in their "Pseudonym Library", using the pseudonym "Kamudi" (Malayan for "rudder") -- enclosing the return postage, so sure was he of its rejection. However, Unwin's reader Edward Garnett saw the manuscript's promise and accepted it for non-pseudonymous publication. This copy is in the first state (as are most copies), with the letters missing from the last two lines of page 110. Condition is fine, with virtually no wear at all: there are no nicks or chips in the spine ends, just minor cracking of the original endpapers. Atypically, the spine cloth is NOT browned. ALMAYER'S FOLLY has become quite scarce in this condition. Supino A1.1.0 (this copy… Read More

1896. A Story of an Eastern River. Second Edition. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. Original dark green cloth. First Edition, early printing -- of Conrad's first book. Though labeled "Second Edition" on the title page, this is actually a reprint of the first edition; all copies of this printing seem to have half-title verso ads that are colonial. The volume is printed on laid paper (forming a thicker volume than the first printing), and has the p. 110 misprints corrected. (There were two printings effected in 1895, and then two in 1896 -- this one on laid paper for the domestic market, and another on wove paper for the colonial market.) Actually it was not until 1930, for Benn's "Essex Library," that ALMAYER'S FOLLY was reset for a true "second edition." The primary binding for this "Second Edition" is the same as for the first -- dark green cloth lettered in gilt. Condition is very good-plus (very light edge-wear, fading at the top of the rear cover). Cagle A1a (notes).

1895. New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. 3 pp undated ads. Original very dark blue cloth. First American Edition of Conrad's first book, with a text that varies considerably from the English edition (because it was typeset from uncorrected proofs). We find the American edition to be scarcer than the English one (as well it should be, since only about half as many were issued: according to Keating "only 650 copies of this edition were printed, and it is a rare book"). This copy is in Supino's binding "A" (Cagle's binding "a") -- very dark blue cloth with double blind rules framing each cover, and with "Macmillan & Co" at the foot of the spine. It is a bright, near-fine copy (front endpaper repaired at the gutter, but very little other wear). Supino A1.11.0 (this copy -- see Provenance note); Cagle A1b.2, binding (a). Provenance: The title page bears the ink-stamp of Wilson's [lending] Library of Philadelphia -- dated April 30, 1895: according to Cagle, the American publication of this book followed… Read More

1895. [the leaves still unopened] London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. Original dark green cloth. First Edition of Joseph Conrad's first book. "In the absence of publisher's records, the number of copies printed has been estimated to be between 600 and 3000, with approximately 1100 being the most likely number" [Supino]. Conrad, after meeting the real "Olmeijer" in East Borneo in 1887, gradually produced the manuscript of this book over the six years 1889-1895. He submitted it to Unwin for consideration in their "Pseudonym Library", using the pseudonym "Kamudi" (Malayan for "rudder") -- enclosing the return postage, so sure was he of its rejection. However, Unwin's reader Edward Garnett saw the manuscript's promise and accepted it for non-pseudonymous publication. This copy is in the first state (as are most copies), with the letters missing from the last two lines of page 110. The leaves of this copy, though untrimmed on the fore- and bottom edges as issued, are still unopened (i.e. un-read). Condition… Read More

1892. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co., 1892. Original olive-green cloth pictorially decorated in black and dark green. First Edition of this novel in which Twain tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate the character of Colonel Sellers from THE GILDED AGE. This American edition came out in late March or early April 1892; the London edition came out about six months later. This copy is in olive-green cloth; others are in grey-green cloth but are otherwise identical -- there is no priority between the two colors, and there are no "issue points" of the text. The volume is in bright, near-fine condition (minor rubbing at the extremities). Blanck 3434; McBride p. 134.

1850. [first fiction, in original cloth] A Romance of the Fifth Century. London: Richard Bentley, 1850. 2 pp undated ads in Vols II and III, as well as printed endpaper ads in all three volumes. Original cream embossed cloth with blind-stamping on the covers and gilt stamping on the spines. First Edition of Wilkie Collins's first fiction, preceded only by his two-volume "memoir" of his father, the renowned landscape painter. Actually Collins began ANTONINA in 1846, then (after his father died in early 1847) he paused to write the biography, after which he resumed and completed the novel. ANTONINA sold well, with a "revised" edition coming out three months later (in May 1850), followed by another three-volume printing in 1853; it "was reprinted throughout Collins's lifetime and into the twentieth century." Drawing upon Collins's own 1837 visit to Rome, ANTONINA is modeled after Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII... The plot is absurd, and many passages read like a cross between a… Read More

1888. By Q. London: Cassell & Company, 1888. 16 pp ads dated July 1888. Original tan cloth pictorially decorated in black. First Edition of Quiller-Couch's second novel, which like his first and third (DEAD MAN'S ROCK, 1887, and THE SPLENDID SPUR, 1889) were published under the pseudonym "Q". Much of the tale is in his native Cornish dialect. Later on Quiller-Couch turned primarily to literary criticism, editing THE OXFORD BOOKs of English Verse, English Ballads, English Prose, etc. It was also he who completed Robert Louis Stevenson's ST. IVES, left unfinished at the latter's death. Cassell published this tale in the same series, and same type of soil-prone binding, as Haggard's KING SOLOMON'S MINES and Stevenson's THE BLACK ARROW -- which series was promoted as "Books for Boys." This is a remarkably fine copy, virtually free of wear and soil -- and is quite uncommon thus. NCBEL III 1071.

1899. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1899. 2 pp undated ads. Original brown cloth. First American Edition, which consisted of only 1,000 copies (half as many as the English edition published a few weeks earlier). Nanda Brookenham's "awkward age" begins when her mother enters her into the marriage market and ends when she decides to be in charge of her own life. This copy is what Edel & Laurence calls the primary state, and is Supino's Impression A (but neither Supino nor Blanck attempt to assign precedence): the use of thicker paper (compared to "B") results in leaves bulking just under 1-1/2 inches, and the "s" of the publisher's spine imprint is non-italic. This is a bright copy, fine except for the slightest of rubbing at the corners; the volume is only a little askew, almost-unavoidable for a thick 557-page novel. Supino 53.6.0; Edel & Laurence A53b; Blanck 10636.

1899. London: William Heinemann, 1899. 2 pp undated ads. Original blind-stamped blue cloth. First Edition of this novel, written almost entirely in dialogue, of Nanda Brookenham's "awkward age" of transition away from her mother's marriage-marketing and toward taking charge of her own life. This appears to have been a colonial copy that was transferred back for domestic use (according to E&L, 475 copies were so transferred): the book is in the second binding state (with nine tulip buds rather than four irises on the front cover), is printed on smooth wove paper, and has a title page that is printed all in black and is dated in Arabic numbers -- all aspects denoting colonial copies. The half-title, which would have identified this as a copy meant for the colonies, was excised by the publisher when it was re-designated for domestic use; most such copies do not have the final ad leaf either, but this one does. On the front cover, "THE AWKWARD AGE" measures 2-7/8" across (shorter than on all three… Read More

1850. This is a complete set Dickens's annual "Extra Christmas Numbers" -- all nine of HOUSEHOLD WORDS, followed by all nine of ALL THE YEAR ROUND. London: Dec. 1850 - Dec. 1858 and Dec. 1859 - Dec. 1867. Original self-wrappers (first 13 numbers) and original blue printed wrappers (last five numbers) -- as issued. First Editions of all eighteen pieces. Dickens was the editor (or "conductor") of both of these periodicals -- one rising out of the ashes of the other -- but he also wrote at least part of the Christmas story in each of these eighteen numbers. The stories in HOUSEHOLD WORDS are: 1850 ("A Christmas Tree" is by CD) 1851 ("What Christmas is, as we Grow Older" is by CD) 1852 A ROUND OF STORIES ("The Poor Relation's Story" and "The Child's Story" are by CD) 1853 ANOTHER ROUND OF STORIES ("The Schoolboy's Story" and "Nobody's Story" are by CD) 1854 THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS ("The First Poor Traveller" and "The Road" are by CD) 1855 THE HOLLY-TREE INN ("The Guest," "The Boots" and "The Bill" are… Read More

1884. Illustrated by F. Opper, of "Puck." New York and Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1884. Original light brown wrappers stamped in black. First Edition of this volume of humor, by a 19th-Century master of that genre. Nye (1850-1896) was born in very rural Maine, he grew up and was educated in northern Wisconsin, and he settled in Laramie, Wyoming Territory -- where he was postmaster, superintendent of schools, and journalist at the Laramie Boomerang... where he became known nationally for his humor. He took the name "Bill Nye" from Bret Harte's poem "The Heathen Chinee," and a politically-incorrect quote on the title page is from Harte & Twain's "Ah Sin." Later in his (meningitis-shortened) life, he wrote with James Whitcomb Riley, and traveled with Luther Burbank. In his last decade he penned his credo: There is a grim and ghastly humor -- the humor that is born of a pathetic philosophy -- which now and then strikes me in reading the bright and keen-witted work of our American paragraphers. It… Read More

1841. With Illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne. Complete in One Volume. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841. Original blind-stamped olive green cloth. First Separate Edition. After NICHOLAS NICKLEBY was published in monthly serial parts with separate plates in 1838-1839, Dickens decided that his future novels would be published in weekly serial parts that included the illustrations within the text -- loosely connected under the title of MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK. He began this project in April 1840 with his tale THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP; after forty-plus parts he completed that tale, and swung into the beginning of BARNABY RUDGE. In November 1841, after a total of 88 weekly parts, BARNABY RUDGE was complete. During this serialization, MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK (containing both novels) was also published in three volumes, one at a time; after serialization (in December 1841), each novel was also published separately in one volume, as with BARNABY RUDGE here. This is why the pagination of… Read More

1846. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1846. 2 pp undated ads. Original red cloth pictorially decorated in gilt, all page edges gilt. First Edition of the fourth of Dickens's five illustrated Christmas books -- following A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE CHIMES, and THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, and preceding THE HAUNTED MAN. This is an unusual tale in which two sisters love the same man, both ultimately settling in with him (though only one is married to him) -- according to Thackeray "a wretched affair." It is in fact quite autobiographical: Dickens loved Mary Hogarth, married her sister Catherine, and then was happy to have his household run by their sister Georgina. This copy has the vignette title page in the fourth and usual state (Todd's state E1), with an angel holding the banner and with no publisher's imprint. In our experience, at least 90% and perhaps 95% of the copies encountered are of this state. This is a bright copy, perhaps near-fine, with the usual minor wear at the spine ends; atypically, the… Read More