Search Results: Literature from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

London: George Newnes, 1892. First edition. original cloth gilt. Very Good. FIRST EDITIONS OF TWO MASTERPIECES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. The story of Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Strand Magazine began in April, 1891, when Doyle sent three stories, "A Case of Identity," "The Red-Headed League," and The Boscombe Valley Mystery" to The Strand for publication in their issues. Doyle had imagined a creating a series of stories centered around his detective Sherlock Holmes, but with each one self-contained in case a reader missed an issue. The series, however, was intended to be limited, but the editor of The Strand kept asking for more. As Doyle later explained, "The more he asked for the more I turned out until I had a dozen... That dozen stories being finished I determined they should be the end of all Sherlock's doings." (Green and Gibson, A10). After appearing in magazine form, those original twelve stories were collected together in book form as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. "The… Read More

np: np, 1878. custom folder. Very Good. Walt Whitman Albumen Photograph by Napoleon Sarony given to his caregiver and house mate Mary O. Davis. Signed by Davis. To call Mary O. Davis, Walt Whitman's housekeeper is akin to calling a parent its child's babysitter. Perhaps history has undermined Ms. Davis' role simply because the English language lacks the proper word to describe their relationship. Nurse? Roommate? Modern-Family? Rather than finding a catchall word, let's try to briefly describe their relationship. It began in 1884 when Whitman brought clothing to Ms. Davis' rented home for mending. Soon enough, he began taking his meals with Ms. Davis. And soon after, Whitman purchased his first home-yes, it took until 1884, when the poet was 64 years old, for him to finally own a home. But what is a home without a family, Whitman may have thought. He had no wife of course, no children. So he asked Ms. Davis if she would like to join him in his new home. In some ways the relationship began as… Read More

London and New York: William Heinemann and Doubleday, Page, & Co, 1907. first Rackham edition. Original buckram. Very Good. Arthur Rackham. DELUXE LIMITED EDITION in exceedingly rare original slipcase. WITH: RACKHAM INK DRAWING of the Gryphon. The book: "Rackham embarked on his new edition of Alice in Wonderland, with illustrations to rival John Tenniel's, when the book came out of copyright in 1907. Rackham's advantage over Tenniel was that now he could introduce colour; also his pen line would not be reproduced by wood-engraving. This gave him some new freedoms for invention, but his amendments to the ingrained image of Alice were not only technical. Rackham's Alice was very much a fleshly Edwardian child who would question the status quo of Wonderland. Her courtesy carried an undercurrent of insistent argument. A contemporary critic observed 'a tender, flickering light of imagination in [Alice's] eyes' (Daily Telegraph, 27 Nov 1907). (Dictionary of National Biography). This deluxe limited… Read More

New York: Random House, 1992. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Fine/Fine. FIRST EDITIONS, with All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing signed and inscribed by McCarthy. Inscribed in ink on the half-titles of All the Pretty Horses: "For Darla / All best / Cormac McCarthy"; and The Crossing: "For Darla / All best wishes / Cormac McCarthy". All three volumes are from the recipient, with detailed letter of provenance (available upon request). "The completion of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy - All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998)--marked a major achievement in American literature. Only ten years earlier this now internationally acclaimed novelist had been called the best unknown writer in America. "The trilogy is McCarthy's most ambitious project yet, composed at the height of his mature powers over a period of fifteen years. It is 'a miracle in prose,' as Robert Hass wrote of its middle volume, an unsentimental elegy for the lost world… Read More

New York: Viking, 1959. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Good. A collection of unpublished letters with outstanding content and inscribed books establishing the close friendship John Steinbeck and his wife Elaine shared with theater director John Fearnley. The correspondence is lengthy, writerly, and warm, and the inscriptions humorous and joyful. The letters, largely undated, map primarily to their time in England from March through September 1959. The inscriptions were likely made in the mid-to-late 1950s - most of them post-dating their publications by years or even decades.. The Books: In the first edition of East of Eden (1952) Steinbeck writes as if he simply pulled it off Fearnley's shelf: What joy to write in the copy of my book which belongs to my friend John Fearnley: I think this might be the reason I wanted to write it. John Steinbeck. In the third printing of The Red Pony (1937) Steinbeck leaves a cute poem in an inscription employing nicknames they gave… Read More

Lyon: Antoine Vincent [Symphorien Barbier], 1561. First edition. contemporary limp vellum. Very Good. THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE - THE VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE JUDGE'S FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF A SENSATIONAL SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL FOR IDENTITY THEFT; THE BASIS OF NUMEROUS LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND CINEMATIC ADAPTATIONS. This case had everything - an unhappy marriage, a sudden disappearance and a mysterious return, an accusation of impersonation, a possibly complicit wife, a family and a village divided, two dramatic trials, the sudden appearance of a surprise witness at a moment in the second trial when acquittal seemed imminent, a sudden reversal of fortune, the defendant's conviction, his public apology (declaring the wife to be an innocent victim), and his execution in front of the home of the man he impersonated. It is scarcely surprising that the case has inspired, among other things, an essay by Montaigne and one by Leibniz, a novel by Dumas, a short story by Philip K. Dick, an opera, two… Read More

New York: Random House, 1957. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Fine/Fine. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of Rand's masterpiece; INSCRIBED BY RAND TO LUDWIG VON MISES: "To Dr. and Mrs. Ludwig von Mieses- / -Cordially- / Ayn Rand / 8/22/57". A spectacular association copy linking two of the most influential economic figures of the twentieth century. In August 1957 - nearly two months before the book was available to the public - Rand presented this copy of the first edition of Atlas Shrugged to Ludwig von Mises (sometimes spelled "von Mieses"), the Austrian-American economist and philosopher who was one of the leading figures of the modern libertarian movement, and immediately found a sympathetic ear. After reading Atlas Shrugged, von Mises wrote to Rand, offering strong praise for the book. In a letter to Rand dated January 23, 1958, he wrote:

 "... I enjoyed very much reading Atlas Shrugged and... I am full of admiration for your masterful construction of the plot. But 'Atlas… Read More

Camden, NJ: np, 1888. First edition. Fine. WHITMAN AS A BOOKSELLER, TRYING TO SELL LEAVES OF GRASS. In this letter, Whitman has written to New York publishers Dick & Fitzgerald mentioning Leaves of Grass. He offers the book to them at a 33% discount and signs the letter with his full signature "Walt Whitman". Framed alongside the letter is the famous photo of Whitman touching the (prop) butterfly from the first edition of Whitman's "Specimen Days & Collect". The letter, dated Feb 18, 1888 from his 328 Mickle Street address (Camden, New Jersey) reads in full: "After some delay I have succeeded in getting you a two Vol. set (in perfect order half leather binding) those portraits from life, of Leaves of Grass and Two Rivulets ed'n 1876 - Shall I send the vols to you? The price is $6.66 (+10 - one-third off). [signed] Walt Whitman" Matted and framed with UV filtered glass with opening on back to show the address side of post card. Framed alongside Whitman's letter is the photograph of Whitman from… Read More

Vancouver, CA: np, 1895. First edition. Matted and framed. Very Good. LONG HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT SIGNED LETTER WRITTEN BY S.L. CLEMENS (A.K.A. MARK TWAIN). The impact of the Paige typesetting machine on Mark Twain's life cannot be overstated. Awed by the prospect of the biggest revolution in textual history since the Gutenburg Press, Twain held faith in the machine's potential despite many warning signs, notably persistent breakdowns of Paige's machine and the advent of Linotype. Why did Twain refuse to let go of this dream? "[P]erhaps, in the end, the Paige typesetting machine was simply the best tall tale he'd ever heard," writes critic Ron Powers, arguing that the financial decline in Twain's life resulting from his misjudged investment of his own wealth and his wife Olivia's inheritance (along with a series of personal tragedies including the loss of his wife and two of his daughters in the decade following 1895) correspond directly with a diminution in his characteristic wit and levity… Read More

Croisset: np, 1847. First edition. Letter; custom case. Very Good. A LONG, EARLY, AUTOGRAPH LETTER BY FLAUBERT TO HIS MUSE LOUISE COLET, WITH REVEALING REFLECTIONS ON LIFE AND ART. On Louise Colet: "Louise Colet was truly Flaubert's muse and a midwife for his Emma Bovary. It is to her that the hermit of Croisset chronicled, in over a hundred letters, the progress of his first published novel: It is exclusively to Louise that he wrote his famous reflections about the craft of literature - prophetic passages that would become the most familiar credos of twentieth-century modernism... "Throughout the phase of their correspondence... Flaubert so often sought Louise's advice on details that her daughter and literary executor, Henriette Colet Bissieu, would later demand... that her mother's collaboration in Madame Bovary be officially acknowledged." (Francine du Plessix Gray, Rage & Fire: A Life of Louise Colet, Pioneer Feminist, Literary Star, Flaubert's Muse, pp. 199-201.) The letter: Flaubert wrote… Read More

London: np, 1941. No Binding. Fine. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by Noel Coward, with content pertaining to theater. Addressed to a young admirer, Robert Bishop, Coward writes: "I was very interested to get your nice letter. I had a miniature theater when I was younger than you & I have never forgotten all the pleasure it gave me. "I think, taken all round, it is a good plan to go to a training school such as Italia Conti - although I did not do so myself. I rather advise it as it is so much easier to get an opening through a school than on one's own. Anyway, all good luck to you. "Yours Sincerely [signed] Noel Coward" Quarto (8x10 in.), one sheet (recto and verso, 1.5 written pages); folds, otherwise fine. WITH: Three letters (three sheets total) on Coward's letterhead to Robert Bishop from Lorn Lorraine, Coward's secretary.

Cambridge University: np, 1955. first edition. custom folder. Very Good. WONDERFUL C.S. LEWIS LETTER RESPONDING TO A YOUNG FAN ABOUT THE NARNIA SERIES. Dated October 26, 1955, and written on Lewis's Magdalene College stationery, the letter reads in full: Dear -- Thank you for your nice letter. I am so glad you like the books. There will be one more, and that will be the last. Seven is a good number. The The M's Nephew of course ought to have come first, but one doesn't always write things in the proper order. With Love Yours [signed]C.S. Lewis This letter was acquired directly from the original recipient, who provided the background story: "This is why C.S. Lewis wrote to me: One day, when I was a child, I wrote a letter to him (on my clown stationary), because I loved his books and was hoping he'd write another one. Being 10, I told him what I hoped he would include in his next book, and also informed him that his 6th book in the Narnia series should have come first.  I've treasured that… Read More

Oxford: np, 1952. First edition. nb. Very Good. ONE OF THE FINEST C.S. LEWIS LETTERS TO APPEAR ON THE MARKET, OFFERING INSIGHT INTO THE CREATION OF THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. WITH MENTION OF TOLKIEN'S "THE HOBBIT" AS A FAVORITE BOOK. Between the publication of the second (Prince Caspian) and third (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) books in his masterpiece series, "The Chronicles of Narnia," Lewis writes to a group of school children, revealing his thoughts about the series and his plans for the remaining books. Over the course of the letter, Lewis: -regrets that Peter and Susan are not returning to Narnia ("they are now getting to the age at which people stop having that sort of adventure for a time"); -offers a preview of the new book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ("Lucy and Edmund find Caspian (now King of course) on board ship, sailing to the Eastern end of the Narnian world. There will be lots about Reepicheep. And there will be a Sea Serpent, and a Dragon, and lots of strange islands.");… Read More

Oxford: np, 1954. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. A REMARKABLY REVEALING LETTER: TOLKIEN DISCUSSES HIS SPECIFIC FEARS ABOUT THE TWO TOWERS AND DEFINES "THE FOUNDATION" OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND CONNECTS IT TO HIS LIFE'S WORK. The Fellowship of the Ring (the first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) was published on July 29, 1954. There were a number of rave reviews (mostly notably from Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis) but there were also enough harsh or critical assessments (particularly the reviews in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times) to concern Tolkien and make him anxious about the reception of the second volume, The Two Towers. Professional reviews were one worry, but Tolkien always seemed even more eager to discover if his works connected with "regular" readers as well. One such reader whose opinion he held in high regards, was one of his early supporters, Miss F.L. Perry, whom he had corresponded with earlier about The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The present letter… Read More

Washington, D.C.: np, 1869. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. A LOVE LETTER FROM "FATHER WHITMAN" TO A CIVIL WAR SOLDIER. A rare and significant letter to one of the young soldiers Whitman aided at a military hospital during the Civil War. Whitman corresponded with Pratt for some 8 years, beginning after Pratt's hospitalization in 1865. Whitman's letter is a response to Pratt's own of May 9, 1869, in which Pratt asks why he has not heard from Whitman (despite having sent several letters to him) and in which Pratt gives report of his health. Pratt's letter, which is addressed to "Father Whitman," essentially affirms that Whitman saved his life in 1865: "had it not been for that smiling countenace [of yours] I should have been no more". Whitman's letter in response to Pratt's letter was initially dated "June 28, 1869" and subsequently revised by Whitman to July 1. In his letter Whitman gives brief report of his life and affectionately affirms "Dear boy I would like to see you, that we might… Read More

Chicago and New York: Herbert S. Stone and Co, 1899. First edition. Original binding. Very Good. RARE FIRST EDITION OF CHOPIN'S GROUNDBREAKING NOVEL; A FOUNDATIONAL FEMINIST WORK. "No other American book was so maligned, neglected for so long, and then embraced so quickly and with such enthusiasm as Kate Chopin's 1899 novel The Awakening. And none has been so thoroughly redeemed as The Awakening. Thought vulgar, morbid, and disturbing in Chopin's time, it has for the past quarter of a century been seen as sensitive, passionate, and inspiring. Forgotten for two generations, it is today known by countless people in dozens of countries, and Kate Chopin has become among the most widely read of classic American authors" (Bernard Koloski, Awakenings). Chopin's "works are widely taught at universities and have been the subject of considerable critical attention. The Awakening has been translated into several languages. Chopin is now seen as a pioneer of both American realism and feminist consciousness. To… Read More

Dublin: Cuala Press, 1935. SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION. Fine/Very Good. ILLUSTRATIONS BY: YEATS, JACK B; BROWN, VICTOR; O'SULLIVAN, SEAN; PEET, E.C; KERNOFF, HARRY; MCGONIGAL, MAURICE MUSIC BY DUFF, ARTHUR. SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF W.B. YEATS'S BROADSIDES, ONE OF ONLY 100 COPIES SIGNED BY W.B. YEATS AND F.R. HIGGINS AT END OF INTRODUCTORY ESSAY AND ACCOMPANIED BY BREATHTAKING HAND-COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS. Collection of 12 broadsides originally issued individually from January-December 1935. Containing both traditional and new Irish ballads written by Yeats, F.R. Higgins, Padraic Colum, and others. With engraved music throughout. Numerous evocative and emotional hand-colored woodblock illustrations, including many by Jack B. Yeats, brother of the famed W.B Yeats.  Only 300 copies printed, with only 100 copies bound and signed, making this production EXTREMELY RARE. Signed by Yeats and Higgins at the end of their preface, Anglo-Irish Ballads. "Yeats is now seen as… Read More

London: Macmillan, 1897. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. FIRST EDITION of Kipling's popular nautical tale, with vivid descriptions of the Massachusetts fishing industry. The basis for the 1937 film starring Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, and Mickey Rooney. London: Macmillan, 1897. Octavo, original cloth gilt, all edges gilt. With illustrations by I.W. Taber. Book slightly cocked (as often); a few spots to cloth, crease to rear endpaper. Text unusually clean and cloth gilt bright. Without scarce dust jacket.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954. First edition. original cloth, original dust jacket. Very Good/Very Good. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND DATED BY WALLACE STEVENS on front free endpaper: "Wallace Stevens, Hartford, Nov. 6, 1954.". "It was not until 1954 that Stevens agreed to the publication of his collected poems, the idea being that the book's appearance should coincide with his seventy-fifth birthday which fell on 2 October of that year. Even then he was not particularly happy about the prospect... He knew, however, that there was now no alternative. The poems that made up The Rock section of the Collected Poems were not enough to constitute a whole new volume, and, in spite of what he must have recognized as the undimmed quality of these twenty-five poems, among which there is hardly a failure, he was aware that he was tiring." The classic collection of Stevens's poetry - including the new poems in the final section titled The Rock - was the culmination of his life's work. Issued in a limited… Read More

Philadelphia: Ferguson Bros. & Co, 1889. Signed Limited First Edition. Very Good. SIGNED FIRST EDTION OF THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF WHITMAN'S WORK; A REMARKABLE COPY FROM WHITMAN'S PERSONAL LIBRARY. On this Edition:
 "Whitman never lost his passion for joining disparate parts into a whole: it was the basis of his politics, his philosophy, and his bookmaking. He wrote to one acquaintance in 1886 that 'I think of... bringing out a complete budget of all my writing in one book.'... Horace Traubel was again involved in getting this big book out, and he and Whitman had endless discussions about all aspects of its production." 

Whitman was worried about his failing health and terrified that he would die before his "big book" was published. "At one point the poet told Traubel, 'I am in a hurry-in a hurry: I want to see the book in plates: then I can die satisfied. We will attend to the presswork and binding when we come to it. The main thing is the plates-the plates. Horace, I am on the verge of… Read More