Search Results: Authors starting with C from Sumner & Stillman

1906. London: Methuen & Co., (1906). 40 pp ads dated July 1906 (plus two loosely-inserted Methuen ad slips). Original bright red cloth stamped in gilt. First Edition by this prolific (and at the time very popular) author of many novels, often with elements of the supernatural and mystery -- such as OUR LADY OF DARKNESS, THE SECRET IN THE HILL, THE GREEN PARROT and THE SKELETON KEY. At age 62 his writing career was cut short by the 1918 flu epidemic. This is a remarkably fine, bright copy -- of a curiously uncommon book. Hubin p. 64.

1876. With Nine Illustrations by Henry Holiday. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. 1 page undated ads. Original deep red cloth pictorially decorated in black, all page edges gilt. First Edition, special dark-red binding, which consisted of 100 copies. This is a poetical nonsense tale, both funny and subtle, that "describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature" [WM&G]. The crew consists of a Bellman, a Bonnet-Maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Butcher, a Baker, a Beaver and (the only one not illustrated) "a Boots." In his dedicatory verse to Gertrude Chataway, Carroll hid the child's name twice. Standard copies were issued in buff-colored cloth (with the same elaborate pictorial decoration, but in black). According to WM&G, "It is doubtful whether any variant coloured bindings were for sale, other than buff or red; the other colours seem to have been bound specially for Dodgson, who wrote to Macmillan on 21 Mar. 1876… Read More

1889. [inscribed by Lewis Carroll] With Forty-six Illustrations [each] by Harry Furniss. [Together, two volumes.] London: Macmillan and Co., 1889/1893. 3 pp / 5 pp undated ads. Original red cloth pictorially decorated in gilt, all page edges gilt. First Editions of Carroll's rather serious fairy tales. SYLVIE AND BRUNO, with its conclusion in 1893, was the last considerable work by Dodgson. Though he fully explains in the Preface... the principles on which he introduces many solemn pages into his fairy tale, the serious subjects of life and science cannot be thus inserted without marring the effect of the whole... Somehow the light and airy touch of ALICE is wanting, but there is plenty of amusing incident and entertaining verse. There is hardly any plot: Sylvie and Bruno, after living with a Warden, Sub-Warden, Professor, Beggar, Gardener, Uggug (the young artist) and others, are conducted by the Gardener into Elfland, ride on a lion, visit Dogland, and so on... [The illustrations] are rightly… Read More

1915. With Many Illustrations. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, [1915]. Original maroon cloth lettered in gilt with pictorial panel on the front cover, with dust jacket. First Edition, second printing (the first to have a dust jacket) -- of the autobiography of the Irish-American investigative publisher Samuel Sidney McClure -- ghost-written by his managing editor, Willa Cather. McClure (1857-1949) emigrated with his widowed mother from County Antrim to a farm in Indiana when he was nine; after attending Valparaiso schools, between 1874 and 1882 he gradually worked his way through Knox College in Galesburg Illinois. In 1897 McClure teamed up with F.N. Doubleday to create Doubleday & McClure publishers, and upon its dissolution in 1900, McClure created McClure, Phillips & Co. (which in turn would sell its assets back to Doubleday in 1908). When in 1905 McClure's cousin brought to his attention the writings of one Willa Cather, MP&Co published her first work of fiction, THE TROLL GARDEN. A year… Read More

1918. With Illustrations by W.T. Benda. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. Original brown linen-grain cloth lettered in light orange. First Edition, first printing (with the date on the FRONT of the title leaf), first state (with the illustrations on coated paper, rather than on text paper). This was Cather's second great novel of immigrant life on the Nebraska frontier, following O PIONEERS! (1913) -- and the third and last of her great "prairie novels," after O PIONEERS! and THE SONG OF THE LARK (1915). It tells of a Bohemian immigrant girl's life there, and of the pioneer strength that carries her through numerous adversities. Cather took a major role in the production of this book, choosing the illustrator and negotiating with Houghton Mifflin regarding many aspects of the book (especially the advertising budget, which HMC would not increase above $300.00!). She was particularly upset when she learned that HMC had ordered the illustrations printed on coated plate paper; she… Read More

1935. London...: Cassell and Company, (1935). Original dark blue cloth with spine lettered in gilt, with dust jacket. First Edition of this collection of eight cases solved by Father Brown, the diminutive Roman Catholic priest / amateur detective. This was the fifth and last collection of Father Brown cases, preceded by THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN (1911), THE WISDOM... (1914), THE INCREDULITY... (1926), and THE SECRET... (1927); Chesterton died the year after this one was published. ...It was in his series of Father Brown stories that Chesterton gave life to one of the most famous and best-loved of fictional detectives... The little Roman Catholic priest's main preoccupation is with the moral and religious aspects of the crimes he is solving, rather than the apprehension of the criminal and the administration of legal punishment. With his psychological approach to the problems of human frailty, and his endowment of the guilty with good as well as bad qualities, Chesterton's works of detective… Read More

1888. or, Vladimir the Monk. New York: Robert Bonner's Sons, 1888. Original buff wrappers. First Edition in book form, published in the year following the death of this prodigious New England writer (born in Maine). This tale had first appeared in the New York Ledger in 1856, the year in which Cobb began his lifelong association with that periodical. To it [the Ledger], in thirty-one years, he contributed 130 novelettes, 834 short stories, and 2,305 brief sketches! (There already lay behind him 36 published novelettes and 200 short stories.)... As a literary figure Cobb hardly exists; but he is of interest as the first American to apply "mass production" methods to writing. His stories were immensely popular, since they were nicely fitted to the viewpoints and opinions of the semi-literate public at which they were aimed; they were at once moral and sensational, romantic and naive, pious and sentimental. He had real dramatic skill and a certain knack for rough-and-ready characterization, but his… Read More

1862. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 1862. Original blind-stamped pebbled orange cloth with gilt-decorated spines. First Edition of "the most unjustly neglected of all Wilkie Collins's novels" [Robinson]. Written at the peak of Collins's career just after THE WOMAN IN WHITE, Sampson Low paid Collins 3,000 for NO NAME, and then produced 4,000 copies -- all but 400 of which were sold by the afternoon of the first day [Gasson]. The novel centers about the theme of illegitimacy, and Collins's condemnation of the laws that govern it. It is the story of 18-year-old Magdalen Vanstone's attempt to regain control of her father's fortune (she and her sister are the children of a common-law marriage; just when their parents finally are able to marry, the father suddenly dies before writing a new will -- leaving the two girls with "no name" and thus with no claim upon his fortune). Though her elder (and quieter) sister Norah resigns herself to her impoverished fate, Magdalen enlists the aid of the "delightful… Read More

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

1863. [a handsome set] London: Sampson, Low, Son, & Co., 1863. 16 pp ads dated Nov 1863 in each volume. Original green cloth with spines stamped in gilt. First Edition of this collection of twenty-five essays, sketches and other pieces (including some fiction). All of them had initially appeared between 1856 and 1861 either in "Household Words" or in "All The Year Round," the two periodicals founded and edited by Collins's brother's father-in-law, Charles Dickens. (Collins's most famous works, THE WOMAN IN WHITE and THE MOONSTONE, also first appeared in "All The Year Round.") Most of the pieces are categorized by Collins as "Sketches of Character," "Nooks and Corners of History," "Social Grievances," "Curiosities of Literature," "Fragments of Personal Experience" and "Cases Worth Looking At." Andrew Gasson in his bibliography provides a one-clause recap of each piece, enough to get across that many demonstrate Collins's wit and his disdain for Victorian sensibilities -- for example "Talk Stoppers"… Read More

1879. London: Chatto & Windus, 1879. Bound in three-quarter red morocco with gilt-paneled spines, red cloth boards, marbled endpapers. First Edition of this novel about "fallen leaves... the people who have drawn blanks in the lottery of life... the friendless and the lonely, the wounded and the lost." The novel follows the fortunes of four women, all in one way or another 'fallen leaves', who are linked by their relationship with the hero, Amelius Goldenheart, and also by secrets from the past. Their histories are looked at from two perspectives: that of the ruthless capitalist society of England in which they live, and that of the Christian Socialism of the hero who has been brought up in a Utopian community in America. Collins modeled his description on the Oneida communities of New England, in which sexual relationships were not restricted to marriage but had to be sanctioned by the elders [Gasson]. Perhaps appropriately, Collins dedicated this book "To Caroline [Graves]", the woman with whom he… Read More

1870. With Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1870. 4 pp ads dated July 1870. Original violet straight-grain-morocco cloth. First American (and first illustrated) Edition -- and possibly the first edition overall. The English three­decker -- considered to be the scarcest of all of Collins's UK firsts -- was published in 1870 by F.S. Ellis during the fortnight June 15-30 (priority between the UK edition and this US one is uncertain: first serialization was in Harper's Weekly, December 1869 - August 1870, followed by Cassell's Magazine in the UK a month later). This was a popular novel, praised for the excitement and cleverness of its plot, but it is particularly noteworthy for Collins's preoccupation with marriage law and its injustices. MAN AND WIFE was "Collins's first propaganda novel, in which he draws attention not only to such injustice in both Scottish and Irish marriage law, but also presses for the 'right of a married woman, in England, to possess her own property and keep her own… Read More

1868. With Many Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1868. 2 pp preliminary undated ads. Original purple-brown cloth. First American (and first illustrated) Edition of this classic of detective fiction, issued in the same year as the London three-decker. THE MOONSTONE marked the end of Collins's peak period as a novelist: it was preceded by THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1860), NO NAME (1862) and ARMADALE (1866), and was followed by a transition into sensation or propaganda fiction -- especially regarding marriage and inheritance laws. Commenting on T.S. Eliot's opinion of this book ("the first, the longest, and the best of detective novels"), John Carter wrote Mr. Eliot is inaccurate in his first adjective, a little rash perhaps in his second, but unlikely to meet with much disagreement over his third. If Poe created the short detective story, Wilkie Collins is the undisputed father of the full-length variety... The American edition includes 66 wood engravings interspersed throughout the text. This is… Read More

1925. With a Preface by R. B. Cunninghame Graham. London: T. Fisher Unwin, (1925). Original dark green cloth, with dust jacket. First (English) Edition, published on the same day as the American. This posthumous collection of four tales, published the year after Conrad died, includes "The Tale," considered to be one of his best short stories. The others are "The Warrior's Soul," "Prince Roman" and (one of his earliest, written around 1884) "The Black Mate." The volume is in fine condition (spine gilt less than bright, as always); the dust jacket is near-fine, with one shallow chip at the foot of the spine but with less soil than usual. Keating 193; Smith pp 96-98.

1903. London: William Heinemann, 1903. 2 pp preliminary ads + 32 pp terminal ads, undated. Original dark grey cloth with front-cover life preserver in gilt. First Edition, first (i.e. non-Colonial) issue, limited to 1,500 copies. In addition to the title tale, the "other stories" are "Amy Foster," "Falk" and "To-morrow" ("Falk" is the tale that centers upon Conrad's often-recurring theme of cannibalism). "Typhoon" had been published in New York in 1902, prior to Conrad's final revisions that are reflected in the text of this English edition; the other three appear in book form for the first time here. This is a "pure" domestic copy, with the domestic half-title and title leaves; demand from British booksellers was so great that the binder subsequently had to create "hybrid" copies, transferring colonial copies to the domestic market and back again. It is in Cagle's binding "a" -- with 110mm between "Conrad" and "Heinemann" on the spine, and with the pages trimmed at the top edge only. This copy does… Read More

1898. A Tale of the Forecastle. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1898. Original pictorial light blue-grey mottled cloth. First Edition, second issue -- with the date 1898 (rather than 1897) on the front of the title leaf. (Note: ALL copies without a date on the front of the title leaf are merely reprints.) In late 1897, Dodd Mead had a first edition of 1000 copies printed; because the book was scheduled for publication late in the fall season, the printers were instructed to print both 1897 and 1898 title pages. The number printed with each date is not recorded... It was re-introduced in the spring and listed in Publisher's Weekly on March 12th among the spring publications... Copies of the spring issue were supplied with the 1898 title page. [Cagle] This tale was subsequently published as THE NIGGER OF THE "NARCISSUS." Conrad wrote this story with the "Nigger" title, but consented to change the title for the American edition (which preceded the English); the publisher's argument was not that the… Read More

1924. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1924. Original decorative boards with black cloth spine and printed labels, with dust jacket. First American Edition of this last of the three "collaborations" between Conrad and Hueffer/Ford (following THE INHERITORS and ROMANCE). (The English edition is by Conrad and "F. M. Hueffer"; the American is by Conrad and "Ford Madox Ford," using his de-Germanized adopted name). The book was actually written in 1906, at a time when their relationship was disintegrating, and it was virtually all Hueffer's work -- it is really nothing more than a "thinly disguised autobiographical memoir by Ford, to which he evidently wanted Conrad to contribute". As Conrad lay dying in 1924, Hueffer asked his permission to publish it with Conrad's preface, to which Conrad reluctantly agreed. Conrad called it "'that idiotic publication,' and he refused to allow it to appear in THE BEST STORIES OF 1924. He was outraged that people were speaking of it as a fresh collaboration,… Read More

1915. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company 1915. Original navy blue cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition (published on March 26th, six months before the London edition) of Conrad's sad tale of Axel Heyst and the evil (for which read "Germanic") Schomberg. Due to the six-month delay of Methuen's edition, with the Great War raging, Conrad added to that edition a preface that discusses the "Teutonic psychology" of Schomberg. This American edition is noteworthy for its front endpaper map of the world, showing where Conrad's previous tales had all taken place. This is an attractive copy, nearly fine (the slightest of rubbing at the extremities). Supino A19.1.0; Cagle A19a.

1900. [still in unbound gatherings] New York: Doubleday & McClure Co., 1900. Original light green cloth decorated in dark green. First American Edition of what is arguably Conrad's greatest work. This copy has the title page in the second and usual (cancelled) state: at the time this was being published, Doubleday & McClure was dividing into two entities (Doubleday Page and McClure Phillips), with uncertainty as to which firm would retain the rights to LORD JIM. Thus, in the first (integral) state the copyright is "1900 by Doubleday, Page & Co.", while in the cancelled state the copyright is "1899 and 1900 by Joseph Conrad." Supino A5.11.0; Cagle A5b(2). This is a curious incompletely-bound copy, consisting of the complete casing (the usual decorated light green cloth stamped in dark green, glued onto the boards and backstrip), PLUS all 25 separate folded sheets (gatherings -- each sheet containing 16 pages of text). The gatherings have NOT been stitched together, their edges have NOT been trimmed,… Read More

1920. London & Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1920. Original green cloth stamped in gilt, with dust jacket. First English Trade Edition (issued after the American edition and also after a 40-copy private issue of the English galley proofs). Begun in 1896, and in effect completing the trilogy begun with ALMAYER'S FOLLY and AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS, "THE RESCUE was Conrad's albatross, the book which hung about his neck from the beginning of his writing career almost until the end of his life" [Cagle]. This copy is in the standard (primary) binding: the spine lettering is in gilt, and the front cover publisher's device and border are in blind. (There is a secondary binding with black lettering and border, and with no front cover device.) This volume is in fine, bright condition; the pictorial jacket, which unlike that of THE ROVER does not often turn up in presentable condition, is very good-plus -- light edge-wear (to be expected since the jacket stands a bit taller than the volume), and spine slightly… Read More