Search Results: Authors starting with G from Whitmore Rare Books

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. Manaton Edition. Near Fine. Limited to 780 sets signed by the author, of which this is number 36. Finely bound by Stikeman for Charles Scribner's Sons, in 3/4 green crushed morocco stamped in gilt to spines and boards. Five raised bands. Top edges brightly gilt. Marbled endpapers. Spines sunned. Some light shelfwear to corners of several volumes. Approximately five volumes with minor chips or snags to crowns. Four volumes with very subtle repairs to the outer joints. Gilt remains bright and set presents well. Trained to be a lawyer, John Galsworthy turned instead to writing. Born in Surrey, England and educated at Oxford, Galsworthy traveled around the world rather than practice law. On these travels he met Joseph Conrad, and the two men become life-long friends. Galsworthy is best known for his The Forsyte Saga, a highly regard series published from 1906-1921. In addition to his writing, Galsworthy argued for prison reform and animal rights. He won the… Read More

New York: Harper & Row, 1970. First English language edition. Fine/Fine. In a second state jacket without the exclamation point ending the first paragraph on the front flap. A Fine copy of the book in like dust jacket. Top-edge of the text block a bit dusty. Jacket with one small tear closed with tape on the verso, otherwise a very bright, fresh jacket. One Hundred Years of Solitude is considered Marquez' greatest work, and is the book that made his international reputation. First published in 1967 - and in English in 1970 -- the wide spanning story of the Buendia family would achieve incredible popularity and, in fact, be responsible for lifting the future Nobel Prize winner out of poverty as it would go on to sell more than 30,000,000 copies. Considered the ultimate expression of his style of magical realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude has won awards in numerous countries and was listed on Le Monde's list of the 100 Books of the Century. "He has written a novel so filled with humor, rich… Read More

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. Seventh Edition. Near Fine. Finely bound by Sotheran in full crushed red morocco with inlaid morocco illustrations on the spine (in four compartments) and both boards. Green silk end-papers, all edges gilt. Original cloth for the front board and the spine bound in at the rear. Binding in Near Fine condition with front joint just starting near the crown. A striking example, finely bound. A collection of parodied ballads and poems from a variety of languages and cultures, pulled together in a beautiful fine binding. First printed in 1845, it was a project compiled by Scottish writers William Edmounstone Aytoun and Theodore Martin. In the fashion of Rabelais, the pair operated under a pen name to conduct light literary take-downs of such famed authors as Tennyson and Browning, who were known for emphasis on romantic, chivalric, and flowery topics. Irreverent poetry at its best. Near Fine.

Paris: J. Hetzel, 1846. First edition. Two large octavo volumes (10 3/8 x 6 7/8 inches; 263 x 175 mm.). Contemporary half black hard-grain morocco, ruled in gilt, over black morocco-grain paper over boards. Smooth spines decoratively tooled in gilt and blind and lettered in gilt. Marbled edges and endpapers. Minor rubbing to extremities, head of spine of Volume II expertly and almost invisibly repaired, front hinge of Volume I cracked, but sound. Minimal foxing and soiling. Small area of surface abrasion to upper blank margin of plate Artistes, —6 facing page 160 in Volume II, where it was once adhered to the facing page. Bookplate (Bibliothèque de A. Vautrain) on front pastedown of each volume. Collating [4], xxxii, 380; [4], lxxx, 364. Wood- engraved title vignette in each volume, 212 wood-engraved plates (208 after Gavarni and four after Bertall), with tissue guards, and numerous wood-engraved head- and tail-pieces, vignettes, and initials. This copy with a duplicate of the plate facing in… Read More

New York: Random House, 1957. First edition. Near Fine/Very Good +. First printing in matte boards with a single signature and original dust jacket, priced at 200/200. A Near Fine copy of the book with trivial bumping, soiling and wear to board edges. Small bump to the top of the spine. No previous ownership markings or soiling to any pages. Dust jacket is Very Good+ with some minor soiling and rubbing, a small closed one inch tear to rear panel. Dr. Seuss' renowned children's classic. The book, which follows the visit of a clever top hat ensconced cat to a suburban home, was written by Dr. Seuss in response to John Hersey's challenge that he come up with a more entertaining and engaging basic reader. The book sold over a million copies in its first three years in print and would make Dr. Seuss a household name. The Cat in the Hat appears on the School Library Journal's list of the Top 100 Picture Books of all time in addition to the National Education Association's list of Teachers' Top 100 Books… Read More

London: T. Cadell, P. Elmsly, and T. Durham, 1781. First edition in English. Contemporary polished calf with morocco labels and gilt to spines. Joints professionally strengthened on all volumes. A wide-margined copy, with pages measuring 130 x 200mm; it is internally fresh, bright, and unmarked. Bookplate of Jonathan Nevin to front pastedown of volume I; illegible pencil inscription to rear pastedown of volume III; contemporary ownership signature of Charlotte Sophia Home to front endpaper of volume IV. Upper margins of full title pages excised (likely to remove a signature) not affecting any text. Collating [4], 522, [2]; [4], 463, [1, blank]; [4], 432; [4], 408: complete including half and full titles and advertisements to all volumes. According to ESTC, the first edition was not issued with plates or illustrations, though some catalogue entries note a later-inserted frontis to some copies. ESTC further reports 20 copies worldwide, with the caveat that many are "held as mixed sets containing one or… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. First edition. Very Good. 8vo, 107 pp., complete with 12 illustrations after the author's own drawings; black cloth stamped in gilt, lacking the scarce dust jacket. A Very Good copy with the spine gilt dulled and minor wear to the spine ends. Small splash to the black top-edge, with some corresponding staining to the upper inner margin of the first few leaves. Penciled underlining and annotations throughout with captions written on each of the plates. Gibran is the national poet of Lebanon, the country of his birth, but his reputation is global. Gibran's series of 26 inspirational essays in English prose, each dealing with a separate theme, has never been out of print, has been translated into over 40 languages and has sold over 100 million copies. Based to a large extent on the success of this work, Gibran is credited as the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. With an initial print run of just 1159 copies, first editions are scarce… Read More

New York: Ace Books, 1994. First thus. Near Fine/Near Fine. The 10th year anniversary edition of Gibson's breakout science fiction novel, signed by the author on the title page. A Near Fine copy in like dust jacket. Book with some foxing to the outer edge of the closed text block, otherwise appearing unread. Jacket with a sticker indicating that the book was autographed for University Book Store in Seattle/Bellvue. William Gibson's sci-fi classic. Not only would Neuromancer be the first book to win all three of the Nebula, Hugo, and Philip K. Dick awards, but the book is also responsible for helping to popularize the cyberpunk genre. Indeed, when Gibson saw Blade Runner—in the middle of the novel's composition—he thought Neuromancer would receive lukewarm reviews and be viewed as a kind of rip-off, instead of the revelation it was. Much of the dialogue and cant that the work is famous for was adapted by Gibson from the street slang of the Toronto underworld, which Gibson became familiar with… Read More

Wellingborough: Christopher Skelton at the September Press, 1988. First Thus. Fine. Limited to 600 copies, this being one of 480 unnumbered examples. Full black buckram by The Fine Bindery Limited. Spine with tan morocco label lettered in gilt, top edge gilt. Housed in the publisher's, felt-lined cream buckram slipcase. Folio (13 x 9 1/4 inches; 330 x 235 mm.) collating [1, blank], [1, imprint], 268, [1], [1, blank], [1, colophon], [1, blank],[xiv], [1, colophon], [1, limitation], with sixty-four wood-engraved initial letters and illustrations by Eric Gill (counting the initial "N" on p. 8 and the lettering which goes with it as one illustration, although they are actually from two separate blocks). Printed on St Cuthbert's Mould-made, 140g, half rag paper. In a six-page note at the end of the volume Christopher Skelton writes: "This book is a reproduction version of The Four Gospels published by the Golden Cockerel Press in 1931. I call it a reproduction version rather than a facsimile because… Read More

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1887. First edition. Very Good. Original publisher's cloth binding stamped in black. Yellow endpapers. Measuring 185 x 125mm and collating complete with half titles to all volumes and publisher's adverts to rear of final volume: [6], 291, [1]; [6], 316; [6], 298, [2, adverts]. A Very Good copy with minor bumps to extremities; some hinges tender and starting. Rear hinge repaired in volume 1. Minor marginal foxing and staining throughout, not affecting text. "George Gissing intended Thyrza to contain the very spirit of London working-class life. His story tells of Walter Egremont, an Oxford trained idealist who gives lectures on literature to workers, some of them from his father's Lambeth factory. Thyrza Trent, a young hat trimmer, meets and falls in love with him, forsaking Gilbert Grail, an intelligent working man who Egremont has put in charge of his library. In a tale of ambition, betrayal, and disillusionment, Gissing's heroine aspires to purity and self-improvement.… Read More

London: Ernest Benn, 1927. First edition. Fine. One of 250 copies signed by the author on the limitation page. A Fine, bright copy in original publisher's wraps; internally fresh and unmarked. A Jury of Her Peers is the short-story adaptation of Glaspell's one-act play Trifles (1916), in which two women unravel the truth behind a murder—that a woman has killed her abusive husband—and hide the evidence to protect the accused from jail. Set in the Midwest, the story is an ode to rural communities and the power of female solidarity told through the lens of a crime. Glaspell was inspired by the reporting that she did for the Des Moines Daily News on Margaret Hossack's murder trial. In its telling, readers must confront questions of morality, empathy, and justice. Fine.

London: Heinemann, 1979. First edition. Large octavo (9 3/16 x 6 inches; 234 x 152 mm.). Collating [8], 181, [1, blank]. One of twenty-five copies signed (on the half-title) by Michael Glover and Sir Antony Read and specially bound by Zaehnsdorf (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in) in full black morocco. Covers ruled in gilt, front cover with an oval onlaid red morocco medallion (3 1/2 x 2 15/16 inches; 88 x 75 mm.) stamped in gilt with the silhouette portrait of George Hennell (reproducing the portrait on the front flap of the dust jacket). Spine panelled and lettered in gilt with five raised bands and with a circular red morocco onlay with the Zaehnsdorf monogram stamped in gilt at the foot, board edges ruled in gilt, turn-ins decoratively stamped in gilt, all edges gilt, red watered silk doublures and liners. Original pictorial dust jacket bound in at end. Six double-sided photographic plates and several maps and plans in the text. Housed in the original fleece-lined black cloth slipcase. A… Read More

Salisbury: Printed by B. Collins for F. Newbery, 1766. First edition. Finely bound by Riviere & Son in full crushed morocco ornately stamped in gilt to spine and boards. All edges gilt. Inner dentelles gilt. Blue coated endpapers. Measuring 155 x 90mm and collating complete: [2], 214; [2], 223, [1, blank]. A first edition plagued by misprints and errors, there are four variants identified with no priority; the present is Temple Scott's variant B, with no catchword on page 213 of volume I, the correct catchword "him" on volume II page 39 and the correct page number on volume II page 159. A lovely copy outside and in, with just light sunning to spines; bookplates to early leaves, else fresh and with no signs of use. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase. Reportedly published as a means for thwarting debt, The Vicar of Wakefield became one of the most popular novels of the late 18th century. Mixing irony with sentimentalism, it paints a portrait of village life "narrated by Dr. Primrose, the title… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900. First Thus. The Wakefield Edition, limited to 500 numbered sets, this being copy 468, with frontispieces to volumes I-VIII signed by the artists. Twelve large octavo volumes (9 13/16 x 6 3/8 inches; 248 x 163 mm.). Bound by MacDonald (stamp-signed) in contemporary three-quarter brown crushed levant morocco over marbled boards. Five raised bands with gilt dots. Compartments with gilt decoration and red morocco inlays. Top edges gilt. Ninety-six full-page plates on Japanese vellum, including frontispieces, with captioned tissue guards, a total of ninety-six illustrations by Arthur I. Keller, Albert Sterner, Alfred Fredericks, F. Luis Mora, W.P. Snyder, Charles Brughton, and others. Extra-illuminated title pages. A Fine set. Contains highlights from Goldsmith's prolific career, including: Poetical Works; Good Natured Man; She Stoops To Conquer; The Grumbler; Vicar of Wakefield; Present State of Polite Learning; Citizen of the World; The Bee; Essays; Unacknowledged… Read More

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. First Thus. The Turk's Head Edition. Limited to 1,000 numbered sets (this being #552), signed by the publisher. Ten octavo volumes (8 3/4 x 6 inches; 220 x 150 mm.). Contemporary full green crushed levant morocco. Covers decoratively panelled in gilt, with cream morocco floral onlays, spines lettered and tooled in gilt in compartments with cream morocco floral onlays, turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt, blue morocco doublures decoratively bordered in gilt, blue watered silk liners, top edge gilt, others uncut. Spines very lightly and uniformly sunned. Photogravure frontispieces, vignette titles, and plates. Descriptive tissue guards. A superb set. "The Turk's Head - A London tavern, was a favorite haunt and a kind of social headquarters of the men of letters in Goldsmith's day. It was at this place of entertainment, too, that the Literary Club, the most famous organisation of its kind in the history of English letters, held its meetings... The illustrations are… Read More

London: Methuen and Co, 1908. First edition. Near Fine. A Near Fine copy of the book in the publisher's original green cloth binding, stamped in gilt. Minor wear at the spine ends, short one inch split to rear inner hinge, faint ghost from removed article on front free end paper, but generally in excellent condition internally. Grahame's famed children's novel, featuring the beloved Mr. Toad, Rat, Badger, and Mole. Grahame began writing the book in 1908 - in his late 40s -- after leaving his position as Secretary of the Bank of England. Much of the plot of The Wind in the Willows had its origins both in the bedtime stories Grahame had invented to tell his own son, and in Grahame's childhood experiences in Berkshire county. The book might not have been published if not for the efforts of President Theodore Roosevelt, who lobbied Methuen to release it. While reviews were mixed, the book became a classic - and would be adapted into the well known play Toad of Toad Hall, by A.A. Milne, in 1929. "The… Read More

Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1768. First Scottish Edition. Contemporary full morocco with gilt to spine and boards. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Measuring 295 x 220mm. Rebacked with original spine laid down; minor shelfwear to lower boards. Light staining to the upper corners of pages 16-17 with no text affected and occasional scattered foxing, else a clean copy. A charming copy of Thomas Gray's influential and stirring poems, in a lovely fine binding. The English poet, scholar, and professor came from working class roots and would rise in prominence as an author -- even being offered the position of Poet Laureate following the release of his existentially driven Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Emphasizing themes of mortality in many of his odes and elegies, Gray was also adept at satire, as in the case of his memorable Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat. ESTC T127821. Gaskell 475.

London: Marcus Ward & Co, 1880. Card 1. Coachman with crop in hand, single figure in oval signed "K.G.", with a beige border, scroll caption upper left "Greeting" and "Marcus Ward & Co" printed on lower margin. (Schuster & Engen , 251. 1d) Card 2. Girl in blue dress blowing kiss, single figure in oval signed "K.G.", with a beige border, scroll caption upper left "Greeting" and "Marcus Ward & Co" printed on lower margin. (Schuster & Engen , 251. 2a) Card 3. Boy in pink coat and tricorner hat, single figure in oval signed "K.G.", with a beige border, scroll caption upper left "Greeting" and "Marcus Ward & Co" printed on lower margin. (Schuster & Engen , 251. 3a) These cards have been mounted onto a sheet of cream silk with an all-round fringe and two tied tassles. A fine example of Victoriana. This variant presentation not noted by Schuster & Engen and obviously rare in this very interesting state.

London: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd, 1926. First edition. First editions. Three volumes, oblong twelvemo (2 7/8 x 4 1/16 inches; 73 x 103 mm.). and twelvemo (3 7/8 x 2 7/8 inches; 98 x 74 mm. & 4 1/8 x 2 15/16 inches; 104 x 75 mm.). Collating [24] pp; [24] pp. and [24] pages. All fine copies with the original printed glassine wrappers. The color illustrations for the 1925 Almanack were originally used in the Almanack for 1887. The color illustrations for the 1926 Almanack were originally used in the Almanack for 1890. The color illustrations for the 1927 Almanack were originally used in the Almanack for 1891 Schuster & Engen, 18. 16b; 19. 17a & 20. 18a.

London: George Routledge and Sons, 1880. First edition. Original beige pictorial cloth. Beveled edges. In the publisher's scarce, plain blue dust jacket. Dust jacket chipped, and split at folds. A bit of soiling to cloth, otherwise an internally clean (with no pencilings) copy. Twelve color plates, 370 small black and white interleaved text illustrations. A beautiful gift book, feauting the work of one of the most recognizable and prolific illustrators of the Victorian period.