Search Results: Titles starting with M from B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA

London: Jonathan Cape, 1966 First edition, uncorrected proof. Publisher's original light green wraps, publisher's label pasted to front panel. A very good copy with some toning and wear to spine. The Magus follows Nicholas Urfe, a young Oxford graduate and aspiring poet who is mentally deteriorating while teaching on a small Greek Island. Nicholas becomes depressed and falls into a friendship with Maurice Conchis, a wealthy and mysterious man who severs Nicholas' grip on reality through elaborate mind games. The story was inspired by John Fowles' time teaching on the Greek island of Spetses as a young man. The Magus was the first book Fowles wrote but the third to be published. An immediate sensation, the plot reverberated the experimental philosophy of the 1960s, and it was adapted into a film shortly after its publication.. First Edition. Very Good.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1965 First American edition, first printing. Publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in red, red top stain; original pictorial dust jacket designed by Tom Adams depicting characters from Greek mythology. Very good with some toning to spine, rubbing to lettering on spine, some soiling to the bottom edge; unclipped dust jacket with adhesive polyester film protective cover, some light wear to spine ends, tape remnants to rear flap. A bright and very good copy. The Magus follows Nicholas Urfe, a young Oxford graduate and aspiring poet who is mentally deteriorating while teaching on a small Greek Island. Nicholas becomes depressed and falls into a friendship with Maurice Conchis, a wealthy and mysterious man who severs Nicholas' grip on reality through elaborate mind games. The story was inspired by John Fowles' time teaching on the Greek island of Spetses as a young man. The Magus was the first book Fowles wrote but the third to be published. An immediate… Read More

Paris: Contact Editions / Three Mountains Press, 1925 First edition, one of 500 copies printed by Maurice Darantière in Dijon, of which 100 sets were sent to the US to be bound as the first American edition. Inscribed by Stein to front flyleaf: "For Miss Ethel Friedman / Gtde Stein". Bound in three-quarter maroon morocco and red boards, gilt spine with raised bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, with the original tan wrappers bound in, half-title and colophon also present. Very good, with rubbing to leather at spine hinges and a few scratches to the spine, interior wrappers with toning and damp staining, some staining to endpapers and fore edge. Overall, an attractively rebound copy of the scarce first edition published in Paris, which is also inscribed by Stein. Gertrude Stein’s second novel The Making of Americans is an experimental work employing the modernist style. Stein traces the genealogy and history of the fictional Hersland and Dehning families, but by her own… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930 First edition, first printing. Bound in the publisher's gray cloth, with falcon illustration stamped in steel blue to front board, spine decorations and lettering stamped in steel blue and black, black top stain. Original illustrated dust jacket with the iconic image of the falcon to the front panel and spine. Very good or better with light dampstaining to front cover and few minor spots; in the original unclipped (priced $2.00) dust jacket with extensive restoration to spine and along edges, folds professionally reinforced to verso. The Maltese Falcon is the author's third novel and the only book to feature the fictional private detective Sam Spade. Originally published in five installments in the pulp magazine Black Mask from September 1929 - January 1930, The Maltese Falcon marks a departure from Hammett's protagonist The Continental Op, who starred in his first two novels. Sam Spade is a conglomeration of Hammett's earlier detective figures,… Read More

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939 First edition. Fine in a fine jacket. A superb copy of this play, adapted from Heyward's novel.. Hard Cover. Fine.

New York: Rinehart and Company, 1947 First edition, first printing, with "R" in a circle on copyright page. Inscribed by Fromm on front free endpaper: "With cordial regards / from / E Fromm." Publisher's blue cloth, with titles stamped in silver foil to spine; in its original gray dust jacket, printed in darker gray, white, and red. Near fine book, with light rubbing to spine ends and bottom edges of boards, top corner of half-title page torn, and faint bookseller label residue to rear pastedown; very good unclipped dust jacket, with shallow chipping to top left corner of front panel and head of spine, light dampstaining to spine and top edges of rear panel and rear flap, "Man For Himself" mostly faded from spine, some toning to rear panel, small closed tear to bottom edge of front panel, and a couple of tiny marks to right margin of rear panel. Overall, a pleasing copy of a scarce book, inscribed by Fromm. In Man for Himself, German social psychologist Erich Fromm discusses "the problem of ethics, of… Read More

New York: The John Day Company, 1952 First edition. Signed and inscribed by author to politician and Tammany Hall boss, Carmine DeSapio. A fine copy with a slight trace of rubbing to the spine and the lower corners lightly bumped.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine.

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1927 First edition, first printing. Original publisher's blue cloth, lettered in gilt; light blue dust jacket, lettered in black. Near fine with light fading and a touch of wear to the spine; dust jacket unclipped with some wear and shallow chips to the spine ends, spine lightly toned. Nobel laureate in Literature Eugene O’Neill’s play Marco Millions references the story of Marco Polo as a backdrop for a satirical comedy. Despite being set in the 1200s in faraway lands, O’Neill uses the play to criticize what he saw as the rampant materialism of his day. The character of Marco is inspired by both the author’s alcoholic father and the famous financier Otto Kahn. Kahn was a person O’Neill often used as a model in his work. The character Marco notably complains, "I hate idleness, where there's nothing to occupy your mind but thinking,” cuttingly implying that the elite class used finance as a diversion from their desolate internal… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849 Two volumes. First American edition. Original publisher's blue-green blind-stamped cloth with gilt lettering to spines. A very good or better set with some light wear, some toning to spine, scattered spotting and small stains to cloth, former owner ink signature to first blank of volume II, usual scattered foxing to text. Overall, a very attractive and tight copy without any repair or restoration. Much nicer than usually found. BAL 13658. Mardi is Herman Meville's third book and marks a departure from his first two works, Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), which are more autobiographical in nature. Mardi begins like Melville's preceding novels with a fictional South Seas whaling adventure story, but quickly changes into a more allegorical and experimental text when the main characters abandon their vessel and travel to a variety of fictional, symbolic countries. Melville's use of poetry and song also makes this text unique. While it was heavily… Read More

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1874 Later edition. Mauchline boards with burgundy morocco spine, spine compartments tooled in gilt, Falls at the Hermitage to upper cover, Dunkeld and Dunkeld Cathedral to lower cover, all edges gilt. Very good, Mauchline boards very bright, outer hinges neatly repaired, inner hinges lightly cracked but still very sturdy, light staining to endpapers, light foxing to outer leaves, interior generally clean. Overall, an attractive example of Mauchline ware. Mauchline bindings, crafted in the town of Mauchline, Scotland from 1820 to 1933, can be identified by their beveled wooden boards and images depicting Scottish and English landmarks. Intended as souvenirs for visitors to the UK, the bindings were typically made for books directly related to life in Scotland, England, and Wales. Indeed, a story by Scottish poet and historian Sir Walter Scott is especially appropriate here, as are the images depicted on the boards: Hermitage Water is near the semi-ruined Hermitage… Read More

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945 First edition, first printing. Signed and inscribed by Frost on front free endpaper, with a holograph of his poem, "Bravado": "Bravado / Have I not walked without an upward look / Of caution under stars that very well / Might not have missed me when they shot and fell? / It was a risk I had to take - and took. / Robert Frost / For Stanley Brightwell / 1946." Publisher's navy boards, with spine lettered in gilt; in the original pictorial dust jacket, with a drawing of a desert and fire-ball attributed to "Palacias," lettered in black, with portrait of Frost to rear panel. Near fine book, with light rubbing to spine ends and corners of boards, small bookseller's label affixed to front free endpaper, and a hint of soiling to top right of half-title page; in a near fine dust jacket, unclipped, with light toning to spine, light wear to spine ends, bright and clean panels, and lightly nicked corners. Overall, a beautiful copy, with… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1922 First edition, first printing. Publisher's blue paper-covered boards, ruled in blind and lettered in gilt; in the original blue-gray dust jacket lettered in black. About near fine with upper right corner of front board bumped, text block edges foxed, offsetting to endpapers, small bookseller's sticker to front pastedown; in a near fine dust jacket with some toning to spine and light wear to extremities, else very clean. Written by the English author and poet John Masefield, this play tells the story of the Copshrew family, intertwined with tragedy and romance. Notably, John Masefield served as Britain's Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine.

London: W. H. Allen, 1951 First UK edition, first printing. Publisher’s yellow cloth, titles in blue to spine; original blue dust jacket designed by Peter Rudland, lettered in white and yellow. Book with a hint of toning to pages, else fine; near fine unclipped dust jacket with minor wear to spine ends and top edge of front panel, and a touch of rubbing to front panel. Overall, a beautiful copy. Memoirs of Hecate County is a collection of thematically linked short stories and a novella, all of which feature an unnamed narrator. The short stories are: “The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles,” “Ellen Terhune,” “Glimpses of Wilbur Flick,” “The Milhollands and their Damned Souls,” and “Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn at Home.” The novella, “The Princess with the Golden Hair,” tells of the narrator’s obsessive love for two women, a Ukrainian waitress named Anna Lenihan and the seductive and chronically injured Imogen Loomis. The novella’s… Read More

New York: Doubleday & Company, 1946 First edition, first printing. Publisher’s green cloth with gilt decoration to front board, titles in gilt to spine, frontispiece photograph of Hecate statue; original gray and green dust jacket with titles in white. Near fine with light toning to cloth edges and pages, dusty top edge of text block, and some dimming to spine gilt; very good unclipped dust jacket with some toning to extremities, closed tear to upper portion of spine, some shallow chipping, and wear to head of spine and upper edges of panels. Overall, a handsome and sharp copy. Memoirs of Hecate County is a collection of thematically linked short stories and a novella, all of which feature an unnamed narrator. The short stories are: “The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles,” “Ellen Terhune,” “Glimpses of Wilbur Flick,” “The Milhollands and their Damned Souls,” and “Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn at Home.” The novella, “The Princess with the Golden… Read More

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928 First edition, second printing, in the second issue dust jacket with quotes printed on orange lines on front panel. Publisher's smooth black cloth with gold paper labels stamped in black, top edge stained orange, fore edge untrimmed, yellow endpapers printed with silhouette of a bull in a circle; in its original dust jacket with bull silhouette and three bands across front panel, lettered in black. Very good book, with light foxing to spine ends and text block edges, two light bumps to fore edge of rear board, cracked front hinge, and closed tear to lower part of half-title page at hinge; very good unclipped dust jacket with some toning and dampstaining to spine, some chipping to spine ends and corners, small closed tear to top of rear panel, top of front panel, and a few to bottom of front panel. Overall, a pleasing copy. Hanneman A7a. Men Without Women is Hemingway's second collection of short stories, comprised of ten previously published and… Read More

New York: Finch, Pruyn, & Company, 1986 Designed by Martin Solomon. Illustrated by Isadore Seltzer. Publisher's light brown cloth, stamped in gilt to front board with author's facsimile signature, lettered in gilt to spine, brown endpapers; in the original matching brown cloth slipcase; publisher's greeting slip laid in. About fine with very light toning to spine. This comedy follows Sir John Falstaff, who made his first appearance in Henry IV parts I and II, as he attempts to court two wealthy, married women after finding himself in need of money after arriving in the town of Windsor. Not interested in the penniless, overweight knight, the women play along with Falstaff's advances for their own amusement, involving their husbands and friends in the plot, until ultimately revealing their true intentions to Falstaff. This special edition is the twentieth in a series of annual Shakespearian keepsakes prepared for friends of the publishers.. Hard Cover. Fine. Illus. by Seltzer, Isadore.

London: Printed for Benjamin Motte, 1727-1728. Three volumes. First edition thus, with a preface by Swift and Pope. Contemporary full brown calf, spines lettered in gilt, red labels to spines, and red speckled edges. Good set, with heavy flaking to calf, spine ends lightly chipped, some wear to corners, some rubbing to edges, a bit of loss to spine label on Vol. I (lettering very minimally affected), dampstaining to pp. 32-144 and 222-305 in Vol. I and margins of Vol. II's title page and table of contents page, and just some light spotting and soiling to interiors otherwise. Overall, a sturdy and unrestored set, in a contemporary binding. Miscellanies is a collaborative work by satirists Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, mathematician John Arbuthnot, and poet John Gay, the most prominent members of the Scriblerus Club. The Club was formed in 1714, but most of their writings did not appear in print until decades later. As explained in the preface in Vol. I, Swift and his friends decided to publish… Read More

New York, 2017 Signed and inscribed by Knight to verso of portrait. Photographic portrait of Kay Thompson by Richard Avedon, decorated by Knight with black marker and with additional jewel decorations, affixed to the top of a plywood cutout in Thompson's likeness, left arm with a simple hinge at the elbow, dressed in a black sequin top with jeweled cuffs and holding a coq feather fan, black tulle skirt decorated with a large embroidered illustration of Eloise cut from flannel cloth and similar illustrations of Eloise's pet dog and turtle. In fine condition. This collage portrait of Kay Thompson was constructed by longtime friend and illustrator Hilary Knight for the 2017 New York Public Library exhibit titled "Hilary Knight's Stage Struck World." Knight, who illustrated Kay Thompson's famous series of children's books featuring the young Plaza Hotel resident Eloise, is known for his whimsical, theater-inspired artwork, and has cited the theater as his single most… Read More

London: The Hogarth Press, 1921 First edition. One of 1000 copies. Illustrated woodcuts by Vanessa Bell. Original brown cloth-backed white paper boards, black woodcut design by Bell to front board. Housed in a custom black cloth folding box with titles in gilt to spine. Near fine book with very light rubbing and foxing to paper boards, and small abrasion to front board. Overall, a fantastic copy. Kirkpatrick A5a. Woolmer 17. Monday or Tuesday is a collection of eight of Woolf's short stories. In addition to the title story "Monday or Tuesday," this volume contains "A Haunted House," "A Society," "The String Quartet," "Blue & Green," and three previously published stories. Monday or Tuesday marked an experimental departure from the realism that hallmarked Woolf's earlier texts Night and Day and The Voyage Out. Similarly, Vanessa Bell's striking black and white woodcut engravings that illustrate this volume are stylistically… Read More

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916 First edition, first state, with duplicate lines on p. 88 and "Come" for "Gone" on p. 93. Publisher's dark blue cloth lettered and decorated in gilt; in the original gray dust jacket printed in black. A near fine copy with a touch of rubbing to extremities a small area of the front board, slight lean to spine, a bit of rubbing to the gilt on the front board visible in the "T" in "Mountain" but otherwise bright, a few spots to endpapers, contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper; in a near fine dust jacket with a few tiny chips to spine ends and corners, very faint dampstaining to spine. Overall, an exceptional copy. Crane A4. Mountain Interval is Frost's third published collection of poetry, and is the first appearance of "The Road Not Taken." It also includes the poems "Christmas Trees," "In the Home Stretch," "Birches," "Snow," and "The… Read More