Search Results: Titles starting with S from The Second Shelf

A complete set of signed first editions of Ali Smith's stunning Seasonal Quartet. Fine in fine dust jackets. Each has a David Hockney illustrated band and is wrapped in mylar. Smith has signed each book on the title page, her signature on Winter is dated March 27, 2019. An exceptional set of novels published with thoughtful design.

New York, 2000. Oblong quarto. 42pp. Bolt bound with three stainless steel bolt closures to spine. Some creasing and tearing to the guard protecting the card wraps from the bolts, cosmetic only. A very good, clean, strong copy. Signed and numbered (#27) by Ingrid Calame to the lower corner of the recto of the rear cover, dated 2002. Also present is a note from Calame (written on a piece of the same card used for the binding:"Dear Lynn, Hullo, How are you? I've enclosed 'Report on Secular Response I' which documents the large work of the last 2 years. Secular Response 2 based on the Trading Floor of the NYSE is in the works. Hope you enjoy #1! Best Wishes Ingrid C." Dated 14th January 2002. A fascinated and inventively presented catalogue of Calame's attempts to explore the artistic question "How do we understand a whole from its parts?" the end result of which was exhibited at Ardsley United Methodist Church, in Ardsley NY. The whole is rather an exercise in negative space where images are… Read More

Lorrie Moore's debut collection of short stories, published when she was 28 years old, hit a nerve with its sardonic and sarcastic tone referencing the popular self-help and self-therapy movement of the 1980s. Witty titles include "How to Be an Other Woman", "A Kid's Guide to Divorce" and the classic "How to Become a Writer" where she instructs readers to "First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably." Beautiful inscribed copy of the book that launched Moore's promising writing career.
Hardback, 163. Quarter grey cloth and grey boards, silver lettering on spine. Some darkening on top and bottom edges. Light spotting on book edges. Dust jacket, designed by Patricia Manzone is bright, in pristine condition. Overall in almost fine condition. Inscribed on the free front endpaper: "To Wilma, whose son is a wonderful writer! Best, Lorrie Moore", dated 1985.

Lippincott, 1960. First edition thus. Pamphlet, staple bound, unnumbered. 17.5 x 12.5 cm. Graphic wraps have very light toning around the edges. Otherwise in very good condition. Short story privately printed by Lippincott Co. and gifted. Ownership signature on title page. A surreal short story about angels, and Baudelaire, set in Africa, a continent that Spark traveled through and lived in during her married life, and a place she wrestled with, she ridicules the racism of colonial characters, and yet it also upholds colonial attitudes in parts. The story helped launch her literary career.

Winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1968, Several Perceptions is Angela Carter's third novel. Set in the Vietnam era, the insular urban vignettes focus on 22-year-old unemployed Joseph. Several Perceptions is notable for its Alice in Wonderland references, and the surreal book cover image reflects the collage-like nature of the novel.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. First US edition. Hardback, in dust jacket. 21 x 14 x 2. 153 pages. Octavo. Publisher's brown cloth lettered gilt at front and spine. Dust jacket slightly water-stained at rear, slightly grubby. Very good book in very good dust jacket.

1894. Hillier's handmade book displaying her abilities at sewing and embroidery through a collection of samples. "Marie Hillier" is written on the front and inside back of the book's hard covers. The book offers a guide to the common stitches and methods used in women's and girls' clothing, with some labeled, i.e., gathering and buttonholes. Most specimens are white thread on white fabric, tied with pink yarn and mounted on handbound leaves which have been gathered into signatures. 35 separate examples, including stitches for seams, patching, smocking, and miniature examples of "leg of drawers", "pinafore", and "half chemise", "sleeve of overall". One page appears to be dated "3.4.'94", and a fully constructed miniature "Pinafore", stitching for the opening on the "Front of Nightdress, or chemise", and stitching for "seam of flannel petticoat" support this date.Hard covers and three book signatures loosely bound in red thread, with 30 pp, 19 x 15cm. Thread also strung for a closure. An… Read More

A unique copy of a notable work of poetry by Waldman. Numbered 27 of 250 copies and inscribed by the author "for Jonathan a long + tender liason LOVE Anne NYC Dec 77".Titled poems include: Shaman, Murder of Pasolini Dream, Navigating the Dream, Poem, Journal, poem: Cocaine, Nijinsky Dream, Coda: The Eagle & Moon Goddess, December, Dream: Dylan & "Don", along with untitled writing and several attributed extracts about shamans. Per Allen Ginsberg, the poem Shaman is about Bob Dylan, who Waldman travelled with on tour as poet in residence. Inside drawing by Hatha. Cover photo by Gianfranco Mantega.
Waban Massachusetts: Munich Editions from Shell, 1977. 27/250 numbered copies of first edition. Paperback. 11x 25cm oblong. 56 unnumbered pages, printed on both sides. Pictorial paper wraps. Stapled binding. Slight toning to back cover and minor creases to front cover. In very good condition.

New York: Lachman - Novasel Paper Corp., 1940. Swatches of Lachman-Novasel Paper Corporation's "Shocking" and "Charcoal" embossed papers, with an introduction explaining they were developed to follow the bold trends in clothing and cosmetics, notably set by Schiaparelli in 1937. Lachman - Novasel was based in New York on Greene Street in Soho. Undated, 21.5 x 12.5 cm, oblong. 14 variously embossed paper samples in stapled brochure. In very good condition and vivid.

London, 1971. Shrew was a feminist journal produced by the Women's Liberation Workshop in London from 1969 to 1974. This is a set of four issues (vol 3. no. 4, 6, 7 and 9) Themes include night cleaners, the family, sisterhood and menstruation, a nice selection that demonstrates the conversations and discussion of the feminist movement in London at the time.

Il Cielo Cade, Mazzetti's first novel, was written in part as a therapeutic endeavour while receiving treatment for the suppression of traumatic childhood memories as a result of growing up in during WWII.
Written from the perspective of ten-year-old Penny who is sent along with her sister to live with her aunt and uncle in the countryside after the death of their parents (mirroring Mazzetti's own experience). The novel explores the children's perspective of war and the massacre of the family as the war turned.
Rejected by several publishers until Attilio Bertolucci read the manuscript, which he declared a "masterpiece" and was swiftly published by Garzanti in 1961. The book won the Viareggio prize the same year for the most outstanding first novel.
Mazzetti started her life in London as a penniless chambermaid in Charing Cross, her fortunes shifted when artist William Coldstream was so impressed with her dedication to the arts she was accepted to study at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Mazzetti became… Read More

New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1969. Didion's earth-shattering essay collection, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, was an immediate success on its publication. It showcases Didion's lifelong obsessions, from essays on the culture of her native state of California, to reflections on writing and her personal values in 'On Keeping a Notebook' and "On Self-Respect". A quintessential book and cornerstone of American essay writing, a transcendent reading experience for its many devotees.First edition, first printing. Quarter orange cloth and cream boards. Slightly bumped on corners, and marginal mild soiling. Bright and graphic dust jacket has very little edgewear and some soiling. Overall a very good copy.

Smith College collection 1948-1951. Northampton, Massachusetts. Four items, Smith College Courses of Study 1948-49 and 1950-51, and Smith College: A Handbook of Information, 1949. The 1950-1951 bulletin published during Sylvia Plath's freshman tenure as student describes the requirements of study for each department. Laid in notice of fees increase for 1949 affecting the Smith College Catalogue for 1948-49. Laid in newsletter from Smith College Winter 1983. 23 x 15.5 x 1. 77, 84, 102 pages.

Seventeen-year-old Florence Nightingale Soden began this diary to mark her society debut and to document the expanded social and travel engagements available to her. The first entry on Sept 3, 1883 marks her seventeenth birthday and details Soden's extensive journey around Italy and France, far away from her home in Clapham, England.
Soden clearly reflects upon some of her entries after they are written and edits herself. She cut out three pages, another four have been completely removed from the diary, and one page is painted over black. Botanical specimens are tipped in as momentos. Her student days are remembered with a Class I exam paper on the history of Rome laid in at the back. (It may be that a Class I mark was the parental prerequisite for the reward of her travel abroad.)
Born in 1866 and named after the illustrious nurse, Florence visited her namesake city several times in her journeys. Soden documents everyday vexations and unusual events including singing lessons from Dr Emil Behnke and… Read More

Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, 1937. Essentially an essay on the literary sources of Wuthering Heights, as well as a reflection on the Brontës's writing and its relationship with the landscape they grew up in. A special and scarce book of literary criticism and an affectionate reading of Emily Brontë's masterpiece. A near fine copy of an exceptionally appealing little book.
First edition. Hardback, 48 pp. Green cloth binding in near fine condition, apart from almost imperceptible bumping on corners. Pictorial dust jacket shows very light wear on the edges, as well as 2 mm chips on the bottom of the spine, but overall in very good condition.

Published when she was 53, A Start in Life is Brookner's first published novel, a darkly funny tale of an academic who cannot stop comparing her life to that promised by literature. Brookner's author biography of 1981 defines her an international authority on art history, and a past Slade professor at Cambridge, a career perhaps later overshadowed by her 24 novels and Booker prize. Striking dust jacket design by Suzanne Perkins.
This copy of Brookner's first book belonged to her publisher, Tom Maschler, the managing director of Jonathan Cape. Maschler died in 2020 and his collection was sold via Heywood Hill. This book is scarce in unclipped state due to a late price change.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1981. First edition. Hardback. 176 pages. 20.5 x 13.5 cm. Grey boards with gilt lettering to spine. Small Maschler/Heywood Hill bookplate to front endpaper, remains of a new price label over printed price on dust jacket flap. Fine book in near fine dust jacket.

Middlesbrough: Hoods Fine Printers, on behalf of the author, 1930. Collection of 16 bound lithographs. Hardcover, 41cm x 28cm. Cream and orange cloth binding, with title and South Durham Cargo Fleet Steel stamped on the covers. Cards are slightly marked. Each titled on the tissue-guard. Titled tissue-guards are present for all 16 lithographs. Some of the tissue guards have very light folds, and the lithographs themselves are in near fine condition. Viva Talbot's importance as an industrial artist of great talent has largely been forgotten, but her unprecedented access to the British steel industry, primarily through her family connections, enabled her to achieve a degree of accuracy and depth that provides valuable historical, industrial, and artistic insight. Her recent small popularity has largely been empowered by the rediscovery of her talent and ability by Dr. Joan Heggie of Teesside University. Scarce.

New York: Rizzoli, 2016. Pink cloth boards with white and black lettering. Flowered endpapers. Gilt edges. 20 x 14.5 cm. 317 pages. In presentation box with matching lining paper and pink cloth, photograph of a textile portrait of Le-Tan laid onto the top. A striking image-led biography of the Paris fashion designer best known for her book handbags, using embroidery and traditional needlecraft to replicate book jackets. Signed by Olympia Le-Tan to the title page. One page details the book clutch Le-Tan made for Tilda Swinton based on the book Ant and Bee, the next shows vintage Pelican book covers, or childhood photos. An immersive fashion experience at a fraction of the handbag cost, in a very elegant production from Rizzoli.

University of Minnesota Press, 1989. First edition. Paperback, 80 pp. White graphic wraps with moderate shelf wear. Spine is slightly rubbed and creased. Very good condition. Clarice Lispector's seventh novel, originally titled Água Viva, is considered to be her masterpiece. It is a perfect example of her particular poetic style, her profound understanding of language and her ability to play beyond its boundaries. It was first translated into English by Elizabeth Lowe and Earl Fitz for this edition, as part of the Emergent Literatures series. Published many years before Lispector became renowned in the English speaking world. It includes an introduction by Hélène Cixous, who was a translator of the novel herself into French.