Rare books from Fortuna Books

London: Cassell Petter Galpin 5 vols First to Fifth Series, all in uniform blue cloth with gilt and black titling and decoration and with an inset "window" on upper board in which in all but the first series is a different flower illustration painted onto a gilt background, In the first series the flower illustration has worn off somewhat, Each vol has 40 coloured plates, and a title vignette in line, Some of the bindings may be slightly faded or rubbed at extremities but all are still VG ,some vols may have just the earliest hints of foxing to a few pages, and the front hinges are starting on some of the vols, mainly showing in weakness where the frontis opens, tissue guards are present as are original endpapers. SECOND SERIES; endpaper and frontis detached but present. FIFTH SERIES; frontis detached but present, lacks frontis tissue guard, one 2 leaf section in the synopsis at the front is detached but present, 5 vols all all edges gilt, each vol approx xv, 160 + about 6 leaves of… Read More

London: Collins, 1931 scarce original complete dust jacket present, price clipped and with some edge tears and associated creasing, longer tear through title at top of cover but looks good under mylar, book starts at title and finished with last page, seems there were no free endpapers when printed, undated, 254pp, dust soiled top edge, faint scattered foxing to closed edges, scarce title, nautical themed crime detective novel, undated but dust jacket spine is priced at 7/6 which dates it to 1931 . First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Good. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Smith Elder & Co, 1867 (excess shipping charge due to weight and value) ORIGINAL CLOTH Victorian double decker first British edition in book form (after Cornhill serialisation), scarce, tidy copies in green cloth with extra gilt decorative titling to spine and boards, spines have some black blocking, lower boards stamped in blind, original chocolate endpapers, VOL 1 = rubbed at spine ends, minor patch of white at tail, corners of bevelled boards starting to split, small patch soiling to upper board, (i-ii) 1- 313 (+1 printers imprint) +2pp adverts, VOL 2= lightly rubbed spine ends with minor fraying, two small holes rubbed into upper joint, corners rubbed but not yet frayed, (i-vi) (1-)309 + 2pp adverts, No half-titles called for, all sixteen engraved plates by H. Harral after M. Ellen Edwards (including frontispiece in each volume) with tissue guards intact, plate facing pp 225 of vol 1 has small water mark to top margin, faint sporadic foxing throughout both volumes, this is very… Read More

London: Collins, 1934 second impression in same month as the first, orange cloth with black titling ( same as first impression) handling and dust soiled cloth, spine leans, joints rubbed, small split at head of upper joint, corners bumped and just starting to fray at tips, paste down has rules slip, fep has stamps, front hinge open at title showing binding mesh, 254+2 pp adverts, last advert page has rubber name stamp at head, some expected fingermarking to some pages and a few straightened out dog-ears but still tidy copy, pp 87and 141 have BOOKLOVERS faded rubber stamp to bottom margin, bank transfer only as payment for this please. First Edition. Cloth. Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall. Ex-Library.

New York: Random House, 1977 Stated first edition of the first Shannara book, with publisher's number line starting at 2 which is correct for the first edition from Random House, Illustrated by The Brothers Hildebrandt in two full page black and white and one full colour folding plate at the centre of the book. Quarter black cloth over fawn papered boards with TB initial stamped on upper board by publisher, head and tail of cloth spine sunned to very edges where light crept under the wrapper and leached the pigment, unclipped DW has minor edgewear with light rubbing to corners and a few small edge splits, and bears no publishers price, Light crease to front fold in flap. DW spine is sunned with the title now a pale blueish colour, the background still deep black, nice bright copy, SCARCE, EXPEDITED SHIPPING REQUIRED. First Edition. Quarter cloth. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Hildebrandt. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1924 first American edition in this English translation, near fine, light rubbing to cloth, pencil to endpaper, top edge dusted red, dust jacket is unclipped but rubbed to joints and corners with some splitting along the folds and minor edge chipping to spine ends, 317pp, translated by Keene Wallis, dust jacket design by Gropper. First Thus. Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Gropper . 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Methuen, 1941 Extremely rare unexpurgated UK issue, suppressed in the US, later printed in abridged form as 'The Fifth Grave', extreme hard boiled crime fiction, slate blue boards handling and dust soiled, rubbed lightly to joints, front fep is pasted down to board, light browning to half title, rear board creased vertically, not too bad but the paste down is cracked slightly, closed edges soiled, a few minor lending library stamps in the margins and to closed fore edge, an obviously well read copy but saying that it does not suffer from any major faults, just accumulated handling, 218pp, call number to spine in faded ink, probably best suited for a rebind, or if you can find a copy of the DW to brighten it up, bank transfer only as payment for this please, expedited shipping only. First Edition. Cloth. Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

London: Harrap, 1943 price clipped DW, hole clipped from fold in flap, also to spine is an Australasian price label with hole clipped through it, head and tail of spine, and corners rubbed with some minor chipping loss, some mild edge creases, generally intact and complete, book has minor foxing to endpapers and closed edges, war era paper stock, 253pp an amazing aviation pioneer, DW by Y. Ellis. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Good. Illus. by Y. Ellis. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Hutchinson, 1961 very rare first edition in near fine DW, unclipped, minor foxing to edges or folds of DW, small area foxing to closed fore edge of pages, not written in or marked, minor foxing from accumulated dust to closed top edge, very scarce with a near pristine DW, our standard shipping rate will be charged but we will upgrade to signature required courier delivery, we prefer a bank deposit as payment for this item please, when the English edition was published it met with controversy and totally different reviews to the blockbuster French edition, and is consequentially a rare item, 487pp. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Illus. by Val Biro. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Cape, 1966 first edition first impression, dust jacket is NOT price clipped, but is trimmed to all four corners as is usual, one 5mm tear to bottom edge of front panel, a tiny spot on title and facing page from a tiny squished bug, hardly worth mentioning, very clean copy in first state D/W (priced 10/6 net to the inside flap), 95pp. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

Wellington: Spiral, 1983 first issue in first NZ edition, light handling wear with rubbed or creased edges, lacks blank front endpaper, crossed out name in pen to first (title) page, no errata page as called for, [x],469,[1]pp New Zealand native maori culture based novel. First Edition. Soft Cover. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1964 VG tidy first edition, first state, black papered boards tidy, unclipped DW, vertical edges of the DW fold in flaps have some tape staining, tiny amount of wear or splitting to DW spine ends, faint dust soiling to closed edges. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Richard Chopping. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967 Second impressions of the second edition, 3 volumes uniform in red cloth with dust jackets with the Ring and Elvish script about the Eye of Sauron, all are price clipped and with rubbed joints and fore edge folds, some splitting to ends of joints etc., slightly rubbed or chipped at ends of spines, Vol 1 has a short tear to the front bottom corner, a name and date to fep, and a pasted down photo of Tolkien taken from a newspaper, there is a tape stain to the paste down, Vol 3 has small name and date to the fep, otherwise they are a tidy set with just some expected handling wear and dust soiling, obviously they have been read a few times but no faults noted, each vol has a folding map at the rear, Revised Second Edition (2 kg rate, double standard shipping charge) . Second Edition. Cloth. Good/Good. Illus. by J R R Tolkien. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

London: Faber, 1962 first edition first issue (preceeds US) of James' first work, dust jacket is unclipped, lightly surface soiled by handling, small split 8mm long at top corner, light crease to edge of inside dust jacket flap, BOOK cloth lightly sunned to spine, small 5mm split near top of upper joint, some slight fading to the bottom edge of the boards where light has crept under the dust jacket, at the bottom of the front paste down there is a small bump where some foreign matter was bound in under the endpaper, light foxing to closed top edge, a very tidy but not mint copy of a scarce title from Britains Queen of Crime, and the introduction of the legendary Inspector Dalgliesh, bank transfer only as payment for this please. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by Charles Mozley (jacket). 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.

Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1914 First edition, dated July 1914 from the publishers 31 page catalogue at the rear, RARE and scarce in the wrapper, May Gibbs earliest 'Gumnut' style illustrations, The dust jacket has edge wear and chipping and some short tears, the front fold in flap is missing, both the pasted on illustrations, with May Gibbs art, are present and intact, these pasted on paper plates are also present on the book cover and spine, book is tidy, with small ink inscription to fep dated (19)18, very slight foxing to closed edges, colour frontspiece and four other full page black and white plates, all by May Gibbs. (x) 228pp + 31pp publisher's catalogue, decorated cloth. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Very Good/Fair. Illus. by May Gibbs. 8vo - over 7? - 9? tall.