Rare books from Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books, ABAA

Los Angeles: W & V Dailey, Antiquarian Booksellers, 2000. First Printings. Loose sheets, bifolium, now protected in clear sleeves mounted in two leather binders. Near Fine. Complete set from Vol. I, Issue 1 (1994) through Vol. IV, Issue 4 (2000). The letterpress prospectus, printed in two colors and measuring 8.25 x 13.25 inches, is included. Issues are 4to. Pagination varies per issue, the shortest being the first issue in six pages; the longest is the final issue in 16 pages. (Most run eight or 10 pages.) Illustrated with monochrome cuts and tipped-in images offset-printed in full color. Notes at the end of each issue provide bibliographic detail. Letterpress printed by Patrick Reagh on Heavyweight Rives paper, fore-edges untrimmed. Two issues with slight nudges to lower fore-edge corners, otherwise a uniformly Fine set. Jay showcased his accomplished research into the history of legerdemain in this eponymous journal. Presented in a refined format worthy of his authority, Jay employs a lively,… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First Edition. Full leather in Leather Clamshell Case. Very Good-. 12mo. Pp. 357. Vignette title page. With the engraved map of Walden Pond opposite p. 307, with imprint appearing clearly. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. Bound, without ads, in late 19th or early-20th century brown morocco, neatly rehinged, with gilt lettering on spine that has five raised bands. Corners worn. An elegant binding, handsomely restored. Housed in a smart clamshell case, quarter brown pebble grain morocco over brown cloth, gilt lettering and blindstamp devices on spine with raised bands. The first printing of the first edition, without the publisher ads, listed as the first citation by Borst (Henry David Thoreau A Descriptive Bibliography). A cornerstone of American literature. BAL 20106; Borst A2.1.a; GROLIER American 100, 63.

Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840. First Edition. Two volumes in original cloth, housed in a custom morocco case. Very Good. 8vo. Pp. 243; 228. Both volumes bound in original muslin with original paper spine labels. With the four pages of advertisements bound directly before the title page, as corresponds with the copy in the Yale University Library cited by Heartman. With p. 213 misnumbered 231 in Vol. II; the "i" of "ing" and hyphen properly aligned on p. 219. Spine labels deteriorated. Contemporary ownership signature (M. T. Willard) on FFEPs of both volumes. Interiors quite fresh. Pastedowns of both volumes with the red morocco bookplate of Academy Award-winning lyricist and noted book collector Paul Francis Webster ("The Shadow of Your Smile"). Half-morocco slipcase and chemises. First edition of Poe's first substantial collection of tales, of which research suggests only 750 copies were printed. In 1834 Poe had hoped to publish his first collection, to be called Tales of the Folio Club,… Read More

Washington, DC: Government Printing Office [for the] U.S. Senate, 1912. First Edition. Hardcover in a Custom Clamshell Box. Very Good/Clamshell case Fine. Title continues: Sixty-Second Congress Second Session. Directing the Committee on Commerce to Investigate the Causes Leading to the Wreck of the White Star Liner "Titanic". Thick, large 8vo. With three folding maps. Bound in tan buckram with black rules and lettering on spine. Text clean, light soiling to cloth, spine slightly darkened. Rear hinge starting. Contemporary owner signature in pencil. Housed in a custom clamshell box of half-red morocco over red cloth, gilt lettering on spine. "They said, 'nothing serious is the matter' ... I did not realize it, the whole time, even to the last moment ... I would never believe such a thing could happen." The US Senate investigation convened over 18 days, with 86 witnesses informing the record at-hand. Among them, Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line; Second Officer Charles… Read More

London: Benjamin Fisher, 1625. First Edition. Full Leather. Very Good. Robert Vaughan. Small 4to. Engraved frontis. of Elizabeth I by Robert Vaughan. Engraved title page. Portrait of translator Abraham Darcie at 4F2v, followed by another of same. With ornamental woodcut initials, and head- and tail-pieces throughout. An unsigned quire, "The Author to the Reader," inserted between leaves b4 and A¶4. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Bound in contemporary full red morocco with elaborate gilt-decorated spine and boards; gilt dentelle style border repeating a phoenix perched on a daisy. Raised bands with six compartments, black morocco spine label.Scattered light foxing. Frontis. and title page closely trimmed. A few vertical marginal closed tears. Expert restoration to joints, spine ends and corners. Occasional old ink marginalia. Endpapers with brief pencil notations regarding bibliography and provenance. With the armorial bookplate of noted Victorian antiquarian and bibliophile James Comerford,… Read More

London: Printed for Edward Brewster, 1701. Full Leather. Very Good. E.B.. Small, squarish 4to. Unpaginated. Printed in black letter with explanations of the stories' morals and meanings printed in the margins. Woodcut vignette on first title. Illustrated with 75 woodcuts, most signed "EB." Woodcut on C1r of first printed upside down. Closely trimmed. Marbled endpapers. Bound in modern period-style full morocco gilt. Scarce 1681-1701 edition of this immensely popular medieval "beast fable." Speculation remains unresolved as to whether France or Germany lays claim to the development of the legend. In 1481 William Caxton was the first to print an English translation.One of the earliest obtainable English editions of the popular legend, this with copious woodcuts. A fine, clean copy, exquisitely bound. MENKE, (Bibliotheca Reinardiana), pp. 230-31; WING, S3512, S3436 (attributed to John Shirley).

London: For J. Wilford, 1733. First Edition. Full Leather. Very Good. Parts I-IV complete, bound in one volume. Tall folio. Marbled endpapers. Bound in 19th-century Cambridge-style paneled calf, gilt dentelles, red spine label. A wide-margined copy with leaves showing only minor imperfections, else clean throughout. "To the Reader" leaf in Part II with subtle, expert repair. Spine somewhat rubbed and boards just a trifle bowed. Provenance: Bookplates of Viscount Mersey, Bignor Park, and Oliver Brett. This copy exhibited at the Festival of Britain Exhibition of Books held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1951. First edition, first issue of all four parts of Pope's opus in verse. "Know then Thy-self, presume not God to scan; / The only Science of Mankind is Man." Epistle IISamuel Johnson: "A thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of versification equal to that of Pope."Of copies containing all four parts in the first issue, the last to appear at auction was… Read More

London: Printed by W. Strahan for J. & P. Knapton, [et al.], 1755. First Edition. Two vols. in full calf. Very Good. Two volumes. Stout folio. Title pages printed in red and black. Bound in modern full calf with raised bands and brown morocco labels on spines. A few minor marginal tears with subtle, expert repairs. Text generally quite clean. First edition of Johnson's landmark dictionary bound in stately period-style full ornate calf gilt. A writing pen has been place in the foreground of one of the photos to indicate size of the folio volumes. Johnson's achievement introduced principles of lexicography that had been accepted in continental Europe, but remained uncodified in mid-18th century England. In sum, he gave us the King's English. The catalog to the exhibit Printing and the Mind of Man reveals, "Johnson's dictionary to be "the most amazing, enduring, and endearing one-man performance in the filed of lexicography." Further, "Johnson's lucid and often idiosyncratic definitions have kept their… Read More

London: Willis and Sotheran, 1857. Full leather. Robert Ronald McIan. Two folio volumes ( 11.25 x 15.25 inches, or 371 x 262mm). Additional chromolithograph title pages. Illustrated with 72 hand-colored lithographed plates. Some spotting, light browning and occasional minor soiling. All edges gilt. Uniformly bound in contemporary red morocco elaborately blocked in gilt with the covers featuring royal Scottish coat of arms surrounded by swords, shields and a border of flora and fillets. Spines with five raised bands with gilt lettering ("Costumes of the Clans") repeating gilt decorations. Inner dentelles. Extremities lightly scuffed, spines slightly darkened and lightly rubbed. With the armorial bookplate of James Cunningham on each front pastedown. In sum, a desirable set in notably well preserved condition.

Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1893. Limited Edition. Vellum with ribbon ties. Very Good+/Clamshell Fine. William Morris. 8vo. Pp. [vi,] 216. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Woodcut Morris chapter head borders, initials and colophon. Set in Golden Type with section heads, running heads and sonnet numbers printed in red. Bound in limp vellum with overlapping fore edges, olive green ribbon ties, titles stamped in gilt on the spine. Edition limited to 500 on paper.Cover spine and edges moderately darkened, original ties intact with light offsetting to endpapers, top edge dust-soiled, fore-edges minimally age toned, small stain to rear endpapers.Drop-down-back clamshell case in full straight-grain brown morocco, bronze silk sides, spine titles gilt on black morocco labels, gilt rules, five raised bands. One of the scarcer Kelmscotts due to its broad appeal. While 15-or-so copies have appeared at auction in the last ten years, most were afflicted with condition issues, or offered in elaborate bindings. This paper… Read More

New-York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1820. First editions. Parts bound in one volume. Very Good. Thick 8vo. Pp. 94, [5], 102-119, [4], 124-137, [4], 142-152, [3], 156-169, [6], 176-192, [3], 196-206, [3], 210-215[4], 220-242, [5], 269, [4], 274-294, [3], 298-301, [4], 304-335, [5], 342-352, [3], 356-368, [3], 372-393, [4], 398-443, [6], 6-27, [4], 32-48, [3], 52-120, [5], 6-28, [3], 32-49, [4], 54-89, [4], 94-123, [5]. Includes all seven parts of the Sketch-Book published serially with the first five parts published 1819, the latter two in 1820. Contemporary table of contents in manuscript pencil on free endpapers. All edges gilt. Bound by French Binders, Garden City, in full straight-grained blue-green morocco, cover borders in gilt, inner doublures, board edges and turn-ins gilt, five raised bands on spine with gilt borders and lettering. Spine a touch faded. A sumptuous binding.Offsetting to margins of endpapers. soiling top corner of pp. 158-161, ring stain on the half-title to "The Inn Kitchen," foxing… Read More

New York: Wiley & Halsted, 1821. First Editions. Full leather in clamshell case. Very Good/Clamshell case Near Fine. 12mo. Two volumes bound as one. Pp. [2], 251, [1], 286, [2]. Original calf with black morocco spine label gilt, along with elaborate gilt decorations on the spine. Rejointed, with some edge repairs; contents with a few small marginal repairs and restorations, variably foxed and stained. Double-spine drop-down-back clamshell case, half polished calf over marbled paper covered boards, red and black spine labels, gilt rules, brown felt lining. First edition, second state of Vol. II, with pages 285 and 286 in succession. We might add that the first issue of the second volume was seen by perhaps only bibliographer Blanck.Cooper's rare second novel, which launched his career and is now recognized as a harbinger of the espionage genre and indeed one of the first serious American novels. It laid the foundation on which Hawthorne, Melville and all subsequent American novelists poured forth,… Read More

London: John Starkey, 1671. First Edition. Full leather in pull-off case. Very Good/Case Fine. 8vo. Pp. [6], [license], [title], [1], 111; Samson Agonistes title page dated 1671, [1], 101, [2] (omissa & errata), [3]. Contemporary calf bordered in blind, black morocco label on spine; boards without pastedowns. Covers scarred, spine label eroded, final signature loosened. Pull-off case in black pebble grained morocco, titles and panels in gilt on the spine between five raised bands: very lightly soiled. First edition, first issue with the misprint of "loth" as "loah" on p. 67. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, the characteristic quality of Milton is sublimity. Perhaps more staggering? That sight-impaired Milton carried that loftiness entirely in his head, dictating verse after declaring to his transcriber, "I want to be milked."This copy notable for the unsophisticated contemporary binding: a pure example. WING M-2152.

London: Chapman and Hall, Bradbury and Evans, 1848. First Printing of A Christmas Carol. Leather bindings housed in red full-morocco pull-top cases with some original cloth bound-in. Near Fine. Daniel Maclise, F. P. Becker, John Leech, John Tenniel, Richard Doyle, Edwin Lanseer, Marcus Stone, Clarkson Stanfield, Martin and Corbould. An excellent, complete set of Dickens's Christmas books, including a first edition, first issue of "A Christmas Carol" with parts of original cloth bound-in. All volumes 16mo. uniformly bound by Tout in three-quarter green morocco over green marbled boards, spines elaborately stamped and lettered in gilt. AEG. Matching marbled endpapers. Each volume with the bookplate of The Library of B. George Ulizio Charles Dickens Collection. Spines uniformly darkened. Some occasional offsetting from the bound-in cloth. Overall, a handsome set housed in matching full red morocco pull-top slipcases, felt-lined.A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.: First… Read More

Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields, 1850. First edition. Original cloth housed in a custom half-morocco box. Near Fine/Case Near Fine. First edition with all the points called for. 8vo. Pp. [i-iii], 2-54, [55], 56-322, [323-324]. Original blind-stamped ribbed brown cloth, gilt lettering on spine. Early ownership name (Jon. A. French) in pencil on a front fly. Red morocco bookplate of noted financier, bibliophile and art collector Donald Stralem on the front pastedown, with corresponding offsetting bleeding through the two leaves of publisher ads. Minor expert restoration to spine ends and hinges. Cloth unusually fine; gilt quite bright. In a brown half morocco case, Fine but for loss of silk pull. The first edition of 2,500 copes published 16 March 1850 sold out in ten days: Hawthorne's fame was assured and, significantly, American literature was established as an art form distinct from the shackles of the English tradition. Walt Whitman, referencing Hawthorne's 1846 collection Mosses From an Old… Read More