Rare books from Chase Rare Books

WARHOL, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again). New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975.
First edition, first printing. Signed by Warhol ('AW') to half-title.
A loosely formed autobiography, told with Warhol's trademark blend of irony and detachment, this compelling and eccentric memoir riffs and reflects on all things Warhol: New York, America, and his childhood in Pennsylvania, as well as the explosion of his career in the sixties, and his life among the rich and famous. Filled with the artist's reflections on Love, Beauty, Fame, Work, Time, Death, Atmosphere, Success, Art, and much more. Includes 'The Fall and Rise of My Favourite Sixties Girl", Warhol's fascinating portrait of Edie Sedgwick.
8vo, qtr cloth, a hint of light fading to foot of spine; bottom corner of front board very slightly bumped. Very good in very good dust jacket (a few minor nicks and chips; not price-clipped; in clear, removable protective sleeve). Jacket design by Herb Lubalin. Jacket… Read More

WINDSOR, Wallis Duchess of (1896-1986). Le Coeur a ses raisons, les mémoires de la Duchesse de Windsor. Paris: Del Luca, 1956.
First French edition. The English edition published under the name The Heart Has Its Reasons.
Signed and inscribed by the Duchess of Windsor to Lucienne Rabaté (1885-1960), the renowned hat designer known as the greatest milliner of the Roaring Twenties, who ran the most important hat shop in Paris, Caroline Reboux.
Lucienne Rabaté played a crucial role in Coco Chanel's early fashion career, teaching her the artistry and business of millinery while assisting in the successful launch of her first hat shop in Paris. A nice association.
480 pages, 22 b/w plates. 8vo, original cloth, slight creasing to spine. Dust jacket with some marginal wear, professionally conserved with archival tape. Very good in good dust-jacket.

STEIN, Jean; PLIMPTON, George (Editor). Edie: An American Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.
FIRST EDITION. A fashion and cultural icon, Edie Sedgwick was Andy Warhol's muse and superstar. This book is an enthralling oral history of Edie told by her family and friends, including Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Mailer, Jasper Johns, Gore Vidal, Roy Lichtenstein, John Cage, and Patti Smith. Warhol has made numerous entries in his diaries regarding the development and publishing of this book, mostly expressing a certain apprehension about the project, and some resentment toward the book's success. However, his contributions to Edie are fascinating, with statements such as: 'She always looked so good. Edie was a beauty, gee!'
HB (ISBN: 0394488199; 9780394488196); 24x16.5 cm. 455 pp. Illustrated with 90 pages of b/w photos. Very good/near fine copy in the very attractive dust-jacket (slight fading to spine) illustrated by Guy Fery.

ISHERWOOD, Christopher. Goodbye to Berlin. London, Hogarth Press, 1966.
Sixth impression (first published 1939). Isherwood's evocative episodic novel set in the 1930s bohemian Berlin, comprising of six loosely connected semi-autobiographical pieces, including Sally Bowles (first published on its own in 1937 by the Hogarth Press).
Goodbye to Berlin has been adapted with enormous success on both stage and film, including the 1951 hit play I Am a Camera, and the classic 1972 musical film Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli in the role Sally Bowles.
8vo, pp. 317. Near fine in near fine dust-jacket (short closed tear to foot of rear panel).
The dust-jacket features the acclaimed British actress Dorothy Tutin (1930-2001) as Sally Bowles in the 1954 London stage production of I am a Camera (adapted from Goodbye to Berlin by John Van Druten). Dust-jacket photo by Angus McBean.
Scarce and attractive copy, in very bright dust jacket.

MORIN, Pierre. Remarques necessaires pour la culture des fleurs. Charles Amy: Lyon, 1686.
La maniere avec laquelle il les faut cultiver, & les ouvrages qu'il faut faire selon chaque mois de l'année. Avec une méthode facile pour faire toutes sortes de palissades, bosquets & autres ornemens qui servent à l'embellissement des jardins de plaisir & un catalogue des plantes les plus rares.
New edition (first published 1658). Catalogue of Plants with its own title-page. Pierre Morin, 17th century French florist. Text French.
Popular handbook on the cultivation of flowers including details of monthly tasks in the garden, when particular flowers bloom, which soils and climates they prefer. With a treatise on Carnations (pp 93-164), and a Catalogue of Plants, including anemones, ranoncules de Tripoly, tulipes, and iris bulbeaux.
[viii], 224, [8] pp.12mo, contemporary full calf, rubbed/scuffed, raised bands and gt tooling to spine, wormhole to foot of spine; rear joint partly split, but firm. Some foxing;… Read More

HUART, Louis. Physiologie du flâneur … Vignettes de MM. Alophe, Daumier et Maurisset. Paris, Aubert et Cie … Lavigne … 1841.
[Bound with:] ALHOY, Maurice. Physiologie de la lorette … Vignettes de Gavarny … Paris, Aubert et Cie … Lavigne … [1841]. [And:]
SAINT-HILAIRE, Émile Marco de. Physiologie du troupier … Vignettes par Jules Vernier. Paris, Aubert et Cie … Lavigne … 1841. [And:]
SOULIÉ, Frédéric. Physiologie du bas-bleu … Vignettes de Jules Vernier. Paris, Aubert et Cie … Lavigne … [1841].
Text French. 4 works bound in one vol., 16mo (129 × 76 mm), pp. 126, [2]; [3]–127, [1]; upper margin chipped in places, with slight loss to a few, not affecting the text; 125, [3]; 124, plus 4 pp. advertisements; modern calf, spine lettered gilt. An attractive pocket-sized book.
A nice collection of four physiologies: The Flâneur, The Lorette, The French Trooper, and The Blue Stocking. Veritable best-sellers of their times, physiologies are guides to the modern metropolis and… Read More

MOSLEY, Charlotte (Ed.). In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor. London: John Murray, 2008.
First edition, first impression. Signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor, the Duchess of Devonshire, and the editor, Charlotte Mosley.
This book of letters is a record of the lifelong friendship between Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire – youngest of the six legendary Mitford sisters, and celebrated travel writer and war hero, Patrick Leigh Fermor. There are glimpses of President Kennedy's inauguration, parties at Buckingham Palace, including the wedding of Charles and Diana, and life at Chatsworth House, the home of the Devonshire family. The correspondence also features writers and artists such as Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited, Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, and painter Lucian Freud.
xiii, 390 pp. b/w photos, text drawings. Hardback. (ISBN: 9780719568589). As new in fine dust-jacket.

MITFORD, Jessica. Hons and Rebels. London: Victor Gollancz, 1960.First edition, first printing.Jessica "Decca" Mitford's classic memoir,with the scarce dust jacket. An entrancing account of growing up in an eccentric aristocratic family in an isolated country home in the Cotswolds during the 1920s and 30s. Jessica's Hons and Rebels, and the novel by her elder sister Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love (1945), depicted the family life of the Mitfords as a series of comic but unnerving episodes, dominated by their father's frequent fits of rage and irrational prejudices, and his children strong desire to escape their parental home.
This book is a great examination of the British class system, life as a rebel aristocrat, and the divisive politics pervading the public and private lives of Britons and Europeans during the 1930s. Decca was a communist supporter, while her sisters Unity and Diana were ardent fascists. Aged 19, she eloped with her cousin Esmond Romilly, Winston Churchill's 'red' nephew, to… Read More

DALTREY, Roger. Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story. London: Blink Publishing, 2018.
First edition, first printing. Signed to title-page. The Who frontman Roger Daltrey's autobiography. This is the story of My Generation, Tommy and Quadrophenia, of smashed guitars, exploding drums, cars in swimming pools, fights, arrests, and redecorated hotel rooms. Arguably one of the greatest rock singers to emerge from the 1960s, giving The Who their uncompromising and rebellious voice identity, Roger Daltrey went to work at fifteen, came through the hard way in the Acton Town area of West London, and then rose with his band mates -Pete Townsend, John Entwistle & Keith Moon - to become one of the greatest international rock stars. Daltrey and Townsend continue to perform live – nearly sixty years after their musical launch.
HB (ISBN: 9781788700283). 346 pp; 14 pp of b/w + col photos. Minor bump to rear top corner.
Fine in fine dust jacket. Front cover photo by John Downing; Back cover photo by Amalie R.… Read More

RADZIWILL, Lee. Happy Times. New York: Assouline, 2000.
First edition. Signed and inscribed by the author.
Half notebook, half photo album, Happy Times, presents Lee Radziwill's reminiscences of the 1960s, a period of her life that was particularly rich and exciting. Rather than offering a chronological story, the book evokes people, places and moments, and takes us back to one of the most fascinating period of the 20th century. Includes chapters on Truman Capote, Andy Warhol and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
HB (ISBN: 2843232503). 900g; 28x19.5cm. 168 pp; b/w + col photos. Front spine ends and bottom of front board bumped. Tiny tear/nick to the top of a couple of pages. Very good in very good dust jacket (not priced-clipped).

AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park. London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1908.
Reprint of the fourth Dent edition (1906). Illustrated with colour plates by H.M. Brock. Edited by Reginald Brimley Johnson. Printed from the second edition (John Murray, 1816) of Mansfield Park. Complete in two volumes. Part of a 10-volume series collection of the novels of Jane Austen.
Author's third novel, and the first to be written at Chawton. Mansfield Park is the most modern and autobiographical of all Jane Austen's novels.
2 volumes: vi, 245; 249; 12 colour plates. Small 8vo, original decorative cloth, gilt lettering, t.e.g., pages uncut. Decorative endpapers and title-pages. Second volume with the orig. silk bookmark.
A delightful set, with the front boards depicting the ideal Jane Austen heroine dressed in a charming Regency frock. In bright, beautiful condition.

AVEDON, Richard; CAPOTE, Truman. Observations. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1959.
First edition. Photographs by Richard Avedon. Introductory essay 'On Richard Avedon', and text accompanying the photographs by Truman Capote. Book design by Alexey Brodovitch.
The first collection of Avedon's photographs to appear in book form. Features some of the most fascinating figures of mid-twentieth century: Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Coco Chanel, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, T.S. Elliot, Ezra Pound, Isak Dinesen, Leonard Bernstein, Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Mae West, Gloria Swanson, Robert Oppenheimer, and others.
The book includes "A Gathering of Swans", Capote's famous essay about female beauty and elegance, illustrated with Avedon's photos of Marella Agnelli, Babe Paley, and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Folio. 151, [1] pp. Original paper covered boards, slight wear to foot of spine, minor spotting. In original acetate dust jacket, with some loss to top of… Read More

STOKER, Bram. Dracula. New York: Random House, n.d. [c. 1944]. Modern Library, 31.
Early reprint of the Modern Library Dracula issued with dust jacket art by Edward McKnight Kauffer, (1890–1954), American artist, and one of Britain's most influential poster artists and graphic designers of his era.
Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has enthralled generation after generation of readers, cinema and television audiences, with the same spellbinding power with which Count Dracula enthrals his victims. Dracula is a classic of Gothic horror, an undying wellspring of modern mythology, and an irresistible entertainment. Based on extensive research of the folklore surrounding vampires, Stoker's novel elevated the nocturnal creature to iconic stature, spawning a genre of stories and movies that flourishes to this day. As his chilling, suave monster stalks his prey from a crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania to an insane asylum in England to the bedrooms of his swooning female… Read More

WEST, Mae. Diamond Lil. New York: Sheridan House, 1949.
Mae West (1893-1980), legendary film star and sex symbol of the Golden age of Hollywood, was also a very successful playwright and screenwriter. She wrote and produced her own plays and scripts, and she starred in her scenarios on stage and screen. Such is the case with Diamond Lil, which was first created as a play, turned into a novel, and then produced into a film. West conceived the hip-swaying, wise-cracking Diamond Lil – Gilded Age femme fatale of the Lower Manhattan underworld - as a character and as an alter ego.
Diamond Lil was first published as a play in 1928, and produced into a hit Broadway show the same year, with Mae West starring in the leading role. In 1932, West adapted her play into a novel, and the following year she brought her Diamond Lil character, renamed Lady Lou, onto the silver screen in She Done Him Wrong (1933), starring Cary Grant as the heroine's love interest, Captain Cummings. The film was a box-office… Read More