Fiction

La Princesse de Cleves – Madame de la Fayette – With Aquarelle by Edith Follet – 1920′s

The original novel was published anonymously in 1678. This is the stunning 1920’s production by Nilsson, Paris and contains ten striking tipped in aquarelles (watercolours) as well as the beautiful front cover by Edith Follet.

In the French language, quarto soft covers, 186 pages in very good condition. All the aquarelle bright and clean.

La Princesse de Cleves is regarded by many as the first psychological novel and is now a classic. The story takes place between 1558 and 1559 at the Royal Court of Henry II of France. The novel reflects that era with precision. The characters mainly (apart from the heroine) represent real individual and the events that unfold are faithful to the historical record.

Striking beautiful illustrations by Follet – would make a beautiful gift ….

$120.00

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Biggles Flies to Work – Captain W.E. Johns

Published by Dean, London, no date but 1960’s.

Octavo, 184 pages, ownership to front end papers, dust jacket chipped otherwise a good internally clean copy.

A smorgasbord of eleven Biggles yarns including the case of “the Early Boy”

Fun Biggles Collection

$25.00

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Biggles and the Black Peril – Captain W.E. Johns

Published by Dean, London, no date but 1960’s.

Octavo, 184 pages, light creases to good jacket, clean internally, a nice copy.

The crash of a mysterious flying boat lead Biggles and his cohorts to Russia and another exciting adventure

Biggles – no Peril too big for him

$30.00

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Biggles Flies Again – Captain W.E. Johns

Published by Dean, London – in arrangement with Thames, no date but 1960’s.

Octavo, 1183 pages, one pen mark on end papers, pages somewhat browned as use with this edition. Dust jacket good all else good to better.

The swamps of British Guiana (British of course). An Arabian island and a Russian Agent

Biggles Again – of course!

$25.00

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The Knightly Quest – A Parody of Espionage Thrillers – (A Novella and Twelve Short Stories) – Tennessee Williams -1968

A first UK edition of this collection published by Secker and Warburg, London in 1968. A novella and twelve short stories. Three of the short stories had appeared in “One Arm” published in 1959 – see our copy.

Octavo, 253 pages, the novella “the Knightly Quest”, a parody of espionage thrillers comprises eighty odd pages. The short stories common with the earlier edition are .. The Poet; Chronicle of a Demise and Desire and the Black Masseur.

The new short stories are … Hard Candy; Rubio y Morena; The mattress by the Tomato Patch; The Vine; The Mysteries of the Joy Rio; Mama’s Old Stucco House; Man Bring This up Road; The Kingdom of Earth and “Grand”. The first two are variations on the same theme, with the same setting but with very different results … interesting idea.

The great Tennessee Williams -his shorter stories and one slightly longer

$40.00

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The True-born English-man: A Satyr – Daniel Defoe – This Copy Published in 1716

A rare item by Daniel Defoe. The scarce “enlarged” edition printed and sold by James Roberts, London in 1716.

Pocket sized 12 mo, 12, 26 pages, bound in contemporary calf backed boards, some age and wear but solid and rare in this original state.

First edition thus. After the accession of Hanover Defoe added a new passage of 49 lines satirising the English temper. It was hastily published and contains a number of hasty error which ironically confirm its pedigree

A True-born English-man, satirical poem of length about xenophobia … a few could learn from it today. Dutch born William of Orange has become King of England, and there was much tittle tattle about his lack of English-ness. Defoe, forever a wit, wrote this is support of old William of Orange, ridiculing the notion of English racial purity. Well the evidence is there.

Defoe … much quoted from his opening rant

“that het’rogeneous thing, an Englishman:
In eager rapes, and furious lust begot
Betwixt a painted Britain and a Scot
Whose gend’ring off-spring quickly learn’d to bow,
And yoke their heifers to the Roman plough:
From whence a mongrel half-bred race there came,
With neither name, nor nation, speech nor fame.
In whose hot veins new mixtures quickly ran,
Infused betwixt a Saxon and a Dane
While their rank daughters, to their parents just,
Receiv’d all nations with promiscuous lust.
This nauseous brood directly did contain
The well-extracted blood of Englishmen.”

Daniel Defoe and his True-born a delicious antiquarian rarity … over three hundred year old!

$280.00

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La Princesse de Cleves – Madame de la Fayette – With Aquarelle by Edith Follet – 1920′s

Biggles Flies to Work – Captain W.E. Johns

Biggles and the Black Peril – Captain W.E. Johns

Biggles Flies Again – Captain W.E. Johns

The Knightly Quest – A Parody of Espionage Thrillers – (A Novella and Twelve Short Stories) – Tennessee Williams -1968

The True-born English-man: A Satyr – Daniel Defoe – This Copy Published in 1716

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