Tom W. Ayling

First edition. Octavo. Publisher's black cloth, lettered white, in the original dustwrapper. A near fine copy of the book. The dustwrapper is crisp, but has small areas of restoration to the head of the spine, and to two corners. The first edition of Norman Mailer's debut novel, published when he was just twenty-five. The dustwr…

An archive of five Elstree Studios reader's report for Evelyn Waugh's novels. Comprising: 1. MEN AT ARMS. 2pp. Typed on rectos only. Dated 24th September 1952. "This book is the first part of a trilogy that Mr. Waugh intends to write, and I feel that when the other two books are written, there might be possibilities of making an…

An archive of two Elstree Studios reader's report for E.M. Forster's novels. Comprising: 1. A ROOM WITH A VIEW. 3pp. Typed on rectos only. Dated 18th September 1952. "But in the lack of an under-plot to play against Lucy's little triangle, it is always going to seem too this for a film demanding first-class acting." 2. A PASSAGE…

First UK edition. Octavo. Bound in white cloth, lettered and decorated in blue. Top-edge blue, blue cloth book marker. Decorative floral pastedown and endpaper. Ten Black and white plates by E H Garrett. A very good copy indeed. Some minor marks to the covers, but overall bright. Some internal spots. Slight toning to some pages.…

Elstree's Studios' intriguing original reader's report for Excellent Women. 2pp. Typed on rectos only. Dated 20th March 1952. Elstree Studios' original reader's report for Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. The report summarises the plot, and then gives a thoughtful conclusion: "This is very charming. Almost too charming. There are…

First edition of Kerouac's debut novel. Octavo. Publisher's red cloth, lettered gilt, in the original dustwrapper. A near fine copy of the book. The dustwrapper has some retouching the the spine ends and corners. Jack Kerouac's debut novel, published under the name John. He was born Jean Louis Kerouac to French-Canadian parents,…

First edition. Octavo. Bound in beige cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, blind stamped centrepiece to lower board. One frontispiece and fifteen plates by various artists. The final plate has a tissue guard laid loosely on top. Fold out map to the rear. A very good book. Spine cocked, some marks to covers and slight pushing of cor…

A fine Regency set of The Bible and The Book Of Common Prayer. Duodecimo. Bound in contemporary red morocco, decorated in gilt and blind. Brass hardware, with a clasp to the Bible, but wanting the clasp for the prayer book. Gilt decorated turn-ins, with silk moire endpapers. Red morocco ownership label to each volume, lettered g…

First edition, second state. Octavo. Publisher's original red cloth, lettered gilt, in the original dustwrapper. A very good copy in a very good dustwrapper, a little dusty with a couple short closed tears. The first state of the text includes a poem by Siegfried Sassoon that was printed without Sassoon's permission to pp. 341-3…

Bryce's 'Mite Quran'. 64mo (26 × 18 mm). Variant binding of red paper wrappers decorated gilt. Printed on fine India paper. Housed in the original engraved locket, with inset magnifying glass. A very good copy, in a very good locket. "The first miniature Qur'an printed and distributed across the Muslim world" (McBurney, 2019). A…

First Book Club edition. Octavo. Original publisher's paper-covered boards, lettered gilt to spine, in the original dustwrapper. With a fore-edge painting of Valinor by Maisie Matilda to the fore-edge, with the city in the foreground and the two trees of Valinor in the background. Signed by Maisie Matilda to the front free endpa…

First edition. Octavo. Publisher's green cloth, lettered gilt, in the original dustwrapper. A near fine copy, bookseller's ticket to front pastedown, in a very good, price-clipped dustwrapper, spine slightly faded with some wear to the spine ends. The first edition of Seamus Heaney's first commercially published work. Death Of A…

First edition, first issue. Octavo. Publisher's original navy cloth, lettered gilt to the upper cover and spine. A very good copy indeed, a little rubbing to the corners. This is the first edition, first issue, of Lawrence's significant early novel. This first issue has a tipped in title page. The second issue has an integral ti…

Eight volumes from the library of J.R.R. Tolkien's granddaughter, Judith Tolkien. Five are Penguin paperbacks, one by Macmillan, one by Signet and one by Panther. A good set. All with Judith Tolkien's ownership inscriptions, many dated and located to Oxford, Stonyhurst, or Cambridge. Comprising: Gunter Grass - The Tin Drum Vasko…

Fourth edition. Octavo. Publisher's dark green cloth, lettered gilt to the spine, with runic decoration to the spine also, in the original dustwrapper. Thirteen illustrations, some of which are coloured plates, other black and white white illustrations. A near fine copy in a very good dustwrapper, a little rubbed, with a few rep…

The first edition, first printing of Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, with the superfluous brush stroke in the Lin Bao calligraphy, but with pp. 82-3 with the corrected text. Sextodecimo. In the original blindstamped red vinyl binding. Half-title printed in red, title page in red and green, photographic portrait of Chairman Mao a…

An archive of three Elstree Studios reader's report for P.G. Wodehouse's novels. Comprising: 1. FRENCH LEAVE. 3pp. Typed on rectos only. Dated 6th February 1956. "If Wodehouse still means anything, then perhaps the story would be worth consideration as film material on the strength of his name, in spite of all its weaknesses. Bu…

Elstree's Studios' conflicting original reader's report for Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square. 6pp. Typed on rectos only. Dated "Read: K. Leaver. 12.2.42." Elstree Studios' original reader's report for Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square, which had been published in 1941. The reader who prepared the report thought highly of it,…

A single leaf on parchment, c. 212 x 154 mm, from a recovered binding waste with text from the Horologium Sapientiae by German Dominican friar Heinrich Seuse (1295-1366). The parchment edges have been trimmed to create the turn-ins that would have fit the codex that it once covered, with the spine and board impression still visi…

First edition, preceding the UK edition. Octavo. Publisher's black cloth, lettered gilt, in the original dustwrapper. A near fine copy of the book, bookseller's ticket to front pastedown. The dustwrapper has small areas of repair and restoration to the spine ends and corners. Somerset Maugham's most acclaimed novel, adapted to f…

Fifth impression, stated "second edition". Octavo. Publisher's green cloth, lettered and decorated blue. Map endpapers, with Thror's Map to the front endpapers and the Map of Wilderland to the rear, colour frontispiece and eight black and white illustrations. A very good, bright copy. Old bookseller's ticket to front free endpap…

First edition. Octavo. Publisher's black cloth, lettered gilt to the spine, with 'The Tree Of Amalion' to the upper cover in gilt and green. Original publisher's glassine. Housed in the original publisher's box, with printed title label to lid. A near fine copy in a near fine box, with one corner split. Gift inscription in blue…