1. Dickens, Charles.

Collection of six First Editions, all bound uniformely around 1850 and all in their original state. A stunning set with nearly all of the books in their First state of First Edition printing and with all plates complete. The collection includes: Bleak House / Little Dorrit / Nicholas Nickleby / Martin Chuzzlewit / Dombey and Son / David Copperfield. A very rare occasion in which a contemporary 19th-century lover of Dickens’ Literature had all Novels in their first edition bound to his/her liking. The mid-19th-century bindings beautiful in their simplicity and uniform style.

London, Chapman and Hall, 1839 – 1857. Octavo. Hardcover / Mid-19th-century Half-Leather with gilt lettering on spine. Original marbled endpapers. Very good condition with only few layers and illustrations loosened and the usual tanning to the illustrations. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. [The David Copperfield Volume has a defect (see detailed description below)]. Perfect collection of first editions to start a Dickens-Collection in contemporary, 19th-century bindings.

2. [Arabian Nights] Forster, Edward / [Provenance: Daniel Callaghan of Lotabeg].

The Arabian Nights, in Five Volumes. [Including “The History of Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp” / The History of Ali Baba and of the Forty Robbers, killed by one Slave” / etc.] Translated by The Reverend Edward Forster [based on the French version of Antoine Galland]. With [24] Engravings, from Pictures by Robert Smirke.

First Edition [Large Paper Quarto Edition]. Five Volumes (complete set with all engravings). London, Printed for William Miller, 1802. Quarto (21.5 cm x 27.5 cm). Volume I: LXI, (7), 385 pages with 5 copper-engravings including Errata-Leaf and “Directions for placing the Plates” for all four volumes / Volume: 432 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 405 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 461 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 474 pages with 5 copper-engravings. Hardcover / Original, early 19th century full leather with gilt lettering and date on lower spine [″London, 1802”]. Beautiful, richly ornamented master-bindings. All Volumes in strong, protective collector’s Mylar, which invites the reader/collector to use the work without fear of handling. Armorial Bookplates / ExLibris of Daniel Callaghan, Esquire of Lotabeg (MP for Cork City 1830-1849) to all five pastedowns (Motto: “Fidus et Audax”). Marbled endpapers a little dusty but beautiful. Volume 1, 2 and 5 with some weakening to the spine (slightly cracked), but holding and still firm overall. All plates present. As known and always found with this scarce edition, the original, titled tissue-guards all in place, have created stronger signs of foxing to the plates but in sharp contrast the text in all the five Volumes in bright and clean condition with only occasional faint staining. Endpapers with some minor browning. Very good+ condition overall with some rubbing and minor bumping to the Volumes but really only minor signs of external wear. Extremely sought after publication, not to be confused with the later, much more common Octavo Editions !

3. [Halifax, 1st Marquess of] George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax.

The Lady’s New-year’s Gift : Or, Advice to a Daughter. Under these following Heads, Viz. Religion, Husband, House and Family. Servants, Behaviour and Conversation, Friendships, Censure, Vanity and Affectation, Pride, Diversions, Dancing.

The Second Edition Corrected by the Original. London, Printed for Matthew Gillyflower in Westminster-Hall and James Partridge at Charing-Cross, 1688. Duodecimo (7 cm wide x 12.5 cm high). [II], 164 pages (collation complete). Hardcover / 18th century full leather with gilt lettering and ornament on spine and boards. Very few pages with minor wormhole-damage only and some pages with some minor tears and fraying. The binding firm and with minor damage only. Some very few entries with ink by the pre-owner. Overall a very good condition with only minor signs of wear of this extremely rare and early edition of one of the rarest publications of advice on prudence and virtue, written by the Marquess of Halifax and published as an address to his daughter Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield (1677 – 1708). Later editions are more common but this 17th century publication is the nicest version of this book we have ever handled.

4. Yoshimura, Saisei [Yoshimura Utagawa (1846 – 1887)].

Jurui Gafu [Album of Animals].

First and only edition. Tokyo, Ohashido, no. year [c.1880]. Octavo. 20 pages plus rear cover [Illustrated Cover plus 19 illustrated pages including illustrated pastedown]. Illustrated cover with an Edo-period hunting-scene in ukiyo-e style. The booklet itself illustrated with polychrome woodblock-illustrations in colour, showing 51 animal species. Illustrated softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear and some fraying to the outer borders. One corner with paper-loss. A very, very rare publication, dated in ink by its previous owner “Brighton, 1881”.

5. [More, Hannah] & [Sherwood, Mary Martha] / [Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge].

Sammelband / Collection with 18 rare Children’s Books bound in One Miniature Volume. The Volume includes [chronologically]: 1. Hannah More – “The Lancashire Collier Girl – A True Story”. London, 1847. (29 pages with Frontispice and three text-illustrations) / 2. “The Obedient Child” – Luke II.40-52 (Prayer in Poetry-Form) / 16 pages. No Titlepage. No year of Printing / 3. “Martha Brown; or, The Industrious Daughter”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 4. “The Deaf and Dumb Girl”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 5. “The Effects of Disobedience”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 6. “The Baker’s Boy”. London, 1847. (15 pages with Frontispice) / 7. “Dick and his Mother”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 8. “The Sun behind the Cloud”. 8 pages (text complete but without titlepage and year) / 9. “The Cockchafers”. 8 pages. (Text complete with Text-illustration but without titlepage and year) / 10. “The Blind Sailor”. 8 pages. (Text complete with Text-illustration but without titlepage and year) / 11. “Good-Nature Rewarded”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 12. “Robin Red-Breast”. 8 pages. (Text complete with Text-illustration but without titlepage and year) / 13. Mrs. Sherwood [That is: “Mary Martha Sherwood”] – “Soffrona and her Cat Muff”. New Edition. London, Printed for Houlston and Co., 1850 – Bound with the two beautiful printed wrappers and including the Frontispice and six text-illustrations / 14. [Hannah More] – “The Ostrich”. London, 1845. (16 pages with Frontispice-Illustration of an Ostrich and an additional text-illustration of a running Ostrich) / 15. “Effects of the Love of Finery; or. The Two Servant Girls”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 16. “The Cottage on the Cliffs”. London, 1847. (16 pages with Frontispice) / 17. “The History of Tom White The Postilion”. In Two Parts. New edition. London, no year [c.1847]. Complete in two Parts. 80 pages with Frontispice and 14 Text-Illustrations. Minor staining to edge. Two pages with a minor tear. / 18. “The Barbary Doves”. London, [no year, c.1847]. 31 pages with Frontispice. Minor staining to edge.

London, Published for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1847. Miniature Binding: 7.5 cm wide x 10 cm high. Hardcover / 19th century half-leather with gilt lettering on spine [″Stories”] and marbled-paper-covered boards. Binding firm. Bottom Spine with minor damage. Page 17 repaired. Receding Ink-stain to endpapers, Frontispice and first 29 pages. Interior otherwise very good. Very rare collection of moralizing 19th century children’s stories.

6. Sendak, Maurice (1928 – 2012).

Collection / Archive of two very rich and personal, handwritten & signed letters on cards by Sendak, plus a rare, multi-folded, advertising-leporello of Maurice Sendak’s publications, together with a wonderful collection of fourteen (14) loose gicleé prints of original drawings by Maurice Sendak in colour or black and white: ‘A Kiss for Little Bear’ x 2 (26.5 cm x 34.5 cm) / ‘Zlateh the Goat’ x 2 (24 cm x 30 cm and 37.5 cm x 30 cm) / ‘Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present’ x 1 (33.4 cm x 41.5 cm) / Lullabies and Night Songs’ x 2 (35 cm x 26.5 cm and 44.5 cm x 33.5 cm) / ‘Hector Protector’ x 1 (46 cm x 26 cm) / ‘In the Night Kitchen’ x 4 (50 cm x 36 cm) / Higglety Pigglety Pop x 2 (28 cm x 35.5 cm). The two cards are addressed to “Minnie” [that is “Minnie Kate”] and were written at Christmas 1986 and Christmas 1987. According to a colleague in the trade, who helped us to identify the recipient “Minnie”, Minnie Kate, together with her mother, maintained a long friendship with Maurice Sendak by sending him colored stones or rocks that they sourced from local beaches in the northwest of the United States (Washington Statel). Most of Maurice Sendak’s correspondence with Minnie Kate and her mother, is preserved at the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia. Both cards are similar in content. One of the cards featuring Sendak’s art from the cover of Nutcracker and addressed to Minnie, reading in part “I worked all year on a picture-book – a Grimm tale (my first book in 8 years !!). I am in love with it and it gets published next year….my wild things celebrate their 25th anniversary. I hope i enjoy it all. Am hoping for a quiet year ahead illustrating a Grimm tale and staying put – I am tired of travelling and theatre projects. And look forward to creeping back into my old role as book illustrator” / “The rocks arrived while I was away working in England. They are wonderful, of course, and very much appreciated. Thank you again and again. My animals. I have but one. My darling Golden Retriever, Io, had to be put to sleep 2 weeks ago. She was 15 1/2 and I held her and stayed with her to the end. It is so sad, naturally, but the memory fills me with a kind of joy. I have a 3 1/2 year old German Shepherd named Runge after a German painter (19th century). It was anything but a lazy year – too full! This coming year will be lazy-ish”.

Letters: 4 pages on two cards / Gicleé prints: 15 sheets (unsigned). [New York], 1986 – 1987. Very good condition.

7. Sendak, Maurice (1928 – 2012).

Collection / Archive of three (3) very large gicleé prints of original drawings from the book “Where the Wild Things are” by Maurice Sendak of which one is beautifully signed by Maurice Sendak. The collection includes: ‘Off to Bed without their Supper’ (signed) / ‘Let the Wild Rumpus Start’ (I and II).

Gicleé prints. [New York], [Harper and Row], c.1975. Two prints measure: 37 cm x 60 cm / The signed print measures: 28 cm x 50 cm. Very good condition.

8. Walde, Johann Gottlieb.

Thomas Waldauf’s, des Dresdener Schornsteinfegers Lebensereignisse zu Wasser und zu Lande in drei Welttheilen. Von ihm selbst erzählt und als ein wahrhaftes Familienbuch für Jung und Alt in allen Ständen des Volkes herausgegeben von J.G.Walde. [A german Chimney-sweepers Travels and Adventures on the Ocean and in America (California)].

Löbau, J.G.Walde’s Buchhandlung, ohne Jahr [1858]. Klein-Oktav. 304, 236, 220, VI, (1) Seiten. Mit 23 (von 24) wunderbaren, handkolorierten Tafeln von Ferdinand Franke in Dresden, welche Waldaufs Reise zeigen (u.a. im Schaufelrad-Dampfer etc.). Hardcover / Moderner, sehr dekorativer Halblederband mit neuem Vorsatz. Nach der sehr guten Restauration durch einen professionellen Buchbinder, ist dieser Band wieder ein Sammler-Exemplar. Leicht schiefgelesen. Das Papier vereinzelt stärker stockfleckig. Nahezu alle Abbildungen wunderbar und tadellos und vor allem in kräftigem Kolorit erhalten. Zahlreiche Abbildungen auf unserer Webseite. Sehr seltene, interessante Publikation die auch politische Ansichten ueber den amerikanischen Unrechts-Staat des 19.Jahrhunderts, im Bezug auf Rassismus und Rechte der afroamerikanischen Bevoelkerung, anspricht.

9. [Haugaard, Erik] Asimov, Isaac and others.

The Horn Book Magazine / [Magazine] About Children’s Books and Reading. With articles by Erik Haugaard, Isaac Asimov [″Views on Science Books” in the June 1963 – copy)] and many others [Edited by Paul Heins, Ethel L. Heins, Anita Silvey].

64 Issues (Duplicates: 1964, 1968, Oct & Dec 1979, 1984). Boston, The Horn Book, 1963, 1967-70, 1973, 1975-81, 1983-1989. 15.3 cm x 22.8 cm. Circa 7500 pages. Featuring black and white frontispieces by book illustrators. With many black and white illustrations throughout by famous illustrators taken from various children’s books. Original Softcover. Very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Only minor discoloration to covers and edges. Some covers have minor pen markings. From the reference library of Hans Christian Andersen-Translator Erik Christian Haugaard.

10. [Hatton, Brian] Cule, W. E.

The White Caravan. Illustrated by Brian Hatton.

London, James Nisbet & Co., Ltd., 1914. 15.5 x 22cm. 184 pages. With four colour illustration plates and decorative endpapers. Original, illustrated hardcover in protective Mylar. The binding in unusually excellent and firm condition. Endpapers undsiturbed and perfect. Foxed on the edges and some mild foxing inside. Very minor lesion to the outer margins of 6 pages only. Private gift-inscription and letter included: Inscribed “To Elsie with best wishes from E.Miller”. An original, signed letter by Aunt Miller to Elsie is loosely inserted. All the wonderful colour-plates by Brian Hatton are in place and in excellent condition. An extremely scarce book.