Spartacus
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£275.00
Spartacus
By Howard Fast
First edition, first impression, published The Bodley Head in 1952 and the basis for the classic 1960 film adaptation.
Original coral cloth with lettering to spine in gilt. A very good book with a hint of spotting and dustiness to edges, in a very good, unclipped dust jacket featuring striking cover art by James Boswell. A few tears to edges with moderate edge wear and light soiling in places, primarily to lower panel, otherwise very good.
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Categories: First Edition, Modern First Editions
Spartacus
By Howard Fast
First Edition
New


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Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography
Modern First Editions, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Showcase, Signed First Editions
Unended Quest
By Karl Popper
First revised edition, first impression. Signed and inscribed by the author in the year of publication to the title page: 'To Ian Hunter From Karl Popper October 1976. Popper's autobiography was originally published a couple of years earlier in 1974 as part of 'The Philosophy of Karl Popper'. The present edition represents its first separate publication, containing Popper's subsequent revisions to the original text.
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (1902 - 1994) was a highly influential Austrian-British Philosopher, academic and social commentator regarded as one of the most important and impactive philosophers of science of the 20th century. He proposed and developed ideas such as 'critical rationalism' and 'empirical falsification'; the idea behind the latter being that, given the impossibility of the attainment of definitive proof of a particular scientific theory, all theories should be subjected to rigorous testing and, therefore, potentially disproved by means of decisive scientific experimentation. This idea led to the establishment of the Department of Philosophy at the London School of Economics.
A touch of rubbing to spine ends. A few soft creases to spine and corners of covers with the usual toning to edges. Otherwise a uniquely well-preserved and near fine example, not often encountered inscribed in the year of publication and in such good condition.
£1,750.00
New


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The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway, First Edition, General Literary Fiction, Modern First Editions
The Old Man and the Sea
By Ernest Hemingway
First UK edition, first impression. Originally published in the US a few months earlier in the same year. The novel received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and was an important factor in Hemingway being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
Original blue cloth with lettering to spine in dark red and fish and fisherman motif in red to upper board. A fine and clean copy with a couple of small areas of rubbing to the bottom fore-edge of of lower board.
The original and unclipped dust jacket features the striking artwork of Hans Tisdall and is the first state without the reviews to verso. A hint of minor rubbing here and there to edges with a few nicks to edges of lower panel and an associated crease to top and bottom edges that are only visible on verso.
A superb, bright and near fine copy overall.
£450.00


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Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Imaginarium
Limited Editions, Modern First Editions, Signed First Editions
Terry Pratchett's Discworld Imaginarium
By Paul Kidby
Limited edition in slipcase. One of 2,000 numbered copies to be signed by Kidby, of which this is number 879.
Paul Kidby began working as an illustrator on Pratchett's Discworld series in 1993 and was the main jacket illustrator since 2001 following the passing of Josh Kirby.
A fine book in a near fine slipcase with some superficial scratches to the surface of the back. An attractive production.
£150.00


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The Harry Palmer Books: Ipcress File, Horse Under Water, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain
Crime and Thriller, First Edition, Modern First Editions, Showcase, Signed First Editions
The Harry Palmer Books
By Len Deighton
Four Volumes. All first editions, first impressions, published between 1962-1966. Vol I is the correct first issue, without the reviews. Vol II contains the rare crossword competition insert (here blank). Volume I is inscribed by the author to the title page with the note from the author “there are not many copies of this edition!”
Orange, red, black and blue boards, consecutively; lettered in gilt to spines with publisher’s devices to foot; Vol II and III with classification stamp in colour and blind to upper board; Vol IV with white brail design to upper cover, and in the iconic silver dust jacket; all dust jackets unclipped, and designed by Raymond Hawkey; decorative endpapers in all but Vol I; the books generally very good to near-fine, clean, with some mild pushing to spine tips and marking to outer edges of the text block; small stain to p. 11 of Vol I; the wrappers with some darkening to edges and pushing to spine tips; a couple of small creases, nicks and closed tears; front flap of Vol II with paper flaw causing crease and particularly obscuring the price; Vol III a little more rubbed to spine ends, and faint spotting to inside flap; Vol IV a little more creased to the flaps, and lightly rubbed to rear panel.
Deighton’s pinnacle works, and the books which “challenged the nature of British spy fiction”. The series follows protagonist Harry Palmer through a variety of challenges and settings, which include Cold War brainwashing, atomic weapons tests, ice-melting technology, secret plots, murders, and eggs contaminated with a deadly virus.
Inspired by his experiences working for an advertising agency (when he was the only employee not to have been educated at Eton), Deighton wrote a novel based around a gritty, nameless, working-class protagonist who he later named Harry Palmer. The character proved hugely popular with the British public, the success of which the author (modestly) puts down to the fact that The Ipcress File was published in the same year as Fleming’s Dr. No. As well as this series, Palmer also featured in a series of later novels, including An Expensive Place to Die (1967) and Spy Story (1972). Of the present four books, Horse Under Water was the only one not to be adapted to film. The others all starred Michael Caine in the lead role.
Deighton famously avoids book signings, interviews and literary festivals, making signed copies of his works rare indeed.
£2,750.00