The Double Helix
View cart “On the Beach” has been added to your cart.
£100.00
The Double Helix
By James D. Watson
First UK edition, first impression (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968).
A very good copy with a previous owner’s name to front endpaper and isolated instances of very faint spotting to preliminaries and rear paste-down; crease to top corner of page 68.
The original and unclipped dust jacket has some rubbing to extremities and a few tiny chips to spine ends. Closed tear to bottom of lower panel fore-edge and to top edge of upper panel with some lifting to laminate on lower panel hinge.
1 in stock
Product added!
Browse Wishlist
The product is already in the wishlist!
Browse Wishlist
Categories: First Edition, Non-Fiction, Science
The Double Helix
By James D. Watson
First UK Edition
New


Quickview
The Earthsea Trilogy
First Edition, Modern First Editions, Science Fiction, Ursula Le Guin
The Earthsea Trilogy
By Ursula Le Guin
Three Volumes. First UK editions, first impressions, published between 1971 to 1973 by Victor Gollancz. A highlight series of high fantasy.
A Wizard of Earthsea:
Original brown cloth with lettering to spine in gilt with green endpapers and paste-downs. A near fine book with light spotting to edges, but contents entirely clean otherwise. The original and unclipped dust jacket is also near fine with the slightest hint of fading to the spine panel, some marginal toning to verso and a few unobtrusive marks to top fore-edges.
The Tombs of Atuan:
Original blue cloth with lettering to spine in gilt with pale green endpapers and paste-downs. Light spotting to edges with a few spots to front and rear endpapers and paste-downs, else near fine in a near fine and unclipped dust jacket with some very moderate fading to spine panel and marginal toning to verso with a hint of rubbing to spine head, else near fine.
The Farthest Shore:
Original grey cloth with lettering to spine in gilt and purple map endpapers and paste-downs. Near fine with some spotting to edges in a near fine dust jacket with minor fading to the spine panel and marginal, light spotting to verso.
A very attractive and uniquely well-preserved set.
£2,250.00
New


Quickview
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


Quickview
Red Planet
First Edition, Modern First Editions, Science Fiction
Red Planet
By Robert A. Heinlein
First UK edition, first impression. The first appearance of Heinlein's Martian elder race. Original red cloth with lettering to spine in gilt. Some toning and spotting to edges with a touch of pushing to spine foot. The original and unclipped dust jacket - featuring cover art by Alan Breese - has a small chip to spine head, which has been inconspicuously repaired, a few small nicks to edges and a couple of areas of water marking to spine panel verso, otherwise very good. A very good copy indeed.
£300.00


Quickview
The Wind in the Willows
Children's Fiction, First Edition, Modern First Editions
The Wind in the Willows
By Kenneth Grahame
First edition of the first illustrated Arthur Rackham edition published in the United Kingdom, featuring illustrations that originally appeared in the US Limited Edition Club edition in 1940. 97th edition overall. 12 colour plates and 15 line drawings by Rackham.
Original green cloth with lettering to spine in gilt. Some fairly light spotting to fore-edge. Contents are lovely and clean and free from names and inscriptions, save for a touch of very faint spotting to endpapers. Very good or better.
The original and unclipped dust jacket has a few tears to edges with some edge wear and rubbing and fraying, primarily to hinges and folds. A very good copy.
£475.00