West Cork Rare BookfairINANNA MODERNWest Cork Reading Holidays
We ship per DHL Express

We ship per DHL Express

Books for a Humanist Society

Literature, Art & Music for a Humanist Society

Forster, The Arabian Nights, in Five Volumes.

[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 !

EUR 2.800,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

Cervantes - The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha

Cervantes De Saavedra, Miguel [Jarvis Edition with an excellent provenance, being from the library of John Fane, (Lord Burgersh) the Earl of Westmoreland].

The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated from the Original Spanish by Charles Jarvis, Esq. [Bound with: “The Life of Michael de Cervantes Saavedra” and an “Advertisement concerning the Plates”].

Second issue of the First Jarvis Edition. Two Volumes (complete set). London, J. & R. Tonson and R. Dodsley, 1738-1742. Quarto. Pagination: Volume I: Frontispiece, XXIV, (8), I – [XXIV], (interrupted with 8 unnumbered pages: “Supplement to the Translator’s Preface,” on the origin of books of chivalry, [by Wiliam Warburton]), continued pagination [XXV-XXXII], Second Frontispiece (Portrait of Cervantes by George Vertue after G. Kent), V, (2), 355 pages with 28 copperplates (including the two frontispieces). Volume II: XII, 388 pages with 41 copperplate illustrations. In total 69 copperplate engravings, all drawn by John Vanderbank and engraved by Gerard van der Gucht / Vandergucht. Modern Hardcover bindings by an english masterbinder, styled to the 18th century period and with new endpapers that carry the original bookplates / Exlibris of John Fane, (Lord Burgersh) the Earl of Westmoreland. Excellent condition with only minor signs of foxing to the outer margins of the pages. All illustrations in strong and fresh imprint. An excellent set from a famous library.

EUR 4.800,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

Fante, A wonderful collection of over 900 vintage paperbacks

Cover Art Design – Fante, John / MacDonald, John D. / Rice Burroughs, Edgar / and many others.

A wonderful collection of over 900 vintage paperbacks, fastidiously hand-picked from all parts of North America by an avid and knowledgeable collector. The collection is still intact and has not been ‘robbed’ of its outstanding and often signed publications. (Please ask for detailed list). / Lovingly curated, with a particular eye for unusual titles, this collection represents mid 20th century American pop art at its best. From hard-boiled detective stories to alien invasions, from femme fatales to teenage angst, from swashbuckling buccaneers to gritty westerns, these books were collected for two reasons; their excellent condition, and their lurid, ‘one of a kind’ cover art and outrageous tag lines. The collection also contains some very scarce copies of highly collectible books, including John D Macdonald’s first book, ‘The Brass Cupcake’ and John Fante’s first paperback edition of ‘Ask the Dust’. The great paperback publishing houses are all represented here; Signet, Popular Library, Pocketbook, Penguin, Pan, Lion, Fawcett Gold Medal, and so on. This is a unique opportunity to own a highly respectable collection of 20th century publishing history.

New York and others, Signet, Popular Library, Pocketbook, Penguin, Pan, Lion, Fawcett Gold Medal, and so on, 1945 – Small Octavo. 100000 pages and more. Original, illustrated softcover. Very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Price includes free courier shipment worldwide.

EUR 12.800,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

[de Man, Collection of five books from the library of Paul de Man and Pat de Man

[de Man, Paul] Durling, Robert M. / Rosiek, Jan / Weiss, T.[Theodore Russell Weiss] / Hughes, Langston / Levin, Harry.

Collection of five books from the library of Paul de Man and Pat de Man. Three of the books inscribed/signed by the author’s. The Collection includes: 1. Robert M. Durling – The Figure of the Poet in Renaissance Epic. [Inscribed by Durling: “For Paul de Man – with fond regards – Bob”] / 2. Jan Rosiek – Figures of Failure – Paul de Man’s Criticism 1953-1970 [Unsigned / Not inscribed] / 3. T. Weiss – The Catch – The Twayne Library of Modern Poetry [Inscribed by Weiss: “To Pat + Paul, for real friendship + a book of their own soon. Ted”] / 4. Edward J. Mullen – Langston Hughes in the Hispanic World and Haiti [Inscribed by Langston Hughes: “Ma cheri Pat, may this slight token of appreciation for your past (and hopefully) future, intellectual ministrations to your petit frère recall to you fond memories of your peregination. Love, Langston – Chritmas, 1979 (Late, as usual)”] / 5. Karry Levin – Grounds for Comparison [Unsigned / Not inscribed].

Cambridge (Mass.) / Aarhus / New York and others, Harvard University Press / Archon Books / Twayne Publishers / Aarhus University Press, 1951 – 1992. 8°. Volume I.: VIII, 280 pages / Volume II: 247 pages / Volume III: 77 pages / Volume IV: 193 pages / Volume V: 423 pages. Three Volumes in original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar / One Volume in Softcover / One Volume in Hardcover. Very good condition. From the library of Paul de Man. Especially the Durling – Volume of interest. Inscribed by the author: “For Paul de Man with fond regards – Bob”.

EUR 780,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

[Pope's Homer] The Iliad of Homer / The Odyssey of Homer / The Works of Pope

[Homer] / Pope, Alexander [with William Broome and Elijah Fenton].

[Pope’s Homer] The Iliad of Homer / The Odyssey of Homer / [Stunning 18th century set of all 20 Volumes of Pope’s Works in their original, contemporary bindings with 26 full-page-engravings plus 1 large, folded Map of Greece, 1 large, folded illustration of the Battle of Troy, 1 folded illustration of Achilles Shield as well as 84 text-vignettes illustrating the Iliad and Odyssey / The engravings also include a frontispiece – portrait of Alexander Pope after a painting of Jean-Baptiste van Loo]. The set of Pope’s Homer is followed by “The Works of Pope – In Nine Volumes, Complete. With his last corrections, additions and Improvements: Together with the Commentary and Notes of his Editor”.

20 Volumes (complete set of Pope’s Homer and Pope’s Works). London, Charles Rivington / A.Millar and others, 1760 – 1766. Octavo (14 cm x 21 cm). Collation of Pope’s Homer and Pope’s Works follows here: Collation of Pope’s Homer: Volume One includes: an Essay on Homer by Pope, Book I and Book II of the Iliad with two Frontispiece – illustrations, CLI, 175 pages with five Text-Vignettes and one folded map of Greece [and “Phrygia” / Kingdom of Muska] / Volume Two includes: An Essay on Homer’s Battles, Book II – Book VII of the Iliad, 341 pages with five Text-Vignettes and with a stunning, folded map of Troy and the battlefield: “Troja cum Locis pertingentibus” / Volume Three includes: Book VIII to Book XII of the Iliad with ten Text-Vignettes on 304 pages / Volume Four includes: Book XIII to Book XVI of the Iliad with eight Text-Vignettes on 301 pages / Volume Five includes: Book XVII to Book XXI of the Iliad with ten Text-Vignettes and a stunning, folded engraving, showing the Shield of Achilles as described in Homer’s 18th Ilias, [added is a multi-page “Observation on the Shield of Achilles”], on 287 pages / Volume Six includes: Books XXII to Book XXIV of the Iliad with five Text-Vignettes, a two-page Epilogue for the Iliad by Alexander Pope [dated 1720], and “A Comparison between the Games of Homer and Virgil”, an “Index of Persons and Things”, “A Poetical Index to Homer’s Iliad”, an “Index of Arts and Sciences” with “a View of Homer’s Theology” [outlined in the Index are also Music, Geography, Physick, Military Art Astronomy, Architecture, Gymnastics, Agriculture and Rural Arts, Policy, Oratory etc.], on 212, [75], pages including the sectioning of Allegorical Fables in Homer, Allegorical and Fictitious Persons in Homer, The Marvellous or Supernatural Fictions in Homer, Characters of the Gods of Homer, as acting in the Physical or Moral capacities of those Deities [Jupiter, Juna, Apollo, Mars, Minerva, Venus, Neptune, Vulcan], Characters of the Heroes Achilles and Aeneas, Agamemnon, Ajax, Diomed, Hector, Idomeneus Menelaus, Nestor, Priam, Paris, Patroclus, Sarpedon, Ulysses and much more // Volume VII [being Volume One of The Odyssey]: Includes “A General View of the Epick [sic] Poem and of the Iliad and Odyssey, extracted from Bossu” and Book I to Book IV of the Odyssey with eight Text-Vignettes and some minor wormhole-damage decreasing from the titlepage to the end of the Volume, 240 pages / Volume VIII [being Volume Two of the Odyssey]: Includes Book V to Book IX of the Odyssey with nine Text-Vignettes on 272 pages / Volume IX [being Volume Three of the Odyssey]: Includes Book X to Book XIV of the Odyssey with nine Text-Vignettes on 316 pages / Volume X [being Volume Four of the Odyssey]: Includes Book XV to Book XIX of the Odyssey with eight Text-Vignettes on 277 pages with a faded dampstain to the core of the lower book-block / Volume XI [being Volume Five of the Odyssey]: Includes Book XX to Book XXIV of the Odyssey with an Epilogue [″Postscript”] by Alexander Pope, an Index to the Odyssey and an Addenda: “Homer’s Battle of the Frogs and Mice – by Mr.Archdeacon Parnel, corrected by Mr.Pope” with eight Text-Vignettes on 280, [20], 28 pages [one layer ever so slightly loosened, but still attached to the book-block// Collation of Pope’s Works: Volume I includes: Juvenile Poems / Pastorals etc. with Frontispice, Advertisement, Preface, [XLV], 288 pages with an additional two plates [Engravings for “Windsor Forest” and “The Rape of the Lock”] Faded dampstain to the illustration for “The Rape of the Lock” / Volume II includes: Pope’s Translations and Imitations, 272 pages with four plates, illustrating “Eloisa to Abelard”, “The Temple of Fame”, “January and May”, “The Wife of Bath” / Volume III includes: Moral Essays, Essays on Man and Essay on Satire, 362 pages, illustrated with eight plates of which one is detached and loosely inserted in its dedicated space verso page 203 / Volume IV includes: Satires and Epistles of Horace imitated, Satires of Dr.John Donne, etc., 336 pages, illustrated with three plates / Volume V includes the Dunciad in Four Books with a Frontispiece and five additional engravings (of which one engraving only covers half a page), 345 pages plus 14 pages of an Index / Volume VI includes Pope’s Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose, [including his Prefaces to Homer and Shakespeare], with 407 pages and one engraving faded dampstain to lower bookblock) / Volume VII includes the first Volume of Alexander Pope’s Letters, XXXII, 367 pages / Volume VIII includes the second Volume of Alexander Pope’s Letters, XI, 280 pages / Volume IX includes the third [and last] Volume of Alexander Pope’s Letters [including the 88 (!) letters to and from Jonathan Swift] XV, 372 pages //. Original Hardcover / 18th century full calf with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. Condition of the eleven Volumes of Pope’s Homer: An original set of all eleven volumes of Homer with their original patina, unaltered in 18th-century-condition and with very few Volumes with minor damage to the spines and some of the leather slightly rubbed and minimally loosened from the boards. Minor, faded dampstain to one Volume and decreasing wormhole-damage to one other Volume. All Volumes firm with one layer inside the Odyssey ever so slightly loosened. All illustrations, maps, folded engravings and allegorical Text-Vignettes within Pope’s Homer present and in excellent condition. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. / Condition of the additional set of nine Volumes of Pope’s works: Overall very good with all Volumes firm but two Volumes with some minor damage to the spines (Volumes I and IV). Occasionally some dampstaining in three of the nine Volumes but overall this nine volume-set of Poepe’s works is in still very good- condition with some pages being a little dusty and only one of the 24 engravings/ illustrations detached and loosely inserted. One of the rare opportunities to buy Alexander Pope’s Homer and collected works in an entire, original 18th century private library-set. From the collection of Daniel Conner, with his Exlibris / Bookplate to the pastedown //

EUR 2.800,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Collection / Sammelband of original, printed scores.

Mendelssohn Bartholdy / Jakob Ludwig Felix.

Collection / Sammelband of original, printed scores. The Volume contains the following scores: I. “Symphony No. 3” – Composed and Dedicated by Permission to her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, arranged as a Piano Forte Duett, by the author. Op. 56 (67 pages) London, Published by J.J.Ewer & Co., [c. 1860] / II. “Overture to Melusine”. Arranged for Piano Forte, composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Op. 32 (17 pages) London, Cramer, Addison & Beale, [c. 1839] / III. “Caprice”, for the Piano Forte, composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. (15 pages) London, Cramer, Addison and Beale, [c. 1840] / IV. “Fantasia” on a Favourite Irish Melody for the Piano Forte. Composed by F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Op. 15) – 8 pages, London, Cramer, Addison & Beale, [c. 1840] / V. “Two Musical Sketches” for the Piano Forte. Composed by F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. 7 pages – London, Cramer, Addison & Beale, [c. 1840] / VI. “Capriccio for the Piano Forte. Composed & Dedicated to Miss Honoria Taylor. By F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Op. 16) No. 2; 4 pages – London, Cramer, Addison & Beale, [c. 1840] / VII. “The Rivulet” Rondino for the Piano Forte. Composed and Dedicated to Miss Susan Taylor, by F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Op. 16) – No. 3; 4 pages – London, Cramer, Addison & Beale, [c.1840] / VIII. “Twenty-Seven Melodies” by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, arranged for the Piano – Forte from his Ops. 8 and 9. In Four Books:– Book I, II, III and IV (13, 13, 13, 13 pages) – London, Ewer & Co., [c. 1840] All the four books have separate titlepages / IX. “Six two-part Songs, for Female Voices with Accompaniments of the Piano – Forte, composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Op. 63) – 29 pages; London, J.J.Ewer * Co., [c. 1840] / X. “The Garland”, by Thomas Moore Esq. Set to Music by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. 5 pages; London, J.J.Ewer & Co., [c. 1840] //

London, Ewer / Addison / Beale and others, [c.1840 – 1863]. Folio. c 180 pages. Modern Hardcover, beautiful half morocco with gilt lettering on spine and marbled paper covered boards. Original Softcover, engraved scores bound in. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Only three of the scores with some tears, one with a dampstain ! Overall an extremely attractive compilation of Mendelssohn’s work in a recent mster-binding. Highly collectable and a beautiful gift ! Ask for multiple images.

EUR 750,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

Montague / Dorgan - Typescript Draft MS for a book of poetry by Theo Dorgan. With occasional manuscript corrections

[Montague, John] Dorgan, Theo.

Typescript Draft MS for a book of poetry by Theo Dorgan. With occasional manuscript corrections / suggestions / annotations by Dorgan’s early mentor John Montague, the Typescript MS was held among the private papers of John Montague in his West Cork Home. The typescript includes poems like “Closed Circuit”, “The Promised Garden”. Montague is approving several of the poems by simply applying a tick. John Montague made suggestions in pencil on the structure of “Elegy for a Schoolfriend” and more in depth-suggestions on “Nasty Archer”, “Her Body”,″The Width of a Room Between Us”, “Return”, “Reconciliation”, “Sunday Afternoon”. When asked about helping to date this early draft of his poetry, Theo Dorgan immediately gets back to us and he places it from memory into the early 1980’s. Theo Dorgan was surprised and seemingly chuffed that John Montague held on to this Manuscript and he recalls: “These poems, some in revised versions, make up the backbone of my first published collection, ‘The Ordinary House of Love’.” Dorgan continues: “I’m happy to say that most of them survived Montague’s eagle eye, which was of course a great comfort to me at the time. Still is!” Some of these poems selected had previously been published as broadsheets etc. but the skeleton of the Draft hints already at readying it for publication. Theo Dorgan graciously gives us even more information: “Some of the poems in the eventual book go back to when I was a student, others were definitely written in the second half of the 80s. The bulk of it, however, is in this MS. I base my estimation in part on the fact that what you have is a typescript produced, it appears, on the IBM golfball machine that was the pride and joy of Triskel Arts Centre. That machine was bought in 1980 or 1981, I’m fairly sure of that. I was Literature Officer there, then.” Theo Dorgan was part of John Montague’s circle of mentored poets, even though in an email-exchange with him about this typescript he mentions that “John Montague worked far more with Thomas McCarthy, Maurice Riordan and Gregory O’Donoghue than he did with me, and in many ways Gregory O’Donoghue was at that stage the most accomplished of us all – the only one included in JM’s Faber Book.” What followed then in our conversation with Theo Dorgan is a great example why manuscripts, letters, autographs, typescripts and the connections we often make with documents from the past have such meaning in explaining our emotional ties with people who matter to us on our way of forming personality. They are memories transforming into images, floods of empathy and nostalgia for personal moments lost but treasured because they helped us form our values. Presented with the old typescript, Theo Dorgan’s emotionality is tangible and he confesses more in an internal dialogue with himself and John Montague than with us: “I’m sorry to say that the reason John Montague worked with those others more than he did with me is because, in my shameful, youthful arrogance, I much preferred to trust my own judgement, and also, I suspect, because I was closest to John in temperament and feared coming unduly under his influence. That said, there was no-one whose good opinion of a poem I valued more, and we were close all our lives after. Very likely it was a case of old stag/young stag ! Montague taught us by indirection, he made his extensive library of modern and contemporary poetry available to us without stint, would wait for us to find an affinity (as, e.g. mine with Robert Graves and Galway Kinnell) and would then, in a long, ongoing conversation, help us to understand what it might mean for our own poems that we felt such affinities. A guided companionship in reading and making, if you will.”

Ireland, c.1981-1982. A4. 43 pages typescripts. Paperclipped. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some fingerstaining and residue of rust from the paperclip. Wonderful and extremely valuable document of not only a collaboration between two of Ireland’s landmark writers but moreover witness to the becoming, the birth of a true poet. Also included (from a different source) is a second printing of the first edition of the subsequent publication “The Ordinary House of Love” – signed by Theo Dorgan. Right at the beginning of the printed version, instead of a dedication to John Montague, Theo Dorgan placed a quote from Montague’s poem “Wine Dark Sea”: ‘For there is no sea / it is all a dream there is no sea / except in the tangle / of our minds; / the wine dark / sea of history on which we all turn / turn and thresh / and disappear.’ (Collected Poems, page 255). Provenance of the annotated typescript: From the private collection of John Montague’s papers in his recently sold West Cork Home.

EUR 2.800,-- 

Show details   Add to cart

Page: 1 2
: