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THE ONLY THEATRICAL WORK CERVANTES EVER PUBLISHED
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de. Ocho Comedias. Madrid, 1615. First edition of Cervantes’ fifth book, his only theatrical work published in his lifetime and published the year before his death. Of extraordinary rarity. $145,000.
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“INCOMPARABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE”
SHAKESPEARE, William. Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. London, 1685. Rare 1685 Fourth Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, first issue, with the engraved frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by Droeshout, the ten-line poem by Ben Jonson and John Milton’s first poem. The folios are “incomparably the most important work in the English language” (William A. Jackson). Because of their incalculable impact on the language, thought and literature of our world, they are among the most desirable of all English language books, the prizes of any collection. From the famed Beeleigh Abbey library of W.A. Foyle, with his bookplate. $225,000.
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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE 1639 QUARTO EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE'S
HISTORIE OF HENRY THE FOURTH
SHAKESPEARE, William. The Historie of Henry the Fourth. London, 1639. An exceptional complete copy of the extraordinarily rare 1639 Shakespeare quarto edition of Henry IV, Part I. This is the earliest obtainable quarto edition of one of the greatest and most important of Shakespeare's history plays. $185,000.
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“AMERICA’S SECOND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE”
WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York, 1855. Extraordinarily scarce and important first edition of the most important volume of American poetry, one of only 337 copies in extra-gilt first state cloth binding. “In Whitman we have a democrat who set out to imagine the life of the average man in average circumstances changed into something grand and heroic… There has never been a more remarkable poem” (Callow). Whitman personally financed, supervised and even in some sections hand-set the type for the small printing of 795 copies. $165,000.
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“YOU HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOUR SON AND THINGS WITH US ALWAYS WILL BE WELL…”
LONDON, Jack. The Call of the Wild. New York and London, 1903. First edition, first printing, of one of the most desirable copies in American literature, inscribed from Jack London to his mother within four days of publication, one of the earliest known inscriptions: “Dear Mother, You have always loved your son, and things with us always will be well. Jack. July 22, 1903,” in scarce original dust jacket. $125,000.
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A GREAT RARITY AND ONE OF THE FINEST OF ALL HEMINGWAY ASSOCIATION COPIES
HEMINGWAY, Ernest. In Our Time. New York, 1925. First edition, a superb association copy, of the first of Hemingway’s books published in the United States, one of only 1335 copies. This copy warmly inscribed by Hemingway to Eric Edward “Chink” Dorman-Smith, Hemingway’s hero and first and closest adult friend and the dedicatee of in our time, the earlier collection of short stories that formed the nucleus of In Our Time : “To Chink with Hommages Respectueux from his former A.D.C. [aide-de-camp] and still, with the occasional permission of His Brittanic Majesty, companion—Popplethwaite, Paris, October 1925.” $78,000.
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INSCRIBED BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Beautiful and Damned. New York, 1922. First edition, first issue, an exceptional presentation copy whimsically inscribed in the year of publication by Fitzgerald, “For Wilbur Judd, Parisien [sic], Critic, Playrite [sic], Bibliophile, Drunkard and Good Egg, From F. Scott Fitzgerald, St. Paul 1922,” in scarce second-issue dust jacket (issued within months of the first-issue jacket). $75,000.
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“BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH”
SHAKESPEARE, William. Julius Caesar. London, 1684. Exceedingly rare first quarto edition of Shakespeare’s immortal Julius Caesar, the first separate printing of the play, an especially lovely copy, handsomely bound in full morocco gilt. $75,000.
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INSCRIBED BY J.D. SALINGER
SALINGER, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, 1952. First edition, early issue, of Salinger’s first book—“a 20th-century classic”—an exceedingly rare copy inscribed and dated by him within months of publication, “New York, N.Y. March 15, 1952 With best wishes, J.D. Salinger.” $65,000.
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AN EXCEPTIONAL RARITY: THE 1674 QUARTO OF MACBETH
SHAKESPEARE, William [D'AVENANT, William]. Macbeth, a Tragedy. London, 1674. Extraordinarily rare second quarto and first Davenant edition of Macbeth, printed one year after the virtually unobtainable first quarto. $65,000.
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