Search Results: Books from Paul Foster Books

Cannes. 1966. NP. 1966. Quarto (285mm x 233mm). 20 typed sheets in French (rectos only), legibly hand-corrected throughout by Brassai in black ink. Housed in a black cloth album, with each sheet in a separate clear plastic file. In excellent condition, the final page a little creased and with minor loss to right-hand side, affecting one letter. Overall fresh and clean. ------ A superb unpublished and heavily corrected manuscript in French, in which Brassai recounts his visit to Picasso, a long-standing friend, at his home near Cannes. Brassai, who photographed much of Picasso's work in the 1940s, had published Conversations with Picasso in 1964, in which he created an intimate portrait of Picasso, covering their friendship and artistic collaboration, and recording each of their meetings with minute detail. Picasso said of the volume, "Read this book if you want to understand me." This account is written in a similar style, and during the course of the afternoon, Picasso speaks about his nostalgia… Read More

Louis Janet. Paris. ND. circa 1875. Third edition. Small 8vo. (5.9 x 4.4 inches). xvi, 157pp. Thirteen hand coloured illustrated plates (including extra title page) with movable pull tabs to change the image. An asterisk next to the text tells when the movable should be used to animate the scene. A crease to the top of the half title page and a few minor thumb marks to a handful of leaves, otherwise a very good, fresh and clean copy in the publishers red morocco-grained cloth with blind stamped decorative border to both boards. Gilt lettering to the front board. Coated mid brown endpapers. All edges gilt. A superior copy of this rare movable. First issued in 1831, there was a second issue in 1837 and then this third, circa 1875, with the text printed by Ducessios of Paris. All three printings are rare, and copies in such good condition and with all tabs present and easily workable, as this one even more so. Sometimes described as the first interactive book published, this is certainly the first to use… Read More

Williams and Norgate. London., 1921. FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo.(10.2 x 7.8 inches). Illustrated with 96 plates. Publishers original green cloth binding with gilt lettering and ruling to spine. Binding a bit rubbed and bumped but overall sound and the gilt still bright. This copy has a full page original ink self portrait of Orpen on the front blank endpaper, showing the artist painting the famous American Wall Street lawyer and art collector, Paul Cravath. ---- The drawing is inscribed by Orpen at the bottom of the page "My very dear Mr Cravath-It was a big job to tackle on those hot summer afternoons you must admit. All good wishes in 1922.-------(?) William Orpen". The drawing shows Cravath, a large man who stood 6ft 4inches, sat posing while a much smaller Orpen, the heat rising from his head and his sleeves rolled up, paints the portrait. ------ The book has the bookplate of the prolific author and traveller Cecil Roberts who has written a note on the blank verso of the frontis piece about… Read More

NP. No Date. Circa 1925. FIRST, AND ONLY, EDITION. Oblong octavo. Illustrated with 8 hand blocked, hand coloured cocktail napkins mounted into the book among text pages. White printed boards with later plain burgundy cloth tape spine. Light soiling to binding and the glue a little loose on a few napkin corners but overall in very good condition. An amusing cocktail recipe book with eight richly hand-coloured napkins tipped in. Produced during Prohibition (with "non-alcoholic" wryly inserted after every alcoholic ingredient). "Dedicated to serious drinkers everywhere" with history and recipes for the following cocktails: Manhattan, Blue Blazer, Deadwood Duck, Rip Van Winkle Sleeper, Belmont Park, Alabama, Barbary Coast, New Orleans Drip. An extremely attractive and rare piece of Prohibition Americana.

J. M. Dent & Sons Limited. London. 1919. TWENTY FOUR FINE FULL COLOUR PLATES BY DETMOLD. Each mounted onto card with a printed border and protected with a tissue guard. The title of each picture printed on the guard in brown ink. The colour plates measure 14.9 x 9.6 inches. The card mounts measure 20 x 15 inches. They are housed in the original publishers portfolio with printed title and publication details to front panel. Spine and board corners in beige cloth. Cloth ties to top edge missing but the original ties to the fore and bottom edges are intact. Printed label on inside of front board with the limitation details and numbered and signed by Detmold. This is copy number 204 of only 500 sets produced. The illustrations are held in place with brown card fold-overs to the top and bottom, the fold over at the fore edge is missing. Overall a very good set of these beautiful plates. It is rare to find a complete set of all 24 plates still in the original publishers portfolio, many having been framed to… Read More

Verve. Paris.,1938/9. FOLIO. (14.1 x 10.4 inches). Two issues bound in one hard back volume. Fully illustrated throughout with drawings, paintings and photographs, these 2 numbers contain original full lithographs by Chagall, Miro, Rattner, Klee, Matisse & Derain. The two issues have been bound into one hardbound volume and the binding has been beautifully hand painted, in acrylic and oils, with an abstract design, including the volume title, to both the boards and the spine by noted Neo-Expressionist American painter Gaylen Hansen. Some rubbing to the edges and one split in the front board (without loss) but generally in very good condition.Included with the volume is a fine hardback copy of the fully illustrated book issued in 2007 to accompany the retrospective exhibition "Gaylen Hansen: Three decades of Paintings" at the Seattle Art Museum (October 2007 - January 2008) and Salt Lake City Art Center (February - April 2008). :.

Lami Denozan. Paris. 1826. FIRST EDITION. Oblong 4to. (13.8 x 9.8 inches). Illustrated with 12 fine hand coloured lithographs, engraved by de Villain. A complete copy with the 12 plates and printed brown paper front wrapper and plain rear one mounted onto tabs and bound in a late 20th century half dark red cloth binding with gilt lettering to the spine. Marbled paper on boards. Plain off-white endpapers. A previous owner's small attractive colour printed bookplate on front pastedown. Some spotting to the leaves but mainly in the plain margins. Overall a very good copy of this scarce and attractive work. --------- Starting with the Artist's rough crossing of the Channel and stage coach from Dover, The London scenes include Pall-Mall, Westminster Abbey, A Horse race, Boxing match, and Boat race. ----- The sketches for this work were drawn during Lami's first visit to England in 1826. '.... a set of a dozen delicately hand coloured lithographs. These were intended as a memento for for tourists from the… Read More

Thornton Butterworth Limited. London. 1923-31. FIRST EDITION, 1st impressions of all volumes. 6 large 8vo volumes. (9.2 x 6.3 inches). Illustrated throughout with maps, plans and facsimiles of letters and documents. Fine leather bound set in recent full dark blue morocco leather. Spines with raised bands. Red Morocco title labels ruled and lettered in gilt. Ruling, lettering and decorations of Rampant lion device stamped to spine compartments in gilt. Single gilt ruled border on all boards. All edges gilt. There is some very minor spotting to just a few pages of the first volume, otherwise this is a surprisingly bright and clean set throughout, and uncommon thus. A superior set of Churchill's great war account.

Privately Printed by Clement Shorter. London.,1919. LIMITED EDITION. One of just 25 copies printed. 20pp. Unopened copy, sewn in wraps. (10.1 x 7.8 inches). Printed on hand made Aldwich paper. Red paper wraps, sewn with original red cord. Printed in black to front panel. Edges a little rubbed but essentially a fine copy of this Rare booklet.:.

Methuen & Co. Ltd. London.,1913. Spurrious First edition. Actually the fourth impression with a cancel title page, stating " First Published 1913" on verso, on the title page stub. 8vo. (7.7 x 5.3 inches). 8 page publishers advert dated Autumn 1913. A very good copy in publishers green cloth binding with spine decorated and lettered in gilt, including the correct spelling of the publishers name at the bottom. Signed by Joseph Conrad on the front free endpaper, Dated 1923. The top of the signed leaf and the half title page have a small indentation where a paper clip has been used.Aside from some light rubbing to the extremities this is a very good tight copy, the gilt on the spine still strong and bright. Loosely inserted is the front panel from the rare dustwrapper, showing a full colour illustration by J. Dewar Mills within a grey border. The whole panel dark blue with grey title and author. An interesting copy, signed by the author and with part of the wrapper, of the less common 1913 Cancel title… Read More

( Geo. P. Putman. New York.) - Paris. 1848 (1928). FACSIMILE EDITION. One of 50 copies printed. 12mo. (7.5 x 5.3 inches). [1] - 143pp, plus 16pp publishers advertisements. Black cloth with blind ruled lines and gilt lettering to the spine. Both boards with triple ruled line borders and decorative circular device to the centre, all in blind. Complete with the facsimile bookplate of noted American book collector Stephen H. Wakeman, the sixth owner, after Poe, of the original book, on the front pastedown endpaper. A fine copy of this rare facsimile of the Author's own annotated copy of the last work published in Poe's lifetime, and one he considered his finest. This facsimile was created in 1928 while the book was owned by Florence Meyer Blumenthal, the 8th owner of the original annotated book, after Poe himself. "A beautiful and remarkably faithful facsimile of this copy was made in 1928 in Paris, in an edition of 50 copies. It is occasionally mistaken for the original" - Edgar Allan Poe Society of… Read More

Arena. Published by Arrow books. London. 1983. FIRST EDITION. 1st printing. 8vo. (7.6 x 5 inches). Paperback. Illustrated throughout with black and white drawings by Steve Maguire. A very good copy with some minor rubbing to the edges but generally bright and tight. ---- With; A folder containing five A4 typescript and partial manuscript leaves of poems by Clarke that feature in the book, all in an early form and different from the published version, some quite substantially so. Number 1. Spilt Beans. -- 47 line poem. 31 lines (4 stanzas) typescript and the final 16 lines manuscript in JCC's hand in green ink. This version is very different to the published text. --- Number 2. Salome (published as Salome Maloney). 40 Line poem in 10 typed stanzas. This version substantially different to the published version. --- Number 3. Readers Wives. 20 line poem. 16 lines (4 stanzas) typed and four lines in JCC hand in green ink. There is a line and arrow showing the manuscript verse belongs between the second… Read More

The Nonesuch Press. London. 1924-27. FIVE VOLUMES. Tall 4to. (12.3 x 8.3 inches). Limited edition. One of 1000 sets printed on Japon vellum (The Apochrypha is one of 1250 copies) from a total edition of 1075 copies. The typography was arranged by Frances Meynell. Each volume decorated with copperplate engravings by Stephen Gooden, including the title pages. A lovely clean set finely bound in recent full black morocco, decorative gilt border to boards. Spines with raised bands, each with decorative gilt piping and ruling. Red title labels, gilt. Top edges gilt, others untrimmed. A beautiful set.

Jarrold and Sons. London. No Date. (1877). FIRST EDITION. 1st printing. 8vo. (6.8 x 4.4 inches). Engraved frontis. 8 pages of publishers adverts at rear. A near very good copy in the rare Carter binding variant 'C'. Original publishers dark blue cloth with front board showing the horses head facing left, within a gilt circle. Decorative gilt title panel and black stamped elaborate decorative design over the rest of the front board. Spine decorated and lettered in gilt and black. Rear board ruled and decorated in black. Original brown coated endpapers. Neat contemporary (dated 1878) sunday school prize label on the front free endpaper. Both inner hinges are cracked and the pages are just a little loose but still well attached. Slight lean to the binding. The edges are a little rubbed and the pages are thumbed and spotted with a few corners creased where they have been previously turned down but overall a near very good copy of this scarce first edition. In his book, More Binding Variants in English… Read More

The Modern Press. 1886. First separate issue, larger untrimmed variant, inscribed by the author. Originally printed in the April 1885-March 1886 issues of "To-Day", this first edition was printed from the corrected and revised stereos of the original setting for the journal. This is the larger, variant issue, with the preliminary blank leaf bound at the beginning. Shaw explains the variant this way: "The size of the bigger copies is due to the fact that they reproduced not only the type but the format of To-day. But the booksellers objected that in this form it occupied too much room to be displayed on their stalls and counters. It was probably cut down as far as the margins would allow to meet this objection" (Laurence). Inscribed by Shaw, "This is the first Issue, which was so tall that the booksellers refused to exhibit it on their counters, as it took too much room. So it had to be cut down. G. Bernard Shaw 26/7/30." . ---- Housed in a green cloth covered chemise and quarter green morocco slip… Read More

J. M. Dent and Co.. London. 1909. FIRST RACKHAM EDITION. 4to. (11.5 x 8.8 inches). LIMITED EDITION, SIGNED BY RACKHAM. One of only 750 numbered copies. Beautifully illustrated with 13 mounted colour plates, the frontis with a tissue guard, two full page black and white plates, and 31 line drawings as chapter headings and tail pieces. Publishers white cloth with gilt lettering and illustration to front board. Spine lettered in gilt. Two sets of rose coloured silk ties, still present. Top edge gilt, the others untrimmed. Decorative endpapers, printed on vellum style paper with a blue tint, with gold ink. Red silk book marker. A very small bump to the top outer corner of the front board otherwise a fine and bright copy. Uncommon in such nice condition. --- This deluxe edition includes one extra colour plate, an image of the Yahoos, that wasn't included in the regular trade edition. --- Riall. Bibliography of Arthur Rackham. Page 91 (incorrectly listing fewer line illustrations and the wrong title of the… Read More

Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Ltd. London. 1907. Small 8vo. (6.2 x 4 inches). Fine early twentieth century full vellum hand painted binding. Fine binding decorated with a painted scene on the front cover depicting a woman and two children in a rustic garden scene, the spine is decorated with a matching design of a variety of painted flowers and the back cover has a single painted flower in the bottom left corner. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. The book is miss-titled in gilt and black on the spine reading 'The Christian Year' so the binder may have been working on more than one book at a time and got two mixed up. The binding is unsigned but similar to several made by the Royal School of Art Needlework around the same period and is in remarkably good condition, only some slight wear on the border of the front cover and the gilded bands on the spine-ends.

Chatto & Windus. London. 1891. FIRST EDITION. 3 Volumes. 8vo. (7.5 x 5 inches). Inscribed by the author on the half-title of volume I, "A. P. Watt with the Author's kindest wishes. 6th June 1891". 12 mono full page plates by Green, each with a tissue guard. Original dark green cloth blocked with elaborate blind decoration, spines lettered in gilt, floral patterned endpapers. Cloth very slightly rubbed at extremities and a few thin white streaks to the front board of volume one and some light foxing to the decorative endpapers, otherwise clean, tight and bright throughout. Overall a better than very good set. Alexander Pollock Watt (1838–1914) was the first successful British literary agent. His agency, started in 1875, is still active today and is, in fact, the longest-established literary agency in the world. He acted as Besant's agent, and also his literary executor.

Chatto & Windus. London. 1888. FIRST EDITION. 3 Volumes. 8vo. (7.5 x 5 inches). Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper of volume I, "A. P. Watt. From the Author". Original brown cloth blocked in metallic blue in a geometric pattern to the spines and front boards. The spines are lettered in gilt. Floral patterned endpapers. Spines rolled a little, some light spotting to endpapers and title pages but generally a clean, tight and bright copy. Overall a better than very good set. Alexander Pollock Watt (1838–1914) was the first successful British literary agent. His agency, started in 1875, is still active today and is, in fact, the longest-established literary agency in the world. He acted as Besant's agent, and also his literary executor.

Cassell and Company. London. 1941-46. FIRST EDITION, 1st impressions. 7 Volumes. 8vo. (8.7 x 5.6 inches). A complete set of first editions and 1st impressions of Churchill's war speeches. A few pages with some light foxing but overall this is a clean and fine set which has been finely bound in recent full dark blue morocco leather. The spines with five raised bands. Red title and name labels, ruled and lettered in gilt. Compartments with ruled lines and rampant lion device stamped in gilt. Single gilt ruled borders on all boards. All edges gilt. A Fine and impressive looking set. A fantastic presentation of this important set.