Mr. Pidgeon's Island, by Anthony Berkeley

A classic of mystery literature by one of the Masters, in a very rare intact dust jacket. Berkeley, Anthony. A Puzzle in Poison. New York: The Sun Dial Press, Inc., 1939. Second...

Rare first issue of the first edition for Bernard Shaw’s first published novel. Shaw, George Bernard. An Unsocial Socialist. London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowery & Co., 1887. First Edition, First Issue. Crown 8vo, 7 3/8 x 5 inches (188 x 126 mm); [4] 256 pp.; original red cloth, stamped in gilt on spine and covers, a little rubbed and soiled, spine slightly faded, hinges weak; dark brown endpapers; foxing on first 2 and last 2 sheets. First edition, first issue with "Author of The Confessions of Byron Cashel's Profession etc. etc." to title and no appendix. Ink inscription of Mrs Walter Crane on half title. [Broad, p. 87; Magill p. 965] This is Shaw's first published novel. It had been serialized in "To-Day, A Monthly Magazine of Scientific Socialism" between March and December of 1884. This printing was promptly canceled, and supposedly only samples for booksellers and travelers had been sent out with this title-page. Having attended a meeting by political economist Henry George in September 1882, Shaw became fascinated with Socialism, read Marx and became a member of the Fabian Society in September 1884, writing their first manifesto later that year. He believed in a more moderate, non-violent form of socialism and believed that socialist ideals could best be achieved by infiltration of people and ideas into existing political parties. In the early 1880s Shaw also began his literary career by writing music and art criticism and began writing novels, of which An Unsocial Socialist was the first published. But as his career as a playwright started taking off in the latter part of that decade, his political activities also decreased. Shaw later explained that he had intended An Unsocial Socialist as the first section of a monumental depiction of the downfall of capitalism. Gareth Griffith, in a study of Shaw's political thought, sees the novel as an interesting record of conditions, both in society at large and in the nascent socialist movement of the 1880s. [Griffith, Gareth. Socialism and Superior Brains: The Political Thought of George Bernard Shaw. London: Routledge, 1993]. The story centers on Sidney Trefusis, a millionaire socialist, who leaves his bride on their wedding day because he fears his passion for her will get in the way of his plans to overthrow the British government. Sidney vanished "underground"--Disguises himself as a common laborer called "Mengels"--and infiltrates Alton College, a girl's school where well-bred young women are "fitted and fatted to be put on the marriage market". His plan: take over the school and plant the seed of radical socialism into the fertile brains of the future consorts of cabinet ministers and kings. What he doesn't plan on is the presence of one Agatha Wylie, a sixth-form rabble-rouser, who falls hopelessly in love with both Sidney and his politics, and just happens to be his deserted wife's cousin. Love triangles, mistaken identities, Marx, Engels, pistols and the proletariat jostle for position. (via LibraryThing) An unusual ASSOCIATION COPY with ink inscription and address of "Mrs Walter Crane" [ie Mary Crane] on the half title. Walter Crane married Mary Andrews in 1871 and after a sojourn in Rome returned to London in 1873 living first in Wood End and then at Beaumont Lodge, Shepherd's Bush (the address she has written in this book). In 1914 Mary...

Regarded as the greatest British artist of his generation and represented in museum collections all over the world, Anthony Caro revolutionized sculpture in the 1960s, by taking the radical step of removing the plinth and placing his work directly on the ground not only changed our relationship with the artwork, but the direction of sculpture itself. This beautifully designed book includes a comprehensive survey of Caro's work over a period of more than half a century – ranging from his time as Henry Moore's assistant in the early 1950s right up until his death in 2013. More than fifty of his masterworks are each examined in detail through never before published archival installation images and comments by the artist from the time of production or exhibition. Furthermore, a collection of specially commissioned new documentary photographs by Toby Glanville capture the processes behind the sculptor’s work, from conception to production to installation and exhibition in major exhibitions and installations. A collection of short texts by leading contemporary artists, including Antony Gormley, Liz Larner, Joel Shapiro, Simon Starling, Frank Stella, Rebecca Warren...

Antique map titled 'Het Eyland Sangir & De Talautse Eylanden'. Two maps on one sheet. To the left, a map of Sangir Island, Indonesia. To the right, a map of the Talaud Islands, Indon...