Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, Illustrated by Ernest Shephard, First US Trade Ed.

Milne, A.A., By Way of Introduction. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1929. First edition, first printing, signed on title page. Original printed dust jacket with a custom, clamshell case. This is a first edition of A.A. Milne's By Way of Introduction. Milne has signed the book on the title page in blue ink. The book is presented with its original beige dust jacket. It was published out of London by Methuen & Co., Ltd., in 1929. This book features a collection of introductions written by Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956). The collection of essays and excerpts were written for various publications and compiled by Milne. The work shows off his accessible and sometimes humorous writing style, recognizable from his children's books. There is a selection of his critical work included in the volume, as well a piece about his philosophical approach to writing children's books throughout his career, and even a few details about his Winnie the Pooh character, Christopher Robin. Milne was best known for his children's book series Winnie the Pooh. Included in the back of the book is a loose pamphlet advertising the Pooh series as "the most popular gift books...

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Random House, 1930. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. First trade edition (thus). Octavo. Original publisher’s pictorial black front cloth board, s...

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. First trade edition, first issue. In the original first-state dust jacket and publisher’s black cloth boards. Presented in a new archival ¼ leather and cloth clamshell case, with raised bands, gilt tooling, and titles to the spine. Presented is a first trade edition, first issue of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The book was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York, in September of 1929. This first printing is presented with its original first issue dust jacket. The dust jacket, as designed by Cleonike Damianakes Wilkins, is considered by many to be one of the greatest of the 20th century and rivals even The Great Gatsby in its collectibility. Set during World War I, A Farewell to Arms tells the story of a young American Lieutenant serving as an ambulance driver in Italy struggling through love and war. The story is told through first person narration detailing many aspects of war that would have been very familiar to readers at the time, as the book was published only 11 years after the 1918 armistice. The simple, direct tone his character uses when giving his unromanticized account of the war later defined Hemingway’s writing style. A Farewell to Arms is loosely based on Hemingway’s own experiences. The author briefly served overseas as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army, sustained injuries, and met a nurse who he eventually proposed marriage to but was declined. The novel’s post-war disillusionist subject assigned Hemingway to the “Lost Generation” of Modernist artists. A Farewell to Arms was Hemingway’s most successful publishing venture to date. Charles Scribner's Sons issued seven impressions of the novel in the short time between September and December of 1929, with over 100,000 volumes sold. The novel secured Hemingway’s place as a popular American author and became his first bestselling book. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American author and journalist. His distinctive writing style, characterized by economy of words and dry understatement, strongly influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and his public image. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of his works are now considered classics of American literature. The book’s striking dust jacket design was illustrated by the artist Cleonike Damianakes Wilkins, who worked under the pen name of Cleon. Wilkins was known for her distinctive fusion of Art Deco and Hellenistic styles. She designed the dust jackets for Hemingway’s earlier The Sun Also Rises in 1926 and his later publication In Our Time in 1930, as well as Conrad Aiken’s Great Circle, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men,and Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz. Wilkins was chosen by Hemingway’s celebrated editor at Scribner’s, Maxwell Perkins. In order to differentiate Hemingway’s tale from other, competing WWI novels on the bookshop shelves, Perkins sought to widen its appeal through the dust jacket. The resulting design was Wilkins’ interpretation of Sandro Botticelli’s epic oil painting “Venus...

Collodi, Carlo. Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott, 1920. Illustrated by Maria L. Kirk. Deluxe Edition. In the publisher's original green cloth front board stamped with gilt titles and Pinocchio illustration, the original tan cloth spine lettered in gilt, rebacked in green cloth. With 14 color plates and numerous border illustrations and decoration throughout. Presented with a new archival slipcase. Presented is a charming English edition of Carlo Collodi’s children’s tale, Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet. This book was published in Philadelphia and London by J. B. Lippincott, as a special "Deluxe Edition," in 1920. It features 14 full color plates by illustrator Maria Kirk and charming green borders and chapter decorations throughout the whole book. It is presented here in its original green cloth front board, stamped with gilt titles and Pinocchio illustration, the original tan cloth spine with gilt titles, newly rebacked in green cloth. The book is protected by a new custom archival slipcase with an inlay of Pinocchio in a forest. Collodi’s La Storia di un Burattino (trans: The Story of a Puppet) first appeared in serial form in the Italian weekly publication for children, Giornale per i bambini. The first installment was published on July 7, 1881 and continued for nearly four months and 15 chapters. Following the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio, the original series was written as an educational tale of warning to Italian children, stressing the importance of morality, responsibility, and obedience to one’s parents and authority. In the original, serialized version, the flawed and irresponsible Pinocchio is penalized and hanged for his numerous poor decisions and faults of character at the end of Chapter 15. At the request of his editor and by the demand of his many readers, Collodi resumed his serialized story in February of 1882. In these later chapters, Chapters 16–36, the Fairy with Turquoise Hair rescues and revives Pinocchio and eventually transforms him into a real boy. Pinocchio acquires a deeper understanding of himself and his moral responsibilities, making the story more palatable for children. In February 1883, the story was published in Italy as a single book, illustrated by Enrico Mazzanti. It was a huge publishing success. The Adventures of Pinocchio is the world's third most translated book, after the Bible and The Little Prince. Pinocchio was first translated into English by Mary Alice Murray in 1892, whose translation was added to the widely circulated Everyman's Library in 1911. The first US edition was published in 1901, translated and illustrated by Walter S. Cramp and Charles Copeland...

AUTHOR: MILNE, A. A. TITLE: Now We Are Six. PUBLISHER: London: Methuen Children's Books, 1977. DESCRIPTION: LIMITED SIGNED EDITION. 1 vol., 7-9/16" x 5-3/16", limited to 300 numb...

AUTHOR: MILNE, A. A. TITLE: Now We Aer Six. PUBLISHER: London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1927. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION SIGNED BY E. H. SHEPHARD. 1 vol, 7-1/2" x 5-1/4", signed by th...

AUTHOR: WALTON, Izaak. TITLE: The Compleat Angler. PUBLISHER: London: George C. Harrap & Co., 1931. DESCRIPTION: FIRST TRADE EDITION. 1 vol., 9-3/4" - 7-9/16", illustrated by Art...

AUTHOR: MILNE, Christopher. TITLE: The Enchanted Places. PUBLISHER: London: Eyre Methuen, 1974. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED BY MILNE AND SIGNED BY HIS NANNY. 1 vol., hardcover, illustrated, inscribed by Milne on the front blank endleaf "- Birthday Morning 1975 - but also to remember the one of forty years ago, sun shining through a window in St. John Street & lighting a vase of daffodils on a little blue table & to remember to happy days of Christopher Robin & Pooh - & to remember -", under that signed by Christopher's Nanny (Olive Christine Rand Brockwell) "Always Old Nanny XXX XX X", bookplate to half-title additionally signed by Milne "A Favorite Friend", with the original DJ, not price clipped, FINE/NEAR FINE. Additionally, tipped to the front pastedown is an envelope in Milne's hand addressed to a Miss Elizabeth (Campbell) Hiskins containing a 2-page letter on Harbour Bookshop letterhead dated 28-2-75 which reads "How very nice of you to write to me: a letter like that couldn't possibly be a wol (sic). It made me very happy to think that I had helped make your birthday an enjoyable one. Yes, I have had a number of letters, many of the writers finding that the book awakened happy childhood memories, even though their own lives had been very different from mine. Often - as in your case - a common bond had been our skymen. I remember Michael and Geraldine well. So if you do ever see them again, please give them my best wishes. Yours sincerely Christopher Milne" ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The "Harbour Bookshop" was the bookstore owned and run by Milne and his daughter Clare who was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy. Milne remained close to his Nanny all his life. This book "The Enchanted Places" is dedicated to her. Olive was born on 2/23/1895 and died in 1978. Milne's reply letter to Elizabeth is dated 2/28/75. It's interesting to think that Milne would have asked Olive, quite possibly on her 80th birthday, to sign a copy of this book that he was giving as a birthday present. We know of no other book signed by Olive...