1950s Books

A superb copy of the first UK edition of this philosophical novel from French existentialist author, Albert Camus. The first UK edition, first impression with no further impressions...

Hoover, Herbert. The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958. Signed and inscribed by Herbert Hoover. Sixth printing. Original dust jacket...

A rare and special portfolio of Picasso Ceramics published by Albert Skira, Inc., 1955. Foreword by Suzanne and George Ramié. This incredible portfolio contains 18 colorplates of Pic...

Catalog showcasing high-end Italian furnishings and accessories, published circa 1956 by the fabled Altamira design center located at 18 East 50th St in New York City. Per the introduction, “Altamira is the only center in this country where Interior-Architecture by Italy’s foremost architects is represented together with furniture, handicrafts, accessories and every other element essential to the modern interior.” Altamira commissioned a line of furniture from Gio Ponti in 1953, crafted by Giordano Chiesa in Milan. Included were a number of Ponti’s iconic mid-century designs—the Distex lounge chair and a self-described masterpiece, the two-drawer desk, model AP 1025, are shown in the present catalog. Shown, too, are furniture designs by Ponti’s fellow “interior architects” and designers Marco Zanuso (produced by Arflex Milano), Enrberto Carboni, Enrico Peresutti of BBPR, Carlo Pagani, Enrico Taglietti, Nino Zancada, Ico and Luisa Parisi, Ignacio Gardella...

A vanishingly scarce to see signed first edition of this classic Poirot tale. The first edition, first impression, with no other impressions stated. Signed and dedicated by the aut...

Early catalog for Laverne Originals, the modern design company founded by Estelle and Erwine Laverne in 1938. From its modest origins producing primarily wallpapers and textiles, Lav...

Mid-1950’s catalog for the fabled Altamira design center, located at 18 E 50th St in New York City, one of the top U.S. venues for high-end Italian design. Altamira commissioned a li...

A smart first edition copy of this black comedy by Graham Greene, an exceptional novel by one of the leading writers of the twentieth century, scarce to see in the promotional wrapar...

Svenskt Tenn catalog featuring the furniture, lighting, and botanical-print textile and wallpaper designs of in-house architect/designer Josef Frank. Published in the early 1950’s, t...

Truman, Harry. Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions [and] Years of Trial and Hope. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1955-1956. Special Kansas City Limited Edition. Two Volumes...

AUTHOR: CHURCHILL, Winston. TITLE: A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. PUBLISHER: NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1956-56-57-58. DESCRIPTION: 4 vols., 8-1/4" x 5-3/4", title-pag...

This is the complete set of the 12 monthly issues that were ever printed of "Flair", which at the time of its production was very stylish and innovative, it folded after only one yea...

Extremely uncommon Fulvio Bianconi Milan, circa 1959. Small folio, cloth with jacket, 72pp. one of 500 copies, signed by Bianconi with an additional inscription initiated by Bianco...

AUTHOR: CHURCHILL, Winston S. TITLE: A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. PUBLISHER: London: Cassell and Co, Ltd., 1956-8. DESCRIPTION: ALL FIRST LONDON EDITIONS. 4 volumes,...

AUTHOR: CHURCHILL, Winston TITLE: A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. PUBLISHER: London: Cassell and Co, Ltd., 1956-8. DESCRIPTION: ALL FIRST LONDON EDITIONS. 4 volumes. Bo...

A vanishingly scarce to see signed first edition of this classic Christie mystery. The first edition, first impression, with no further impressions stated. In the original unclipped...

AUTHOR: CHURCHILL, Winston S. TITLE: A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. PUBLISHER: London: Cassell and Co, Ltd., 1956-8. DESCRIPTION: ALL FIRST LONDON EDITIONS. 4 volumes,...

Publisher: byFlammarion, Paris 1956 IHardback llustrator: Piet Mondrian Language: French 444 pp, Numerous illustrations in black and colour. .an important...

Small format brochure published in January 1951 showcasing 39 Edward Wormley designs for Dunbar Furniture, presented at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. Highlights include the Sleepy Hollow chair...

Picasso's Variations on Velazquez Painting "The Maids of Honor" And Other Recent Works - With a Personal Reflection by Jaime Sabartes - Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers, New York. Pub...

A classic Knoll catalog ca' 1950 designed by Herbert Matter. Spiral bound with approx. 80 pages. Silver cover with big K Knoll logo that became a classic.

Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's: A short novel and three stories. New York: Random House, 1958. First edition, first issue printing. Signed by Truman Capote. In the original p...

Paris 1925, French book by Armand Lanoux, published by Editions Robert Delpire, Paris in 1957. 1925, which only raised sarcasm yesterday, softened suddenly. We say retro for the fiftieth anniversary of the Decorative Arts. OK, go retro! Joséphine Baker, Charlot, la Violettera, bell bottoms, the threepenny franc, and Valentino reappear in our mythology. Einstein's surrealism, Picasso the Augustus and Cocteau the White Clown, Stravinsky, and Freud have not left her. With the lamé shirt...

Published by Crown Publishers, revised edition, New York, 1953. Hardback, English text. This revised and expanded volume is an updated version of Berenice Abbott’s celebrated guide ...

Histoire du Peuple Americain (History of the American People), French book in two volumes by André Maurois from the French Academy, 1955/56. Volume I: Europe discovers America - At t...

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. First edition, first issue. Octavo. In the original publisher’s black cloth boards, with gilt titles to the spine. In the original publisher’s first issue dust jacket. Presented with an archival clamshell case. This is a very collectible first edition, first issue printing of J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. The book was published by Little, Brown and Company in Boston, on July 16, 1951. This book is presented in its original black cloth boards and original first issue dust jacket with $3.00 price on the front flap and with the Lotte Jacobi photo credit on Salinger’s portrait on the rear panel. This first edition, first issue is without “Reprinted July 1951” on the copyright found in later issues. The Catcher in the Rye details two days in the life of 16 year old Holden Caulfield, after he is expelled from his school. Confused and disillusioned, Holden is both intrigued and repelled by the trappings and realities of adulthood. An immediate success upon its publication in 1951, and popular with young readers since, the book has sold over 65 million copies. Since the book’s publication, Holden Caulfield has entered the pantheon of American literary heroes. Very few works of art have had the cultural and literary impact of Salinger’s novel. “The Catcher in the Rye was a symptom of a need, after a ghastly war and during a ghastly pseudo-peace, for the young to raise a voice of protest against the failures of the adult world. The young used many voices--anger, contempt, self-pity--but the quietest, that of a decent perplexed American adolescent, proved the most telling" (Anthony Burgess, 99 Novels, pp. 53-54). CONDITION: Good condition overall. Octavo. In the original publisher’s black cloth boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards show slight wear to the edges, minor creasing to the spine, and some light spotting to the edges. In the original publisher’s first issue dust jacket. Dust jacket has minor separation along the front flap panel fold, some toning, minimal soiling, and chipping with loss to "th" in "the" and touching the "E" in "CATCHER" on the spine. The dust jacket is not price-clipped. Interior pages are mostly healthy, save light toning. Book has a previous owner’s inscription “Harry Weber...

Le Corbusier Der Modulor book. Le Corbusier published Le Modulor in 1948, followed by Modulor 2 in 1955. These works were first published in English as The Modulor in 1954 and Modulo...

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: The Viking Press, 1952. Octavo. First trade edition, first printing. In original lime green cloth boards with green titles to the spine and o...

This is a vintage biography of Sir Emery Walker. A Danish, limited edition overview of the British printer and photographer, published in English in 1959....

Oblong Quarto. Unpaginated. Original spiral-bound cream boards with modern design in color on cover reverse white lettering on red label of spiral, in original tan dustjacket with cu...

Journey back in time and embark on an enlightening exploration of our planet's mysteries with the captivating vintage treasure, "Children's Encyclopedia: Earth's Crust, Celestial Bod...

Step into the captivating world of vintage knowledge with this remarkable tome, "Mini Soviet Encyclopedia, Volume 1: A-Bukovina." This hardcover encyclopedia, sourced from the USSR a...

Step into the enchanting world of vintage knowledge with this captivating tome, "Numbers and Figures, Matter and Energy," sourced from the USSR and dating back to around 1959. This r...

Second Salubra collection by Le Corbusier - 1959 Very rare and collectible. Original sample book from 1959. With the original movable frames, which can be passed over the color car...

A very smart first edition copy of the seventh James Bond novel. With the original Richard Chopping dustwrapper in a fantastic condition. First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding...

Fleming, Ian. The Diamond Smugglers. London: Jonathan Cape, 1957. Octavo. First edition, first impression. In the original dust jacket and original black cloth-textured boards. Prese...

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1955. Later edition. Signed and inscribed by Hemingway on front free endpaper. Octavo. Rebound in ¼ black leather and burgundy cloth boards with gilt tooling to the spine. Presented with a new archival slipcase. This is a later edition of the classic Hemingway novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Published in 1955, this printing was signed and inscribed by Hemingway two years later, in 1957, while aboard the liner Ile de France. Written on the front free endpaper, the inscription reads, "To Robert Stein...

Harunobu, by Lubor Hajek, and translated by Hedda Vessela Stranska. 1st Edition: Spring Books, London, 1958. Softcover with Silk tied binding, pictorial softcover laid in to green cl...

The Modulor - Le Corbusier - third printing - 1954 In overall good condition. A classic for all designers and lovers of design.

House & Garden’s Complete Guide to Interior Decoration – Hardcover Book, 1953 Edition. First published in New York in 1947 by Simon and Schuster, this is the updated 1953 Edition,...

Scarce First Edition, Second Issue Cover, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1958. The first ever photography book by the famed society and fashion photographer Tony Armstrong Jones...

Scarce First Edition, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1958. The first ever photography book by the famed society and fashion photographer Tony Armstrong Jones...

Chelsea and Other English Porcelain Pottery and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection by Yvonne Hackenbroch. Published in London for The Metropolitan Museum of History and Art by ...

4 Volumes. Winston S. Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Bound in full red calf. Raised band spine gilt with panels displaying ornate gilt detailing. Labels on the...

Well-edited and lavishly illustrated survey of mid-century Italian ceramics, written by Hugo Blattler and published in Rome in 1958 by Aristide Palombi as part of the Arti Pratiche series, intended to contribute to an examination in depth of the material, as well as to the documentation and to the spreading of knowledge of each separate subject. Features vessels, lighting, fireplaces, and artworks by renowned artists such as Lucio Fontana, Salvatore Meli, Fauson Melotti, Gio Ponti, Antonia Campi, Marcello Fantoni, Franco Meneguzzo, Pietro Melandri, and Guido Gambone, along with a host of lesser-known figures. Stellar abstract designs throughout. Square 8vo (8.5” x 9”), 206 pages, hardcover, illustrated throughout in b/w. Slight lean to spine. Mild soiling to extremities, with chipping to corners. Professional repair to front hinge, as well as between pp. 194-5 and 204-5. Light chipping to first two leaves. The complete front cover remains of the dust jacket, which is still crisp and vibrant, with only minor chipping to top edge. Missing spine and back of dust jacket. A must-have for collectors and connoisseurs of Italian design and mid century ceramics.

First edition of Bernard Rudofsky’s idiosyncratic and iconoclastic discussion of modern living conditions in postwar America, published by Oxford University Press in 1955. 201 pages, 8vo, hardcover with pictorial dust jacket. Several black-and-white illustrations. Rudofsky (1905-1988), an Austrian/American architect, curator, critic, industrial designer, exhibition designer, fashion designer, and author is best-known for his controversial exhibitions and accompanying catalogs, including Are Clothes Modern? (MoMA, 1944), Architecture Without Architects (MoMA, 1964), and Now I Lay Me Down to Eat (Cooper-Hewitt, 1980). He is also famous for his mid-century Bernardo sandal designs, which are popular again today. Behind the Picture Window...

AUTHOR: WAUGH, Evelyn. TITLE: The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinford A Conversation Piece. PUBLISHER: London: Chapman & Hall, 1957. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION PRESENTATION COPY. 1 vol., inscribed on the front blank endleaf "Dear Miss. Case with respectful sentiments from Evelyn Waugh...

Fleming, Ian. From Russia, With Love. London: Jonathan Cape, 1957. First edition. Octavo. Rebound in full black calf leather, with custom gilt and red gun and rose embossed stamp to front, gilt tooling and titles to spine, and matching black quarter leather and red cloth archival clamshell. Presented is the first edition of Ian Fleming...

- 1958 - Photos: Lucie Hervé - publisher: Gerd Hatje - many photos - good original condition - 93 pages - jr.

Parke Bernet NY, Mildred B. Vanderbilt English & American Furniture, Porcelain, Silver, Sheffield Plate, Mazers, Treen and Leather Ware, Paintings & Rugs,...

Ernest Hemingway. Men Without Women. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955. Uniform edition. Signed and inscribed by Hemingway on the free end page....

The Drawings of Parmigianino by A. E. Popham. Publisher: New York, The Beechhurst Press 1953. 1st Ed hardcover with Gaylord covered dust jacket. Illustrated with 82 of his drawings. ...

Fleming, Ian. Diamonds are Forever. London: Jonathan Cape, 1956. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Rebound in full black calf leather, with diamond stamped boards, gilt tooling, gilt titles, and raised bands to spine, and a spectacular quarter leather clamshell case. This is the first edition, first printing of Ian Fleming’s fourth James Bond novel, Diamonds are Forever. The book was published by Jonathan Cape in London on March 26, 1956. The book tracks 007 as he infiltrates the deadly world of diamond smuggling, tracking smugglers from Sierra Leone to the United States. Fleming wrote the story at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, inspired by a Sunday Times article on diamond smuggling. As with the three previous Bond books, the first edition of 12,500 copies sold out quickly. The novel was serialized in The Daily Express newspaper in April 1956 onwards. It was the first novel Fleming sold to the newspaper, a decision that led to an overall rise in the novel’s sales. Book sales were also assisted by the press in November 1956, following the visit of Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden...

Author: STEIN, Gertrude. Title: Mrs. Reynolds and Five Earlier Novelettes. Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952. FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED BY ALICE TOKLAS. 1 vol...

American Historical Views on Staffordshire China by Ellouise Baker Larsen. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1950. 1st Ed thus hardcover ...

Meißen. Meissner Porzellan des Achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. 1710 - 1750. Published by Verlag der Kunst., Dresden., 1956. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. Large format book on 18th c Meissen Porcelain. With 120 B&W full page illustrations...

Let It Come Down by Paul Bowles. Publisher Random House, 1952. 1st Ed, Stated 1st Printing hardcover with dust jacket. Let It Come Down, with its title from Macbeth, tells the story...

Southern Interiors of Charleston, SC, by Samuel & Narcissa Chamberlain. Published by Hastings House, New York, 1956. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. Southern Interiors will have a...