Bibliopolis

04/12/2023

A very nice redesign was done recently of Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena, CA. Take a look!

https://www.whitmorerarebooks.com/

!

03/28/2023

“What is that unforgettable line?”
― Samuel Beckett

A program for the 1 man play inscribed by Beckett from our friends at Biblioctopus.

https://www.biblioctopus.com/pages/books/427/samuel-beckett/end-of-day

London: New Arts Theater Club, 1962. Wrappers. Program for the London first run of this 1 man play featuring Jack McGowran. 8vo. 8 pages. Pink, stapled wrappers, near fine. The cover is inscribed, in ink, to the Director of Publicity at New Directions one of Beckett’s publishers “For Edwin Erbe ...

03/21/2023

“How did you go bankrupt?"
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
― Ernest Hemingway

A very good First Edition in a unclipped dustwrapper from Bauer Rare Books in San Diego.

https://www.bauerrarebooks.com/pages/books/3177/ernest-hemingway/farewell-to-arms

New York: Scribners, 1929. First edition. 8vo. 355 pp. Cloth in dustwapper, unclipped, edgewear, else very good copy. 85196 {Hanneman/A8a . Item #3177

03/14/2023

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain

The first London edition of Twain's classic from B Street Books .

London: Chatto & Windus, 1881. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 7.5 x 5 . The first edition, first printing of Twain's classic. With the red cloth covers, Chatto & Windus's November 1881 ads, and Bet and Nan's father and grandmother described on page 8 as a 'a couple of devils' later changed to 'fiends' . Th...

03/07/2023

“Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.”
― Pablo Picasso

An original Lithograph from our friend Alan Wofsy at art-books.com

https://www.art-books.com/pages/books/10-0881/pablo-picasso/dibujos-de-picasso

Barcelona: Sala Gaspar, 1961. Original Lithograph. 70 x 50 cm. Mourlot no. 337. Bloch no. 1292. Item #10-0881

02/28/2023

“Memory was a slippery thing—slick moss on an unstable slope—and it was ever so easy to lose one’s footing and fall”
― Kelly Barnhill

A first edition of "The Girl Who Drank The Moon" from our friends at Thorn Books, ABAA

https://www.thornbooks.com/pages/books/20051/kelly-barnhill/the-girl-who-drank-the-moon

Chapel Hill: Algonquin Young Readers, 2016. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. Fine / Fine. Item #20051 ISBN: 9781616205676 8vo. Red paper over boards, gilt spine title, upper board embossed in blind. A fine, as new copy in a fine, as new, unclipped dustwrapper. Surprisingly scarce in the fir...

02/21/2023

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
― Winston S. Churchill

A collection of essays and articles from The Churchill Book Specialist

https://www.wscbooks.com/pages/books/34470/winston-s-churchill/thoughts-and-adventures

Thornton Butterworth, London, 1932, 1st edition. hardcover. A collection of essays and articles but not speeches published 1932. Contains 23 essays on diverse subjects ranging from Churchill’s career, to war, to politics, and some musings on the future. 320 pages, frontis portrait of Churchill at ...

02/14/2023

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!”
― Dr. Seuss

A fine, signed first edition first printing of this rhyming rumination on the thought process by Dr. Seuss from our friends at Charles Parkhurst Rare Books, Inc.

https://www.parkhurstrarebooks.com/pages/books/09541/seuss-dr-theodor-geisel/oh-the-thinks-you-can-think-signed

New York: Beginner books/Random House, 1975. First Edition. Item #09541 A fine, signed first edition first printing of this rhyming rumination on the thought process by Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss has inscribed in his inimitable style, to the bottom left verso of the front free end paper: For Jill with Bes...

02/07/2023

“I couldn't live a week without a private library - indeed, I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I'd let go of the 1500 or so books I possess.”
― H. P. Lovecraft

An early Lovecraft classic, limited to only 1268 copies from our friends at Alquin Books.

https://www.alcuinbooks.com/pages/books/029157/h-p-lovecraft/the-outsider-and-other-stories-collected-by-august-derleth-and-donald-wandrei

Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1939. First Collected Edition. Octavo. Item #029157 Limited to only 1268 copies of this early Lovecraft classic. 553pp. A very good copy of a work with nightmarish creatures with unequalled stories of the macabre that sweep beyond all barriers to those undiscovered lands...

01/27/2023

Virginia Woolf would have been 141 years old two days ago. We celebrated her birthday by launching the website of SECOND WIND BOOKS, the new new venture by Leslie Arthur, a Virginia Woolf expert and specialist. Congratulations and good luck to Leslie!

Tavistock Square, London: by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press, 1937. Bell, Vanessa dust wrapper . 1st Edition. Hardcover. Pale green cloth printed in gilt. 7 1/8 x 4 3/4 . Cream dust wrapper printed in black and brown, designed and signed in the design by Vanessa Bell. A very good cop...

12/25/2022

Merry Christmas from all at Bibliopolis!

12/25/2022

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

- Clement Clarke Moore