Literature

The free adaptation of Pastor fido into Spanish by a Sephardic poetess of Spanish ascent

Extremely rare first edition of Sephardic Jewish poetess Isabel Correa’s Spanish adaptation of Guarini’s Pastor fido, a notable work of 17th century Sephardic literature and one of the few substantial literary publications associated with a Jewish woman of the Western Sephardic diaspora; written and published in the ancestral Spanish of her family, kept for centuries after their expulsion of Spain, and after their settling in Portugal. The edition was shared by two printing houses: Johannes van Ravesteyn’s in Amsterdam and Cornelis and Henricus Verdussen’s in Antwerp, this being the rarest one.

A rare first edition of the Croatian national epic

The extremely rare first edition of Ivan Gundulic's (1589-1638) poem Osman, considered the Croatian national epic. A pearl of the baroque literature that flourished in the bilingual Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), the work was composed based on recent events between 1622 and 1638, but not printed until nearly two centuries later. This rare complete first edition of 1826 is a milestone in the history of South Slavic literature.

First edition of the Arte de Ingenio.

First edition, very rare, one of the most important productions of the Golden Century of Spanish literature, and an influential work in world literature, specifically on literary aesthetics, and certainly the crowning jewel of Gracian´s ouevre. An unusually fine copy of a book that, when found, is usually in terrible condition or simply incomplete.

One of Kavan's most radically experimental novels

Scarce first edition of The House of Sleep, one of Kavan's most radically experimental novels, in the extremely rare dustjacket.

The most important literary work produced in fifteenth century Spain.

Early Italian edition of the Celestina, surely the most remarkable works produced in 15th century Spain. It has enjoyed a huge, lasting influence; it is valued as one of the best examples of Spanish-language literature. A novel consisting of a series of dialogues that can also be read as a play, it has been staged as such.

First American edition of the first of Dostoevsky’s books to be translated into English, a fictionalized account of imprisonment in a Siberian labor camp.

First American edition of one of Dostoevsky’s most universally-recognized works, The House of the Dead (also known as Notes from the Dead House). The novel is a fictionalized account of his imprisonment in a Siberian labor camp. After his mock execution in December 1849, Dostoevsky was sentenced to four years imprisonment at Omsk in western Siberia. Drawing from his experience, the novel portrays the lives of convicts in a Siberian prison camp through a loosely-knit collection of descriptions, events and philosophical discussions, organized around themes and characters rather than plot.

"Nata in Arabia": The Phoenix in Tasso's own hand

A great rarity: an autograph fair copy of Tasso's poem "La Fenice", published twelve years after Tasso's death as part of his great, posthumous "Sette Giornate del Mondo Creato" (and subsequently included as a separate poem in his "Rime"). In this long poem, Tasso celebrates the glorious Arabian-born bird as created by God to symbolize His only son, and the resurrection of the Christ.

First edition of Heywood’s poems, and an early English woodcut book

First edition of Heywood's illustrated allegorical poems, one of the most extraordinary illustrated printed books of the Tudor era; “the illustrations and decorations as well as the general typographical excellence make this book outstanding among English work of the time” (Pforzheimer 469). Heywood’s parable represents the Catholics as flies and the Protestants as spiders, with butterflies, ants and beetles in attendance, was too much for the contemporary audience, and was not reprinted.

Melville’s greatest work

First US edition of Melville's greatest work, in the first issue binding (BAL's "A" state, with the publisher's device on the covers and orange endpapers). The US edition was the first to bear the title Moby Dick and contains 35 passages and the epilogue by Richard Bentley, the British editor, omitted from the slightly earlier British edition. Red cloth is the rarest of the first issue binding colours, and more sought after that the more common blue examples.

"I kept asking myself how a book could be infinite..."

First edition, sole printing, of the author's scarce first collection of short stories. Many of the stories for which Borges is best remembered appear here, including "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote", "La lotería en Babilonia", and "La biblioteca de Babel".

Noble outlaws resisting corrupt authority: a lost volume of one of the earliest woodblock printings of the "Water Margin"

A hitherto lost, richly illustrated volume of one of the classic Chinese vernacular novels in one of its earliest surviving printings. The "Water Margin" first appeared in print in the sixteenth century, from which period, however, only four other editions are known in institutional holdings, mostly in a single copy. This volume, from a famous set brought to Europe in 1605 and now dispersed between several major libraries, represents an outstanding rarity as it is part of the only surviving copy of the so-called Augmented Edition.