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Dracula, an epistolary novel that features Count Dracula, ‘a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache’. Stoker initially called the novel ‘The Dead Un-Dead’ and had Dracula as ‘Count Wampyr’. This Folio Society edition, illustrated by Abigail Rorer, is based on the first edition of 1897.]]> Bram Stoker]]> Eric Gill]]> Hours of Idleness in the Edinburgh Review for January 1808. It was once owned by an Irishman called William La Touche.]]> Lord Byron]]> A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1796), Special Collections secured a 2nd edition of William Godwin’s Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness (1796), a work that openly attacked political institutions. Godwin (1756–1836), a radical philosopher who believed that humanity will inevitably progress, married Wollstonecraft in 1797. In the third person, he wrote in the Preface: ‘It is now twelve years since he became satisfied that monarchy was a species of government essentially corrupt. He owed this conviction to the political writings of Swift and to a perusal of the Latin historians.’ Godwin remains an influential figure in 18th century British literature and literary culture.]]> William Godwin]]> Evelina (1784) was a significant purchase. Evelina was Burney’s first novel, for which she received 20 guineas from Lowndes the publisher. It was a critical success when it first appeared.]]> Fanny Burney]]> Mickey Spillane ]]> James Hadley Chase]]> Rachael Johns]]> Le Sphinx actually antedate his first published work, The Collected Sonnets by John Keats (1930). Thus they are JBW’s first book-illustrations, and apart from two, were never previously published. This limited edition portfolio of 250 copies was purchased locally.]]> Alexander A. M. Stols]]> Mickey Spillane]]> Pierre Corneille
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Like a Tree, is a rare book, printed in 1993 in a limited edition of only 8 copies. It was a collaborative affair, between Tara McLeod, owner-operator of Pear Tree Press; John Mitchell, artist, printmaker and papermaker; and Judith Haswell, a librarian at Auckland University. Haswell wrote the poem and supplied the yellow calico cover; Mitchell made the paper from composite materials including banana skins; and McLeod performed his usual magic on the printing and layout. The work was donated to Special Collections by Judith Haswell.]]> Judith Haswell]]> Like a Tree, is a rare book, printed in 1993 in a limited edition of only 8 copies. It was a collaborative affair, between Tara McLeod, owner-operator of Pear Tree Press; John Mitchell, artist, printmaker and papermaker; and Judith Haswell, a librarian at Auckland University. Haswell wrote the poem and supplied the yellow calico cover; Mitchell made the paper from composite materials including banana skins; and McLeod performed his usual magic on the printing and layout. The work was donated to Special Collections by Judith Haswell.]]> Judith Haswell]]> Looking Backward: 2000-1887 was first published in 1888. It became one of the most popular American novels of its time and had a huge influence on contemporary intelligentsia. This Lancer Books paperback edition (1968) comes from the Fastier SF collection.]]> Edward Bellamy]]> Looking Backward: 2000-1887 was first published in 1888. It became one of the most popular American novels of its time and had a huge influence on contemporary intelligentsia. This Limited Editions Club volume (1941) was purchased in 2013.]]> Edward Bellamy]]> Mador of the Moor, an historical romance in five cantos which was published in 1816 by William Blackwood. Most of this love-story about a farmer’s daughter being wooed by the King of Scotland (in disguise) was written by Hogg in 1813 when he was staying at Kinnaird House, the home of his friend Eliza Izett, near Dunkeld, Perthshire. Somewhat unfairly, it has been compared to Scott’s outpourings, deemed by some as a ‘second-hand Lady of the Lake’. This particular copy was once in the library of Ian Jack (b.1945), the Scottish journalist and editor.]]> James Hogg]]> Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857) carries a striking lithograph of the Falls and the classic statement within: ‘Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.’ Livingstone was the first European to see the Falls. This first edition was purchased locally.]]> David Livingstone]]> Brett Halliday]]> My Life and Loves was purchased to form part of the ‘modern’ contingent in the very successful ‘Banned Books’ exhibition in Special Collections in 2009. Privately printed in Paris in 1925, this particular edition was not allowed to be imported into England or the U.S.A. Often shipped in plain brown wrappers, it was, if discovered, summarily destroyed; having been judged indecent. John Sumner, zealous member of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, called it the ‘most obscene book published in the present century.’]]> Frank Harris]]> Notorious Frauds of the Romish Priests and Jesuits (1692) is but one title received. This ‘rant’ was anonymously penned by politician Sir William Waller (1639-1699), a reprint of his earlier Tragedy of Jetzer (1680). Waller was himself a ‘notorious’ anti-Catholic. This 4th edition copy is of particular interest. It was once owned by a 17th century female reader – ‘Jane Gray, 1695’ – and there are only two surviving copies: one at Otago; the other at the British Library.]]> [Sir William Waller]]]> Of Gardens, first published in 1625. Of Gardens, essay 46 in a series of 58, was meant to be read in conjunction with essay 45, Of Buildings, in which Bacon (1561-1626) describes the ideal position and lay-out of a palace. He advises a garden should be no less than 30 acres and should be divided into three areas: the green area or lawn, the main garden, and ‘a heath or desert’. This edition was printed by Simon Lawrence, owner-operator of Fleece Press, Yorkshire. The engravings are by English artist Betty Pennell.]]> Francis Bacon]]> On the Road was written on a scroll, some 120 feet of tracing paper that the author cut and taped together. Written over a three week period in 1951, it was tapped out single-spaced, with no margins or paragraph breaks. It was eventually published by Viking Press in 1957. Depicting the exploits of Salvatore Paradise (Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady), the book is now regarded as the high-point representative of the ‘Beat Generation’; a must-read for those interested in post-war America.]]> Jack Kerouac]]> On the Road was written on a scroll, some 120 feet of tracing paper that the author cut and taped together. Written over a three week period in 1951, it was tapped out single-spaced, with no margins or paragraph breaks. It was eventually published by Viking Press in 1957. Depicting the exploits of Salvatore Paradise (Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady), the book is now regarded as the high-point representative of the ‘Beat Generation’; a must-read for those interested in post-war America. This evocative photograph in this Folio Society edition is of Times Square, New York.]]> Jack Kerouac]]>