Shortly after the end of the Second World War, my grandmother decided to join the Folio Society. Both she and my grandfather had always had a fascination for books - much earnest calculation had gone into their earlier choice to invest in a collected set of Dickens (which I now own) back in the 1930s.
Mary Maclean: Calligraphy (1915)
When Bronwyn and I found an old art portfolio of hers, dating from 1915 (when she was 21), it made clear her interest in calligraphy and figure studies.
Mary Maclean: Dante Alighieri (1915)
I inherited a number of the books she collected after my father's death, and I have to say that they've begun to fascinate me more and more. For a start, there's the fact that she owned a copy of the very first Folio Society book ever: Tales, by Leo Tolstoy (1947).
My grandmother was a very remarkable person. Born in Achiltibuie on the West Coast of Scotland in 1894, she was brought up speaking Gaelic, and didn't in fact learn English until she went to school - in Ullapool, a day's walk away along the coast.
Mary Maclean (aged 11 or 12)
She studied Mathematics and Science at Glasgow University before the First World War, but was also an active suffragette. She told me once that she didn't mind chaining herself to railings, but - given the poverty of her upbringing - couldn't bear smashing large plate-glass windows.
Virtually all the boys she knew died in the war. As a result, she was forced to contract a 'mixed marriage' - i.e. to marry a lowlander and a non-Gaelic speaker, my grandfather Angus Alexander Ross, from Dingwall in Ross-shire. The two, however, did have a number of things in common.
Mary Maclean: Self-Portrait (1915)
They detested priests. Both had qualified as school teachers, but my grandmother in particular hated the fact that the parish minister had to approve your morals before you were allowed to teach in any district in Scotland. And you had to take Sunday School. As an atheist and rationalist, she found this extremely difficult, as did my grandfather.
In search of irreligious freedom, my grandparents came out to New Zealand in the early 1920s. The first place they were sent to was Rawene, on the Hokianga harbour, where they were renowned for having the only tin bath in the district - that is, until my grandfather riddled it with bullet holes while trying to take out a particularly cheeky rat. He was rather fond of guns, in fact: shooting fish from the wharf was another of his favourite sports (you had to get the angle of refraction right, apparently, which he was able to do from long practice in his earlier life as a fisherman in Canada, before the Great War).
My grandfather died in the Second World War, leaving my grandma to raise two boys on her own. She taught Maths at various schools in Auckland: Epsom Girls and Takapuna Grammar among them. It was in her house in Bayswater, with the beautiful glass-fronted bookcases, that we first became acquainted with her eclectic taste in books. By then she'd become interested in Christian Science, but only as a sideline. She remained a Labour-voting Socialist and rationalist to the end. She didn't suffer fools gladly.
She died in 1990 at the age of 96. I miss her: her sardonic wit, not to mention her immense experience of life.
* = originally owned by Mary Maclean Ross
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[1947]:
- *Tales, by Leo Tolstoy. [The Raid; Two Hussars; Three Deaths; Poliskushka; The Death of Ivan Ilyitch; Two Old Men]. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude, and by Constance Garnett. 9 pen and ink sketches by Elizabeth Macfadyen. Quarter-bound in black cloth with red cloth covers. White dust-jacket printed in red and black. 280 pp. 25.3 x 16 cm. (First book published by the Folio Society).
- The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, by Thomas de Quincey. 10 wood-engravings by Blair Hughes-Stanton. Bound in black cloth blocked with a gilt design. White dust-jacket printed in red and black. 220 pp. 22.2 x 14.1 cm.
- *The Odyssey, by Homer. Selected and translated by F.L. Lucas. 16 engravings on copper by John Buckland-Wright. Bound in brown canvas with gilt blocked figure. White dust-jacket printed in light brown and black. 136 pp. 25.3 x 16.1 cm.
- *The Voyages of Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, by Jonathan Swift. 12 colour lithographs by Edward Bawden. Quarter-bound in red cloth with marbled paper covers. White colour printed dust-jacket. 154 pp. 21.4 x 14.1 cm.
- Arabian Love Tales, Being Romances Drawn from the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Anonymous, rendered into English from the literal French translations of Dr J.C. Mardrus by Powys Mathers, 12 full-page line drawings by Lettice Sandford. Bound in full blue-green cloth decorated in brown and gold, endleaves with a design in green by Sandford. White dust-jacket printed in blue-green and black. 246 pp. 22.5 x 17.2 cm.
- The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man's Recreation, by Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, with a full-page frontispiece and 28 small illustrations in the text by Lynton Lamb. Bound in full green cloth with a border of rules in blind; endleaves with a design in grey by Lamb. White dust-jacket printed in grey and black. 274 pp. 22.9 x 15 cm.
- *Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities, by R.S. Surtees. 15 hand-coloured plates by Henry Alken. Bound in full red buckram. White dust-jacket printed in grey and black. 228 pp. 22.9 x 15.2 cm.
- *The Parson’s Daughter and Other Stories, by Anthony Trollope, selected and introduced by John Hampden, 17 wood-engravings by Joan Hassall. Bound in full cream cloth with a repeat pattern in green. White dust-jacket printed in green and black. 228 pp. 21.9 x 14.4 cm.
- *Typee, by Herman Melville, introduction by Robert Gibbings, nine leaves of pencil drawings by Jacques Boullaire. Bound in full yellow cloth with a repeat pattern in green by John Buckland-Wright. White dust-jacket printed in green and black. 278 pp. 22.8 x 14.9 cm.
- *The History of the Chevalier des Grieux and of Manon Lescaut, by the Abbé Prévost, translated by Helen Waddell, 21 wood-engravings by Valentin Le Campion, essay by Edward Sackville-West on the novel and the operas. Bound in full purple cloth. 224 pp. 22.2 x 14.3 cm. White dust-jacket printed in purple-red and black.
- The Complete Poems of Emily Brontë. Edited and introduced by Philip Henderson. Portrait frontispiece. Bound in quarter red-brown leather with dark green cloth boards. Dust-jacket. 282 pp. 19 x 13 cm.
- *The Newgate Calendar. Edited and introduced by Sir Norman Birkett. 8 leaves of contemporary engravings. Bound in quarter red cloth with marbled paper boards. White dust-jacket printed in red and black. 259 pp. 22.7 x 15 cm.
- *The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane. Edited and introduced by John T. Winterich. 10 leaves of civil war photographs. Bound in grey cloth blocked with a dark blue pattern. White dust-jacket printed in red and black. 159 pp. 22.4 x 17.2 cm.
- *The Sofa: A Moral Tale, by Crébillon Fils [Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon]. Translated by Bonamy Dobrée. 7 leaves of etchings by Robert Bonfils. Bound in pink cloth. White dust-jacket printed in pink and black. 256 pp. 22.8 x 15.2 cm.
- *Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff, by Thomas Jefferson Hogg. Introduced by Sidney Scott. 8 full page engravings by Douglas Percy Bliss. Quarter bound in dark green buckram with marbled paper boards. White dust-jacket printed in pink and black. 155 pp. 22.5 x 13.5cm.
- *The Quest for Corvo, by A.J.A. Symons. Introductions by Sir Norman Birkett and Sir Shane Leslie. 6 pages of collotype plates. Quarter-bound in black buckram with light grey boards blocked with a design in dark grey and red. White dust-jacket printed in red. 289 pp. 22.7 x 15.3 cm.
- *Two Tales of the Congo, by Joseph Conrad. Eight copper engravings by Dolf Rieser. Bound in grey cloth blocked in black with an African effigy design. White dust-jacket printed in black. 166 pp. 22 x 14 cm.
- *Lancelot & Guinevere, edited from Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, twelve drawings by Lettice Sandford. Full silver cloth decorated in red. No dust-jacket. 22.6 x 14.6 cm. 208 pp. The Presentation Volume for 1953.
- *Readings from Dickens, by Emlyn Williams, introduction by Bernard Darwin. Four leaves of plates. Full dark green linen with a vignette in gold on a red ground. White dust-jacket with a design in red and green. 22.1 x 14.4 cm. 164 pp.
- *The Castle of Fratta, by Ippolito Nievo, translated by Lovett F. Edwards, 8 leaves of illustrations by Eric Fraser, drawn in black ink and Chinese white on marbled linoleum. Bound in quarter grey canvas, marbled paper boards. White dust-jacket printed in grey and dark brown. 22.8 x 14.2 cm. 226 pp.
- *The Artamonovs, by Maxim Gorki, translated and with an introduction by Alec Brown, nine wood-cuts by Peter Pendrey. White dust-jacket printed in red and black. 22.8 x 15.3 cm. 282 pp.
- *The Discovery of Tahiti, by George Robertson, edited and introduced by Oliver Warner, ten wood-engravings by Robert Gibbings. Bound in quarter green cloth, yellow paper boards with a repeat pattern in dark brown by Gibbings. No dust-jacket. 22.1 x 14.6 cm. 128 pp. The Presentation Volume for 1955.
- *The London Spy, by Ned Ward, edited and introduced by Kenneth Fenwick with 12 leaves of contemporary prints by Hogarth and others. Quarter black cloth, marbled paper boards, designed by John Westwood. White dust-jacket printed in dark blue. 22.7 x 14.8 cm. 328 pp.
- Ghost Stories, by Walter de la Mare. 16 lithographs by Barnett Freedman. Introduction by Kenneth Hopkins. Bound in yellow canvas blocked with a brown design. Dark grey slipcase. 234 pp. 22.5 x 15 cm.
- The Trial of Joan of Arc, verbatim report from the Orleans manuscript. Translated and with an introduction by W. S. Scott. 10 woodcut illustrations. Bound in dark blue buckram with a gilt design. Blue slipcase. 173 pp. 25 x 16 cm.
- El Zarco the Bandit, by Ignacio Manuel Altamirano. Translated by Mary Allt. Eight full-page wood-engravings by Zelma Blakely. Bound in orange cloth with a frieze design in black by Blakely. Black slipcase. 22 x 13.6 cm. 160 pp.
- Memoirs of the Mogul Court, by Niccolao Manucci. Translated by William Irvine. Edited by Michael Edwardes. Eight leaves of reproductions of Indian miniatures. Bound in yellow linen with a design in grey by T. J. Widdaker. Endleaves with a map in grey. Grey slipcase. 25.3 x 15.9 cm. 180 pp.
- A Memoir of the Forty-Five, by The Chevalier de Johnstone. Introduced by Brian Rawson. 8 leaves of gravure plates. Bound in dark blue buckram blocked with a gilt design. 22 x 14.5 cm. 251 pp.
- Five Japanese Love Stories, by Ihara Saikaku, translated by William Theodore de Bary, eight full-page wood engravings by Mark Severin. Full pale green artificial silk. Grey endleaves with a design in purple by Severin. Dark purple-red slipcase. 20.7 x 14.6 cm. 160 pp.
- Vathek, by William Beckford. Translated and with an introduction by Herbert B. Grimsditch. Eight leaves of colour lithographs by Edward Bawden. Quarter bound in black cloth, multicoloured patterned paper boards designed by Bawden. Brown slipcase. 22 x 12.5 cm. 128pp.
- Hermsprong, or Man As He Is Not, by Robert Bage. Introduction by Brian Rawson. 10 two-colour drawings by Cecil Keeling. Design printed endleaves. Quarter-bound in black buckram with marbled paper covers. Aqua slipcase. 262 pp. 22.8 x 14 cm.
- The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, by his son Ferdinand. Translated and annotated by Benjamin Keen. 11 contemporary woodcuts and engravings. Map endleaves. Quarter-bound in cream leather with Japanese wood veneer boards. Black slipcase. 272 pp. 25 x 15.8 cm.
- The Transformations of Lucius, or The Golden Ass, by Lucius Apuleius. Translated by Robert Graves. 9 two-colour lithographs by Michael Ayrton. Design printed endleaves. Bound in cream vegetable parchment with a gilt and brown blocked design. Brown slipcase. 208 pp. 25.4 x 15.8 cm.
- Vie de Bohème, by Henry Mürger. Translated by Norman Cameron. Introduction by Michael Sadleir. 12 lithographic drawings by Dodie Masterman. Pale blue endleaves. Bound in cream linen blocked with a design in green and brown. Dark brown slipcase. 304 pp. 20.8 x 14.6 cm.
- The Conquest of New Granada, by Juan Rodriguez Freile. Translated by William C. Atkinson. 7 wood-engravings by Harold Bennett. Bound in dar green buckram blocked with a gilt design. Dark red slipcase. Map endleaves. 228 pp. 22.3 x 14.7 cm.
- From Atlanta to the Sea, by William T. Sherman. Edited and with an introduction by B.H. Liddell Hart. 16 photographic plates. Bound in blue and grey cloth centrally divided down each cover and blocked with a gilt design. Map endleaves. Red slipcase. 304 pp. 23 x 17 cm.
- A Shameful Revenge and other stories, by Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor. Translated with an introduction by John Sturrock. 9 full-page wood-engravings by Eric Fraser. Bound in quarter red cloth, white paper boards patterned with a marbled design by John Piper. Red endleaves. 22.6 x 14.8 cm. 200 pp.
- At the Court of the Borgia, Being an Account of the Reign of Pope Alexander VI Written by his Master of Ceremonies Johann Burchard. Edited and translated by Geoffrey Parker. Eight leaves of plates reproducing contemporary portraits and etchings. Map endpapers. Full dark brown buckram binding with a design in gold, black and red. White slipcase. 22 x 14.7cm. 245 pp.
- Poems of Andrew Marvell. Introduction by C.V. Wedgwood. Wood-engraved frontispiece portrait by Peter Reddick. Quarter bound in grey leather, green cloth boards. Pink endleaves. Grey slipcase. 19 x 12.9 cm. 184 pp.
- Ars Amatoria, by Publius Ovidius Naso. Translated by B.P. Moore. Drawings (frontispiece, three head-pieces and 71 smaller decorations) by Victor Reinganum. Quarter bound in dark green leather, brown cloth boards. Endleaves with a repeat pattern in brown by Reinganum. Grey slipcase. 18.9 x 12.9 cm. 128 pp.
- Mother Courage, by Johann von Grimmelshausen. Translated by Walter Wallich. Lift-ground drawings (full-page frontispiece and 28 smaller illustrations in the text) by Fritz Wegner. Full cream canvas binding with a frieze design in blue by Wegner. Dark red endleaves. Blue-grey slipcase. 20.8 x 14.5cm. 152pp.
- The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Translated by George Bull. 31 pages of photographs of all surviving works. Bound in dark red buckram blocked with a gilt design. Grey slipcase. 351 pp. 25.3 x 16.5cm.
- Dove Cottage: The Wordsworths at Grasmere 1799-1803. Being the Grasmere Journal by Dorothy Wordsworth, Together With Selections from the Correspondence of Dorothy and William Wordsworth. Edited by Kingsley Hart. 12 leaves of photographs commissioned by the Folio Society. Pictorial endleaves. Quarter-bound in dark red buckram with red paper covers. Grey slipcase. 217 pp. 22.8 x 14.8 cm.
- Colonel Jack, by Daniel Defoe, 12 leaves of two-colour full-page wood-engravings by John Lawrence. Full yellow linen with an illustrative design in black by Lawrence, black leather spine-label, black endleaves. Black slipcase. 22.3 x 14.8 cm. 320 pp.
- The History of the Great Rebellion, by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, edited by Roger Lockyer, with 32 pages of contemporary etchings and portraits. Full dark blue buckram with a design in gold, blue-grey endleaves. Grey slipcase. 25.5 x 16.1 cm. 472 pp.
- Sir Roger de Coverly, by Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele and Eustace Budgell, edited by John Hampden, wood engravings by Richard Shirley Smith (frontispiece portrait and thirty head-pieces). Quarter brown buckram, marbled paper boards, green endleaves. Brown slipcase. 22.6 x 14.8 cm. 160 pp.
- Monkey, by Wu Ch'êng-ên, translated by Arthur Waley. Twelve leaves of two-colour plates by Duncan Grant. Quarter dark green cloth, white paper boards with a design in red and black by Grant, grey endleaves. Grey slipcase. 22.7 x 14.8 cm. 312 pp.
- The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith. Drawings by John Lawrence. Bound in yellow cloth with a design in purple by Lawrence. Lilac endleaves. Dark grey slipcase. 22.3 x 12.1 cm. 168 pp.
- The Creevey Papers, edited by John Gore. Fifteen leaves of reproductions of contemporary paintings, etchings and lithographs. Bound in green buckram with a design in gold by Madeline Dinkel. Pale purple endleaves. Green slipcase. 22.2 x 15 cm. 336 pp.
- Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne. Edited by Graham Petrie. Introduction by Gilbert Phelps. Wood-engravings by John Lawrence. Bound in cream cloth with a reverse repeat pattern in green-brown by Lawrence. Pale brown leather spine-label. Pale brown endleaves. Grey-green or brown slipcase. 23 x 15 cm. 494 pp.
- Five Novelettes, by Charlotte Brontë, transcribed from the original manuscripts and edited by Winifred Gérin, with 10 leaves of reproductions of etchings, drawings and paintings, some by members of the Brontë family. Full dark red buckram, map endleaves. Grey and black slipcase. 25.5 x 16.5 cm. 368 pp.
- Pather Panchali, by Bibhutibhushan Banerji. Translated by T.W. Clark and Tarapada Mukherji. 12 leaves of two-colour lithographs by Janet Archer. Full red open-weave cloth, dark green leather spine-label, red-brown endleaves. Red-brown slipcase. 22.8 x 13.9 cm. 276 pp.
- The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty its Causes and Consequences, by Sir John Barrow, edited and introduced by Cpt. Stephen W. Roskill. Twelve leaves of contemporary portraits, drawings and prints, Full dark blue cloth with a design in blue and gold by Jeff Clements, map endpapers. Dark blue slipcase. 261 pp. 22.2 x 14.2 cm.
- The Happy Captive, by Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán. Translated by William C. Atkinson. Integrated vinyl-cuts by John Lawrence. Pink endleaves printed in black with a map. Quarter bound in maroon leather with fawn art canvas covers blocked with a maroon image. Maroon textured slipcase. 154 pp. 23 x 14.7 cm. 154 pp.
- The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, introduction by Gilbert Phelps, nineteen full-page wood-engravings by Zelma Blakely. Full green cloth with a repeat pattern in dark green by Blakely, black leather spine-label, green endleaves. Dark orange slipcase. 22.8 x 15 cm. 500 pp.
- Ralph Rashleigh, by James Tucker, introduced and edited by Colin Roderick, sixteen full-page drawings by Nigel Lambourne. Full pale green cloth with a design in brown by Lambourne, map endleaves, Brown slipcase. 22.8 x 15.1 cm. 344 pp.
- The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. Translated and edited by Ivan Morris. Introduction by Robin Duke. 9 colour illustrations by Jasper Deane. Full black artificial silk binding gilt printed with Japanese characters. Lilac endleaves. Pale lilac slipcase. 24.1 x 16 cm. 272 pp.
- Bird Poems, by John Clare. 84 poems. Introduction by Peter Levi. 41 wood-engravings by Thomas Bewick. Page tops stained brown. Quarter-bound in blue artificial leather with grey patterned cloth boards. Brown endpapers. Pale yellow patterned slipcase. 20.1 x 12.8 cm. 150 pp.
- Songs of the Wandering Scholars, by Helen Waddell, edited and with a preface by Dame Felicitas Corrigan, ten wood-engravings by Joan Freeman. Full brown-green cloth with a frieze of Monotype ornaments in purple and gold, pale brown endleaves. Lilac slipcase. 25.3 x 16 cm. 372 pp.
- A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, by Daniel Defoe (3 vols. - 288, 288 & 366 pp.), introduction by Pat Rogers, with 102 contemporary prints, drawings and paintings. Full brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Dark red and pale brown three-volume slipcase printed in brown. 25.3 x 18.9 cm.
- The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon (8 vols - 1983-90):
- The Turn of the Tide. Edited and introduced by Betty Radice. Fourteen leaves of plates reproducing photographs of surviving Roman antiquities and etchings. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16 cm. 322 pp.
- Constantine and the Roman Empire. Edited and introduced by Betty Radice. Ten leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16 cm. 322 pp.
- The Revival and Collapse of Paganism. Edited and introduced by Betty Radice. Fifteen leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16.1 cm. 370 pp.
- The End of the Western Empire. Edited and introduced by Betty Radice. Fifteen leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16 cm. 394 pp.
- Justinian and the Roman Law. Edited and introduced by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Fifteen leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16 cm. 394 pp.
- Mohammed and the Rise of the Arabs. Edited and introduced by Felipé Fernández-Armesto. Map endpapers. 16 B&W illustrations. Bound in dark red buckram blocked with gilt decoration. Cream slipcase. 377pp. 26.2x17cm.
- The Normans in Italy and the Crusades. Edited and introduced by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Eighteen leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold, map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.1 x 16.1 cm. 444 pp.
- The Fall of Constantinople and the Papacy in Rome. Edited and introduced by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Sixteen leaves of plates. Full dark red-brown buckram decorated in gold. Map endleaves. Pale yellow-brown slipcase. 25.2 x 16.1 cm. 366 pp.
- Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad. Introduction by Richard Holmes. 15 two-colour lithographs by Paul Hogarth. Bound in orange cloth with a design in black and silver by David Eccles. Endleaves printed in brown and black. Dark orange slipcase. 25.2 x 16.3 cm. 384 pp.
- Folk Tales of the British Isles. Chosen and with an introduction by Kevin Crossley-Holland. 58 wood-engravings by Hannah Firmin. Quarter black cloth, pale green paper boards with a pattern in dark green, pale green flecked endleaves. Green slipcase. 22.8 x 15 cm. 394 pp.
- The Complete Novels of Mrs Ann Radcliffe. (6 vols) Introductions by Devendra P. Varma, wood-engravings by Sarah van Niekerk. Quarter black cloth, dark purple-red paper boards with a repeat pattern in black, dark purple-red endleaves. Dark red six-volume slipcase. Comprising The Castles of Athlin and Dunblane (25.1 x 15.8 cm 100 pp);) A Sicilian Romance (25.1 x 16 cm. 167 pp); The Romance of the Forest (25.11 x 16 cm. 336 pp); [The Mysteries of Udolpho (25.2 x 16.3 cm, 712 pp); The Italian (25.1 x 16.2 cm. 434 pp);] Gaston de Blondeville (25.1 x 16 cm. 242 pp).
- My Early Times, by Charles Dickens. Compiled and edited by Peter Rowland. 62 contemporary portraits, facsimiles, paintings and prints. Quarter-bound in red cloth with cream vegetable parchment decorated covers. Red slipcase. Cream paper wrap-around band with hand written salutation. 252pp. 24 x 16.2cm. The Presentation Volume for 1989.
- The Complete Novels, by Raymond Chandler. (7 vols). Introduction by Frank MacShane, frontispiece drawings by Sue Bradbury. From the third printing, Sue Bradbury's drawings were dropped and each volume contained between six and nine drawings by Geoff Grandfield. Full grey cloth with a silhouette of Philip Marlowe by David Eccles in dark grey, dark red endleaves. Dark grey seven-volume slipcase titled in silver. 22.2 x 14.1 cm. The Big Sleep, 184 pp. Farewell My Lovely, 228 pp. The High Window, 204 pp. The Lady in the Lake, 208 pp. The Little Sister, 224 pp. The Long Goodbye, 288 pp. Playback, 156 pp.
- The Island of Sakhalin, by Anton Chekhov, translated by Luba and Michael Terpak, introduction by Irina Ratushinskaya, with fifteen leaves of contemporary photographs. Full pale grey-brown cloth with a design in red and gold by Sue Bradbury, dark red endleaves. Dark red slipcase. 25.2 x 16.1 cm. 288 pp.
- The Secret History, by Procopius. Translated by G.A. Williamson. Introduced by Philip Ziegler. 12 pages of reproductions of contemporary tessellated pavements and murals. Bound in white cloth with a tessellated pavement design in red and green by Jonathan Hitchen. Grey-green endleaves. Grey-green slipcase. 22.8 x 16 cm. 154 pp.
- Journals of the Western Isles: A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland by Samuel Johnson; The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by James Boswell. Edited and introduced by Peter Levi. Map of the journeys. 24 bound-in colour pages of contemporary art. Bound in green cloth blocked with a wrap-around picture. Brown spine title lable. printed in gilt. Dark brown endpapers and slipcase. 26 x 16.7 cm. 412 pp.
- Coleridge Among the Lakes and Mountains, selected and edited by Roger Hudson, with 68 illustrations reproducing contemporary paintings, prints and documents. Full white cloth lithographed in colour with a painting of Lake Windermere, pale green endleaves. Pale green slipcase. 24.5 x 17.3 cm. 256 pp. The Presentation Volume for 1992.
- Hours in a Library, by Leslie Stephen (3 vols). Introduction by Jonathan Steinberg, with 35 full-page portraits. Full blue-green cloth with a design in black and gold by Caroline Archer, dark blue endleaves. Dark blue three-volume slipcase. 22.8 x 15 cm. 354 / 360 / 344 pp.
- Works, by Thomas Hardy (6 vols). Reprints of six of his most popular novels in a dark green six-volume slipcase. Far From the Madding Crowd / The Mayor of Casterbridge / The Return of the Native / Tess of the d'Urbervilles / The Trumpet-Major / Under the Greenwood Tree.
- The Diary of a Country Parson, by the Reverend James Woodforde. Selected by David Hughes. 24 wood engravings by Ian Stephens. Quarter bound in dark blue buckram, Ann Muir marbled paper boards. Dark red endleaves. Page tops stained brown. White or red slipcase. 20.4 x 14.3 cm. 446 pp.
- The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers, by E. Nesbit (3 vols). Illustrations by C. Walter Hodges. Full cream cloth with a design in blue-green, black and gold by David Eccles, cream endleaves. Pale blue-green three-volume slipcase titled in gold, 20.3 x 13.5 cm. (1). The Story of the Treasure Seekers, 30 line drawings printed in the text, 218 pp. (2). The Wouldbegoods, 28 line drawings printed in the text, 314 pp. (3). New Treasure Seekers, 27 line drawings printed in the text, 283 pp.
- The Art of Love, by Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid). Translated by James Michie. 8 colour paintings by Grahame Baker. Tan slipcase and endpapers. Bound in cream cloth with inset brown, black and white image printed paper cover label and gilt spine titling. 96 pp. 28.5 x 19.1 cm.
- The Newgate Calendars. (2 vols): The Newgate Calendar, edited and introduced by Sir Norman Birkett, with contemporary engravings, 260 pp. The New Newgate Calendar, edited and with an introduction by Lord Birkett, illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz'), 265 pp. Quarter black cloth, brown paper boards with a repeat pattern in black and gold by Daniel Norman, brown endleaves. Brown two-volume slipcase. A photolithographic reprint of two volumes first published in 1951 and 1960 respectively. 22.7 x 15.1 cm.
- The Source of the Nile: The Lake Regions of Central Africa, by Richard F. Burton Introduced by Ian Curtis. Full pale brown cloth binding with a pastiche Victorian design in black and gold by David Eccles. Brown endleaves. Map loosely laid in. Black slipcase. 25.3 x 17.6 cm. 606 pp.
- Complete Nonsense, by Edward Lear. Introduced by Quentin Blake. Illustrations by the author, hand-coloured for this edition, taken from the first editions of Lear's five nonsense books (1846-1895). Full yellow cloth with a design in red, orange, green and blue by Richard Beards, red endleaves. Yellow slipcase with a continuation of the cover design. 22.9 x 16.2 cm. 288 pp.
- Italian Cities, by Christopher Hibbert. (3 vols). Full artificial silk (a different colour for each volume), decorated in gold, endleaves printed in gold to a design by David Eccles. 16 pages of colour plates in each volume. Dark blue three-volume slipcase printed in black and titled in gold. Volumes form colours of Italian flag in slipcase. 1. Venice. Green binding, dark green endleaves. 436 pp. 2. Florence. Cream binding, dark brown endleaves. 398 pp. 3. Rome. Red binding, dark red endleaves. 388 pp. 25.2 x 19.6 cm.
- The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius. Preface by Brian Keenan. Translated and introduced by V. E. Watts. 7 colour plates. Printed on pale cream paper. Cream smudged endpapers. Bound in cream vegetable parchment, cover printed and blocked with a multicolour design by David Eccles. Red slipcase. 208 pp. 23.7 x 16.9 cm.
- The Greek Myths, by Robert Graves (2 vols). A reduced size reprint of the first edition of 1996, divided into two volumes in a two-volume slipcase. Vol.1 342 pp, 12 leaves of plates. Vol.2 357 pp, 4 leaves of plates. Map endleaves. Quarter-bound in brown cloth with image printed brown and black covers. Orange slipcase with gilt title. Each book 22.8 x 15 cm.
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, by Christopher Hibbert. Foreword by Harold Acton. 32 pages of colour illustrations showing contemporary paintings, buildings, prints and sculpture. Printed endpapers. Bound in plain blue cloth. 384 pp. 9 ×6¾ in.
- London, Portrait of a City. Compiled by Roger Hudson. 162 pp (95 in colour). Paintings, prints, drawings and photographs of London from Roman times to the present day. Quarter-bound in brown cloth with colour image printed paper covers. Patterned brown endpapers. Brown patterned slipcase with gilt title. 272 pp. 26.3 x 19.4 cm.
- Reportage, by George Orwell. 5 vols. Orwell’s complete non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier, 211 pp.; Homage to Catalonia, 245 pp.; Down and Out in Paris and London, 220 pp.; Funny But Not Vulgar, 278 pp.; My Country Right or Left, 318 pp. Illustrated with 18 photographs by Bill Brandt and others in each volume. Bound in monochrome photo printed cloth. Monochrome photo printed five-volume silver slipcase. 22.2 x 14.4 cm.
- Icelandic Sagas I. Introduction by Magnus Magnusson. 16 colour plates by Simon Noyes. Map endpapers. Quarter black morocco over illustrated cloth boards with gilt titles on spine. 809 pp. 25.3 x 17.6 cm.
- The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire, by Thomas Hodgkin
- The Visigothic Invasions. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 644 pp. [2000]
- The Huns and the Vandals. Introduced by Peter Heather. 12 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 420 pp. [2000]
- The Ostrogoths 476-535. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 480 pp. 25x18cm. [2001]
- The Imperial Restoration. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 488 pp. 25x18cm. [2001]
- The Lombard Invasion 553-600. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 487 pp. 25x18cm. [2002]
- The Lombard Kingdom 600-744. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 424 pp. 25x18cm. [2002]
- The Frankish Invasion 744-774. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 310 pp. 25 x 18 cm. [2003]
- The Frankish Empire 774-814. Introduced by Peter Heather. 14 pages of colour plates. Map endpapers. Quarter-bound in purple buckram with cream boards blocked with an engraving. 278 pp. 25 x 18 cm. [2003]
- Legends of King Arthur. (3 vols). Reduced size reprint. Illustrations by Roman Pisarev. Introduced by Richard Barber. 726 pp and 16 pages of plates in total. Quarter-bound in dark green buckram with printed paper boards. Dark green slipcase titled in gold. 22.9 x 15.1 cm.
- The Complete Novels, by George Orwell. (5 vols). Burmese Days, introduced by Peter Davison, 299 pp. A Clergyman's Daughter, 297 pp. Keep the Aspidistra Flying, 276 pp. Coming up for Air, 247 pp. Nineteen Eighty-four, 325 pp. 7 illustrations by Steven Devine in each volume. Bound in plasticised paper printed with a design. Title printed slipcase. 22.8 x 15 cm.
- British Myths & Legends. Reduced size reprint. (3 vols). Vol.1 Marvels and Magic, 8 Monochrome plates. Vol.2 Heroes and Saints, 4 Monochrome plates. Vol.3 History and Romance, 5 Monochrome plates. Quarter-bound in dark red buckram. 708 pp in total. 22.8 x 15 cm.
- Icelandic Sagas II. Translated, edited and introduced by Magnus Magnusson. Illustrations by John Vernon Lord. Map endleaves. Quarter-bound in dark blue leather with design printed cloth boards. 759 pp. 25.2 x 17.7 cm.
- The Arabian Nights: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. Volumes 1-3. 2nd edition. (3 vols). Vol.1 - Illustrations by Kay Nielsen, 375 pp.; Vol.2 - Illustrations by Grahame Baker, 424 pp.; Vol.3 - Illustrations by Debra McFarlane, 424 pp. Translation by Dr. J. C. Mardrus and E. Powys Mathers. Introduction by Marina Warner. 8 colour illustrations in each volume. Bound in pale blue cloth blocked with a gilt design. Title and illustration printed on dark red slipcase. 25 x 19.3 cm.
- The Arabian Nights: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. Volumes 4-6. 2nd edition. (3 vols). Vol.4 - Illustrations by Roman Pisarev, 424 pp.; Vol.5 - Illustrations by Jane Ray, 431 pp.; Vol.6 - Illustrations by Neil Packer, 448 pp. Translation by Dr. J. C. Mardrus and Powys Mathers. 8 colour illustrations in each volume. Bound in pale blue cloth blocked with a gilt design. Plain slipcase. 25 x 19.3 cm.
- Satyrica, by Petronius Arbiter. Translated by Frederic Raphael. 7 illustrations by Neil Packer. Pictorial endpapers. Illustrated endpapers. Quarter bound in brown cloth with image printed paper sides. 157 pp. 28.8 x 19.3 cm.
- Selected Poems, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited and introduced by Richard Holmes. 74 wood engravings by Miriam Macgregor. Quarter-bound in dark blue leather with patterned cloth boards. Dark blue slipcase. 372 pp. 28 x 18.7 cm.
- The Zimmermann Telegram, by Barbara Tuchman. Introduction by Margaret MacMillan. 17 bound-in pages of monochrome photos. Quarter bound in dark brown buckram with pictorial covers. Dark brown slipcase. Light brown endpapers. 25 x 16.8 cm. 225 pp.
- The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, by Bernard Lewis. 14 colour plates of Islamic miniatures and photographs. Bound in image blocked red cloth. 242 pp. 23 x 15 cm.
- The Complete English Poems, by John Donne. Edited by A. J. Smith. 105 Black & White engravings by Jane Lydbury. Quarter-bound in red leather binding with illustrated cloth sides and gilt spine title. Page top edge red. 438 pp. 28 x 19 cm.
- Collected Short Stories, by Rudyard Kipling. (5 vols). Vol.1, Plain Tales from the Hills, Soldiers Three and other stories, 446 pp. Vol.2, Wee Willie Winkie and other stories and Life's Handicap, 503 pp. Vol.3, Many Inventions and The Day's Work, 507 pp. Vol.4, Traffics and Discoveries, Actions and Reactions and A Diversity of Creatures, 574 pp. Vol.5, A Diversity of Creatures (continued), Debits and Credits and Limits and Renewals, 590 pp. 11 illustrations by Philip Bannister in each volume. Bound in red cloth blocked with a black and gold image. Illustrated red slipcase. 25 x 16 cm.
- Collected Shorter Poems 1927-1957, by W H Auden. 46 colour Drawings by Brian Grimwood. Patterned brown endleaves. Bound in image blocked green cloth. 396 pp. 22.5 x 16 cm.
- The Collected Stories of Leo Tolstoy. (3 vols). Vol 1 - xvi, 497 pp. Vol 2 - vii, 487 pp. Vol 3 - vii, 440 pp. 55 stories. Translated from the Russian by Aylmer and Louise Maude. Introduced by John Sutherland. Illustrated by Roman Pisarev. Bound in image blocked green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Illustrated slipcase.
- The World Crisis, by Winston Churchill. (5 vols). Volume 1 1911-1914 xvii plus 464 pages. Volume 2 1915 xiii plus 453 pages. Volume 3 1916-1918 xiii plus 474 pages. Volume 4 The Aftermath xii plus 383 pages. Volume 5 The Eastern Front xii plus 311 pages. All volumes include b&w textual maps and b&w illustrations. Three-quarter bound in grey cloth with printed cover. Title gilt printed on crimson slipcase.
- The Deceivers, by Thaddeus Holt. (2 vols). Foreword by Sir Michael Howard. Frontispiece and 32 pages of black & white plates. Bound in grey cloth blocked with a black and red design. Black two volume slipcase. 9½ x 6¼ in. 1064 pp.
- First Folio: A Little Book of Folio Forewords. Introduction by Catherine Taylor. 15 forewords, each with a colour or black & white illustration. Quarter bound in black cloth with blue paper boards printed with author names. Blue endleaves. Dark blue slipcase. 20 x 13.5 cm. 132 pp.
- The Realm of the Unreal and Other Stories, by Ambrose Bierce. Introduction by Will Self. 10 black & white etchings by Nathan Sissons. Bound in orange image blocked cloth. 534 pp. 9½ × 6¼ in.
- Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey. Introduced by Ruth Rendell. 8 colour illustrations by A. Richard Allen. Bound in purple design blocked cloth. 232 pp. 23.7 x 15.7 cm.
- Collected Stories, by Chekhov. (4 vols). Volumes 333 pp; 347 pp; 303 pp; 364 pp. 60 stories. Translated by Ronald Hingley. Illustrations by Laura Carlin. Introduced by James Lasdun. Bound in blue cloth with gilt titles. Decorated slipcase. 9¾ x 7¾ in.
- Crusader Castles, by T. E. Lawrence. Introduced by Mark Bostridge. 118 black & white illustrations. Bound in buckram blocked with an illustration by Joe McLaren. 240 pp. 8½ × 6½ in.
- Collected Stories, by Mark Twain. [3 vols]. Bound in image blocked cream Buckram. Black & white illustrations by Roger Fereday. Three volume maroon image printed slipcase. 928 pp. 24 x 15 cm.
- Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives. (3 vols). Collected and edited by Katharine M. Briggs. Preface by Philip Pullman. Bound in buckram, blocked with individual designs by Hannah Firmin et al. 25 cm.
- Folk Tales of Britain: Legends. (3 vols). Collected and edited by Katharine M. Briggs. Preface by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Illustrated by Hannah Firmin et al. 28 monochrome illustrations in each volume. Bound in pictorial maroon cloth, upper boards and backstrips blocked and lettered in gilt and black. Maroon endpapers. 25 cm.
- Chronicles, by Raphael Holinshed. Frontispiece and 90 woodcuts. Bound in buckram printed and blocked with the title page from the 1577 edition. 456 pp. 10.2 x 6.6 in.
- The Complete Shorter Fiction, by Herman Melville. Introduced by Jay Parini. Frontispiece and 15 colour illustrations by Bill Bragg. Bound in buckram blocked with a design by Bill Bragg. 528 pp. 10 × 6¼ in.
- Natural History, by Pliny the Elder. (5 vols). 379 pp., 429 pp., 384 pp., 354 pp., 421 pp. Translated by H. Rackham et al. Introduction by Anthony T.Grafton. 100 colour plates across all volumes. Bound in 3/4 buckram with pictorial paper front. Title and pattern on slipcase. 26.5 x 17.5 x 22.7cm.
- Paris After the Liberation, by Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper. New introduction by the authors. Frontispiece and 32 pages of colour and black & white plates. Three-quarter bound in buckram printed with a photograph of an AFPU photographer kissing a child before cheering crowds, 26 August 1944. 448 pp. 10 × 6¾in.
- Conrad’s Congo, by Joseph Conrad. Introduced by J. H. Stape. Preface by Adam Hochschild. Frontispiece and 16 pages of sepia and black & white plates and some integrated diagrams. Bound in cloth blocked with a design by Neil Gower. 256 pp. 9 x 6¼ in.
- Mohammed and Charlemagne, by Henri Pirenne. Introduced by Averil Cameron. Frontispiece and 16 pages of colour plates. Bound in cloth blocked with a design by Neil Gower based on a T and O map, with Arabic calligraphy by Josh Berer. 288 pp. 9½ x 6¼ in.
- Three Kingdoms. AD 168 to 280. (4 vols). Translated by Moss Roberts. Introduced by Ma Jian. 280 integrated woodcuts from a 19th-century edition. Bound in light green artificial silk, blocked with four key figures redrawn by Neil Gower. Grey pictorial slipcase. 11.5 x 7.8 in.
- The Voyage of Argo, by Apollonius of Rhodes. Introduced by Lawrence Norfolk. Title page spread and 7 double-page colour illustrations by Daniel Egnéus. Translated from the Classical Greek by E. V. Rieu. Pictorial slipcase. Printed endpapers. Full colour binding, bound in cloth. 208 pp. 10 x 6¾ in.
- The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner. Introduced by Stephen M. Ross and Noel Polk. Coloured text and colour-coded bookmark. Slipcase with printed label. Bound in blocked cloth. 552 pp. 10 x 6¼ in. Fine edition.
- King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild. ¾ bound in blocked cloth with a printed front board. Frontispiece and 24 pages of colour and B&W plates, 12 integrated black & white illustrations, 1 map. Printed slipcase. 416 pp. 9½” x 6¼”.
- Outlaws of the Marsh: The Water Margin, by Shi Nai’an. (2 vols). Introduced by Frances Wood. Translated by J. H. Jackson. Illustrations from the Rong Yu Tang edition by Shi Nai'an. Three-quarter bound in image blocked aqua-blue Art Silk with a printed cloth front board. Illustrated title pages and 141 woodblock illustrations. Ribbon markers. Gilded page tops. Image printed light brown cloth slipcase. 880 pp. in total. 11 x 7¼ in.
- Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. (2 vols). Translated by Nicolas Pasternak Slater. Introduced by Ann Pasternak Slater. 68 integrated illustrations and sketches by Leonid Pasternak. Bound in dark blue cloth, cover blocked with a gilt pattern. Dark blue slipcase with colour pictorial front. Vol 1: 312 pp., Vol 2: 352 pp. 10 x 6¾ in.
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