Libraries are not made; they grow. Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.

Augustine Birrell

English Literature

John Milton | The History of Britain

This is the first printing of John Milton’s “The History of Britain, That part especially now call’d England, From the first Traditional Beginning, continu’d to the Norman Conquest”, six books (380 pages) in one, plus index and errata page, published at the Rose and Crown in 1670 for James Allestry.

James Joyce | Ulysses

This is the first British edition of Joyce’s best known work, Ulysses, in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in various literary styles, including stream of consciousness.

First published in France in 1922, it took 14 years for British censors to allow this UK publication.

Thomas Hardy | The Hand of Ethelberta

This handsome set is the first edition, in hardcover, of Thomas Hardy’s The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters. It was written, in serial form, for the Cornhill Magazine, which was edited by Leslie Stephen, a friend and mentor of Hardy’s. George Du Maurier’s art beautifully illustrate the text.