First Editions A - Z

Kelman, James.

 Some Recent Attacks. Essays Cultural and Political.

AK Press, 1992.

 Fine in printed wraps.

Sebald, W.G.

On The Natural History of Destruction.

London, Hamish Hamilton, 2003. Fine/Fine (unread). Translated from the German by Anthea Bell.

Sebald scorned the "holocaust" industry, disliking the sentimental portrayals of terrible events. He observed the reluctance of his fellow German writers to come to terms with and respond to the mass destruction of cities in Europe. These essays on the air raids in the second World War caused an outcry in Germany when they were published in 1999. First of Sebald's non-fiction books to be published in the UK. Liberally illustrated with contemporary and post-war photographs. First printings already scarce - reprinted before publication.

Bainbridge, Beryl

Front Row.  Evenings at the Theatre.

London, Continuum, 2005.

Fine in Fine dustjacket.

Signed by author.

Front Row is a collection of Beryl Bainbridge's best writing about the theatre.  She worked in the theatre from the age of 14 and became an actress before becoming a novelist.  The book includes some reviews which first appeared in "The Oldie" magazine.

Betjeman, John

(edited by Stephen Games)

Sweet Songs of Zion

London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2007.

Fine in Fine dustjacket which features Yorkshire Dales BR poster of 1961 by Ronald Lampitt.

Previously unpublished, these talks were broadcast by Betjeman on the BBC towards the end of his life.  The subject of the talks was hymns and hymn-writers and includes chapters on the Wesleys, the Oxford Movement and American hymn-writers.

Burnside, John.

The Asylum Dance.

London, Cape, 2000.

Fine in printed card wraps with French flaps.

Burnside's seventh collection of poems.

Bywater, Michael.

Lost Worlds. 

What have we lost & where has it gone?

London, Granta Books, 2004

Michael Bywater's Lost World column appears in the Sunday Independent.  In these extraordinary essays, Bywater examines the subject of loss:  lost worlds, lost schoolmasters, lost sandwiches and, most funny but also most poignant of all, the "rhinoceros, the nasal membrane of" and its apparent failure to sense impending extinction.

Fine (unread) in Fine dustjacket.  Signed by author.

Greene, Graham

Ways of Escape

London, Bodley Head, 1980.

Fine in Fine dustjacket.

Collection of essays on episodes in Greene's life.

Hodgson, Thomas Rahilley

This Life This Death

Routledge, London, 1943.

Very Good (some discoloration at top of front and rear boards and minor bumping of lower corners). No dustjacket but inner flap is retained within the book and the text on it reads as follows "Flight Lieutenant Hodgson was killed whilst flying in May 1941 at the age of twenty-six.  He was a brilliant and original poet, who had held his work in reserve.  It will, we believe, be recognised as one of the most lyrical visions of his age."

Pinter, Harold.

Various Voices.  Prose, Poetry, Politics 1948 - 1998

London, Faber & Faber, 1998

Near Fine in Near Fine slightly rubbed dustjacket  -  includes essays, poems, transcription of a conversation with his biographer, Michael Billington, a wonderful but brief appreciation of Beckett and another of Shakespeare.

Wall, Alan.

Jacob

London, Bellew Publishing, 1993

Fine in Fine dustjacket.

Signed by the author.

Using both prose and verse, Alan Wall has re-interpreted the story of Jacob and projected him into the 20th century.