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3. ADAMSKI, George. inside The Space Ships. new York: Abelard- Schuman, inc. 1955.
£150
2. ADAMS, Richard (author). Watership Down. London; Rex Collings. 1972.
£950
8vo. original brown cloth lettered in gilt to spine, with a small gilt vignette of rabbits to upper board, preserved in original mustard coloured pictorial dustwrapper; pp. [viii] + 413 + folding coloured map at rear; an unusually fresh copy; externally very clean and sharp with tiny bruising to heel of spine and a minor horizontal crease to head; internally fine bar a short marginal tear to inner edge of folding plate (now expertly and almost invisibly repaired to the reverse) and a little speckling to top edge of book block; the unclipped dustwrapper (£3.50) very fresh indeed with 4 short tears to joints (maximum 15mm), all archivally repaired with tissue to the reverse, and one similarly short closed tear to lower flap fold.
First edition. A modern children’s classic, and one of the most popular animal stories of the last century, selling 100,000 copies in its first year. The novel was originally rejected by all the publishing houses and finally accepted by the small firm of Rex collings, which found itself with a phenomenal bestseller. it was awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction and was later filmed. it is an exciting epic tale of a colony of rabbits who have to flee from their Berkshire warren when building works encroach, and search for a new home on the Downs
8vo. original cloth and decorative wrapper; pp. 256, 16 plates including photographs of alien spacecraft; off-setting from a now-removed ephemeron to title page, wrapper a little chipped to head of spine, otherwise near fine.
First edition. George Adamski (1891 - 1965) achieved a level of fame in the 1950s after he claimed that he had met a venusian named orthon who had taken him to his home planet and on a tour of the solar system. his first book was Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), which gave the basic narrative of his time with orthon. This book gives far more detail about the alien spacecraft with detailed photographs, including the famous picture of venusian spaceship seen from below which as been identified variously as a streetlight, a chicken brooder and the top of an italian ice- cream maker. The truth is out there.
4. AINSLIE, Kathleen (author and illustrator). me and catharine Susan earns an honest penny. London; Castell Brothers Ltd. [1908]. £98
Small square 8vo. original chromolithographed card covers with cream silk cord tie to spine; pp. [24]; illustrated with 11 fine, and delightful, chromolithographed plates (including one double-page) opposite printed calligraphic text; a fine copy in exceptionally clean internal and external condition, with one neat and very small ink-stamped name slightly offset onto title-page; scarce in such bright condition.
First edition. The two Dutch peg-dolls run out of funds and come up with various ingenious, and largely disastrous, money-making schemes.
A PRESEnTATion coPY inScRiBED To ThE PAinTER oF EVEninG in BALMORAL BY QUEEn vicToRiA, ‘ ThE inconSoLABLE WiDoW oF ThE BEST AnD GREATEST oF PRincES’
5. ALBERT, Prince, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Consort of Queen Victoria I. The Principal Speeches and Addresses of his Royal highness The Prince consort. With an introduction Giving Some outlines of his character. [Edited by Sir Arthur helps.] London: W. Clowes ,and Sons for John Murray, 1862.
£1,750
8vo. original presentation binding of white pebble-grain cloth gilt over bevelled boards by Edmonds & Remnants, London, with their ticket on the lower pastedown, boards with borders of triple gilt fillets, upper board with Albert’s crest in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, green endpapers, top edges gilt, others uncut; pp. 268; engraved portrait frontispiece by W. holl after a photograph by John Jabez Edwin mayall, extra-illustrated with a mounted carte-de-visite photograph of Prince Albert by mayall [c. 1860] tipped onto flyleaf; slightly spotted and marked, partial cracking on upper hinge, occasional light spotting, a few leaves a little clumsily opened, small marginal tear on B1, otherwise a very good copy; provenance: Johann carl haag (1820-1915, presentation inscription from Queen Victoria on flyleaf ‘Dem / herrn Karl haag / in / Erinnerung an /1853 / und / 1863 — / von / der trostlosen Witwe / des besten und größten | der Fürsten | victoria R. | Balmoral | Am 4. Juni 1863 — ‘) — traces of removed bookplate on front free endpaper — early pencilled annotation on p. [iii] ascribing the introduction to Sir Arthur helps, clerk of the Privy council.
Sixth thousand. A presentation copy from Queen victoria to the Bavarian artist carl haag. haag had visited London in 1847 and returned in 1848 to study at the Royal Academy Schools, and he subsequently exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1849 and 1881. Whilst in the Tyrol in 1852, haag happened to meet victoria’s half-brother charles, Prince of Leiningen and Prince Albert’s brother
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