The Books We Wish We Could Keep
These are the Cabin favourites, and some of our first purchases. The ones we have looked at lovingly, held tight, sniffed deeply, and gathered the strength to let go of.
Scenes of Clerical Life
Eliot, George
MacMillan and Company, New York, 1906. First thus. Illustrations by Hugh Thompson. Hardcover, 8vo, 429 pp (v-vii, b-2e). Gilt decorations on cover and spine ever so slightly faded. Rolled spine, significantly worn at ends with some cloth loss, as well as at corners, which are bumped and bent in. Front board is bright. Back board has some stains and discolouration. Some pale foxing on endpapers. Small owner signature at top right of title page on pen.
Cranford
Gaskell, Mrs.
MacMillan and Co. Limited, London, 1907. 8vo, 297 + 33 (vi- xxix, a-t). New edition. Pictorial cloth binding and guilt title on front board and spine bright and clean. Some shelf wear, corners very slightly bumped. Spine is rolled and leaned, bumped on ends. Light and pale foxing on end papers, otherwise clean text. Illustrations by Hugh Thompson.
Bear
Engel, Marian
First Edition. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1976. Hardcover. Binding is tight and square. Dust jacket has some very light edgewear, and has some age related toning. A near fine copy of a masterpiece of literature.
Tar Baby
Morrison, Toni
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1981. Sixth printing. Binding darkened at spine, some very light shelfwear. Dust jacket's spine is faded, short tears on spine ends and corners.
Exteriors
Ernaux, Annie
Scarce First edition. Seven Stories Press, New York, 1996. Ex Library. Glue remnants on binding from the book and dust jacket together. Library stamp on bookedge, and title pages. Stickers and library card envelope on back free end paper. Dust jacket lovely, with a library sticker on the back cover.
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose and Diary Excerpts
Plath, Sylvia
First American edition. Harper & Row, New York, 1979. Introduction by Ted Hughes. Binding slightly word at spine, and some minor scuffing of boards. Top edge foxed and other page edges slightly so. Dust jacket has some edgewear.
Things Fall Apart
Achebe, Chinua
Scarce first paperback edition. Astor Honor, New York, 1955. Wraps are fairly worn and scuffed. The spine is considerably split, with some tiny chops and top and bottom. Colours are bright, and binding holds well.
The Four Chambered Heart
Nin, Anaïs
First UK edition. Peter Owen, London, 1959. Hardcover, 189 pp. Binding is fine. Jacket price clipped, mild scuffing all around. Tiny chips on top edge (about 1mm) and a closed 5mm tear. Some sunning to inside flap.
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. A Typographic Version by Richard Hamilton of Marcel Duchamp's Green Box
Duchamp, Marcel
Hansjorg Mayer, Sttutgard, London, Reykjavík, 1976. Hardcover (23.5 x 15.7 x 1.3 cm). Green cloth with original plastic sleeve. Very little wear on ends of spine, otherwise perfect.
Grace Notes
Dove, Rita
First edition. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1989. Paperback,73 pages.
A Stranger With a Bag
Warner, Sylvia Townsend
Scarce first edition. Chatto & Windus, London, 1966. Binding tight and square. Dust jacket is lovely and bright, with only some edgewear, and a closed tear on the top edge of backcover, of about 2cm.
Nightwood
Barnes, Djuna
Second edition, second printing. Faber & Faber, London, 1958. With an introduction by T.S. Elliot. Hardcover, 8vo, 240 pp. Purple cloth binding clean and bright, slight lean. Dust jacket shows age related tanning all around, but noticeably on the spine. Some near imperceptible foxing on the cover. A 5mm tear on the bottom edge fold between spine and cover.
