Nautical Fiction
"Bartimeus", [Lewis Anselm DaCosta Ricci] et al. All Clear Aft. Episodes at Sea. London: Cassell and Company, (1936). Illustrated by Charles Grave. Octavo, original blue cloth lettered in gilt, dust jacket (a bit worn). Front cover a little discolored at lower edge, spine a little dulled and cocked, endpapers a little browned, else fine. First edition.
Another retired officer of the Royal Navy, Commander A. Lewis da Costa Ricci, took his pseudonym :Bartimeus" because at the loss of an eye as a result of Malta fever which he had while serving as midshipman in the Mediterranean. During he World War (I) he was for a while on the staff of Admiral Jellicoe. His short stories are in Naval Occasions, Seaways, A Tall Ship ond Other Naval Occasions, An Awfully Big Adventure, and Great Security. Stories selected from these volumes appeared in his Bartimeus Omnibus (1933)., and the following year he published another volume of stories, entitled A Make and Mend.
Also contains stories by C. Fox Smith, Eric Kewon, Basil Lubbock, F. Dorothy Senior, "Taffrail", W. Townend and others. $65.00. #23782
Beach, Edward L. Dust on the Sea. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, (1972). Octavo, black cloth gilt lettered spine, red cloth covered boards with gilt printed signature, blue endpapers, pictorial dust jacket (fine). Fine. First edition.
Edward Beach also wrote "Run Silent, Run Deep" (1958) which was made into a movie and starred Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster and Robert Wise. $20.00. #24366
Bishop, Farnham. The Black Bloodhound. Boston: Little, Brown, 1927. Octavo, original brown cloth, pictorially stamped and lettered in black, top edge stained brown, pictorial dust jacket (spine head with slight loss of paper). Endpapers with some browning, else fine. First edition.
[Lewis p. 37]. $40.00. #23877
Blow, Michael. A Ship to Remember. The Maine and the Spanish-American War. New York: William Morrow and Company, (1992). Illustrated. Octavo, blue cloth spine lettered in gilt, red boards, map endpapers, pictorial dust jacket (fine). Fine. First edition. $25.00. #25622
BOUVE, Edward T. Centuries Apart. Boston: Little, Brown, 1894. Frontispiece illustration. Octavo, original light brown cloth, decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt, no dust jacket. Edges a little dust soiled, else fine. First edition.
Civil war mission is disrupted when the troopships are blown off course by a storm and discover a sexteenth century English society that has establsihed a colony called South England in the south polar sea. :A lost race situation used as a device for a historical romance ... Competent commercial work of the day" -Bleieler.
[Bleiler, Science-Fiction:The Early Years 247. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-22. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 088. Bleiler (1978), p. 28. Reginald 01678. Wright III, 612]. $100.00. #25329
BREWER, Mark. Windward Passage. New York: Crown, (1978). Octavo, red boards, black cloth spine lettered in red, pictorial dust jacket. Fine. First edition. $20.00. #19700
COCHRAN, Hamilton. Silver Shoals. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, (1945). Octavo, original blue cloth lettered and decorated in gilt, map endpapers, pictorial dust jacket (spine a little faded, rear panel a little dust soiled, upper edge with some small (closed) tears). Fine. First edition. $15.00. #23096
CONRAD, Joseph. An Outcast of the Islands. New York: D. Appleton, 1896. Octavo, original green cloth blind-stamped in black and red, spine gilt-lettered and stamped in black. Spine very lightly browned, contemporary inscription in ink on front free endpaper, fine. First U.S. edition.
Passages depicting love making between Willems and Aissa were removed from this edition because the title was intended for inclusion in a family library series. The American editors supplied their own linking passages where necessary! Appleton reprinted this text once in 1921, after which the plates were purchased by Doubleday, Page, which reprinted the novel in 1916, 1917, and 1922, before discarding the plates in favor of their Sun-Dial Edition setting of the text.
[Cagle A2b(2), binding a. Keating 6]. $650.00. #2106
CONRAD, Joseph. Tales of Hearsay. London: T. Fisher Unwin, (1925). Octavo, original dark green ribbed cloth, gilt-lettered spine and cover, pictorial dust jacket. Dust jacket very lightly chipped at top and bottom of spine and lower edge, old cello tape repair to top of spine on inside, else a fine copy. First edition. With a preface by Cunninghame Graham.
The stories included in this posthumous volume are The Warrior's Soul, Prince Roman, The Tale and The Black Mate, all of which had been privately printed between 1917 and 1922. The title of the collection is apparently one which Conrad himself had planned to use for a future collection of short stories.
[Keating 193. Smith 27]. $235.00. #2133
CONRAD, Joseph. Within the Tides. Tales. Garden City: Doubleday, Page, 1916. Octavo, original blue cloth decorated in gilt, lettered in gilt on spine. A fine copy. First U.S. edition.
[Cagle A18b. Keating 108. Smith 19. Wise 23]. $200.00. #2117
DRURY, W.P. Bearers of the Burden. Being Stories of Land and Sea. London: Lawrence & Bullen, Ltd, 1899. Octavo, original orange cloth pictorially stamped in black on front cover and spine, lettered in black on cover and in gilt on spine. Barely rubbbed, embossed on front cover, with large contemporary private library label affixed to front pastedown, else fine. First edition.
[Lewis pp. 47, 52]. $50.00. #23104
Field, Bradda. Miledi. Being the Strange Story of Emy Lyon, a Blacksmith's Daughter, Who Married His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples and Became, Emma, Lady Hamilton, Companion of Royalty and the True Friend of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B. Duke of Bronte. A Romantic Biography Narrated by .... London: Constable & Co. Ltd, (1942). Frontispiece portrait of Lady Emma as a Vestal by George Romney. Thick octavo, original blue cloth lettered in silver, pictorial dust jacket (a bit worn). Edges slightly dust soiled, bookplate and name in pencil on front free endpaper. First edition.
With:
FIELD, Bradda. Bride of Glory. Being the Strange Story of Emy Lyon, a Blacksmith's Daughter, Who Married His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples and Became, Emma, Lady Hamilton, Companion of Royalty and the True Friend of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B. Duke of Bronte. New York: The Greystone Press, (1942). Thick octavo, original blue cloth, stamped and lettered in red. Pictorial dust jacket (small chip at lower edge, spine a little faded). Edges a little dust soiled, endpapers a bit browned, else fine. First U.S. edition.
This "romantic biography" is superior to the usual novel surrounding the extraordinary life of Lady Hamilton. It contains a number of intriguing references and anecdotes concerning her early life and her relationship with nelson. Of particular interest is the Index of Characters running to 35 pages and providing a useful source of biographical references. The portraits may suffer from wartime reproduction but they have been chosen with care and include a portrait of Admiral John Willet Payne, said to be the father of Emma's first child. $165.00. #24255
Follett, Wilson. No More Sea. London: Henry Holt and Company, (1933). Octavo, original brown cloth decorated and lettered in green, pictorial dust jacket (spine a little browned and a few small chips). Fine. First edition of the author's first novel. $40.00. #25092
[GILLIES, Robert Pearse]. Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean. London: Henry Colburn, 1826. Three volumes, complete. Octavo, full 19th century calf, ruled in gilt on covers, spine decorated and ruled in gilt, green gilt lettered morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. Bookplates removed from pastedowns, approx. 2 inches by 1/8-1/4 inch horizontal hole on fly leaf in vol. I, one label on vol. II slightly chipped, some rubbing of edges and extremities, one hinge on vol. I weak, but an otherwise pleasing set with very clean interiors. First edition.
A scarce three-decker novel of a voyage to the Arctic. The work was a moderate commercial success for the impoverished Gillies, and a second series was published in 1829, also in thre volumes. In 1834 the original work was reissued.
Gillies was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, and was the first editor of the Foreign Quarterly Review.
[Wolff 2522]. $250.00. #24562
GOLDBERG, Barney. Channel Fever. New York: Jonah, 1967. Octavo, original tan cloth, black cloth spine, lettered in black and silver, pictorial dust jacket (spine a trifle browned). Spine ends a little rubbed, else fine. First edition .
Author's first novel. $20.00. #RH1096
HACKMAN, Gene AND LENIHAN, Daniel. Wake of the Perdido Star: A Novel of Shipwrecks, Pirates and the Sea. New York: Newmarket Press, 1999. Octavo, boards, cloth spine, pictorial dust jacket. Fine. First edition. $15.00. #41079.
Hallet, Richard Matthews. Trial by Fire. A Tale of the Great Lakes. Boston: Small, Maynard and Company, (1916). With a frontispiece by O.E. Cesare. Octavo, original green cloth lettered in gilt, no dust jacket. Very light spotting of covers, minimal rubbing of edges, large felt pen name on front pastedown, some soiling of edges. First edition.
[Lewis, pp. 41, 64-65]. $35.00. #24951
JENKINS, Geoffrey. Hunter Killer. London: University of London Press Ltd., 1966. Octavo, purple boards lettered in gilt, pictorial dust jacket . Fine. First edition. $50.00. #23102
KESEY, Ken. Sailor Song. (New York): Viking, (1992). Octavo, cream cloth spine lettered in gilt, boards, pictorial dust jacket (fine). Remainder mark, else fine. First edition. $25.00. #19422
KLAXON, pseudonym of John Graham Bower (1886? - 1940?). H. M. S. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1918. Octavo, original blue cloth pictorially stamped lettered in gilt and black, no dust jacket. Spine a tad dulled, else fine. First edition. $50.00. #24950
LEWIS, Alfred Henry. The Story of Paul Jones. An Historical Romance. New York: G.W. Dillingham, (1906). Illustrated by Seymour M. Stone and Phillipps Ward. Octavo, original green cloth pictorially stamped in darker green and gilt, lettered in white. Lettering on spine a little rubbed, spine slightly cocked, name in in on front free endpaper, else fine. First edition.
[Lewis p. 35, mis-titled With John Paul Jones]. $40.00. #23770
LEWIS, H.H., Editor. A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" From the Diary of Number Five of the After Port Gun. The Yarn of the Cruise and Fights of the Naval Reserves in the Spanish-American War. New York: Doubleday & McClure, 1898. Illustrated, including four colour plates. Octavo, original dark gray cloth pictorially stamped in grays, white and black, and lettered in white and gilt. Edges a little rubbed, endpapers lightly browned and foxed, name in pencil on front free endpaper, else fine. First edition. $25.00. #23878
LITTLE, Captain George. The American Cruiser; A Tale of the Last War. Boston: Wm. J. Reynolds and Company, 1847. Illustrated by Hammatt Billings. Octavo, original black cloth decoratively stamped in blind, lettered in gilt on spine. Covers a bit rubbed and with some small blue stains on rear, spine ends a little worn, name in ink on front pastedown with slight abrasion of paper, slight browning and foxing throughout. Second, retitled edition.
The book is a novel of the American Navy in the War of 1812. Little had published his memoirs Life on the Ocean in 1843 and followed with a fictionalized narrative that was first issued at Boston in 1846 as The American Cruiser; or, The Two Messmates. A Tale of the Last War. Two editions with the present tilte appeared in 1847 and 1848 and a final edition entitled The American Cruiser's Own Book appeared in New York in 1849. The first edition of 1846 contained only eight plates and no mention of Billings; the celebrated illustrator was featured on the title-page of this edition.
[Wright I, 1700, and see 1699, 1700a & 1700b. Hamilton, 402, and see 1501. Sabin 41512 (this edition).]. $150.00. #24645
MARMUR, Jacland. Wind Driven. A Romance of a Southern Seaboard. London: Eveleigh Nash & Grayson Limited, (1930). Dust jacket illustrated by E. Lucchesi. Octavo, original black cloth pictorially stamped and lettered in red, pictorial dust jacket (spine very lightly faded, a few water stains, a very nice bright copy). Black colour on cloth a little unevenly faded, else fine. First English edition of the author's first book.
Jacland Marmur was born in Poland, February 14, 1901 and died in San Rafael, California in 1970. He was brought to the United States at an early age and after graduation from high school he took to the sea for thirteen years, then settled in California. He earned a wide reputation as a writer of sea stories. Some of his books were The Sea and the Shore (1941); Sea Duty (1944); and Andromeda (1947).. $150.00. #25292
McPhee, John. Looking for a Ship. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, (1990). Illustrated with chapter head pieces. Octavo, original blue cloth lettered in gilt and in blind, pictorial dust jacket. Fine. First edition.
"A tale of life aboard what may be one of the last American merchant ships. As the story begins, Andy Chase, who holds a license as a second mate, is looking for a ship. He has convinced John McPhee to join him in his search - the outcome of which is by no means assured." - from the dust jacket blurb. $20.00. #24639
MILLER, Max. The Man on the Barge. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935. Each chapter begins with the same illustration of a man standing on a barge smoking a pipe. Octavo, original light green cloth decorated and lettered in silver, pictorial dust jacket (spine edges slightly rubbed, rear panel lightly dust soiled and with tiny closed tear). Name and date in ink on front free endpaper, else fine. First edition. $30.00. #23960
MUNROE, Kirk. Raftmates. A Story of the Great River. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893. Illustrated. Octavo, original green cloth decoratively stamped in silver, lettered in gilt on cover and spine. Spine very slightly darkened and a little cocked, slight rubbing of edges, owner's name stamped on front free endpaper. First edition. $45.00. #7854
NEILL, Peter, Editor. American Sea Writing. (New York): Library of America, (2000). Octavo, cloth, dust jacket. Fine. First edition.
(Published price). $35.00. #18005
OTT, Wolfgang. Sharks and Little Fish. (New York): Pantheon Books, (1958). Octavo, dark blue cloth pictorially decorated in light blue and white, spine lettered in light blue and white, pictorial dust jacket (edges with a few minute tears). Name in ink on front free endpaper, else fine. First U. S. edition. $40.00. #18064
PERTWEE, Roland. Hell's Loose. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1929. Octavo, original green cloth, lettered and ruled in red, pictorial dust jacket (spine lightly faded, minor rubbing). Small rubber stamp on lower edges, else fine. First U.S. edition.
"A gallant naval officer thwarts a communist dominated general strike" -Clarke
(English title MX-XX.3 also published in 1929, no copy available).
[Bleieler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1769. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 57. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 174. Bleiler (1978), p. 157. Reginald 11386A]. $80.00. #25330
POYER, David. Fire on the Waters. New York: Simon & Schuster, (2001). Octavo, two toned blue boards lettered in gilt, pictorial dust jacket. Fine. First edition. Review copy. $35.00. #21194
STEVENSON, Robert Louis. Osbourne, Lloyd. The Ebb-Tide. A Trio and Quartette. London: William Heinemann, 1894. Octavo, original gold cloth pictorially stamped and lettered in black, in green cloth chemise and green slipcase with green morocco spine lettered in gilt (spine faded to brown, a little rubbed and lightly soiled) . Spine darkened, lower front corner bumped, endpapers lightly foxed, else fine. First English edition. Rear cover device 3/4 inch diameter, August 1894 catalogue.
[Beinecke 604]. $125.00. #17579
STIRLING, Yates, Lt. Com. A United States Midshipman in the South Seas. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1913. Illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer. Octavo, original green cloth, pictorially stamped in white, black and red, lettered in ceam, pictorial endpapers. Edges a little dust soiled, else a nice, bright copy. First edition.
[S & W 2273]. $25.00. #24768
WILLIAMS, Ben Ames. All the Brothers Were Valiant. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc, (1919). Octavo, original yellow cloth stamped in green and lettered in yellow, pictorial dust jacket (spine a tad darkened, and split in the middle with slight loss of paper, albeit a nice copy of the dust jacket). Spine with slight spotting, names in ink on front free endpaper, else fine. $85.00. #25157
Williams, Charles. Aground. New York: Viking Press, 1960. Octavo, original green cloth lettered and decorated in red, pictorial dust jacket (tiny bit rubbed). Fine. First edition. $65.00. #25561