Our ROBERT FROST Catalog contains 118 items ranging in price from $35 to $50,000. Included are approximately 75 SIGNED items of which approximately 20, like the one pictured above, contain lines of poetry, in some cases complete stanzas or poems, in the hand of Frost.
Future catalogs will feature 19th Century American Literature, author collections of Carl Sandburg,
Dorothy Parker, and others, as well as fine early printed books and exceptional signed books.
CHARLES AGVENT SIGNED BOOKS AUTOGRAPHS FIRST EDITIONS MANUSCRIPTS The Rare & Unusual
CHARLES AGVENT SIGNED BOOKS AUTOGRAPHS FIRST EDITIONS MANUSCRIPTS The Rare & Unusual
013444 HAMLET Title Page Designed by Eric Gill
The Limited Editions Club has been making fine books since 1929 producing some of the most beautiful volumes issued in the twentieth century. Special attention was given to the selection and design of each book, from the typography to the binding.
The finest designers, such as Bruce Rogers, John Dreyfus, and W. A. Dwiggins, employed their talents to give each title an appropriately unique slant. Publisher George Macy commissioned some of the top illustrators of the time, including Rackham,
Matisse, Picasso, Benton, Gibbings, Kent, Rockwell, etc. to create drawings, wood engravings, and even original lithographs and etchings to grace almost every volume published by the Club. The greatest printers of the time, including the Officina Bodoni
and England's finest printers, helped realize the finished product often using letterpress printing and hand-made paper. Finally, each binding was selected with an eye to make a statement about the title often employing the finest available leathers,
hand-made marbled papers, and imported linens and silks.
Nearly all of the titles were limited to 1500 copies usually signed by the illustrator and sometimes by the designer or printer and even on occasion by the author, such as Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE, Robert Frost's COMPLETE POEMS, and some copies of
James Joyce's ULYSSES. A small number of the two Alice books by Lewis Carroll were signed by Alice herself! For about the past 25 years, the Club has published fewer books, mostly editions by contemporary authors and illustrators, often in a larger format
and with a smaller limitation, usually ranging from 250 to 1000 copies. The philosophy behind these appears to be to create books as objects of art rather than books to be held and read. Examples of these are Octavio Paz's THREE POEMS illustrated with 27
lithographs by Robert Motherwell, signed by the author and the illustrator, and THE BOOK OF GENESIS with 8 original silkscreens by Jacob Lawrence. Other recent illustrators include de Kooning, Cartier-Bresson, Balthus, Mapplethorpe, and Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence.
We have specialized in selling Limited Editions Club books for over 20 years and have perhaps the world's largest inventory of Limited Editions Club books, from their beginning in 1929 to their much more limited recent offerings. In addition to what is listed here,
we have many other LECs not yet cataloged, and we purchase titles constantly, so let us know if you have a specific want. Among recent purchases which will be cataloged at a later date are many of George and Helen Macy's own copies of the books as well as complete files
of original art for several of the titles.
CHARLES AGVENT
SIGNED BOOKS AUTOGRAPHS FIRST EDITIONS MANUSCRIPTS The Rare & Unusual
014912 McKenney & Hall INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA
A Spring bloom of Signed Presidential books
(J. Q. Adams, Van Buren, Buchanan, Fillmore, Cleveland, Taft, McKinley, Wilson, both Roosevelts, Eisenhower family copies, Kennedy, etc.),
wonderful letters by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Virginia Woolf, a signed copy of ON THE ROAD, a McKenney and Hall INDIAN TRIBES folio volume,
a 1609 hand-colored herbal, a 1621 edition of Agricola's DE RE METALLICA with wonderful woodcuts, early baseball and aviation, scarce signed modern first editions, and more. Please visit.
155 Modern First Editions. Well represented are
Samuel Beckett, John Berryman, Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Ford, William Goyen, Michael Ondaatje, J.F. Powers, Charles Wright, and many more.
Included are many signed books and some excellent association copies.
Our February Catalog contains 119 items by three American Authors: THOMAS MERTON,
JOHN STEINBECK, and THORNTON WILDER. Included are archives, juvenilia, letters, signed books, and scarce material, nearly all new arrivals.
CHARLES AGVENT
SIGNED BOOKS AUTOGRAPHS FIRST EDITIONS MANUSCRIPTS The Rare & Unusual
Included are beautifully bound classics, signed books, fine press titles, poetry, illustrated books, and the unusual.
Highlights are signed first editions by Truman Capote (IN COLD BLOOD inscribed to his lawyer), Rachel Carson, T.S. Eliot, Shelby Foote, James Garfield,
Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Somerset Maugham, Flannery O'Connor, Theodore Roethke, Woodrow Wilson, Virginia Woolf, and W. B. Yeats, among others;
a fine collection of Gehenna and Pennyroyal Press broadsides; archive of Presidential letters to the first Black Man in the White House, E. Frederic Morrow, with his book of the same title; and much more.
Our Fall catalog of 141 items of 19th Century British Literature.
includes letters, manuscripts, association copies, and signed books by Browning, Byron, Carlyle, Coleridge, De Quincey, Rossetti, Ruskin,
Shelley, Wordsworth, and others, as well as first editions by the above and many others, ranging in price from $35 to $30,000.
Our MOUNTAINS &
MOUNTAINEERING Catalog includes 75 select volumes, including a number of
nineteenth century illustrated books, and consists primarily of newly
catalogued items. We also have a list of "Bargain" titles in the same
subject area consisting of 50 titles NOT listed on our website and priced at
$25 each with discounts on quantitites. If
interested, let us know and we will email it to you.
This is our special GIFT
Catalog with 75 items priced from $10 to $30,000 and including both new
arrivals and selections from stock, mostly illustrated books, classics, fine bindings,
and limited editions.
Our AVIATION & SPACE
Catalog contains 57 items including the signed limited first edition of
Amelia Earhart's account of becoming the first woman
to cross the Atlantic by air complete with a small silk flag carried by her on
the voyage, a selection of books from the library of leading World War I Ace
Eddie Rickenbacker, as well as books signed by Neil
Armstrong, Charles Lindbergh, and Antoine Saint Exupery,
and some interesting 19th century aviation material.
Our latest SIGNED PRESIDENTIAL
BOOKS & PAMPHLETS Catalog contains 39 Signed Presidential Books and
Pamphlets including items by John Quincy Adams, James Buchanan, Grover
Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt, and more.
This comprehensive catalog
contains 139 items by EUDORA WELTY & TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, including many
signed books and unusual pieces.
To help avoid disappointment, if you find a title in one of the
lists, please then check to see if it is available using our SEARCH
ENGINE.
WHO WE ARE
We have been in business since 1987 and are members of the
Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) and the International League
of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).
TERMS & CONDITION
We judge condition conservatively. All books are octavo First American or British editions in original bindings offered subject
to prior sale unless otherwise noted. Dustwrappers present
when described. All autographs are unconditionally guaranteed for life to be
genuine. We attempt to note signatures and bookplates when present as well as any defect we see. In any case, any item may be returned, with prior notice,
within 7 days of receipt for any reason. All returns should be shipped fully
insured and prior notification should be given.
ORDERING and SHIPPING
We recommend reserving books
by phone or email or placing an order using our SECURE CREDIT CARD SERVICE by
first locating the book withOUR FAST SEARCH ENGINE. MOST MAJOR CREDIT CARDS accepted. We
request prepayment unless prior credit has been firmly established.
Institutions can be billed to suit their needs. Payment terms can be worked out
for larger purchases. Don't be afraid to ask. Please include $10.00 postage for
the first book and $5.00 for each additional book. We cannot be responsible for
uninsured parcels and recommend that you insure your purchases, costs which we
can provide when you order. U.S.
orders can be sent via UPS or U.S.
Mail. Overseas orders will be sent via priority,
air, or private courier, depending upon value and customer's requirements at
the approximate actual cost. We do not ship surface rate. PA residents must pay
6% sales tax.
LIBRARIANS &
COLLECTORS:
We are always interested in assisting in
building collections in a variety of fields, as well as in purchasing duplicate
titles or titles no longer appropriate for current needs.
We always seek fine books in all fields,
and you should certainly notify us of your interests.
