Jamie The Obscure

I think I just found my new favorite website. This site has rare books, first editions, signed books, etc for sale. Wowzers! Oh Lord, why can I not be independently wealthy???? Here is some loveliness I found...


First edition, SIGNED, copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The going price for this perfection is $75,000.
Book Description:London: Ward Lock and Co., 1891. First edition, first impression, regular issue. Presentation copy inscribed by Wilde to verso of the half title page, "Frank/ from his/ friend Oscar/ Oct 22/ ‘91.” Bound in the original gray beveled paper-covered boards with gilt lettering and butterfly designs by Charles Ricketts. Expert repairs to paper at corners and spine rebacked with matching paper. Occasional light soiling to text. Housed in a fine custom quarter gilt-stamped vellum and handmade paper-covered box. Wilde’s first and only novel, and longest work of prose, first appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine on June 20, 1890, and is considered to be Wilde’s most personal work. The novel was first published in book form in April, 1891 with new chapters, many alterations and variations. Extremely scarce inscribed and in the original boards.. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good.

43 of Shakespeare's comedies, histories, & tragedies: Fourth Folio Edition
Price:$60,000 (which I would pay without batting an eyelash if I had that kind of money. It was published in the 17th century for pity's sake!)
Description: London: H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. Fourth folio edition. Beautifully bound in period style, modern paneled sheep with morocco lettering label to spine and handsomely tooled design to boards. Typical of the Shakespeare folios, many leaves are often supplied from other copies or in facsimile. Leaves A5, 2F2, 2G3.4, 2G6, 2Q3.4, and 4B3.4 appear to be supplied from another copy. Leaves A2.3, C5, D6, 2F1, 2K1, 4B1.6, 4B2.5, 4C6 and the frontispiece portrait are supplied in facsimile. The pages show some scattered minor stains and smudges, a small piece from 2O2 has been restored with the missing text penciled in. There are a few other marginal tears without loss to text, 4B3.4 frayed along top and bottom edges and rehinged. Shakespeare’s folios are exceptionally scarce, as only a few hundred copies of each printing exist. Given their rarity and influence, they are widely considered to be the most important work in the English language. Containing 43 of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and tragedies, the Fourth Folio was the last Shakespeare folio to be printed in the 17th century. This edition served as the foundation for the 18th century editions, including those edited by Nicholas Rowe and Alexander Pope. Generally a very clean and attractive copy of the increasingly scarce Shakespeare folio.. Hardcover. Very Good.

First edition Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Price: $20,500 (I'm drooling)
Description: Whitehall: T. Egerton, 1814 Austen's third book, published in three volumes and bound with the half-titles. Austen began Mansfield Park in February 1811, after sending Sense & Sensibility to press, and finished it in June 1813. The original printing was small -- 1250 to 1500 copies. All three volumes in original leather with rebacked spines and original spine labels. Vol. 1, 360 pages; Vol. 2, 294 pages; Vol. 3, 354 pages + 1 pg of advertisement. Volumes 1 & 2 have volume number stamped in gilt on spine and previous, possibly original, owner's name in pen on front free endpaper. Volume 3 has no spine number and no writing. The corners of all three volumes are slightly worn. Photos available upon request. Please contact for more information.. First Edition. Leather. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

Second edition Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Price: $14,500
Description: Whitehall: T. Egerton, 1813 Sense and Sensibility, Austen's first book, was originally published in October or November 1811. In the second edition, the author "introduced several alterations into the text..., and one passage containing a reference to an improper subject was omitted." (Keynes, pg 6) All three volumes in original cloth binding with leather spine labels. Spines on all three volumes are slightly sunned, heads/heels of spine and corners lightly bumped. Half-title pages are all present. Volume: fore-edges of pages 45 & 47 have a chip, not affecting text block, and several pages are discolored. Some foxing. Volume two: has dustjacket (not sure if original) and minor foxing. Vlume three: fore-edge of pages 93 & 95 have large chip, slightly affecting text blcok on page 96. Bindings of all three volumes are tight. Photographs available upon request. Please contact for more information.. Second Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall

I think I just peed a little...
Presentation Copy of Pictures From Italy by Charles Dickens
Price: $150,000
Description: 1846. A Spectacular Presentation Copy From Charles Dickens to Hans Christian AndersenOne of the Three Unaccounted For Copies of a Total of TwelveDICKENS, Charles. Pictures From Italy. The Vignette Illustrations on Wood, by Samuel Palmer. London: Published for the Author, by Bradbury & Evans, 1846.Second edition. Presentation Copy, inscribed by Dickens on the half-title in ink: "Hans Christian Anderson / From His friend and admirer / Charles Dickens / London Jul. 1847." Octavo. [8], 269, [1], [2, ads] pp. Nineteenth-century full red crushed levant morocco by F. Bedford (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in). Covers with gilt triple fillet border, spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, board edges ruled in gilt, turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut. A fine copy. Housed in a full dark green morocco pull-off box.A magnificent Presentation Copy linking the most famous and esteemed English novelist and the greatest author of children's literature of the last two hundred years.In June 1847 Andersen visited England for the first time. The great Dane earned triumphal social success during his summer in London as the guest of the Countess Blessington, who attracted the cream of Europe's intelligentsia to her soirees. It was at one such gathering that Andersen was introduced to Charles Dickens, whom he greatly admired.On July 30, 1847 Dickens, who reciprocated Andersen's admiration, paid a call on him at his lodgings. Andersen, however, was not present and so Dickens left him a small parcel containing twelve presentation copies of his books accompanied with a note.Of those twelve presentation copies, four were bequeathed to the Royal Library, Copenhagen, and seven were later sent to auction. Of those seven auctioned copies, only five have been accounted for: at Dickens' House, London; the Free Library in Philadelphia; a copy ultimately presented in 1956 to the Andersen Museum, Odense; the Webster Currie copy; and that at Sotheby's sale LN8412, lot 111. Only nine of the twelve copies are thus recorded. The copy under notice is one of the three "lost" copies."On his first visit to England in 1847, Hans Christian Andersen was overjoyed to make the acquaintance of 'the greatest writer of our time,' Charles Dickens. During the ten years following his return to Denmark, a friendly correspondence developed and culminated in his returning to England to spend five weeks as Dickens' guest at Gadshill. The visit was a failure and Dickens soon afterward broke off the correspondence" (Ford. George H. (Review of) Hans Andersen and Charles Dickens by Elias Bredsdorff. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol 12, No. 2 [Sept. 1957], p. 166)."…whenever he got to London, he got into wild entanglements of Cabs and Sherry, and never seemed to get out of them again unti he came back here, and cut out paper into all sorts of patterns, and gathered the strangest little nosegays in the woods. His unintelligible vocabulary was marvelous" (Dickens, letter to William Jerdan, July 21, 1857).The Danish Man Who Came To Dinner was supposed to stay with Dickens and his family for only two weeks. Though a genial host, Dickens dropped hints for Andersen to end his stay; they were, apparently, too subtle. The patience of the Dickens children was strained to the limit and daughter Kate would later recall that Andersen "was a bony bore, and stayed on and on" (Storey, Gladys. Dickens and Daughter. London: 1939). Andersen thoroughly enjoyed his visit, oblivious to the effect his extended holiday was having on his hosts. After he finally left, Dickens wrote on the mirror in the guestroom: “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks — which seemed to the family AGES!” Clueless, Andersen never quite understood why Dickens afterward ceased to answer his letters.Though the story may be apocryphal, it is said that "the bony bore" provided Dickens with the physical model for the obsequious Uriah Heep, the sharply limned character in David Copperfield, with, perhaps, a few of Andersen's personality traits added to the "very 'umble man."The comic quality of Andersen's social awkwardness and ineptitude provide the underlying significance of his work and the reason why his stories have endured and will remain classics. His earliest examples (Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes, etc.), like those of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perault, though quite successful and bringing him fame, were interpretations of regional folk tales. His major contribution to world literature was to come with his second collection of stories, Nye Eventyre (New Fairly Tales) which were wholly original creations. In these stories, which include The Ugly Duckling, The Nightingale, The Red Shoes, The Snow Queen, The Little Match Girl, etc., the protagonists begin as sad, awkward, lonely characters adrift in a strange, often cruel world for which they are ill-equipped but, who, by story's end have overcome their circumstances and become misfit heroes, their hopes and yearnings fulfilled. Andersen had identified a universal archetype and it was him. Even more to the point, he was amongst the first writers who might considered modern insofar as using the arc his personal life and psychological history as the basis for his characters.See: Dal, Eric, Nogle flere boger fra H.C. Andersen boghylde, in Andersenania 1992. Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume 8. Sotheby's Sale LN8412, Lot 111

They're killing me...really...
First Edition American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens
Price: $70,813
Description: London: Chapman and Hall,, 1842. 2 volumes, 8vo (197 × 126 mm). Original reddish-brown cloth, decorated in blind, gilt-lettered on spine. Half-titles, advertisement leaf at front of vol. 1, 6-page advertisements at end of vol. 2. Provenance: Daniel Maclise (1806–1870), Irish painter (presentation inscription from the author); Kenyon Starling (bookplate); thence by gift to William E. Self. Spines and board edges slightly darkened, some light wear to joints, an excellent copy. First Edition, in the primary binding, first issue with verso of the contents leaf incorrectly numbered xvi. A fine association copy, inscribed by Dickens to his close friend, the painter Daniel Maclise on the half-title in volume one: Daniel Maclise From his friend Charles Dickens Eighteenth October 1842, one day prior to its official publication.

I...WANT...THESE!!
Charles Dickens' Works
Price: $35,000
Description: 1900. The “Edition des Bibliophiles” of the Complete Works of Charles Dickens—One of Twenty-Six CopiesDICKENS, Charles. Charles Dickens’s Works. Edited by Richard Garnett. Most Unusually and Elaborately Illustrated. London: Merrill & Baker, [1900].Edition des Bibliophiles. Limited to twenty-six lettered and registered copies (this copy being Letter “H,” Printed for Sadie Belle Lufkin). Thirty-two octavo volumes (8 15/16 x 6 inches; 227 x 154 mm.). Elaborately illustrated with frontispieces and plates, including photogravures, etchings, photo-etchings, from the original illustrations by Frederick Barnard, Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”), George Cattermole, George Cruikshank, Dalziel, F.O.C. Darley, Luke Fildes, John Gilbert, Edwin Landseer, John Leech, Daniel Maclise, J. Mahoney, F.W. Pailthorpe, Robert Seymour, Stanfield, F. Stone, Marcus Stone, and others, including fifty original watercolor drawings (“Aquarelles”) by “Kyd” (Joseph Clayton Clarke) of Dickens’s characters. Descriptive tissue guards.Contemporary blue crushed levant morocco. Covers decoratively tooled in gilt in a floral design within a gilt single fillet border, spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments with five raised bands, gilt-dotted board edges, turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt within an outer border of a gilt-dotted rule and two gilt fillets, red calf doublures, red watered silk liners, top edge gilt, others uncut. Partially unopened. Although the spines are uniformly faded to green and a few leaves are poorly opened, this set is in a spectacular binding.

I would seriously sell a kidney or limb for these.
First edition paperbacks Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Price: $6,000
Description: London, March 1853-September 1853: Bradbury & Evans in the original monthly parts; 20 parts bound in 19; original printed wrappers. [i-vii] viii-x, [xi] xii-xiv [xv] xvi, [1] 2-264. Illustrated with 40 plates by Phiz., having ALL the ads called for by Hatton and Cleaver, and quite scarce as such. An outstanding set, internally clean; original blue printed wrappers, with minor wear at extremities; small, professional repair to spine of part XIX/XX and a few other parts. Neat owner’s name on front wrap of several parts. Overall, a handsome set with ocassional foxing, browning or off-setting. Housed in a custom full Navy blue morocco pull-off slipcase, with chemise. Hatton & Cleaver, pp. 275-304. . First Edition. Octavo

First edition Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Price: $35,000
Description: London: Smith, Elder, & Co.. 1847. First Edition. H. Back. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall First edition - collated with text errors of first edition including title page of Vol III printed with no comma following the publisher Elder as in the first two volumes. Three volume set, bound in full dark green wavy rippled leather. Triple ruled gilt border to boards. Five raised bands to spine, gilt rule to raised bands, titling to the second compartment, volume number and author to the third compartment, tooled floral decoration to other compartments with date embossed towards bottom of spine. Spines of all three volumes are darkened and show slight rubbing/scuffing to top and tail and to raised bands. Upper board of Vol. I is lightly scratched/marked. Corners of all three volumes are a little bumped and scuffed. Binding is uniformly tight. Top edge gilt, gilt inner dentelles and marble endpapers. Contents are clean showing no inscriptions but fore edge and margins show the usual browning with age. A number of small tears to the bottom edge have been expertly repaired in all volumes. pp 304 + 304 + 311. A delightful first edition copy of Charlotte Bronte's first and greatest work.

These volumes are beautiful...
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Price: $96,902
Description: London: for T. Egerton,, 1813. In three volumes. By the author of “Sense and Sensibility.” 3 volumes, 12mo (172 × 103 mm). Contemporary half russia, smooth spines lettered in gilt, ruled in gilt with small rope roll, marbled boards. In modern slipcase. With half-titles. Engraved armorial bookplates (“DJW”); book label of Michael Sadleir (his sale Sotheby’s, 17 Nov. 1958, lot 12). First front joint just becoming tender, board edges a little worn, some occasional pale spotting as usual with this title, first gatherings in vols. I and III slightly sprung, an excellent set. First Edition. Although with some minor flaws as stated, this is an exceptional copy in a contemporary binding, complete with half-titles, from the library of one of the most fastidious collectors of nineteenth-century fiction. The second of her full-length novels, begun in August 1796, when Jane Austen was the same age as her heroine, and finished in August 1797, “First Impressions” was offered by her father to Thomas Cadell on 1 November 1797 as a novel in three volumes “about the length of Miss Burney's Evelina”; but Cadell declined without asking to see the manuscript. Revised in 1809–10 after the success of Sense and Sensibility, by which time the first choice of title had been used elsewhere, it became the runaway success of her lifetime editions and remains the most popular of her books.

First editon, signed, The Stand by Stephen King
Price: $4,845.10
Description: USA: Doubleday, 1990 SIGNED First Edition, First Printing of the totally UNCUT version ! Hand signed and lovingly dedicated by "Stephen King" directly to the main title page. This is The Stand. None price clipped and showing $24.95 on inner wrapper. This book is NOT a Book Club Edition. Original embossed boards with cloth spine. This book and pages are square with clean boards. This book and its intact none clipped wrapper are in excellent condition. The dustwrapper is in near mint condition. This book was purchased direct from a private collection. The Stand Uncut by Stephen King. 1st edition, 1st impression. Signed by Stephen King on the title page. Published in 1990 by Doubleday. The book is in fine condition in a near fine dustjacket. Very minor edgewear to the dustjacket which is protected in a removable brodart sleeve. The signature on this book is guaranteed authentic. Obtained direct from Mr King with full provenance. A lovely book.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

Oh goodness, I could do this all night. I think I'm in love and way over my head!