Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$330.00 + shipping
Description: Essays which have appeared under that Signature in the London Magazine (with) Essays which have appeared under that Signature in the London Magazine, Second Series. 1st US & unauthorized edition. Both published by Carey, Lea, and Carey. "Elia" (volume one) is a reprint of the London edition. "Elia. Second Series" (volume two) is an unauthorized edition. The actual "Second Series" was published in England under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia," in 1833. 12mo, 292pp (&) 230pp. The 2nd series is somewhat foxed, the 1st volume is not. Bound in early half brown calf & marbled boards, quite rubbed.
Seller: Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints, ABAA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Description: True First Edition and First American Edition. 1 vols. 12mo. This is an unauthorized edition. The true "Second Series" was not published in England until 1833 under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia." The editor of this present edition mistakenly included two essays by Bryan Waller Proctor and one by Allan Cunningham (Roff). Livingston p. 157 Scattered foxing throughout. Original printed yellow-coated boards, linen spine, uncut. Worn, much of spine torn-away, new endpapers True First Edition and First American Edition.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$623.29 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: An unauthorised first American edition of the collected essays of Charles Lamb. Very scarce in the publisher's original boards. The essays in the collection first began appearing in The London Magazine in 1820 and continued to 1825. Lamb's essays were highly popular and were printed in many subsequent editions throughout the nineteenth century. The personal and conversational tone of the essays has charmed many readers; the essays "established Lamb in the title he now holds, that of the most delightful of English essayists." Lamb himself is the Elia of the collection, and his sister Mary is "Cousin Bridget." Charles first used the pseudonym Elia for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had worked decades earlier; Elia was the last name of an Italian man who worked there at the same time as Charles, and after that essay the name stuck. American editions of both the Essays and the Last Essays were published in Philadelphia in 1828. At the time, American publishers were unconstrained by nuisances like copyright law, and often reprinted materials from English books and periodicals; so the American collection of the Last Essays preceded its British counterpart by five years. In a quarter cloth binding with paper covered boards. Expertly rebacked with gilt titling to spine. Externally, worn, though spine remains smart. Front hinge held by cords only. Internally, generally firmly bound. One or two unopened pages. Slight age-toning to pages and some spotting. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: Two 12mo volumes. Pp. 292; 230 [2]. First edition of the Second Series, which first appeared in England five years later. Both in publisher's printed cream boards backed in pinkish cloth. The first volume (First Series) is poor, with both boards and front endpapers detached, and entire surface of spine lacking. Second volume (Second Series, first printing) is fair, with cloth worn off spine, and light soil to boards. Both with ownership signature of Jeremiah Smith, dated 1828 and 1830. Mr. Smith noted the author's death in 1835 of "contusion occasioned by a fall walking" on the ffep.
Seller: Bryn Mawr Bookstore, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series. 230, [2] pp. 1 vols. 12mo. IN BOARDS. This is an unauthorized edition. The true "Second Series" was not published in England until 1833 under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia." The editor of this present edition mistakenly included two essays by Bryan Waller Proctor and one by Allan Cunningham (Roff). Livingston, p. 157 Original printed yellow-coated boards, pink linen spine, with fine paper label, uncut. Scattered foxing throughout, front hinge tender. Half crimson morocco slipcase and chemise. Bookplate of Robert S. Pirie First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: First American Edition of Elia, True First and First American Edition of Elia. Second Series. 2 vols. 12mo. "Elia" (volume one) is a reprint of the original London edition. "Elia. Second Series" (volume two) is an unauthorized edition. The true "Second Series" was not published in England until 1833 under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia." The editor of this present edition mistakenly included two essays by Bryan Waller Proctor and one by Allan Cunningham (Roff). Livingston, p. 153, 157-8 Full blue morocco, elaborately gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, t.e.g., other edges uncut, by Pomey. Volume two with ownership stamps and signature on title page, with part eradicated. A very attractive pair First American Edition of Elia, True First and First American Edition of Elia. Second Series.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 2 volumes. Uniformly bound in 19th century leather (spine and corners) with marbled paper over boards. Spines have gold bands and floral decoration, titled simply 'ELIA' in gold. The first volume has bene professionally rebacked, with appropriate new leather laid down beneath original and nearly seamlessly blended. Marbled endpapers. Binding good and tight. Title page states 'Second edition' and is dated 1828 at the bottom. 292 pages. Binding tight and square. Bookplate on the inside front cover with coat of arms, motto, and the name 'Charles Buxton, Esq.' On the blank back side of the front endpaper, another armorial bookplate pasted down, also with motto, and the name 'S.P.B Mais' below. Handwritten on the first blank page '[illegible name starting with E] Buxton - from Lord Macaulay's library, Holly Lodge. Jan 1860.' another, much more recent note in pencil beneath, 'The second series is the (pirated) first edition (not published in London until 1833.' The second volume has a crack to the leather at the front hinge, but no loss of strength. Marbled endpapers with the same Buxton bookplate on the inside front cover. Same handwritten note on first blank page '.from Lord Macaulay's Library Holly Lodge, Jan. 1860.' Title page says Second Series. Dated only 1828. 230 pages plus a leaf with advertisements. Binding good and tight and square. Holly Lodge was the home of Lord Macaulay. The New York Times article on Macaulay's funeral (published Jan 30, 1860) lists a Mr. E. Buxton as having been in attendance. Research is incomplete on the bookplates -- SPB Mais is likely Stuart Petre Brodie Mais, (1885-1975), an author and journalist busy during the 1930s and 40s. Charles Buxton is perhaps the noted brewer, abolitionist, and member of Parliament (1822-1871). Lord Macaulay himself, the great British Historian, died Dec 28, 1859. As with all these wonderful historical objects, we do not know how it got from Holly Lodge into the hands of E. Buxton, nor onward to Mais. I can add further that it came to me from the estate of Arthur William Sydney Herrington, the designer of the Jeep, collector of art and books, and philanthropist (1891-1970). Finally, lest we forget, the book itself: the celebrated essays of Elia by Charles Lamb. The Second Series was published in the US in 1828, but not until 1833 in England, making this (second volume) the first edition of that work. Please email with questions or to request photos.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series. 230, [2] pp. 2 vols. 12mo. This is an unauthorized edition. The true "Second Series" was not published in England until 1833 under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia." The editor of this present edition mistakenly included two essays by Bryan Waller Proctor and one by Allan Cunningham (Roff). With a copy of the second American edition of the First Series. Roff, p. 157; American Imprints 33813 (CSmH; PPL). Provenance: Mrs. J. Insley Blair (Blairhame bookplate; Sotheby's New York, 3 December 2004); Robert S Pirie (bookplate) Original printed yellow-coated boards, pink linen spine, with fine paper label,uncut. Scattered foxing throughout. Half crimson morocco slipcase and chemise First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$3500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First American editions and the true first complete edition of the second series of essays (the second series wasn't published in England until 1833 as *The Last Essays of Elia*). Two volumes. 12mos. Linen and original printed glazed papercovered boards with paper spine labels. Each volume bears on the front pastedown the bookplate of James Fenimore Cooper, Jr., grandson of the American author. Laid in are an old bookseller's description, and a letter dated 1916 to Mrs. James Fenimore Cooper, Jr., sending the books along and discussing some of the bibliographical niceties. Front joint professionally and neatly repaired, and the spine label partly perished on *First Series,* small stains on the boards, chip on the unprinted front fly in *Second Series*. Still a nice set, in the uncommon original boards, in better condition than one might reasonably expect of these famous, autobiographical essays, and with an interesting association. In 1820 Lamb invented the pseudonym Elia for his first essay, about the work place of his brother, by taking the name of a clerk no longer employed there. The pseudonym stuck, however, and it allowed Lamb to develop a persona with which he examined a variety of subjects with his celebrated humor and style. Probably Lamb's best work, though he is also remembered for his children's versions of Shakespeare and Homer which he wrote with his sister Mary (who became his charge after her bout with insanity in 1796 when she killed their mother).
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.