Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
H. Rider Haggard. The Witch's Head: A Novel. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1887.
Price: US$59.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Early American edition in the Harper & Brother series half-bound with marbled paper over red faux calf with gilt lettered and ruled spine, cream colored end pages and two pages of ads at rear, and dated 1887 on the title page. This is listed in the April 12, 1887 dated SHE in the Harper's Handy Series (wraps). New York: Harper & Brothers (1887), 289 pages. A Good copy with fading spine, scratches and rubbing to marbled paper and tiny chips/small tear to spine ends, worn and bumped tips, inked name to f.f.e., prelim section a bit loose. Cracked hinges.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Haggard, H. Rider. SHE: A History of Adventure. New York: Worthington Co., 1887., 1887.
Price: US$90.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A Worthington 1887 pirated edition of the First U.S. Harper's Franklin edition, published in 1886. This Worthington edition, has the Franklin edition binding with "Worthington" added to the spine embossing, reproduces the lovely Harper Franklin frontispiece plate art depicting Ayesha, and an internal figure drawing of the symbol employed in the tale. Classic fantasy adventure novel (with elements of magic and horror) of traveling through a portal to a community of a lost race. A lovely early decorative binding with quality thick-stock paper. Some tiny, faint soil spots to the pages and to the rear cover, some rubbing at the upper and lower spine ends, corner tips and spine joints, former owner's 1887 dated inscription to the first blank page, pages starting to age-tone as usual, else very good and sturdy in golden-brown linen with elaborate black (some of the black is rubbed) decorations to the front cover and to the spine, and with raised "SHE" to a gilt panel to the spine; no dust jacket, as issued. Octavo; 237 pages.
Seller: BOOKFELLOWS Fine Books, ABAA, Sun City, AZ, U.S.A.
H. Rider Haggard. Dawn. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1887.
Price: US$125.70 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: An early edition of H. Rider Haggard's debut novel, an adventure work bound in the publisher's original binding. First published in the United Kingdom in 1884, this is important novelist H. Rider Haggard's debut novel, a classic adventure work.H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was an English novelist primarily known for his works of adventure fiction, including 'She' and 'King Solomon's Mines'. The majority of his works have exotic settings, primarily Africa, and he was an extremely prolific writer, producing over fifty novels, three short story collections and a number of non-fiction works and works published in periodicals. His works have been adapted for screen many times.With ten pages of publisher;s advertisements bound to the rear. In the publisher's original quarter cloth binding. Externally very smart, minor general wear. Ownership inscription to the front pastedown. Internally generally firmly bound, hinges are starting but firm. Pages are bright and clean. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
H. Rider Haggard. She: A History of Adventure. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1887.
Price: US$130.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First American edition dated 1887 in the Harper & Brother series half-bound with marbled paper over red faux calf with gilt lettered and ruled spine and cream colored end pages. Illustrated with Frontispiece of two full page color plates depicting the front and back of the Sherd of Amenartus. And with fifteen additional illustrations [all present]; I think these are by E.K. Johnson as originally printed in Harper's Weekly in 1886. Whatmore F4 6(d). Not the later undated reprint. New York: Harper & Brothers (1887), 316 pages. A Good+ or better copy with binding showing some wear and rubbing. Bookplate and bookseller pencils to front paste down, off-white pages.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$140.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Very early American paperback reprint. Rare. Harper's Handy Series No. 126. Illustrated paperback with 316 pages, dated April 15, 1887, 25 cent cover price. Contains all 14 of the E. K. Johnson illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers (1887), 316 pages + ads. Good solid copy with cream colored pages. Chipping and some loss to covers and first few pages, also with some soiling and age darkening.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Harper's Handy Series No. 126. Illustrated soft cover, dated April 15, 1887, 25 cent cover price; and measures 6 3/4" X 4 1/2". Contains all 14 of the E. K. Johnson full page illustrations [plates]. Scott p. 19. New York: Harper & Brothers (1887), 316 pages. VG: Two stains on cover, cover and spine a bit darkened, back cover corner crease, Unmarked tan interior.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Haggard, H. Rider. She: A History of Adventure. Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1887.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo. 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 (184 x 120 mm); viii, 31, ii advert.; two color lithographs facing one another on a single folding of heavy paper precede the title, tissue guard. Elegant polished sky blue calf binding by Bayntun (stamp on first endpaper), marbled endpapers, gilt fillets on covers, decorations to edges and turn-ins, 5 raised bands, gilt decorations in compartments, with lettering on red and black morocco labels, lightly sunned at extremities, very light rubbing to spine ends and corners; original blue cloth covers bound in; a.e.g. FOYLE COPY copy with gilt-stamped red roan Beeleigh Abbey label to front pastedown [Sadleir 1092; McKay 5a]. Published serially in the London "Graphic" between October 1886 and January 1887, She was inspired by Haggard's experiences living in South Africa for seven years (1875-1882) working at the highest levels of the British colonial administration. In the figure of She, the novel notably explored themes of female authority and feminine behavior. Its representation of womanhood has received both praise and criticism, but the book proved to be very popular and has never been out of print. The story is a first-person narrative which follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior. They encounter a native people and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful "She" or "She-who-must-be-obeyed". Haggard developed many of the conventions of the lost world genre which countless authors have emulated. This volume was beautifully bound by Bayntun for the library of bibliophile and bookseller William A. Foyle. It is a First Edition, first issue (January 1, 1887), as evidenced by the word 'Godness' on the penultimate line of p.269. The book was pirated in America by Harper & Brothers (Dec. 24, 1886) with an edition that preceded this official first edition by one week. [McKay 5 & 5a]. WILLIAM A. FOYLE (1885 - 1963) was one of the leading London booksellers of the 20th century. He opened his first bookshop with his brother Gilbert in 1903 and by the late 1920s their bookstore in Charing Cross Road held a stock of four million volumes on over thirty miles of bookshelves. His vision for the business was a bookshop for the world - for every one from any station in life - "The People's Bookshop", and it became a meeting place for famous writers and distinguished figures, along with members of the public. In the early 1940s Foyle bought Beeleigh Abbey, a 12th-century monastery in Essex and formed one of the largest English private libraries of the 20th century. The library was sold at auction by Christie's in July 2000. The three-day sale realized some £12,000,000, making it the single most valuable collection of books ever to be sold at auction in Britain or Europe.
Seller: Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC, Middletown, NY, U.S.A.