Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$23.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 373p.
Seller: J. Lawton, Booksellers, Readville, MA, U.S.A.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE. Philips Sampson, Boston, 1859.
Price: US$24.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Boston, Phillips Sampson, 1859. Early reprint -- 1st edition was 1858. Original cloth binding, wear on spine tips, else good condition.
Seller: Hoffman Books, ABAA, IOBA, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Description: 373p. A hardcover book bound in embossed brown cloth with gilt edges. The spine has been discreetly rebacked with burgundy cloth, but retains all of the original spine save for worn-off fragments at the top and bottom. Edges lightly shelf-worn and plates foxed. Text unmarked and binding secure. Very good condition for its age! An early printing of this collection of fictional dialogues originally published in THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Seller: Kubik Fine Books Ltd., ABAA, Dayton, OH, U.S.A.
Price: US$27.50 + shipping
Description: An early reprint of the 1858 first edition. 12mo (20cm). In original brown publisher's cloth, stamped in blind on boards, titled in gold on spine; light blue endpapers; 2pp of ads at rear; viii, 373, [3]; 8 plates with tissue guards. Ex libris of "Baxter Carding, Centralia, Ill. or Clover Hill N.J." A handsome copy with the title page in black and red, slightly rubbed, internally browned, but sturdy: Very Good. An early edition of Holmes' most successul collection of essays, first published in 1858. Wood engravings by Augustus Hoppin. BAL 8781.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
HOLMES.OLIVER WENDELL. THE AUTOCRAT AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE.. PHILLIPS SAMPSON&CO., BOSTON., 1859.
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: THIS COPY HAS ALL FIRST STATE POINTS,INK GIFT INSCRIPTION ON PAGE FOLLOWING FFEP,DATED 1 JAN.1859.BINDING IS BLUE CLOTH.GILT ON SPINE BRIGHT.ONE TISSUE-GUARD MISSING.A WELL-READ COPY WITH MODERATE WEAR AND SOIL OVERALL.SOME FOXING.
Seller: Angus Books, SHEFFIELD, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$55.10 + shipping
Description: Worn copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Text remains clear and unblemished. Physical description; viii, 373 p. ; 12º. Subject; Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894). 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Price: US$70.00 + shipping
Description: Worn copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Text remains clear and unblemished. Physical description; viii, 373 p. ; 12º. Subject; Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894). 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
HOLMES, Oliver Wendell. THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE. , 1859.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Description: [HOLMES, Oliver Wendell]. THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE. Illustrated. Boston: Phillips, Sampson And Co., 1859. 8vo., embossed brown cloth, all edges gilt. Large Paper Edition, state A, with the illustrations. State A of binding. Holmes was displeased with the illustrations in this edition and ordered them excised. Copies without the illustrations are Blanck's state B. [See BAL 9093]. Holmes' first great success, followed by three other titles written in the same format. Very Good (ink name; few signatures lightly sprung). $75.00.
Seller: Antic Hay Books, Asbury Park, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good in original brown cloth-covered board with relatively light wear at the spine extremities and tips.
Seller: Clayton Fine Books, Shepherdstown, WV, U.S.A.
Price: US$126.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 373pp. Large paper edition, all edge gilt. Full brown leather binding, 5 raised bands. Spine stamped in gold "The Autocrat/of the/Breakfast Table/Holmes." No publisher. No vignett, no publisher's ads at back. 8 illustrations with tissue guards. Half title page. Title and publisher in red on title page. Light general wear. Photos and additional informaiton on request. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾"
Seller: Valley Books, AMHERST, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Large paper copy of this 19th century American classic. The Arthur Swann copy with his bookplate. Housed in a custom folding case. Cloth is unusually bright. All edges gilt. It is hard not to described this copy as fine, but the front hinge is creaking a bit. Aside from that, difficult to imagine a nicer copy.
Seller: Sanctuary Books, A.B.A.A., New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Attractively well-tooled binding with marbled endpapers.Bookplate to front pastedown. Overall a clean and fresh copy in an attractive binding, possibly executed by George Birdsall. Very light wear to the extremities but overall a near fine copy.
Seller: Wiggins Fine Books ABAA, ILAB, SNEAB, Shelburne Falls, MA, U.S.A.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Phillips, Sampson, Boston, 1859.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Every Man his Own Boswell by Oliver Wendell Holmes First edition, large paper issue in brown pebbled cloth binding. Edges gilded. Publisher: Phillips, Sampson, Boston, 1859. 373 pages including the index. 6 x 8 ¾ inches. The book which made Holmes famous. This is an issue without the illustrations - the "much less common copies without illustrations. the inference is that the large-paper issue appeared first with illustrations and that the rare copies without illustrations were specially and reluctantly prepared for Holmes" - Tilton. Binding is in fine condition. Contents clean. BAL 9093. Protected by Mylar. Inventory #18-339. Price: $300
Seller: Discovery Bay Old Books ABAA, ILAB, Brentwood, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1859. First Edition, Large Paper Issue State B without plates. Octavo (21cm.); BAL binding variant A, publisher's brown pebble-grained blind-embossed cloth, all edges gilt, reddish-brown glazed endpapers; viii,373pp. Margins rather scuffed with loss at spine foot affecting most of imprint, hinges cracked and rather crudely reinforced, textblock a bit shaken in binding with a few leaves proud, else a Good to Very Good copy. Inscribed and signed on front flyleaf: "Mr. Fuller / With the respects of OW Holmes." BAL 9093, noting that Holmes himself ordered that the original illustrations be excised.
Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Price: US$545.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 1859. These urbane pieces present imaginary conversations at a Boston boardinghouse, reflecting Holmes's opinions, charm, and wit. 1st Printing. Large paper edition, 1859 printing using first printing, first issue plates. Holmes apparently used this edition for gifts. Illustrated with 8 character engravings. BAL 9093. Shiny black leather spine and board tips. 5-ribbed spine with gold decor and red title, author fields. Blue marbled paper covered boards; identical endpapers. All page edges gold gilt. Leather weakening at hinges. Has tiny tiny Goodspeed Boston stamp. For nearly a century, Goodspeed's in Boston was one of the world's pre-eminent rare book shops. The firm was founded in 1898 by Charles Eliot Goodspeed, who recorded the shop's early history in his book, 'Yankee Bookseller', published in 1937. Was likely rebound in leather and marbled endpapers by Goodspeed. Has inscription 'Rebecca/From a friend/JHC/1861'. Rebecca is perhaps Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (1831-1910), who authored 'Life in the Iron Mills', published in the April 1861 edition of the Atlantic monthly. The successful publication of the short story also provided her with acclaim in the literary circles of her time. In her 1904 memoirs 'Bits of Gossip' she gives details of her 1862 trip to Massachusetts and her visits with Holmes: 'He was literally the autocrat of the young men and women of his time. He opened the depths of their own hearts to them as no one else had done, and they ran to him to pour out their secrets.' 373 pages. RBR9
Seller: BookScene, Hull, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Large Paper Edition. ALS tipped-in to the front endpaper. Near Fine. Brown pebbled cloth, lightly rubbed at the head and foot of the spine. Square and firmly bound with gilt edges, hinges with minor expert strengthening. An early state of the text with the illustrations, a later state binding with "Ticknor & Co" on the spine.
Seller: Carpetbagger Books, Woodstock, IL, U.S.A.
Price: US$949.95 + shipping
Description: Very Good in boards. Front hinge starting. Light toning between pages 118 and 119.
Seller: Rare Book Cellar, Pomona, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Description: With half-title, woodcut title, second title in red and black, and 8 woodcut plates. Original tan pebbled cloth, decorated in blind, with title, author's name, and 4 rings in gilt to spine. End-papers printed with publisher's advertisements. Morocco bookplate of Alfred Sutro. A fine copy in a half-morocco slip case.
Seller: B & L Rootenberg Rare Books, ABAA, Sherman Oaks, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1045.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, First State (Issue A with the illustrations) on large paper. With eight engravings as called for. 8vo, publisher's full terra-cotta cloth, the covers richly decorated and blocked in blind, the spine panel lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. viii, 373 pp. A very handsome and fine copy, the binding in excellent condition, the hinges tight and strong, the text-block clean, bright and crisp, the illustrations all in good order. FIRST EDITION, THE SCARCE LARGE PAPER ISSUE IN STATE A WITH THE ILLUSTRATIONS PRESENT. The engravings were subsequently excised by Holmes' request from future states of the first edition printings. Additionally, this copy is in unusually fine condition. Surrounded by Boston's literary elite (which included friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell) Holmes made an indelible imprint on the literary world of the 19th century. His most famous works, the "Breakfast-Table" series, began with the "Autocrat," which first appeared in serial form in the first issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It blends the discursive and whimsically comprehending talk of a boarding-house sage with verses, both light and serious. One of the quirkiest and most charming books in American literature, the Grolier Catalogue of One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900 calls it the "distillation of the intellectual and cultural life of New England at its Brahmin zenith," which is a stuffy way of saying its subject matter ranges amusingly across all the corners of Holmes's.er, The Autocrat's mind. It was followed by two more titles, "The Professor" and "The Poet," and their enthusiastic reception has been justified by the place they have retained in American letters.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
[HOLMES, Oliver Wendell]. Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. , 1859.
Price: US$1100.00 + shipping
Description: [HOLMES, Oliver Wendell]. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. Original blindstamped pebble cloth, A.e.g. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1859. First large paper edition. BAL 9093, State A (with the illustrations), Binding A. BAL states, "Holmes was displeased with the illustrations and ordered them excised." Grolier 100, 69. "As is well known, Lowell refused to undertake the editorship of the new magazine The Atlantic Monthly, unless Holmes would contribute a series of essays. How Lowell knew that Holmes could write sparkling prose has never been disclosed." Grolier. This large paper edition appeared about a month after the octavo edition. A small amount of light foxing, else a near fine copy housed in custom brown morocco-backed slip case, gilt-ruled raised spine bands with inner chemise.
Seller: G.S. MacManus Co., ABAA, Bryn Mawr, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1800.00 + shipping
Description: Title in red and black. Pebbled cloth over beveled boards, decorated in blind. Inscriptions to fly-leaf, "Miss Sally Gardner, from her friend and cousin OW Holmes," and "F.L. Higginson-1866.". PRESENTATION COPY. Second edition. Presentation copy to Holmes' cousin Miss Sally Gardner. One of the few impressions issued before the failure of the firm Phillips, Sampson, and Company in 1859. C&T, pp. 73-75.
Seller: B & L Rootenberg Rare Books, ABAA, Sherman Oaks, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$3500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, Large Paper printing. 8 plates, integral but not reckoned in pagination. Title-page in black and red. [ii], viii, 373 pp. 1 vols. Tall 8vo (8-5/16 x 5-1/2 inches). Signed by Holmes, Jr. Signed in blue ink and dated May 23, 1930, by then Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. BAL 9093, binding A; Currier-Tilton pp 73-4 Publisher's beveled maroon pebbled cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blindstamped frame to covers, a.e.g. Head of spine repaired, front joint split, inner hinges strengthened with binder's tape. Neat contemporary ownership marks to preliminaries. Internally fine 8 plates, integral but not reckoned in pagination. Title-page in black and red. [ii], viii, 373 pp. 1 vols. Tall 8vo (8-5/16 x 5-1/2 inches)
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.