Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Walter DE LA MARE. The Three Mulla-Mulgars: [a novel]. London: Duckworth, 1910.
Price: US$32.02 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Spine slightly darkened, covers a little marked, some spotting of prelims. With the ownership inscription of Lord David Cecil, 1925; small "D" shield stamp below. 16pp. publisher's advertisements at end. Cecil, future Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature at Oxford, was a devotee of Walter de la Mare, and an advocate for him; he introduced Private View, a collection of de la Mare's essays, in 1953, and the checklist to an exhibition of his books and manuscripts at the National Book League in 1956, and gave his presidential address for the English Association on the writer in 1973.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Walter De La Mare. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth & Co., London, 1910.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Two color plates by J.R. Monsell, 312 pages, 1910 stated on title page, Green cloth with black titles on front board and spine, illustration of 3 monkeys in a tree branch on front board. Book called Good but actually somewhere closer to very good, book is square, binding shows some toning and light soiling, few small dings, previuos owner name and date on first free page, toning to free pages, text nice and clean and two full color illustrations are Fine. A clean and most presentable copy.
Seller: Pacific Coast Books, ABAA,ILAB, Gleneden Beach, OR, U.S.A.
Walter De La Mare.. The Three Mulla-Mulgars.. Duckworth & Co., London., 1910.
Price: US$70.45 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 312 pages with half-title and then dedicatory page "errata" slip facing preface page (the only edition this preface appeared, omitted from all later issues), giving the artists name E. A. Monsall, half-title has some foxing to gutter area and original decorated cloth dull with spotting marks. The gilt titles on cover and spine are dull. Small octavo. 1910. *Authors first ever children's books, title later changed to The Three Royal Monkeys. Later became Poet Laureate, won the Tait Black prize in 1921 and a Carnegie medal for his works in 1947. Quote from a critic: "It is an adventure story and a quest. A remarkable tour-de-force by De la Mare. One of the best works of fantasy and imagination. A believable world has been created from beginning to end. Once you start you have to read to the end. A fairy tale for adults that lets you relive the magic of your childhood. Highly recommended to those critical readers who are embarrassed by the inability of most modern writers to write works of lasting interest".
Seller: Colophon Books (UK), Leek, United Kingdom
Mare, Walter de la. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth & Co, London, 1910.
Price: US$140.00 + shipping
Description: 312 pages. 19 x 13 cm. De la Mare's first children's book. 16 pps. of adverts at rear. Bookplate. Crisp, almost as new copy. Orig. illustrated green cloth. Fine in very good dust wrapper
Seller: Royoung Bookseller, Inc. ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
DE LA MARE, Walter. THE THREE MULLA-MULGARS. Duckworth & Co., London, 1910.
Price: US$187.50 + shipping
Description: Bound in contemporary 3/4 polished red calf leather with gilt rules, 5 raised bands, gilt spine decorations, gilt-lettered black morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A classic juvenile fantasy involving 3 royal monkeys on a quest. Illustrated with 2 color plates by E. A. Monsell with an errata slip tipped in crediting the illustrator. Quite uncommon. Rubbing to the front joint, the front cover slightly loose; light wear to the edges and spine. Very Good
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
De la Mare, Walter. THE THREE MULLA-MULGARS. Duckworth & Co. 1910 [circa 1918], London, 1910.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: Later printing or issue, dated 1910 but with last book in publisher's ads at rear not published until 1918. Green cloth boards stamped in black; matching heavy paper dust jacket. An animal fable of three royal monkeys who travel to find their missing father and find adventure along the way. Ownership signatures of the poet John Freeman, a close friend of de la Mare's, and the cartoonist Claude Smith (under the jacket flap). Hint of foxing still quite fine in equally fine dust jacket.
Seller: Quill & Brush, member ABAA, Middletown, MD, U.S.A.
de la mare, Walter. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth, London, 1910.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition, in green binding. With two color plates by J. R. Monsell. Without printed slip inserted at p. vii identifying artist. Pp. vii, 312. 1 vols. 8vo. De la Mare's first children's book, now a recognized classic. Original green cloth, spine and upper board titled in gilt, monkey device on upper board, t.e.g. Very Good. Laid into half purple morocco slipcase and chemise With two color plates by J. R. Monsell. Without printed slip inserted at p. vii identifying artist. Pp. vii, 312. 1 vols. 8vo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
DE LA MARE, Walter. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth & Co, London, 1910.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition, second issue binding. Octavo. 312pp., followed by 16pp. of publisher's advertisements. Illustrated with a frontispiece and one plate, in color, by J. R. Monsell. Dark green cloth stamped in black. Owner's early, neat three-line ink inscription on front flyleaf, rear board has very slight bump at fore-edge, else a fine, bright copy in dust jacket with a few nicks at the extremities and an archival mend on the verso of the front spine fold. A nice copy.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Walter de la Mare / [Richard Adams]. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth & Co., London, 1910.
Price: US$640.43 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Dust jacket: New facsimile jacket in first class condition. Preserved in a removable jacket protector. Overall jacket condition is Fine. Book: Green buckram binding with monkey illustration and lettering in black to front board. Rubbing and light staining to covers, slight wear to ends of spine. Light foxing to page edges and endpapers, tanning to free endpapers. Foxing to half title page and title page, occasional spotting to text. Complete with the two colour plates by E.A. Monsell. From the private library of Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, with his attractive bookplate to front pastedown endpaper. An important association copy. This work had a profound impact on the young Adams and it greatly influenced him when he came to write Watership Down nearly forty years later. In his essay 'Some Ingredients of Watership Down' Adams talks at length about this book: 'I found it by myself, in my prep. school library, at the age of eleven. It was a first edition (by Duckworth) and had at that time been extant only seventeen years - Walter de la Mare's The Three Mulla-Mulgars (now known for the worse as The Three Royal Monkeys). For me, this great work was a milestone of profound importance. It opened my eyes. A tear springs to my eye as I think of what I owe to it. At the time, it seemed that this alone was a story and that all others were mere attempts at stories. I need not speak of the Mulgars' journey. From it I understood, darkly, that we are all wandering in the snow, to an unknown destination beyond darkness and hypnotic water. Never pretend otherwise. I understood too, for the first time, that the greatest achievement of a great novel is to create, by feeling, selection and emphasis, a particular world, having its own colours, its own sun and moon, climate, atmosphere and values (how inadequate are words), more real than those of the actual world, to which the devoted reader can return again and again for delight and comfort. Years later, I was able to meet Walter de la Mare and thank him - thank God.' He goes on to detail aspects of Watership Down that were influenced by his favourite book, most notably Fiver - 'the weakling hero with the second sight who guides and saves his friend, sometimes despite their disbelief or contempt'. In his autobiography Adams describes this book as 'one of the most important influences on my whole life, though of course I could have had no inkling of that at the time.' Adams's own copy of the book that inspired him to write one of the best-selling novels of all time. We have acquired a large proportion of Richard Adams's library, ranging from his childhood books, through his wartime reading and up to his later life as a successful author and animal rights campaigner. Please see our other items for many more signed books and association copies from this collection. Overall book condition is Very Good Minus. Size: 5 x 7.5 inches (13 x 19.5 cm). Hardback. Printed pages: vii, [1], 312
Seller: Tarrington Books, Tarrington, HEF, United Kingdom
de la MARE, Walter. The Three Mulla-Mulgars. Duckworth, London, 1910.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition, first issue in green cloth with monkey device and gilt lettering on the front board, and with the errata slip present. Fine in a slightly foxed, very good dustwrapper with some internal professional repair at the spine folds and a small dampstain on the front panel. A classic children's work, seldom found in jacket.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.