Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$450.89 + shipping
Description: The first edition, first state of Henry James's great supernatural tale, The Turn of the Screw. This, the earliest issue of the first edition is bound in blue cloth with the four iris designs to the upper board and the title page printed in black and red and the 32 page advertisements to the rear. The blue cloth is a rubbed and darkened with a lighter patch on the front board where a subscription library label has been removed; slight loss at the tail of the spine. Dixon's Circulating Library label on the front pastedown; ownership inscription opposite of 'E. Butcher 1/3/19 1 Gresham Rd, Cambridge'. Spotting to preliminaries; the text is browned near the margins but complete; one gathering has pulled away from the text block but the sewing is still holding it in place. The final leaf of adverts and the flyleaf at follows it are detached. Despite these faults the binding is sound and the text is complete as called for with the publisher's adverts beginning with Conrad's novels. Collates correctly: [2] [3] pp 4-310 [2] [32] adverts. The Turn of the Screw was an instant classic, praised by Oscar Wilde as 'a most wonderful, lurid, poisonous little tale, like an Elizabethan tragedy. I am greatly impressed by it'. It's popularity has never waned and since the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten there has been renewed interest in his operatic adaption. Edel and Laurence A52a. Please contact Christian White Rare Books Ltd for more information or images of this item
Seller: Christian White Rare Books Ltd, Ilkley, YORKS, United Kingdom
James, Henry. The Two Magics: The Turn of the Screw; Covering End. William Heinemann, 1898.
Price: US$756.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Colonial Edition,' after first UK edition. No ads following text (Phillips p. 52; Edel & Laurence A52; BAL 10614, second binding state [tulips, not irises, on front board], title page in black only, wove paper, Arabic numeral for year). Spine lightly toned, binding a bit shaken with a couple weakened spots. 1898 Hard Cover. 310 pp. Two novellas by the author of The Portrait of a Lady, etc., now considered a pioneer in the Modern Movement of literature. The first, The Turn of the Screw, was previously serialized in Collier's Weekly, and has since become a classic in gothic horror fiction; Covering End first appeared in book form.
Seller: Yesterday's Muse, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, Webster, NY, U.S.A.
Henry James. Thje Two Magics The Turn of the Screw Covering End. William Heinemann, 1898.
Price: US$869.58 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Blue boards, the front one decorated with blind stamped iris' and soft leading corners and the rear one with remains of Grosvenor Gallery Library label. The spine is faded and wrinkled with faded gilt lettering and appears to have been professionally restored hence, internally, new end papers. Notes in pencil on ffep and on first blank; half title and clean title page. Pp (viii),(2), 3-310, (2), (28) ads, (2). Last two blanks foxed.
Seller: Hugh Hardinge Books, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Price: US$1028.03 + shipping
Description: Hardback, approx 7.5 x 5 inches. Publisher's decorative blue cloth (Heinemann's third standard binding), with an illustration to the front board of nine tulips in blind, lettered in gilt In good condition. Some rubbing to extremities; corners a little bumped, some darkening and rubbing to spine. Some heavy darkening to endpapers and foxing to prelims, plus gift inscription. A couple of minor handling marks to title page, else a good clean and tight rare copy. Scarce. 310pp. + 34pp adverts. A collection of two stories by Henry James, one of which marks the first book appearance of "The Turn of the Screw.".
Seller: PROCTOR / THE ANTIQUE MAP & BOOKSHOP, DORCHESTER, United Kingdom
Henry James. The Two Magics. William Heinemann, London, 1898.
Price: US$1350.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. "The Turn of the Screw" and "Covering End" (Edel and Laurence, A52: "One of the 300 copies of the Colonial issue transferred to the domestic market and in the third standard binding.") Turquoise cloth; blind stamped nine tulip front cover design and bright gold stamped title; publishers monogram blind stamped on rear cover; gold stamped spine lettering (but sunned); corners bumped; spine ends compressed with tiny creases but not nicked, torn, or fraying; pages rough cut; owner's book plate on inner front cover; end pages darkly tanned; front and rear hinges firm, gutter paper uncracked; text pages moderately age-tanned throughout, clean, and unmarked; 310 pp.
Seller: JP Books, Bradford, VT, U.S.A.
James, Henry. The Two Magics. London: William Heinemann, 1898.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, second impression, colonial issue. Publisher's decorative blue cloth (Heinemann's third standard binding), with an illustration to the front board of nine tulips in blind, lettered in gilt, printed on wove paper (colonial sheets). Very good, with some light wear and rubbing to the extremities, bright gilt, former owner's bookplate to the front pastedown, a hint of toning to the otherwise fresh pages. Overall, a clean and pleasing copy. Edel and Laurence A52a. This copy is one of 300 copies of the colonial issue of The Two Magics that, according to James' bibliographers, "were transferred to the domestic market, some of them appearing in the third standard binding." Copies such as this one were comprised of American sheets in English bindings to supplement the English printings; Edel and Laurence explain that these colonial issues "replaced quire shortages in the domestic second impression." Accordingly, while this issue came later in the second impression, it is still considered scarce because of its unusual issue. The Two Magics collects two pieces of James' short fiction: the novella "The Turn of the Screw" and the short story "Covering End." Now a classic and one of James' best known tales, "The Turn of the Screw" is a gothic ghost story that tells of a governess' experience caring for two children who are haunted by the ghosts of their past caretakers. "Covering End" is James' adaptation for the one-act play Summersoft he wrote in 1895 for the actress Ella Terry.
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 310 p. plus 32 p. of ads. First Edition earliest issue (Edel A52) title in red and black. Blue cloth, slight lean to the spine, spine rubbed and faded. Front endpaper has been excised. S15
Seller: Lime Works: Books Art Music Ephemera Used and Rare, Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$1600.00 + shipping
Description: Folio (14 x 11 inches). 12 coloured lithographs after woodblocks, lithographed initials. Original red paper backed grey pictorial paper wrappers, illustrating the Bus Driver, tissue dust jacket (one or two chips). Provenance: from the library of Jacques Levy, his sale, Sotheby's, 20th April 2012, lot 256 First French edition, limited issue, one of 40 copies on Japon, of a total edition of 640. First published in English using original hand-coloured woodblocks, loose in a portfolio. Nicholsons distinctive style: "boldness of outline, simplicity of treatment, and striking silhouettes, and their flat, pure colours" (Bowness), was elegantly suited to the medium of woodcut, and grew from an original scheme of posters he designed with his brother James Pryde as J. & W. Beggarstaff. Nicholson was encouraged in his work by J. A. McNeill Whistler who recommended him to the publisher William Heinemann. "The publications that followed established Nicholson's solo reputation. An Alphabet and An Almanac of Twelve Sports, with verses by Rudyard Kipling, both appeared in 1897 (title-pages postdated 1898), London Types, with verses by W. E. Henley, in 1898, and The Square Book of Animals in 1899. Nicholson also made a series of portrait woodcuts, the first of which was the irreverent, affectionate jubilee portrait of Queen Victoria (originally published in Henley's New Review in June 1897), which brought him great success. These were collected in the two series of Twelve Portraits (1899 and 1902), the first of which was awarded a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exhibition. The Heinemann windmill colophon still used today was designed by Nicholson at this time. Nicholson's singular achievement rests on three diverse strands of work: the pioneering and influential posters and woodcuts made when he was still in his twenties, the portraits of distinguished contemporaries, and the poetic landscapes and still-lifes. His best work has a subtlety, virtuosity, and individual voice that places it with the finest of its period" (Sophie Bowness for DNB). Catalogued by Kate Hunter
Seller: Arader Galleries - AraderNYC, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$2254.46 + shipping
Description: [Strange tales] FIRST EDITION, first impression, earliest state. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[iv]; 310; [2], blank; [32], catalogue. Title page printed in two colours. Publisher's mid-blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper cover, with four irises in blind to centre of same, edges untrimmed. Contents clean, shaken within case, covers clean, spine darkened and rubbed, some advert leaves unopened. A used but acceptable copy of a particularly scarce book in the earliest binding (displaying irises not tulips). Only 1500 printed. This copy has a slightly different catalogue to that noted in the bibliography, in that Frederic's Illumination appears on the fifth leaf. First edition in book form of the classic ghost story "The Turn of the Screw", FIRST EDITION of "Covering End". Henry James' 'The Turn of the Screw' is an important dark tale which welcomed elements of psychology into literature. Supino 52 [52.1.0], p.325.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
James, Henry. THE TWO MAGICS: THE TURN OF THE SCREW, COVERING END. William Heinemann, London, 1898.
Price: US$3500.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1-3] 4-310 [311-312] [note: conjugate half title leaf and title leaf; final leaf is a blank] + [32]-page unnumbered, undated publisher's catalogue inserted at rear, title page printed in red and black and dated "MDCCCXCVIII" in Roman numerals, original decorated blue cloth, four irises stamped in blind and title stamped in gold on front panel, spine panel lettered in gold, publisher's monogram stamped in blind on rear panel, all edges untrimmed. First edition, first printing. The entire first printing consisted of only 1500 copies which included copies for export to the Colonies. This is one of the domestic copies with title page printed in red and black and dated "MDCCCXCVIII" in Roman numerals and the four irises stamped in blind on the front panel of the binding. First book publication of "The Turn of the Screw," James's most famous ghost story. "One of the most sophisticated and controversial of all ghost stories." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 231-32. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-107. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 906. Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 20. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature IV, pp. 1570-72. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-123. Bleiler (1978), p. 108. Reginald 07799. BAL 10633. Edel and Laurence A52a. Cloth rubbed along bottom edge and along outer joints, a hint of darkening to spine panel, a very good or somewhat better copy with bright gold stamping, tight inner hinges, and clean interior. The domestic issue of the first printing is very scarce. A superior copy. (#139996)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$3800.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first printing. The entire printing consisted of 1,500 copies including those intended for export to the Colonies; this copy is one of the rare ones intended for the domestic market with the title page printed in red and black. In the earliest binding with the front cover decorated in blind with four irises. Near Fine with slight lean to binding, slight discoloration to spine cloth and light rubbing to cloth, though on the whole a much nicer example of this book than as normally found. Former owner bookplate to front paste down and foxing to endsheets. A collection of two stories by Henry James, one of which marks the first book appearance of "The Turn of the Screw."
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.