Highlights
Each year our exhibitors bring extraordinarily rare, beautiful and unusual items for sale.
Here is a selection of the items offered in 2025 by our exhibitors. These may still be available for purchase. If interested, contact the respective exhibitor directlyCloser to the 2026 Fair, new highlights of what will be on offer in 2026 will be posted. Bookmark this page and visit again to see the 2026 highlights.
Dracula
$750
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, New edition. [1956]. London: Rider & Co.
12mo. Original red boards gilt in dustjacket; pp. 336 (last blank). Fraying to jacket, but a very good copy. This edition of the seminal vampire tale comes with cover art evoking the film portrayals, rather than the more abstract imagery of earlier jackets. The design closely resembles Christopher Lee’s classic interpretation, though it actually pre-dates his first appearance in Hammer Horror’s 1958 ‘Dracula’ by two years.
![Charles Darwin: Autograph Letter Signed. Down Farnborough, Kent, 8 [Aug. 1850].](https://rarebookfair.com/assets/catalogues/info@autographenhandlung.de/72885.jpg)
Charles Darwin: Autograph Letter Signed. Down Farnborough, Kent, 8 [Aug. 1850].
$44700
An important letter to Nathaniel Thomas Wetherell which underscores Darwin's belief in the scientific significance of the study of Cirripedia (barnacles).
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Typescript of Jack London's South Sea story, "Mauki"
$58000
“Mauki” holds significant literary and historical importance for the South Pacific, particularly in its depiction of colonial labour practices and indigenous resistance during a period of intense imperial activity.
Written in 1907 during London's cruise of the South Pacific in the Snark, "Mauki" was first published by Hampton's Magazine in December 1908 and was collected in South Sea Stories in 1911. This is the Hampton's setting copy and is one of only a handful of Jack London manuscripts to come onto the market in the past 50 years.
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Keynes (John Maynard) THE GENERAL THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT INTEREST AND MONEY.
$15000
Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1936. First edition. Printing and the Mind of Man 423. *Landmark work by the most influential economist of the twentieth century: 'the work on which his fame as the oustanding economist of his generation must rest' [Dictionary of National Biography].
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The Origin Of Species By Means of Natural Selection | Charles Darwin
$2950
According to the well-credentialled Forum Auctions in London:- “The printing of 1876 is the final text as Darwin left it. The issue was limited to 1,250 copies only. This number is as small as any, being equalled only by that of the first edition and is remarkably hard to come by (Freeman pp 80-81 of F401)" So, this copy is a very good example of the Sixth 'Eighteenth Thousand' Edition but note: the actual print number as quoted has recently been disputed elsewhere and possibly may have been as many as 2000 copies. Still, very scarce with about 150 years of age patina.
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A treatise on the culture of the vine
$35000
Australia [i.e. Sydney] : R. Howe, Government Printer, 1825. The first edition of the first Australian book on wine. In the introduction Busby explains that Australia had a viable future as a major wine producing country, a statement that justifies the epithet for him of ‘prophet of Australian viticulture’.
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Barret (Robert) THE THEORIKE AND PRACTIKE OF MODERNE WARRES.
$15000
Discoursed in Dialogue wise. Printed for William Ponsonby, London, 1598. *'A compilation from foreign writers. It is said that Shakespeare in the passage "The gallant militarist that had the whole theoric of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice in the chaps of his dagger" (All's Well That Ends Well, act iv, scene iii), was alluding to this book' [Cockle, page 57]. The table of 'forrain words' at the end is effectively the first English glossary of military terminology preceding the anonymously published Military Dictionary of 1702.
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GOTHIC REVIVAL ILLUMINATION. FRENCH ILLUMINATOR. A suite of large neo-gothic illuminated initials.
$9250
Full-page frontispiece illustration with floral border and a central figure of a woman holding two shields in silver, blue and red; 29 illuminated initials in watercolour and gouache, gilded, and some partly with gold foil; all on wove paper. 1840-60.
Les Paradis Artificiels: Opium et Haschisch
$4000
First edition of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises, on the drug experiences of hashish and opium and their relationship with creative expression, being accounts from within the walls of Le Club des Haschischins and a translation and adaptation of Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
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Nicholas II: TSAR NICHOLAS II SIGNED DOCUMENT.
$5000
TSAR NICHOLAS II SIGNED DOCUMENT IN RUSSIAN, APPOINTING ALEXEI NIKOLAEVICH KUROPATKIN A KNIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL ORDER OF ST. VLADIMIR, APOSTLE AND PRINCE 1ST CLASS. Single sheet folded to form 4 small quarto pages; copperplate, with autograph subscription 'in gratitude Nicholas'; dated 8 August, [St. Petersburg], 1916. *The document details Kuropatkin's fifty years of distinguished service.
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, "VEDUTA DEL ROMANO CAMPIDOGLIO CON SCALINATA CHE VA ALLA CHIESA D'ARACELI". From "Vedute di Roma".
$2750
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
(Mogliano Veneto 1720-Roma 1778)
Italian school
"VEDUTA DEL ROMANO CAMPIDOGLIO CON SCALINATA CHE VA ALLA CHIESA D'ARACELI"
[THE CAPITOL AND THE STEPS OF S. MARIA IN ARACOELI]
1757
Etching
DESCRIPTION:
Original etching from the "Vedute di Roma".
"Veduta del romano Campidoglio con Scalinata che va alla che va alla Chiesa d'Araceli".
In this etching Piranesi captures with great power and theatricality one of the emblematic places of Rome: the Capitol, with its famous staircase.
NOTE: Unidentified watermark. Hind 38, ii-iii/v.
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Les Fleurs du Mal
$15000
From the collection of actor and bibliophile Barry Humphries, one of 12 deluxe edition copies on Japon Imperial of Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil illustrated by Lobel-Riche with original drawings, the plates in multiple states, and in a unique fine binding by Henri Blanchetiere.
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“NOUVELLE-HOLLANDE; PORT-JACKSON: FAMILLE DE SAUVAGES EN VOfYAGE”; SEBASTIAN LEROY, 1824.
$950
“NOUVELLE-HOLLANDE; PORT-JACKSON: FAMILLE DE SAUVAGES EN VOYAGE.”
1824
SEBASTIAN LEROY [drawn by]
BOISSEAU & FORGET [engraved by]
Stipple engraving printed in colour, [finished by hand-watercolour]
DESCRIPTION:
Early and interesting depiction of indigenous Australians in Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, N.S.W.
An Aboriginal family in the foreground, walking past a camp in the background where another indigenous family is cooking an animal on an open fire.
NOTE:
Without number 102; From first edition of: “Voyage autour du Monde” by Louis Freycinet.
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‘INCUNABLE’ OF COMIC PRINTING IN YOKOHAMA. WIRGMAN (Charles), editor. Japan Punch.
$13500
First edition. 42 issues. Lithograph illustrations throughout. Folio. Original flexible boards Light creasing and occasional water-staining. A few marginal pencil annotations in a contemporary hand. Yokohama, R. Meiklejohn, 1876-1880.
Poor Fellow My Country. By Xavier Herbert
$900
Poor Fellow My Country
By Xavier Herbert
First Signed Limited Edition
No.14 of 50. Half leather
One of 3 copies personally signed on the book and not on an affixed label.
![GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, "LA TOMBA DI NERONE" [THE TOMB OF NERO]; From "GROTTESCHI".](https://rarebookfair.com/assets/catalogues/sartoniprints@yahoo.it/PIRA-Grottesque1.jpg)
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, "LA TOMBA DI NERONE" [THE TOMB OF NERO]; From "GROTTESCHI".
$2750
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
(Mogliano Veneto 1720-Roma 1778)
Italian school
"LA TOMBA DI NERONE"
[THE TOMB OF NERO]
c.1750
TECHNIQUE: Etching, Burin, Drypoint & Burnishing
DESCRIPTION:
"The Tomb of Nero", from the series called “I GROTTESCHI” (Grotesques).
In 1750 Piranesi collected in a miscellaneous volume published at the expense of the editor Giovanni Bouchard a collection of the works engraved by him up to that moment, some already published, others unpublished. The volume was published with the title serie "Opere Varie di Architettura Prospettive Grotteschi..."
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PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE. Aristotle’s Master-Piece.
$36600
Rare early edition of “the first sex manual written in English” (Norman), for centuries the most popular compendium on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. This copy has contemporary annotations by a husband and wife in the midst of conceiving and giving birth to their second child. Winifred and Francis Witham of South Normanton both inscribed the book in 1699, two years after their marriage.
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CHURCHILL (Winston S.) The Second World War: The Gathering Storm; The Finest Hour; The Grand Alliance; The Hinge of Fate; Closing the Ring; Triumph and Tragedy.
$30750
First editions, first printings. Six volumes. Numerous maps and diagrams, some folding and others full-page, throughout each volume. 8vo. Original black cloth, spines lettered in gilt, top edges in red, supplied dust jackets. London, Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1948-1954.
Inscribed to Grace Hamblin, "the longest-serving member of Churchill’s secretarial staff."
ZLATA' PRAHA, Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator.
$750
VIKTOR OLIVA
(Nové Stašecì, [Bohemia] 1861- Prague 1928)
Czech painter and illustrator
“ZLATA' PRAHA” c.1894
LITHOGRAPHY
Original colour lithograph advertising “Zlata' Praha” (Golden Prague), a Czech illustrated literary magazine founded by poet Vítězslav Hálek, published between 1864 to 1929.
An elegant woman dressed in red in a golden frame, wearing an eccentric hat and walking with a copy of "Zlata' Praha" under her left arm.
Published by Imprimerie Chaix (Atelier Chéret), Paris.
NOTE: Original colour lithograph printed on "Arches" paper.Blank at verso; before stamps (before publication)
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Chemical Amusement, Comprising a Series of Curious and Instructive Experiments in Chemistry,
$2000
The rare first edition with the 60 page, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Apparatus & Instruments, and with the author's calling card laid in.
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And Quiet Flows the Don | Mikhail Sholokhov
$3100
And Quiet Flows The Don by Mikhail Sholokhov (1934 First UK Edition, First Impression in April):8vo, 755pp.
Obviously very scarce as a first edition and impression from April 1934, the wonderful patina of age is very obvious as the novel in four volumes traces the lives and struggles of the Cossacks of the Don River Valley during the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the terrible Russian Civil War for the White armies against the Red Bolsheviks. Originally published in a Soviet magazine in 1928-1932 and then in 1940.
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The Birds of Australia
$750000
London : printed by Richard and John Taylor for the author, 1848.
The first comprehensive survey of the birds of Australia, with hand-coloured illustrations and descriptions of 681 species, 328 of which were new to Western science and which Gould was the first to describe.
The finest of all Australian colour plate books, and Gould’s ‘greatest achievement’ (Wantrup).
Provenance:
Sir Edward Charles Stirling (1848-1919), Director of the South Australian Museum 1895 - 1913
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J.R.R. Tolkien
Various items of interest for the Tolkien fan, including an excellent set of The Lord Of The Rings [Second Edition, 1966]; all three De Luxe Editions of Tolkien works [LotR, The Hobbit, Poems & Stories]; and even a scale model of Gandalf from the Weta studio [New Zealand set creators for the epic movie franchise]!
