BARONESS ORCZY FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
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London : Hutchinson & Co., 1908. First edition. The third and most celebrated of the Scarlet Pimpernel series – “Paris this September, 1793! – or shall we call it Vendémiaire, Year 1 of the Republic”?
Crown 8vo (20cm). 352pp. Original blue cloth, ruled and lettered in gilt; some mild rubbing; endpapers a little tanned; some spotting of edges and prelims, but a very good and bright copy. Not so marked, but from the library of the notable book-collector and author of several books on book-collecting, Eric Quayle (1921-2001), with the earlier ownership inscription of N. Bradridge.

SOLD

London : Hutchinson & Co., 1908. First edition. The third of the Scarlet Pimpernel series – “Paris this September, 1793! – or shall we call it Vendémiaire, Year 1 of the Republic?” – “Like its scarlet predecessor, [it] is so beautifully unlike life that we have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Sir Peter Blakeney, of the drawl and the inane smile, and the still inaner rhyme, is once more with us, dawdling into Revolutionary France, and doing the most heroic things under the nose of a Government that would give millions to see him dead” (Daily News, 23rd October 1908).
Crown 8vo (189 x 122mm). 352 + (32)pp advertisements dated Autumn 1908 – the adverts curiously referring to the present work as “The Illusive Pimpernel”, which raises some interesting questions. Bound in a smart later quarter chestnut morocco, banded and ruled in gilt; marbled sides – by James Ashton of London, with his stamp; outer leaves lightly tanned; some occasional scattered foxing, but overall a very good copy. Contemporary ownership inscription of H. T. Page on half-title. With the distinctive books-cat-and-skull, “Life Beyond Life”, bookplate of the late Paul Minet (1937-2012), bookseller and journalist.

£250

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London : Hodder & Stoughton, (1933). First edition. “The house had once been the home of a rich Austrian banker who had shown the country a clean pair of heels as soon as he felt the first gust of the revolutionary storm blowing across the Rue de la Monnaie. That was early in ’89”
Crown 8vo (19cm). (318),[ii]pp. Pictorial title-page. Original blue cloth lettered in black; some very minor wear to extremities; spine just a touch sunned, but a very good and clean copy.

£50

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London : Hodder & Stoughton, (1936). First edition. “In league with the Pimpernel are all our old friends – Lord Hastings, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Tony and the rest. But is there also a traitor in that league of brave friends?” – the penultimate Sir Percy novel. “It is so long since I last read Baroness Orczy that I had almost forgotten how good The Scarlet Pimpernel really is ... There is no question of not enjoying Baroness Orczy” (Burton Observer, 24th September 1936).
Crown 8vo (20cm). 316pp. Original pale blue cloth, lettered in black; a few very mild signs of age and use, but a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket lightly marked and somewhat torn and repaired, but complete and attractive still. Gift inscription dated Christmas 1936.

SOLD