SIR JOHN BETJEMAN FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
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UNITED KINGDOM

London : John Murray, (1937). First edition. An early collection of thirty-three poems – including “Slough”, “Exeter”, “Tea with the Poets”, “Croydon”, and “Tunbridge Wells”.
Foolscap 4to (22cm). [xiv],(46),[iv]pp – including integral endpapers. Illustrations. Original black cloth, blocked and lettered in gilt; all edges gilt; a very good, clean and sound copy in the original McKnight Kauffer dust-jacket – a design in white, blue and black – the jacket lightly worn, slightly marked and a little tanned, with a revised price over-sticker on the front flap, and a single nick to the back panel, but complete and still very good.

£200

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London : John Murray, 1945. First edition. An early collection of twenty-four poems, including “Henley-on-Thames”, “Parliament Hill Fields”, “South London Sketch, 1944”, “May-Day Song for North Oxford”, “In a Bath Teashop”, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). vi,54pp. Original red boards; paper title label ruled and lettered in black on upper cover; covers just faintly flecked, as usual; mild spotting of top edge, but a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket a touch darkened at the spine, a little spotted, and with a single tiny nick, but also very good.

£125

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45434 – or simply click on the button

London : John Murray, 1945. First edition. An early collection of twenty-four poems, including “Henley-on-Thames”, “Parliament Hill Fields”, “South London Sketch, 1944”, “May-Day Song for North Oxford”, “In a Bath Teashop”, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). vi,54pp. Original red cloth; paper title label ruled and lettered in black on upper cover; covers faintly flecked as usual; mild spotting of edges; endpapers lightly tanned, but a very good copy in a lightly worn and slightly nicked dust-jacket. Contemporary ownership inscription reading simply “Smethurst”.

£125

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London : John Murray, (1952). First edition. Betjeman on Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Leeds, London Railway Stations, the Isle of Man, Padstow, Sidmouth, Weymouth, the Isle of Wight, and many other places, as well as on Nonconformist Architecture, Victorian Architecture. Numerous illustrations – many by John Piper.
Foolscap 4to (23cm). (xii),244pp. Numerous illustrations, including a folding panorama of Cheltenham by Piper. Original cream canvas, blocked and lettered in blue; top edge pink; a very good, clean and sound copy in the striking Piper dust-jacket – the jacket also very good.

£125

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London : Collins, 1958. First edition. A county-by-county guide to the best of the parish churches, judged not only for their architecture, but for atmosphere and aesthetic merit. Betjeman contributes a lengthy historical introduction and many of the introductions to the individual counties, as well as writing or co-authoring the sections on Berkshire, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, London, Oxfordshire and Sussex. With a glossary of architectural terms, an index of architects and artists, etc.
Demy 8vo (22cm). 480pp. Sixty-four photo plates by John Piper and others. Plans. Original black buckram, ruled and lettered in gilt; mild tanning of endpapers, but a very good copy in the attractive Clifford and Rosemary Ellis dust-jacket – just very lightly rubbed and slightly spotted on lower panel and flaps, but also very good.

SOLD

London : John Murray, (1966). First edition : one of 100 special numbered copies on handmade paper, bound in white buckram, and signed by Betjeman. A collection of thirty-four new poems, with a verse preface, including “Cornish Cliffs”, “Monody on the Death of a Platonist Bank Clerk”, “The Cockney Amorist”, “Cricket Master”, etc.
Crown 8vo (20cm). x,(82),[iv]pp. Original white buckram, lettered in gilt; top edge gilt; marbled endpapers; a very good copy in the original glassine dust-jacket – the fragile jacket with just a couple of chips.

£400

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London : John Murray, (1974). First edition. Twenty-seven poems from the period 1967-1974, including “The Costa Blanca”, “A Wembley Lad”, “A Mind’s Journey to Diss”, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 62,[ii]pp. Original yellow cloth, blocked and lettered on spine in gilt; near fine in the original turquoise, white and black dust-jacket – price-clipped and with a faint suggestion of creasing at upper edge, but also very good indeed. Contemporary Christmas gift inscription from Jane and Robert to their father.

£20

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 38548 – or simply click on the button