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Click here to subscribeA volume - "The RSPB Book of Garden Birds" by Linda Bennett with 36 plates in colour by C.F. Tunnicliffe R.A. and line drawings by Robert Gilmore, damage to spine; a "Breeding British Birds in Cage and Aviary" by R.B. Bennett, first edition (some foxing and discolouration to front board) and ''Mule and Hybrid Birds'' by V.A.V. Carr, first edition (some foxing) - three in all
VINYL - THE 6THS - "WASPS' NEST". Limited edition PROMO COPY, 1995 first pressing 4 x 7" singles box set by this supergroup that includes members of THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, YO LA TANGO, DINOSAUR JTR., FOLK IMPLOSION, SUPERCHUNK, YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS, MITCH EASTER, ANNA DOMINO, CHRIS KNOX, BARBARA MANNING, GALAXIE 500 and many many more. THIS WAS A PROMO COPY and remains UNOPEN and all vinyl is in MINT condition, and box set is also in MINT- condition.
LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968)Femme allongée, Youki signed and dated 'Foujita 1923' and further signed in Japanese (lower left); signed 'Foujita' and further signed, inscribed and dated in Japanese (on the stretcher)oil on canvas50 x 61.2cm (19 11/16 x 24 1/8in).Painted in Paris in December 1923Footnotes:ProvenancePrivate collection, ParisPrivate collection, Paris (a gift from the above in the 1930s).Thence by descent to the present owners.ExhibitedParis, Palais à la Porte Maillot, Salon des Tuileries, 1924.Paris, Musée de Montmartre, Léonard Tsuguhuaru Foujita et l'Ecole de Paris, 10 April - 23 June 1991, no. 14 (later travelled to Tokyo). Dinard, Palais des Arts du Festival, Foujita, le maître japonais de Montparnasse, 27 June - 25 September 2004, no. 51.Kawamura, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Léonard Foujita et ses modèles, 17 September 2016 - 15 January 2017, no. 16 (later travelled to Iwaki, Niigata & Akita).Paris, Musée Maillol, Foujita, peindre dans les années folles, 7 March - 15 July 2018, no. 79. LiteratureF. de Miomandre, 'Foujita', in L'Art et les artistes, Paris, Vol. XXIII, no. 120, October 1931 (illustrated p. 14; titled 'Femme couchée' and dated '1924').S. Buisson, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Vol. II, Paris, 2001, no. 23.30 (illustrated pp. 29 & 187).In the three decades from the Meiji Restoration until the turn of the century in 1900, Japan had changed in the most profound way. Closed off to the Western world throughout the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan had maintained the purity of its traditions in a way that seemed unimaginable to its contemporaries in the melting pot of central European culture. This was certainly true of the Arts, as painters and craftsmen revived and refined the ancient styles of painting, wood-blocking and porcelain production. When Japan threw off this self-imposed isolation in the 19th Century, a new wave of painting was promoted by the government to reflect the cultural rebirth and global reintegration: yoga, or Western, style. Artists were now encouraged to travel to Europe, seeking an exchange with their French, Dutch and Italian counterparts, returning to Japan well-versed in the aesthetic developments they had encountered there. One young artist who set off on this journey of discovery was Tsuguharu Foujita. However, he did not return to Japan shortly after his training in Paris: he went on to become one of the leading figures of the European avant-garde. By blending both Eastern and Western canonical traditions, and elevating them with a talent entirely of his own, Foujita remains one of the most significant figures to emerge from this period of cultural exchange. Born not long after the reopening of Japan to the West, Foujita trained as a yoga painter at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and shortly thereafter moved to France with the intention of immersing himself in the art and culture of Paris, the epicentre of the international art scene. Perhaps Foujita's intentions were never to return to Japan bringing with him an understanding of the current French practice, but it soon became clear upon his arrival that he would not be satisfied with mere artistic reportage. Within a decade of his arrival in 1910, Foujita had attained critical success, and was a leading light of the Montparnasse scene, alongside his friends and fellow artists Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. The end of the First World War in 1918 brought with it a new dawn in Paris. As Fernand Léger described it, 'man could finally lift his head, open his eyes, look around him and enjoy once again a taste for life' (Léger, quoted in S. Buisson, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, ACR Edition, Vol. I, Paris, p. 80). The Grand Palais reopened the following year, after spending the war as a barracks, and a Salon d'Automne was organised in which Foujita took part alongside some of the great names of the day: Matisse, Bonnard, Marquet. Foujita became a regular fixture at the annual Salons, and through these occasions he began to gain greater and greater acclaim. After the heartache of losing his close friends Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hébuterne in 1920, Foujita threw himself ever more fervently into the practice of his art. He gained critical success for his serene still-lifes, and portraits embodying both his Eastern traditions and the most thrilling elements of the avant-garde. By the time the current work, Femme allongée, Youki, was exhibited in the Salon des Tuilieries in 1924, Foujita was at the very height of his 'golden-age'. Painted in 1923, the present work is one of the most alluring of Foujita's grands nus: a series of medium and large-scale canvases depicting the odalisque of the European tradition, seen through the prism of the Japanese painter's unique vision. Around 1920 Foujita moved away from the brighter palette he had adopted during the 1910s, and developed a restrained palette of greys, browns, blacks and creamy whites. Foujita even created a technique called nyhakushoku, or 'milky white', that he used to paint the serene tones of his nudes' skin. He employed these almost monochrome hues with devastating effect: in the present work, Foujita has used a smoky black to depict the background of the bedroom, throwing his sitter's alabaster skin into stunning contrast. Upon close study the subtle variations in her skin tone become clear, the shell-pink of her nipples and lips, and the shadows highlighting her breasts. The warm brown of her wavy hair identifies the sitter as Lucie Badoud, or 'Youki' as she was called affectionately by Foujita. The close perspective takes the viewer into the bed itself, enveloped in the soft grey ripples of the bed linens and the darkness of the intimate space Foujita has created. Youki gazes directly at the viewer, as if looking in to the eyes of her lover. The Japanese writer Teiichi Hijikata remarked that 'the skin [of Foujita's nudes] has the smooth and sparkling surface of porcelain, containing all the charm of white with none of the coldness' (Hijikata, quoted in S. Buisson, ibid., p. 96).Foujita had noted that the nude was all but absent from Japanese art, and that he had made a conscious decision to focus on the subject, looking to the greats of the Western canon, for whom the female nude had been a cornerstone since the Italian Renaissance. In 1921 the artist travelled to Italy, and encountered many of the great Western paintings so admired throughout the centuries. Painters like Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael were to become as important for Foujita's artistic development as Picasso and Modigliani had been during the preceding decade. It is likely, for instance, that Foujita would have seen The Venus of Urbino during this formative trip, and one cannot behold Femme allongée, Youki without recalling the direct gaze and gently downward tilting face of Titian's golden-haired beauty. Foujita's obsession with the female nude during the early 1920s can be seen partly as a response to his discovery of the Old Masters, but also as a conceptual choice very much tied to his Japanese heritage. Foujita applied the Japanese concept of Geidō, which means 'the way of art', to his practice. This concept encompassed the idea of an artist only attaining greatness through an apprentice-like devotion to perfecting technique. He believed that only through applying himself with an almost monkish devotion to his practice, could he then introduce an element of individuality and creative greatness to his work. This goes some way to explain Foujita's somewhat repetitive 'self-copying', as Sylvie Buisson refers to it, (S. Buisson, op. cit., p. 92), where the artist returned ... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
RAOUL DUFY (1877-1953)Le retour des régates signed, inscribed and dated 'Deauville Raoul Dufy 1933' (lower left)oil on canvas46.7 x 110cm (18 3/8 x 43 5/16in).Painted in Deauville in 1933Footnotes:ProvenanceM. Bignou Collection (by 1936).Perls Galleries, New York, no. 3311.Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 8 May 2002, lot 300.Kunsthandel Frans Jacobs, Amsterdam.Private collection, The Netherlands (acquired from the above on 24 October 2002). ExhibitedToledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Section of the Thirty Third Carnegie International Exhibition of Paintings, 1 March – 19 April 1936, no. 78. LiteratureM. Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Vol. II, Geneva, 1973, no. 864 (illustrated p. 351).Le retour des régates was executed in Deauville in 1933 and stems from one of Raoul Dufy's most iconic subjects. Boat races were painted by the artist on numerous occasions throughout both France and Great Britain: in fact, the subject first appeared in Dufy's work in 1907 and remained an important theme throughout his practice. Executed on a canvas measuring over a metre long, Les retour des régates is one of the largest regatta scenes ever to appear at auction and was painted at the height of the artist's career.In the early twentieth century, Deauville developed into a go-to resort for high society due to its proximity to Paris. With a racecourse, a casino and a harbour, the small town provided entertainment throughout the year. The many festivities that were held established an influx of tourists and formed the ideal environment for Dufy to paint en plein air. The artist could observe the pastimes of the French upper-class from behind the easel, and the joyous and dynamic atmosphere allowed him to experiment with movement and colour. Born on the northern coast of France in the city of Le Havre, the artist was fascinated by the ocean from a young age as he would stand on shore watching the activities around the water's edge. Dufy considered the sea as a backdrop for lively spectacles, and it formed the ultimate location to observe the ever changing light effects: 'Unhappy the man who lives in a climate far from the sea, or unfed by the sparkling waters of a river!...The painter constantly needs to be able to see a certain quality of light, a flickering, an airy palpitation bathing what he sees' (Dufy, quoted in D. Perez-Tibi, Dufy, New York, 1989, p. 158).Dufy scrutinised the boat racing theme over the course of his career, which resulted in an array of works on the subject. It allowed the artist to experiment with various structures and colour arrangements in his compositions and he mastered a uniquely free and dynamic style. In the present painting Le retour des régates, the viewer observes the sailing boats returning to the harbour after racing on a sunny day at sea. Dufy captures the scene as seen through the eyes of the sailors in the advancing boats, giving the viewer the sensation that they too are within the composition. With the wind blowing in their sails, the boats navigate towards maritime flags situating the harbour with the shore emerging in the background. Instead of carefully delineated details, Dufy employed bold and rigorous brushwork to create stylized forms on the two-dimensional picture plane. A dazzling palette of blue hues accentuate the sky and sea, evoking the atmospheric climate of his lively design. The present work is proof of the artist's masterful colour technique. In an interview with Pierre Courthion, Dufy elaborated on his choice of colour: 'Blue is the only color which keeps its own individuality across the spectrum. Take blue with its different nuances, from the darkest to the lightest; it will always be blue, whereas yellow darkens in shadow and fades out in lighter parts, dark red becomes brown and when diluted with white, it isn't red any more, but another color: pink' (Dufy quoted in P. Courthion, Raoul Dufy, Geneva, 1951, p. 52).Le retour des régates captures the spirit and influence of the Fauves, with whom Dufy exhibited following his encounter with Henri Matisse's seminal work Luxe, Calme et Volupté at the Salon des Indépendants in 1905. Being exposed to such daring work encouraged the young artist to experiment with a wider palette. As Dufy himself emphasised: 'colour captures the light that forms and animates the group as a whole. Every object or group of objects is placed within its own area of light and shade, receiving its share of reflections and being subjected to the arrangement decided by the artist' (Dufy quoted in D. Perez-Tibi, op. cit., p. 150).The 1930s are regarded as the apex of Dufy's career, as his work started to receive institutional attention and was widely acknowledged across continents. In 1932 the Musée de Luxembourg in Paris acquired one of his works for their permanent collection, and by 1936 Dufy received several important public commissions in Paris, most notably the mural for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. In the same year, the present painting Les retour des régates was included in the thirty-third edition of the prestigious Carnegie International exhibition, held in the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. This show was initiated in 1896 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and was the first exhibition with an international allure in North America. In 1936 the show served as an annual survey to identify international trends in avant-garde art to inspire and educate the public. Dufy's work was exhibited alongside paintings by artists such as George Braque and Pierre Bonnard. Other participants of the Carnegie International included Camille Pissarro, Salvador Dalí and Jackson Pollock.Raoul Dufy's spirited and bright compositions remain intrinsic to the art historical discourse of today, particularly his regatta paintings. Comparable works to Les retour des régates can be found in major public collections including the Musée d'Arte Moderne de la Ville in Paris, the Tate Modern in London and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
ALAN ALEXANDER MILNE: 2 titles: WINNIE-THE-POOH, ill E H Shepard, London, Methuen, 1926, 1st edition, contemporary inscription on first blank, some soiling to lower edges of leaves, original cloth gilt, re-cased preserving original spine, top edges gilt; NOW WE ARE SIX, ill E H Shepard, London, Methuen, 1927, 1st edition, original bright pictorial cloth gilt, top edges gilt, vgc (2)
A FORM AND PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE SIGNAL VICTORY OBTAINED THROUGH THE BLESSING OF ALMIGHTY GOD BY HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS OF WAR UNDER THE COMMAND OF ADMIRAL NELSON OVER THE FRENCH FLEET ON WEDNESDAY FIRST AUGUST 1798..., London, George Eyre & Andrew Strahan, 1798, 1st edition, 4pp, some browning and light central fold, housed in modern cloth folder
WILLIAM MITCHELL ACWORTH: THE RAILWAYS OF ENGLAND, London, John Murray, 1889, 1st edition, 16 plates, 28pp adverts at end dated January 1889, original two-tone cloth gilt worn + JAMES STEPHEN JEANS: JUBILEE MEMORIAL OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM..., London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1875, 1st edition, 6 plates as list, original bevelled cloth gilt + MICHAEL REYNOLDS: ENGINE-DRIVING LIFE, London, Crosby Lockwood & Co, 1881, 1st edition, frontis, 10pp adverts at end, original pictorial cloth gilt + CHARLES EDWARD LEE: THE FIRST PASSENGER RAILWAY, London, The Railway Publishing Co, 1942, 1st edition, original cloth backed boards (4)
W E JOHNS: 3 titles: THE FIRST BIGGLES OMNIBUS, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1953, 1st edition, original cloth, d/w (very minor losses and some repairs); BIGGLES AIR DETECTIVE OMNIBUS, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1956, 1st edition, original cloth, d/w (very minor losses and repairs); BIGGLES ADVENTURE OMNIBUS, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1965, 1st edition, original cloth, d/w (some repairs) (3)
IAN BOTHAM: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, London, Collins Willow, 1994, 1st edition, signed, original cloth, d/w + GRAEME SWANN: THE BRAKES ARE OFF, MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2011, signed slip loosely inserted, original cloth, d/w + MARTIN BICKNELL: BICKERS, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Swindon, Green Umbrella Publishing, 2008, 1st edition, signed and inscribed, original cloth, d/w + ROBIN SMITH: QUEST FOR NUMBER ONE, London, Boxtree, 1993, 1st edition, signed and inscribed, original cloth, d/w + MARK WAGH: PAVILION TO CREASE...AND BACK, Bath, Fairfield Books, 2009, 1st edition, signed, original cloth, d/w + RALPH DELLOR: DURHAM, BIRTH OF A FIRST-CLASS COUNTY, London, Bloomsbury, 1992, 1st edition, signed, original cloth, d/w + JUSTIN LANGER: FROM OUTBACK TO OUTFIELD, A DIARY OF AN ENGLISH SUMMER, London, Headline, 1999, 1st edition, signed and inscribed, original cloth, d/w + DAVID W GOODYEAR & ROBERT BROOKE: THE GENIUS OF GOWER, OBE, Birmingham [1993], (133), numbered, (112), signed by both authors and David Gower, original cloth, d/w + one other similar (9)
IAN FLEMING: 7 titles: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, London, Jonathan Cape, 1959, 3rd impression, inscription on title, original cloth, d/w; MOONRAKER, London, Jonathan Cape, 1964, reprint, original cloth, d/w; THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, 1965, 3rd impression, 2 copies, one with ffep part excised, original cloth; OCTOPUSSY, London, Jonathan Cape, 1966, 1st edition, original cloth, d/w + first softback edition, New York, Signet Books, 1967, original pictorial wraps; THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, London, Pan Books, 1967, 1st softback edition, original pictorial wraps; CHITTY-CHITTY BANG-BANG, THE MAGICAL CAR, London, Pan Books, 1968, 2nd printing, inscription on ffep, original pictorial wraps; DR NO, London, Jonathan Cape, 1973, reprint, original cloth, d/w + KINGSLEY AMIS: THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER, London, Jonathan Cape, 1965, 1st edition, original cloth, d/w + WILLIAM TANNER: THE BOOK OF BOND, London, Pan Books, 1966, 1st softback edition, original pictorial wraps (11)
CHRISTOPHER AND LETTICE SANDFORD: THE MAGIC FOREST, London, Chiswick Press, 1931 (100) numbered (93) and signed by both, original green cloth gilt, top edges gilt, the first book to be illustrated by Lettice Sandford + GERARD DE NERVAL: DREAMS AND LIFE, LA REVE ET LA VIE, trans Vyvyan Holland, ill Lettice Sandford, London, The First Edition Club, Mannaton Devon, The Boar's Head Press, 1933 (450), not numbered, typed slip from the First Editions Club "will you please number the copy of Life and Dreams sent to you 250 (at end)" loosely inserted, original decorative marbled cloth, spine gilt lettered, from the collection of Derek Cottam (2)
OMAR KHAYYAM: THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION REPRINTED FROM THE FIRST EDITION WITH HIS PREFACE AND NOTES, ill J Yunge Bateman, London, Golden Cockerel Press, 1958, (200) (75) "Special" copy, numbered (54) with extra set of 9 plates together with 2 not included in the book, loose as issued, in original cloth sleeve, book plate of James L Thielman on front paste down, folio, original crushed crimson morocco gilt, top edges gilt by Mansell, slip-case, from the collection of Derek Cottam
J K ROWLING: THE HARRY POTTER BOXED SET COMPRISING HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE - CHAMBER OF SECRETS - PRISONER OF ASKABAN - GOBLET OF FIRE, London, Bloomsbury, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 4 vols; final work first softback edition, all signed and inscribed by the actor Tom Felton who played Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations, original pictorial wraps, slip-case, also signed by Felton (4)
Blyton, Enid. The Enchanted Wood (first book in the Faraway Tree series), 7th edition, London: Newnes, 1949, dust-jacket with wear, owner inscriptions; Together with six other Enid Blyton books, including a first edition of A Story Party at Green Hedges, 1949, and five other children's books, in one box
FRANCOIS GARNIER"The French in Indo-China. With a Narrative of Garnier's Explorations in Cochin-China, Annam, and Tonquin." First edition, 33 plates complete, original blind-stamped gilt. Nelson, 1884, unusually fine copy.Condition report: The plates are black and white illustrations, not maps.
ABBE DE BELLEGARDE (JEAN-BAPTISTE MORVAN)"Reflexions upon Ridicule; or, what it is that makes a man ridiculous and the means to avoid it. Wherein are represented the different MANNERS AND CHARACTERS of persons of the present age." First English edition, prefaces including dedication complete, 390pp complete, index complete, old panelled calf recased, Tho Newborough, D Midwinter and Benj Tooke, 1707, some browning but good.
EARLY CHILDREN'S BOOK"The Rambles of a Butterfly." by Mary Belson. First Edition, four engraved plates complete, pages 125 to 128 torn or have lost text, cont quarter roan, W Darton Junior, 1819.Condition report: The front board is loose (see photo), but back board is intact. Tear on leaves 25 and 27, bottom corner. Browning on the fringes of plates. Signed 'John R Procter' and 'Ernest Procter' 1820 on front endsheet.
MERVYN PEAKE. 'Gormenghast.' First edition, original cloth, unclipped dj, 1950. vg; 'Titus Groan.' Second impression, original cloth, unclipped dj, 1946, vg; plus another copy of same, also in unclipped dj, 1946, vg.Condition report: Gormenghast; This book has been kept and stored well. The binding is sound. There is no foxing or creases in the textblock. There is some sun related discolouring on the spine of the dust jacket. The dj has a polythene protecter.Titus Groan; Condition report same as above. Name and date inscribed on the endsheet.Titus Groan no2; Condition report same as above.
PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. 'Between the Woods and the Water'. First edition signed copy. Unclipped dj 1986. Fine; 'The Traveller's Tree, A Journey Through the Carribean.' First edition, unclippped dj; Plus four other Fermor first editions, three having unclipped dj's; Plus six other books by and about Fermor.Condition report: Roumeli, Travels in Northern Greece (with clipped dj); Three Letters from the Andes; A Time of Gifts; Mani, Travels in Southern Pelponnese are all first editions. There is also a signed first edition of 'Patrick Leigh Fermor; An adventure', by Artemis Cooper.
JOHN BURKE and JOHN BERNARD BURKE. 'A General Armoury of England, Scotland, Ireland.' Additional chromo title, first edition half roan, Edward Churton 1842; BURKE's 'Peerage and Baronettage'. original cloth gilt, Morocco spine, 1930, g; REGINALD R. SHARPE. 'Calendar of Wills'. Two vols, cloth gilt, 1889-1890. BOX
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