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Welcome to Contact Editions
We are located at 491 Davenport Road, Toronto, Ontario in our little house of all sorts in the shadow of CASA LOMA, Toronto's only castle.
Our south side location has parking out front.
Our Hours Are:
Thursday / Friday - 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday - 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
All other times by appointment which can easily be arranged by calling 416-322-0777 or by e-mailing contacteditions@bellnet.ca
Double Persephone. Toronto: Hawkshead Press, 1961.
First Edition. Sewn Chapbook. Fine 17.2 cm, [16] pp. in white illustrated card covers. The staples have been removed and the book skillfully sewn. A fine copy. Signed by the author on the title page. Author's first book. A collection of seven poems published when Atwood was only 19 years old. According to Atwood, the edition size was only 220 copies. Stapled copies are of the second state. It was issued by John Robert Colombo's Hawkshead Press as Book One, Market Book Series. Laid in is a photo postcard of Atwood sitting cross-legged holding a cat, inscribed on the verso. A 20th century Can Lit high spot, the very scarce first book of Canada's best known literary author.
[ 21264 ]
PRICE: $4000.00 USD
Pride and Prejudice. ill. Hugh Thomson. London: George Allen, 1894.
Finely bound by Bayntun-Riviere in green morocco, gilt titles to two spine compartments and date stamped in gilt to spine foot, gilt rolls to raised bands, boards with decorative gilt borders, gilt rolled board edges, wide turn-ins with gilt borders and green marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A fine copy. With a tissue guarded frontis illustration and a large number of illustrations throughout by Hugh Thomson, with a preface by George Saintsbury.
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Edited By Currer Bell. In Three Volumes. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill, 1847.
Bell, Currer (Pseud. BRONTE, CHARLOTTE)
First Edition. Bound in gilt-framed green morocco, 5 faux raised bands, gilt-stamped decorated spine compartments, gilt lettering direct to spine within two compartments, gilt dentelles, top edges gilt, others untrimmed, binding signed at extreme lower edge of rear pastedown with a tiny gilt-stamped letter "G". VOL. I: Pp. 304, with publisher's 32-page catalogue (i.e. 34), catalogue dated October, 1847, with catalogue title-page dated June, 1847, plus advert. for The Calcutta Review; VOL. II: Pp. 304; VOL. III: Pp. 311, with original cloth covers bound-in at end. Complete with all half-titles. Just a touch of fading to the spines, the slightest bit of soiling to the covers, paper expertly restored to upper corner of half-title in Vol. II, possibly caused by clipping of previous owner's name, skilful repair to closed tear at head of page 1 in Vol. III. Otherwise, a fine, bright, first edition of this classic novel. The first print run consisted of approximately 500 copies. This was the first of the Bronte sister's novels to be published, although both Emily's (Wuthering Heights) and Anne's (Agnes Grey) books were published in the same year. Their three novels were preceded by a book of Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, their masculine pen names. Housed in a fine, new custom-made clamshell box, quarter-bound in matching green morocco and green cloth, with 5 raised bands and gilt ornamented compartments.
PRICE: $55000.00 USD
The Moving Finger. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942.
First American Edition. Red cloth with black lettering. Corners and spine ends lightly bumped. Endpapers a little age-toned, clean throughout and in a tight and square binding. The dust jacket is price clipped with several edge creases and short closed tears and small chips.
Murder in Mesopotamia. The New Poirot Detective Story. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1936.
Christie, Agatha.
First Edition. First American Edition. Green cloth with navy coloured lettering to the front board and spine. Board tips lightly rubbed with light rubbing to the cloth at the spine head and foot. Bookseller's ink stamp to bottom inside edge of the front endpaper and ownership signature. Edge wear to the jacket, with a few shallow chips and a yellowed spine, price clipped.
Is Sex Necessary? Or Why You Feel the Way You Do. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1929.
Thurber, James and E. B. White
First Edition. From the library of E.B. White's family, provenance available upon request. Signed by E.B. White on the front free endpaper. Black cloth spine strip backing green paper covered boards with a Thurber illustration in the corner. Lacking the dust jacket, but enclosed in a fine, solid, custom-made solander box covered with black cloth, gilt titling to upper cover, and gilt-stamped black leather spine label. Pp. [xxix], 127, frontispiece photo, illustrated throughout with Thurber's characteristic cartoons. Covers slightly soiled and scuffed, very light tanning to the title-page, bit of foxing to the edges only, interior clean and bright. In 1927 Thurber met E.B. White and was taken onto the staff of "The New Yorker" In collaboration with White he produced his first book, "Is Sex Necessary?"
David Thompson's Narrative of His Explorations in Western America 1784-1812. Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1916.
Tyrrell, J. B.; Thompson, David
8vo, pp. xcviii, 582. 18 b/w illustrations, map, 3 folding view at end of volume in colour and large map in 4 parts in the rear pocket. Red buckram with gilt crested and lettered spine. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. No markings of previous ownership. The binding is tight and square and the maps are in excellent condition. A nice clean copy, near fine save for spine fade. Edition limited to 550 copies, this is number 261.
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M4V 1B7
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All other times by appointment.
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