Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: The UK television of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has started with dramatic scenes of horror and intrigue. Holding the early edition book of this tale prompted a re look at the origins of the story and it’s publication. The plot recounts the investigation by a London lawyer into strange … Read more
Collecting Ian Fleming First Edition Books Fleming’s Bond books are perhaps the most popular and iconic thriller series ever produced. There remains some attraction in identifying with the character and his lifestyle – how many men don’t secretly desire to be Bond at least in some small way! The James Bond “product” has generated all … Read more
Five of the Best Books for Children Someone recently challenged Barbara Chalk, the proprietor of Rare & Antique Books, to choose five of the best books for children from the Rare and Antique booksite. This is what she had to say. Where do I start as I love them all! However, in the spirit of … Read more
Rare and Antique Books hold some of Tolkien’s most famous and rare first edition novels – the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These fantasy stories are not written purely from Tolkien’s imagination – here are some of the biographical and historical influences to his writing. The Impacts of War: Tolkien reluctantly enlisted into … Read more
“Rackham gave his talk on Silhouettes to the Art Workers’ Guild in November 1919, the month in which Cinderella, the first of his two great silhouette books, was published. Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty differed from Rackham’s preceding books in relying almost wholly on silhouette for their effect. It is immediately clear from the collection … Read more
With much excitement (and a touch of sadness which I’ll explain later) we recently sold a rare, first edition set of The Chronicles of Narnia books and it started me thinking about the rather wonderful act of handing on antique treasured items of one’s childhood. Recent high value sales of the Narnia series were significant … Read more
Rare and Antique Books feature many iconic illustrated children’s books and one of the most influential of the characters is the Golliwogg created by Florence Upton. Clearly the character is now culturally controversial, yet in it’s time the golliwog was initially created as an innocent and playful character which inspired the creation of a popular children’s … Read more
First edition children’s books as a present? Struggling for ideas for a special birthday present for your loved one? For a while Red Letter Days had the answer but is there an emerging trend for first edition rare books to be that unusual gift? Not any old book but predominantly First edition children’s books with … Read more
We have a varied collection of rare and antique books -many are signed or limited editions. We offer free international delivery.