The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954-1955

FIRST EDITIONS. This is a very attractive set of the celebrated Lord of the Rings trilogy. The size of the edition was small: The Fellowship of the Ring (3000 copies), The Two Towers (3250 copies), and The Return of the King (7000 copies).

$42,500

Principes du Droit Politique [Du Contract Social]. Amsterdam: Michel Rey, 1762

FIRST EDITION, type B, the definitive authorized version. Observing in his opening words that “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” Rousseau offered this work as a yardstick with which to judge existing governments. He argued that the central problem is to “find a form of association which can defend and protect with all the power of the community the person and possessions of each associate, and by which each person unites himself with all, but only obeys himself and thereby remains as free as before.”

$42,000

Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Hartford: American Publishing, 1876

$35,000

Tales. London: Wiley and Putnam, 1845

FIRST EDITION, ENGLISH ISSUE with the cancel London title page. This is an excellent copy of one of the rarest forms of Poe’s tales, issued in the original cloth from the American sheets with a London title page.

$35,000

Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922

FIRST EDITION. This is one of 750 numbered copies (from an edition of 1000) of the most sought-after book of 20th-century literature.

$35,000

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton: University Press, 1944

FIRST EDITION. Inscribed by Oskar Morgenstern: “To Dan Maxim, with esteem and warm regards Oskar Morgenstern July 1971 Have you found the set-theoretical hiding in this book?”

$28,000

The National Era. Vols. IV-X. Washington, January 1850 – December 1856

This is a tremendous seven-year run of the weekly broadsheet The National Era, one of the leading abolitionist newspapers. This massive run of the National Era captures the white-hot debate surrounding slavery that would lead to the Civil War. Original contributions to the Era, letters from correspondents around the country, national and state legislation, and news articles report on every aspect of slavery and the abolition movement. Countless leading figures in American politics, literature, religion, education, and social reform weigh in on slavery and other American affairs in these pages.

$28,000

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade). New York: Webster, 1885

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION in the publisher’s deluxe binding. This copy has the rare first state of the illustration on p. 283, as well as the other earliest points described in BAL.

$27,500

Description of the ENIAC and Comments on Electronic Digital Computing Machines. N.p.: Applied Mathematics Panel, National Defense Research Committee, November 30, 1945

FIRST EDITION of the rare internal first report on the operational ENIAC, “the world’s first large-scale electronic general-purpose digital computer.” This is copy number 191, marked “Restricted.” Inscribed and signed by Herman H. Goldstine, co-author and one of the project founders.

$27,000

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its influence on General Virtue and Happiness. London: Robinson, 1793

FIRST EDITION. In Political Justice, his most famous work, Godwin responds to Burke’s attacks on the French Revolution and Thomas Paine. He applies the principles of the Revolution to inquire into the philosophical basis of government. Believing that political and social institutions are tyrannical and corrupt, Godwin calls for reason to guide human affairs and advocates individual liberty.

$25,000