25 Highlights from our Catalogue for the Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair

2026 Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair:

25 Highlights

 

Click here for a PDF Version: 2026 TABF Highlights

Weil, Simone; T. S. Eliot, preface. The Need for Roots

Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind.

London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952. First English language edition. pp. xv, 288. 8vo. Bound in teal cloth, with red decoration and gilt lettering to spine. Publisher’s red topstain. Edgewear, ink name/date/address to front free endpaper, ink markings to pp. viii-ix.

First published in France in 1949, this is the first printing of the first edition in English. Rare, with only one copy at auction in the last 50 years. “Hailed by Andre Gide as the patron saint of all outsiders, Simone Weil’s short life was ample testimony to her beliefs. In 1942 she fled France along with her family, going firstly to America. She then moved back to London in order to work with de Gaulle. Published posthumously The Need for Roots was a direct result of this collaboration. Its purpose was to help rebuild France after the war. In this, her most famous book, Weil reflects on the importance of religious and political social structures in the life of the individual. She wrote that one of the basic obligations we have as human beings is to not let another suffer from hunger. Equally as important, however, is our duty towards our community: we may have declared various human rights, but we have overlooked the obligations and this has left us self-righteous and rootless. ” – Routledge

(#0107997)                                                                                                               $2750 CAD

 

 

Signed First Edition

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale.

Toronto: McClelland and Stewart | O.W. Toad Limited, 1985.

Bound in cream and maroon paper boards with cream lettering to spine, maroon endpapers. Very slight rubbing to edges; near fine. Dustjacket is unclipped, shows one short closed tear at front crease. This is the crispest and most unmarred copy of this book I’ve ever seen. With review clipping laid-in. SIGNED on half-title, To Linda (from whom we acquired this book).

True first, Canadian, edition of this multiple-award-winning, bestselling dystopian novel, which inspired an opera, a movie, and a tv series. Spadoni & Donnelly 3587.

(#0109635)                                                                                                              $2500 CAD

 

McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West.

Random House, 1985. pp. 337. 8vo (21.5 cm). Red cloth spine with gilt lettering and metallic red rules, over red paper-covered boards. Faint mothball odor, minor edgewear, slight spine slant, contents unmarked, binding sound; dustjacket is unclipped, shows minor age-toning, two small nicks to bottom edge of front panel, crease to the rear flap, and small spots of discolouration to verso.

Maroon dustjacket designed by Richard Adelson, with bright red lettering, featuring “The Phantom Cart” by Salvador Dali on the front panel and a black-and-white author photo by Mark Morrow on the back.

(#0101761)                                                                                                               $5500 CAD

 

McCarthy, Cormac. Suttree.

New York: Random House, 1979. First edition. pp. 471. 8vo (21.5cm). Black cloth spine over cream paper-covered boards with gilt lettering to spine and “CM” to front board. Grey smudge to front board, some spotting to page edges, red Random House remainder stamp to top page edge, boards slightly bowed. Dustjacket shows light rubbing (esp. to edges), a tiny chip to the rear flap, some discolouration to verso. Faint odor of mothballs.

Original dustjacket designed by Jack Ribik with a photo of McCarthy on rear panel, price of $12.95 on front flap and code “2/79” on rear flap. The fourth of McCarthy’s novels. “Readers who know Mr. McCarthy’s earlier books are aware of what rewards await them in Suttree. Its extraordinary variety of episodes – horrifying or comic or violent of affecting – are unsurpassed in fiction.” – jacket.

(#0101762)                                                                                                              $2300 CAD

 

Baldwin, James. Go Tell it on the Mountain.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. First edition, first printing. pp. 303. 8vo. Terracotta cloth binding with gilt lettering and rules to spine, and gilt facsimile signature to front board. Publisher’s topstain. New endpapers. Slight spine slant, edgewear, top edge speckled, soiled spots to several pages, small chip/tear to margins of a handful of pages. Front jacket flap laid-in, with no sign of the rest.

A first edition of the author’s influential first novel, an American classic which poetically recounts the story of John Grimes and his family. John’s realisation of “the uncertain ground between the bright hopes of the dream and the far less bright fulfillment of reality” (jacket flap) lays bare Baldwin’s trademark quiet rage.

(#0105225)                                                                                                              $1500 CAD

 

O’Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood.

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1952. First edition. pp. 232. 8vo. Yellow cloth binding. Edgewear, contents clean and unmarked, binding sound; very good. Dustjacket is price-clipped, with a one-inch square chip at the bottom of the spine, and smaller chips at head of spine, age-toning, and a couple of closed tears.

The first printing of O’Connor’s first novel, which was made into a film by the same name, released in 1979 and directed by John Huston.

(#087523)                                                                                                                 $1400 CAD

 

 

Ross, Sinclair. As For Me and My House.

New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941. First edition, first printing. pp. 296. 8vo. Red topstain. Bound in grey-blue cloth with red lettering to spine and front board. Slight spine slant, sunning to spine ends; very good in very good-, price-clipped dustjacket, with small chips and tears to extremities and sunning to spine.

(#0110337)                                                                                                                 $900 CAD

 

Nobel Prize Winner!

Carson, Anne. Nox.

New York: New Directions, 2010. ISBN: 9780811218702. Unpaginated. Accordion-fold design housed in clamshell box. Black and white photographs. Lightest shelfwear; very good.

A beautifully produced book. Later printing of the first edition. Nobel prize winner!

(#0110344)                                                                                                                 $550 CAD

Shakespeare, with Heath Robinson illustrations

Shakespeare, William and with illustrations by W. Heath Robinson. Shakespeare’s Comedy of Twelfth Night: Or, What You Will.

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908. Limited edition. pp. xxiv, 143. 4to. Gilt-decorated vellum binding, with tipped-in plates on card stock and with captioned tissue guards: all present as called-for. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Ties torn off but present. Small spot to limitation page. Remarkably clean and crisp. Slipcase quite worn, with loss to edges, and discolouration/soiling.

Signed, limited deluxe edition: numbered 174/350 and signed by Heath Robinson.

(#0101769)                                                                                                            $1500 CAD

Leaf Book

Hall, Edwin. Sweynheym & Pannartz and the Origins of Printing in Italy.

German Technology and Italian Humanism in Renaissance Rome.

McMinnville, OR: Bird & Bull Press for Phillip J. Pirages, 1991. Limited edition. pp. 128 [2]. 8vo. Bound by Campbell-Logan Company in quarter morocco over marbled boards; marbled paper designed for this production by Iris Nevins. With an original leaf printed by Sweynheym & Pannartz from a “Sweynheym and Pannartz editio princeps of Nicholas of Lyra’s Postilla super totam bibliam… completed on 18 November 1471 in the Palazzo Massimo in Rome”. This copy’s leaf shows an initial in blue. Contents enclosed in a folding cloth clamshell box designed by Nancy Cuthbert, with a window to safely display the leaf in its mylar envelope. Box has a hint of a bump to one corner, otherwise each of the pieces remains near fine. Includes a letter suggesting handling best practices, on Pirages stationery. Hardcover.

Numbered 83 of a limited edition of 275 copies, 239 of which were for sale.

(#0101134)                                                                                                           $1500 CAD

 

Baum, L. Frank. The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

Chicago: The Reilly & Britton Co., 1913. First edition. pp. 340, ads [6]. Small 4to. Light tan binding with dark green, red and yellow lettering and decoration. Colour and black-and white illustrations, by John R. Neill. Pictorial endpapers in colour. Edgewear, binding rebacked and sturdy, paper repairs throughout, occasional smudges/fingerprints and marginal tears, “belongs to” page filled-in with a gift inscription. Hardcover.

Second state, with light tan binding and “C” on p. 35 not overlapping text. Five pages of publisher’s blurbs at end giving synopses of five other Baum titles. Bibliographia Oziana VII.

(#0109581)                                                                                                                 $900 CAD

 

Engravings of Monuments, Headstones and Markers

Orsato, Sertorio [Sertorii Vrsati]. Monumenta Patavina Collecta, digesta, explicata, suisque iconibus expressa.

Padua, Italy: Paulum Frambottum, 1652. 1st edition. pp. [24], 352. With three unpaginated indices & errata page at end (30 pages). Tall 4to. This copy has been e-bound in 3/4 blue leather over matching blue cloth, with gilt rules to boards, and raised bands, gilt rules and gilt lettering to the spine. There is soiling to the preliminary pages, but the contents are remarkably clean and bright, with just occasional instances of foxing, general darkening to the page edges, and some rippling to the pages. The text, which is in Latin, is well illustrated with engravings of various monuments, headstones, and markers. Overall, in very good condition.

Sertorio Orsato was a celebrated antiquary, historian, and poet. Born in Padua, Italy, in 1617, he taught natural philosophy at the University of Padua. Beginning in 1635, he published a number of scholarly books before his death in 1678. This is the first edition of this title, which was reprinted in the 1800s.

(#9900028183)                                                                                                           $1300 CAD

 

Weber, Bruce. The Chop Suey Club.

Santa Fe NM: Arena Editions, 1999. First edition, first printing. No pagination. 8vo. Bound in mustard cloth; profusely illustrated. No detectable flaws; near fine in near fine dustjacket.

With Arena Editions catalogue-order card laid in.

(#0109780)                                                                                                                 $300 CAD

 

Harrison, Olivia and Brian Roylance, eds. Concert For George The Royal Albert Hall, London November 29th 2002.

Guildford: Genesis Publications Ltd., 2004. Limited edition. pp. 306. Folio. Bound in silk-screened padded cloth, bronze page edges. Profusely illustrated. In a screen-printed clamshell box, and printed drawstring muslin bag (4 cm tear along one seam). Minor general shelfwear, appears unread; near fine.

Limited edition No. 408 of 2500, signed by Olivia Harrison. A pocket in the box contains a program from the memorial concert, a 28-page commemorative booklet, and a mylar bag containing four facsimile laminated back-stage passes. Also included are a Genesis publications promotional Heroes and Villians holographic postcard; folded Beatles books catalogue; and original purchase invoice and customs form.

(#0109125)                                                                                                              $1500 CAD

Signed by Cocteau

Cocteau, Jean. Entretiens Autour du Cinématographie Recueillis par André Fraigneau.

Paris: éditions André Bonne, 1951. pp. 167, ads. 12mo. Black-and-white photos. Minor edgewear, contents age-toned; very good, in lightly scuffed dustjacket showing small chips at ends of each fold.

Collection Encyclopédie du Cinéma Dirigée par André Fraigneau. SIGNED by Cocteau on title page, in pencil, with his usual *, and the date 1951.

(#0109577)                                                                                                                 $400 CAD

 

 

18^th Century ‘Comedy’

Dante Alghieri. La Divina Commedia di Dante con gli argomenti, allegorie e dichiarazioni di Lodovico Dolce. Bergamo: Pietro Lancellotti, 1752. pp. xxiv, 640. 12mo. Contemporary vellum, with gilt lettering to spine. Page edges speckled. Engraving device on the title page, decorated headpieces and initials. Binding a bit tight, occasional foxing.

An 18th-century edition, with commentary by Lodovico Dolce. Owner’s name to front pastedown, with pencil doodles depicting Dantean characters.

(#0110339)                                                                                                           $1500 CAD

 

46 “Mazarinades” Pamphlets, bound together

L’Enfer Burlesque; Agreable Recit de ce qui s’est passé aux Dernieres Barricades de Paris; Le Depart des Alemands et Polonois du Chasteau de Meudon; le Voyage de la France a S. Germain aves ses Plaintes a la Reine, contre le Cardinal Mazarin; Le Journal Poetique de la Guerre Parisienne; La Piece de Cabinet; Procez Burlesque entre Mr le Prince et Madame la Duchesse d’Esguillon; Remonstrance Burlesque au Parliament; la Chemise Sanglante de Mazarin en vers Burlesques; la Militante Republique de Venise; etc. Paris France, 1648-1649. 4to. Vellum-bound; “Receuil Burlesques” inked on spine. Bookplate to front endpaper, and handwritten list of contents to front blanks. Some creasing to contents.

“Mazarinades” is the name given to the thousands of political pamphlets printed in Paris during the Fronds (“Slingshots”), which became famous for their mockery of the Cardinal Jules Mazarin.

(#0103233)                                                                                                               $2000 CAD

 

With the famous map: “Tabula, in Argonautica Victoriae”

Bissel, Johannes. Argonauticon Americanorum, Sive, Historiae Periculorum Petri De Victoria, Ac Sociorum Eius, Libri XV.

Munchen: Johann Wagner & Lukas Straub, 1647. pp. [26] including engraved title, 480, [12]. 12mo. Contemporary vellum binding, lacking ties, title in manuscript on spine. Complete with the engraved frontispiece by Guillaume Kilian, and the famous map: “Tabula, in Argonautica Victoriae”, with text on recto. Ownership signature of “Johannes Rou? Canonica 1649”; another, illegible, inscription to margin of engraved title; library stamp on title page “Kanton Bibliothek Solothurn”, with “Doublette” (duplicate; deaccessioned). Vellum a bit rubbed, very good.

USTC 2089857. Sabin 99443.

(#097861)                                                                                                                   $850 CAD

 

Virtues and Vices

Niess, Johann [Johannes/Ioanne], e Societate Iesu. Alphabetum Christi & Alphabetum Diaboli (Bound Together).

Dilingae, formis academicis : Apvd Vdalricvm Rem , 1624. pp. 487; 490 + index. 12mo. Bound in contemporary full vellum showing characteristic markings. Title inked on spine. Ties missing, binding sprung but sound, name to title page, internally clean.

Johann Niess (1584-1634) was a Bavarian Jesuit priest who wrote books for young people. “Alphabetum Christi” was his most popular title, and is here accompanied by its companion, “Alphabetum Diaboli”: alphabetical lists of virtues and vices, respectively, compiled by Niess and each starting with a preface and a list of the authors quoted therein. Early reprints of the 1618 first printings, in an evocative vellum binding.

(#047876)                                                                                                               $2000 CAD

Watts, Alan W. Behold the Spirit A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion.

New York: Pantheon, 1947. First edition. pp. 254. 8vo. Navy cloth binding with gilt lettering to spine and gilt decoration to front board. Minor edgewear, light spotting to foredge, ink name to front pastedown, contents unmarked, binding sound. Dustjacket is price-clipped and scuffed all over, with sunning to the spine and some chips (esp. to top edge of front panel).

“a new and illuminating view of Christianity which surmounts the perennial error of a mystical and spiritual religion that excludes and despises the historical, sacramental and material aspects of faith and life.”

(#099806)                                                                                                                   $950 CAD

Hunter, William S. Hunter’s Ottawa Scenery, in the Vicinity of Ottawa City, Canada.

Ottawa: William S. Hunter, 1855. Second edition. pp. 19. Folio. Rebacked blind-stamped brown cloth with gilt lettering to front board, page edges gilt. Newer endpapers. 15 engravings and a map: frontispiece, vignette title, fold-out map, 13 tinted lithographed plates with tissue guards. Some foxing to tissue guards.

An important early view book of Ottawa, this edition with the addition of railroad routes to the folding map. Lithographs by John Perry Newell and John Henry Bufford; after William S. Hunter. With 6 of the views attributed to Winslow Homer, thus representing his earliest book illustrations. Text in double columns. Sabin 33937. TPL 3563.

(#082714)                                                                                                             $1400 CAD

Walker, Sir Hovenden. A Journal: Or Full Account Of the late Expedition to Canada.

With An Appendix Containing Commissions, Orders, Instructions, Letters, Memorials, Courts-Martial, Councils of War, &c. relating thereto.

London: printed for D. Browne at the Black-Swan, etc., 1720. pp. [4], 304. 8vo. Full leather binding in Cambridge style, with an expertly rebacked spine. Leather title labels lettered in gilt, 5 raised bands. Ink spill to foredge of 50 pages.

“An account of the expedition of 1711 by its leader, written as a reply to criticisms of his conduct of the unfortunate affair” – Sabin 101050. TPL 148. With leather bookplate of W A [William Alfred Westropp] Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey: who, along with his brother, founded the iconic eponymous London bookshop; and a second bookplate featuring a lion and unicorn with only “Libertas No 3494.

(#0101766)                                                                                                     $3500 CAD

1862 Cree New Testament

Mason, Sophia Thomas, William Mason, and John Sinclair, trans. [Rev. Mr. Steinhauer]. Oski Testement ketipeyichikeminow mina kipimachiyiweminow Chisas Knist

London: Printed by William Mavor Watts for the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1862. pp. 292. 8vo. Original plain brown leather binding, with Watkins bindery sticker to rear pastedown. Loss to leather over spine and along edges, endpapers glued to gutters, text block stable, contents clear and unmarked.

Peel 387: “Title also transliterated as Otiki tititemitot. Title and text in syllabics devised by James Evans; only imprint is in English. Cree is Western (or Plain) Cree dialect.” Printed in two columns. “Although the three works last titled have the name Rev. Wm. Mason on their respective title pages, denial has been made in a number of instances that they were translated by him…”, instead having been translated by John Sinclair and Rev Mr Steinhauer, the manuscript of their translations entrusted to Mason, who took it to England for printing. – Pilling Algonquin p. 339-340. Darlow & Moule 3129. Following the 1859 printing (which contained 612 pages).

(#094229)                                                                                                             $3500 CAD

1902 Monograph on Opiate Addiction Recovery

Mattison, J. B. [Jansen Beemer]. The Mattison Method A Modern and Humane Treatment of the Morphin Disease.

New York: E. B. Treat & Company, 1902. pp. 40. Slim 12mo. Bound in red cloth with black lettering and rules to front board. Unusual binding, with contents stapled together and then bound to the case. Corners and foredge bumped, staples rusted, front endpaper splitting, rear endpaper worn down along the staples, a few spots to contents; very good-.

One of a several books published by the author on this subject, including ‘The Diagnosis of the Morphin Disease’, ‘Morphinism in Medical Men’, ‘The Prevention of Morphinism’, ‘Treatment of Opium Addiction’, etc. This monograph contains a discussion of opiate addictions treatment, featuring Mattison’s preferred short withdrawal period. He herein lays out how to control symptoms of withdrawal, including uses of bromids, codeine, cannabis, opium, ether, cold showers, Turkish baths, and more.

(#0109829)                                                                                                                 $550 CAD

 

Darwin on Orchids

Darwin, Charles. The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1877. Second edition. pp. xvi, 300, 8. 8vo. Dark orange cloth binding with gilt lettering to spine and black decoration to boards. Illustrated with in-text woodcuts, present as called-for. Spine darkened, edges worn, front joint starting, endpapers split at hinges (mull intact, binding sound), ink name to endpaper, half-title torn and repaired.

(#0101765)                                                                                                                 $700 CAD