Books

A beautiful hardcover in fine condition. The red boards are clean and unmarked. The dust jacket is clean, with some shelf wear at the bottom of the back. Christmas with Gordon by Gordon Ramsay (Alhambra Editions, London, edition first published 2011), the companion to his Channel 4 Christmas series, which first aired in December 2010. Photographs by Chris Terry. The 75 recipes are grouped into party food, Christmas menus, breakfast and brunch, lunches and suppers, and puddings, with advice on wines, party drinks and cheese. In his introduction, Gordon covers feeding guests from Christmas Eve through to New Year’s Day, with ideas for turning leftover turkey, ham, smoked salmon and Stilton into meals and snacks. A Christmas entertaining book for the season.

Hardcover with dust jacket. The deep green faux leather boards are clean, with some shelf wear visible at the bottom. The dust jacket is clean, with light rubbing at the bottom of the front cover. The title page bears an inscription. The pages are clean and unmarked throughout. Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres: The Creation and Presentation of Fabulous Finger Foods (Clarkson N. Potter, 1984). One of Martha Stewart’s early cookbooks, published two years after her best-selling Entertaining. Photographs by Peter Bosch, design by Vincent Winter, and recipes and styling with Sara Foster. It offers 150 recipes for finger food arranged around 13 parties, including Christmas Cocktails, The Breakfast Buffet and Fancy Cocktails. Stunning, dreamlike photography and very inspiring, and a good choice for Christmas entertaining.

First edition, first printing hardcover. The deep blue boards are clean and unmarked. The dust jacket is clean and unclipped, with light rubbing around the edges. Pages are clean and free of marks throughout. A clean, collectible copy of an Edgar Award winner. First edition, first printing (Hyperion, 1997). Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke won the 1998 Edgar Award for Best Novel and introduced Billy Bob Holland, a former Texas Ranger turned defence lawyer. Burke was born in Houston, grew up on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, and is best known for his Dave Robicheaux novels. He has won the Edgar Award for Best Novel twice. Holland defends his teenage son against a murder charge and uncovers high-level corruption in the Texas town of Deaf Smith.

Very Good first edition, first printing hardcover. Boards are clean, with light rubbing around the edges. The dust jacket is unclipped and unmarked, with matching light rubbing at the edges. Pages are clean, deckle edged and appear unread. Flaws are one light stain at the lower front of the text block and a remainder mark along the bottom edge of the pages. First edition, first printing (Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, August 2000), the final novel Pilcher published before retiring from writing. Rosamunde Pilcher was a British novelist born in Cornwall who lived near Dundee, Scotland, and her books have sold over 60 million copies worldwide. She is best known for The Shell Seekers, and Coming Home won the Romantic Novelists’ Association award in 1996. In Winter Solstice, Elfrida Phipps, a retired actress in her early sixties, settles in the Hampshire village of Dibton. A tragedy then brings five lonely and very different people to a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan, where their lives come together on the shortest day of the year. A wonderful winter read, and a good copy for a Pilcher collection.

A beautiful hardcover in new condition. The boards are clean, and the unclipped dust jacket is bright and glossy. The pages are crisp and unopened in feels. This copy shows no sign of handling. Suitable as a gift or for a collection. The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale, adapted and illustrated by American author Jan Brett. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. When Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow, woodland animals crawl in one by one, a mole, a rabbit, a badger and others, each larger than the last. Then comes a big brown bear, followed by a tiny mouse, and the sneeze that follows ends the story. The border panels on each spread show Nicki walking through the woods and hint at the next animal to arrive. The tale is Rukavychka, a traditional Ukrainian folk story with numerous variants.

A near fine set. The two olive green simulated leather volumes and matching slipcase are clean, with two small spots of rubbing on the spine of The Last Spike. The pages are unmarked throughout. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1977 printings of Pierre Berton’s two volume history of the Canadian Pacific Railway: The National Dream, 439 pages and The Last Spike, 478 pages, housed in the publisher’s matching slipcase. Bound in olive green simulated leather, with illustrated endpapers showing the railway’s builders and the figures who shaped it. The Last Spike won the Governor General’s Award for English-language non-fiction, and the books inspired the 1974 CBC series The National Dream. Printed and bound in Canada.