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ONLINE SHOWCASE
Explore a small selection of our antiquarian books, including scarce titles, first editions, and quality bindings.
While we update this page regularly with a selection of our books, we recommend visiting us in-store to explore our full collection.
We are a traditional bookshop and do not sell any of our books directly through the website, but if you are interested in any of these items, then please get in touch (via phone or sales@mainlybooks.co.uk) or visit us in our shop.
Mainly Comics!
Welcome to our comic collection, which we have imaginatively named Mainly Comics! We sell comics from the Silver to Modern age, from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, First, and many other publishers. Our collection also includes graphic novels, manga, and magazines. If you’re a fan of horror comics, then we have hundreds starting from the 1970s from Warren publishers, including Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella, and more. Horror pulps also make up our horror section, including a select
Gibraltar and its Sieges
A handsome late nineteenth-century volume exploring the military history of the British fortress of Gibraltar, encompassing its infamous sieges alongside the geography, climate and natural history of the Rock. Combining historical narrative with geographical and naturalistic observations, the work offers an engaging insight into Gibraltar’s strategic importance and distinctive landscape. Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in 1894, this complete volume comprises Parts I and
The Ladies Companion to the Flower Garden by Jane Loudon
A delightful example of Victorian horticultural literature, The Ladies’ Companion to the Flower Garden by Mrs Jane Loudon offers a fascinating insight into nineteenth-century gardening practices and the cultivation of ornamental plants. Arranged alphabetically for ease of reference, the work provides practical horticultural guidance alongside an appealing visual record of Victorian botanical illustration. This fourth edition, published by William Smith in 1846, features sev
The De La More Booklets: Keats, Coleridge and P.B. Shelley
A charming early twentieth-century collection of three poetry booklets published by De La More Press in 1902, featuring works by three eminent figures of the English Romantic movement: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The collection comprises Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Keats’s Odes; and Shelley’s The Cloud, To a Skylark and Ode to the West Wind. Together, these works represent some of the most celebrated poetry of the Romantic
The Toils of Yoshitomo: A Tragedy of Ancient Japan by Torahiko Kori
A first edition of The Toils of Yoshitomo: A Tragedy of Ancient Japan by Japanese playwright and writer Torahiko Kori, translated into English by H. M. Sainsbury and published by Selwyn & Blount in 1922. The play dramatises the struggles and tragic fate of Minamoto no Yoshitomo against the backdrop of the political intrigue and military conflict of the Hōgen Disturbance, a defining episode in Japan's medieval history. The volume is bound in light blue-grey paper-covered board
Miracles by C.S. Lewis
A first edition of Miracles: A Preliminary Study by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles, The Centenary Press, in 1947. In Miracles: A Preliminary Study, C. S. Lewis examines the possibility and nature of miracles, challenging the naturalist view that the physical universe operates as a closed system. He argues that miracles are acts of God within the natural order and explores the relationship between reason, nature and divine intervention. The work places the Incarnatio
Collected Poems by John Masefield
A beautifully bound edition of Collected Poems by John Masefield, published by William Heinemann Ltd. in 1925. The volume is bound in full leather, featuring an elaborately tooled design depicting an eighteenth-century sailing ship in red and white on the front board. The spine is decorated with ornamental tooling and gilt titling, complemented by a gilt top edge. The collection brings together a substantial selection of Masefield’s poetry, including ''Salt-Water Ballads,'' '
The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales by A.T. Quiller-Couch
This first edition was published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, in 1910, and retains its original publisher’s cloth binding. Bound in dark red cloth, the book features elaborate gilt decoration depicting floral and angelic motifs across the front and rear boards and spine. The cohesive and elegant design beautifully complements the enchanting subject matter of the fairy tales within. The volume is complete with 30 tipped-in colour illustrations by Edmund Dulac, renowned as on
Anglo-Latin Phrases: A Dictionarie of English and Latine Idiomes by William Walker
The fifth edition of William Walker’s A Dictionarie of English and Latine Idiomes, printed in London by W. Horton in 1690, is a fascinating example of seventeenth-century educational literature. Written by the English schoolmaster William Walker of Grantham, traditionally associated with the education of Isaac Newton, this work was designed to assist young scholars in translating English expressions into classical Latin. Featuring an engraved title page, the dictionary pres
A Treatise on Forming, Improving and Managing Country Residences by John Loudon
A highly influential, two-volume first edition published in 1806 by Scottish landscape architect John Claudius Loudon. Loudon’s primary objective is to unite the taste and beauty found in nature with economy and utility. He argues against the rigid, artificial geometry of contemporary landscape design, instead promoting approaches that respect natural topography and capture the picturesque. The work covers site selection, the relationship between the mansion and its grounds,
Horae Subsecivae by John Brown
Horae Subsecivae is a collection of essays, biographical sketches and stories by Scottish physician and writer John Brown. Covering subjects ranging from medical history and art to rural life and biography, the book includes celebrated essays such as ''Our Dogs'', ''Rab and His Friends'' and ''Notes On Art''. This edition was published by Oxford University Press as part of its World’s Classics series and includes an introduction by Austin Dobson. The quarter-vellum binding co
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
An elegant edition of the collected works of William Shakespeare, edited by W. J. Craig, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, and published by Oxford University Press in 1928. Printed in England at the University Press, Oxford, under John Johnson, this edition brings together Shakespeare’s plays and poems, accompanied by a glossary to assist the reader with the language and vocabulary of the period. Printed on fine India paper, the volume includes a frontispiece and is presented
Letters from the Mountains by Anne MacVicar Grant
Letters from the Mountains; Being the Real Correspondence of a Lady, Between the Years 1773 and 1807 by Anne MacVicar Grant (1755–1838) is an account of eighteenth-century life and society, with particular emphasis on the landscapes, people and customs of the Scottish Highlands. Grant was a Scottish poet and writer whose work helped introduce readers to the scenery and culture of the Highlands during the Romantic period. The correspondence offers a valuable historical perspec
Raven - The Turbulent World of Baron Corvo by Robert Scoble
Baron Corvo was the pseudonym of Frederick William Rolfe (1860–1913), an English writer, artist and eccentric, celebrated as one of literature’s most legendary outsiders. His posthumous reputation has established him as the archetypal ‘failed genius’. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Hadrian the Seventh, a remarkable demonstration of his ‘verbal claws’: his highly sophisticated vocabulary and his ability to deliver vicious yet eloquent remarks against th
Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne (2nd ed.)
Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne was published in 1927 as part of the Winnie-the-Pooh series. The collection comprises 35 poems, with Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin appearing in illustrations. This second edition was published by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1927. The volume features numerous black-and-white decorations by E. H. Shepard, including full-page illustrations that bring Milne’s much-loved characters and verses to life. The book is bound in red cloth, with gilt decora
James Ferguson’s Astronomy Explained (1757)
An important 18th century work on astronomy by Scottish astronomer and populariser James Ferguson, Astronomy Explained reflects Ferguson’s ambition to make the complexities of astronomy and science accessible to a wider audience, including readers without a formal mathematical education. In this influential work, Ferguson presents a broad range of astronomical and scientific subjects, including the solar system, Newton’s laws of motion and gravity, the Earth and the heavens
Vivia by Tanith Lee
Published by Little, Brown and Company, London, in 1995, this original British hardcover edition of Vivia features an original illustrated dust jacket. Tanith Lee, celebrated for her distinctive dark fantasy and Gothic fiction, weaves a dark and compelling tale set in medieval Eastern Europe. The story follows Vivia, a young woman whose life is transformed when she is claimed by a dark lord and made into a vampire. Subverting traditional fairy-tale conventions, the novel expl
The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
This is a Victorian edition of The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, presented in its original seven-volume format, including the supplementary seventh volume. Edited by the distinguished medieval scholar Rev. Walter W. Skeat, this scholarly edition was published by Oxford University Press between 1894 and 1897, with the supplementary volume issued in 1899. Drawing on multiple manuscripts, Skeat’s edition represents a significant contribution to Chaucer scholarship. It br
The Great Metropolis: Views and History of London
The Great Metropolis; or Views and History of London in the Nineteenth Century: Being a Grand Exhibition of the British Capital, with Historical and Topographical Notices of Each Place, edited by William Gray Fearnside, ESQ. and Thomas Harrel. This is a scarce 1862 edition, published by D. Omer Smith, London. A Victorian illustrated history and visual survey of London, offering a fascinating portrait of the capital during the nineteenth century. The Great Metropolis present
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
A highly desirable 1853 edition of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, published in London by G. Routledge & Co. This octavo volume presents Spenser’s celebrated allegorical epic in a single volume of twelve books, complete with a memoir of the author, letters, a comprehensive glossary and illustrations by the artist Edward Corbould. The Faerie Queene is one of the great works of English literature and is regarded as one of the longest poems in the English language. Books I
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