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ONLINE SHOWCASE
Explore a small selection of our antiquarian books, including scarce titles, first editions, and quality bindings. This is only a fraction of our in store collection, so come visit us in person to discover more.
We also update this page with more books (and sometimes comics!), so check back regularly to see what we have to offer!
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.


Dune, by Frank Herbert - Collector's Edition
Dune  is one of the most iconic sci-fi novels of all time, which was catapulted back into notoriety in the last few years with the critically-acclaimed films Dune: Part 1 and Dune: Part 2 (both directed by Denis Villeneuve). Our special copy of the first Dune  book, by Frank Herbert, is a hardback memorial edition, bound in genuine leather. It was published in 1987 by the Easton Press, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Included in the book are multiple black and white illustrations,
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Brighton Rock, by Graham Green - First Edition
One of his most iconic novels, this first edition copy of Brighton Rock  by Graham Green is a perfect collector’s piece or gift for any fan. Brighton Rock  is a murder-slash-thriller book set in, as the name suggests, Brighton, in the 1930s. The story is very famous and has been adapted into a film, stage play, and a musical! The first edition hardback which we are selling was published in 1938 by William Heinemann. The pages themselves are slightly aged, and there is some si
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Tom Bombadil, by J.R.R. Tolkien - 3rd Impression, First Edition
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from The Red Book  builds on the myths and legends (the legendarium) of the world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings  through a series of poems. This book is a hardback, first edition, 3 rd impression published in 1968 by George Allen and Unwin – they published almost all of Tolkien’s works. Included are sixteen poems in various forms and metres that tell tales from the Tolkien universe, mainly through the character of Tom
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Tom Bombadil, by J.R.R. Tolkien - First Edition, 1st Impression
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from The Red Book  builds on the myths and legends (the legendarium) of the world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings  through a series of poems. This book is a hardback, first edition, 1 st impression published in 1962 by George Allen and Unwin. Included are sixteen poems in various forms that tell tales from the Tolkien universe, mainly through the character of Tom Bombadil, who was featured briefly in The Lord of the Rin
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The Complete Works of Jane Austen in 6 volumes
For lovers of strong female protagonists, slow-burn romances, and sharp observational humour, Jane Austen is the timeless, well-loved author for readers young and old. We are selling a six volume hardback set of all of Austen’s works, including her six completed novels, and an additional volume of her unfinished and shorter works (such as ‘Lady Susan’, ‘Love and Friendship’, and ‘Sanditon’). The full length novels included in the set are: Pride and Prejudice , Emma , Sense a
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Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - First Edition
The Lord of the Rings series hardly needs an introduction: it is the cornerstone of the fantasy genre and one of the most well-known epic, adventure trilogies which is still enjoyed around the world decades after its original publication. The original books were released between 1954 and 1955 and published by George Allen and Unwin. Our set of The Lord of the Rings are all hardbacks and first editions – but varying impressions – from 1959 and 1960 (also published by George Al
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Deluxe Edition, Signed by JK Rowling
Harry Potter , the now multi-billion dollar franchise, famously had a few false starts, with J.K. Rowling’s manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone  being rejected numerous times before Bloomsbury accepted it. But soon after, fans worldwide were invested in the boy wizard Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and in 1998, only a year after the first book in the Harry Potter series was published, J.K. Rowling released Harry
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Deluxe First Edition, Signed by JK Rowling
In the space of just two weeks in July 2007, the film adaptation of  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released and the final book in the seven-part series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,  was published. By this point, Harry Potter was a global phenomenon and JK Rowling was one of the most famous authors in the world. Luckily, we have acquired a hardback, deluxe, first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  from 2007, published by Bloomsbur
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Signed by JK Rowling and Main Cast (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint)
Nearly twenty years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published, Harry Potter still remains a multi-billion dollar franchise with fans all around the world. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  is the fourth book in the seven-part series and was originally published in 2000, with the film adaptation being released in 2005. This hardback copy of The Goblet of Fire  was published in 2004 by Bloomsbury, but the thing that makes this book so special is its signatures
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Fantasy/Sci-fi Collection Features (H.G. Wells, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jules Verne, Mervyn Peake, and more!)
With a mix of paperbacks, hardbacks, and collectible copies, we have hundreds of fantasy and sci-fi books for lovers of magic, space, and adventure! Authors that feature in our collection include: J.R.R. Tolkien, Isaac Azimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, Tanith Lee, Lord Dunsany, Michael Shea, Robert E. Howard, Roger Zelazny, Kurt Vonnegut, Andre Norton, Jules Verne, Charles de Lint, Fred Saberhagen, Gene Wolfe, James Baylock, Terry Pratchett
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Horror Collection Features (Anne Rice, Cthulhu, Psycho, and more!)
Welcome to our Horror Collection! This is only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of horror books that we have for sale, but it will give you a taste of what’s in store! Authors part of our collection include: Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Bloch, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, Neil Gaiman, Caitlin Kiernan, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Joseph Payne Brennan, Karl Edward Wagner, Manly Wade Wellman, Basil Copper, and more! We also h
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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1931 Film Cover)
Exactly one hundred years after the most popular version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein  was published, the film Frankenstein (1931) was released – and a film tie-in of the classic gothic novel was produced. Thought up in the stormy landscape of Geneva in 1816, after sharing ghost stories with fellow writers Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, Frankenstein was published two years later by Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones (but our copy is a hardback published by Th
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Handbound copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Mimicking the quirky and whimsical nature of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , comes this truly one-of-a-kind version of Lewis Carroll's most popular novel. Completely handbound by a local binder, each letter on this eclectic, leather cover has been cut out, gilded, and pasted by hand. Not only this, but the marbled endpapers on the inside have been affixed by hand as well, and the whole book assembled by one man who binds books as a hobby. The cover is utterly unique, and t
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The General History of Earthquakes by Nathaniel Crouch
This antiquarian book, dating all the way from 1694, is one of many seventeenth century books in our collection. If you are looking for something interesting and rare to add to your shelf, then you are in the right place. The General History of Earthquakes describes various volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and makes note of particular mountains and geographical discoveries: each story or recount is numbered, going up to sixty-four. Section forty-one, for example, tells th
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Mainly Comics!
Welcome to our comic collection which we have imaginatively named Mainly Comics! We sell comics from the Silver to Modern age, from...
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Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
Following on from the phenomenal science fiction landmark that was Dune , Frank Herbert released multiple other books in the series, and we are lucky enough to have the next two instalments in early impressions of first editions. Dune Messiah is the second book in the Dune series and was originally published in 1969. However, before it was released as a novel, Dune Messiah appeared as a shorter version in Galaxy Magazine from July through to September in the same year. By t
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The Hunting of the Romish Fox, by James Ware
The Hunting of the Romish Fox is a curious book, not only in its content but its history: it is (as many of our religious antiquarian items are) born out of a turbulent time of theology in Britain and Ireland. The full title is: The Hunting of the Romish Fox, and the Quenching of Sectarian Fire Brands: Being a Specimen of Popery and Separation . According to the title page, the writer and historian, Sir James Ware, collected this work out of the ‘Memorials of Eminent Men bot
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Excerpta, by Isaac Newton
From the mid-eighteenth century emerges a fabulously researched and edited collection of the works of England’s greatest polymath: Excerpta by Sir Isaac Newton. The full title, in Latin, is: ‘Excerpta Quaedam e Newtoni Principiis Philosophiae Naturalis, cum notis variorum’, which can be translated as, ‘Certain Extracts from Newton’s Principles of Natural Philosophy, with notes of various kinds’. This book of Newton’s works was published in 1765 in Cambridge, and was edited by
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Albert Einstein - Rare Books and Original Photographs
Having fled Nazi Germany in 1933 due to a £1000 bounty on his head, Nobel Prize winner and renowned scientist Albert Einstein, retreated to the village of Roughton in Norfolk – and we have discovered some of the photographs that tell this story. Einstein stayed with Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson who was an MP in the British parliament, and an associate and ally of Winston Churchill. After becoming one of the signatories of The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Ter
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