Edward and Charles Dilly, 1768. Second edition, first London edition, same year as the Glasgow first, with some minor authorial changes, variant that has Appendix listed in Contents at p. 141 instead of correctly at p. 241. pp (xxiv), 384 + folding frontispiece map; half-title present. Bound in contemporary half calf and marbled boards, spine with label and gilt rules. Spine has very shallow chip across head, slight rubbing, rippling to the shiny surface; cracked front inner hinge neatly repaired; tanning to corners of endpapers from binding materials; armorial bookplate (browned) of Robert Sherson, M.D., with his ink signature; crease to one fold of frontispiece, which has lightly offset onto the title page; VG otherwise, text fine. The young Boswell's first important publication, "with its reports of the gallant islanders and a Plutarchan depiction of [General Pascal] Paoli paralleled with several classical heroes, it was an immediate success. The work was widely read and translated, stimulated great interest in Paoli and the Corsican cause, brought its author wide fame in Britain and Europe, and found an interested readership among the Americans. It attracted the notice of the French government (which had a translation made), and though Boswell's ambition for British intervention was not to be fulfilled, he probably influenced Britain's decision to send secret supplies of arms to the Corsicans" - ODNB. ESTC T26158 ; Pottle 24; Tinker 322. Edition of 3.5k copies, published a month after the first.

London: J. Dodsley, 1759. pp (4), 288, [2]. Without half-title, as issued. K6 is a cancel. Contemporary calf, rebacked, with original spine laid down but new red label. Bit of wear to upper outer corners, browning to margins of endpapers; title leaf yellowed; damp stain to title and Contents leaf; soft bump to upper outer corners of first half of text; in all, a VG copy, tight in the binding, text clean and unworn. ESTC T33417. Rothchild 1449. Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu "was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic, and writer who helped organize and lead the Blue Stockings Society. Her parents were both from wealthy families with strong ties to the British peerage and intellectual life. She was sister to Sarah Scott, author of A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent. She married Edward Montagu, a man with extensive holdings, to become one of the richer women of her era. She devoted this fortune to fostering English and Scottish literature and to the relief of the poor." - Wikipedia.

London: A. Millar, 1756. The title page continues: "In which Mr. Carte's imperfect account of that affair, and his use of the Ms. memoirs of the Pope's nuncio Rinuccini, are impartially considered. The whole drawn up from the best authorities printed and manuscript. The second edition, to which is added an appendix, containing several letters of the King to the Earl of Glanmorgan, from the originals in the Harleian Library of manuscripts." pp viii, 376. Bound in contemporary calf, spine with red label, raised bands, decoration in blind. Rebacked; front inner hinge neatly repaired with paper; some yellowing and minor soiling to endpapers, minor soiling to verso of title leaf; VG copy, text clean and unworn, tight in the binding. Published anonymously. Follows the text of the 1747 first edition but for the addition of the Appendix. ESTC N7691.

New York: Harper, c1878 (for 1879). Page height 12 cm. Old rebinding in leather and marbled boards, front cover gilt lettered. Original paper covers bound in. pp 4 (ads), 136, (6, ads). Minor rubbing to outer corners; corner crease to original front wrapper and following leaf, small dark flecks near centre; narrow corner chip to rear wrapper; else fine. #91 in Harper's Half-Hour Series (series ads at front up to #100). A later impression of the wrappers issue, with the error on pp 44-45 corrected. E&L A9. BAL 10539. This copy has variant ads at rear starting with "William Black's Novels", not noted by Supino. First impression was in 1879. This impression also in 1879, apparently as #100 in the series (McCabe, Ballads of Battle) was published in 1879. Note: light parcel, any default shipping may be reduced.

London: Methuen, 1914. Green cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt. pp (viii), (408), 8, Autumn, 1913, ads + 31 pp Sept, 1913, catalogue. Cancel title leaf. Variant spine imprint "Methven". First state list of titles opposite title page with "Narcissus". Motto on the title page is 29.5 mm below Conrad's name, Slight wear to spine ends, with nick at head; separation to gutter between pp vi and vii; yellowing to page edges; old bookseller's clipped description pasted at bottom of front pastedown; damp stains to outer margin of rear cover; else a VG clean and bright copy. CHANCE is Conrad's most bibliographically complex work - in fact it is a nightmare. Because of a binders' strike, intended Sept. 1913, publication was delayed until Jan., 1914. Sheets with a 1913 date had already been printed, but most were recalled and supplied with a cancel title leaf dated 1914, though 50 or so, with integral 1913 title leaves, escaped the knife and constitute the rare "first first". Copies destined for the colonial and Canadian markets were to be recalled for use in the domestic market, but that decision was reversed and then reversed again. See Cagle A17, p 179, where the redoubtable bibliographer was forced to admit that "The binders' strike with the resulting delays, shifting of stock from colonial and Canadian issues to the domestic market and back again and the various cancel titles have left a maze of printings, issues and states of CHANCE which has left more people than just the book's author confused about these early printings." To add to the fun, there were three printings by Nov., 1913, with title pages identifying them as "second edition" and third "edition", but some of these, with cancels, were added to the stew. Some cancel title leaves were dated 1913, but these are later.

No place (London): No publisher (Printed by John Darby), 1727. Fourth edition (first was in 1711). Three volumes. pp (6), iv, 364, including frontispiece portrait and collective title with engraved vignette by Simon Gribelin; 443; (4), 391, [1], (54, Index). Each volume has a separate title leaf. Engraved Gribelin headpieces. Old brown calf sides, period 20th century rebacking with raised bands, labels, gilt ornament. On each front pastedown is the armorial bookplate of Samuel Allen (motto "Dum vivo, spero") and small circular label of Battle Abbey (ruined abbey on the site of the Battle of Hastings); in the top margin of each front free endpaper is the 1960 ownership inscription of Robert A. Fenn, of London; Volumes 1 & 2 have the bookplate of M.P. Grace. Partial cracks to some inner hinges but all quite firm, endpaper tanning and foxing, in all a VG+ set, text clean, tight, and unworn, externally quite attractive. A nice set of one of the most influential philosophical books of the 18th century in England and elsewhere, the work uses the phrase "moral sense" for the first time and it was a foundational text for the Scottish school of ethical philosophy. 2.5 kg parcel.