Welcome to our latest catalogue, 'WITH ALL GOOD WISHES . . .'

Our new catalogue is a collection of signed, inscribed or otherwise annotated material, including wonderful association copies from the library of P.G. Wodehouse. The catalogue also features Wodehouse's personal copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works, the only book he had with him during his internment in the Second World War. The book contains Wodehouse's pencilled notes, listing the places and periods of his confinement by the Nazis between 1941 and 1943.

To browse the catalogue, click HERE.

THE ARCHIVE OF ALAN RICKMAN

Neil Pearson Rare Books is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the archive of one of Britain's most brilliant and best-loved actors: the late, very great, Alan Rickman.

Currently being catalogued and prepared for sale, the archive begins with Rickman's days in amateur dramatics and drama school, covers his early professional work in repertory theatre and television, and then goes on to cover his stellar performances for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the West End and Broadway.

Rickman's film career is equally well documented: all of his working scripts are present, including TRULY, MADLY DEEPLY; ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES; SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; the entire HARRY POTTER series; and, of course, DIE HARD.

Rickman's scripts are profusely annotated and amended by him, evidence of a highly detailed working method learned at the Royal Court, and adhered to through a long, distinguished career on both sides of the Atlantic, on stage and screen, and on both sides of the camera.

As well as Rickman's working texts, the archive contains a wealth of correspondence and documentation, private photographs and public relations material, film and theatre props, and awards. Crowningly, it also contains the appointment books and personal diaries kept by Rickman across his entire career. 

A magnificent and complete scholarly resource, the brochure for the Alan Rickman Archive can be viewed HERE, and the complete inventory can be accessed HERE.

Welcome to Neil Pearson Rare Books 

Neil Pearson has collected rare books for thirty years: his specialism is nineteenth and twentieth century first edition literature, with a particular interest in the expatriate literary movement of Paris between the wars. He is the author of Obelisk (Liverpool University Press, 2007), a history of the notorious Paris imprint which in the 1930s published the early work of, among others, Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell and Anaïs Nin. In 2011 he researched, compiled and wrote They Were What They Were: A Catalogue of Early Gay Fiction, 1862 -1960. More information about both of these titles can be found here.

After buying books for so many years, he is delighted finally to be selling some.