Self Help by Samuel Smiles, First Edition (16 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Trade PB with only minor reading wear; book is clean, unmarked. In stock. Ships from MN, USA.

Condition: Good. 1968. First Edition Thus. 283 pages. Paperback book with pictorial cover. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Paper cover has mild edge-wear with light rubbing and creasing. Some light marking and tanning.

Hardcover. Condition: Fair. Illustrated (illustrator). Empire Edition. Scarce in this edition hardcover, classic self-help work. No publishing date listed--binding looks to be from the late 1800's. Stains on the covers, a little musty, still tight and readable. We ship fast.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. UK 1st thus paperback Good condition no inscriptions or markings.

Condition: New. 2025. 001st Edition. paperback. . . . . .

1st ed. "Far from being a shallow exposition of 'economic man', this book is an uplifting study of individual morality brought to life by a myriad of personal examples". Pp 250. P/b. VG.

Volume: 1 17.8x11.5 cm., [8], 263 pp., legatura novecentesca in tela, titoli in oro al dorso, prima edizione italiana, buon esemplare.

First Edition. Near fine copy in the original title-blocked pictorial cloth. Slightest suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; xvi, 430 p. ; 19 cm. Contents; Duty - conscience -- Duty in action -- Honesty - truth -- Men who cannot be bought -- Courage - endurance -- Endurance to the end - Savonarola -- The sailor -- The soldier -- Heroism in well-doing -- Sympathy -- Philanthropy -- Heroism in missions -- Kindness to animals -- Humanity to horses - E.F. Flower -- Responsibility -- The last. Subjects; Self-help techniques. juvenile fiction. Conduct of life. Duty. Political philosophy. Ethics. 1 Kg.

First Edition. Near fine copy in the original title-blocked pictorial cloth. Slightest suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; xvi, 430 p. ; 19 cm. Contents; Duty - conscience -- Duty in action -- Honesty - truth -- Men who cannot be bought -- Courage - endurance -- Endurance to the end - Savonarola -- The sailor -- The soldier -- Heroism in well-doing -- Sympathy -- Philanthropy -- Heroism in missions -- Kindness to animals -- Humanity to horses - E.F. Flower -- Responsibility -- The last. Subjects; Self-help techniques. juvenile fiction. Conduct of life. Duty. Political philosophy. Ethics. 1 Kg.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. New Edition. xviii+415 pp; Full golden brown school calf binding, outer edges dentellers with six of gilt decoration raised band compartments and gilt title green morocco label on spine, gilt decoration embossed medallions of The Governor of Wellington Colledge on front board, marbled edges and endpapers & slight discolouration ,lightly scuffed with creased covers, small chipped and tear at top of spine, some foxing ffep, previous owner's name front endpaper. Size: Octavo -1 2 x18 cm.

Leather. Condition: Very Good. None (illustrator). First edition. This lovely copy of the first edition of Samuel Smiles' famous work endorsing mid-Victorian liberal values, in full leather binding and with fore edge marbling. The first edition of the work, as is identifiable from the title: the title for the second edition, published in 1866, was revised to readSelf-Help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance.Smiles' Self-Helpwas an immensely successful work with a large number of copies having been sold even during his lifetime. This copy has "fifty-fifth thousand" on the title page above the publishing information, identifying it as having been published in 1864.In full calf leather binding with gilt decorations.With lovely marbled paste downs and fore edge marbling.Previous owner's post-hoc inscription referencing 'Grammar School Northleach' to the verso of the front first free endpaper.Self-Helphas been described as 'the Bible of mid-Victorian liberalism', and recommends the value of self-reliance and tenacity to its readers. In full calf leather binding with gilt decorations. Externally, generally smart with some marks and rubbing to the leather, with the latter heaviest to the joints; a touch of bumping to the head and tail of the spine and extremities. Front hinge is a touch strained. Internally, firmly bound with generally bright, clean pages, barring the odd spot. Previous owner's post-hoc inscription to verso of front first free endpaper. Text block with fore edge marbling. Very Good. book.

Finely bound example of Smith's best-selling work on the self-improvement; an embodiment of the ideologies of mid-Victorian liberalism. Octavo, bound in full contemporary tree calf with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt central coat-of-arms to the front panel, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. In fine condition. A fine example, desirable bound in full contemporary tree calf. First published in 1859, Scottish author and reformer Samuel Smiles' Self-Help sold 20,000 copies within one year of its publication, and by the time of Smiles' death in 1904, had sold over a quarter of a million. Self-Help "elevated [Smiles] to celebrity status: almost overnight, he became a leading pundit and much-consulted guru". English historian Asa Briggs said of the work, "Self-help was one of the favorite mid-Victorian virtues. Relying on yourself was preferred morally--and economically--to depending on others. It was an expression of character even when it did not endure.The progressive development of society ultimately depended, it was argued, not on collective action or on parliamentary legislation but on the prevalence of practices of self-help." Social activist Robert Blatchford referred to it as "one of the most delightful and invigorating books it has been my happy fortune to meet with".

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First US edition. 363 pp. plus 8 pp. ads at rear. G+. Cloth worn at spine ends and corners; moderate wear to boards. Binding is strong. Light to moderate foxing. No writing or markings of any kind. Ships well-packed in a box.

Cloth. Condition: Good. First US Edition. xii, [13]-363 pages. First US edition (unauthorised) - Ticknor & Fields would soon issue the first authorised American edition. Cloth and titles faded, rubbed at head and foot of spine. Binding sound and contents complete. Foxing to first few and final few leaves fairly heavy, and light foxing throughout. Ownership signature to title page; pencil ticks to margins. Tideline to upper margin out from gutter from page 290. Pencil notes to lower margin of a few pages and to rear endpapers.

First edition of this scarce PMM title. Small octavo. xii, 343, [1, blank], [4, publisher's ads] pp. Original purple cloth, covers paneled and ruled in blind, with blind floral central motifs. Original brown coated endpapers. Skilfully rebacked to style in the nineteenth-century (with period bookseller's label on rear pastedown), later bookseller's sticker on front pastedown, many pages roughly opened (with no loss of text, the worst being on the bottom of pp.167/168), and four pages with minor staining near gutter (215-218) pp. Overall, a near fine copy of a real rarity; only one other copy appeared at auction in the last twenty-five years (Bloomsbury, October 27, 1983, lot 66), and that copy had a marking that it had been in the PMM exhibition. Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) "author, businessman, journalist and social reformer, is the epitome of that energetic probity which characterizes the best side of Victorian society. in 1859 his publisher, John Murray, issued the first of the innumerable editions of Self-Help. Its success was immediate and then unequalled: twenty thousand copies were sold in the first year, fifty-five thousand by 1864 and two hundred and seventy thousand by the end of the century. It was translated into almost every foreign language, but the proof of its success which most delighted Smiles was the number of letters attesting to its usefulness which he received from artisans - the class to whom it was directed - all over the world." (PMM, p. 346) Printing and the Mind of Man 346. HBS 66787. $2,500.

First edition of the defining self-help manual, and a Victorian bestseller, espousing the virtues of self-reliance and industry both to better oneself and as the basis of achieving social progress, rather than relying on government action or the charity of others. "Its success was immediate and then unequalled, [selling] two hundred and seventy thousand copies by the end of the century. It was translated into almost every foreign language, but the proof of its success which most delighted Smiles was the number of letters attesting its usefulness which he received from artisans - the class to whom it was directed - all over the world" (PMM). Printing and the Mind of Man 346. Octavo (175 x 120 mm). Contemporary red half morocco, spine lettered in gilt, marbled sides, endpapers, and edges. Morocco very lightly rubbed and darkened, initial binder's blank neatly excised, contents lightly toned. A very good copy.