Our members list new acquisitions and recently cataloged items almost every day of the year. Below, you'll find a few highlights from these recent additions...
Popular Science Monthly, Complete Year Jan. - Dec. 1931
New York: Popular Science Publishing Company, 1931. 12 issues, the complete run for the year 1931. Very Good Plus to Near Fine, four with light wear at spine ends, pencil inscription front cover and ink inscription rear cover of January issue. The August issue of particular interest due to the first coverage of August Piccard and Paul Kipfer's hot air balloon expedition to the new height of 9.8 miles above the Earth's surface, thus becoming the first human beings to enter the stratosphere. A great time capsule of popular scientific thought, with numerous articles, photos, and advertisements, and those wonderful and colorful covers ! . First Printings. Magazine. Near Fine/No Jacket, As Issued. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.
Offered by Dale Steffey Books.
by LEWIS, JOHN; AYDIN, ANDREW; POWELL, NATE
Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions, 2014. First Edition, Fifth Printing. Softcover. Octavo, 121 pages; VG; Spine maroon with black lettering; binding has mild wear and rubbing; Inscribed 'To Oliver!' and signed on the dedication page by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin.
Offered by Second Story Books.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (In Original Monthly parts); with ALL the Ads Called for
by DICKENS, CHARLES
London: Chapman & Hall, 1870. First Edition. in the original 6 monthly parts, in green printed wrappers. A fine set, with ALL the ads called for by Hatton & Cleaver; notable are the famous "Cork Hats" ad in part II and the elusive "Chapman & Hall" 8 page ad in part V, dated 31st July, 1870. First issue, with "Price Eighteenpence" pasted onto front wrapper of part VI; all wrappers are correct. The text in parts I through V is UNOPENED, therefore unread; in part VI, the Contents leaves are unopened. Twelve illustrations by S. L. Fildes and a portrait; octavo, [i-v]vi-vii[viii], [1]2-190[192]. The wrappers are lovely, showing no repairs; discreet repair to spine of part I, spine of part VI expertly renewed. Plates and text are fine. Bookseller ticket on front wrap of part VI; the Cork ad in part II with a short closed tear. An outstanding set in every respect, and with a pedigree - it is from the famed Hatton & Cleaver collection. Housed in a handsome purple quarter- leather slipcase, with chemise. Armorial bookplate of Charles Parkhurst. Hatton & Cleaver, pp. 373-384. Provenance: The (Thomas) Hatton & Cleaver Collection, The Heritage Bookshop, Charles Parkhurst Rare Books, Inc.
Offered by Charles Parkhurst Books, Inc.
by DORE, GUSTAVE; CHAMBERS, TALBOT W. (MEMOIR OF DORE AND DESCRIPTIVE LETTER-PRESS)
New York: Belford, Clarke & Co. Printed and Bound by Donohue & Henneberry, 1886. Later printing. Hardcover. Fair. Folio. Unpaginated. Illustrated by Gustave Dore. Brown cloth hardcover with gilt title and gilt illustrations on the front cover. Decorations and title on the spine. Floral decorated end sheets. All edges gilt. Frontispiece sketch of Dore. Cloth is split bottom of the front joint and edge worn head and base of the spine and on the corners. Hinges cracked and starting to pull. Interior contents are clean.
Offered by Americana Books.
By Willy Pogany
New York, 1929. Willy Pogány (Hungarian/American, 1882-1955). ORIGINAL PEN-AND-INK PORTRAITS OF THE MAD HATTER and THE MARCH HARE (From his illustrated 1929 Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures In Wonderland published by E. P. Dutton). These marvelous drawings illustrate "The Mad Tea Party" chapter and grace pages 102 and 103. The images are both 4.75" x 3.5" situated in two corners of a large sheet of 11" by 14" heavy art paper. Pogány has printed his name in full on the March Hare drawing at the top right and initialed the Mad Hatter drawing at the lower left. His lightly penciled outline and notations can also be seen. The details of the drawings is spectacular in comparison to the actual printed book. Unique.. Signed. Original Art Artwork. Unbound. Very Good. Illus. by Willy Pogany.
Offered by Lakin & Marley Rare Books.
Arkitip Issue No. 0041: OriginalFake
by KAWS
Hollywood: Arkitip, 2007. Near fine in illustrated wrappers.. First edition. Quarto. Hand-numbered 135 of a limited edition of 2000 copies. 41st issue of Arkitip; the entire edition curated by KAWS. Originally issued with an OriginalFake / Incase laptop sleeve, the magazine is here sold separately.
Offered by Harper's Books.
n.p. [Peking]: [China's Screen]: [Distributed by Guozi Shudian], 1980. Paperback. Very Good. color photos, (21)p. Softcover in original wrapper. 31 cm. First issue of the English-language version of this periodical after it resumed publication in 1980.
Offered by McBlain Books.
by J.D. Salinger
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Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. A copy virtually without evidence of the passage of time: immaculately preserved in unread condition, with a bright, entirely original and unrestored jacket. 8vo. [6], 277 pages. Publisher's black cloth, gilt-lettered on spine; pictorial dust jacket designed by Michael Mitchell; quarter morocco slipcase. FIRST EDITION, first issue jacket with portrait photograph of Salinger on the rear panel cropped at head, and with dollar sign aligned as called for on the front flap.
While reams have been devoted to Salinger's novel and its anti-hero Holden Caufield, the designer of its now classic dust jacket has been an infrequent participant in the story of the book's ascension into the canon. The Canadian artist E. Michael Mitchell lived near Salinger in Westport, Connecticut in 1950 when the author was working on the novel. Salinger was a frequent visitor to the Mitchells' home, used their guest house to write, and read aloud portions of the drafts to Mitchell or his wife Esther throughout its composition. Mitchell inspired Salinger's complex story of religious and mystical experience, "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period." After Salinger's move to New Hampshire, they began a forty-year correspondence, and saw each other occasionally until their falling out in the 1990s (Mitchell was a witness at Salinger's wedding to Claire Douglas in Vermont in 1955). Salinger's letters to Mitchell were acquired by Carter Burden from Ralph Sipper in the mid-1990s and are now in the Morgan Library. They were kept off view until the author's death in 2010, and have since been exhibited. Salinger preferred simple, textual jackets (consistent across 'Franny & Zooey', 'Nine Stories,' and 'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters') and thus Mitchell's dynamic use of the carousel horse is a design anomaly in Salinger's published works.
The present copy is the finest we have seen in thirty years: Salinger's masterpiece was often read, shared, well-traveled and restored to within inches of its life. This is as close to an "as-issued" copy as one can expect to find. Burgess, 99 Novels, pp. 53-54.
Offered by Riverrun Books.
by Anne McCaffrey
San Francisco, CA and Columbia, Pennsylvania: Brandywyne Books, 1984. First Hardcover Edition. Boards. Very Good. First Hardcover Edition. [2], 252 pages. 8vo (5 3/4 x 8 3/4) inches. Publisher's pink French Suedel cloth with red lettering stamped on the spine and front board. A blue decorative design is stamped on the front board.. Second flyleaf notes "This is the deluxe limited edition signed by the author Anne McCaffrey" and signed. This copy has been read, with reading crease front joint, and compression of velvet covering to rear panel. Clean internally. No dust jacket as issued. Upper corner tips bumped. Boards. First published in November 1971 as a Dell paperback original #7445. The first hardcover edition was Millington Books, London. The first American hardcover edition was this publication, which was issued in two states simultaneously. The first (as here) was 200 copies with the gray parchtone limitation page. The second, 300 copies, was an unsigned trade issue. Hargreaves, Anne Inez McCaffrey, Forty Years of Publishing, An International Bibliography, #43E (p.139) NOTE: Although Hargreaves notes this title should have a slipcase of the same material, I have never seen an example and suspect that is an error in the bibliography.
Offered by Kuenzig Rare Books.
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
by Irin Corman & Shana Kniozhnik
New York: Dey St./ William Morrow Publishers, 2015. First edition, early printing of this work on the life of Justice Ruth Ginsburg. Octavo, original illustrated boards. Signed by Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the title page. In fine condition. Cover design by Adam Johnson. Rare and desirable signed. RBG may be a playful project, but it asks to be read seriously. . . . That I responded so personally to it is a testimony to [its] storytelling and panache" (Jennifer Senior, New York Times).
Offered by Raptis Rare Books.
Salmagundi; or, the whim-whams and opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and others
by Washington Irving, et al.
New-York: printed and published by D. Longworth, at the Shakspeare-Gallery, 1808. 20 parts bound in 2 volumes, 16mo, pp. [5], 4-206; [5], 208-424; original mottled calf, red morocco labels on gilt-decorated spines; rubbed and worn, minor defects and old repairs, else good and sound. A joint production of Washington Irving, his brother William, and James Kirke Paulding, and a famous bibliographic nighhtmare. "The final collation of Salmagundi has not been achieved" (BAL). The 20 parts are dated January 24, 1807 - January 25, 1808.
Offered by Rulon-Miller Books.
by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
12/02/1786. Thus the Americans were not really in rebellion against Britain, but in fighting for independence were merely seeking to establish what was by right theirs The letter’s recipient, Jonathan Willams, was Franklin’s grandnephew, and the first Superintendent of West Point and first commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Franklin also describes and sends for publication a description of his newest and among his most famous inventions: a “long arm” for reaching books in tall libraries; he also sends scientific papers he was publishing with the American Philosophical SocietyPrior to the Revolution, Franklin was the preeminent American in both Britain and the colonies. He represented some of the colonies in London, and was well connected to the scientific and political communities there. His political activities and writings manifested a connection to the British empire, and he supported the military campaigns against the French during the 1740's and the French and Indian War a decade later. His famous Albany Plan of 1754 would have united the colonies but also made governance from London simpler and more efficient. All of this, plus his wealth and lucrative Crown appointments, would have seemed to make him destined to be a loyalist. But in the end Franklin repudiated the mother country, embraced the infant republic, and threw his entire fame and effort into gaining independence and bringing the nations of Europe (particularly France) to the aid of that goal.
The basis for the change of heart by the best-known American at the time is not only a fascinating story, but succinctly defines the reasons for the American Revolution. And in looking at it, we examine all three potential categories of causes: political, economic, and constitutional. In 1764, in the wake of the victory in the French and Indian War, Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which increased on the American colonies duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and indigo dye. It doubled the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbade the import of foreign rum and French wines. That same year it also passed the Currency Act severely limiting the colonists’ ability to issue paper money as legal tender. This tight money policy reduced the amount of currency in circulation and threatened to destabilize if not devastate the colonial economies of both the mercantile North and agricultural South. Franklin was opposed to the measure, feeling it would prove detrimental to the future growth of America, and lobbied unsuccessfully for years to get it repealed. Then in March 1765, Parliament enacted the notorious Stamp Act imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies. For the first time in the 150 year old history of the British colonies in America, the Americans would pay a tax not imposed by their own local legislatures and paid locally, but by Parliament and the funds would end up in England.
At first Franklin was not averse to this act, but when he discovered the depth of feeling and learned of the protests in the colonies against it, and heard the rationales, he too became an opponent. In 1766 Parliament appointed a committee to investigate the causes of the disturbances in the colonies. Franklin testified, attributing them “To a concurrence of causes: the restraints lately laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and silver into the Colonies was prevented; the prohibition of making paper money among themselves, and then demanding a new and heavy tax by stamps; taking away, at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive and hear their humble petitions"". In his mind, these were the economic and political reasons for the breach at that time, and they remained as causes of the Revolution. But in that decade of the 1760s, as he was buffeted by the winds of dispute between Britain and America, and he watched Britain’s brutal takeover of India, Franklin grew interested in the Constitutional question of sovereignty; who had it and the circumstances under which it was obtained, and how that might apply to America. He began to study Britain’s presumed sovereignty over Ireland, even as reports of land and tribal wars in India arrived in London. He studied the Pratt-Yorke opinion rendered on Britain’s takeover of lands in India, which held that those acquired by treaty or purchase were owned by the acquirers and not the Crown; the Crown’s rights of original ownership were limited to acquisitions by conquest. This was a meaningful definition in his mind. In addition, he read William Bolts’s “Considerations on India Affairs: Particularly Respecting the Present State of Bengal and Its Dependencies”, which detailed the arbitrary powers of the British authorities there. His loyalty to empire began to erode.
In 1767 Parliament passed the Townsend Acts, which were designed to raise revenue in the American colonies, create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and most importantly to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance across America, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768. Franklin now perceived that Parliament would never grant the expanding colonies autonomous status within the empire, that in fact things were getting worse, and rather than accept limits on America's continental destiny, he must consider alternatives (and in time embrace the possibility of an independent, republican political community in America).
Franklin told Lord Kames in 1763, “The Power of a Single Man to do National Service, in a Particular Situation of Influence, is often immensely great."" Franklin knew he was a man of influence, and he had always considered ""writers who inculcate good habits"" to be performing great national service. In 1771 Franklin wrote his “Autobiography”, in which he defined his character as an autonomous, self-created, and self-sufficient American. In both a literal and a metaphorical sense, the autobiography was Franklin's personal declaration of independence, and must be considered as a political act.
Also in 1771 Franklin visited Ireland (which was under British rule) and was shocked - and his view of the empire further devastated - by the poverty, absence of vitality, and depression of laboring people there. He wrote that they were living on potatoes and buttermilk, had no meat in their diets, and were barely clothed. With Ireland and India as examples before his eyes, Franklin knew the American colonies needed to be free to operate on their own in a collaborative network of enterprise, or they could end up impoverished and oppressed.
By 1773, as several pieces written then - including two essays, “On Claims to the Soil of America” and “An Edict by the King of Prussia” - indicate, Franklin’s constitutional ruminations had led to his legal conclusion that if land were obtained by purchase and settled and improved, sovereignty over the land belonged to the persons engaged in those activities, not to the monarch who ruled over them at the time they left their original location in order to settle a different location. Sovereignty derived from the Natives’ original title, which was valid, and sovereignty transferred to those who acquired Native lands by agreement or purchase. Thus Franklin conceived sovereignty over American land resided with Americans who acquired their land from the Native Americans, not with the Crown. This view, based on his understanding of the law of his day, placed power squarely in the hands of Americans. Using this line of thinking, since William Penn had acquired the land on which Franklin’s home town of Philadelphia was built directly by treaty and purchase from the Native Americans, then the British nation, Crown and government had never owned that land. The Native Americans had transferred their rights to the land directly to Penn and his successors. It is noteworthy that Franklin’s acceptance that Native people held original sovereignty was a liberal and somewhat revolutionary idea itself at the time.
We see that the economic and political reasons for the American Revolution in Franklin’s mind were Parliament’s claim of complete supremacy while ignoring pleas from the colonies, vast trade and currency controls that would stifle the colonies’ growth and success, taxation imposed from outside, Parliament’s direct control of American jurisprudence, and the specific actions Parliament had taken to control the colonies (like the occupation of Boston and restrictions imposed after the Boston Tea Party). His Constitutional justification was that colonists ceased being British upon their arrival in America, and held title to their lands independent of Britain. Thus the Americans were not really in rebellion against Britain, which had no right to their land, but in fighting for independence were merely seeking to establish what was already theirs by right.
Franklin’s view of the nature of the Constitutional tie that existed between the American colonies and Great Britain before the Revolution is crucial to his thinking, but has not received the same attention as the impact of political and economic issues, quite likely because it very seldom appears in his correspondence. One exception is Franklin’s biographer William Cabell Bruce, who wrote a century ago in his “Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed” that “one of the most concise” summations of that Constitutional view “is to be found in a letter to his grand-nephew Jonathan Williams”. Jonathan Williams was Franklin’s grandnephew, and he spent most of the period from 1776 to 1785 in England and France assisting Franklin. He returned to the United States in 1785 when Franklin came back to Philadelphia. President Jefferson would make him the first Superintendent of West Point in December 1801. The following year Jefferson also appointed him to concurrently command the newly-established Army Corps of Engineers.
Mercator was a pseudonym of a British correspondent who wrote three letters to the London Public Advertiser in 1785 that were soon published in American newspapers. Mercator questioned the legitimacy of the Continental Congress as a government and of John Adams as its minister to Great Britain, while condemning the failure to properly compensate Loyalists and pay its war debts. He mocked American pretensions to trade with the East and West Indies, and spoke out against slavery. Williams defended the United States, replying in a Boston newspaper that independence was not a gift Britain gave in the peace treaty, that Anglo-American relations were bad because of British arrogance, and that Mercator’s condemnation of slavery rang hollow because the British controlled the slave trade. It is to this exchange that Franklin refers in the following letter, and which generated his remarkable statement that Americans were not British (and only seized what was theirs by right).
Franklin was a great lover of books. However, reaching books on high shelves was a challenge. So in 1786 the ever resourceful Franklin solved the problem by inventing the ""long arm,"" which is a wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end. By pulling on a cable, Franklin could bring the fingers together to grip a book off a high shelf. Versions of the long arm remain in use today. He mentions his newest invention in the following letter.Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society with others in 1743 in order to “promote useful knowledge.” In 1786 it published in the Philosophical Society's Transactions some scientific papers Franklin provided. These included his Oceanographic findings in Maritime Observations, which contained ideas for sea anchors, catamaran hulls, watertight compartments, shipboard lighting rods, and a soup bowl designed to stay stable in stormy weather.
This is the very letter cited by Bruce as a key statement of Franklin’s Constitutional view, and also referring to his new invention and scientific papers.
Autograph letter signed, Philadelphia, February 12, 1786, to Williams. “Dear Jonathan, I wrote to you a few Days since, and sent you 4 philosophical Papers, which I permitted your communicating to Mr. Bowdoin. As they are chiefly speculative and hypothetical, and, (except the Description of the long Arm, a new Instrument for taking down Books from high Shelves) contain little of practical Utility. I apprehend he will not think them worth laying before the Society. I sent the pacquet by Mr. Allen, whom you may remember to have seen in France, so you will receive them free of Postage tho’ a little later; for I cannot frank as you suppose, and I pay for all Letters that come to me, except those from the Secretaries of Congress. I thank you however for your pacquet containing your Dispute with Mercator in which I think you have the Advantage, both in Temper, and Strength of Argument, tho’ it seems to me, that instead of discussing when we ceased to be British Subjects you should have deny’d our ever having been such. We were Subjects to the King of G. Britain, as were also the Irish, the Jersey and Guernsey People, and the Hanoverians; but we were American Subjects, as they were Irish, Jersey, and Hanoverian Subjects. None are British Subjects but those under the Parliament of Britain. Your affectionate Uncle, B. Franklin.”
So this letter discusses his Constitutional view of the Revolution, his newest invention, and his scientific publications. It is unquestionably the most historically significant letter of Franklin that we have carried in all our years in the field, and in fact one of the most important we have ever seen. Moreover, a search of public sale records going back 40 years fails to turn up even one letter on the Constitutional topic or mentioning an invention.
Offered by Raab Collection.
by Jean Lee Latham
Boston:: Houghton Mifflin,. Very Good. 1955. Hardcover. Winner of the 1956 Newbery Medal. Illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave, II. First edition (no statement, matching year of publication on title and copyright pages). Light edge wear to boards, foxing and uneven toning to text block edges, else very good in green cloth. No dust jacket.; 251 pages.
Offered by Grendel Books.
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (Signed, First Edition)
by GOLDMAN, WILLIAM
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. First Edition. Fine/Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by William Goldman facing the title page, inscribed to a former owner. Bound in publisher's original grey cloth with spine lettered in red and black. Fine, with a stray ink mark to verso of front free endpaper. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light surface wear and two paperclip impressions to the top edge of the front panel. A fairy tale adventure which served as the basis for the 1987 Rob Reiner film. Copies signed by the author are scarce.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1892. Edition De Luxe. Limited to 1,000 copies of which this is 638. Finely bound in full crushed morocco ornately stamped in gilt to spines and boards. All edges brightly gilt. Inner dentelles gilt. Silk moire doublures and silk moire endpapers. A set with minimal shelfwear and no sunning; minor nicks or chips to crowns of a few volumes. In all, a bright and luxurious set.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was a British Parliamentarian and author. Bulwer-Lytton served non-consecutive periods as a Member of Parliament, but he wrote consistently throughout his life. While Bulwer-Lytton is not widely remembered today, he was a popular author whose novels Godolphin (1822), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), and Vril (1871), the last of which is an early and pioneering work of science fiction, were widely read. This finely bound set captures the extent Bulwer-Lytton's writing career.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life
by THOMAS, FRANK; OLLIE JOHNSTON
Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Productions, 1981. Second printing. Hardcover. very good +/near fine. 575pp. Thick quarto [28.5cm] in red cloth, with title stamped in gilt on spine and gilt design on front board. Spine is rolled. Mild edgewear to boards. Dust jacket is creased at head of spine. An in-depth study of the process of animation within the Disney studios, featuring hundreds of illustrations.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
by Paul Bowles
Tangier, Morocco, 1978 - 91. Letter. Generally Very Good to Fine. Archive of 31 items SIGNED in full or as "Paul B.," each to Gregory Stephenson: 2 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS * 25 TYPED LETTERS * 4 AUTOGRAPH POSTCARDS. The letters, discussing publication of works by himself and other writers, and complaining of the bureaucratic and meteorological obstacles of life in Tangier. Together 31 pages, various sizes, letters on onionskin paper, some on personal stationery; condition. Each letter with the original envelope. Some excerpts: 12 April 1978: sending a typed poem [present, on a half-sheet of paper, unsigned] beginning, "There have been times, what with this and that/when the whisper of words was not enough."27 May 1978: "...[T]hat's the way here; no one will cash checks if he can avoid it. At the same time, you can find people who will accept huge checks in dollars, made out on American banks, and without a murmur, if only someone whispers in their ears that the person has plenty of Money! "I must say I admire your system with regard to running your magazine--you pay for contributions, and that is a rare phenomenon nowadays, particularly for poems.... [T]hey consider the honor of being published sufficient recompense...."14 June 1978: "...Things may get here late, but they generally reach me, unless the customs or censors get involved. In that case, one wishes the things had got lost before they arrived in Morocco, for one is obliged to make many visits to the various governmental agencies involved, and it becomes Kafkaesque...."22 January 1980: "...[T]here has been absolutely no change in the attitude of the Moroccans since the Iranian trouble. They feel very little kinship with the Shia--in fact, some call them Jews--so that the excitement remains exterior to their interest. I do note a certain disappointment in the unbelligerent stance of the United States; they feel that America is afraid to attack Iran, and they wonder why...."12 May 1981: "...I'm sorry the story is lost. It was about Andrew Layton's teeth. (18th Century event, happening in Essaouira.) I'll have to look and see what else I have, and send it to you in a day or so. The trouble is that like an idiot I sent you the original typescript, and now have nothing...."17 June 1982: "...Once again I'll hold classes for the New York School of Visual Artists; I don't enjoy it at all, but it helps to pay part of my federal income tax (which is higher this year than it's ever been, quite as I expected when I heard that Reagan was 'lowering' taxes--for those with incomes over $250,000)."12 January 1985: "...I just finished correcting the galleys for a volume of stories I translated from the Spanish, by a Guatemalan student I had here in 1980. City Lights is publishing it in the Spring. I expect William Burroughs here on the 19th of this month; I haven't seen him in years."20 February 1990, ALS: "...I was involved with Bernardo Bertolucci in the filming of his version of The Sheltering Sky, and it took a lot of time and energy. He shot a lot of the film (particularly interior shots) here in Tangier before setting out for the south. By now he has finished the filming (in Niger) and is editing. I don't think the picture will be shown before autumn...."
Offered by Charles Agvent.
by RICHARDSON, SAMUEL
London: Printed for C. Rivington...and J. Osborn, 1741. The Rare First Edition of the First British Novel A Shockingly Rare Book that Shocked When First Published RICHARDSON, Samuel. Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded. In a Series of Familiar Letters from a Beautiful Young Damsel, to her Parents. Now First Published in Order to cultivate the Principles of Virtue and Religion in the Minds of the YOUTH of BOTH SEXES...In Two Volumes [with] ...And Afterwards, In her EXALTED CONDITION, Between Her, and Persons of Figure and Quality, Upon the Most Important and Entertaining Subjects, In genteel Life. The Third and Fourth Volumes. London: Printed for C. Rivington...and J. Osborn, 1741-2. First editions, Part I and II, of the first English novel. Four twelvemo volumes (6 x 3 5/8 in; 153 x 92 mm). xiv, 296; [2], 396; [2], iv, 419, [1]; [2], 471, [1, advertisement] pp. Volume I with gathering C (pp. 25-48) slightly proud at foredege; Volume III with top blank corner of pp. 89/90 torn away not affecting text; lower corner of pp. 93/94 torn away just affecting a couple of letters; small piece missing from lower fore-margin of pp. 137/138 not affecting text; small clean marginal tear on top fore margin of pp. 165/166 not affecting text. Full contemporary calf, covers decoratively bordered in gilt expertly rebacked to style. Spines with five raised bands ruled and numbered in gilt, marbled endpapers. Early ink signature "S. Pope" on front blank of each volume. Housed in a felt-lined half russet morocco over marbled boards drop-back case. Four smooth spines ruled and lettered in gilt. In spite of the aforementioned minor faults this is a very good and unsophisticated (apart from the expert reback) set of the first 'English Novel'.
Scarce in commerce in any condition. Of the six first editions that have come to auction within the last thirty-seven years all had similar condition issues, though the copy under notice appears to have been spared the worst extremes, and appears to be the only copy that is without any repair (apart from the expert reback to the binding) or restoration whatsoever. Wildly popular, the book was avidly read to pieces. First complete edition of what is considered to be the first novel in English, by the Father of the English novel, Samuel Richardson. Richardson wrote Pamela (1741) at the suggestion of booksellers Rivington and Osborn. "The book was highly successful and fashionable, and further editions were soon called for. Richardson felt obliged to continue his story, not only because of the success of Pamela but because of the number of forged continuations that began to appear. Pamela Part II appeared in 1742" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). The story, the bestseller of its time, was criticized for its perceived licentiousness: a beautiful 15-year old maidservant named Pamela must fend-off the unwanted advances of her noble master, who is infatuated with her. He abducts her, locks her up in one of his estates, and attempts to seduce and rape her. She resists, her virtue is saved and it ultimately rewards her. Richardson began it as a series of letters, i.e. an epistolary novel of conduct, but soon realized he could compose the story as a narrative and entertain as well as instruct. This was an innovation, and most novels from the mid-18th century and well into the 19th, followed Richardson's formula.
Offered by David Brass Rare Books.
Astounding Stories - August 1937, Volume XIX, Number 6
by (SCHACHNER, NAT, JACK WILLIAMSON, FRANK BELKNAP LONG, JR., ROSS ROCKLYNNE, R.R. WINTERBOTHAM, OLIVER SAARI, JOHN D. CLARK, AND JOHN W. CAMPBELL, JR.)
New York: Street & Smith, 1937. Softcover. Near Fine. Magazine. Cover by Howard V. Brown. Octavo. 160pp. Perfect bound in wrappers. Near fine or better with nicks at the front corners and a small scrap on the rear wrap but with bright covers that still retain some of their original gloss and supple interior page with little age-toning. A nice copy. This issue features contributions from Nat Schachner, Jack Williamson, Frank Belknap Long, Jr., Ross Rocklynne, R.R. Winterbotham, Oliver Saari, John D. Clark, and John W. Campbell, Jr.
Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books. View other recently-listed copies of Astounding from this member...
Pearls of American Poetry Illuminated
by MAPLESON, T.W. GWILT
New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1853. Sq. 4to. 248 x 220 mm., [ 9 ¾ x 9 inches]. Illustrated with 53 illuminated pages (hinged boards), with highly gilded and decorated borders; all edges gilt. Orig. beveled brown morocco, with gilt title in shield on front cover in blind on rear board. Lacks free front endsheet. Binding rubbed, lacking bit at top of spine. Endsheets foxed. Very sound & clean, complete with orig. tissue guards. First edition One of three illuminated works by Mapleson, exquisitely printed in the chromolithographic process by Alphonse Brett and Thomas Sinclair of Philadelphia. In his pioneering bibliography of American color plate books Whitman Bennett writes, "The editor has been amazed at the variety and the beauty of Mapleson's work, which seems to him...both in abstract decoration and in miniature work, just as good and worthy of enthusiasm as that of the English Sangorski half a century later. And the reproductions are certainly better than the Sangorski reproductions." William Reese writes, "This collection of poems is one of the most elaborate examples of mimicking illuminated manuscripts by way of chromolithography. Printed on heavy card stock hinged into a binding, the volume combines the work of two different Philadelphia lithographers, Brett and Sinclair. Mapleson produced a string of similar books in the early 1850's, at the height of the gift book craze." Whitman Bennett, A Practical Guide to American Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books, p. 71. William Reese, Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books, 89. Carl Peters, American on Stone, pp. 108 and 367.
Offered by De Simone Company.
A Smattering of Ignorance (Armed Services Edition, T-7)
by LEVANT, OSCAR
(n.p.): Editions for the Armed Services, Inc.. Very Good. (c.1940). First Edition Thus. Softcover. [light external wear to covers and edges, but generally a good sound copy]. Levant's first book, "six brash monologues, laughably disguised as essays," including dissertations on Harpo Marx, George Gershwin, and the practice of making music for the movies. This pocket-size printing was issued as part of a government-initiated project during World War II to ensure "the best books of the present and the past are supplied to members of our Armed Forces in small, convenient, and economical form."
Offered by ReadInk.
by SMITH, ROBERT W.
Salt Lake City: Pyramid Press, 1945. Second Printing. 48pp. Trigesimo-secundo (32mo) [10 cm] Gold printed leaves are attached to a gold painted wood block with three rings. Very good. Short work that offers a brief history Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The gold painted wood block represents the sealed part of the Book of Mormon. An interesting and unusual production that was limited to 500 copies. Rare "This miniature facsimile of the original gold plates of the Book of Mormon has been produced to give a more general idea of the appearance, proportions, sealed section and style of binding of the original. It contains a brief description of the Book of Mormon, its origins and contents." - from the Foreword.
Offered by Tschanz Rare Books.
Gorgo (Original photograph from the 1961 science fiction film)
by LOURIE, EUGENE(DIRECTOR); ROBERT L. RICHARDS, DANIEL JAMES (SCREENWRITERS); BILL TRAVERS, WILLIAM SYLVESTER, VINCENT WINTER, JOSEPH O'CONOR (STARRING)
N.p.: King Brothers [Bros.] Productions, 1961. Vintage reference photograph from the 1961 US Poverty Row film, an attempt by the notorious King Brothers to capitalize on the fame of the Shaw Brothers' "Godzilla" films in Japan. With a mimeo snipe on the verso. Sailors on a salvage ship capture a giant lizard and sell it to a London circus, leading the lizard's mother, who is significantly larger and meaner, to seek revenge and the return of her offspring. Set and shot on location in London. 8 x 10 inches. Near Fine.
Offered by Royal Books.
Map of the Western Hemisphere showing California as an Island
by HAUPT. G. BECK AFTER ZURNER/WEIGEL
1738, Augsberg. Engraving on watermarked paper. Image: 4.5 x 5.5, Margins 5.5 x 6.8 In fine condition. Contemporary Hand colored.
Offered by L'Estampe Originale.
[Bindings - Vernacular / Embroidered]. Der Schatz der Armen
by LECHTER, MELCHIOR (ARTIST). MAETERLINCK, MAURICE (AUTHOR). FRIEDRICH VON OPPELN-BRONIKOWSKI (TRANSLATOR)
Florence & Leipzig: [Printed in Berlin by Otto Von Holten for]: Verlag von Eugen Diederichs, 1898. Autorisierte Ausgabe. Square 4to (210 x 170 mm). 105 pp. With stylized art-nouveau typography and large ornamental initials in red and black throughout. Vernacular binding of slightly later decorated burlap cloth patterned with lily pads; green cloth onlays depicting three fish, their eyes made of sequins, other sequins adorning seaweed fronds; green floral endpapers (inner hinges cracked). Original printed wrappers bound in. Front joint worn, crown chipped; early ownership inscription of "Lillie C. Schleiser" dated "Christmas, Munich 1903" on front wrapper. Text evenly toned, extremities with some chipping here and there on account of the paperstock. First edition of the first fully realized book design by Melchoir Lechter (1865-1937), a triumph of Jugendstil / art-nouveau typography which perfectly compliments the mystical essays by the famed Belgian Symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck. The type used herein is now known as Lechter-Schrift after the name of its designer. According to Schauer, this book defines the beginning of German book arts of the twentieth century, and is justly considered "a great book in which everything is dark, colorful, and primeval." Upon publication, it was widely praised as the most beautiful German book of the day (O. Grautoff). Ordinary copies our bound in wrappers designed by Lechter. Our copy has both wrappers bound into a remarkable German vernacular binding of burlap cloth with cloth onlays of green fish adorned with sequins, all adhered to art-nouveau patterned cloth of lily pads and fronds. The early ownership inscription reveals that the book was acquired by an English or American woman named Lillie C. Schleiser in Munich in 1903. Perhaps the present volume was bound there? As is stated in the colophon: "Cover design, ornaments, headings, numbers, initials, and typography arrangement by Melchior Lechter, under whose artistic direction this book was printed in the year 1898 by Otto Von Holten, Berlin." "Bei seinem Erscheinen vielfältig als das schönste deutsche Buch gepriesen" (O. Grautoff). Lechter is best known for his book design, glass paintings, drawings, calendars, catalogues, ex-libris designs, and posters. He also designed furniture, carpets, wallpaper and stained glass windows. This is the trade edition of the first authorized German translation of "Le Trésor des Humbles" (1896) / "The Treasure of the Humble" (1897) containing an essay on Ralph Waldo Emerson not found in the English edition. It was created on the occasion of the 1898 Maeterlinck exhibition of the same name. As is well known, Maeterlinck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911. References: Transfer und Modifikation: Mario Zanucchi, Die französischen Symbolisten in der deutschsprachigen Lyrik der Moderne (1890-1923), Abb. 2. Grautoff, p. 14. Raub A20, p. 67; Rodenberg, 240; Schauer, Vol. 2, 12.
Offered by Michael Laird Rare Books.
A collection of his pamphlet work and similar work by contemporaries.
by POSADA, JOSÉ GUADALUPE.
Mexico: Various publishers, 1880–1920. Most are 16mo (14.5 cm, 5.71"). Most are between 8 and 16 pp. plus wrappers.
The oeuvre of Jose Guadalupe Posada Aguilar (1852–1913) is steeped in social engagement, satirical acuteness, and wry humor presented to the reader and observer in woodcut and lithographic illustrations for periodicals and chapbooks. During the late Porfiriate and early years of the Mexican Revolution, his art enticed the buyers of popular, very cheaply produced songsters; political broadsides; cookbooks; and single-sheet accounts of hangings, disasters, crimes, volcanic eruptions, and other sensational events. => Six of the publications here are signed, "Posada"; others are simply unmistakable; several are from his most famous publisher but were printed after his death and may or may not be restrikes. A few may simply be "in his style" and therefore, as part of the lot, invite considerations of his context.
The present collection consists of 13 pamphlet/chapbook items: They are a good representation of books for children, women, and the general reader. They include a volume of popular recipes for health problems, two booklets offering embroidery patterns (with women at their frames on the pamphlets' covers and the patterns on colored papers), several plays for children to perform ("Les Gendarmes") and for adults to read ("Don Juan"), compilations of patriotic songs and biographies, and so on. One wrapper is pink, two are gold, one front cover is printed in black and red; rear covers offer advertisements of the publisher's other offerings, within varied borders, and three devote the back wrapper to a poem.
The list follows: 1) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio. La salud en el hogar. Tercera serie de la coleccion de 300 recetas utiles para curar las enfermedades mas comunes. Mexico: Imprenta y Encuadernacion, n.d. [ca. 1900–18]. 2) Muestras para bordados. #9. Mexico: Publicadas por la testamentaria de A. Vanegas, n.d [ca. 1920]. Includes planchas 33–36. 3) Muestras para bordados. #10. Mexico: Publicadas por la testamentaria de A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1913]. Front cover signed, “Posada.” Includes planchas 38-40. 4) D. Juan Tenorio. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [1880, date on rear wrapper].
In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres. Front wrapper signed "Posada."
5) Los gendarmes. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres.
6) Los celos del Negro con D. Folias. Mexico: A. Venegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres. Front wrapper signed "Posada."
7) La casa de vecindad. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil. Front wrapper signed "Posada." But rear wrapper indicates "la imprenta de la test. de A.V. Arroyo." 8) Los novios. Mexico: [as per rear wrapper, Tipografia de la Testamentaria de A. Vanegas Arroyo, 1918]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil. 9) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio, comp. El sarape nacional. Moderna coleccion de canciones para el presente año. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, 1915. Front wrapper signed "Posada." 10) Vanegas Arroyo, A., comp. La ex-moderna. Sexta coleccion de canciones para el presente año. [front wrapper: Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo] title-page: 1914]. 11) Suarez, C. S. El placer de la niñes. Amar sin esperanza. Monologo. Mexico: Tip. de la Testa. de A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1918]. In series: Coleccion de monologos. Front wrapper signed "Posada." 12) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio, ed. La felicista: 13a coleccion de canciones modernas para el presente año. 1913. Mexico: Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, 1913. 13) Coleccion de himnos nacionales. No place, no publisher, no date, [but certainly Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroygo, and ca. 1880, as per rear wrapper].
Because of their ephemeral nature and their audience, copies of these are generally hard to find. All items are little held in the U.S., many in only one or two copies. Overall condition is good to very good. #1 lower inside corners nibbled by rodent; #10 seriously wormed; a few items with wrapper paper beginning to split along spine, shallow dog-earring to corners, or small chipping or a short rent to edges. => An excellent gathering whether for teaching or "just" for enjoyment.
Offered by Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts.
ENDEAVOUR'S LONG JOURNEY: CELEBRATING 19 YEARS OF SPACE EXPLORATION
by OLIVAS, JOHN D.
Manhattan Beach, CA: East West Discovery Press, 2013. First Edition. Signed by former NASA astronaut John D. Olivas on the dedication page, also adding his two Space Shuttle mission numbers: "STS-117, STS-128." The book brings space shuttle Endeavour to life through a journey to space with a young boy Jojo. Exploring space with the shuttle, Jojo learns about Endeavour's extraordinary contribution to space science and its famous service missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope. The book also features NASA photos, fun facts, famous firsts and quizzes to inspire kids in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Signed copies of this title are uncommon!. Quarto: pictorial boards in dust jacket; 36 pages. Illustrated by Gayle Garner Roski.. Fine in fine d/j.
Offered by Antic Hay Books.
by Herman Melville, Illustrated by Rockwell Kent
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New York: Random House, 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/good +. Kent, Rockwell. First trade edition with Rockwell Kent illustrations, duodecimo size, 823 p., in original dust jacket. First trade edition of "Moby Dick" illustrated by Rockwell Kent, which became an instant success. The Lakeside Press published a limited edition in three volumes with 280 illustrations; this trade edition is in a smaller format and uses 272 of the illustrations.
Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was an American painter and illustrator who bridged the artistic gap between Victorian and Modern art; when "Moby Dick" was published he was already well-known and his appeal has continued to grow throughout the 20th century, his work remains widely collected today. Interestingly, while Melville wrote "Moby Dick" in 1851, it was almost neglected until Kent elected to illustrate the story; his illustrated version had tremendous success and revived the novel for the 20th century.
DESCRIPTION: Black cloth boards with silver letting on front and spine, both the front and spine also display Kent's own design of a whale, with the head on the front and the tail on the spine, cream endpapers, replete with Kent's black-and-white pen/brush and ink drawings which made him justly so famous; duodecimo size (7.25" by 5.5"), 822 pages plus a one-page Epilogue. The unclipped dust jacket mirrors the design on the front panel and on the spine, in black with cobalt blue highlights, and while it displays Kent's name on both front and spine, it does not display Melville's; the back panel of the dust jacket is a publisher's ad for other books illustrated by Kent (five titles), both flaps are blank, with no printed price.
CONDITION: Near fine , the silver gilt on the front and spine bright and unrubbed to the extent that it fairly shimmers; with a square, strong text block and solid hinges, straight corners with a minimum of rubbing to the bottom corners only, and free of prior owner markings; the head and tail of the spine gently bumped with the head of the spine just beginning to fray the tiniest bit, a few spots of light soil to the top edge of the text block, and the aforementioned slight rubbing to the bottom corners; there is a vintage bookseller's ticket on the rear pastedown ("The Holliday Bookshop, 49 E. 49th St., New York") and a few light pencil markings on the top of the front pastedown (likely the bookseller's) with a price of $3.50. The unclipped (and unpriced) dust jacket just shy of very good, complete, the colours on the front panel are deep and true, the spine is sunned, light overall edgewear with a bit more at the head and tail of the spine which has creasing and some chips. Even with the dust jacket faults, still a lovely example of Kent's work at its best.
CITATION: Rockwellkentiana, p. 62.
Offered by Swan's Fine Books.
by JOYCE, JAMES
Boston: The Cornhill Company, [1918]. First American Edition. Hardcover. Unauthorized American edition of Joyce's first published book, preceding the authorized (Huebsch) edition by some months. Originally issued in London, 1907; this piracy coincides with the second London edition of 1918. SLOCUM & CAHOON 5. First printing. 12mo (16cm); publisher's green cloth, titled in gilt on front cover; [40]pp. Small spot of rubbing at base of spine and just a hint of age-toning to text, else a tight, Near Fine copy. Originally issued in clear (unprinted) tissue dustwrapper, lacking from this copy. Slocum & Cahoon notes "probably about a thousand copies" printed.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
Engraved Invitation to the Opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883)
New York: Tiffany & Co, 1883. Original invitation to the May 1883 opening ceremonies of the "New York and Brooklyn Bridge," issued by the Board of Trustees, the mayors of both cities, and chief engineer Washington Roebling. Under construction for over a dozen years, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, a marvel of modern steel-wire engineering, and it remains one of the iconic monuments of New York City. The opening ceremonies were attended by President Chester Arthur, and featured speeches, music, a gunfire salute by ships on the East River, and a fireworks display. Engraved by Tiffany, this invitation features a detailed view of the new bridge rising over the low-rise banks of Manhattan and Brooklyn. A near-fine artifact of New York history. Engraved invitation, printed on heavy cardstock, measuring 6.5 x 9 inches. Illustrated with an image of the Brooklyn Bridge and the seals of the City of New York and the City of Brooklyn. Completed in manuscript with the name of recipient A.J. McCall. Faint tidemark to lower righthand corner. Housed in original envelope embossed with the seals of both cities, addressed to McCall. Envelope soiled, with loss to lower corner.
Offered by Honey & Wax Booksellers.
Art by Tape, Not by Nam June Paik
[Single folded sheet with inkjet color illus. and printed text on both sides (277 x 102 mm. folded) l...]by LEIBER, STEVEN, BOOKSELLER
Single folded sheet with inkjet color illus. and printed text on both sides (277 x 102 mm. folded) laid in original plastic cassette case (a little worn) and the original audio cassette. [From the folded sheet]: San Francisco: April 1998. A very rare Leiber catalogue (no. 32) and one of his most ingenious vehicles for offering materials. The catalogue consists of an audio cassette, its case, and a list laid-in the case. "Artists, curators, art librarians, and others associated with the art world were faxed catalog entries with instructions to call and read the entry aloud over Steven Leiber's answering machine. These recordings were then included on the enclosed audio cassette. The title of this catalog is derived from a Nam June Paik mailing." It offers books, ephemera, periodicals, and artworks by or related to Beuys, Barbara Bloom, Brouwn, Jeanne Dunning, Feldmann, Filliou, Flavin, Holzer, Johns, Ray Johnson, Kounellis, Oldenburg, Pettibon, Roth, Vautier, Warhol, etc. In near fine condition; the case is a little worn with two minuscule cracks. WorldCat records only one copy. Produced in an edition of around 100 copies. ❧ Steven Leiber Catalogs (2019), p. 135.
Offered by Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller.
Cape Cod With Illustrations from Sketches in Colors by Amelia M. Watson. Two Volumes
by THOREAU, HENRY DAVID
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1904. Book. Illus. by Amelia M. Watson. Very Good. Hardcover.
An Illustrated set of one of Thoreau's most enjoyable works containing delicate and lovely, small color drawings by Amelia M. Watson in the margins throughout the text. Handsome and collectible.
Half green Morocco with marbled boards and matching endpages. Top edge gilt. Silk place ribbons. Bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear. Small 8vo; 7.75 inches tall; 173 pages, 208 pages, including the index.
Offered by Blind Horse Books.
Iver Johnson’s Arms and Cycle Works
by IVER JOHNSON
Iver Johnson's Arms and Cycle Works. Fitchburg, Mass. 1897. First edition, 32 pages. 19.5 cm. Illustrated covers. " 1871-1897 Ye further Hystorie of ye Ancient House of Iver Johnson " prefaces this bicycle trade catalogue for truss frame bicycles, which features their models 33, 35, 36, 37, D and E in double-page illustrated advertisements. Slight soiling, one page corner missing, otherwise good, printed on heavy glossy paper. One copy was found at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library.
Offered by Gosen Rare Books.
[Seattle]: [Industrial Workers of the World], 1920. Small leaflet, approximately 4x3.9 inches, corner crease with a couple small chips. Text is the same on both sides, though one side has a union bug at the bottom. Our House was a cafe that marketed itself in advertisements as "Popular With Our Boys in Blue.
Offered by Bolerium Books.
by MAZERET, CONSTANTIN AND ARISTIDE-MICHEL PERROT
Paris: (Cordier for) Le Fuel, 1822. 18mo (123 x 80 mm). [iv], 175 pp. Double column. Additional engraved title/wrapper with hand-colored fashion emblem (a parasol draped with shawls, necklaces and a flowered hat) and 15 engraved plates, on thicker paper, all stencil- and hand-colored under the publisher's direction, one (of corals) also color-printed; tissue guards. Small closed tear in first gem plate, else a fine copy. Bound at end are six leaves on thicker paper containing [12] pages, one per month, blank except for the engraved name of the month and hand-colored vignette (with traces of old pencil scribbles); and a smaller format foldout calendar for 1822, with the imprint of Lefuel,the months in columns each topped by a woodcut astrological vignette. Publisher's blind-stamped brown calf "cathedral" binding, the same block used on both covers, backstrip with blind-stamped ornamentation above and below the title, gilt edges, yellow endleaves, blind-stamped matching leather slipcase, lower cover of binding with silk tab for removing from the slipcase (a bit of scuffing). Etched bookplate of Robert de Beauvillain tipped to front endleaf.*** Only Edition of an unusual and still useful illustrated dictionary of objects, materials and concepts, most of interest to women and many relating to fashion. Covering both luxury goods and common objects and materials, the dictionary contains over 800 entries, many including the names and addresses of relevant Parisian suppliers, making it a far-ranging encyclopedia of feminine material culture in Restoration France. This is a special de luxe copy in a reliure à la cathédrale, with an extra fold-out calendar and hand-colored ornamented cahier for notes for each month of the year. From Abaca (a type of hemp or linen from the Philippines, of which the white plants were used to make a very fine cloth while the gray were used for cocardes) and Acier (steel being used at this time not only for buckles, belts, clasps etc., but also to make jewelry, a dozen examples being illustrated in plate 1), to Zéphir (a shawl made of net) and Zibeline (the animal whose nearly black fur is highly prized), the dictionary includes terms of apparel, footwear, and accessories, a vast number of textiles and related terms (materials, weaves, and treatments), furs and skins, common materials with a variety of applications (e.g., sandalwood, various vinegars and oils), objects used for personal grooming (sponges, tweezers, brushes, mirrors, etc.), many perfumes and eaux de toilette, gems and precious metals, furnishings and furniture, and even prostheses, including a long description of artificial eyes and where to purchase them. A few entries contain mini-treatises on social custom: the seven-column entry for Deuils, for example, discusses the proper length and appropriate mourning dress for various degrees of consanguinity. Some contain surprises - thus the entry on Marriage, far from listing bridal gowns and suppliers, tells a simple story of a painter and the changing perspective of a groom, before and after marriage. The language of flowers gets a special entry (which advertises a relevant publication, the Dictionnaire du Langage des fleurs ou de leurs emblèmes, of which I locate no edition). Besides steel jewelry, the finely colored plates show rings and earrings, pocketbooks and wallets, necklaces, specimens of coral, fans, a splendid bouquet, brightly colored garters, bejeweled combs, 24 precious stones (on two plates), an elaborate feather headdress, a pretty assemblage of ribbons, and several large handbags (sacs-gibecières, two plates). Perrot was a geographer who wrote and edited numerous works. Mazeret was an almost equally prolific writer for hire. The publisher Valentin Lefuel, active from 1792 to the late 1820s, specialized in the publication of almanacs, keepsakes, and children's books. He was also a binder, and he offered his publications in a variety of different bindings, including "gauffred calf," here in the "cathedral" style, inspired by gothic architecture, which enjoyed a vogue in France and England during the Romantic era. (I have not previously seen an example of this kind of binding on an almanac or almanac-like popular imprint.) Copies are held by the Brooklyn Public Library, Morgan Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smith College (the last two purchased from us); outside the US OCLC lists only the Bibliothèque nationale de France, to which the Catalogue Collectif de France adds a copy at Rouen. Colas, Bibliographie générale du costume et de la mode 2023; Grand-Carteret, Les almanachs français 3476. Cf. S. Malavieille, Reliures et cartonnages d'éditeur en France au XIXe siècle, p. 24 (on Lefuel).
Offered by Musinsky Rare Books.
Le Tour du Monde en 80 Jours. D'aprés Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
Paris: Les Jouets et Jeux Français, 1895. A board game for up to six players, following the eighty-day journey of Phileas Phogg across the globe. Each day is represented by a square on the board, centering around a globe. Some squares show notable characters, such as Phogg, Francis Cromarty, and Miss Aouda, while others show ships, animals, and landmarks from destinations as far as Calcutta, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Some squares have particular associated functions, which are outlined in the rules on the underside of the box lid. The course of play proceeds through a series of transactions using the fifteen tokens provided, with one player acting as Phogg's valet, Passepartout, who takes on the role of banker. The tokens are housed in a cloth bag. Six painted metal figures act as gamepieces, housed in a smaller box, with splits to corners of lid. Paper cup holding two dice, along with tokens and game pieces, contained in separate compartments in the box. Some soiling to back of game board. All elements stored in box with lush pictorial lid, some signs of repair, else a near fine and remarkably intact set.
Offered by Bromer Booksellers.
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