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...
Real Sailor-Songs. Two Hundred Illustrations
by John Ashton
London: Leadenhall Press, 1891. First edition. Half vellum over blue paper boards, gilt spine, gilt coat-of-arms on front cover. Covers stamped in black and red. With 32 facsimiles of nautical song broadsides mounted on brown paper stubs. With a total of 200 half-page illustrations, initials, headpieces, and tailpieces (some by Joseph Crawhall). Some yellowing to vellum, as usual. Some wear to seam where vellum meets paper on front board. Front hinge somewhat tender. Some rubbing to extremities. Edges untrimmed. Some toning to endpapers and some occasional toning to leaves from brown paper stubs. Twentieth century bookplate (Ex Libris Oliver Collection) to front pastedown. Overall a very good, clean copy of this lively and ambitious Leadenhall Press production.
The present work collects almost 130 sea shanties and other songs written by sailors from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. The songs are organized into sections according to relevant themes in the nautical life: sea fights, press gangs, disasters, life ashore, and love. The miscellaneous section at the end of the book covers everything from "Davy Jones's Locker" and "The Downfall of Piracy" to "The Female Smuggler" to "The Sailor's Widow's Lament."
Offered by Michael R. Thompson Rare Books.
Wakyomaru. Early Japanese advertising art for patent medicine cure
1870-1900· Hiroshima. Illustrated color-printed advertising broadside promoting Wakyomaru,a medicinal powder manufactured by Tenmai-Do. This woodblock print depicts, in no uncertain terms, the digestive-tract ailments that this powder can cure: from morning sickness, food poisoning, heartburn, low energy, vomiting and diarrhea, to colic in children, alcohol poisoning, chest and stomach pain, gastritis, overeating, and stomach troubles that can lead to depression! A viewer receives a particular graphic view of the dietary and emotional stress of life in Japan during the Meiji era.
Offered by Marc Selvaggio, Books & Ephemera.
by GUICCIOLI, COUNTESS TERESA. TRANSLATED BY HUBERT E. H. JERNINGHAM
London: Richard Bentley, 1869. First edition of Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli's intimate biography of her lover, Lord Byron. Octavo, two volumes bound in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, tissue-guarded tipped-in frontispiece portrait of Lord Byron to Vol. I. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli was the married lover of Lord Byron while he was living in Ravenna and writing the first five cantos of Don Juan. Teresa married an elderly diplomat, Count Alessandro Guiccioli, who was 50 years older than her on January 19, 1818, and three days later met Lord Byron at the home of Countess Albrizzi. Count Guiccioli was a ruthless and opportunistic nobleman who had ingratiated himself with Napoleon during his campaign in Italy in 1796, and during the French rule of Italy during the Napoleonic era, Count Guiccioli held a series of high offices, making him one of the most powerful men in Italy. When France was on the verge of defeat in 1814, Count Guiccioli defected over to the opposing side and came to enjoy power under the Pope, who he had starting out serving before defecting over to Napoleon. A cold, calculating man who had preferred to serve the strong rather than the weak, supporting Napoleon as long as he was winning and switched sides the moment he started losing, Count Guiccioli inspired no love or affection from anyone who knew him. Even Guiccioli's children from his previous marriages denounced their father was a cold, grasping man only interested in money and power.
Offered by Raptis Rare Books.
by Daniel Clowes
Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 1993. Fourth Printing. Softcover. NM; minor creasing to covers and along spine; tiny scuff front cover; minor shelf-wear back cover (along spine). 1337509. Special Collections.
Offered by Second Story Books.
by Tennessee Williams
New York: New Directions, 1947. Very Good+. Signed by Tennessee Williams on the front free endpaper, inscribed to former owner with "Lots of luck!" Former owner's name and date (1966) written on paste down. 166 pp. Publisher's illustrated boards. Seventh printing of the first edition. A Very Good+ copy, lacking the dust jacket, with wear to boards, small chip at head, light foxing and offsetting to endpapers. A rare signed copy of the playwright's most famous work.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
Pete Rice Magazine A very scarce and desirable western pulp title.
by GRIDLEY, AUSTIN AKA BEN CONLON
Pete Rice Magazine was one of several single character hero pulp titles published by Street & Smith. With a cover date of November 1933 for the first issue, he appeared just eight months after Doc Savage appeared on the stands and nine months after Nick Carter. The title changed to Pete Rice Western Adventures with the September 1935 issue and continued as such until the end of the run. Austin Gridley was the Street & Smith house author that the Pete Rice stories appeared under however most were written by a pulp author named of Ben Conlon.
In "Cheap Thrills", Ron Goulart describes the Pete Rice realm as "built around a cowboy with a coterie of distinctive sidekicks." In his book "The Pulp Western," John Dinan considered Pete Rice more a modern detective than your typical pulp fiction cowboy, "as the crimes and circumstances surrounding them were modern and not particularly western (e.g., counterfeiting)." Nick Carr cites Link Huller as referencing telephones and cars popping up in the stories occasionally. Pete seemed to be stuck somewhere between the old west and the early 20th century. The first 26 issues had nice striking cover art by Walter Baumhofer. Starting with the January 1936 issue, R.G. Harris took over and continued until the end of the run with the June 1936 issue.
Pete Rice has traditionally been a very difficult run to put together and to obtain all 32 issues can be quite a daunting task. Average condition is about VG/FN with many high grade. $8,500.00 Nov 1933 #1 (VG), Dec 1933 #2 (VG sm int tp), Jan 1934 #3 (VG+), Feb 1934 (FR/G), Mar 1934 (G, int tp), April 1934 (G), May 1934 (int. tp. G), June 1934 (FN/VF), July 1934 (FN), Aug 1934 (FN/VF), Sept 1934 (FN-), Oct 1934 (FN-), Nov 1934 (int. tp. G/VG), Dec 1934 (FN/VF), Jan 1935 (FN/VF), Feb 1935 (FN/VF), Mar 1935 (FN/VF), April 1935 (VG), May 1935 (G/VG), June 1935 (VG-), July 1935 (int. tp. G), Aug 1935 (VG), Sept 1935 (FN/VF), Oct 1935 (2" tear, VG), Nov 1935 (FR/G), Dec 1935 (FR/G), Jan 1936 (FN/VF), Feb 1936 (VG), Mar 1936 (FN), April 1936 (VG/FN), May 1936 (FN-), Jun 1936 (FN-)
Offered by Fantasy Illustrated.
Desert Notes Reflections in the Eye of a Raven
by Barry Lopez
Kansas City: Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, Inc., (1976). First Edition. First Printing Fine in tan cloth covered boards with bold brown text on the spine. An octavo of 8 3/8 by 5 1/2 inches. In a very near fine, unclipped dust jacket with very slight rubbing to the front panel. Signed by the author on the title page. 89 pages of text. Illustrated with a frontispiece from a black and white photograph. A collection of eleven essays.
Offered by Town's End Books.
The Cat and the Moon and Certain Poems
by YEATS, W.B.
Merrion Square, Dublin, Irland: The Cuala Press [Elizabeth Corbet Yeats], 1924. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/poor. First printing of this collection, one of 500 copies, octavo size, 51 pp., signed by Yeats. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is acknowledged by many as "supreme among modern Irish poets". He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 (the first Irish to be so recognized), at which time he was "one of Dublin's great established figures, both in his own right and as the representative of the cultural renaissance which...had set in motion the Irish revolution and war of independence." Throughout his life, and throughout his poetry - which is still read and loved today - Yeats is recognized as supremely Irish, with his life and poetry reflective of his Irish identity.
This book of mostly poems, as well as a short, one-act play "The Cat and the Moon", was dedicated to Lady Gregory (Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852-1932)) who, with Yeats and Edward Martyn, co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre. Several of the poems appeared in print previously in various publications such as "The Dial"; in the Preface, Yeats states: "[n]ow that I have just read through the poems in this little book, I renew an impression...- an odour, a breath, that suggests to me Indian or Japanese poems and legends..."
Contains the poems "Youth and Age", "Leda and the Swan", "Meditations in time of Civil War", etc. Of interest are the notes Yeats includes at the end explaining at times certain lines, at times his inspiration to write certain of the works, but always giving a glimpse into the poet's mind.
DESCRIPTION: Bound in full laid blue paper over boards with a buff linen spine, black lettering debossed on the front board, paper spine label with black lettering, all edges uncut, blue endpapers matching the binding, title page with woodcut of a unicorn in red by Robert Gregory, signature of Yeats in black ink underneath the book's title on the title page, most of the signatures are unopened, colophon in red, one of 500 copies (unnumbered); printed on paper made in Ireland, octavo size (8 1/2" by 5 5/8"), pagination: [i-viii] [1] 2-41 [1 blank] [colophon]. With the original plain paper wrapper.
CONDITION: Near fine, with clean boards, the linen spine clean and unworn, perfectly straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some of the usual offsetting on the endpapers and a couple gutters just beginning to crack, else fine. The paper wrapper poor, most of the spine portion missing so the two panels and flaps are in separate pieces, light vintage pencilled notations on the back panel.
CITATION: Wade no. 145.
Offered by Swan's Fine Books.
American Ornithology: or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States
by WILSON, ALEXANDER; CHARLES LUCIEN BONAPARTE; WILLIAM JARDINE.
London and Edinburgh : Whittaker, Treacher, & Arnot; Stirling and Kenney, 1832. First British edition. Very Good/The main part of this work consists of a reprint of Wilson and Ord's "American Ornithology" (1808-14), plus all but the last volume of Bonaparte's "American Ornithology" (because the last volume did not appear until 1833). In addition, Jardine contributed copious notes and a life of Wilson. The plates were all engraved afresh by W. H. Lizars from the originals drawn by Wilson, TItian Peale, and A. Rider. . 3 volumes octavo (23 cm). cvii, 408, and 28 plates; vii, 399, and 33 plates; viii, 523, and 41 plates. All plates printed by Lizars and colored by hand. Bound in recent green buckram with black leather title labels stamped in gilt. Scattered light foxing, but most plates bright and clear.
Offered by Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio.
SCRAPBOOK Of MILK & CREAM BOTTLE CAPS / TOPS
(n. p.), 1938. Album two-toned, green & white faux leather, internal string tie. Color pictorial onlay to front cover [chipped at bottom]. Album shows wear & soiling, with mounting paper age-toned & brittle, showing a bit of edge-chipping. Penciled to front cover inside: "Sept 1938". Tops used, though generally in Very Good condition.. 55 leaves of mounting paper, of which 24 have a total of 262 circular, printed paper / foil milk bottle tops, mounted 9 - 15 per page [all mounted on leaf recto]. Album: 14" x 10-5/8". Tops: various sizes & colors, 2-7/8" - 4-1/8"
A no-doubt unique collection of milk bottle tops / caps from the late 1930s, generally from the North East U.S., e.g., Sheffield Farms, Maplehurst; R. G. Miller & Sons, Hartford CT; New London & Mohegan Dairies, Inc., New London [CT]. That said, we find others from as far afield as A. R. Beavers & Sons, North Tazewell, VA & Superior Dairies Inc, St. Augustine FL.
Offered by Tavistock Books.
The First Commercial Christmas Greeting Card, 1843. A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You.
One of 1000 copies printed, it was sold for one shilling each, a hefty price at the time, the concept suggested by Sir Henry Cole who is best remembered as the intellectual designer of the Victoria & Albert Museum and responsible for the modern British postal system. However, because the central design depicted feasting and drinking (as designed by John Calcott Horsley), the card was attacked by the Temperance League and thought to promote drunkenness, so it was suppressed soon after publication and there are believed to be less than 30 examples thought to survive. The 2nd Christmas card did not get issued until three years later (in 1846).
The two side panels on the card illustrate images of the Christmas Spirit of giving alms to the poor, feeding and clothing the needy. Its release literarily coincided the same week with the publication of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and certainly helped perpetuate the celebration of the holiday.
Printed on one side, this is possibly a salesman's sample copy as an ink notation on the reverse side indicates the wholesale cost of buying multiples. It is also amongst the very best examples that survive.
Offered by Battledore.
Answer The Red Cross Christmas Roll Call
American Red Cross, 1918. 20 x 29.5 inches (51 x 75 cm). Condition B - soil, light edge-chips and creasing. Lithograph backed on linen.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
The Misfits (Original photograph from the 1961 film)
Beverly Hills, CA: United Artists, 1961. Vintage reference photograph from the 1961 film, showing actors Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe outside a Dayton bar, holding a hatful of collected cash bets to pay Montgomery Clift's rodeo fee. With the stamp of Les Artistes Associes on the verso, along with a stamp of a large capital "S."
The final completed film for Gable and Monroe before their deaths. Notoriously a trying endeavor for the actress, who was struggling with her drug problem and pending divorce from Arthur Miller and would often fail to show up to the set, and for director John Huston, who would drink and occasionally fall asleep while filming. Gable performed all of his own stunts, then suffered a heart attack only two days after filming ended and died ten days later.
Set and shot on location in Dayton, Nevada. 10 x 8 inches. Near Fine.
Offered by Royal Books.
New Orleans, The City Unique. St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, LA
Alfred S. Amer & Co. Ltd, Proprietors. Softcover. Very good. Undated, ca. 1920. Four-panel folding brochure with very nice cover art, illustrated internally with drawings in color and b/w half-tone photographs. Some general handling wear; very good. Text promotes both the hotel and New Orleans ("the City of Romance") and includes a section on Mardi Gras. The hotel included large spaces to accomodate conventions, meetings, and receptions, and the brochure includes a list of organizations that had "taken advantage of the excellent facilities and servies afforded" -- among them the Western Fruit Jobbers's Association, Association of Dining Car Superintendants, and Cotton Conference of Southern Governors. Rooms for two with private bath began at $5.00 a night.
Offered by Walkabout Books.
The Elephant Vanishes (Signed)
by Haruki Murakami
New York: Alfred Knopf, 1993. First American edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/near fine. Stated first edition. The first American printing of this novel by the author of A Wild Sheep Chase. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin. 327 pp. A handsome near fine copy with neat narrow remainder line to top of text block right at spine. Dustwrapper is in bright near fine or better condition. This copy has been both SIGNED and stamped by the author on the title page. A book not often found signed.
Offered by Derringer Books.
His Dark Materials (American Editions)
by Philip Pullman
1996. Signed. PULLMAN, Philip. The Golden Compass. WITH: The Subtle Knife. WITH: The Amber Spyglass. WITH: Lyra's Oxford. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996-2003. Together, four volumes. Octavo, original half navy cloth gilt (Books I, II), illustrated paper boards (Book III), original dust jackets. Lyra's Oxford: 12mo, original pictorial red cloth, mounted cover illustration.
First American editions of Pullman's celebrated trilogy—the second two books signed by Pullman on the title pages—together with the companion volume, Lyra's Oxford. A former schoolteacher and accomplished playwright, Pullman followed several historical and realistic novels with this literate, sophisticated series, "perhaps the most highly acclaimed work of fantasy for young adults published in the 1990s, The Dark Materials series is filled with moral ambiguity rather than clear-cut didacticism, and readers as well as [protagonist] Lyra must grapple with the difficult questions raised by the story" (Fantasy and Horror 7-311). "Initially [Pullman] simply planned to infuse his story with Miltonian atmosphere. Soon, however, Milton's theme, the Fall of Man, crept into the novel. [Pullman explains,] 'My story resolved itself into an account of the necessity of growing up, and a refusal to lament the loss of innocence'" (The New Yorker).
The final installment, The Amber Spyglass, became the first children's novel ever to win the Whitbread Book of the Year Award (2001). The Golden Compass first published in Britain in 1995 as Northern Lights; other volumes published in Britain in the same years, under the same titles. Text of Lyra's Oxford with slightest toning to edges. A fine and desirable set, signed in two volumes.
Offered by Bauman Rare Books.
UNDER A GLASS BELL (Signed and inscribed by Anais Nin)
by Anais Nin
New York, NY: Anais Nin Press, 1948. Book. Very good+ condition. Paperback. Signed by Author(s). First Edition. Octavo (8vo). 101 pages of text. Original paperback binding, with minor rubbing to the extremities; protected in custom stiff archival mylar. Binding illustrations by Ian Hugo. Inscribed and signed by Anais Nin on a front endpaper "For [name withheld] Anais Nin." The author has signed her name and has handwritten the title on the front cover, either by hand or enngraved in the lithographer's stone. The text is clean and unmarked. Stated on the copyright page: First edition.
Offered by Kurt Gippert Bookseller.
The Art Of Maurice Sendak - 1st Edition/1st Printing
New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1980. First Edition; First Printing; Signed by Biographee. Cloth. 0810944480 . A Fine printing of the first edition, decorated cloth in the original printed glassine dust-jacket . Signed and dated Dec-80 by Maurice Sendak on the first flyleaf; As creator of Caldecott winningWhere the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Higglety Pigglety Pop!, and the illustrations of countless other memorable children's books, legendary Maurice Sendak, ranked among the best known and best-loved artists in America; Color Illustrations; 278 pages.
Offered by Books Tell You Why, Inc.
Winnie the Pooh (Signed, First Edition)
by A.A. Milne (Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard)
London: Methuen and Co., 1926 Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. First edition, first printing, first state dust jacket with "117th Thousand" to rear flap. Signed by Milne and Shepard to the title page. Publisher's dark green cloth, decorated in gilt to front board with an illustration of Christopher Robin and Pooh, lettered in gilt to spine, top edge gilt, illustrated map endpapers; in the original tan pictorial dust jacket printed with Shepard's illustrations in black. An excellent copy with only some very minor rubbing to the spine ends and slight offsetting to the endpaper; in the jacket with some toning to the spine and some chipping with minor loss to the spine ends, else very good. Overall, a very attractive copy, exceptionally scarce signed by both author and illustrator. Housed in a custom folding box with leather spine label, lettered in gilt. Winnie-the-Pooh is the second in Milne's series of children's books featuring the adventures of the teddy bear character Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Each telling an individual and complete story, the chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh can be read independently of one another. Milne created the story of Winnie the Pooh for his son Christopher Robin, who had a teddy bear named Edward Bear. In his introduction, Milne explains how Edward Bear became Winnie the Pooh, although he notes that "we can't remember whether Winnie is called after Pooh, or Pooh after Winnie." The name "Winnie" comes from a bear that the Milnes saw at the London Zoo, while the name "Pooh" is from a swan whom the fictional Christopher Robin encountered in When We Were Very Young (1924).. Signed by Author and Illustrator. First Edition.. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.
Offered by B & B Rare Books.
All 18 Christmas Numbers from HOUSEHOLD WORDS and ALL THE YEAR ROUND
by Charles Dickens
1850. This is a complete set Dickens's annual "Extra Christmas Numbers" -- all nine of HOUSEHOLD WORDS, followed by all nine of ALL THE YEAR ROUND. London: Dec. 1850 - Dec. 1858 and Dec. 1859 - Dec. 1867. Original self-wrappers (first 13 numbers) and original blue printed wrappers (last five numbers) -- as issued. First Editions of all eighteen pieces. Dickens was the editor (or "conductor") of both of these periodicals -- one rising out of the ashes of the other -- but he also wrote at least part of the Christmas story in each of these eighteen numbers.
The stories in HOUSEHOLD WORDS are: 1850 ("A Christmas Tree" is by CD) 1851 ("What Christmas is, as we Grow Older" is by CD) 1852 A ROUND OF STORIES ("The Poor Relation's Story" and "The Child's Story" are by CD) 1853 ANOTHER ROUND OF STORIES ("The Schoolboy's Story" and "Nobody's Story" are by CD) 1854 THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS ("The First Poor Traveller" and "The Road" are by CD) 1855 THE HOLLY-TREE INN ("The Guest," "The Boots" and "The Bill" are by CD; the rest is by Wilkie Collins) 1856 THE WRECK OF THE GOLDEN MARY (most of "The Wreck" plus the hymn on p. 21 are by CD; the rest is by Wilkie Collins) 1857 THE PERILS OF CERTAIN ENGLISH PRISONERS (chapters I and III are by CD; chapter II is by Wilkie Collins) 1858 A HOUSE TO LET ("Going into Society" is by CD) The stories in ALL THE YEAR ROUND are: 1859 THE HAUNTED HOUSE ("The Mortals in the House," "The Ghost in Master B's Room" and "The Ghost in the Corner Room" are by CD -- as well as all but one of the other opening paragraphs) 1860 A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA (chapters I, II and V, plus passages in other chapters, are by CD; the rest is by Wilkie Collins) 1861 TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND (chapters I, VI and VII are by CD) 1862 SOMEBODY'S LUGGAGE (the first, second, part of the third, seventh and tenth chapters are by CD) 1863 MRS. LIRRIPER'S LODGINGS (chapters I and VII are by CD) 1864 MRS. LIRRIPER'S LEGACY (chapters I and VII are by CD) 1865 DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S PRESCRIPTIONS (chapters I, VI and VIII are by CD) 1866 MUGBY JUNCTION (the first four chapters are by CD -- as indicated on the front cover) 1867 NO THOROUGHFARE (the Overture, Act III, and parts of Acts I and IV are by CD; the rest is by Wilkie Collins, listed as co-author) All eighteen numbers are in very good-plus or near-fine condition, with only very minor edge-wear and soil (though the 1851 issue has a couple of closed tears on the front wrapper and an ink-mark on the rear). Five of the numbers (HhW 1854 through 1858) still have unopened leaves; a few appear that they might once have been bound up (though not trimmed or anything). They are housed in a modern cloth case with inner chemise. Though the last five numbers (the ones in blue wrappers) are not uncommon, the others have become rather scarce; it is now quite unusual to encounter a complete collection of all eighteen. Eckel pp 193-197 ("In good state they [a complete set] are hard to find" -- this in 1932!).
Offered by Sumner & Stillman.
by Oscar Wilde
London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane. At the Sign of the Bodley Head. Boston Copeland and Day LXIX Cornhill, 1894. LARGE PAPER, one of 25 copies. Printed by the Ballantyne Press. Illustrated by Charles Ricketts with wood-engraved title page, half and full-page designs, ornamental initials. Printed in red, black and green. Unpaginated. 1 vols. Slender 8vo (10 x 7-3/8 inches.). Original full vellum gilt, with fantastic designs, including 2 weird female sphinx on both sides by Charles Ricketts, uncut The deluxe binding has "extra ornaments to the sides and inner marges of the binding and with ribbons". The binding is signed by Ricketts with monogram CR on the upper cover; the monogram of the binder, Leighton Son and Hodge, appears on the lower cover. The deluxe issue has an added lower border on the binding and ties. Fine copy, custom half morocco clamshell box. Ricketts, Charles. LARGE PAPER, one of 25 copies. Printed by the Ballantyne Press. Illustrated by Charles Ricketts with wood-engraved title page, half and full-page designs, ornamental initials. Printed in red, black and green. Unpaginated. 1 vols. Slender 8vo (10 x 7-3/8 inches.). One of 25. "The monsters of the Egyptian room at the British Museum live again in his weird, sometimes repulsive, but all the same stately and impressive lines. The vellum binding, the various symbolic designs, the quaint rubricated initials and the general arrangement of the text, all by Mr. Ricketts' sympathetic art, are most subtly infused by the spirit of the poem..." (Pall Mall Budget, June 21, 1894). This was the last book Wilde published before his imprisonment.
"the most beautiful and consummately designed trade book of the 1890s" - Nelson
With the bookplate of novelist Anthony Powell (1905-2000), about whose suite of novels, A Dance to the Music of Time, Guy Davenport observed, "The only book I know that takes Proust's habitual narrative gestures, Anglicizes them, and succeeds in the effort. In fact, Powell is the best critical study of Proust."
A CHOICE COPY OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS OF THE 1890s. Mason 362; Nelson, A View from the Bodley Head, pp.45- 46 passim; Wick, THE TURN OF A CENTURY 1885-1910, Number 10; Ray, Illustrator and the Book, 262. Provenance: Anthony Powell (his bookplate).
Offered by James Cummins Bookseller.
Various locations in Oregon and Alaska, 1930. Approximately 325 photographs, twenty postcards and real photo postcards, a linen-backed map of Alaska, and a few assorted ephemeral items, all housed in a contemporary leather satchel. Generally minor wear, some chipping to about twenty photographs. Overall very good.
A treasure house of silent cinema photography from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, featuring over 300 images from THE CHECHAHCOS and other films produced in the orbit of the film's director Lewis H. Moomaw, all retained by one of his crewmen, Guerney William Hays.
THE CHECHAHCOS, released in 1924, was the first feature film shot in Alaska. A melodramatic tale of the Klondike Gold Rush, it was directed by Lewis H. Moomaw of the Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation. The story was based in part on the experiences of the film's producer, Austin E. Lathrop, known as "Alaska's first home-grown millionaire." The film has been preserved in the National Film Registry, and can easily be viewed on the internet. Offered here is a large collection of photographs and other ephemera once belonging to a CHECHAHCOS crew member named Guerney William Hays (1880-1952), including film stills, snapshots from the set, and other images of Alaska scenery. Many of the images match up with scenes from the completed film. The subject matter includes all that might be expected from a film produced in and about Alaska: glaciers, dogsleds, saloons, archvillains and damsels in distress, along with shots of the crew and technology that made the film possible. The largest and most professionally-produced photographs in the collection are eighty 8-x- 10-inch prints, almost all of them clearly from the CHECHAHCOS shoot, with twenty-one stamped on the verso by the Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation and with either a printed or manuscript title written along with the stamp, reading "The Chechakos" (the spelling of which was later tweaked to its release title). One of the stills shows the entire company of the Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation, about 150 people, in the snow beside their Pullman cars; two banners for the film company hang outside the rail cars. A separate shot of the film company shows their train at the entrance to McKinley Park, with a banner hanging on the train reading, "Private Car Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation Entrance to McKinley Park on the Alaska Railroad." Other stills show scenes from the film, shots of the cast and crew preparing to start scenes, posed scenes clearly intended for use as publicity stills, cast group pictures, behind-the-scenes shots of the cameramen and other crew with various equipment, photographs of empty interiors perhaps to be used for continuity, a few featuring the dog sled teams, and more. In addition to documenting the production, these images also present a rare view of Alaska in the early-20th century. The remaining 240 images, most of which measure approximately 3 x 5 inches, were likely not formally produced by the film company for use as publicity, but are in fact production photographs, and still stand as valuable visual documentation of the early filmmaking process. While some of these photos are more of the vernacular sort, the great majority of the images show a mixture of preproduction, production, and set-related photographs from the film company's time in Alaska shooting THE CHECHAHCOS and from other production's attached to the career of Lewis H. Moomaw, the film's director.
A great number of these images were likely produced as working production photographs - executed for the use of the company during the shooting process, scouting for locations, documenting costumes, set continuity, set construction, what might today be called craft services, suggesting or documenting potential camera set-ups, or as studies for potential publicity stills, and more. While not created as traditional publicity products, these images capture the early filmmaking process both in front of and behind the camera, presenting a quite uncommon slice of film production history. The fact that they were produced during the production of a film in Alaska make them an even more valuable source of information on the filmmaking process in the 1920s in a most unusual place. Production stills are produced in very small quantities compared to publicity stills, are often unique or close to unique records of a production, have a much lower survival rate, and are keenly sought after as historical records of the filmmaking process. One of the few captioned photographs shows four wives of the CHECHAHCOS cast and crew on a fishing expedition, including Moomaw's wife and Mrs. Guerney Hays. A few other photographs show an actress posing with crude dummies that were apparently about to be sent to their doom in a canoe scene in the Alaskan wilderness. Other production photographs from Alaska feature scenes on glaciers (one of which shows the exact spot from a moment in the opening minute of the film), a young girl with a giant Alaskan crab (who is also pictured in the larger professional images and is in the film), film crews poised on icy ground, dog sled teams, identified locations in Skagway, and more.
One of the other films pictured here is likely CALL OF THE ROCKIES (1929). This western was filmed in Oregon, the usual home of the filmmakers involved in the Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation, with Moomaw as supervising producer. CALL OF THE ROCKIES was directed by Raymond K. Johnson, one of the cinematographers on THE CHECHAHCOS, and features two actors identified in pencil captions on the verso of photographs present here: Russell Simpson and Jim Mason. There are numerous photographs featuring a western wagon train and other images of the traditional western, which either appeared in CALL OF THE ROCKIES or perhaps one of Moomaw's other films produced in Oregon in the 1920s - UNDER THE ROUGE (1925) or FLAMES (1926), the latter of which climaxed in a raging forest fire and featured an early screen appearance by Boris Karloff. All of the postcards feature Alaskan scenes or subjects and were most likely acquired while the film company was shooting in Alaska, or produced for them while they were there. This is the case for at least one of the postcards - a Christmas greeting with the banner at bottom reading, "Compliments of the Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation." The final item of note here is a folding, linen- backed map of Alaska issued by the Alaska Steamship Company. The map measures about 21 x 30 inches and was issued in 1917. It was almost certainly taken along to Alaska by Hays for the filming of THE CHECHAHCOS, linen- backed either before-hand or while in Alaska to prevent damage from over-use. The entire collection of photographs and ephemera is housed in a period leather satchel. These photographs were collected and retained by Guerney (or Gernie) William Hays (1880-1952), who spent a career in the early film industry, mostly in Oregon. Some pieces of ephemera bear his name, and some of the larger stills are annotated "Hays" on the verso. His 1918 draft registration lists him as a motion picture operator in Portland, and his obituary lists him as a member of the International Alliance of Stage Employees. His only film credit in the Internet Movie Database is for THE CHECHAHCOS, for which he is credited with "sets and lighting" and also an uncredited supporting role on screen. One of the larger-format photographs features a crew member in a cramped equipment room with dozens of lights and mounds of cables; this is almost certainly Hays himself, or perhaps one of his assistants. One of the photo developer's envelopes bears the name of Hobart H. Brownell, the cinematographer of THE CHECHAHCOS. Two of the photographs here are inscribed to Hays - one from the actor Bert Sprotte in 1919, and the other from banjo player Eddie Peabody, who has inscribed his portrait to Hays, writing that "No finer stage manager I ever worked with." Another photograph shows Peabody's elaborate stage show. THE CHECHAHCOS remains an important early film for its authentic depiction of Alaskan life. Movies about the great white north were popular with early film audiences, but were usually filmed in California. When Lewis H. Moomaw proposed to shoot a film entirely in Alaska, about the days of the Klondike Gold Rush in the territory, locals in Alaska jumped at the chance to find him funding. Upon arrival in Anchorage, fully half of the town showed up to greet the film company. The cast and crew would spend three months filming in and around Anchorage, the small mining town of Girdwood, on Childs Glacier, Abercrombie Rapids, and Eyak Lake. The film premiered in the Empress Theatre in Anchorage on December 11, 1923, and played to packed houses across Alaska the next year. Sadly, the film never found a large audience in the continental United States, playing occasionally over the next two years before falling into obscurity. The film was essentially lost until the year 2000, when a print was restored by archivists at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Three years later, the film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. The Library of Congress's press release when they selected THE CHECHAHCOS to the National Film Registry describes the film as such: "This independent, regional film was the first feature film produced in Alaska, and is renowned for its spectacular location footage of the lonely and unfathomable Alaskan wilderness, frenzied dogsled pursuits, and life-and-death struggles on the glaciers."
A wonderful collection of great historical interest for early film scholars and of the history of Alaskan cinema.
Offered by William Reese Company.
by Clive Cussler
New York: Pyramid Books, 1973. First Edition. Mass market paperback. Very good. First edition, first printing. Signed and dated by Clive Cussler on the title page. The first published book featuring the author's primary protagonist, Dirk Pitt. It was nominated for an Edgar Award for "Best Paperback Original Novel of 1973" by the Mystery Writers of America. Original pictorial paper wrappers. Some creasing to the spine; else crisp, clean, and very good.
Offered by johnson rare books & archives.
Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen &c
By Thomas Boys, Printseller to the Royal Family, 1839. A Very Beautiful Book
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BOYS, Thomas Shotter. Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen &c. Drawn from Nature and on Stone. London: By Thomas Boys, Printseller to the Royal Family, 1839.
First edition. Folio (21 1/4 x 14 5/8 inches; 539 x 371 mm.). [4, as title, Dedication]. Twenty-six "lithotint" (color-printed lithograph) plates (including title page) printed by G. Hullmandel after drawings by Boys, with tissue guards. Bound without the two-page "Descriptive Notice" that appears in some copies.
Publisher's original half red morocco, front board with inner red moire silk panel enclosing a red morocco label lettered in gilt with title. Expertly rebacked to style with plain spine. Original yellow endpapers with neat early ink inscription dated 1871. The blank margins of the plates have been expertly cleaned not affecting the original coloring. An excellent copy.
"A very beautiful book, and one that should take preference over its later and more popular rival, the Original Views of London [by Boys, from] 1842...Apart from the brilliance, sensitivity, and technical mastery of the drawing on stone there is the great, and often under-estimated, technical and artistic achievement of Hullmandel in making possible the transmission of such drawings, and in developing the cool, transparent, graduated tints, subtle in colouring, on which the unique effect of the book depends..." (Abbey).
"...A genuine triumph...by Thomas Shotter Boys, a rather neglected artist who merits a far higher place than he was ever awarded in the annals of the English water-colour school...In this book Boys is head and shoulders above them all. His drawing is refined and sensitive, and his colouring cool, simple, and direct" (Hardie).
"Our recommendation of it to all who love and can appreciate art cannot be given in terms too strong; it is worthy of the highest possible praise. The Work is of exceeding beauty" (Art Union, 1839).
"Apart from the brilliance, sensitivity and technical mastery of the drawing on stone, this volume features Hullmandel's great and often under-estimated technical and artistic achievement in making the transmission of such drawings possible and in devolving the cool, transparent, graduated tints - subtle in colouring - on which the unique effect of the book depends" (Bobins II, 512).
Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) was an English watercolor painter and lithographer. He was articled to the engraver George Cooke. When his apprenticeship came to an end he went to Paris where he met and came under the influence of Richard Parkes Bonington, who persuaded him to abandon engraving for painting. Some sources describe him as a pupil of Bonington, although William Callow, who later shared a studio with him in Paris, disputed this. He exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time in 1824, and in Paris in 1827. In 1830 he went to Brussels, but returned to England on the outbreak of the revolution there. Paying another visit to Paris, he remained there until 1837, and then returned to England in order to lithograph the works of David Roberts and Clarkson Stanfield.
His most important work, Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen, etc., a collection of color lithographs, appeared in 1839, attracting a great deal of admiration. Drawn on the stone by Boys and printed by Charles Joseph Hullmandel, it was described in a review in the Polytechnic Journal as "the first successful effort in chromo-lithography hitherto brought to perfection".
Abbey, Travel, 33; Tooley 105; Bobins II, 512; Hardie, pp. 247-249.
Offered by David Brass Rare Books.
Europa Redux: 6892 Color Illustrations, Captioned in an Imaginary Language
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Switzerland, 1946. Extraordinary outsider manuscript, produced in Switzerland during the Second World War, comprising almost seven thousand individual color illustrations by an unknown artist. Most of the carefully composed images are detailed glimpses of prewar European life, ranging across genres: landscapes, portraits, still lifes, domestic scenes, pictograms and icons. Themes return, but no recurring characters; despite the manuscript's resemblance to a storyboard or comic strip, the images are connected only by a kind of dream logic, and do not appear to follow a linear narrative. The artist works in a number of modes, some abstract, some stylized, some meticulously realistic, but all executed with great skill and force. As a work of art, the manuscript calls to mind the haunted quality of writers like Stefan Zweig, Robert Walser, and W.G. Sebald. Strikingly, many of the images are captioned with words that do not reliably correspond to any Western language, or to engineered auxslangs like Esperanto or Volapük. Some words show the influence of Schwyzerdütsch, the spoken Swiss-German dialect, but for every caption that recalls a known language, there is another that remains entirely opaque. If not a language, the captions may represent ciphers or anagrams; the phonetic aspect of some words suggests that the speaker may be a child, repeating received sounds rather than spellings.
In March of 2020, German cryptographer Klaus Schmeh added the manuscript, under the provisional title Europa Redux, to his public checklist of encrypted books; the code (if it is a code) of the captions remains unsolved. The manuscript's words, like its images, have an algorithmically generated quality, suggesting endless variation within strict bounds. The first 75 sheets are numbered in sequence. After that, the sheets are dated, rather than numbered. The dates indicate that the artist typically produced one sheet per week (perhaps as a therapeutic exercise), but there are gaps: whole months are unaccounted for in 1945 and 1946. The earliest sheets are wordless, executed in colored pencil and crayon, with uncaptioned images in rectangular frames. After a series of experiments with media and genre, including several themed sheets inspired by the conventions of travel posters and matchbook graphics, the artist settles into a distinctive style, capturing Europe, in bright kaleidoscopic fragments, at the moment of its implosion during the Second World War.
See the Instagram account @europaredux for a more complete survey of the manuscript and ongoing speculation about the artist's identity, language, and purpose. An obsessive and captivating work of art, worthy of serious study. Manuscript consisting of 106 loose poster-sized sheets, each measuring 17.25 x 23 inches. Each sheet covered with a grid of uniformly sized color illustrations, executed in pencil, oil pastel, watercolors or crayon on rectos only, 42 to 81 images to a sheet. Numbers penciled in margins (at least three numerical sequences, some overlapping), some sheets dated in pencil, all sheets unsigned. Pinholes to corners of each sheet. Housed in a modern portfolio.
Offered by Honey & Wax Booksellers.
Installing Jefferson’s Great Clock at Monticello
by Thomas Jefferson
A significant letter concerning Jefferson's long-planned installation of large cannonball weights that powered the seven-day clock being installed in Monticello's front entrance hall. Thomas Jefferson. Autograph Letter Signed ("Th: Jefferson") as President, to James Dinsmore. Washington, January 28, 1804. With integral transmittal leaf addressed in his hand with his franking signature ("free Th: Jefferson Pr. US.") at top left. 8 x 10 in.1/28/1804.
Making room for the Great Clock at Monticello and designing a better lumber kiln. Here Jefferson objects to Dinsmore's suggestion to "cutting the wall, not even the cellar wall, to make a space for the descent of the clock weights..." He preferred to "have them advanced into the room so as to descend naked till they get to the floor from where they may enter a square hole & go on to the cellar floor."
Still operational today, the Great Clock, has faces for both the interior and exterior of the mansion, and operates with a pair of eighteen-pound weights that descend on ropes through open holes in the floor into the cellar.
Jefferson then addresses the matter of the recent fire that consumed a large quantity of lumber intended for expanding the mansion. Rather than wait another year to allow green lumber to dry, he suggests a design for an arched, brick roof for the lumber kiln to reduce the threat of more valuable building material being consumed by fire: "we must therefore purchase bricks somewhere, cost what they will, to cover the house with an arch as here represented, it will take about 1500 whole bricks, clinkers. The gable ends may be closed with stone, leaving the Southern one a smoke hole as is shewn in this drawing, so that stopping that and the firehole at the bottom of the other end, a fire may be extinguished in a moment for want of air..."
In the letter Jefferson sketches a cross-section of the kiln, recommending a 60-degree arch.
Condition: Small losses at left margin not affecting text, mostly separated at spine, but reinforced where still attached, loss from seal tear to transmittal leaf.
Complete Transcript
Dear Sir Washington Jan. 28.04
I return you the drawings for the architrave of the front of the gallery, with a preference of that marked b. with the rounded listel. I do not approve of cutting the wall, not even the cellar wall, to make a space for the descent of the clock weights; but would have them advanced into the room so as to descend clear even of the cellar wall. should the box in this case encroach too much on the window, we may avoid the eye sore by leaving them unboxed, to descend naked till they get to the floor whence they may enter a square hole & go on to the cellar floor.
The loss of so much plank by fire & otherwise is one of the most afflicting circumstances I have had to meet in the whole course of my building: & the only term to it seems to be the conclusion of the work. to cover the kiln-house with slabs will be only to require double time & fuel to season with and probably to consign another kiln full to the flames. we must therefore purchase bricks somewhere, cost what they will, to cover the house with an arch as here represented. it will take about 1500. whole bricks, clinkers. the gable ends may be closed with stone, leaving in the Southern one a smoke hole as is shown in this drawing, so that stopping that and the firehole at the bottom of the other end, a fire may be extinguished in a moment for want of air, even if it has already made some progress. so the external1 covering of wood may burn down without affecting the plank. speak to mr Lilly to get the bricks, and to mr Hope to do the work as soon as the weather will admit, and in the mean time endeavor to provide make a new provision of plank. John Perry proposes to get the scantling for the N.W. offices this winter, which I should prefer if it can be secured from waste. I am afraid the flooring plank he was to lay upstairs is among that lost, and that we shall not have those rooms ready for the plaisterer. Accept my best wishes.
Th: Jefferson
Offered by Seth Kaller, Inc.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (First Edition, First State)
by L. Frank Baum
Chicago and New York: George M. Hill, 1900. First edition, first state. hardcover. Near fine.. A near fine first edition, first state, with all first state plates and textual issues, including the first state plates with the two dots on the moon and the red shading on the horizon, and the boxes around the ad in the front and the text on the back pastedown. Stunning condition, in a gorgeous decorated leather clamshell case. Very rare in this superb condition.
Offered by Bookbid.
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI [AND OTHER POEMS]
John Keats
[London], 1928. 313 x 248 mm. (12 1/2 x 9 7/8"). 21 pp., [1] leaf (colophon). EXQUISITE TERRA COTTA-COLORED CRUSHED MOROCCO, LAVISHLY GILT, INLAID, AND BEJEWELLED, BY RIVIERE & SONS (stamp-signed on front turn-in), upper cover with border of inlaid turquoise morocco, inlaid green morocco frame tooled with gilt rose leaves and inlaid with 22 ivory morocco blossoms, each with a dark blue cabochon stone at center, a border of terra cotta morocco lettered in gilt with first lines of "Endymion" by Keats ("A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases / It will never pass into nothingness: But still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams and health and quiet breathing"), a thinner band of turquoise morocco enclosing a large central panel of green morocco richly tooled with curling fronds of foliage emanating from turquoise morocco hearts at corners and bearing numerous inlaid ivory morocco blossoms, central recessed medallion of turquoise morocco with gold metal "J K" monogram set with 79 seed pearls, this enclosed by an oval of gilt-tooled green morocco and a frame of terra cotta morocco inlaid with rose branches of brown and green morocco blossoming with six ivory morocco roses, each set with five red stones (garnets?) at its center, this outlined with turquoise morocco strapwork intertwined with a purple morocco heart at head and foot, lower cover with inlaid frame of turquoise morocco tooled with gilt Greek key pattern and set with 14 gilt-tooled tan palm leaves, center panel with large Greek vase inlaid in dark blue and tan morocco tooled in gilt, raised bands, spine compartments framed in turquoise morocco and with inlaid leaf design, gilt titling, PALE GRAY MOROCCO DOUBLURES elaborately tooled in gilt into a checkerboard of 12 compartments, each containing a lyre or a spray of flowers, the doublures surrounded by a frame of terra cotta and turquoise morocco set with 36 small circles of tan morocco, ivory watered silk end leaves, all edges gilt (newly inserted matching silk guards). In the original padded, silk-lined black straight-grain morocco box.
Title page with illuminated border in colors and gold, burnished gold lettering, inset miniatures of Keats (with tiny inscription of "A S" and the date 1928 written in white paint) and "La Belle Dame," each page of text with intricate three-quarter illuminated borders in rich hues of blue, purple, green, and pink, with much gold, 14 illuminated initials, FIVE VIGNETTE MINIATURES, AND FOUR FULL-PAGE MINIATURES. Ratcliffe, "Jewelled Bookbindings and Illuminated Manscripts, A Checklist." No. 230. Spine just slightly darkened, otherwise A SPARKLING COPY INSIDE AND OUT.
When Keats declared, "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever," he could have been describing this spectacular example of early 20th century handcrafted book art: a splendidly bound, exceptionally attractive modern illuminated manuscript dating from the period after its scribe and illuminator Alberto Sangorski (1862-1932) began to work for Riviere. A Polish émigré, Alberto started his professional life as secretary to a goldsmith's firm, became attracted to the book arts at the age of 43, and began doing illuminated manuscripts that were then bound by his brother Francis' firm, Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sometime around 1910, Alberto and Francis had a falling out, and the artist went to work for the chief competitor to his brother's firm. In the early part of the 20th century, an intense rivalry between Riviere and Sangorski developed, and the two workshops began putting out intricately decorated bindings described by Nixon as having as their main aim the putting of "so much gold and color on the cover that the hue of the original leather could no longer be determined." The upper cover of the present binding beautifully demonstrates the truth of Nixon's characterization, boasting 137 jewels in addition to rich gilt tooling and morocco inlays in five colors, but the more restrained lower cover also makes an impact with the relative simplicity of its Grecian urn. Ratcliffe estimates that of these special bindings "no more than 300 were ever produced," and given the labor-intensive process required, this small number is not surprising. Three works by one of the greatest Romantic poets are written out in Alberto's elegant script: "La Belle Dame sans Merci," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "Ode to Psyche." The smaller miniatures here depict a knight leading La Belle Dame on horseback, the Acropolis, a woodland path, Psyche lying naked on her bed, and Cupid with Psyche. The full-page miniatures show us a knight in full armor, the Porch of the Caryatids at the Greek temple of Erechtheion, a Greek urn, and Psyche with peacocks.
The present manuscript is not only dazzling in its beauty, but also memorable in the degree of decoration; there are other lovely Sangorski illuminated books, but ours has significantly more miniatures than the majority of the rest. Alberto tended to favor jewel tones of purple and deep blues for his illuminated initials and borders, and those colors appear here, but in more vibrant hues than usual--lapis and azure instead of navy, lilac and lavender in addition to violet--and this aesthetic choice brings considerable vitality to the manuscript, celebrating the immortality of beauty rather than mourning its evanescence.
Offered by Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books.
NEWLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT OF A FAMOUS LIFE OF CHARLEMAGNE BY AN ITALIAN HUMANIST. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Italy (Florence), c. 1461-1463/4. Dimensions 184 x 136 mm., 56 leaves, complete, written in 19-17 long lines through f. 30, and in 23-21 long lines from f. 31v to end in a cursive humanistic script, one three-line blue initial, one 5-line gold initial, two finely executed 4-line illuminated initials (additions?), f. 3, and f. 31v, added coat of arms (f. 1).
BINDING: CONTEMPORARY, extensively repaired and restored, blind-tooled brown calf over wooden boards.
TEXT: A newly discovered, hitherto unrecorded, manuscript of the Life of Charlemagne by Donato Accaiuoli (who followed the ninth-century life of Charlemagne by Einhard), with Plutarch's Life of Quintus Sertorius from his Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans in the Latin translation by Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444).
PROVENANCE: Written, almost certainly in Florence, c. 1461-1463/4; the partially erased inscription on f. 56rv states that it was copied by Giovanni Marco, a pupil of Pierro di Strozzi, for Thomas de Debrenthe, bishop of Zagreb. This is a very early manuscript by Marco, who went on to have an illustrious career as a scribe in Naples. Our manuscript certainly dates before Thomas de Debrenthe was appointed Bishop of Nitra in 1463/4, and 1461-1462 seems likely, making it very close in date to the copy (now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) presented by the author, Donato Acciaiuoli (1429-1478) to King Louis XI of France (reigned 1461-1483) on January 2, 1462; unidentified coat of arms, lower margin, f. 1: party per pale, in the first half or a demi-eagle displayed argent; in the second sable 3 bars or.
CONDITION: slight tear lower margin, a few leaves are unevenly trimmed presumably by a modern owner, overall in excellent condition; two metal clasps and catches on binding likely modern replacements, now lacking straps, once fastened back to front, repairs to split in back board, overall very good condition.
Offered by Les Enluminures.
by Michael Caviezel
Pontresina, Switzerland: M. Caviezel, 1880. Very good. Large oblong 8vo. (230 x 190 mm). Altogether 12 leaves: 6 leaves with flower and plant identifications in manuscript, and 6 leaves with altogether 41 pasted-on pressed flowers (see below), each protected by original tissue guards. Original red cloth (a trifle worn), both covers embossed in blind, upper cover gilt with the title "Flora de la Suisse," cream-colored moire pastedowns and endpapers, inner hinges of red cloth (stained along lower hinge, affecting rear pastedown and endpaper in gutter, not affecting plates, text, or tissue guards. Preserved in a red cloth protective case. THE DIMENSIONALITY AND NATURALISM OF THE PRESSED FLOWERS AND PLANTS IN THIS ALBUM IS REMARKABLE, and stretches our conception of the 19th-century book as a physical object. Here the 41 specimens are arranged as BOUQUETS that eminate from actual MOSSY TURF. Thus, the present "book" is not only a vehicle for transmitting information in manuscript (scientific names of Swiss Alpine plants and flowers) but it contains the actual physical specimens themselves. The names in manuscript appear on sheets opposite the specimens they describe; there is faint offsetting from the arrangements which makes the handwriting both ghostlike and luminous. As the plants and flowers are arranged like paintings, this particular volume represents a kind of continuum between the realms of art, botany, and bibliography. The name of the compiler of the present album, Michael Caviezel, is stamped on the verso of the front binder's blank: "Alpen-Pflanzen M. Caviezel, Pontresina, Engadine Schweiz (i.e. in Pontresina in the Engadine Valley of Switzerland). Caviezel was a teacher and forest warden, and promoted the area's rich flora to tourists, offering guides, bouquets, presses for drying specimens, and luxurious albums -- as here. We have seen other albums by Caviezel but they were marred by boring presentation; unsightly foxing; and defective specimens or missing specimens. MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED.
Offered by Michael Laird Rare Books.
New York: Kramer's Pastries, 1984. A bright, colorful group of 'souvenirs' from this German bakery on the upper West side of Manhattan; usually children, little boys are posing as the 'bakers' - little girls are the 'customers'; one of these has an elf or dwarf as the baker; the former owner has noted the dates of acquisition on a few of the items, the final item dated 1999 and noting 'last one'; the bakery closed that year - a landmark of culinary delight in the neighborhood for many years; each item is marked 'German' and is composed of heavy-weight cardstock, pressed and die-cut carefully and vividly colored; each is centered around a baking theme; one 'double' counted as part of the group; average size about 7 1/4" x 6 1/4"; a few with a small mounting pinhole; one with a repair (at back); all colorful, fun and amusing German paper craft work, reminiscent of the old style Halloween decorations made with papier mache - since these are made on such heavy stock, there's a very pronounced three-dimensional effect, having good depth; light wear; very good condition and a delightful group of bakery, cake decorating & culinary ephemera.. First Edition. Not Bound. Very Good.
Offered by Certain 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.
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.
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 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.
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