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...
by Mervyn Peake
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950. First edition. Hardcover. Very good +. 453 pp. Octavo. [22 cm]. Red cloth over boards with original dust jacket. Dust jacket is fully intact with two [1 cm] tears: one at head of spine and one on top right corner. Small [1 in x 1.5 in] scuff on front panel of dust jacket, slightly marring illustration. Corners ever so slightly bumped. Head and tail of spine exhibiting some minor signs of shelf wear. A rare first printing of the second installment of Peake's trilogy outlining the boyhood and adolescence of Titus Groan, the Lord of the titular Gormenghast Castle.
Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
Bookbinding: its Background and Technique
by Edith Diehl
New York: Rinehard & Co, 1946. First Edition. First printing, with Rinehart device present on verso of each title page. Two volumes in publisher's card slipcase; octavo (24cm), black cloth, titled in gilt on spines; 251pp, [46] leaves of plates + 406pp; illus. Private embossed ownership stamp to each title page; front free endpaper of second volume slightly darkened from a laid-in clipping, still a tight, fresh, Near Fine set in the original slipcase which is clean but slightly bruised at bottom edge and with a brief split to lower joint, Very Good. Lovely copy of this authoritative and still indispensable reference work for collectors, binders, and historians.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
by JOYCE, JAMES. HENRI MATISSE, ILLUSTRATOR.
ONE OF 250 SPECIAL COPIES SIGNED BY BOTH JOYCE AND MATISSE. Introduction by Stuart Gilbert.
Publisher's original brown buckram, embossed in gilt and titled on front cover and on flat spine, the decorations from a design by LeRoy H. Appleton. In the publisher's slipcase.
WITH 26 ILLUSTRATIONS BY HENRI MATISSE, depicting the Calypso, Aeolus, Cyclops, Nausicaa, Circe, and Ithaca episodes from Homer's "Odyssey."
Front pastedown with evidence of bookplate removal. Slocum & Cahoon A-22; Quarto-Millenary 71; "The Artist and the Book" 197.
Slipcase with only the most trivial signs of wear, text with half a dozen tiny, faint marginal smudges (from the printing process), but A VERY FINE COPY--clean and fresh internally, and in an unworn binding.
This is an unusually well-preserved copy of the only book illustrated by Matisse to be published in America, and one of the great collaborations of artist and author in the annals of 20th century private press publication. In the opinion of art publisher Monroe Wheeler, "it was a great idea to bring [Joyce and Matisse] together" since they were "celebrities of the same generation, of similar virtuosity." Newman says that this work and the Limited Editions Club "Lysistrata" "stand as landmarks in the history of the illustrated book," and that "Ulysses" is almost certainly the most famous work among LEC publications designed by George Macy. Matisse's illustrations are curious in that they were based not on "Ulysses," a work the artist had not read when he was asked to make etchings for the text, but on Homer's "Odyssey," from which Joyce's book obviously derives. "Following Matisse's wishes, the preparatory studies were grouped in front of each corresponding print, allowing the viewer to see the progression from sketch to finished composition." (Grolier Club Exhibition) Joyce was furious when he learned that Matisse had chosen to illustrate scenes from Homer's "Odyssey," rather than from Joyce's novel, and as a consequence, he stopped signing the present Limited Editions Club printing in a fit of pique, after affixing his signature to 250 copies (whereas Matisse signed them all). Although the LEC edition of "Ulysses" is far from a rare book in the marketplace, obtaining a copy of the volume and the slipcase in the very fine condition seen here is becoming increasingly difficult.
Offered by Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books.
by J.D. Salinger
Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1951. First edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. A Near Fine copy of the book in like dust jacket. Book with a previous owner's name, "Cole," written on the closed lower text-block, black mark to the upper text block, some bleed through to the upper margin of the corresponding pages, and one small mark on the half-title. Otherwise clean boards, bright spine gilt and clean internally. Near Fine dust jacket with slight wear at the spine ends, white color on the spine just a trifle toned and lower front corner bumped (book as well). All wear to jacket matching up with the book, making this an authentic copy, not a marriage with a later issue jacket. With all relevant issue points, including original price (in the correct place on the flap), Salinger's hair touching the upper edge of the rear panel, and "First Edition" stated on the copyright page.
Salinger's novel was not the first coming-of-age story to highlight teenage angst, but it sits squarely as the pinnacle of those efforts. It offers Holden Caulfield's perspective on school, New York City, sexuality, family and friends, and, of course, phonies, with a subtext on alienation and loneliness running throughout the book. "In American writing, there are three perfect books, which seem to speak to every reader and condition: 'Huckleberry Finn,' 'The Great Gatsby,' and 'The Catcher in the Rye.' Of the three, only 'Catcher' defines an entire region of human experience: it is—in French and Dutch as much as in English—the handbook of the adolescent heart" (The New Yorker). Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
by James Joyce
Paris: Shakespeare and Co, 1922. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST EDITION IN UNRESTORED ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.
Number 349 of 750 printed on handmade paper (out of a total edition of 1000). Paris: Shakespeare and Co., 1922. Quarto, original blue-green wrappers, early custom half-leather box. Wrappers with light rubbing to edges, wear to spine with approximately one-inch chip below first spine band, very mild crease to about first 30 leaves; front wrapper holding, but very tender at joint. Some wear to slipcase.
A very good copy of what is generally considered the most influential novel of the twentieth-century; rare in unrestored original wrappers.
Offered by Manhattan Rare Book Company.
by KENT, NIAL [PSEUDONYM OF WILLIAM LEROY THOMAS]
New York: Greenberg: Publisher, 1949. First Edition. First edition. [iv], 447, [1] pp. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with silver lettering. Very Good+ with light mottling to cloth, light wear, in an About Very Good example of the fragile dust jacket, price intact, with chips at extremities and wear along folds, vertical crease to spine panel, two tape mends to verso, spine dampstaining visible on verso only. A decent copy of a book typically found in very rough shape.
An uncommon gay coming-of-age novel mentioned in Anthony Slide's Lost Gay Novels. Slide calls it "very much a novel for gay readers of the day" with "some wonderful description of New York gay life in the 1940s," although savaged by critics for its sentimentality.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
by Gore Vidal (Writing as Katherine Everard)
New York: Pyramid, 1950. First Edition. First Edition, a paperback original.
Very Good plus in wrappers, with light wear and creasing at the corners, and reader creases along the spine.
Offered by Royal Books.
[Flyer]: Demonstrate Against the KKK and White Supremacists Attacks: Death to the Klan!
San Francisco: Committee to Free the Pontiac Brothers and Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 1980. Unbound. Fine. Photomechanically reproduced flyer on 8.5" x 14" paper. About fine with slight edgewear.
A flyer for a weekend protest against the KKK with conferences and demonstrations urging people to "fight white supremacy;" "support black and Chicano Mexicano liberation and all national liberation struggles;" "defeat U.S. imperialism." Depicted are police in riot gear and Ronald Reagan's face behind the white sheet of the Klan. The protests were organized by the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee who were known for using violent gestures and bombings to get their point across. Beginning in 1978 by white anti-racists, with possible ties to the leftist group, The Weather Underground, members would hand out flyers during the infamous punk shows of the Bay Area in the 1980s. Soon bands like the Dead Kennedys were proud sponsors, advancing the group's messages with benefit concerts. Participants in the JBAKC were linked to numerous other radical groups and some believe they were merely a front for the May 19th Communist Movement.
Offered by Bolerium Books.
The First KKK Parade in the Northeast - Racist Anti-Immigrant March
This real photo postcard shows racism rearing its head in rural Milo, Maine with the Ku Klux Klan parading in white hoods in their first Northeastern public march. Milo, Maine: Clement Studio, 1923. September 3rd, 1923. Black and white silver gelatin photograph. 5.25" x 3.5" inches.
This event was the first Klan parade in the Northeast as well as the shadowy organization's first daylight parade nationwide. Milo is a small town in central Maine whose centennial anniversary included the march of 75 Klansmen pictured. The Klansmen are seen in their fully white hooded regalia, some with American flags in tow, marching through the sleepy town. The Klan in this area directed its intimidation at the Catholic population including the French-Canadians and Irish who formed sizable minorities in the state. Maine had an active and conspicuous Klan revival in the 1920s, with Milo being but one of a handful of locations within the state to see shows of force by the KKK as well as open recruitment.
Anti-immigrant sentiment was high in the 1920s, a time when the Klan was flourishing following D.W. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, a hallmark in white supremacist propaganda, mythologizing the founding of the first Klan. The Klan employed marketing techniques and a fraternal structure to maintain white supremacy, opposing Jews, the Catholic Church and African Americans as rightful members of American society. Its membership peaked between 1.5 and 4 million in 1924 before declining rapidly in the late 1920's. Minor small stain along upper margin, not affecting image. Overall in very good condition and rare.
Offered by Max Rambod, Inc.
The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel
by Edward Gorey
New York / Boston: Duell, Sloan and Pearce / Little, Brown and Company, 1953. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. Gorey, Edward. First printing of Gorey's first book, duodecimo size, 64 pp., signed by Edward Gorey. "The Unstrung Harp has the distinction of being virtually the only Gorey book where the written word is as lengthy as the illustrations are detailed. It is said that you should write about that which is familiar to you, and Mr. Gorey did just that in this book." Often referred to as "a small masterpiece", "The Unstrung Harp" is clearly an autobiographical work and offers insights into his creative process in a manner which draws the reader both into the work itself and into the mind of Edward Gorey.
Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) is well-known and well-loved for his poisonously funny picture books which are complex, humorous, serious, and provocative. However, this book, his first published work, may be a bit different than many Gorey fans might expect; he was still developing his signature style and therefore the illustrations "are wonderfully complex while still exhibiting a looseness of line that is not present in later works." The "tale is of an author struggling to find the right story to fit a title plucked at random from a list of hopeful book titles (a practice Gorey indulged in). It goes on to detail all the attendant difficulties involved in writing a novel" - indeed, one can clearly envision Gorey experiencing the same exact agonies as his title character (n.b., above quotes from the web site of the Goreyana blogspot).
DESCRIPTION: Pictorial paper-covered boards, the illustration a wrap-around by Edward Gorey in three colours, black lettering on both boards and spine, brown endpapers, signed by Edward Gorey on the title page in his usual style (beneath his printed name which has been crossed through), "First Edition" stated on title page (matches the first issue points in Toledano), the story unfolds with text on the verso of each page and a full-page illustration on the recto of each facing page; duodecimo size (7.5" by 5"), unpaginated with 32 leaves (64 pages). In the original dust jacket with the same wrap-around Gorey illustration as on the boards, the front flap with a summary of the book and showing the original price of $2.00, the back flap with a "review" by C.F. Earbrass, followed by a short bio of the author.
CONDITION: Near fine, the paper boards clean, the corners straight without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and it is entirely free of prior owner markings; some minor edgewear to the bottom edges of the boards, gentle bumping to the head and tail of the spine, and a very small area of light soiling to the lower corner of the front board (not obstructing text or the illustration). The dust jacket is also near fine, unclipped, with a minute amount of edgewear to the head and tail of the spine and where the flaps meet the panels, one light stray mark to the front panel near the joint. Overall a near fine copy of Gorey's first book, somewhat scarce in marketplace, particularly when signed.
CITATION: Toledano A1a.
Offered by Swan's Fine Books.
GOOD OMENS: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
New York: Workman Publishing, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett on the half-title. A comic novel about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times, this classic collaboration inspired the Amazon / BBC televsion series starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Octavo. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket with just a hint of edgewear.
Offered by johnson books & archives.
by Thomas Savage
Little, Brown and Co, 1967. first. hardcover. near fine/near fine. First edition, as stated on copyright page. Book and dust jacket near fine. Small water stain on front panel of dj. Housed in custom-made slipcase.
Offered by Bookbid.
Pride and Prejudice (Peacock Edition)
by Jane Austen (Illustrated by Hugh Thompson)
London: George Allen, 1894. First Thus. Iconic original green publisher's cloth binding stamped ornately in gilt to spine and front board with the peacock design. All edges brightly gilt. Green coated endpapers. Frontispiece with tissue guard and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. A Near Fine copy overall with slight bubbling to cloth of rear board and some foxing on the early and late pages. Previous owner's inscription and stamp on the half-title. Several illustrations hand-colored by a previous owner. A pleasing, square copy of a sought-after edition.
Austen was not yet 20 (like Elizabeth Bennet) when she drafted the novel, under the title First Impressions, between October 1796 and August 1797. Declined by the publisher Cadell, it subsequently underwent major revisions including a title change to Pride & Prejudice. Finally, in late 1812, the novel was accepted by Egerton and published in early 1813. The book sold well and was obviously much talked about, not least because of the unknown identity of the author. Anne Isabella Milbanke (the future Lady Byron) called it a very superior work" and "the most probable fiction I have ever read." Madame de Staël borrowed a copy during her stay in London in 1813. The dramatist Richard Sheridan described it as "the cleverest thing he [had] ever read" - whereas, according to Jane's brother Henry, an unidentified "gentleman" supposedly remarked that "[he] should like to know who is the author, for it is much too clever to have been written by a woman." In fact, almost 200 years later it is as popular as ever with the number of adaptations steadily increasing.
The artist, Hugh Thomson, was most famous for his illustrations of Austen's work, as well as the work of Charles Dickens. Known for his attention to detail, he would often spend a great deal of time in museums researching the lifestyles and dress of the characters he was depicting, Thomson started working on his drawings for Pride and Prejudice in 1893. They proved an immense success, selling over 10,000 copies in the few years after they were released. He would go on to illustrate many of Austen's other novels as well.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
Seven Images Featured in The Story of My Life
by DARROW, CLARENCE
1929. Used to Illustrate Darrow's Autobiography [Darrow, Clarence (1857-1938)]. [Darrow, Ruby (1870-1957)]. [Seven Images Featured in The Story of My Life]. Four black-and-white photographs, two black-and-white photostats and one full-color cigar box label, sizes range from 4" x 2-1/2" to 6-1/2" x 10". Photographs and photostats each captioned on verso in Ruby Darrow's hand. Light toning and soiling to print of Clarence Darrow as a child, faint fingerprints to retouched print of Darrow's mother, horizontal fold line, small creases and tear to top-edge of cigar box label, which is reinforced on verso. A unique group of items.
These images were used by the publishers to illustrate various editions of Darrow's 1929 autobiography The Story of My Life. Most depict Darrow's youth and family and are reproductions, presumably created in the publication process. Ruby Darrow's caption to a small print of Darrow at four years old indicates that the card was given to her by Mary Darrow, one of Clarence's sisters. The photostats are of that print at different stages in the resizing process. The other prints feature Clarence's mother Emily ("Eddy") Darrow; a group portrait of Clarence, his father, and his son Paul; and Clarence "19 to 20 years old as a law student at Ann Arbor." They are housed in a cardboard envelope from Silvey, Daniels & Co., a Chicago photo studio near the Darrows. The envelope may reflect the firm's involvement in the publication process or simply have been used for storage. The striking cigar box label was commissioned in honor of Darrow's victory in the Anthracite Strike of 1902. It depicts Darrow seated, flanked by the scales of justice and the symbol of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and refers to him as "The Defender of Labor's Cause." It was reproduced for the signed limited run of The Story of My Life but does not appear in subsequent editions.
Offered by Lawbook Exchange.
CAMP-FIRE, MEMORIAL-DAY, AND OTHER POEMS
by SHERWOOD, KATE BROWNLEE
Chicago: Jansen, McClurg, & Company, 1885. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Tipped in on a prefatory blank leaf is an original albumen portrait of Kate Sherwood above a clipped autograph, as well as two autograph letters signed (ALS), one by Kate Sherwood on Ohio Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home letterhead and the other by her daughter, Lenore Sherwood, on Woman's Relief Corps letterhead. Additionally, a Grand Army of the Republic ribbon and related newspaper clippings are tipped in at the front.
A volume of recitations for Grand Army camp fires, this was Sherwood's first collection of verse and her most widely read. The poems focus primarily on the Civil War and its aftermath, with selections like "Christmas at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home" and "Thomas at Chickamauga" which did much to support Sherwood's philanthropic work. In 1883, she was one of the founders of the Woman's Relief Corps (WRC), an auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic, the organization for veterans of the Union Army. Preceding the United Daughters of the Confederacy by more than a decade, the WRC provided charity for poor Northern veterans, advocated for legislation to provide pensions for nurses who served during the Civil War, and within 25 years of its founding, grew to include over 100,000 members. An extra-illustrated edition, with 12 plates (it appears plates have been removed). It was issued without illustrations. Octavo. In a full black morocco binding by Cox of Chicago, with elaborate gilt stamping, five raised bands, ornamental dentelles, and marbled endpapers. The contents are a little shaken. An old bookseller's description is tipped in at the front. The spine is leaning just a touch; otherwise very good.
Offered by johnson rare books & archives.
A Coney Island of the Mind. Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Portraiture by R. B. Kitaj
San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2005, 2005. First Arion Press edition, number 278 of 300 numbered copies, signed by Ferlinghetti and Kitaj. Fine copy, as new.. Folio, brown linen spine, pictorial boards, printed paper label. Frontis portrait. One of the landmarks of Beat Generation poetry, first published in 1958 by New Directions. This handsomely produced edition by Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press, in collaboration with artist B. J. Kitaj, reprints the important first section of that collection, the sequence of 29 poems, "A Coney Island of the Mind," for which the book is titled.
Offered by Brick Row Book Shop.
Poems: North & South / Cold Spring
by Elizabeth Bishop
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1955. First edition and first printing. Hardcover. 95 pages. Bishop's second book, which included poems from her first book along with eighteen newer poems. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A very good plus copy in blue cloth boards with some light bumping to the spine ends and some other very minor wear in a very good plus dust jacket that has some minor wear and is lightly soiled. Still, a very nice copy of a fairly uncommon book.
Offered by Jeff Hirsch Rare Books.
by Dave Eggers
SF: McSweeney's , 2009. Hardcover. Very good. First Printng. Very good hardback in bound in publisher's faux fur covered boards.
Offered by Kenneth Mallory.
WWII 1945 SINGAPORE SURRENDER COLLECTION: ITINERARY, PHOTOS, ALS, TLS, AND MORE
by FULLER, MAJOR GENERAL H.H.
1945. Collection of photographs, signed documents (personal and official military), maps, ephemera, and other collectibles relating to Major General Horace Fuller and the WWII Singapore Surrender on Sep 12, 1945. Collection includes the following:
- Woodboard file-chronology "U.S. Representatives at Singapore Surrender 12 September 1945 Maj. Gen. Fuller" with the first page of the treaty print-signed by Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Supreme Commander Japanese Expeditionary Forces Southern Regions, Field Marshal Count Terauchi. Includes 34 official 8" x 10" photographs stamped "U.S. Army Signal Corps" in lower right corner and number-stamped on back, as well as a four-page itinerary documenting events before and after signing (9/10/1945-9/13/1945). All photographs and documents are secured between 11 ½" x 9" boards ; minor wear with a few scuffs and light stains. Light creasing to treaty document; creasing and edge-wear to itinerary with a few partial tears. Photographs in good condition with light creasing and a slight bend
- Green leather-covered Furlough Banquet Program from 6/14/1909 dinner at Hotel Astor (New York City) attended by Major General Fuller and General Patton. Twelve-page program details banquet menu, toasts, songs with final two autograph pages blank.. Wrinkling and wear to leather cover with edge-wear and partial tears to corners; small stain back cover. Age toning to all pages with creasing, edge-wear, and light spotting; partial tear to final autograph page
- Mountbatten one-page signed letter (TLS) dated 10/10/1947 regarding decision to omit controversial material from the final draft of a report to "Combined Chiefs of Staff"; mild age-toning to page edges with partial tear to upper left edge and corner (with COA)
- 7 ⅝" x 9 ⅝" photograph of General MacArthur signed/inscribed to Major General Fuller; good condition with light creasing (with COA)
- Occupation currency note dated "Singapore Surrender 12 Sept 45" signed by Fuller and 17 other individuals. Signees were likely present at Raffles Hotel dinner held the evening of the Singapore Surrender and referenced in the four-page itinerary provided in the woodboard file-chronology (see above woodboard chronology/itinerary description and 4th photograph from bottom BT-45-2335 for guest list)
- "Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia" report signed/inscribed by Mountbatten to Fuller. Light spotting and toning to pages with moderate wear to cover (creasing and partial tears) and spine (final three pages detached). 306-page report signed inside front cover by Mountbatten and numbered "No.142" on front cover. 35 /12" x 21 ¾" folded map of Burma included with report (with COA).
- Double-sided silk WWII survival evasion escape map No.44 details escape route possibilities throughout China (Side L) and French Indo China (Side M). Legend shows district boundaries, elevation changes, topography, locations of railways, telegraph lines, and freshwater. Rayon acetate map is folded and has wear along edges.
- Three ribboned "Republique Francaise" cards
- One invitation postcard (Fuller event at the U.S. Embassy in France)
- Two authentic period leather gun holsters (not in group photograph)
- 10 ¾" long knife in scabbard (6 ½" blade). Wear to scabbard bottom; unraveling of wire handle; a few light scuffs to blade
- One framed charcoal (or possibly crayon) portrait of Major General Fuller drawn on paper by McClelland Barclay (1943). Portrait rests in 8 ⅝" x 10 ⅜" black-painted wooden frame. Portrait not examined out-of-frame but appears to be in good condition; wear to frame corners and edges
- One letter (ALS) from Major General Fuller to wife, Betty (undated but likely c.1940). Two-pages penned in blue ink; light creasing and age-toning to edges (paper was folded into quarters)
- Four chest ribbons
- Two National Geographic folding maps: "The World Map" and the "United States of America" (both dated 1951); light creasing to the pair
- Small bag with one lighter and two pins ("Croche et Tient" and "6th Field Artillery Regiment" insignia)
- Collection of thirty-seven photographs and postcards :
- One unframed military "attache" group photo dated 2/22/1936 and signed in lower right corner by unknown individual. Photo measures 11 ⅝" x 8 ⅝". Creasing, toning, and edge-wear with partial tear to upper left corner and ½" partial tear along upper edge.
- One photo album page (excised) with pre-WWI photographs. Page measures 12" x 9 ½" with creasing and edge-wear (numerous partial tears to paper backing); photographs have light creasing
- One mounted and framed photograph of Fuller with horse (pre-war). Light spotting and toning.
- Twelve undated postcards (~5 ½" x 3 ½")
- Thirteen photographs sized 5" x 3" (7 of which are stamped and dated 1945 on back by "SEAC Photo Unit")
- Six larger stamped photographs (measuring ~9 ¾" x 7 ⅛") and stamped "S.A.F.R.A.", "New York Times" or "Air Corps U.S. Army"; and two unstamped photographs
- Two ~5" x 7" photographs (stamped "Associated Press" and "France Presse")
- One unstamped flag-raising photograph measuring ~7" x 4 ½"
This is a massive lot and all items have been extensively photographed.
Offered by Second Story Books.
by Harper Lee
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. First edition. Near Fine/Very Good +. A Near Fine copy of the book in a Very Good+ dust jacket. Spine a trifle cocked, some foxing to the end papers and top-edge of the text block. Dust jacket without any large chips or tears, just some minor rubbing/wear at the corners and spine ends.
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning coming of age novel, set in Maycomb, Alabama. An American classic, the novel took over two years for Lee to write- it was inspired by her own upbringing. (In fact, Lee's father was a lawyer who had defended black clients at the cost of his practice). Its production was not without difficulty and Lee once became so angry over the course of writing the novel that she tossed the manuscript out a window. The book has never been out of print, sold tens of millions of copies, and is required reading for the American adolescent. To Kill a Mockingbird was also adapted by Horton Foote into a 1963 film, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck. The film would win three Oscars. "...skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious." (Contemporary New Yorker review). Near Fine in Very Good + dust jacket.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
Au Baiser d'Avignon. With 12 lithographs by Picasso.
by JEAN VILAR, PABLO PICASSO
Edition le Vent d'Arles 1972. Texts by Jean Vilar. Complete portfolio with 12 lithographs by Picasso printed by Mourlot. Limited edition in 300 copies. This copy is not numbered. Loose as issued, guarded in the original cloth gray folder illustrated with Picasso signature in white.
Offered by Marinart.
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
by NABOKOV, VLADIMIR
Norfolk: New Directions, 1941. First edition, first issue binding in the coarse red burlap. 205, [1, printer's imprint) pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Publisher's red burlap, printed dust jacket. Bookshop ticket of Hathaway House Bookshop, Wellesley. Slight abrasion on the spine, else near fine in very good or better dust jacket (price clipped) with a few modest chips in margins and a little toning on the spine. First edition, first issue binding in the coarse red burlap. 205, [1, printer's imprint) pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Nabokov's First American Book, Signed in 1941. "While living in Paris, Nabokov wrote The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941), his first novel composed in English. ... Nabokov, his wife Véra, and their six-year-old son had fled to America by ship to escape the Nazi terror in 1940, and Nabokov assumed teaching positions at several American colleges and universities, notably at Harvard, Wellesley, and Cornell" (ANB).
Of a total edition of 1500 copies, 749 were bound in the first issue cloth. The combination of the coarse burlap binding, in conjunction with the thin-paper jacket, assured that very few copies in jacket survive. Signed copies of the first edition, in the first binding, are rare.
This copy signed by Nabokov in the year of publication, in the upper right corner of the flyleaf: "V. Nabokov. Wellesley. Christmas 1941". Juliar A21.a, issue a.
Offered by James Cummins Bookseller.
London: Methuen & Co.,, 1924-28. A Fine First Edition Set of the Four "Pooh" Books in their Original Dust Jackets
MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. SHEPARD, Ernest H., illustrator. When We Were Very Young. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1924].
First edition (second issue with p. ix numbered). Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). x, [2], 99, [1] pp. Numerous text illustrations.
Publisher's dark blue cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, back cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, plain endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Neat contemporary ink name and date "November 28th 1924" on front blank. A near fine copy. In the original cream-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and a few tiny chips to head and tail of spine with no loss of text.
[Together with:]
MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. Winnie-the-Pooh. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1926].
First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). xi, [5], 158, [2] pp. Numerous text illustrations.
Publisher's dark green cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Slight discoloration from jacket on free-endpapers. Neat near contemporary ink name and date "January 11th 1927" on front blank. A near fine copy. In the original yellow-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and minimal wear to head and tail of spine with no loss of text.
[And:]
MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. Now We Are Six. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1927].
First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). x, [2], 103, [1] pp. Numerous text illustrations.
Publisher's maroon cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pink pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities. A near fine copy. In the original pale green-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and a small chip to head of spine with no loss of text.
[And:]
MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. The House at Pooh Corner. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1928].
First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). xi, [1, blank], 178, [2] pp. Numerous text illustrations.
Publisher's salmon cloth gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal discoloration from jacket on free-endpapers. Original peach pictorial endpapers printed in black. A near fine copy in the original salmon pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and one tiny chip to tail of spine and one very small (3/8 inch) closed neat tape repair to lower back panel with no loss of text.
A near fine and quite wonderful set of this 'Children's Classic' housed together in a pale orange cloth clamshell case with printed label on spine.
Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956) was an English writer who was best known for his children's stories about the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh. After attending the University of Cambridge's Trinity College and writing for the literary magazines Granta and Punch, Milne began a successful career as a novelist, poet and playwright in the 1920s. His best-known works are his two collections of children's poetry, When We Were Young and Now We Are Six, and his two books of stories about the lovable bear Winnie-the-Pooh and his animal friends.
Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in The Wind in the Willows and The Pooh Books. Throughout the first world war he had been contributing to Punch. He was hired as a regular staff cartoonist in 1921 and became lead cartoonist in 1945. Shepard was recommended to A. A. Milne in 1923 by another Punch staffer, E. V. Lucas. Milne initially thought Shepard's style was not what he wanted, but used him to illustrate the book of poems When We Were Very Young. Happy with the results, Milne then insisted Shepard illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh, Now we Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner. Realizing his illustrator's contribution to the book's success, the writer arranged for Shepard to receive a share of his royalties. Shepard modeled Pooh not on the toy owned by Milne's son Christopher Robin but on "Growler", a stuffed bear owned by his own son. His Pooh work is so famous that 300 of his preliminary sketches were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969, when he was 90 years old.
Offered by David Brass Rare Books.
by LARSEN, NELLA
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. First Edition. Fair. First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original black cloth ruled in red with silver lettering. Fair, with light staining to cloth. Cloth rubbed through at corners and edges, superficial splits to top of spine joints and a horizontal split to cloth partially across the top of the spine, though the binding is stable. Former owner ink inscriptions to front free endpaper and the following blank sheet is partially detached. Former owner's inkless emboss to half-title page and pages toned. The author's second novel, widely considered a major work of 20th century American fiction and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a keystone of both feminist and African-American literature.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
Deudsch Catechismus. Auffs new Corrigirt und gebessert
by LUTHER, MARTIN (1483-1546)
Wittenberg: [Georg Rhau], 1540.
[Bound with]:
Luther, Martin (1483-1546); Spangenberg, Johann (1484-1550)
Der Gros Catechismus und Kinder Lere. Fur die jungen Christen, jnn Fragestücke verfasset, Durch Iohan. Spangenberg. [edited by Johann Spangenberg]
Wittenberg, G. Rhau, 1541
Octavo: I. Octavo: [8], CLXXXVIII lvs. Collation: A-Z8, a-b4; II. [12], 259, [1] lvs. Final leaf blank. Collation: A8, *4, B-Z8; a-k8, l4 (with blank leaf l4)
Two illustrated editions of Luther's Large Catechism bound together in a contemporary pigskin binding, clasps renewed, with original hole for a chain staple on the rear board. The first is illustrated with 24 woodcuts; the title page, with a woodcut border, is printed in red and black. The second is illustrated with 37 woodcut illustrations and an armorial woodcut title vignette.
Fine copies. The first with occ. blemishes, very light browning to gathering Z, small tear to blank outer margin (not affecting the text) of leaf 163. The last gathering of the second work with small rust marks (from the original chain staple) in upper margin. Contemp. inscription on first title page. "M. Iustus Iseman (n) us Frisij".
Both editions are printed by Georg Rhau, who printed the first edition. The second book is the first edited by Johann Spangenberg. The full-page woodcuts for the Articles of Faith and Sacraments, three of which have the monogram "AW", are sometimes ascribed to Anton Woensam (von Worms). Merlo (Sp. 1013, 327b) believes an unknown Wittenberg artist to be the author.
The Large Catechism:
"It is not for trivial reasons that we constantly treat the catechism and exhort and implore others to do the same, for we see that unfortunately many preachers and pastors are very negligent in doing so and thus despise both their office and this teaching. Some do it out of their great learnedness, while others do so out of pure laziness and concern for their bellies. They approach the task as if they were pastors and preachers for their stomachs' sake and had nothing to do but live off the fat of the land, as they were used to doing under the papacy."- Luther, Preface to the Large Catechism
In 1529, Martin Luther published two catechisms. The "Small" Catechism was intended for students and others beginning their religious education. The "Large" Catechism was intended for pastors and preachers. Both were published in both Latin and German-language versions.
"Publication of the Large Catechism or, as the printers titled the early editions, the German Catechism, arose out of the need for instruction of the simple, often poorly trained clergy in the basics of the faith. Luther began writing the Large Catechism shortly after completing the second series of catechetical sermons in September 1528. In December, after completing his third series of sermons, he revised what he had written about the second and third commandments based on these later sermons. Because the material on the first commandment and the ―conclusion of the commandments had already been printed, he added new comments on these texts at the end of the section on the commandments. By January, work on the Large Catechism had progressed through the Lord's Prayer. At that point, Luther became ill, and he stopped working until the end of March. The resumption of his work on the Large Catechism coincided with his preaching for Holy Week, 1529 (21–27 March). His sermons on Confession and the Lord's Supper during that week strongly influenced the material in the Large Catechism on those themes.
"Luther's German Catechism appeared by mid-April 1529. He immediately set about revising his work, adding the section on confession (based upon the aforementioned Holy Week sermons) and expanding the introductory material on the Lord's Prayer. The printer, George Rhau, added a series of woodcuts from the workshop of Lucas Cranach Sr. The 1530 edition contained for the first time Luther's longer preface, which he probably prepared while at the Coburg Castle during the Diet of Augsburg. The edition of 1538 was the last to be published during Luther's lifetime that contained minor corrections by him.
"Conceived as an important tool for teaching, learning, and understanding Christian doctrine (The Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist), Luther perceived catechisms as texts for youth and adults to read and consult on a continuing basis. In the introduction to the Large Catechism, he described his personal experience: "I am also a doctor and preacher, as learned and experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and security. Yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and every morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain."
Luther exhorted his readers "that they should daily exercise themselves in the catechism, which is a short summary and epitome of the entire Holy Scriptures, and that they may always teach the same. . . . That they daily exercise themselves well in these studies and constantly treat them; moreover, that they . . . steadily keep on reading, teaching, learning, pondering, and meditating, and do not cease until they have made a test and are sure that they have taught the devil to death, and have become more learned than God Himself and all His saints."(SMU, Martin Luther in the Age of Print)
Spangenberg's Catechism:
The second book in this sammelband is the first edition of Luther's Large Catechism augmented by Luther's friend Johann Spangenberg (1484-1550). Spangenberg added clarifying materials, intended not only for pastors, but also for the edification of the young. His intent is clearly reflected in the work's title "The Large Catechism and Children's Instruction of D.M. Luther".
I. Benzing 2566; VD 16, L 4353. II. Benzing 2583; VD 16, L 4354.
Offered by Liber Antiquus.
STAR WARS: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker
by George Lucas (ghostwritten by Alen Dean Foster)
New York: Del Rey, 1976. First edition thus. Fine in near fine jacket.. First hardcover issue of Alan Dean Foster's ghostwritten novelization. One of a select number of genuinely scarce and collectible book club editions: issued after the paperback release, just months before the film itself appeared in theaters, and preceding the first trade hardcover edition by a year.
Foster, currently waging his own valiant rebellion against Lucasfilm's new overlord, the Disney empire, for the royalties due him, is a giant of the media franchise novelization world: adapter not only of STAR WARS but also of Clash of the Titans, The Last Starfighter, several Star Trek, Terminator, Transformers, and any number of Alien properties. 8'' x 5.25''. Original light grey boards, blue-lettered spine. In original dust jacket clipped free of book club notice. Jacket painting by John Berkey. "S27" printed in gutter of page 183. Illustrated with two 8-page color photographic supplements. [4], 183, [1] pages. Just a bit of edgewear and faint soiling to jacket.
Offered by Type Punch Matrix.
1. Trigla Corax 2. Trigla Lyra 3. Trigla Milvus 4. Trigla Aspera
by BONAPARTE, CARLO L. PRINCIPE
Roma: Dalla Tipografia Salviucci, 1841. Battistelli. Color lithograph with hand colored embellishments. Measures 15" x 10 7/8" Beautiful print of several species of sea robins, or gurnards, from "Iconografia della Fauna Italica Per Le Quattro Classi Degli Animali Vertebrati", published between 1832-1841. Carlo Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1803-1857) was a French biologist and ornithologist. As the nephew of Napoleon and the 2nd Prince of Canino, he was raised in Italy but moved to Philadelphia shortly after marriage, where he worked alongside Alexander Wilson, updating his seminal "Wilson's Ornithology, or History of the Birds of the United States." After his return to Europe he published "Iconografia della Fauna Italica" describing the animals of Italy, and later a similar work comparing birds he observed in Philadelphia with those in Italy. He worked closely with other prominent scientists and naturalists throughout his career, including John Edward Gray, John James Audubon, and Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar. This is a lovely example of his work.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
by LOW, EDWARD BRUCE
London: G. Bell, 1911. First Edition. Illustrated. 249pp. 8vo. Bound in full crimson morocco, a.e..g., for Asprey. Fine. First Edition. Illustrated. 249pp. 8vo.
Offered by James Cummins, Bookseller.
by John Barth
New York: Doubleday & Co., 1960. Near Fine, a few spots of soiling to boarrds, tidy prior owner name in ink front end page, in an about Very Good dust jacket, rubbed at the folds, small chips and tears at edges and spine ends, scrape with small hole at spine, flap priced $7.50. Dust jacket illustration by Edward Gorey. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Offered by Dale Steffey Books.
M.F.K. Fisher
London: Faber and Faber, 1963. First British Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First British edition, first printing. Signed by M.F.K. Fisher and inscribed to a former owner in the year of publication in St. Helena. Bound in publisher's original red cloth with gilt tiles blocked in black on the spine. Near Fine in a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light rubbing, light edge wear and light surface wear. A lovely copy.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
TALES AND TRAILS OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD
Joseph C. Allen
Boston: Little, Brown & Company;, 1938. First Edition. 12mo., green cloth in dust jacket; 234 pages. With illustrations.. Very Good (covers nice; contents clean & tight); few small tears d/j.
Offered by Antic Hay Books.
by Arthur Conan Doyle
London: George Newnes Ltd, 1923. The saga of mystery author Arthur Conan Doyle's involvement in the famous "fairy photographs," one of the greatest photographic hoaxes of all time, unfolds in three issues of the popular British magazine The Strand. Ironically, the creator of arch-logician Sherlock Holmes was publicly duped by two cousins, aged 9 and 16. Publisher's pictorial wraps; house in a custom blue cloth clamshell case backed in navy sheep and lettered in gilt. December 1920 issue - "Fairies Photographed," pages [462]-468. March 1921 - "The Evidence for Fairies," pages 199-206. February 1923 - "Epilogue," page [49]. Very Good overall, given the fragility of the magazines. Chipping at extremities, creased spine Rear wrap of March 1921 detached; penciled name on front wrap. This is the first serial issue of Doyle's writing on the Cottingley fairies, which garnered the photos immense popular interest. Work by Aldous Huxley, P.G. Wodehouse, and other top writers of the day also featured. Rare.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
(Sammelband) Poems: First & Second Series
Emily Dickinson
Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1893. Thirteenth & Seventh Edition. Very Good. The first and second series, one of five hundred copies issued by the publisher with the two volumes bound together as one with separate pagination. The first series is marked Thirteenth Edition, and the second series is marked Seventh Edition. Bound in publisher's original ivory cloth boards over grey backstrip, decorated in gilt with Indian pipe stem motif. Cloth lightly rubbed, toned and soiled. Former owner gift inscription to front free endpaper, sporadic foxing throughout. Scarce in publisher's Sammelband format.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
by NI CHUILLEANAIN, EILEAN
(Winston-Salem, North Carolina): Wake Forest University Press, 1995. Softcover. Fine. First edition, paperback issue. Fine copy.
Offered byb Between the Covers Rare Books.
In Honor of Mo Who Is Our Cat, And We Are Hers (Signed Broadside)
by HARJO, JOY AND MARSHALL ARISMAN
Salt Lake City, UT: Green Cat Press, 2004. First edition. Broadside that meaures 14" wide by 18.875" high. One of 100 copies. Designed and illustration by Marshall Arisman. Features a poem by Harjo. A very fine copy. Signed by both Harjo and Arisman. An atttractive and nicely printed broadside of a poem by the first Native American to be the United States Poet Laureate.
Offered by Jeff Hirsch Books.
by Elie Wiesel
New York: Hill and Wang, 1961. First edition of the author's second book in his acclaimed Night Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Elie Wiesel on the front free endpaper. Very good in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Alex Tsao. Translated from the French by Frances Frenaye. Elisha is a young Jewish man, a Holocaust survivor, and an Israeli freedom fighter in British-controlled Palestine; John Dawson is the captured English officer he will murder at dawn in retribution for the British execution of a fellow freedom fighter. The night-long wait for morning and death provides Dawn, Elie Wiesel's ever more timely novel, with its harrowingly taut, hour-by-hour narrative. Caught between the manifold horrors of the past and the troubling dilemmas of the present, Elisha wrestles with guilt, ghosts, and ultimately God as he waits for the appointed hour and his act of assassination. Dawn is an eloquent meditation on the compromises, justifications, and sacrifices that human beings make when they murder other human beings.
Offered by Raptis Rare Books.
by John Ashberry
New York: Adventures in Poetry, 2000. First Edition. Paperback. Fine. One of 500 unnumbered copies. A fine copy in sewn illustrated wrappers. An attractive production.
Offered by Derringer Books.
The Heidi Chronicles and Other Plays (Signed First Edition)
by WENDY WASSERSTEIN
San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. First Edition. First Edition. Boldly SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper. Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket.
Offered by Royal Books.
Cleveland: Otto Ege. Near Fine. Black cloth portfolio (469 x 332 mm) of four flaps with black cloth string ties perfectly intact, front board with red paper onlay bearing the name of the compiler, statement of limitation pasted inside back cover. CONTENTS: Printed contents leaf describing 15 manuscript leaves + 22 manuscript leaves of various sizes, each hinged to uniform-sized archival window mattes. Of these, 20 are on paper and two are on parchment (no. 7), some heighted in gold. All 15 requisite leaves have printed paper slips identifying contents. In the original black portfolio with ties. In excellent condition, having been carefully stored by the descendents of the compiler, Otto Ege, from whom we acquired the present portfolio. COPY 12 OF ONLY 40 SETS of the elusive Otto Ege portfolio of Oriental manuscript leaves (the term "Oriental" is here used in the broadest sense) featuring beautiful and exotic calligraphy, while presenting important texts and Book Arts from cultures that are under-represented in North American libraries especially. As the title indicates, ordinary copies of the portfolio contain 15 manuscript leaves; our copy contains 22 (!) perfectly preserved leaves from the 12th (i.e. 15th?) century (Cairo) to the 18th century (Russia and Tibet). Languages represented include Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopic, Persian, Tibetan, Greek, and Church Slavic (the latter two including musical notation). The non-European origin of the leaves offers a more balanced perspective for students of the History of the Book. All the leaves are identified with descriptive texts; that they are hinged to archival window mattes allows us to easily and successfully present the materials in classrooms and exhibition spaces for students and "civilians" alike.
RIPE FOR FRAGMENTOLOGY RESEARCH. Ege's "Oriental Manuscripts" portfolios have been completely unstudied by manuscript fragmentologists. Lisa Fagin Davis extends an invitation to students and scholars with the statement: I don't know of anyone who is working on any of the non-western leaves (fifteen of which were part of what Ege called the 'Oriental' portfolio), but they are all excellent candidates for reconstructions. Fragmentarium allows for right-left directional reading in reconstructions, by the way, making it an excellent interface for such a project." (See Fagin Davis's excellent blog: Manuscript Road Trip: Fragmentology in the Wild, July 24, 2019).
Due to the fact that only 40 sets of the "Oriental" portfolios were made by Otto Ege and his wife, it is not surprising that copies are rare at auction and in commerce: indeed, combined searches in ABPC and RBH (the latter with more than 11 million records in the Rare Book Transactions Database) list only 2 complete copies that have ever appeared at auction:
1. Christie's London, 2021 ($5000) - 15 leaves
2. Sotheby's London, 2003 (GBP 7,000 = $11,871 plus 19.5% buyer's premium = $14,185 - 15 leaves.
We are obliged to mention the severely incomplete (and shabby) example that sold at Forum Auctions London, 2020 (GBP 275) containing only 7 (!) leaves of the requisite 15.
CONTENTS: 22 (!) Oriental manuscript leaves:
1. Koran by Mohammed: Egypt, Cairo, "early 12th century 1122 A.D." (according to Ege but possibly later). Arabic Mohammedan text, Arabic script, Naskhi style. See the description of The Morgan copy on Corsair: "Ege's identification of this leaf as coming from a Cairo Qur'an copied 1122 is certainly in error, nor can his identification of the scribe as "Mohammed ibn Kuzel Al-Isawi, an Egyptian," be corroborated - Cf. Barbara Schmitz, "Islamic and Indian manuscripts and paintings in the Pierpont Morgan Library" (in: The Library, 1997, no. 40.1, 16.1) .
2 and 2 bis. Koran by Mohammed: North Africa, late 12th century; Arabic Mohammedan text, Arabic script, Maghireli Kufic style.
3. Prayer book of service for the Dead: Syria, late 13th century; Syriac Christian text, Nestorian script.
4 and 4 bis. Excerpts from the Evangelists: Byzantium, late 14th century; Greek Christian text, cursive Byzantine script.
5. Bible lessons [Lectionary]: Armenia, Asia Minor, 15th-17th century; Armenian Christian text, Haikian alphabet, Armenian iron writing. See the description of The Morgan copy in Corsair: "According to Fr. Krikor Maksoudian [Diocese of the Armenian Church in New York, NY], although with reference to the omega form, the lectionary could date as early as the fifteenth century, he suspects that the manuscript was executed later, probably in the 17th century."
6. Greek liturgy with Byzantine Greek notation: Byzantium, 15th century; Greek Christian text, Greek script, Byzantine Greek neumes.
7 and 7 bis. Hymnal: Ethiopia, middle 17th century; Ethiopic, Christian text, Arabic, Ethiopic style script. On parchment.
8. Anthology of poetry: Persia, early 17th century; Persian text, Nastaliq style script.
9 and 9 bis. Mohammedan law: Turkey, Istanbul, late 18th century; Turkish Mohammedan text, Arabic, Shikastah style script.
10. Gulistan (Garden of roses) by Saadi [Sa'di]: Persia, late 18th century; Persian text, Arabic, Nastaliq style script.
11 and 11 bis. Koran by Mohammed: North Morocco, Fez, late 18th century; Arabic Mohammedan text, Arabic script, Naskhi style. See the description of The Morgan copy in Corsair: "the attribution to Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Atiq Abmulwani by Otto F. Ege cannot be verified" -- Cf. Schmitz, supra. no. 47.2, 16.1).
12. Koran by Mohammed: Arabia, late 18th century; Arabic Mohammedan text, Arabic script, Naskhi style.
13 and 13 bis. Prayer scroll: Tibet, 18th century; Tibetan Buddhist text, Tibetan script.
14. Church holiday songs: Russia, late 18th century; Church Slavic, Christian text, Cyrillic script, Kriuki music symbols.
15 and 15 bis. Bible stories: Russia, late 18th century; Church Slavic, Christian text, Cyrillic script.
Copies of Otto Ege's "Oriental Manuscripts" portfolio have been located at the Newberry Library, Duke, Cleveland Institute of Art, SUNY at Buffalo, NYPL, Middlebury College, Wesleyan, Morgan Library, Brooklyn Museum. To our knowledge, none of these contain any additional manuscript leaves, as here.
Offered by Michael Laird Rare Books.
Death of a Salesman (Signed First Edition)
by ARTHUR MILLER
New York: Viking, 1949. First Edition. First Edition in a first issue jacket, with the author's photo on the rear flap. SIGNED by the author on the half-title page.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a classic American drama and basis for a number of film and television versions with, among others, Fredric March, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Dustin Hoffman, and Brian Dennehy playing the role of failed salesman Willy Loman.
Near Fine in an about Near Fine dust jacket. Rough erasure of an old owner name-originally in ink-on the top right corner of the title page (see image). Jacket very faintly rubbed at the corners, with a tiny bruise affecting the "D" in Death on the front panel, but with no loss. An attractive copy.
Offered by Royal Books.
61st ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD PROGRAM SIGNED BY STARS
Beverly Hills. An extraordinary one-of-a-kind collectible, exquisitely custom framed. This is the original program for the 61st annual Academy Awards. All signatures were obtained in person, at the event at the Shrine Civic Auditorium on March 29, 1989. Signatures on the program include Gene Kelly, Meryl Streep, Arlene Dahl, Jack Lemmon, Frank Capra, Kurt Russell, Golie Hawn, Bruce Willis, Donald Sutherland, Carrie Fisher, Claudette Colbert, James Stewart among others. This unique piece of Hollywood memorabilia comes beautifully presented in a handsome custom lucite standing frame with open top, enabling the program to be removed and examined at will.
Offered by Mystery Pier Books.
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
London: Printed by Kronheim & Co. for George Routledge & Sons. Softcover. Very good-. Undated, but 1870s. Number 59 in Routledge's Shilling Toy Books series. 9.25" x 10.5", 6 pages of text, 4 full-page plates and one double-page plate, all chromolithographs. Chipping at base of spine, one internal repair to spine with archival tape, else very good.
Offered by Walkabout Books.
by Marc Simont
NY: Harper & Brothers, 1952. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Fair. Second book by author and artist Marc Simont (1915 - 2013), whose long career brought him two Caldecott honors and one Caldecott medal. He also illustrated books for James Thurber, another author/artist, when Thurber's sight failed in later life. Warmly inscribed to close friends and fellow residents of Cornwall CT where Simont and his family made their home. Extensive tape repairs inside and out to rear panel of dutsjacket and splits along the fold of dustjacket spine. Book near fine. No statement of edition on copyright page; presumed first or early printing.
Offered by Johnnycake Books.
by TOLSTOY, LEO [COUNT LYOF N TOLSTOI]
Moscow: T. Ris, 1878. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition of Tolstoy's masterpiece in the original Russian language. Three volumes, bound in contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards. 369; 493; 413pp. This copy is from a family of white Russians who emigrated to France, bound later and stamped in gilt at the foot of the spine with the initials of one of the descendants: P. E. for P. Evdokinoff. Bindings rubbed and with outer joints on two volumes slightly and superficially cracked, pages toned with sporadic foxing and browning, several pencil marks, several edge-tears and two sheets present but not bound in. Volume 1 with repairs to title page and angular loss in the last leaf of text reinforced on the reverse; rear blank lacking in this volume as well. One of the most acclaimed novels in world literature printed in its original Russian language.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937)
by TOLKIEN, J.R.R.
George Allen & Unwin: London, 1937. First edition, first impression. Original cloth with dust-jacket. Very Good. LIKELY THE FINEST HOBBIT ONE CAN HOPE TO OBTAIN:
RARE FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION OF TOLKIEN'S CLASSIC, WITH SCARCELY FOUND FIRST ISSUE DUST-JACKET, UNRESTORED AND IN REMARKABLY WELL-PRESERVED CONDITION. The opening lines of The Hobbit-as Tolkien recollects in a 1955 letter to W.H. Auden, who reviewed The Fellowship of the Rings for the New York Times Book Review-were penned on an examination paper which was, very courteously in Tolkien's estimation, left unfilled: "On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' I did not and do not know why." (Letters, 163). While the history of The Hobbit's origins and composition is a rich and varied story itself, this memory of the novel's genesis is a fitting encapsulation of the many contrasts operating in Tolkien's life and works: the academic and the artistic, the everyday and the remarkable-all contributing to the lasting fascination for Tolkien's works around the globe nearly a century onwards.
Skilled as he was as a storyteller and visual artist, Tolkien illustrated many scenes from The Hobbit, including creating a hand-drawn dust-jacket for the work. However, there existed a number of obstacles between him and the realisation of his vision of Middle-earth. Initially his publisher Allen & Unwin had not intended to illustrate the book to keep production costs low. But after Tolkien had sent the now-famous illustrations to London, Allen & Unwin agreed to print them but in black-and-white-only producing full-colour copies of his watercolours for the second impression, after the success of The Hobbit was proven. Additionally, Tolkien's comprehensive maps, which would eventually be used as end-papers, had to be redrawn because they incorporated too many colours-causing the publishers also to abandon his plan for "invisible lettering" to appear when Thror's map was held up to the light (Carpenter, p. 181). Tolkien was naturally disappointed to an extent by the printing limitations that constrained his initial vision of The Hobbit's material form. However, the concessions Tolkien and his publisher agreed upon afforded the first edition a dust-jacket and binding that could be realised in full glory. The first impression dust-jacket serves as an important marker of both Tolkien's first chance to introduced Middle-earth to a wider public and audiences' first glimpse into his expansive legendary world.
The first impression of The Hobbit had sold out within three months of its publication on 21 September 1937 and required a second printing before Christmas (McIlwaine, p. 289). Fine first edition, first impressions copies of The Hobbit with dust-jacket, complete and unrestored, are thus of a rarity worthy of Smaug's mountainous treasure hoard.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937. First edition, first impression. Octavo, 312 pp. with 10 black-and-white illustrations, 1 pl. Original green cloth stamped in blue with lettering, decorations and red-and-black cartographic endpapers by Tolkien. ORIGINAL COLOUR PRINTED DUST-JACKET of Tolkien's hand-drawn design. Housed in a custom green morocco box. Text block with a hint of a lean, mild spot of foxing on text block edges. Cloth nearly perfect, with green remarkably bright. Dust jacket with one closed tear at base of front panel, one closed tear at top of rear panel and tiny chips at spine ends.
The dust jacket for The Hobbit is legendarily difficult to find in collectible condition, with most surviving examples now heavily chipped or heavily restored. Overall, this dust jacket is by far the finest we've seen, with only very minor wear and extraordinarily strong, vivid colours.
A STUNNING COPY OF ONE OF THE MOST BELOVED BOOKS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
References:
Carpenter, Humphrey, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography (London: Allen & Unwin, 1977)
McIlwaine, Catherine, Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2018)
Tolkien, J.R.R., The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. by Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981).
Offered by Manhattan Rare Book Company.
William Blake his Philosophy and Symbols
by S. Foster Damon
Large 8vo. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924. Large 8vo, xv, 487pp. With a frontispiece and one plate. Original quarter brown cloth and blue boards, very good. § First US edition. Bentley 1455: “the first thoroughly scholarly book about Blake… of great importance”. The Boston edition is much less common than the London of the same year.
Offered by John Windle, Bookseller.
Archive of promotional materials from 15 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films, 1947-1948
Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], 1948. Archive of promotional material from 15 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films released between 1947 and 1948, including pressbook pages and promotional photographs. Housed in a fabric binder with the MGM logo on the front, and the name of MGM executive, "E.W. Kenton," at the bottom right corner.
Represented in the archive are "This Time For Keeps" (1947), "Good News" (1947), "The Unfinished Dance" (1947), "If Winter Comes" (1947), "Desire Me" (1947), "Killer McCoy" (1947), "Green Dolphin Street" (1947), "Cass Timberlane" (1947), "High Wall" (1947), "Three Daring Daughters" (1948), and "Tenth Avenue Angel" (1948). Also included in the collection are materials promoting the re-releases of "The Women" (1939) and "Ninotchka" (1939).
Binder and contents generally Very Good plus. Binder lightly creased and edgeworn, and several photographs lightly age-toned.
Offered by Royal Books.
The Grapes of Wrath [ARMED SERVICES EDITION]
by John Steinbeck
New York: Editions for the Armed Services, Inc, 1939 [but ca 1943]. Oblong 16mo (11.5cm). Softcover in yellow-green wraps; 480pp; list of other ASE titles inside rear cover. Sound, but rubbed, externally solied, and internally browned: around Very Good.
ASE #690. Though the title page lists the date as 1939, the blurb about Steinbeck at the rear mentions his activities as a war correspondent in 1943.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
"Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street," in The Dial, Volume LXXV, No. 1
by Virginia Woolf
Greenwich, Connecticut: The Dial Publishing Company, 1923. July 1923 number of The Dial, featuring the earliest attempt at the novel Virginia Woolf would publish as #MrsDalloway in 1925. The eight pages of "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" are a first draft of the novel's opening sequence, one in which the London hostess Clarissa Dalloway sets out to buy gloves, rather than flowers, on the morning of her party: "Thousands of young men had died that things might go on. At last! Half an inch above the elbow; pearl buttons, five and a quarter."
While immediately recognizable, the stream of consciousness in this early story is more scattered and impressionistic than in the final novel. Clarissa does not yet measure her own character against antagonists like Peter Walsh and Doris Kilman, and there is no sign of her narrative double, the shell-shocked WWI veteran Septimus Smith.
This number of The Dial also includes David Garnett's review of Woolf's 1922 novel Jacob's Room: "her work is so individual that another writer can learn little from it, and I very much doubt if she will have a direct influence on her contemporaries." A near-fine copy. Octavo, measuring 10 x 6.25 inches: i-xii, 104, xiii-xx. Original salmon wrappers printed in black. Illustrated with eight full-page black and white plates. "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" appears on pages 20-27. Bump to upper wrapper from raised staple, a few tiny stray marks.
Offered by Honey and Wax Books.
by [JAPANESE INTERNMENT]: WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY: ROOT, F.S.
[Washington D.C.], 1943.. Four War Relocation Authority documents, totaling 10pp., and two newspaper clippings, enclosed in official War Department envelope. Light tanning. All documents near fine. A small collection of some of the most important documents related to Japanese Internment during World War II, including both versions of the Loyalty Questionnaire and its revised question twenty-eight.
The infamous "Loyalty Questionnaire," officially titled STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES CITIZEN OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY, was issued to all incarcerated Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) at the start of 1943 and was primarily intended to determine whether or not an individual would be loyal if enlisted in the armed forces. The form consists of twenty-eight questions, including basic information about citizenship, relatives, and employment, but also includes questions about foreign travel, religion, organizational memberships, Japanese language skills, hobbies, bank accounts, and more. "These seemingly innocuous questions were carefully scored according to categories of 'Americanness' and 'Japaneseness' that each response indicated. For example, speaking Japanese well, or belonging to a judo or kendo club would result in negative points, but being Christian, or belonging to the Boy Scouts of America would result in points being added" - DENSHO ENCYCLOPEDIA. The most notorious questions on the form are twenty- six through twenty-eight, which ask if the responder would be willing to nullify his Japanese citizenship, serve in the U.S. military "wherever ordered," and "swear unqualified allegiance to the United States...and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor...."
The other version of this form was sent to Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) and women, both of whom were unqualified for military service, and bears the deliberately misleading title APPLICATION FOR LEAVE CLEARANCE. Its contents are very similar to the form filled out by Nisei, although the last few questions are changed. Instead of the military, respondents are asked if they would "be willing to volunteer for the Army nurse Corps or the WAAC," and are further asked if they have ever volunteered services or registered children with the Japanese or Spanish governments. Question twenty-eight was particularly challenging for Issei respondents - since they were barred from becoming U.S. citizens, many worried that renouncing their citizenship to Japan would leave them adrift. Others, including many Nisei, resented being asked to renounce loyalty to an emperor to whom they never paid obeisance in the first place. In response to concerted resistance by Issei, question twenty-eight was revised to erase any reference to the Emperor and read only "Will you swear to abide by the laws of the United States and to take no action which would in any way interfere with the war effort of the United States." A copy of that revision is also present in this collection.
Also present here are a genuine application for leave clearance which asks fairly straightforward questions about intentions and plans as well as two newspaper clippings from consecutive October 1943 editions of a Washington County, Arkansas newspaper (the location of the Rowher internment camp). The articles are both written by F.S. Root, who spent several days in Rowher examining it from the inside. His articles describe the layout and organization of the camp and lament the poor conditions suffered by inmates, but are primarily propaganda in their favor. Root extols the virtues of self- government in the camps and the bravery and ingenuity of the inmates, who are described as making the best of a bad situation. The incidental newspaper content aound the clipped articles include advertisements for war bonds and local businesses, as well as college football scores for the 1943-44 season and a short article describing the return of British prisoners of war to the UK. The entire collection is enclosed in an official War Department envelope, addressed by stamp to the "Director of Extension Course" at the School of Aviation Medicine at Brooks Field. A fine collection of extremely significant documents in pristine condition. Cherston Lyon, "Loyalty Questionnaire."
Offered by William Reese Company.
Psalmi Davidis, vulgata editione
by (BIBLE: OLD TESTAMENT; PSALMS; LATIN). GENEBRARD, GILBERT (ED.)
Paris: Pierre l'Huillier, 1582. Second (known) edition. Octavo. Woodcut printer's device at title-page; large woodcut illustration at first page of main text; lettrines and ornaments throughout. Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards with beveled edges. Brass claps and catches intact. Binding soiled and worn at extremities. Text lightly to moderately embrowned throughout. A good, crisp copy.
Second known edition, with the editor's copious commentary (which draws significantly from Jewish sources), including a preface to pope Gregory XIII, and an added dedicatory epistle to Jean-Baptiste du Chastel, bishop of Rimini, each dated 1 February 1582. (The prior edition of 1581 contained only the preface to Gregory, dated 1 February 1581.)
Gilbert Génébrard (1537-1591) studied Hebrew under the proselyte Abraham of Lunel (Caesar Braneusius), and was later a pupil of the celebrated Hebraist Jean Mercier in Paris, where he became 'professeur royal' in 1569. Génébrard was an extremely versatile scholar who published many works. His proficiency in Rabbinic Hebrew was motivated in part by the desire to reduce the use of Jewish books by Christian biblical scholars, as he believed that they could be a dangerous influence. He translated the travels of Eldad ha-Dani, the poems of David Ibn Yachya, parts of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed and his 'Articles of Faith', and the rabbinical world history Seder Olam. "The scope of his works shows Génébrard as a very broadly oriented Hebraist whose Hebrew literacy was comparable to that of Sebastian Münster" (Hebraica Veritas Catalogue, p.58).
Provenance: Entry of a Jesuit college, dated 1693, at title; printed book plate of the Chapitre de St. André de Chartres at front endleaf; printed book plate of Régis Bayle "Consul de... le Roi des Belges"
No copies are known of a putative 1577 first edition which was noted in any early listing of Génébrard's works (see Schwarzfuchs). Adams B-1473. Schwarzfuchs, Le Livre hébreu à Paris au xvie siècle, 380. Cf. Smitskamp 611, no. 150 (ed. Plantin, 1592): In the preface to the work, first published in 1577... Genebrardus notably rejects the divine origin of vowel points... and ascribes the to the Masoretes.
Offered by Eric Chaim Kline Bookseller.
The Lord of The Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
by J.R.R. Tolkien
London: George Allen and Unwin, 1966. Finely bound set of each title comprising the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Octavo, 3 volumes, bound in full red morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, front panels, folding maps. In fine condition. Housed in a custom slipcase. The first printing of the second, revised, edition (with "Second Edition 1966" on the copyright page with no further printings listed). An exceptional set. The Lord of the Rings began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II in letters to his son, "and finally, having polished it to his own satisfaction, published it as a trilogy from 1954 to 1955, a volume at a time, impatiently awaited by a growing audience. It is considered one of this century’s lasting contributions to that borderland of literature between youth and age. It seems destined to become this century’s contribution to that select list of books which continue through the ages to be read by children and adults with almost equal pleasure." (Eyre, 134-35). It has went on to become the third best selling novel of all-time with 150 million copies sold.
Offered by Raptis Rare Books.
by OLIVER, MARY
New York: The Penguin Press, 2013. First Edition. Fine/Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by Mary Oliver on the title page. Bound in publisher's original beige cloth with title in blind on the upper cover and stamped in red on the spine. Fine in a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with slight spine sunning and light shelf wear.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
Pinocchio. Al Campo dei Miracoli by C. Collodi
Milan: Editrice Vecchi, 1950. Corbella, F.. Octavo. (12)pp. Color illustrations throughout depict the story of Pinnochio. The narrative is told in Italian verse at the bottom of each page. A shape-book, bound in pictorial and lively wrappers cut in the silhouette of Pinocchio, who carries a three-dimensional toy book. This gimmick was the hallmark of Editrice Vecchi's "Piccolo Fiore" series. Mild exterior soiling, else fine. A bright sliver of midcentury Italian children's publishing.
Offered by Bromer Booksellers.
Sinning in Hollywood: Los Angeles and the Beaches (First Edition)
by BOB HOUSTON (AUTHOR); FRITZ WILLIS (ILLUSTRATOR)
Hollywood: Marcel Rodd, 1943. First Edition. First Edition. A racy World War II era serviceman's guide to Hollywood and Los Angeles tourism and nightlife, illustrated by famed pin-up artist Fritz Willis, with the rear wrapper in post-card format for mailing. Very Good plus in side-stapled illustrated card wrappers. Light toning overall and a small bump to the top corner of the front wrapper and the first twelve pages, and faint creasing overall, with a contemporary 35¢ stamped label on the front wrapper.
Offered by Royal Books.
by SHACKLETON, ERNEST; JAMES MURRAY AND GEORGE MARSTON
London: Andrew Melrose, 1913. Limited edition de luxe of this account of the 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition under Shackleton. number 181 of 280 copies signed on the recto of the limitation leaf by E.H. Shackleton, James Murray and George Marston. Octavo, original blue cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel with a mounted color illustration, top edge gilt, 4 mounted color plates after watercolors by C. Day, 34 photo illustrations on 28 plates. In near fine condition with a light rubbing, with the original dust jacket lacking the spine. A very nice example, as most copies have been rebound and we have never seen another example in the original dust jacket. Introduction by Sir Ernest Shackleton. "For the first time an unofficial, and therefore more human document, is presented to the public .. I would advise anyone who wants to get to the kernel of the life of a Polar explorer to read the book" (Ernest Shackleton). "Very scarce...a fine complement to the two giants of the Antarctic bibliography also emanating from Shackleton's 1907-09 expedition, Aurora Australis and The Heart of the Antarctic, and one of the most sought-after Antarctic titles" (Rosove). Written with a good deal of jocularity, it gives us a feeling for the personal side of Shackleton's Nimrod expedition. [Spence 830; Taurus Collection 61; Rosove 236]
Offered by Raptis Rare Books.
Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
by WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARY
London: J. Johnson, 1796. First edition. Bound to style in half calf over marbled boards, with morocco and gilt to spine. Measuring 125 x 205 mm (pages) and collating: [4], 262, [4, appendix and notes], [2, adverts]: complete, including the advertisements listing Wollstonecraft's books, the first known bibliography of her work. Discrete blindstamps to the headers of the first two leaves; contemporary ownership marks to the title page not affecting text. Some creasing and one small closed tear to the fore-edge of the title page; some light foxing to the lower corners of 247-250, and a small, closed tear to the top edge of the Notes leaf. In all, a tight, square copy that is also internally pleasing. Wollstonecraft published Letters only four years after her groundbreaking feminist manifesto Vindication of the Rights of Woman, making hers the first published account in English of a woman travelling for business.
When a Norwegian ship's captain stole valuable cargo from Gilbert Imlay's ship in 1794, the Englishman reached out to his lover, Mary Wollstonecraft, requesting that she travel there as his proxy to obtain compensation. A new mother with a baby in tow, Wollstonecraft nevertheless accepted the charge; and she not only tackled the task set for her by Imlay, she also spent four months traveling to remote destinations, meeting and bargaining with officials, studying local customs, and exploring exotic landscapes. The resulting travel narrative broke new ground at its publication. Wollstonecraft already had become a founder of a feminist movement with her Vindication of the Rights of Woman; and with Letters, the first English-language account of a woman business traveler, she put principles of female independence into action. Her adventurous spirit combined with her command over language "found an enthusiastic public, not least among young poets. The wording of the descriptions of the waterfalls she visited...played a part in inspiring Coleridge's description of the sacred river in Xanadu; and the theme of the book set a fashion for questing, romantic journeys. Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, and even Mary's as yet unborn daughter all read and followed in Mary Wollstonecraft's footsteps" (Tomalin). A captivating narrative shaped by an unmistakable voice, Mary's husband William Godwin would later proclaim "If there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book" (Memoirs). A pleasing copy of an important work, containing the oft-missing publisher's adverts which comprise the first bibliography of Wollstonecraft.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
by Edmond Rostand
Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1898. Softcover. Near Fine. First edition. Original printed pale green wrappers. A bit smudged and soiled on the wrappers, else near fine. Housed in a chemise and quarter morocco slipcase. The classic French play about the large nosed Cyrano obliged to help another more handsome man woo the beautiful Roxanne who Cyrano already loves. Basis for several popular films including the 1950 production starring Jose Ferrer, winner of the 1950 Oscar for the Best Actor.
Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books.
by Toni Morrison
1974. First. hardcover. fine/fine. 8vo, orange cloth, pictorial d.w. N.Y.: Knopf, 1974. First Edition. Morrison's second novel. A beautiful copy.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
by Simone de Beauvoir
Cleveland.: The World Publishing Comapny., 1956. Limited edition 500 signed copies of which 325 were for private distribution.. Quarter back cloth over red cloth boards, white spine title gilt decorations, top edge stained black.. Very good, spine heel bumped, bookplate to pastedown, otherwise fine in a very good dust jacket with three vertical creases and light sunning to spine. $6.00 price on dust jacket flap. In a non-original slipcase with sunned margins.. 24x16 cm.. Signed by the author on the limitation page. weight: 2.1 lb.
Offered by Lee Johnson's Zepher Books.
by RAWLINGS, MARJORIE; WYETH, N.C.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939. Fine. Deluxe signed limited edition, one of only 750 copies signed by both Wyeth and Rawlings. Two interesting facts have emerged about this edition. First, although 750 copies were printed, only 520 copies were actually bound and sent out with the binding, chemise and slip case of this version. The remaining 250 copies were bound in dark blue cloth with a darker blue slipcase and were distributed in the early 1950s. Secondly, according to letters from Rawlings to her editor, as the limited edition sheets were being printed she discovered that there was a line missing on page 196 (between lines 5 and 6). A new signature with the correction was inserted but not before some sheets were distributed. This copy has the corrected pages. (We also have seen a copy of the later binding with the earlier mis-printed sheets so there is no rhyme or reason as to how they managed this error). Wyeth reportedly traveled to Cross Creek, Rawlings' home, before beginning the artwork, in order to capture the essence of the area. Very scarce. 9.25'' x 7''. Original bluish-green cloth. Top edge gilt, fore-edge uncut. In matching blue paper chemise with leather label and publisher's blue slip case. Illustrated by Wyeth with pictorial endpapers, 14 full page color illustrations, title page decoration, plus 2 special charcoal and wash full page illustrations done for this limited edition. Also included is a facsimile of a 2 page letter by Wyeth discussing the book (not present in the trade edition). x, 400 pages. Case slightly rubbed on edges, else sound; book beautiful.
Offered by Type Punch Matrix.
by Louise Erdrich
Berkeley: Black Oak Books / West Coast Print Center, 1986. First Edition. Broadside, with text and illustrations printed in brown and purple on white stock, measuring 7 7/8" x 16". Faint crease at upper right corner smoothed-out, else very Near Fine. Broadside poem which first appeared in Erdrich's collection Jacklight, published as a Christmas & Hannukah gift by Black Oak Books.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
by Joanna Russ
[London]: Macdonald Science Fiction, 1969. Octavo, boards. First British (and first hardcover) edition. The author's first book. 1968 Nebula nominee. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-936. Survey of Science Fiction Literature IV, pp. 1678-81. A fine copy in nearly fine dust jacket with touch of dust soiling and foxing to rear panel, mainly along rear flap fold.
Offered by L.W. Currey.
Nos Souvenirs de Kil-Bouroun Pendant l'Hiver Passé Dans le Liman du Dnieper, 1855-1856
by PARIS, (FRANÇOIS-EDMOND)
A beautiful and rare album comprising title page, a map showing the location of the naval battle of Kil-Bouroun (Kinburn), and 15 chromolithographic plates depicting mostly maritime scenes after the battle along the ice-bound Dnieper River, including inside the fort, disembarking onto the ice, and ruined fortifications, lithographed and colored by Eugene Ciceri and Adolphe Bayot, the ships drawn by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio, after drawings by Paris. Some details appear to be hand-colored. Some scattered foxing, small stain to inside front cover, a few small tears along binding, spine very slightly shaken. Folio. Full leather, raised spine. Paris (Arthus-Bertrand/Becquet Freres) n.d. (circa 1856). The Battle of Kil-Bouroun (Kinburn) took place during the final phase of the Crimean War, on October 17, 1855, at the tip of the peninsula of Kinburn along the Dnieper River in modern-day Ukraine. During this naval battle, the British and French forces destroyed the Russian navy, having attacked them with a fleet of ironclad ships. The decisive battle helped to signify the decline of the traditional wooden warship. Very scarce; as of February 2020, WorldCat locates only two holdings in North America of this suite.
Offered by Bernett Penka Rare Books.
SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS [TINI ZABUTYKH PREDKIV] (1965)
by DOVZHENKO FILM
Vintage original 8 x 6" (21 x 15.5 cm.) program, Ukarine. 4 pp., slight creasing at edge of pictorial wrappers, near fine. Ivan Mykolachuk, Larise Kadochnikova, dir: Sergei Parajanov. Extremely scarce original program in Ukrainian (and printed in Kiev) for this Ukrainian film of visionary director Sergei Parajanov. Parajanov's first film in which he fully expressed his remarkable poetic vision.
"One of the 20th century's greatest masters of cinema Sergei Parajanov was born in Georgia to Armenian parents and it was always unlikely that his work would conform to the strict socialist realism that Soviet authorities preferred. After studying film and music, Parajanov became an assistant director at the Dovzhenko studios in Kiev, making his directorial debut in 1954, following that with numerous shorts and features, all of which he subsequently dismissed as 'garbage'.
"However, in 1964 he was able to make Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), a rhapsodic celebration of Ukrainian folk culture, and the world discovered a startling and idiosyncratic new talent. He followed this up with the even more innovative The Color of Pomegranates (1969) (which explored the art and poetry of his native Armenia in a series of stunningly beautiful tableaux), but by this stage the authorities had had enough, and Parajanov spent most of the 1970s in prison on… charges of 'homosexuality and illegal trafficking in religious icons'. However, with the coming of perestroika, he was able to make two further films before succumbing to cancer in 1990."
Offered by Walter Reuben, Inc.
by JANSSON, J.
Amsterdam: Jansson, J.. unbound. Map. Hand colored engraving. Image measures 14.1/2" x 18 3/4". This impressive map of the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula with its surrounding regions dates to circa 1650. Covers parts of the Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Romania and Turkey. The map displayed detailed geographical and topographical features with mountains and forests beautifully rendered. Ships can be seen sailing in the Black Sea. A beautiful title cartouche adorns the right center. Published in Jan Jansson's historical atlas, based on an earlier map by Abraham Ortelius. Jan Jansson was part of a influential family of map publishers from the Netherlands throughout the 17th century and beyond. They were based in Arnhem then in Amsterdam. They were printers, publishers and booksellers. Major publications were under the joint ownership of the Jansson heirs and their printing empire. This is a beautiful example of his work.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
Wooden Stereoviewer with 8 Stereoview Cards (9 Total Pictures, 5 in Color) [Stereo View]
S.N. Postcard. Very Good. No chips or tears to cards. Some ink or pencil markings on cards, which does not obscure picture. No cracks to wooden stereoviewer, in good working order. Wooden Stereoviewer with 8 Stereoview Cards (9 Total Pictures, 5 in Color). Cards measure 3 1/2 x 7 inches. Handheld wooden stereoviewer has sliding card holder. Card photos include: the American side of Niagara Falls; Old North Church, Salem Street, Boston; the Greenhouse and Reflections, Lincoln Park, Chicago; Temple of Zion, Garden of the Gods, Colorado; The snow-crowned Peak of Mt. Aberdeen, Beehive in Foreground, Laggan, British Columbia, Canada; The Palace of the Vatican, Rome; Eiffel Tower and River Seine, Paris, France; George Street, Sydney, Australia; an Arab woman.
Offered by Yesterday's Muse.
Extensive correspondence collection. 72 letters from 1930-1941, amounting to 214 pages. Majority written by the female school teacher Ruth E. Bergevin to "Rani", a former classmate of Ruth's, who is also finishing school and entering teacher training college. All very unusual in the fact that Ruth, Rani, and their other interlocutors are highly educated women in the midst of further studies or early in their careers a full decade prior to Indian Independence. In 1931, Indian female literacy hovered at just under 3%, making the experiences of these forerunners incredibly rare. The letters are in English except for a few brief passages in Hindi, as English was the primary language of education and commerce prior to Independence.
The 1930s, which this archive comprises, saw the birth of modern Indian feminism. From the start, activists equated India's independence with new freedoms for women. Gandhi played a crucial public role in motivating women to participate in the freedom movement. He saw women as a potential force in the struggle to build a new social & political order. His appeal to the women of india was successful, resulting in approximately 17,000 women volunteers in the Satyagraha movement. At the same time as women's political roles were being re-evaluated in the light of the freedom struggle, the very first women's rights organizations began to form. The All India Women's Conference (AIWC), one of the oldest women's groups in India, was registered in 1930, the same year as the first letter in this archive. It aimed to improve educational efforts for women and children, promote literacy, and address "harmful social customs" affecting women such as child marriage. Despite the dawning political and activist consciousness of Indian women, the barriers to equality were high. As educated, literate women who decided to become school teachers, Ruth and Rani were the forerunners of a new India.
These letters record their thirst for personal and financial independence, as well as their conflicting feelings regarding the traditions that defined their lives and restricted them. Their nexus was the Queen Victoria Girls' High School in Agra, a small city in the rural northern province of Uttar Pradesh, most notable for being the home of the world famous Taj Mahal, a symbol of reverence to a much-loved wife of antiquity and of honor to the traditional woman. In its tall shadow, Ruth and Rani attended high school at "QVHS" before going on to become teachers themselves. Ruth ended up at the Girls High School of the American Presbyterian Mission in Dehra Dun, and many of her letters feature the Girls' High School Letterhead. Dehra Dun is often called the "school capital of India" and the Girls' High School is one of the oldest hubs of female education in the nation. Getting there was no easy task. Female literacy hovered around 3% in 1931, and these young women faced an uphill battle in the quest to master an education. "No letter from you," Ruth writes to Rani, "just more schoolwork which relentlessly follows one all over the place!" The rigor of these early educational institutions is felt by Ruth and Rani, who, though gifted students and educators, are constantly struggling to balance the demands of their schoolwork with that of their homelife. Some of their classmates did not fare as well: "Of course you've heard our H.S. results by now. Poor old Doris went down again for the 3rd time and Maggie for the second. Pretty tough luck for them..." Their demanding school work competed with the social and religious responsibilities of these young women as well. At one point, Ruth writes to Rani "I hope you're not sick, and I'm relieved, I think, to hear from your mother that she discourages your going out to nurse 6 hours a day or night..."
The letters are warm and intimate, testifying to the closeness these women felt in their exceptional circumstances. To be a pioneer is lonely and challenging, but it was equally exciting to live without the strictures that their predecessors suffered: "You have every right to be congratulated," writes one of Rani's girl school friends, now situated at St. John's College in Agra, " [...] I too am glad that I have come to a place now home and where there is nobody who knows me and I have no relatives here." These letters testify as well to the support system created by the written discourse between these young teachers: "I will be writing to you any problem that comes to my mind..." Rani is warned by her friend, who is just settling into a new school district. Despite their fears, and despite their isolation, these women experienced the euphoria of their new learning and new freedoms as well. As Ruth writes to Rani, "Like as Shakespeare says (you don't know him I believe!) I were but little happy if I could tell how much [...] "God! What a day! And a night! And a life!"
Ruth, Rani, and their other friends were witness to an extraordinary moment in history, when the world was changing particularly for women. With an eloquence that testifies to their intellectual hunger, these women are uniquely able to describe these changes and the challenges that came with it. In one memorable passage, Ruth captures perfectly the combination of joy and hardship this quest gifted to her:
"Oh Rami beloved- I am so full I cant write to you- but its with the most satisfying and joyous fulness you ever given me. Thank you, brave dear woman, for your courage and your sacrifice to your promise. I wish I were made differently- were different so that you would not be called upon to do and give and be so much! It hurts me most as much as you I think, dear [...] I love you more freely and purely for our mutual binding and restricting. We shall not forget- and we shall be honest and brave."
A rare archive of letters from an extremely uncommon cross-section of pre-Independence society: the forerunner of the modern educated and independent woman of India.
Offered Max Rambod, Inc.
Promise piece-bones. With four signed fragments of a large, shattered Chinese vase
by ONO, YOKO. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
New York: Guggenheim Museum, 2006. This performance concluded "Nam June Paik: a memorial tribute," at the Guggenheim on April 26, 2006. After an introduction by John G. Harnhardt* and presentations by Thomas Krens, Ken Paik Hakuta*, Merce Cunningham, Shigeko Kubota*, Shuya Abe*, Jonas Mekas, Russell Connor*, David A. Ross*, Wulf Herzogenrath*, and Lisa Philips, Michael Wilson described the final event in Artforum Diary as follows: "Finally, after two helpers in head-to-toe black and ninja masks had carried a large canvas of a vase to the front of the stage and unrolled a canvas bag heavy with ceramic fragments, Ono walked on and took a seat. A soundtrack of birdsong faded out and, after a burst of dissonant song, she announced: 'The vase has been broken into 450 pieces. Take one home and promise to think of Nam June.' She took out her knittng (I'm not making this up), and the crowd began to mass around her and claim their (signed) fragments before filtering out into the night." One of those fortunate people was Helene Verin, who gathered four pieces, plus her ticket and a somewhat wrinkled program signed by seven of the eleven participants (indicated in the list above by an asterisk; the signature of Shigeko Kubota, Paik's widow, appears on the front). The vase must have been at least three or four feet tall. The pieces are 8.5 mm thick (5/16-inch). In their largest dimensions they measure as follows, reading clockwise from the upper left: 12.4 x 5.6 cm; 7 x 4.3 cm; 11 x 7.8 cm; 9.4 x 6 cm. The two lefthand pieces appear to be different in shape in the two views because the inner, signed parts display significant curvature.
Offered by Laurence McGilvery.
by JOYCE, JAMES
New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1916. First American edition, English sheets. 278 pp. 8vo. Original blue-green cloth stamped in green. Fading to spine, slight remnant of bookplate to front pastedown, otherwise near fine. First American edition, English sheets. 278 pp. 8vo. First American edition, from English sheets. The first American edition of Joyce's seminal short story collection, one of 504 copies bound up from sets of the sheets of the English edition, which appeared in 1914.
Offered by James Cummins, Bookseller.
by THOREAU, HENRY DAVID
Boston; Boston and New York: Ticknor & Fields; Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. First edition. Original cloth. Very Good. FIRST EDITION OF A SEMINAL WORK OF AMERICAN LITERATURE WITH MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM THOREAU'S MEMOIRS. First published in a run of two-thousand copies in Thoreau's native Massachusetts, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (1854) synthesises the thematic core of the Transcendentalist movement: a simple life with immediate connection to the natural world. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Thoreau cloistered himself in a cabin built by himself within the acreage of Ralph Waldo Emerson's woodland in Concord, Massachusetts. From this isolated sojourn emerged Thoreau's most prolific work, which encapsulates his ideas on self-reliance and humankind's relationship with nature. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer," writes Thoreau, continuing, "Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." (Walden, p. 348).
At the turn of the century and following the author's death in 1862, Thoreau's collected works were published in twenty volumes by Houghton Mifflin. The project including a limited run of highly sought-after Manuscript Editions-which contained a leaf from Thoreau's manuscripts mounted and bound into the first volume of each set. The present copy is one such first volume, and its leaf constitutes an excerpt in Thoreau's hand from his posthumously-published 1866 memoir A Yankee in Canada. The work details his travels in Montreal and the present passage, from the chapter "The Walls of Quebec", describes his encounter with a Scots emigré in Quebec as they walk from a barrack along the famous walls of the city. A Yankee in Canada documented the only excursion Thoreau made outside of the United States, with this particular passage featuring a conversation with an individual he meets there, thus providing a thematic counterpoint to the hermitic life recorded in Walden-as attested by the timeless line "I want the flower and fruit of a man" (Walden, p. 83).
Another insight offered by this unique holograph of A Yankee in Canada concerns how Thoreau modulates his celebrated style natural observation to a mode of recounting human interaction. "Thus being naturally drawn together", he pens while recalling how he meets the Scots-Canadian, whereas the authorised editions of the work read, "being thus mutually drawn together" (A Yankee in Canada, p. 75). The alteration is slight, and whether it is an authorial emendation or one from an editor is uncertain. But, of the two word, "naturally" better reflects Thoreau's sensibilities towards the certain idées fixes which inspired much of his literary engagement with the Transcendental movement: environmentalism and natural history. Yet, with "mutually" Thoreau perhaps affords a closer, more sympathetic bond to the stranger in contrast to the relationships he forages with the environment, recognising in a fellow human motivations better described as mutual than natural.
Offered by Manhattan Rare Book Company.
Sectional Aeronautical Chart of the Grand Canyon
by U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY
Washington, D. C.: U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Good with no dust jacket. 1957. Thirtieth Edition. Map. Light toning to some folds; lower right quadrant sunfaded and lightly soiled; else clean. Sectional aeronautical chart of the Grand Canyon; 30th edition published 1957 by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey under Authority of the Secretary of Commerce.
Offered by Back of Beyond Books.
View all new listings on abaa.org...
Browse recent catalogs of rare books and print ephemera from ABAA members...
Please note, all items are unique, so if a link takes you to a blank page, the book has been sold!