Happy Independence Day!
Over this holiday weekend we hope you will enjoy exploring these catalogs, newsletters, and e-lists of rare books and print ephemera recently released by the members of the ABAA.
CHARLES AGVENT
AUGER DOWN BOOKS
BACK CREEK BOOKS
BACK OF BEYOND BOOKS
Featured item:
Lot of 26 UFO Photos from Around the World
Set of 26 UFO photos from the UFO photo archives of Wendelle Stevens, no negatives. The photos are all labeled in pen on the verso. All in fine condition. Contained in Costco envelope.
All the photos were taken in 1975 and come from Argentina, Japan, South Africa, Canada, and Austria.
Offered by Back of Beyond Books and found in "A Selection from Wendelle Stevens UFO Photo Archives."
LORNE BAIR RARE BOOKS
BARTLEBY'S BOOKS
Featured item:
ALL ABOUT CALIFORNIA and the Inducements to Settle There. [For Gratuitous Circulation].
San Francisco: Published by the California Immigrant Union, 316 California Street. Printed by A. L. Bancroft & Co., 721 Market Street, 1870. Second edition. 8vo. 64, 16pp., [30] ads etc., folding map of overland route. In text double page map of California, and double page map of San Joaquin Valley. Printed pink wrappers (detached, significant chipping with loss of some text on the wrappers). HOWES C36 - attributes some text to John S. Hittell.
Offered by Bartleby's Books and found in "Miscellaneous Americana."
BAUMAN RARE BOOKS
BETWEEN THE COVERS RARE BOOKS
Featured item:
Pressbook: Beach Blanket Bingo
Softcover. Oblong folio. [16]pp. Stapled illustrated self-wrappers. Small scrape on front wrap, faint bend on the pages, very goods. Compilation of available posters, lobby cards, heralds, ads, publicity, suggested sales strategies, etc. for exhibitors.
Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books and found in "E-catalog 98: Summer."
BRATTLE BOOK SHOP
BROMER BOOKSELLERS
BUDDENBROOKS, INC.
BURNSIDE RARE BOOKS
THE CAPTAIN'S BOOKSHELF
CAROLINIANA
Featured item:
The Nun of Kenmare (Margaret Anna Cusack). Advice To Irish Girls In America.
NEW YORK: J.A. MCGEE, PUBLISHER, 1872. 8vo, original green cloth with black and gilt decoration, gilt lettering to front cover and spine, 201 pp. "Tenth Thousand" edition per title page. A collection of advice for young Irish Catholic women recently emigrated to America by Margaret Anna Cusack, also known as Sister Mary Frances Clare, an Irish nationalist writer and social activist who founded a home for Irish servant girls in New Jersey as well as a religious congregation of women dedicated to peace. Chapter headings include "The Honor of Being Servants," "Advice About Honesty," "Wasting Food," "The Great Famine in Ireland," "Advice about prayer," "Unhappy marriages," "Do not marry a man given to drink," "You who left dear old Ireland and went to America," and more. A very attractive, bright copy with mild soiling and hint of wear to covers and bit of toning to pages.
Offered by Caroliniana and found in "19th Century America."
THE COLOPHON BOOK SHOP
JAMES CUMMINS BOOKSELLER
DANIEL / OLIVER GALLERY
DEWOLFE & WOOD
ECLECTIBLES
EVENING STAR BOOKS
JAMES GRAY BOOKSELLER
JEFF HIRSCH BOOKS
Featured item:
Halston: An American Original
by Elaine Gross and Fred Rottman
New York: HarperCollins, 1999. First edition and first printing. Hardcover. 236 pages. An illustrated biography of this fashion icon. Includes numerous color and black and white photographs. A fine copy in very near fine dust jacket. A very nice copy of one of the better books on Halston who is the subject of current Netflix mini series with Ewan McGregor in the title role.
Offered by Jeff Hirsch Books and found in "E-list 180."
HONEY & WAX BOOKSELLERS
Featured item:
Maurice Denis. Premiers Paysages. Les Leçons de Choses du Petit Coloriste
Paris: Henri Laurens, Editeur, [1911]. First edition of Maurice Denis’s iconic modernist coloring book, Premiers Paysages. A founding member of the group of French painters known as Les Nabis, Denis was invited by editor Henri Laurens to contribute to a popular children’s art series, Les Leçons de Choses du Petit Coloriste. In response, during the summer of 1911, Denis produced a series of dreamlike French landscapes. “Petits coloristes” can lose themselves in painting scenes of villages and mountains, countryside and seashore, with captions by Denis that provide a wry running commentary on his creative process: “Ce n'est pas difficile de faire des maisons quand on ne fait pas toutes les fenêtres.” (Denis even reminds his young readers to keep their paints separate and their brushes clean.)
The quality of these vibrant landscapes, which exemplify Denis's famous definition of painting as “a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order,” was immediately recognized. In 1912, the bibliophilic society “Les XX” commissioned a deluxe edition of twenty signed copies, featuring an extra plate and multiple impressions of each image. This first edition of Premiers Paysages, while less lavishly produced, reflects the book's original identity as an inexpensive, ephemeral activity book, and is scarce in any condition. From the stock of legendary book scout Martin Stone (1946-2016), with his penciled note: “of the utmost rarity.” We locate copies of this trade issue at BNF, Getty, Yale, and the Smithsonian: like the Yale copy, this one is staple-bound. A near-fine example. Side-stapled volume, measuring 10.5 x 8.5 inches: [16]. Original color pictorial paper boards. Seven color plates and seven matching uncolored plates, with two additional uncolored plates reproducing the color images printed on the boards. Light general foxing and toning.
Offered by Honey & Wax Booksellers and found in "Art & Design Education, Education 2021."
HOUSE OF MIRTH PHOTOS
BEN KINMONT, BOOKSELLER
Featured item:
OZAWA, Zenpei. Budō baiyōhō tekiyō [trans.: A Summary on grape cultivation].
Tokyo: Ozawa Zenpei, 1877. 22.7cm x 15.2cm. Upper pastedown printed on pink paper, several woodcuts (some of which are full page) in the text. [32] folding leaves. Original dark blue wrappers, rubbed overall, binding string renewed.
The FIRST & ONLY EDITION of this illustrated guide to grape cultivation written by Ozawa Zenpei (1840-1904), an important pioneer of wine in Japan. Ozawa was responsible for introducing over one hundred varieties of grapes to Japan from overseas, especially from America. The current work discusses plant cultivation; preparation of the soil; care of the vines (one chapter devoted to the first year, another to the second year); and the importance of selecting the variety of grape according to the weather of the region. The several woodcut illustrations depict the Delaware grape; grape leaves (five different types of vines, one of which is the Japanese variety “Edo”); and various planting and grafting techniques.
Interestingly, in Budō baiyōhō tekiyō, there is quite a bit about Andrew Fuller (1828-1896), the extremely influential American viticulturist whose work The Grape culturist (first ed.: 1864) was a nineteenth century best-seller. Our author has translated numerous parts of Fuller’s text into Japanese(beginning on leaf “14”[i.e. 16]); this is then followed by an exhaustive list of grape varieties (including early American varieties such as Catawba, Clinton, Concord, Delaware, & Isabella) and a summary of Fuller’s viticultural practices.
“Eventually, in 1875, the first attempts at commercial wine-making were undertaken in Yamanashi, where grape-growing had begun over a millennium before. An enterprising merchant who had seen foreigners at the port of Yokohama drinking wine set out to make a substitute from local grapes. The early product was not good, but the effort was enough to convince local authorities to permit the import of European vinifera and American vines as the basis of a new industry.” – Robinson, The Oxford companion to wine, p. 528. This work comes out of this initial effort by the Japanese to make western-style wine.
This copy also includes two printed elements not usually preserved. One is the original book sleeve that the book was inside of during its original point of sale. The other is an advertising leaflet for Ozawa’s nursery where he was cultivating and selling western plants to the Japanese market. The advertising broadside is printed recto only and it is even rarer than the book sleeve. Both are folded and in fine condition. I would like to thank Toshie Marra, Librarian for the Japanese Collection at University of California, Berkeley, for her assistance in the research of this work. OCLC lists only one copy in Japan to which the National Diet Library Catalogue of Japan adds one further (also in Japan). There is also a copy at the University of California (Davis).
Offered by Ben Kinmont, Bookseller and found in "June Harvest."
KUENZIG BOOKS
THE LAWBOOK EXCHANGE, LTD.
DAVID M. LESSER, FINE ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS
LIBER ANTIQUUS, EARLY PRINTED BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS
LIZZYOUNG BOOKSELLER
LUX MENTIS BOOKSELLERS
Featured item:
Murphy, Jamie. One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty Three.
Dublin: The Salvage Press, 2019. Limited Edition. Tight, bright, and unmarred. 110 sections of 16 pages in adhesive-less medieval style binding on raised double linen chords, ebonised oak boards tapered to fit the swell of the spine. Large 8vo, printed in black, silver and green on 140gsm Zerkall smooth. Housed in a cloth covered solander box. Numbered limited edition of eight copies. Fine in Fine Archival Box. Hardcover.
Offered by Lux Mentis Booksellers and found in "RBMS Catalog."
MAIN STREET FINE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS
JEFFREY D. MANCEVICE, INC.
MARTAYAN LAN RARE BOOKS & MAPS
MCBRIDE RARE BOOKS
Featured item:
World War II-Era Vernacular Photo Album Depicting African-American Life in San Antonio, Texas
[San Antonio. ca. 1943-1947]. 181 original photographs, mostly smaller formats up to 3.5 x 5.5 inches, with a few scattered larger images. Oblong folio album, string-tied, with embossed, paper-covered boards. Light wear and soiling to boards. Album leaves brittle and occasionally chipping at edges; several leaves detached. Photographs affixed directly to album leaves and in corner mounts; occasional manuscript captions. Generally crisp, clear images. Still very good. An cohesive and well-composed vernacular photograph album containing over 180 original images of African-American life in East San Antonio during and just after World War II.
The main subject and probably compiler of the album was a young woman named Ollie Marie Owens, as identified in several captions. She attended Frederick Douglass Junior High and Phyllis Wheatley High School, the only two schools at those levels for Black students in the segregated San Antonio school district of this time. Like most other Black San Antonians of this era, Owens lived east of downtown, in an area today bounded by Interstate 37 on the west side and Fort Sam Houston on the north side. The album contains a very interesting chronicle not only of Owens’ school life, but also of her social activities, friends, neighborhood , and neighbors. The first series of photographs in the album document a period in Spring 1943 during which Owens graduated from junior high school (one of the photos of Owens walking down a commercial San Antonio street is captioned, “Graduation day 1943”). Included here are images of a backyard gathering at Owens’ house and portraits of the family and their neighbors posed in front of their houses or in their gardens, including a number of photos of Owens with her mother in their quite sizeable yard. The second series shows the beginning of her high school career at Wheatley, with several candid shots of Ollie with her friends, arriving for a school ball, posing in the building’s front yard, and playing baseball. As the album progresses the ongoing war becomes more apparent -- Owens’ older brother joins the Navy, and there are several candid and posed shots of him, as well as other male friends and relatives, in various uniforms. The album continues in this vein as Ollie progresses through her high school career, with many images of her and her friends, neighborhood gatherings, a larger class portrait, and more. The final series of photos dates to 1947, and show Ollie dressed for what appears to be a debutante ball or prom, and includes one large, formal portrait of her in her outfit.
In all, the album comprises an excellent visual record of African-American life in the segregated areas of San Antonio during the mid-1940s and the particular experiences of a young Black woman and her family.
Offered by McBride Rare Books and found in "List 30: Western Americana" (item 21).
BRUCE MCKITTRICK RARE BOOKS, INC.
OAK KNOLL BOOKS
OLD WEST BOOKS
PALINURUS ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS
PHILADELPHIA RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS
PHILLIP J. PIRAGES FINE BOOKS & MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS
RICHARD C. RAMER, OLD & RARE BOOKS
RAPTIS RARE BOOKS
READ'EM AGAIN BOOKS
WILLIAM REESE COMPANY
RULON-MILLER BOOKS
SCHUBERTIADE MUSIC & ARTS
TAVISTOCK BOOKS
Featured item:
OUR BASE BALL CLUB and How It Won the Championship.; With an Introduction by Al. G. Spalding, of the Chicago Base Ball Club
by Brooks, Noah.
New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 39 West 23d Street, 1884. 1st Edition (McCue, p. 24). viii, [9] - 202, [4]. Spalding advert follows text. Illustrated. 8vo. 9" x 6-3/4". Color pictorial glazed paper wrapped boards. Extremity wear, with tips worn. Some minor foxing & browning. A VG copy.
Per McCue, "This is the first novel completely about baseball. ... the plot becomes an interesting picture of baseball a decade or so before the book was published."
Offered by Tavistock Books and found in "Beat LA! Beat LA!"
TOMBERG RARE BOOKS
TSCHANZ RARE BOOKS
TYPE PUNCH MATRIX
Featured item:
Red Silence
Kathleen Norris
1929 First edition in book form, with a suite of leaves from the corrected original typescript, of this “second chance” romance, in which a woman finds love in the wake of a failed relationship by taking charge of her own destiny.
In this contemporary Jazz Age romance, a “New Woman” leaves her acting career and all her friends in New York to embark on a ship to San Francisco after she realizes that she cannot marry the man she has loved. The novel is something of a critical reworking of JANE EYRE: her lover is already married, but to a woman who has long been sequestered in an asylum. When the heroine realizes he will never leave his wife, she leaves him — and meets the real hero of the story. Their true love faces a test when her former lover becomes a widower and seeks her out in California. But the heroine has changed, and affirms her love for the hero. Notably, the couple navigates these obstacles together through honest communication, which is remarkable in part because of the hero’s acceptance that the heroine has loved before him. Indeed, such an acceptance was considered too liberal through many of the years of Harlequin’s rise, 1950-1980, when heroines were overwhelmingly depicted as inexperienced in love: before meeting the hero, they have rarely had a previous serious relationship.
Like many US romance novels of this period, RED SILENCE first appeared in serialized form (in WOMAN’S HOME COMPANION), then was published in book form later that year. Among her peers (notably Brookman, item 14), Norris remains one of the best-known US writers of popular romantic fiction. She was “one of the most widely read and highest paid women writers in the United States,” notes biographer Deanna Paoli Gumina: “The appearance of Kathleen’s name on the front cover of a magazine doubled its monthly sales” (13). This book is paired with four pages of the original typescript of the novel, featuring manuscript corrections in two hands (one of which is Norris’s), and signed by Norris. These leaves were bound for presentation and given a special label: a production aimed at the collector. That Norris’s work was considered collectible by her contemporaries gives some sense of her star power.
Offered by Type Punch Matrix and found in "The Romance Novel in English."
JOHN WINDLE ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLER
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