E-List: New York Antiquarian Book Fair

10 newly cataloged books and ephemera that represent the variety to be on display at our booth (C8) during the world’s greatest rare book fair, The ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, April 4-7, 2024. Check the links of respective items for more info and photos. For free tickets for Thursday—the opening night—please follow this link, for tickets to any other day, please follow this link.

For any additional photos and current availability, please follow the links for each of the items listed below, or click here. To order something or make an inquiry please email us, use the “Ask A Question” button at the bottom of the individual listings, or use our website contact form. Institutions will be invoiced according to their respective needs. Please note that any books ordered will have an approximate shipping delay of two or three weeks.

An Unmatchable Collection  

Nobel Prize Recipients in Science;

a Collection of Documents, More Than Half of Them Signed

1901-1994. 365 items, from 118 different Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, Physics, or Medicine, in 16 portfolios. 205 of them signed (signed presentation copies, signed and inscribed, or autographed). 315 of the items are Nobel lectures, offprints or extracts the remaining 50 are letters, signatures, photos or other non-scientific ephemera. Good to fine, though almost all are near fine. Most are Ex-Dr. Myron Printzmetal.

A full catalog in chronological order of the year a respective Nobel was awarded is available for view HERE.

Photos of every item in the collection are HERE in alphabetical order.

$175,000

complete

Austen, Jane

Emma

London: John Murray, 1816. 3 vols. 1st edition. 19th century full mottled calf by Zaehnsdorf (signed on the lower corner of the endpapers), spine and cover borders elaborately decorated with gilt flowers, brown morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, inner dentelles gilt, Bartlett’s stamp to the endpapers’ upper corner, minute rubs at edges, else a fine and beautiful set, the pages correctly watermarked 1815 and here is what is most significant. Complete with all 3 correct half-titles, and sets with half–titles are 10 times rarer than those without them, particularly the vol. I half–title, as the printer placed it at the end of the volume when the book was published and it was seldom included by the period binders—so 10, or more, times as rare, and here, for about twice the price as incomplete copies, pointing out, and in this case being the beneficiary of, the striking book market inefficiencies sometimes seen. Coll: 12mo. [vi], 322; [iv], 351, [1, imprint]; [iv], 363, [1, publisher’s ad for Austen’s earlier books. Refs: Gilson A8, Keynes 8, Sadleir 62d. 

Emma was a revolution in writing, and belongs alongside Flaubert, Joyce, and Woolf as among the greatest of all experimental novels, a coming–of–age tale written at the zenith of Austen’s moral vision. She set out claiming that she wanted to create a heroine "whom no one but myself will much like." Her device was inept matchmaking in an idiosyncratic social comedy featuring a rich, beautiful, prestigious, likable, compassionate, dynamic, headstrong, snobbish, intellectually proud, clever, nimble, and yet misguided young woman, from a comfortable home and with a cheerful disposition, confronted by life’s irreconcilable opposites and the Byzantine convolutions of affection. Her subsequent calamities at the hand of her own pride have captured imaginations for 205 years. Laid down the center is a sly plotline, warm enough to bake bread and sharp enough to slice it. On the edges sit Austen’s precise pen portraits, practiced style, and subtle command, which she has combined, in an unreplicable trinity of art, to manipulate the reader into being happily surprised by any example of common sense, and ultimately reminded that the best substitute for experience is being 20–years old.

$60,000

literature’s first rock star

Byron, George Gordon

A Core Collection

1807-1823. 28 vols., 21 titles.   All are 1st editions, 1st issues, except as noted.  The quality high, the opportunity apparent.  Byron was the first rock star and more romantic, and at the same time more modern, than any of his contemporaries. 

1. Hours of Idleness [bound with] Fare Thee Well

1a. Hours of Idleness 

2. Poems Original and Translated 

3. English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

4.  Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Cantos I–IV in 3 vol. 

5. The Giaour

6. Lara, a tale [and] Jacqueline, a tale 

7. The Corsair

8. Hebrew Melodies

9. The Prisoner of Chillon 

10. The Siege of Corinth ––– Parasina 

11. Monody On the Death of the Right Honourable R. B. Sheridan 

12. Lord Byron’s Works, 4 Vols.

13. Manfred 

14. Beppo     

15. Don Juan, Cantos I–XVI 

16. Mazeppa 

17. Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice

18. Letter to ****  ****** 

19. Sardanapalus a Tragedy [and] Two Foscari a Tragedy [and] Cain a Mystery 

20. Werner 

21. The Age of Bronze    

A full description is available HERE.

$80,000

a comic revolution

Crumb, Robert, et al.

Zap Comix #0-5

San Francisco: Apex Novelties/Print Mint, 1968-1970. 6 vols. Each Issue is the 1st edition, 1st printing. Zap #1 (February/1968), with all stories, interior art and the cover by Crumb, graded VF/NM 9.0—CGC has only graded 27 copies higher. Zap #2 (August/1968)—with S. Clay Wilson and concert poster artists Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin joining Crumb—graded VF+ 8.5, CGC has only graded 9 copies higher. Zap #0 (late/1968), with Crumb, again, as the exclusive artist, is graded VF+ 8.5, CGC has only graded 34 copies higher. Zap #3 (December/1968), with S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin and Gilbert Shelton joining Crumb—not graded, but it’s near fine (in book grading terms), with some rubbing to the extremities. Zap #4 (August/1969), with Spain Rodriquez and Robert Williams joining the previous group; not graded but in fine condition. Zap #5 (May/1970), with all the same group as the previous two less Griffin; not graded but very good with rubbing to the extremities.

Zap started a revolution in the comic book world. It was printed, owned and distributed by the creators, giving them power, exemption from the 1954 comic code, and freedom of direction. As the series progressed, the artist poked at the 1st amendment in a time when the government was looking to suppress aspects of the 60s cultural revolution. There were over 70 busts of comic book shops on claims of broken obscenity laws, but the artists persevered, and Zap #6 had a first print run of 100,000 and reprints of the others in the millions. 

There were about 3500 copies of the first printing of Zap #1, printed on a handfed press by beat poet Charles Plymell, they were collated, trimmed, and stapled by a group of friends at Crumb’s apartment in Haight Asbury. Only 500 copies of the first printing of Zap #2 were bound and sold, as a mis-cut interior page led them to destroy most of the 5000 interior page sets which were originally printed, while preserving the covers for a 2nd printing. Zap #0 was written by Crumb first, but the manuscript was taken by a friend on a trip to India, so it was delayed until late 1968 with an estimated 5000 copies of the first printing. Zap #3 and #4 had an initial print run of close to 20,000 copies. While Zap #5 went up to 25-30,000 copies.

$12,000

the true first

Dumas, Alexandre

Le Comte de Monte–Christo

Brussels: Alph. Lebègue, 1845-1846. First Edition. Hardcover. 15 vols. bound in 7. The real 1st edition (in French) with the first 14 volumes dated 1845, and only the last volume dated 1846 (the key and critical identifiers). Rare. RBH says no copies of this edition have sold at auction looking back 50 years, and it is not recorded, precisely, by either Reed or Munro in their Dumas bibliographies (details and analysis to follow). Contemporary 3/4 cloth, marbled boards, slight wear in a few places, vol 1-2 front hinge and rear joint split but holding, vol 9-10 hinges split but holding, vol 13-15 rear joint split but holding, but otherwise all 7 books are near fine, clean, complete, and as sound as a sea anchor, with all 15 half–titles, and they have never been repaired in any way. 3 half–morocco cases. 

For details and analysis, read the full description HERE.

$150,000

a re-imagined rock star

Idol, Billy

Trouble with the Sweet Stuff;

Handwritten Manuscript Lyrics

c1989-1990. 3 pages of manuscript lyrics written in Idol’s hand with pencil on lined and ruled yellow paper, 8.25” x11”. Some stains (blood?), smudges, vertical and horizontal fold lines, else very good. No corrections, but there are a number of differences between this manuscript and the final studio version, i.e. the first stanza, order and many other examples—certainly an early working draft. Beautiful custom morocco chemise slip case.

“Trouble with the Sweet Stuff” appeared on Idol’s critically acclaimed fourth studio album Charmed Life. The album presents a more mature and developed musician, with sophisticated, edgy, thought-provoking and confessional lyrics. Parke Peterbaugh, writing a review for Rolling Stone, states: “The album is as viscerally exciting and driven as Rebel Yell but is pulled to greater depths by the countervailing forces within the singer.”

“I was just a baby boy when they told me, God love me, that’s enough”.

$5,000

the coin minted to cross the Rubicon

Julius Caesar

A Silver Denarius

Northern Italy: Mint Moving with Caesar, 49BCE. Elephant (right) trampling serpent (more standing than walking, like the one plated by Crawford). “CAESAR” in exergue. 4 emblems on reverse (though some, including Crawford, have said the elephant is the rev. side). Cr. (Crawford, RRC) 443/1. BMC (British Museum Catalog) Gaul 27. Kestner 3516. The first silver Caesar and the first to bear his name, a military issue originally struck at the mobile mint traveling with the legions for the sole purpose of paying Caesar’s troops on the eve of crossing the Rubicon, and on the march to Rome that followed, commencing the civil war and assuring that no further funds would be forthcoming from the Senate. And Sear says that this coin continued to be struck once Caesar arrived in Rome and had confiscated the reserve bullion stores left in the aerarium (treasury) by the fleeing Pompeians (15,000 bars of gold, 30,000 bars of silver and 7,500,000 denarii in cash). It was however confined to military payment as the Roman mintiers struck different denarii for civilian commerce. This is a relatively common Caesar coin, but it is not so common in this condition, with sharp details, as well as orange, yellow and red iridescence. The majority of examples of this type belong to one of two artistic designs when considering the elephant, the more realistic and accurate depiction (this coin) and one in which the elephant has short legs and an almost pig like appearance.

$3,000

a long and relevant scientific letter

Pasteur, Louis

A Singed Letter

Paris: 1869. 11 November. 4pp in one bi-folded leaf. The top edge chipped with some losses to words, strengthened with archival tissue tape, else very good. A wonderful and long scientific letter written at a time when Pasteur was making many of his most important discoveries relating to bacteria, pasteurization and the fermentation process of wine.

The letter (in French), reads, in part: : "[...] The claims of these gentlemen are based only on errors and I think I have demonstrated it very well this year as in 1866[...] You asked me for an opinion on two points, the action of oxygen and the temperature of the must. As for oxygen, note, as is exhibited in my studies on wine [Paris, Imprimerie impériale, 1866] that it is necessary to distinguish carefully between a brush oxidation and a very slow oxidation, the difference is enormous between these two modes of action: the first is almost always harmful[...] As for the heating of very sweet wines, here is the complete theory that you must have in mind to guide you in practice: 1° the presence of alcohol and acids in the wine has a great influence on the minimum degree necessary for conservation after heating, that is to say for the germs to be killed. The more acidic and alcoholic a wine is, the less you need to heat to kill the germs, the closer you get to the state of a [normal must], the more you must raise the temperature. If you have had difficulties in preserving a certain wort by heating it to a certain temperature, I urge you to try it out either by raising the temperature further or by adding a small amount of alcohol to the wort beforehand. To make myself clear, I invite you to consult my work on spontaneous generations. You will see that everything depends on the state of acidity, neutrality, or very low alkalinity of the environment for the determination of the degree of temperature proper to kill the germs. For example, I have shown that milk, which is weakly alkaline, requires a temperature between 100 and 110°. On the other hand, urine, which is a little acidic and which requires only a temperature lower than 100°, requires immediately a temperature at least equal to and higher than that if it is made neutral. In 1865 I experienced on very sugary white wines from Bergerac to stop their fermentation, I needed a temperature of 75°. Without a doubt, I would have had to go even further if the alcoholic fermentation that had already occurred had been less pronounced, that is, had introduced less alcohol into the wine[...]"

$5,000

beauty inside and out

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The Poetical Works

London: Reeves & Turner, 1892. Third Edition. 2 vols. A reprinting of the 1839 original, the edition selected by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, England's premier bindery, as the best choice for the binding they planned, based on its typeface, paper, size, and inclusion of all the notes by Shelley's wife Mary, an essential source for the study of Percy's work. A fastidiously executed dark blue crushed morocco, gilt binding. The outside covers with central gilt panel formed by multiple plain and decorative rolls, with cornerpiece clusters of three inlaid lavender morocco pansies, front boards with central inlaid cerulean morocco medallion stamped with the poet's gilt monogram, rear boards with lavender morocco medallion stamped with a gilt pansy within the quote "Pansies let my flowers be" (from "Remembrance"), raised bands, spine compartments gilt in a latticed pattern. Inside, the Doublures are in sky blue morocco, the one at the front of the first volume is a Cosway style miniature portrait under glass, replicating the 1819 portrait by Amelia Curran now hanging in England's National Portrait Gallery, one of the few contemporaneous likenesses of Shelley and the chief source today for Shelley's countenance. The portrait is framed by a laurel wreath set with 6 jewels (3 moonstones and 3 rubies), and surrounded by a pointillé field punctuated by foliate sprays terminating in 46 white flowers, the other 3 doublures with rows of gilt floral and foliate stamps and a trio of inlaid white blossoms in each corner (the bindings with a total of 132 large and small floral inlays), ivory moiré silk endleaves, all edges gilt and delicately gauffered. Frontispiece in each volume, vignette title pages. A fine set in a luscious binding of a body of literature graced with a lyricism "unmatched elsewhere in English verse in its ethereal, ideal beauty" -Day. A clipped inscription in Shelley's hand is tipped in. All collectibles rest on 4 pillars.  Rarity, quality, significance and beauty.  Don’t forget beauty. 

$22,500

the Manhattan Project

Smyth, Henry

A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes [with] the Original Press Release [with] a Commendation Letter [with] a Manhattan Project Shoulder Patch

Washington DC: War Department, 1945. Stapled into the original printed wrappers as issued. Typed label, “Copy No. 5 Division V Lieut. R. S. Dunham.” A pre- publication lithoprint (not to be confused with the later reprint or the later clothbound or paperbound Princeton edition), issued shortly (days) after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and not only an early copy (number 5 of about 1,000 printed), but a complete one— page VI–12 is found blank in most other copies (redacted), as it outlines plutonium production rates. And there’s more. The original press release, a letter of commendation from the Army Corps of Engineers and an original shoulder patch awarded to about 3500 Army officers and enlisted men who were assigned to the Manhattan Engineer District of the Manhattan Project (Ref. Los Alamos Natl. Lab and Bradbury Museum). Copies of correct issue Smyth Report are scarce (regardless of how many copies are currently for sale), but scarcer still with a known and traceable provenance. Scarcer than the several copies Smyth found in the late 1970s and signed for gifts to Princeton. Lieutenant Robert S. Dunham (1907-1991) was a patent lawyer for the Manhattan Project, a copy of his obituary from the NY Times, laid in. The additional ephemera is rare when directly connected to a copy. Ex Lieut. R.S. Dunham. PMM 422e.

$7,500

If you’ve made it this far and you missed our previous e-list, Periodicals (a good one), please follow this link to take a look.