What new additions to the abaa.org website caught the eye this week? Signed books from James Baldwin, Annie Leibovitz, and P.L. Travers, as well as several classic children's books, among other interesting items... If Beale Street Could Talk (Signed) by James Baldwin New York: The Dial Press, 1974. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Signed by Author. First edition. Copy #6 of 250 specially bound copies signed by the author on the rear limitation page. 197 pp. Leather lettered in gilt in original brown cloth slipcase. Near Fine with slightly foxed edges and light rubbing to gilt, in Near Fine slipcase. A novel by the African-American expatriate, the basis of an upcoming film directed by Barry Jenkins. Offered by Burnside Rare Books. Annie Leibovitz: Photographs 1970-1990 (Signed, first edition) New York: HarperCollins, 1991. First edition, limited. Hardcover. Fine. SIGNED. Folio in grey cloth, housed in black cloth slipcase featuring large image of Leibovitz's famous John Lennon and Yoko Ono Rolling Stone cover photo. Light shelfwear to slipcase; light bump to front board lower corner, else book itself is As New. Specially bound and slipcased first edition, signed by Leibovitz and hand-numbered Copy 187 of 300 on the limitation page. Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books. Visions Of Cody by Jack Kerouac (Introduction by Allen Ginsburg) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/very good. 8vo. 398 pp. Introduction by Allen Ginsberg. A novel written in the e... [more Books of the Week]
WHO OWNED THIS? Libraries and the Rare Book Trade consider issues surrounding Provenance, Theft and Forgery. A symposium presented by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and the Grolier Club. -- Speakers and more detailed information will be published shortly. Information When: March 5, 2019 Where: Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, NY 10022 Cost: Free for ILAB affiliates and guests, reservations required Organized by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). For more information or to RSVP contact: Angelika Elstner (secretariat@ilab.org). [more Who Owned This? A Symposium]
This item is still missing as of 6/12/2019. A customer reports that a package containing the following book was stolen from her mailbox in Brooklyn, NY. Weiss, Harvey. Twenty-four and Stanley . New York: G P Putnam & Sons, 1956. Hardcover in dust jacket. May have inventory number TF735717 in pencil on rear endpaper. If offered, please contact: Timothy Forry E. M. Maurice Books, LLC 358 Ledge Drive Torrington CT 06790 Tel: 860.480.2264 www.emmauricebooks.com [more Missing in Tranist: Brooklyn]
What new additions to the abaa.org website caught the eye this week? An interesting endorsed letter to President Andrew Jackson, a very early collection of medical recipes, and first editions of books from Virginia Woolf and Richard Fariña, among other items... The Waves (First Edition) by Virginia Woolf New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, .. Octavo, original blue cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, top edge stained brown. First U.S. edition, first printing with "first edition" on copyright page. Connolly 70. Kirkpatrick A16b. A fine copy in decorated dust jacket (designed by Vanessa Bell) priced $2.50 on front flap with light tanning to spine panel, a couple of mild fox marks, and some general dust soiling. Actually, a pretty decent copy overall. (Offered by L.W. Currey) Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (First Edition) by Richard Fariña New York: Random House, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First edition. xii, 329, (1, note about author) pp. Fine in Very Good with small tear in top of front panel, light wear and rubbing, slightly sunned spine. The folksinger's only novel, published not long before his death. (Offered by Burnside Rare Books) The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling; Japanese Fairy Tale Series No. 24 (First Edition) by Lafcadio Hearn Tokyo: T. Hasegawa, 1902. First Edition. Self wrappers. Very good. Duodecimo size, pp. Printing B (for identification only, no sequence is suggested) of those noted in BAL 7937, with the colophon at the foot of... [more Books of the Week]
Every famous poet and writer started small, usually with cautious publishers who printed small batches of the first edition of their early books. For most, the cautious print runs continues, even after winning awards, because poetry has ever been an relatively low-volume business, even for the big names. When they later became reknowned, even famous, at home and abroad, these relatively scarce first editions became highly prized by their fans and collectors. Here are a dozen first editions from poets who became big names in their time, drawn from the current inventory of ABAA members. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot New York: Boni & Liveright, 1922. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition. Publisher's flexible cloth, the stamped number (198) 5mm in height, and the "a" in "mountain" on page 41 (a possible state in the first printing); one of the first 500 copies. Very nearly fine with a bookplates in a dustwrapper with some tiny chips and internal tissue strengthening at the folds; in a custom clamshell box. (Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books) POEMS: NORTH & SOUTH - A COLD SPRING by Elizabeth Bishop Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955. 1st edition, full blue cloth, with dust jacket. The author's second volume of poetry, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956. There were only 2000 copies published in the first printing (MacMahon A2). Printed by The Riverside Press in Cambridge, the present copy has The Grolier Book Shop, Cambridge, label on the bottom FEP. Only gentle shelf rubs to the... [more Poetry First Editions]
Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers: A Selection of American and English Booksellers' Catalogues, 19th-21st Century. By John R. Payne. Introduction by Kurt Zimmerman. Austin , Roger Beacham, Publisher, . One could be forgiven for thinking it odd that something as ephemeral as the bookseller's catalogue should be treated to such a sumptuous production as John Payne's Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers (GCMB). But, as the author reminds us, “Bookshops open and close. Booksellers retire, change professions, and pass on. What remains, other than memories and reputations, are their catalogues, the lasting tangible record of a bookseller's creativity and expertise – a remembrance, a talisman.” (Preface, page xi). The author has selected one hundred forty catalogues from amongst tens of thousands viewed during his time at the Lilly Library at Indiana University, The Harry Ransom Center at University of Texas at Austin, New York's Grolier Club, and the Huntington Library in San Marino. The individuals and firms represented include the giants of the last one hundred fifty years of bookselling, names such as Breslauer, Eberstadt, ExLibris, Les Enluminures, Fleming, Goldschmidt, Goodspeed, Kraus, Maggs, Quaritch, Reese, Rosenbach, and Rostenberg & Stern, as well as more contemporary booksellers who will be seen in retrospect, if they are not already, as giants themselves. An introduction by Kurt Zimmerman briefly outlines the impact booksellers' catalogues has had on the fo... [more Book Review: Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers]
It's common knowledge that Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, but did you realize he was also the first American to record a recipe for ice cream? Jefferson's recipe was for vanilla ice cream and he, sadly, did not name it Declaration of Deliciousness (which would be a perfect name if Ben & Jerry's decided to make a tribute flavor!). Precursors to ice cream, often ice mixed with fruits or juices, appeared in ancient Greek, Chinese, and Persian cultures. It's believed that the first milk based icy treat and the earliest device to make a 'ice cream' appeared in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). These frozen iced-based drinks gained popularity in Europe, and in the 17th century it became popular to turn these drinks into frozen desserts. Italians added sugar to the concoction and sorbet (then called sorbetto) was born. A Neapolitan, Antonio Latino, is credited with creating the first milk-based sorbet, the earliest form of our modern day ice cream. The French also were experimenting with their own form of ice cream called fromage, a misleading designation since there recipe did not contain cheese, and by the 18th century it had become a popular treat. Here's where Jefferson enters the picture. Ice cream is thought to have come to America with settlers in the early 18th century, so Jefferson may have encountered the dessert in the colonies, but there is no doubt that he enjoyed it during the five years he spent in France (1784-1789). Four ice molds... [more Thomas Jefferson’s Ice Cream Recipe]
ABAA-member Vic Zoschak, owner of Tavistock Books, sponsors an educational scholarship to support antiquarian booksellers in the early stages of their career. The scholarship provides full tuition for a bookseller to attend Joel Silver's course, Reference Sources for Researching Rare Books (L-25), at the Rare Book School (RBS). The 2018 recipient of the Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship is bookseller Ellen Saito, whose talked about her experience at the Rare Book School with Margueritte Peterson of Tavistock Books. The 2018 Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship Award Winner Ellen Saito and Bibliography instructor Joel Silver this month at RBS. Margueritte Peterson: Welcome, Ellen! As the latest recipient of the Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship to Joel Silver's course at RBS, what were you most excited about, in terms of RBS? The class? Meeting more like-minded people? Ellen Saito: Thrilled to secure the Tavistock scholarship, I was elated to attend this course as my first choice by far. For months, I was in a tizzy of anticipation of this course, ESSENTIAL to everyone in the rare book world. It was most exhilarating to meet Joel Silver, prominent librarian, kind and generous teacher and master storyteller, who shared his discerning knowledge of 350+ top rare book research sources, including their free websites and affordable reprints. Develop your inner librarian; you, too, can be privy to any topic related to rare books. Your lost invitation to a secret societ... [more 2018 Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship Winner]
What newly listed or catalogued items caught the eye this week? A rare astronomical textbook from 1482; a useful set of Firsts, a magazine about collecting first editions; and a first edition by today's birthday boy, George Orwell. A bound collection of 32 full-color costume plates of French noblewomen by LANTÉ, LOUIS MARIE; GEORGES-JACQUES GATINE (ENGRAVER) (1827) Slim folio 32 colored plates bound in contemporary 3/4 leather with speckled paper over boards, decorative gilt stamped borders on both boards, and a leather label mounted to the front board, with the gilt title "Costumes Francoises," within ornamental gilt floral borders (label just starting to peel at the edges). These plates most likely originally came from a larger work consisting of 70 plates, titled "Les femmes célèbres de la France historique et littéraire à travers 70 costumes finement coloriés à la main à l'époque et rehaussés d'or." The front board is heavily mottled, the boards are exposed along the edges, and the plates are sporadically lightly foxed. Contains the following thirty-two hand-colored plates: Marguerite De Flandre, Épouse de Jean de Montfort, Duc de Bretagne; Isabeau de Bavière, Femme de Charles VI; Suivant d'Isabeau de Bavière; Suivant d'Isabeau de Bavière; Jacqueline de la Grange, Femme de Jean de Montagu, Grand Ministre de France sous Charles VI; Dame de Famille des Ursins, sous Charles VI; Agnès Sorel; Euriant, Femme du Comte de Nevers sous Charles VII; Anne de Bretagne... [more Books of the Week]
The following items have been reported missing: CHRISTIE, Agatha. Autographed letter signed ("Agatha Christie"), Winterbrook House, Wallingford, Berkshire, 20 August 1972. HUXLEY, Aldous (1894-1963). Autograph letter signed ("Aldous"), to Denver. Los Angeles, 2 January 1959. GANDHI, Indira. Autographed letter signed ("Indira Gandhi"), as Prime Minister of India, to an unnamed recipient, New Delhi, 1966. GANDHI, Mohandas K. (1869-1948). Autograph letter signed ("MK"), to Allan Taumer. , Friday . . Trotsky, Leon (1879-1940). In Russian: The Problems of the Civil War. Leningrad: Priboi, 1924. DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ("Ch. Darwin"), to Dr. Foster. Kent, England, 9 May . KEYNES, John Maynard, 1st Baron. Autographed letter signed ("JM Keynes"), to “My dear Ogden", Firth Sussex, 6 September 1919. If you have any information on any of these items, please contact Raptis Rare Books at mail@raptisrarebooks.com or 561.508.3479. [more Missing in Transit]