What caught the eye among this week's crop of new listings? Why a signed letter from P.T. Barnum, a bound set of the Harvard Law Review (1984-2004), and a signed Christmas card from (arguably) the most-famous Royal couple of the last century, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, among many other things... Rebecca (First Edition) by Daphne du Maurier New York: Doubleday Doran and Company, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First edition stated, first printing. Very Good with toning to pages, foxing to endsheets and news clippings pasted to front free end paper. Cloth lightly worn and silver band lightly rubbed. In a Very Good+ dust jacket with publisher's price of $2.75 intact; light rubbing and a small chip missing from the bottom corner of the front panel and another at the base of the spine. Scarce in the dust jacket. Offered by Burnside Rare Books. Of Mice and Men (First Edition) by John Steinbeck New York: Covici Friede, 1937. First edition. Fine/Near Fine. A Near Fine copy of the book in like dust jacket. The book has a bit of foxing to the closed text block, not entering the pages, otherwise an excellent copy. In a Near Fine dust jacket with the spine a bit toned and slight nicks at the spine ends. A true first printing with the textual points on p. 9 and 88 as well as the priced dust jacket (avoid any dust jacket that doesn't retain the original price, $2.00). One of just 2500 copies and becoming scarce in this condition. Steinbeck's tragic novella portraying t... [more Books of the Week]

A selection of rare books and print ephemera newly listed or catalogued by members of the ABAA. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells London: William Heinemann, 1896. Pictorial ochre cloth, stamped in black and red. Frontis. Rear inner hinge cracked (but sound), some rubbing to cloth and small offset spots to lower cover, some shallow splashmarks along the top edge of the front free endsheet and pastedown, a bit of foxing to the tissue-guard, otherwise a very good copy. First UK edition, in the preferred state of the binding, with the blindstamped logo in the lower corner of the lower cover. The terminal catalogue is the 32pp. form beginning with THE MANXMAN and concluding with OUT OF DUE SEASON. Among Wells's most important works, functioning as both an imaginative entertainment, and as a cautionary tale about scientific progress unconstrained by ethics. The sourcework for three film adaptations of varying degrees of success. Offered by William Reese Company. Preliminary Cover Design for Penny Candy, by Edward Fenton Gorey, Edward (illus.) c. 1970. Watercolor and ink on paper, measuring 8 1/4 by 7 1/4 inches. Archivally matted and framed. Preliminary artwork for the cover design of Fenton's book, a fantasy story based on the English “Tinker Tailor” rhyme. A copy of the trade paperback edition of the book, which was published by Holt in 1970, is included in a sleeve affixed to the back of the frame. The key differences between this preliminary drawing and the finished... [more Books of the Week]

Why is it that we love tales of book heists? Two new films set in the world of rare books, both crime thrillers, are coming in 2018. The first trailer for "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", based on Lee Israel's career as a forger of literary letters was released this week, and the trailer for "American Animals" based on a 2004 robbery of the Special Collections Library of Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky has been playing for a short time. The proximity of these two films may simply be coincidence, but the source material for these tales -- magazine articles about book thieves and true-crime accounts of heists succesful and unsuccessful -- are abundant. Perhaps it's simply an extension of the idea that everyone has a book in them -- which makes so many people think they could be an author "if they had the time" -- that draws people to these stories? Or, perhaps it's the popular "cash in the attic" idea that makes people think they might already possess some valuable books, and they can relate better to stories about book thefts than to thefts of say, gold bullion, plutonium, or casino profits? Articles declaring that rare books are the hot collector's item of the moment, or claiming that certain categories of books are somehow recession proof, do nothing to disabuse people of this notion. (For the record, the ABAA cautions against viewing rare books as financial investments, and encourages collectors to focus instead on their interests.) It's not news to book collecto... [more Hollywood Loves Rare Books]

Our monthly roundup of the stories bibliophiles are reading, sharing, and discussing. Kenneth Karmiole Establishes Research Fellowship at UCSB ABAA_member Kenneth Karmiole has established the Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Research Fellowship, which will support scholars working with primary resource materials and rare books in the University of California Santa Barbara Library. How a rare Revolutionary War-era document ended up in Utah “Who knows what's in anybody's garage, right?” Read more... 2018 Pulitzer Prizes Andrew Sean Greer won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Less; Caroline Fraser won the Biography Price for her biography of Laura Ingalls WIlder, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder; and Frank Bidart won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his volume of Collected Poems, Half-light. Read about all the winners here... Police Recover "Potentially Stolen" Rare Books Here's a minor literary mystery that some book collectors might be able to help the Welsh police with. During a separate investigation, police found an old suitcase containing some "potentially rare" Victorian books and jewelry. The books, including a Bible and a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, were dedicated to a "Mary Elizabeth Taylor" and carried dates between 1892 and 1894. Anyone with any insight into the rightful owner should contact North Wales Police. Bromer Booksellers Temporarily Relocates If you are book-hunting in Boston, be advised that ABAA-member B... [more Rare Book News]

A selection of rare books and print ephemera newly listed or catalogued by members of the ABAA. Micky Maus: Die Größte Jugendzeitschrift Der Welt (First Edition/First Printing) Schweiz, Österreich, et al. Very Good+. 1969. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. First edition/first printing Micky Maus magazines in overall very good+ condition. The seven issues each have some light soiling. Heft 15 has slightly looser binding and some foxing to the covers and Heft 8 has some edgewear including a tear that can be seen on the outer corner of the pages. Otherwise lovely collectibles; Issues of Micky Maus magazines from 1969 including the titles Heft 3: 18. Januar; Heft 8: 22. Februar; Heft 10: 8. März; Heft 11: 15. März; Heft 12: 22. März; Heft 13: 20. März; and Heft 15: 12. April. (Offered by Books Tell You Why, Inc.) The Blind Men and the Elephant By John Godfrey Saxe (Book design and binding by Carol Schwartzott) Niagara Falls, N.Y.: Lilliput Press, . Offset edition of 500. Letterpress edition of 100. Offset Edition: 2.8 x 2.8" accordion-fold flutter book. Printed offset with hand-colored illustrations. Bound in paper wraps with elephant illustration on front cover. In matching paper slipcase with paper title label on spine and elephant illustration on cover. Book design and binding by Carol Schwartzott. Signed and numbered by the artist. Letterpress edition: 1.5 x 1.5" accordion-fold flutter book. Bound cloth with patterned end-papers. Card slipcase with image of ele... [more Books of the Week]

During this month of February, in the second year of observing the centennial of World War I, it is particularly gladdening to know that during the cold winter of the final year of brutal fighting, there were brave, bare-bottomed Cupids who delivered valentines to our soldiers in the trenches. In The Eberly Family Special Collections Library at the Penn State Libraries there is a series of broadsides that were produced for the American Fund for French Wounded, which was founded in 1915 by American women living abroad to purchase medical supplies and provide relief to wounded soldiers in France during World War I. As the war dragged on, the group expanded to help rebuild French homes and buy supplies. The examples shown here were all produced for the Indianapolis Branch under the title French Relief Fund, and they depict scenes from the home front and the battlefront, accompanied by humorous poems. American watercolorist Mrs. Mamie Bybee Milliken originated the idea of these comic valentines with patriotic themes. (Girls were also a popular theme, of course.) Indiana authors and artists like William Gaar cooperated in the project, and Milliken was able to have the broadsides ready for families and sweethearts to send off to the boys “over there” for February 14, 1918. They were issued as a portfolio set of twelve. (Penn State owns only ten. A complete set can be found at the Indiana Historical Society.) The broadside “My Special Delivery” (above), illustrated by Americ... [more Valentines to the Trenches]

Some 35 years ago, Charles Bukowski wrote, “Fante was my god”—and with those four words, he brought John Fante and his great books back out of near-obscurity. The quote is from the preface Bukowski wrote for the 1980 Black Sparrow Press reissue of Fante's 1939 novel Ask the Dust, his semi-autobiographical masterpiece of loneliness and Los Angeles, optimism and passion in the face of destitution and abandon. Bukowski's work owed a debt to Fante, but in bringing Fante back and—with the help of Black Sparrow's John Martin—getting Fante's work back into print, Bukowski gave a generous gift to the literary world at large. Fante died just three years after his return to the limelight, but thanks to Buk, many of Fante's works—including five novels and a short fiction collection (as well as five posthumously released books of fiction and two books of letters)—remain in print today. Ask the Dust (Inscribed First Edition) by John Fante NY: Stackpole. (1939). The second book in his semi-autobiographical "Bandini quartet," based on the author's life and experiences in Depression-era Los Angeles. Made into a film in 2006 by Robert Towne, who reportedly called it the best novel ever written about Los Angeles. The film starred Colin Farrell, Selma Hayek and Donald Sutherland. Inscribed by Fante in the year of publication to the collector (and bibliographer of Christopher Morley) Henry Tatnall Brown, Jr., "with the hope that he likes my book," and dated November 14, 1939, appar... [more John Fante: The Spirit of Los Angeles]

Get your new year off to a good start by examining a few highlights from around the abaa.org website or found within the pages of our members' latest rare book catalogs. Cassic orange Penguins are always eye-catching. This one is was also an influential part of early science fiction. The Quatermass Experiment: A Play for Television in Six Parts by Nigel Kneale Description: : Penguin Books, .. Small octavo, printed wrappers. First edition. Prints Kneale's revised script for the first of the three BBC Quatermass serials aired in 1953, 1955 and 1958/1959 respectively. Includes film stills. "Effective melodrama and social satire for its time." - Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-231. "Excellent scripts." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 294. "With hindsight, there is a clear pattern in Kneale's work in which ordinary people are seen as stupid and ignorant, and ready prey for the supernatural or science-fictional forces that will almost inevitably attempt to control them. There is a seigneurial, Edwardian element in this, a recoiling from the vulgar. This is a point worth belaboring, because Kneale was certainly a much better than average scriptwriter -- the Quatermass series especially is exemplary -- and his scripts were, paradoxically, very influential on SF, at least at the Gothic and irrational margin of the genre where SF meets fantasy, particularly among film and television producers, who never expect SF to make sense anyway." - SFE (onli... [more Books of the Week]

Lately, the online world is alive with discussion of Blade Runner 2049, which releases this weekend. Following the success of Amazon's Man in the High Castle television series, Philip K. Dick is once again the go-to science fiction novelist for Hollywood. ABAA members have many interesting items related to Philip K. Dick and this infamous film (which is something of a love-it-or-hate-it phenomenon) available, some of which reveal the tortured path this story took from novel to finished film. One of the most-exciting items is an original script for Blade Runner from 1980, before revisions and re-writes. I'd love to read that to see how the vision changed during the adapting process and before direct Ridley Scott came on board! Blade Runner: The Original Screenplay Hampton Francher & David Peoples Los Angeles: Brighton Productions, Inc./Sunset Gower Studios, 1980. 1st. Original Wraps. Collectible; Very Good. The 1st printing of the 1980 original screenplay, based on the 1968 Philip K. Dick novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". A VG copy in its original yellow wrappers, with minor offsetting to the front panel (where there had been a label) and several very small, unobtrusive stains. Quarto, 140 pgs. Submitted to Sunset Gower Studios on Dec. 22nd, 1980, this screenplay-- in its original incarnation-- pre-dates the legendary 1982 Ridley Scott film by almost 2 years. Very scarce in its original state. (Offered by Appledore Books) Members offer several first editions of Ph... [more Blade Runner: Scripts, First Editions, & Sequels]

The annual National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. The 2017 contest winners have built up fascinating collections on topics as diverse as teaching mathematics, the literary history of the Maine woods, and seminal cyberpunk novels. We asked the winners a few questions about their collections. 1st Place Alexander M. Koch, The Breath and Breadth of the Maine Woods Unity College ABAA: Could you give us a brief description of your collection? AK: My collection, The Breath and Breadth of the Maine Woods, is an examination of the manners in which the Maine woods has influence. These numerous books, as well as related ephemera, are the breath of the Maine woods. They are the exhalations of centuries of life in Maine, and love for its forested lands. From mid-19th Century ephemera and books on history to turn of the 20th Century fictional accounts of log drives, and from mid-20th Century town histories to 21st Century poetry, these works show the breadth of thought and examination of the Maine woods. From collecting and reading these works it is clear that the Maine woods form an important basis for the livelihoods, industries, and recreation that has made Maine a resilient and awe-inspiring land. ABAA: What first interested you in collecting items related to the Maine Woods? AK: I have always been fascinated by the forest, and by Maine. From my earliest memories I recall spending time with my father driving d... [more Meet the 2017 NCBCC Winners]