The 2015 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair takes place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA, over the weekend of November 13-15. Many ABAA members will be exhibiting. Here is a brief selection of the special items they're planning on bringing to Boston.
Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius a.d.480-525
Small folio 11 ¼ x 7 inches. First illustrated edition. In this copy many of the seventy eight woodcuts have very nice original color, it is bound in full blind stamped calf over wooden boards. It is also rubicated throughout. (Offered by James Gray Bookseller)
Cicarelli’s rare treatise on the truffle, Opuscule sur les Truffes (1813). Ciccarelli believed he had identified the seed of the truffle and lays out a method for its propagation.
Ciccarelli, Alfonso; [Amoreux, Pierre Joseph]. Opuscule sur les Truffes, trad. libre du Latin, d'Alphonse Ciccarellus, auteur du XVIe siècle ; avec des annotations sur le texte, et un préambule historique par Mr. P.-J. Amoreux. Montpellier: J.-G. Tournel,1813. Octavo, 180 pages. Pages uncut. Some light wear to wrapper edges, other wise very good. Rare. 9OCLC locates eight copies only, none in the US; not in Volbracht, Myko Libri) (Offered by Rabelais Fine Books on Food and Drink)
LELAND, Charles F. (attributed to). ''F.A.T.'': HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT OF WEEKLY HUMOR PERIODICAL WITH COLOR DRAWINGS. A total of 6 issues, 12 pages each, bound with original wrappers in cloth (4-1/2" x 7"). Handwritten in ink throughout, with many watercolor drawings and ink sketches. Endearing and at times provocative hand-made humor periodical, apparently English in origin and evidently done for the author's personal enjoyment and painstakingly executed. Featuring stories, rhymes, riddles, etc., with a mixture of cartoonish, bawdy drawings and surprisingly lush and detailed natural history illustrations. The artist was originally identified as Charles F. Leland through a small slip of paper found in the book (no longer present). Bookplate of Harold Cummins on the front pastedown. Some minor toning, creasing and chipping to pages. Some rubbing, soiling and edgewear to extremities. Very Good. (Offered by Charles Agvent)
The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid in which coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters for the greater ease of learners. By Oliver Byrne, 1847. First edition of Byrne’s presentation of Euclidean geometry, in which colours are substituted for the usual letters to designate the angles and lines of geometric figures. (Offered by John Windle, Antiquarian Bookseller)
ARBUS, Diane. Diane Arbus. New York: Aperture, 1972. First edition. Hardcover. First printing. Posthumously released monograph on this influential photographer which was done for the retrospective of her career at the Museum of Modern Art. Edited and designed by Marvin Israel and Doon Arbus, who was Diane's daughter. A fine copy with in a fine dust jacket. Easily one of the best copies I've ever seen of this book which is highly susceptible to wear. (Offered by Jeff Hirsch Books)
Blanquel, Simón (ed.): Novisimo Arte de Cocina, ó Escelente Coleccion de las Mejores Recetas
Alejandro Valdes, Mexico, 1831. First Edition. Contemporary acid sheep, red morocco spine label, slight bowing to covers, modest wear. Scattered staining and foxing, endpapers stained, light dampstain to bottom edge through most of volume; an attractive and better than usual copy overall of this much used cocinero, about very good overall. 245, 2 plates, xxviii pages. Cagle 1197
The Novisimo Arte de Cocina shares the mantle of first Mexican cookbook with El Cocinero Mexicana, both published in 1831. More in the line of a colonial cookbook, a higher percentage of the recipes are derived from European sources than in El Cocinero Mexicano, but a fine array of dishes are represented including drinks and desserts. Nun's sighs, enchiladas, and a mole recipe all make an appearance. (Offered by Pazzo Books)
I(oseph) F(rederick) W(allet) Des Barres Esq., Nantucket and Eastern Martha’s Vineyard. London, 1776/Decr. 1st, 1781.
Engraving and etching on two joined sheets of laid paper bearing “J.B.” watermark, 29”h x 41 ½”w at neat line plus generous margins, original wash color." (Offered by Boston Rare Maps)
FROST FAIR KEEPSAKE. "PRINTED ON THE ICE", 1740
The London Frost Fairs were spontaneous festivals on the Thames on the occasions when it froze over -- which it did on a number of occasions between 1309 and (for the last time) 1814. One of the most extensive freezes was in the winter of 1739/40 and this keepsake dates from that year. Printing presses were brought out on the ice to produce keepsakes “Printed on the Ice”, sometimes with an image, often with a decorative border of printer's flowers and the poem printed on this one: “Behold the liquid Thames now frozen o’er | That lately ships of mighty Burden bore...” "For Mrs. Jane Streatly, January 14, 1740”. Penned is “This frost continued for eight weeks...” (Offered by Black Swan Books)
NEW HAMPSHIRE. Acts and Laws of His Majesties Province of New-Hampshire in New-England. With Sundry Acts of Parliament. By order of the Governor, Council and Assembly, Pass's October 16th. 1759. Portsmouth: Daniel Fowle, 1761. Folio (12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches). Title within typographic border. [2], xii, 240pp. Uncut. Contemporary marbled paper wrappers. Housed in a dark red chemise and full morocco box.
The earliest significant New Hampshire imprint and the first collection of laws to be published in New Hampshire, printed by New Hampshire's first printer.
Fowle's first edition of New Hampshire laws, just the third compilation of the laws of the colony (the first since the year 1726), was the first collected laws published in New Hampshire.
An attractively-printed early New Hampshire compilation of laws printed by Fowle, New Hampshire's first printer who had arrived from Boston in 1756. The first compilation of New Hampshire laws was published in 1716, followed by the revision of 1726; however no subsequent publication of the collected laws of the colony were printed until the present edition of 1761. Fowle would publish a new edition a decade following this work.
Scarce, with only one other example at auction in the last half century. (Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books)
Chrysalis, Chen, Julie, book artist
Berkeley: Flying Fish Press, 2014. Number 5 of 50 copies. Signed and numbered by Julie Chen. An important new work from this internationally recognized book artist. From the artist's statement: "Chrysalis is an interpretation of the complex and transformative nature of the process of grief. The piece consists of a sculptural book object housed in a box. The book object is held together by a series of magnets and can be opened by the viewer until all the panels lie in a flat plane, revealing an inner book with circular pages that can be held in the hand and read." Letterpress printed on handmade paper using photopolymer plates. The terra cotta paper is from Cave Paper and the black denim paper is from La Papeterie Saint-Armand. The shape of the outer structure is a version of a geometric shape called an oliod. It is defined by the space created by two linked circles that intersect on perpendicular planes. It is the relationship of the circles that creates the shape [from colophon]. Box size: 6 3/4" x 11 3/4" x 6 5/8"); Book object size: 7" x 11" x 7" when closed and 11 1/2" x 18 " when opened. In fine condition. (Offered by The Kelmscott Bookshop)
Ad Hoc Committee for a Marxist-Leninist Party, USA. The Ad Hoc bulletin (Marxist-Leninist) [eight issues]. Chicago: the Committee, 1968-1975. Eight issues of the mimeographed bulletin on 8.5x14 inch sheets stapled at upper left corner; length ranges from 11 to 14 pages per issue.
The identity of the Ad Hoc Committee has long been unclear; some have claimed it was a secret faction in the Chicago branch of the CPUSA, though one wonders how such an ardently Maoist formation could have tolerated remaining in the CPUSA for so many years. The riddle has seemingly been resolved in the book "Heavy Radicals" by Aaron J. Leonard and Conor A. Gallagher, which transcribes FBI documents showing that the Committee was actually a project of agent S.A. Stallings, designed to disrupt the CPUSA by creating "in the eyes of the CP the existence of a factional grouping within the Illinois district and nationally if possible which adheres to the Chinese interpretation of Marxism-Leninism..." These bulletins, which make very passable use of M-L jargon and polemical style, were designed to sow discord and mistrust between revolutionaries with the ultimate goal of weakening the movement. Each issue includes a prominent call for funds to be sent to a PO Box, and it is possible that some of the content was also written and submitted by real believers, published in the pages of the Bulletin for additional verisimilitude. (Offered by Bolerium Books)
.jpg)
(KELMSCOTT PRESS) Morris, William. News From Nowhere: Or, An Epoch Of Rest, Being Some Chapters From A Utopian Romance.
Upper Mall, Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892 (issued 1893). 305 pages. 21 x 14.5 cm. Limited edition, one of 300 from an edition of 310 copies. printed in Golden type in black and red. Woodcut frontispiece of Kelmscott House by C.M. Gere, facing page within a woodcut border, numerous 10-line and smaller initial capitals. The delay in publication was caused by the preparation of the frontispiece showing Kelmscott House, after which the press was named. COCKERELL 12. PETERSON A12. Quire M toned, nicks to first few quires at lower corners. One of the scarcer Kelmscott's. Raised bands, spine panels richly gilt, decorative cover panels in gilt motifs. Full red crushed morocco. Fine. (Offered by Roy Young Bookseller)
GUTHRIE, Woody, American Folksong
New York: Moe Asch / Disc Company of America, 1947. First Edition. Small quarto (25cm). Pictorial, stiff card wrappers; 48pp; illus. Tight, Very Good copy. Watercolor presentation inscription inside front cover: "To Lily & Sandy / 16 June 1947 / The Guthrie Outfit / Coney Island." Further inscribed in blue ink, in the forward margin of each leaf (the inscription thus totalling 24 lines, transcribed below), and signed at final leaf "Woody Guthrie." In custom drop-back, flannel-cloth box.
An important Guthrie book, containing a number of his best songs; one of his toughest to find in acceptable condition, and very rare signed. (Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books)
ORIGINAL HOLOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS OF FIVE BRIGADIER GERARD SHORT STORIES
DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan. The Medal of Brigadier Gerard. Original holograph manuscript, 41 pages written on rectos only on ruled paper, revised and corrected, signed at the end “A Conan Doyle, 12 Tennison Road, South Norwood”; 7 x 9 inches, bound in contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled paper over boards, marbled endpapers, with a printed half-title; presentation inscription on a preliminary blank: “Presented to Herbert F. Gunnison with the warm regards of Irving Bacheller”; with the bookplate of Herbert Foster Gunnison on the front pastedown. [Together with:] “How the King held the Brigadier”, original holograph manuscript, 26 pages, folio & 8vo, revised and corrected, and signed at the end “A Conan Doyle, Belvedere Hotel, Davos Platz”; [Bound with:] “How the Brigadier slew the Brothers of Ajaccio”, original holograph manuscript, 24 pages, folio & 8vo, revised and corrected, and signed at the end “A Conan Doyle, Belvedere Hotel, Davos Platz, Switzerland”; [Bound with:] “How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom”, original holograph manuscript, 21 pages, folio & 8vo, revised and corrected, and signed at the end “A Conan Doyle, Belvedere, Davos Platz”; [Bound with:] “How the Brigadier played for a Kingdom”, original holograph manuscript, 23 pages, folio, revised and corrected, and signed at the end “A Conan Doyle, Belvedere Hotel, Davos Platz, May 31/95”; the four manuscripts bound together in contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled paper over boards, marbled endpapers, 8 ½ x 13 ½ inches, with a printed half-title; presentation inscription on a preliminary blank: “Presented to Herbert F. Gunnison with warm regards of Irving Bacheller”; with the bookplate of Herbert Foster Gunnison on the front pastedown.
“The Medal of Brigadier Gerard”, here first titled “The Mission of Brigadier Gerard”, with the word “Mission” crossed out and the word “Medal” written above, was written in 1894 and is the first short story in Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard saga. In their account of Conan Doyle’s serial publications, his bibliographers Green and Gibson give both the English title “‘How the Brigadier Won His Medal’”, and the American title “‘The Medal of the Brigadier’”, as the story was originally published in the separate English and American issues of the Strand magazine in 1894. Green and Gibson also note that the first American periodical publication was by a Newspaper Syndicate [abbreviation “N.S.”, G & G, p. 404], referring to the Bacheller Syndicate. As noted above, the present manuscripts were given by Bacheller to his friend and fellow journalist Herbert Foster Gunnison. Irving Bacheller (1859-1950), author, journalist and editor, began his career as a journalist in Brooklyn in 1882, but a few years later founded the first modern American newspaper syndicate, the Bacheller Syndicate, to provide literature and other articles to Sunday newspapers. Among the authors whose work he represented were Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen Crane, Joseph Conrad, and Rudyard Kipling. In the 1890s, Bacheller began to write fiction and gave up his career in journalism to pursue literature, becoming a best-selling author with such works as Eben Holden (1900), D’ri and I (1901), The Light in the Clearing (1917), and A Man for the Ages (1920).
The present collection represents five of the eight short stories that appeared in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard and an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a significant portion of one of Conan Doyle’s most impressive creations. The manuscript of “The Medal of Brigadier Gerard” is in fine condition; the binding lightly rubbed; the other manuscripts, which have been assembled using revisions written on separate pieces of paper, usually of a smaller size, or cut down to a smaller size, and inserted or taped to the original drafts, are in very good condition, with a few tears and stains; the front hinge of the binding is cracked, and the top panel of the spine is detached (but retained).
Provenance: By descent from Herbert F. Gunnison (1858-1932), a Brooklyn newspaperman associated with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, where he worked from 1882, eventually becoming its President in 1924. (Offered by James S. Jaffe Rare Books)
BOTANICAL ART OF JOSEPH & GOTTLIEB PRESTELE
Two large format nursery catalogs from the first decade of the Rochester based firms of Darrow Brothers and the D M Dewey Agency. They are contemporaneous but the Darrow Brothers are generally acknowledged to have started the trade in Rochester producing color lithographic illustrations for plant nurseries.
The Darrow Brothers catalog contains 101 plates and was assembled prior to 1863. The Dewey catalog contains 76 plates and was made-up in 1872. It also contains a dated four page catalog issued by the firm listing all their lithographic illustrations with prices, and describing how they might be ordered and bound.
In less than a decade (the time between the production of these two catalogs) the quality of the illustrations, their color schemes, and execution became noticeably inferior. The illustrations in the Darrow catalog are outstanding because of their source: nearly all have been attributed to Gottlieb Prestele or his father Joseph (see Charles van Ravenswaay, Drawn from Nature, containing a checklist of known and attributed lithographs). The free hand watercolor renderings (one example being the illustration of the Spirea Billardi) are exceptional. Ravenswaay summarizes the contribution of the Presteles in the following manner:
... Prestele adapted the art of botanical illustration
to the commercial needs of nursery selling.... The
results he achieved were similar to the best illus-
trations in horticultural works of the period, in which
the fruit or blossom shown was emphasized, and the
composition planned to be visually arresting. But Prestele's
work was almost too good for the market. He would not
compromise on quality, and furthermore he did not pro-
mote sales. ... it seems likely that his customers were
relatively limited in number.
Three of the illustrations in the Darrow catalog are reproduced in Ravenswaay's book. Unable or unwilling to pay the Presteles for their work, the Dewey firm settled on copying the plates, and hence produced wan, mannered imitations of the originals. The point is emphasized by comparing the handful of duplications between the two volumes.
Both catalogs are rare. The Darrow catalog has one location with far fewer plates. The Dewey catalog has several locations but none contain the elusive four page price list. (Offered by Palinurus Antiquarian Books)
Bierce, Ambrose. TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. San Francisco: E. L. G. Steele, 1891. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-300 [301-304: blank] [note: penultimate leaf is a blank; final leaf excised; fly leaf precedes title leaf], original gray cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold.
First edition. Presentation copy with inscription by Bierce to a fellow Hearst journalist on the title page: "Charles Michelson / with compliments of / The Author / St. Helena, Cal., / Aug. 30, 1892." Michelson was a famous adventurer and correspondent for William Randolph Hearst. Classic collection of short fiction including "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Bierce's best known story. Cloth rubbed at spine ends, bit of darkening to spine panel, minor bubbling to cloth on rear cover, just a bit of fading at upper edge of front cover, else a fine copy. A very nice copy of a book generally found worn and soiled. Enclosed in a custom cloth slipcase. (Offered by John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller)
Album of 85 photographs of natives and landscape at and in the vicinity of Fort Churchill on Hudson Bay. [Northern Manitoba, Canada: 1913-1916]. Oblong 8vo (5 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches). 85 photographs, images 3x5 or 3x2 inches, mounted recto and verso on black sheets within the album with photo corners. Captioned throughout on the mounts in white ink. Flexible string-tied leather boards (worn). Housed in a cloth box. Provenance: R. S. White (first image in album).
An impressive album of vernacular Arctic photographs. (Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books)
JOHN HANCOCK. Manuscript Document Signed as President of the Continental Congress, “In Congress” [Philadelphia], November 19 & 21, 1776.
With the British Headed His Way in November, 1776, John Hancock Implores the States to Send Supplies and Troops to the Flagging War Effort
“Congress deem it necessary upon every principle of propriety to remind the several States how indispensible it is to the Common Safety that they pursue the most immediate & vigorous measures to furnish their respective quotas of troops for the new Army . . .” (Offered by Seth Kaller, Inc.)
Rallying the Troops in Massachusetts, November, 1776: "...the tyrants of the earth began to transgress the sacred line of property, and claim their fellow man as slaves...."
[American Revolution]: [Massachusetts General Court]: IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NOVEMBER 1, 1776. ORDERED, THAT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS FROM THE GENERAL COURT OF THIS STATE TO THE OFFICERS AND PRIVATE SOLDIERS WHO ARE GONE FROM THENCE AND ARE SERVING IN THE AMERICAN ARMY, BE PRINTED IN TWO THOUSAND HAND-BILLS.... [Boston: Printed by Benjamin Edes], Nov. 2, 1776. Broadside, 15 x 9½ inches. Several folds, minor staining, fold lines reinforced with archival tape on verso. Good.
This important inspirational Revolutionary War broadside issued by the Massachusetts House of Representatives only four months after the Declaration of Independence, sought to rally the Patriot cause. The address roundly denounces Great Britain and its government in polemical language in the style of the preamble of the Declaration. It also pledges the support of the American army by the General Court of Massachusetts, emphasizes the importance of Massachusetts soldiers, and urges them to re-enlist. Massachusetts soldiers were vital in the Revolutionary War effort, practically the backbone of the Continental Army. However, desertion had become a major issue by October 1776, and this message was issued as part of an effort by the Massachusetts government to stem the tide of desertion as well as motivate new recruits for the war effort.
An eloquent entreaty from a besieged government attempting to galvanize its army, calling upon their "courage and patriotism" and promising them the immortality that awaits them at the end of their struggle. "A message of inspiration and encouragement for distribution among the troops of the State in the Northern and Southern armies" - Rosenbach.
(Offered by William Reese Company)
Mather, Cotton, Triumphs of the Reformed Religion, in America. The Life of the Renowned John Eliot ... a Memorable Evangelist among the Indians, of New England
Boston: Printed by Benjamin Harris, and John Allen, for Joseph Brunning, 1691. First edition. A rare family presentation copy of Mather’s 1691 biography of John Eliot, in which he describes Eliot's translation of the bible into the Massachusett language. Eliot's Indian Bible, printed between 1660 and 1663, was the first complete bible printed in the Americas.
This book was given by the author to his brother-in-law, Nehemiah Walter, with Walter's signature on the title page and: “Ex dono reverendi [Au]-thoris” (slightly obscured by worming) in the same hand (which translates roughly to: "revered gift from the author"). Nehemiah Walter married Cotton Mather's sister, Sarah Mather in 1691. In addition, Nehemiah “spent some time ... as John Eliot’s colleague in missions to the Indians,” between graduating from Harvard in 1684 and assuming ministerial duties at Roxbury in 1688. Nehemiah's son, Thomas Walter, was close with his uncle, and Cotton Mather delivering a moving commemoration of him after his passing in a work titled: "Christodulus..." published in Boston in 1725.
A rare, complete copy of this early American imprint in an unrestored contemporary binding. Some marginal worming and toning, as expected, but otherwise in exceptional condition. Several other ownership signatures to the front end-paper from the 18th and 19th centuries complete the chain of provenance.
The last complete copy at auction brought $15,000 in 1999 (Sotheby’s), and that was washed and in a modern binding. A copy lacking the title page sold at Heritage in 2014 for over $10,000. Neither of those copies with the outstanding connection both to the author and to someone personally connected to John Eliot and his missionary work with the Indians. Safe to say, this is the most desirable copy of this work to surface in quite some time. Evans 568; Wing M1163; Sabin 46561 (Offered by Whitmore Rare Books, Inc.)
Exceptionally Rare Portfolio Collection Of Lotte Jacobi’s Most Memorable Portraits, One Of Only Five Folio Copies, Featuring Ten Original Photographs Signed And Numbered By Jacobi, Including Famous Images Of Einstein, Peter Lorre And Alfred Stieglitz
JACOBI, Lotte. Portfolio I. New Hampshire: Self-published, 1978. Large folio (15 by 19-1/2 inches), ten vintage gelatin silver prints (variously measuring from 6 by 8 inches to 7 by 9 inches), loose as issued (each matted), housed in original gray linen clamshell box. (Offered by Bauman Rare Books)
Robert Frost. THREE POEMS. Hanover: Baker Library Press/Dartmouth (1935). 1st edition, limited (1/125) numbered, hand tied heavy paper wraps, with printed label (as issued). Specially signed and inscribed by Frost on the title page. Published by The Daniel Oliver Associates of Dartmouth College, a group of Dartmouth undergraduate students interested in books and book collecting. The three poems had "never before been published in book form" (from the colophon). Among the most scarce of Frost's "A" titles, (Crane A18), copies are seldom seen in the market. Issued unsigned, and without a trade issue, the present copy is signed and inscribed by Frost "For Frank Stockman" who was a member of The Daniel Oliver Associates in 1935. Stockman likely played more than a minor role in the production and publication of the oversized chapbook, as this is the only copy we have been able to locate with an inscription by Frost to a Daniel Oliver member. Likewise, the present copy is housed in a special gold colored paper box, with Stockman's bibliographic notes written in his hand on the back cover of the box. Additionally, the box is enclosed in a large brown envelope (10 inches x 13 inches) with additional bibliographic notes in Stockman's hand. Laid in is a letter from the Chiswick Book Shop (dated September 27, 1951) addressed to Frank Stockman, offering to buy this book. Also laid in is a copy of "Fifty Years of Robert Frost: A Catalogue of the Exhibition held in Baker Library in the Autumn of 1943" (Dartmouth College Library, pp. 14). While OCLC locates several copies in institutional holdings, this is the first copy in our experience to surface on the market. Beautifully preserved, the present offering is in fine condition. (Offered by Jett W. Whitehead Rare Books)
Dance of Death by Holbein, Hans, the Younger (1497-1543), artist; Corrozet, Gilles (1510-1568)
Imagines mortis. His accesserunt epigrammata, e Gallico idiomate à Georgio Aemylio in Latinum translata. Ad haec, Medicina animae, tam iis, qui firma, quàm qui adversa corporis valetudine praediti sunt, maximè necessaria.
Coloniae : Apud haeredes Arnoldi Birckmanni, 1573. Octavo: 15.3 x 9.8 cm. A-M8 (lacking blank leaf M8)
NINTH BIRCKMAN EDITION (first 1555). Bound in 19th c. Jansenist red morocco, with the title and date tooled in gold on the spine. An attractive copy with sharp impressions of the woodcuts. Exlibris G. Fumach and Edmé Hermitte.
Illustrated with 53 woodcuts (three of which are signed “A” or “SA”) by an unknown artist, possibly Arnauld Nicolai (fl. 1557) or Anton Sylvius after original designs by Hans Holbein. The epigrams are attributed to Gilles Corrozet.
"The 53 fine woodcuts are close copies of the 1547 edition of Holbein's originals, which were cut by Hans Lützelburger. They are all, however, in reverse of the originals as regards right and left and differ in details; they are also larger in size." (Fairfax-Murray)
"Of all the Dance of Death series, Holbein’s is the one by which the others must be measured. It is, truly, the definitive one, as is indicated by its greater and continuing influence over four centuries. Finally, it is the most subtle. While it is the smallest in scale, it is the greatest in total effect." (Philip Hofer, Holbein’s Dance of Death Woodcuts) (Offered by Liber Antiquus, Early Books & Manuscripts)
Dett, R. Nathaniel. Small Press Poem “A Gypsy’s Christmas Gift”
Written by Dett, upon hearing Mr. Adolpho Ruiz at University of Rochester's Inter-Cultural Home Festival, Hosted by Dr. Rachel Davis DuBois of NYU. Christmas 1942. First Edition. R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), one of the most important Black composers of the 20th century, here displaying his lyric gift, as he re-tells the story of Mr. Adolpho Ruiz, Professor of Spanish, one of the many cultured guests at Dr. DuBois' Intercultural Holiday Festival on December 1, 1942. Printed likely on a small press, in green ink on handmade paper. Unrecorded, and an apparent original Dett verse. Very Good. Closed tear at fold, soft crease line. (Offered by Little Sages Books)
Ongania, Ferdinand. STREETS AND CANALS IN VENICE and STREETS AND CANALS IN VENICE AND IN THE ISLANDS OF THE LAGOONS (CALLE E CANAILI IN VENEZIA and CALLE, CANALI E ISLOLE DELLA LAGUNA IN VENZIA).
Two volumes, leather-backed, cloth covered pictorial boards in large folio (22 x 15 inches), the first 1894, the second 1895/96. The American editions of these works, edited by Ferdinand Ongania (Italian, 1842-1911) and published by him In Venice with Italian titles and texts, and published by D. Appleton in NY with English titles and texts. Each volume with one hundred plates in photogravure depicting all of Venice's famous buildings as well as many of its lesser known corners. A luxurious and magisterial production. Wear to the leather and some soiling to the boards, with foxing, mostly to the margins, but occasionally affecting the image, heavy, moderate or light to many of the plates, and to the endpapers and preliminaries. Overall a Very Good copy of this scarce set (OCLC locates 20 libraries holding the Englaish language edition, with some having only one of the two volumes). (Offered by Edward T. Pollack)
George Cruikshank, Phrenological Illustrations, or an Artist’s View of the Crainiological System of Doctors Gall and Spurzheim. A presentation copy from George Cruikshank, with a page of original sketches bound into a signed custom binding by Sangorski and Suttcliffe, London. (Offered by G. Gosen Rare Books and Old Paper)
Two Original Drawings by Walt Disney
This original drawing is one of two done by Walt Disney at age 19, in a copy of a friend of his sister's copy of "My School Days: A Record Book for Class Memories." (Offered by Jeffrey H. Marks Rare Books)
Norman, John (engraver). Plan of the Town of Boston, with the Attack on Bunkers Hill in the Peninsula of Charlestown, the 17th June 1775. Boston: From An Impartial History of the War in America, between Great Britain and the United States... 1781. 11 5/8 x 6 1/4." A strong impression on laid paper. Upper horizontal fold strengthened, lower blank margin reconstructed and two 1 ½” tears from right margin expertly repaired. Paper has tiny pin prick-sized holes.
A scarce Boston-printed map of Revolutionary War Boston, including details of the battle of Bunker Hill. The map appeared in the Boston printing of James Murray's history of the American Revolution. An Impartial History was first published in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1780 and then reprinted in Boston -- in three parts -- between 1781 and 1784.
The map depicts the position of the American and English forces, illustrates British ships firing on Charlestown and shows "Charlestown in Flames." The map is a close re-engraving of the map that appeared in the English edition of Murray's history, which itself was based on a Sayer and Bennett map from 1775. (Norman did modify the English version of the map by adding the Liberty Tree on the Common; he also made a few changes to the wharves.) This appears to be the first map of the Bunker Hill battle to have been printed in Boston. In addition to the Bunker Hill details, the map has a table at the lower right that provides a chronology of major fires in Boston, the town wards and a key to eleven prominent buildings.
(Offered by Bickerstaff's Books, Maps &c.)
The First Cambridge King James Bible, Bound by Queens' Binder A
(BINDING, Queens' Binder A). The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New. Engraved general title-page. (12), 842, (2, blank) pp., ruled in red ink throughout. Collation: (*) ¶^6 A-3i^6 3K^4 3L-4A^6 4B^4. Folio. Cambridge: Tho: and John Buck, [1629]. First edition of the King James Bible printed at Cambridge. Full red morocco, ca. 1670s, tooled in gilt to an all-over design of interlacing ribbons and small compartments, with small pointillé tools, spine divided by six raised bands into seven compartments, each tooled in gilt with small pointillé tools, by Queens' Binder A (? William Nott), a.e.g. Expertly rebacked and recornered, endsheets renewed to style with comb-marbled paper, engraved title damspatined at margins, large repaired closed tear at upper margin. (Offered by James Cummins Bookseller, Inc.)
More details about the 39th Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair...