Our members list new acquisitions and recently cataloged items almost every day of the year. Below, you'll find a few highlights from these recent additions...
The Gregory Rabassa Archive of Literary Translation Correspondence: Julio Cortázar
np. Very Good. A RARE AND REVEALING ARCHIVE FROM JULIO CORTÁZAR TO HIS TRANSLATOR GREGORY RABASSA, DOCUMENTING A LANDMARK LITERARY PARTNERSHIP. A significant and intimate archive of correspondence from Argentine-French writer Julio Cortázar (1914–1984) to Gregory Rabassa (1922–2016), the renowned literary translator whose English-language versions of Latin American fiction transformed global readerships. Rabassa translated three of the four novels Cortázar published during his lifetime, and the correspondence captures the evolution of their professional collaboration and personal friendship over nearly two decades.
The letters are deeply literary and often technical, with Cortázar discussing precise translation choices—words, phrases, sentences, and scenes—as well as his reading habits (including Bellow and Lowry), and literary interpretations of contemporary events (e.g., Lyndon Johnson’s mistaken attribution of Dover Beach to Robert Lowell). Most letters conclude affectionately, with some version of “with a big hug from your friend” (in translation).
In his memoir If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents, Rabassa recalled:
“What drew me to the novel [Hopscotch] and to Julio were the variegated interests he and I had in common: jazz, humor, liberal politics, and inventive art and writing.” (p. 51)
The project sparked a transformative moment in Rabassa’s career—leading to awards, lasting collaborations, and the shared National Book Award in Translation. As Rabassa described it:
“So Hopscotch was for me what the hydrographic cliché calls a watershed moment as my life took the direction it was to follow from then on. I hadn’t read the book but I skimmed some pages and did two sample chapters, the first and one farther along, I can’t remember which. Editor Sara Blackburn and Julio both liked my version and I was off and away.”
Cortázar, a generous and enthusiastic collaborator, expressed joy and astonishment at Rabassa’s talents. In a letter to Sara Blackburn (presented here in photocopy), he wrote:
“The last three batches Greg sent were a joy to read and correct. He has found ‘le lieu et la formule’, the exact tone, the almost infallible way of rendering my meaning and all the hellish innuendos that make this book a big plague. I’m so glad that you agree too, because of course I cannot judge the translation from an English-language point of view. All I can say is that Greg has a genius for coining every mental structure in the English mould [sic] (wow, this is too metaphorical! But true at the same time).”(TLS, “Julio,” to Sara, July 3, 1965)
The archive comprises nearly five dozen letters and associated items by Cortázar spanning 1964–1982, including 15 autograph letters/notes, 41 typed letters, one typed letter to Sara Blackburn, and a manuscript poem in a conference program. Their correspondence aligns with major works Rabassa translated, including:
Contents by Work
A. Hopscotch (1966) – 19 letters
B. Paradiso & 62: A Model Kit (1972) – 11 letters
C. A Manual for Manuel (1978) – 6 letters
D. A Change of Light and Other Stories (1980) – 5 letters
E. A Certain Lucas (1984) – 2 letters from Cortázar, 1 from Rabassa
Highlights and Excerpts
“You are such a veteran translator you undoubtedly find the solutions immediately[...]“There will come a day, I hope, when I can return to the almost mythological times when I could read, listen to jazz and write to friends... Meanwhile, big love to yours, and a very big hug from your friend...”(Paris, Feb 22, 1970)
On August 16, 1970, Cortázar inquired whether Rabassa or Edith Grossman would be translating 62: A Model Kit, expressing strong hope it would be Rabassa. In a handwritten letter dated October 15, 1970, he rejoices:
“So happy about the possibility of you translating 62. No matter if it has to wait, the reward is too beautiful, we’ll (62 and I) wait years if necessary.”
A few illustrative excerpts (in loose translation):
Oct 26, 1970: “The other day I had lunch with Gabriel García Márquez and Vargas Llosa. I no longer remember which of the two was very happy to know that you were going to translate a book... I think it was Mario, and the book must be Conversation in the Cathedral.” You are going to have fun there, my little man…”
Nov 26, 1970: “I just came back from Chile, where I went to become a soldier... even though they almost killed me because of collective love... Paris seems to me like a desert island next to those cities where they know me too much... The news about 62 fills me with joy. Now I have faith, man, I was very afraid that in the end it would not be you who translated that novel; I hope you have the courage and the time to do it, because I will be able to sleep peacefully…”
April 9,1974 : “With you I feel on fraternal and immediate ground, I know that you understand me admirably and that I ‘pass’ into English effortlessly, as if it would have been written directly in that language and not in my Rio de la Plata Creole…”
Aug 11, 1975 (Saignon): Contrasts Rabassa’s sensitivity to syntax and rhythm with Clem’s (another translator): “Forgive me for sometimes exaggerating my observations, but I feel that it is my only way to help you. The translation sounds better, and has your special stamp, the Rabassa brand so to speak. I was delighted that Clem translated my story, and I read it very carefully. You see, I make some observations that seem fair to me. There is only one general detail that I would like to know to be honest, and Clem has not always realized that my writing rhythm is based on unusually long sentences, in which the commas are in the manner of periods, which is sometimes incorrect, but it allows me to achieve a kind of ‘swing’ in my writing, a breath that gives it, I think, its meaning. That’s why I do not agree with the tendency to cut sentences in two, which Clem has done many times. In some cases he has a reason, but in others I believe that the period can be replaced by a comma. I have indicated this in all the cases in which it seems necessary. If Clem wants a typical example, I will indicate lines 3 and 4 of page 4; I still understand that there is no need to cut the first sentence into two. Things are becoming too Hemingway-esque from the point of view of style. Everything else is perfect and I like it a lot. Thank you, to Clem, for your work which gives me great joy.”
July 9, 1977: On the translation of the nickname Polaquita: “Agree that any reference to the Poles is best eliminated in the affectionate name applied to Ludmilla. Your possibilities (‘Little Polecat’) do not convince me. ... I decided, Greg, that it would be best to use a familiar expression of affection, and after consulting one or two American friends in Paris, I think ‘little one’ would probably be best. It does not have the particular charm of ‘polaquita’ in Spanish, but on the other hand it does not have the derogatory notion that all reference to the Poles seems to have...”
Sept 27, 1979 (Paris): Discussing issues with the story, “You Lay Down by Your Side,” he notes, “Am leaving Venezuela in October to participate in a congress on exile in Latin America, a topic as important as it is sad, but one that demands debates and fights on the part of everyone of us who continue fighting against the Videlas and the Pinochets.... we can now subtract the son of a bitch Somoza from the list, but there are so many left.”
July 21, 1981 (Aix-en-Provence): Sends humorous remarks about editors:“Editors are capable of doing incredible things if they are not watched closely.”
Nov 7, 1981 (Aix-en-Provence):“For now I have proposed January as the travel date, and also that they get me a visa because with the cowboy on the throne the thing is always difficult. Of course, Mitterrand just gave me French nationality (which I had been denied twice in the last ten years) so that with a French passport I might be able to screw Reagan, although you never know.”
Additional Items-14 letters and other items, such as:
Autograph note on the verso of an 11x17 color poster announcing a theatre presentation of scenes adapted from Cortázar’s story, “Carta A Una Señorita En París,” published in Bestiario (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1951).
Manuscript poem written inside the front cover of a 16-Page, 6x9 stapled program of “The Fifth Oklahoma Conference on Writers of the Hispanic World: Julio Cortázar,” sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Books Abroad, An International Literary Quarterly, November 21 & 22, 1975, printed in black ink with a photograph of JC on the front and back cover.
Autograph note written in black ink on the back of a 6 3⁄4 x 9 1/8 full color lithograph reproduction.
After Hopscotch, Cortázar recommended Rabassa to Gabriel García Márquez:
“García Márquez wanted me to do his book but at the moment I was tied up with Miguel Angel Asturias’s ‘banana trilogy.’ Cortázar told Gabo to wait, which he did, to the evident satisfaction of all concerned.” (Memoir, p. 51)
Indeed, García Márquez reportedly waited three years for Rabassa to translate Cien años de soledad, but his patience paid off.
In 2001 Gregory Rabassa received the Gregory Kolovakos Award from the PEN American Center for the expansion of Hispanic Literature to an English-language audience. He received the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir in 2006 for If This Be Treason: Translations and Its Dyscontents, a Los Angeles Times “Favorite Book of the Year” for 2005, and the National Medal of Arts in 2006.
Offered by Manhatan Rare Book Company.
by [HAWAII VISITOR'S BUREAU]
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.: Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 1960. [MAPS] [TOURIST BROCHURE]. Four of the folded tourist brochures measure (6” x 3”) and open to (12” x 9”). Each is printed on colored paper and features tourist information on one side, along with a relief map that includes an inset map of the eight major islands, showing their placement in the island chain on the verso. The maps include a compass rose, legend, elevations, major roads, towns, crops, sports facilities, hotels, and topography, featuring volcanic mountains, forests, parks, beaches, and more. Light age-toning at some folds, the Maui brochure has a ¼” cut on one panel; all near fine.
The four large brochures with maps are: Hawaii, The Big Island; Kauai, The Garden Island; Maui, The Valley Isle; and Oahu, Crossroads of the Pacific. The fifth brochure is smaller and pictures the island of Molokai, it measures (6” x 3”) and opens to (8 7/8” x 5 7/8”). It features a table of distances to various towns and to the airport from Kaunakakai.
Dating the maps is based on hotels that opened in the early 1960s and closed in the late 1960s.
Offered by Sandra L. Hoekstra.
by STAFFORD, Jean
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1953. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. First edition. Very faint toning at the edges of the boards, still fine in near fine dust jacket with tiny nicks and tears mostly at the spine ends. Nicely Inscribed by the author: "To Ann who is a garden in bloom and the most beloved girl in the U.S. of A. Jean."
Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books.
by FEYNMAN, RICHARD P.
Stockholm: The Nobel Foundation, 1966. First Edition. Original Wrappers. EXTREMELY RARE SIGNED FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT OF FEYNMAN’S NOBEL PRIZE LECTURE. Feynman fancied himself a man who could see through the fluff. When asked by the BBC whether his findings deserved a Nobel Prize, Feynman classically responded:
“I’ve already got the prize. The prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, I don’t believe in honors.”
This attitude—what Feynman himself coined, “a disrespect for the respectable,”—was a product of his upbringing. As a young boy, Feynman’s father, a uniform salesman, would often attempt to teach the young Feynman a lesson, opening a photo in the New York Times and showing Feynman an image of the Pope or a politician, surrounded by bowing admirers. He would then ask Feynman what made the Pope different from the ‘ordinary’ people around him. The answer, his father explained, was in the man's uniform, his title, and his prizes. [Sykes, “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”].
This early ‘disrespect for the respectable’ was intertwined with Feynman's approach to knowledge. He detested false certainty: those who used big words without knowing their meanings, or theorized without understanding basic principles. This attitude is reflected in his scientific approach. Colleagues recalled how, when they presented theories to him, Feynman would make them explain their ideas from the ground up. Starting with elementary questions, he would force them to build their arguments from the simplest foundations. Inevitably, at some point, a hole in the theory would appear—revealed by Feynman’s method of thinking from bedrock knowledge [Sykes; Leighton].
Perhaps Feynman disliked awards because he understood them as working as an opposite process: creating differences not on bedrock, but on the basis of status conferred by, what he saw as, detached ceremonies in far off lands.
It’s also difficult to gauge if this attitude was wholly genuine. Feynman was a showman. Stories abound of Feynman’s muted reaction to the Nobel. When awoken by a reporter at 3:00 AM, told of his award, and asked if he was pleased, Feynman responded, “I could have found out later in the morning.” When, at a more reasonable hour, a reporter asked if there was a simple explanation of what he had discovered, Feynman—who never lacked for words—responded that, “there certainly must be… but I don’t know what it is”[Douglas Smith].
For all of his public lack of concern in titles and distinction, by the time of his 1965 Nobel ceremony, Feynman seemed to have experienced a shift. In his acceptance speech, Feynman remained deeply critical of false knowledge. But he also expressed that honors “can generate good feeling, even love among men, even in lands far beyond [their] own.” As Feynman identified it, after the joy of discovery, comes a more personal occurrence:
“the prize, and a deluge of messages — from friends, from relatives, from students, from former teachers, from scientific colleagues, from total strangers…..The prize was a signal to permit them to express and me to learn about their feelings. Each joy, though transient still, repeated in so many places, amounts to a considerable sum of human happiness. And each note of affection, released thus one upon another, has permitted me to realize a depth of love for my friends and acquaintances, which I had never felt so poignantly before.”
As part of his Nobel acceptance, Feynman delivered a much-awaited lecture on his winning research, titled ”The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Feynman took a personal tone in this address, tracing his personal and intellectual relationship with Quantum Electrodynamics (QED).
Feynman reflected that, as an undergraduate at MIT, he had been most inspired by reading German-Jewish Physicist Walter Heitler, and English Physicist and Mathematician Paul Dirac. What stood out most to him in Dirac’s texts were not his calculations but Dirac’s motions to the theory’s incompleteness. This incompleteness, Feynman labeled both, “a challenge and an inspiration.”
Throughout the lecture, Feynman detailed the development of his theorization and scientific thinking:
“My general plan was to first solve the classical problem, to get rid of the infinite self-energies in the classical theory, and to hope that when I made a quantum theory of it, everything would just be fine.That was the beginning, and the idea seemed so obvious to me and so elegant that I fell deeply in love with it.”
Feynman’s Nobel lecture is packed with detailed anecdotes, explorations of QED, and reflections on the purpose of scientific inquiry—particularly inquiry which is unafraid to approach problems from multiple angles. Throughout his address, Feynman maintains a strong commitment to the idea that incorrect science is not a failure but a vital part of progress. Missteps, he suggests, are essential to discovery; they open the doors through which other advancements can emerge.
Feynman reflected:
“It is most striking that most of the ideas developed in the course of this research were not ultimately used in the final result…. But, if my own experience is any guide, the sacrifice [of discarded ideas] is really not great because if the peculiar viewpoint taken is truly experimentally equivalent to the usual in the realm of the known there is always a range of applications and problems in this realm for which the special viewpoint gives one a special power and clarity of thought, which is valuable in itself.”
The Feynman speaking in this lecture is recognizable for his enthusiastic approach to dense physics, his charismatic telling of a tall tale, and his unflinching certainty that knowledge can not be granted, but must be earned.
The Feyman offprint is signed and dated, “Richard P. Feynman / 7.20.66”. It was signed for Peter Zimmerman, an American Ph.D. candidate in physics at Lund University in Sweden. Zimmerman later worked for the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
With an autograph note from Feynman’s secretary Better Brent (dated 7-20-66) to Peter Zimmerman titled “Nobel Lecture” and answering a question from Zimmerman concerning changes between the delivered speech and the printed form. (Brent had typed the speech from the recording of the speech and noted that she made no major changes.) Also with an inscribed first printing of Robert Hofstadter’s lecture for the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1961 titled, “The Electron Scattering Method and its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons”. Inscribed “To Pete Zimmerman / with compliments of / the author. / R. Hofstadter.”
Stockholm, Sweden: The Nobel Foundation, 1966. Thin octavo, original printed wrappers. Fading around wrapper edges; mild imprint from paperclip at top of rear wrapper and final page. With autograph note from Feynman’s secretary Bette Brent and invitation to the 1965 Nobel Prize banquet. Also with: HOFSTADTER, ROBERT. Les Prix Nobel en 1961: The Electron Scattering Method and its Application to the Structure of Nuclei and Nucleons. Stockholm, Sweden: The Nobel Foundation, 1962. Thin octavo, original wrappers. Some toning around the edges. Housed together in custom box.
EXCEEDINGLY RARE: We are aware of only one other signed offprint of Feynman’s speech that has been on the market.
Offered by Manhattan Rare Books.
by Aubanel, Antoine (ed.)
Avignon, 1789. First edition. Loose leaf. Quarto. 9.5 x7.5". 237-240pp. [+ added supplement, two sided leaf]. Text printed in black in a two-column format, with woodcut headpiece/decorative border surrounding the title at the top of the first page. Pages uncut, printed on rag paper.
This remarkable document, an issue of the 18th century biweekly newspaper Le Courrier d'Avignon, was published just eight days after the storming of the Bastille (July 14th, 1789) and consists of the first uncensored journalistic account of the those events, the preceeding civil unrest, and the upheavals throughout the following week. These events are now seen to have marked the beginning of the French Revolution. A two-sided supplement leaf to issue #58 giving further details of the events, is also included.
Do to the fact that Avignon was at this time still a Papal enclave, not under control of the French monarchy, the press there was not under same censorship to which all other French press at the time was subject ("privilege with permission"), allowing the accounts of these events to be given in unadulterated direct detail. Pages 239-240 relate in gruesome detail, the events of July 14th, including the taking of the Bastille, the hanging and beheading of its commander Monsieur Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, and the lynching and beheading of Jacques de Flesselles, the last provost of the merchants of Paris (equivalent to mayor). These were the first two prominent casualties of the Revolution.
Of noteworthy importance is the information published on page 238, that the Marquis de Lafayette is working on the drafting of a "Declaration des Droits Naturels de l'Homme vivant en Societe," which text will be adopted on August 26, and will be universally known as the "Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen."
Text in French.
In very good condition overall.
[WITH]
Bournon, Fernand. La Bastille. Histoire et description des bâtiments - Administration - Régime de la prison - Événements historiques (Histoire Generale de Paris). Paris,1893. Folio. (xiv) [1] 364pp. [+ 12 interleaved plates]. Blind-stamped green pebbled buckram boards with gilt tooling on the front cover, gilt lettering and blind-stamped ruling on the spine. Pages uncut and un-opened. A beautifully produced book documenting all aspects of the history of the Bastille prison in comprehensive detail. Contains a total of 12 finely printed illustrated gravure plates in b/w. These include multiple historical and detailed maps of the prison and its surroundings, facsimile reproductions of various historical documents, including of a letter from Monsieur Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, commander of the Bastille from October 1776 – 14 July 1789, and images of some related historical artifacts. Includes an extensive alphabetical index at the back of the book. The book appears to have never been read. Binding with some minor rubbing to extremities, including along the front hinge of the spine. Head of spine slightly bumped with a closed tear. Book block tight. Binding in very good condition, interior in very good+ to near fine condition overall. *The "Courrier d'Avignon" was published from 1733 to 1793 with two breaks, the first between July 1768 and August 1769 due to Avignon's annexation by France, and the second between November 30, 1790, and May 24, 1791.
Offered by Eric Chaim Kline Bookseller.
[Bilston Patch Box] [Theatrical Tchotschke] Rosina
Bilston, England, 1783. A wonderful and rare Bilston box showing the heroine of the comic opera, "Rosina", considered the ancestor of the English operetta and also musical comedy. The music was composed by William Shield, the libretto, written by Frances Brooke; a little over a decade of being written, "Rosina" premiered in 1782 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Intended as a secondary work on the program, "Rosina" struck a chord with audiences and was a "hit". The patch box isn't dated, but we would assume it was created not long after the comic opera was first performed, and in any case, it was definitely made in the late eighteenth century and we'd say, the 1780s. Being a patchbox, it is diminutive, measuring 4 by 3 cm, and 2 cm in height. it is in wonderful shape, with its interior mirror under the lid fully intact. The image of Rosina on its top looks to us it was achieved with a transfer process, meaning it had an element of having been printed, but we could find no other such boxes.
Offerd by White Fox Books & Antiques.
by MITCHELL, Samuel Augustus Jr.
Washington: Samuel Augustus Mitchell Jr., 1881. unbound. Map. Lithograph with original hand coloring. Image measures 22 1/4" x 14 1/2"
This lovely map of Chicago from the 1881 edition of Mitchell's New General Atlas shows the City of Chicago as well as some parts of the surrounding suburbs. Streets are labeled, as well as parks, railroad lines, waterways, and some institutions. Wards are numbered as well. An index in the lower part of the map provides an alphabetized street guide.
Samuel Augustus Mitchell Sr. (1792-1868) was one of the leaders in American cartography of the 19th century and pioneered the conversion of engraved map plates to more affordable lithographic plates. His son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell Jr. continued his father's successful map-making and publishing business, and was one of the most prolific and renowned 19th century American publishers.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
by Toomer, Jean; Waldo Frank [Foreword]
New York: Boni and Liveright, 1923. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first printing of one of the most influential works of the Harlem Renaissance. 239 pp. Bound in publisher's grey cloth stamped in marigold and dark blue; lacking the dust jacket. Near Fine with light wear to tips, trivial soiling to spine, and offsetting at endsheets and preliminary sheets. Front free endpaper chipped and slightly wormed, rear end paper lacking, tidemark at top edge of rear pastedown. A much nicer copy than normally encountered. Toomer's collection of 13 prose vignettes set in Washington D.C. and Georgia, initially overlooked when first published. "His friend Langston Hughes declared, 'Cane contains the finest prose written by a Negro in America and, like the singing of Robeson, it is truly racial.'" Blockson 63, Perry 431, Schomburg p.13.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
Lunar Surveyor Program Photo Mosaic: "Day 318, Survey G, Sectors 3 and 4
United States Geological Survey, 1968. 77 black and white photographs, 2 x 2 inches each, numbered in ink, attached to paper backing. 31 x 14 inches, 35-1/2 x 20 inches framed. Mount with some water staingin at head, otherwise very good, mounted and framed. 77 black and white photographs, 2 x 2 inches each, numbered in ink, attached to paper backing. 31 x 14 inches, 35-1/2 x 20 inches framed. The NASA Surveyor program launched seven lunar missons between 1966 and 1968, five of which successfully landed, demonstrating the feasibility of lunar landings (for the Apollo program), as well as taking lunar photographs and collecting information which helped future moon missions. In this photo-mosaic, Surveyor photographs part of itself, with the lunar surface as backdrop. Only around 200 usable examples of these Surveyor moonscapes were successfully assembled, and even less of them had clear imagery, making the finished mosaics some of the most expensive photographs ever made.
Offered by James Cummins Bookseller.
A Good Man is Hard to Find (Signed)
by O'Connor, Flannery
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company First edition, first printing, with "tyring" to page 125. Signed by O'Connor in blue pen on front free endpaper. Publisher's black cloth, with spine lettered in pink and yellow; in the original yellow dust jacket, with modernist design in white and pink, lettered in white and pink. Near fine book, with a hint of wear to head of spine, lightly bumped upper corners, and ghost of sticker removal to bottom of front free endpaper; very good clipped dust jacket, with some fading to spine, some shallow chipping to spine ends, light rubbing to front panel, a small piece of tape to verso of rear flap fold, and lightly nicked corners. Overall, an attractive copy, uncommon signed. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a collection of Flannery O'Connor's short stories, including "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "The River," "The Life You Save May be Your Own," and "Good Country People," among others. Known as a Southern Christian female writer, Flannery O'Connor is a prime example of a writer from the Southern Gothic literary genre. The stories included in this collection share the common theme of Christian morals, especially in relation to life and death; many of the plots include characters undergoing spiritual changes as a result of violent or upsetting events.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.
Offered by B&B Rare Books.
by (VELLUM PRINTING). SZYK, ARTHUR, Illustrator
London: Beaconsfield Press, [1939]. No. 72 OF 125 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ARTIST AND THE EDITOR for sale in the British Empire. 292 x 248 mm. (11 1/2 x 9 3/4"). xxvi pp., [46] leaves (all leaves French fold). Edited by Cecil Roth.
Elegant original blue crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (signed on front turn-in), covers with gilt French fillet border and large intricate central figure designed by Szyk of a patriarch holding a goblet and book, raised bands, spine gilt in double ruled compartments with ornate crown centerpiece, gilt titling, turn-ins with double gilt-ruled and scalloped border surrounding an illustrated silk doublure featuring a Szyk portrait of Moses with the Ten Commandments done in shades of gray within a frame of elaborate design. In an excellent velvet-lined box of blue half morocco over lighter blue cloth, upper cover with central lion's head in gilt on blue morocco, spine like that of the book. WITH 14 FULL-PAGE AND 32 SMALLER COLOR REPRODUCTIONS OF DESIGNS BY SZYK. English translation printed in black, commentary printed in red. Front flyleaf inscribed in ink: "To Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Brachman / very cordially / Arthur Szyk / New York. April 1945." Very faint naturally occurring variations in the grain of the vellum, otherwise a pristine copy.
With an important Holocaust-related authorial inscription, this is a very fine copy of what the London Times described as "a book worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced." Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), a Polish Jew, is considered by scholars to be the greatest 20th century illuminator. Using the style of the Medieval illuminated manuscript artists, he has here created a Haggadah for Passover that is at once a beautiful book of devotion, a political protest against the rise of Nazism, and a plea for England's help for the Jews of Europe. By 1939, Szyk's anti-Nazi cartoons had caused Hitler to put a price on his head, forcing him to flee to England. His original illustrations for his "Haggadah," featuring the villains of the Exodus with the heads of Hitler, Goebbels, and other leading Nazis, had to be toned down before publication. All 46 pages of the Hebrew text are illustrated with scenes from the Passover story, as well as vignettes of Jewish life in modern Europe—sometimes Szyk mixes the two to great effect. Perhaps the most moving illustration in the book is the elaborately illustrated dedication to King George VI of England, appealing for his mercy to European Jews. The great symbols of the British Empire—the lion and unicorn, St. George defeating the dragon—surround Szyk's plea to the king: "At the feet of your most gracious majesty I humbly lay these works of my hands, shewing forth the affliction of my people Israel." In the lower right corner of the painting, we see Jewish refugees beside one of the ships which were usually turned away from British shores, while Szyk depicts himself leaning against the painting, his brush and easel in hand. The text here is enriched by the historical introduction and the commentary contributed by Cecil Roth (1899-1970), the preeminent British expert on Jewish history. This crowning achievement of Szyk's life was four years in the making, and has proved to be an enduring treasure. Szyk presented this copy to Texas oilfield supply magnate Solomon "Sol" Brachman (1896-1974) and his wife Etta. The son of a Latvian Jew, Brachman was the founding president of the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth in 1936, and helped arrange an emergency $100,000 bank loan for Israel on the eve of statehood in 1948. His wife, who served as president of the National Council of Jewish Women, was known as "the mother of Hadassah." Szyk's 1945 inscription was no doubt especially meaningful to this devout family, whose Latvian relatives were among the 90 percent of that country's Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
Offered by Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books.
by HODGSON, William Hope
London: Chapman and Hall, 1908. First Edition. Octavo (19cm); publisher's ribbed deep red cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board. [xii]; [2]; 300pp.+4pp publisher's ads to rear. Bumping to spine ends with some scuffing to extremities, light sunning to the spine with some darkening of the gilt, and a bump to the lower rear corner, strong and handsome; internally clean. A very good copy with some wear, shows well. Housed in a tailor-made burgundy leather-spined, felt lined clamshell box, titled in gilt to the spine.
A tremendously significant piece of weird and speculative fiction, justifiably considered one of the cornerstones of the genre. Hodgson managed in his relatively short life, before his death in the trenches in 1918, to create some of the most enduring tales of ghosts, eldritch horrors, and in this case, murderous pallid swine-men from the abyssal depths, ancient cosmic intelligences, and long lost manuscripts. Scarce.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.
by L'Engle, Madeleine
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Ariel Books, 1962. First Edition, First Printing. Cloth. Very good/very good. The first edition, first printing of A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle, in the first state dust jacket.. Octavo, [10], 211pp, [3]. Quarter blue cloth, title stamped in gilt and yellow on the spine. Stated "First Printing, 1962" on the copyright page. Light sunning along top edge, bumped top edge. Front hinge reinforced with archival repair, front pastedown partially torn, solid text block. Internally clean. Previous ownership inscription on the half-title, with offsetting from a newspaper clipping. In the publisher's first state dust jacket, partially clipped retail price on front flap, loss at heel of the spine, a few short closed tears, faint toning to the spine, a solid example. Jacket design by Ellen Raskin. The first state dust jacket, without the Newbery Medal sticker on the front panel. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle was first published by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy in 1962 after being rejected by at least 26 publishers, many of whom felt the book was too complex or controversial for children’s literature. Despite the initial skepticism, the novel quickly gained acclaim, winning the prestigious Newbery Medal in 1963.
Offered by First Edition Rare Books.
Uncut Engraving – Patriotic Perpetual Calendar, American Flag, George Washington
c1820-30. Calendar. Excellent. An 8 ½” x 11” sheet with engraved patriotic imagery designed to be cut and assembled to create a perpetual calendar. Two (2) tabs to be cut and inserted to provide the days of the week and the months and the days in a month. Excellent. Corner clip on sheet margin.
Offered by Eclectibles.
Bee - The Princess of the Dwarfs
by France, Anatole
London: Dent, 1912. Hardcover. Fine. Robinson, Charles. Large 8vo, full ivory cloth stamped in pictorial gilt, illustrated with 17 mounted full page color plates with captioned tissue guards and mounted color chapter head art by Charles Robinson. Top edge gilt. Mild toning to pictorial endpapers else a lovely bright copy with tiny bumps to tips, no previous ownership markings.
Each plate is mounted with a gold border. Amongst an abundance of beautifully illustrated books of Robinson's, this stands out. The spine gilt with the full title and a large gnome is a delight; the cover, also all in gilt, is a delicate work with a princess and elaborate borders filled with more characters. The endpapers feature trolls with mining tools, all in gilt. The title page is again elaborately drawn. Vignettes are everywhere throughout the text. It's a charmer and one of our favorite Charles Robinson books.
Offered by Bud Plant & Hutchinson Books.
The Goldfinch (Signed First Edition)
by Donna Tartt
First Edition/First Printing with the complete number line; A Fine book in a Fine dust jacket with only slight rubbing to the spine ends, else as new and unread. SIGNED by the author on the 2nd free page underneath a print of the famous painting. A superlative copy of this Pulitzer Prize winning novel (Pulitzer sticker to front cover). Not remaindered, not price-clipped, not ex-library; in a protective Mylar cover and will ship in a sturdy box.
Offered by Grayshelf Books.
THE DIARY OF ANAÏS NIN, 1931-1955
by Nin, Anaïs
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. Wraps. Very good. Boxed set of the first five volumes of Anaïs Nin's celebrated diaries, along with a photographic supplement. The first four volumes are inscribed by Anaïs Nin to Charlotte Hyde on the front flyleaf. It was Hyde, a tourism representative for Tahiti, New Caledonia, and the Hebrides, who helped Nin fulfill her lifelong dream of visiting Bali.
Born in France to Cuban parents, Anaïs Nin (1903-77) began keeping a diary at the age of eleven and continued the practice for the rest of her life. Confessional, scandalous, and thoroughly absorbing, her diaries became one of the most celebrated literary projects of the 20th century. Writing candidly of her marriages and affairs – including those with psychoanalyst Otto Rank and author Henry Miller – Nin presents a passionate and detailed record of a modern woman’s journey of self discovery.
Edited by Gunther Stuhlmann. Octavo, six volumes: various paginations. Original pictorial paper wrappers. Some creasing to the spine of the first volume, with a bit of mild toning and wear along the extremities; otherwise very good. Housed in the publisher's slipcase, which is a bit smudged on the top edge.
Offered by johnson rare books & archives.
[Playbill]: The Producers (Signed by Susan Stroman)
2001. Softcover. Near Fine. Playbill. Small octavo. Stapled wrappers. Near fine with small vertical printer's crease on the front cover. A playbill for the 2001 production of *The Producers* featuring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and is Signed on the cover by director and choreographer Susan Stroman, who won a Tony Award in both categories. This copy includes a slip laid in noting that production will be collecting donations for World Trade Center emergency personnel, volunteer and family members of those affected.
Offered by Between the Covers Rare Books.
by Ellison, Ralph
New York: Random House, 1999. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. Signed by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, the first edition of Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison.. Octavo, xxiii, [2], 368pp. Green hardcover, title in gilt on black spine. Stated "First Edition" on copyright page with the publisher's full number line. Solid text block, faint dust remnants to top edge, a near fine example. In the publisher's dust jacket, light shelf wear, a very good copy. Signed by Toni Morrison on the front free endpaper. Morrison's review is printed on the front flap of the dust jacket, where she calls the novel: "A majestic narrativeconcept." Juneteenth, Ralph Ellison's second novel, was published posthumously. It was assembled from countless notes left by Ellison upon his death in 1994. He is best remembered for his first novel, Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.
Offered by First Edition Rare Books.
Solstice and Other Poems by Jeffers, Robinson
New York: Random House, 1935. 8vo, 151 pp. Green cloth, backstrip sunned, lacking dust jacket. Bookplate of Georgianna Owen Moore. First trade edition.
"Solstice and Other Poems represents a crucial turn in the career—or ministry—of Robinson Jeffers. The title narrative Solstice is the one of Jeffers’ shorter narrative poems. In spite of its brevity, Robinson Jeffers chose not to include Solstice in his Selected Poetry (1938)... The volume did include the previously published lyrics Return and also introduced some noteworthy lyrics, including Love the Wild Swan, Distant Rainfall, Gray Weather, and Ave Caesar." The Inhumanist. Broomfield A20b.
Offered by John WIndle Bookseller.
by [BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY] - John CANNING (c. 1756-1804) and Capt. Michael HOGAN (1766-1833)
1796. The archive comprises: 1.) Autograph letter signed "John Canning." Bifolium (13 x 8 1/4 inches), 21 lines in fine Malay (Jawi) with Arabic opening formula, docketed "Calcutta 10 Dec 1796"; octagonal red-wax armorial seal of the Canning family. Letter requests that local rulers receive Capt. Hogan "as our agent... to conclude a treaty advantageous to both sides," dated 22 Jumada II 1211 / 10 Dec 1796. 2.) to 5.) [4] Paper wrappers. English addresses in a copperplate hand & parallel Jawi headings, each with intact Canning seal. Addressed to the Sultan of Magindanao, King of Mempawah (Borneo), King of Bali, Sultan of Borneo. 6.) to 8.) [3] Yellow-silk diplomatic covers. Golden satin sleeves with paper address bands in two languages; two remain unopened and sealed. Addressed to the Sultan of Johor (unopened), King of Sambawa (unopened), Sultan of Soloo (wrapper only). An exceptional archive, uniting British, Malay, and Islamic manuscript traditions, that captures the East India Company’s first concerted overtures to the island states of Southeast Asia.
Drafted in the wake of the Dutch East India Company's collapse and the French Revolutionary Wars, this archive documents the East India Company's first concerted diplomatic overtures to the maritime courts of the Malay world. With Dutch control unraveling after the 1795 Batavian Revolution, Britain saw a strategic opportunity to enter the lucrative Spice Island trade. Lacking on-the-ground alliances, the Company turned to private initiative: Captain Michael Hogan, an Irish-American merchant and former convict transport captain, was enlisted as unofficial envoy aboard his ship Marquis Cornwallis. The diplomatic texts were composed by Captain John Goodall Canning, then Harbour-Master of the port, in refined court Malay using Jawi script, the Islamic-inflected lingua franca of diplomacy from Aceh to Sulu. In keeping with regional tradition, the letters open with Islamic invocation and florid honorifics, followed by carefully phrased expressions of friendship and commercial intent. The surviving autograph letter fixes the date of the mission and declares its purpose: "to plant affection and concord, and if Your Highness deem it good, to enter with us into a compact benefitting both realms." After disembarking convicts in Port Jackson (Sydney) in February 1796, the Marquis Cornwallis passed northward through Torres Strait, calling at New Guinea, the Moluccas, and ports across the Java Sea, almost certainly delivering these and parallel documents en route. The silk wrappers signal the elevated diplomatic status of the messages, which were meant to be presented in person by Hogan and opened only in the presence of the addressee. The present archive offers a rare and vivid glimpse into the hybrid ceremonial, linguistic, and political world of early modern Southeast Asia, and into the improvisational diplomacy of the Company at the edge of empire.
Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books.
by Rex Stout
New York: The Viking Press, 1957. Very Good+/Very Good-. New York: The Viking Press, 1957. First Edition. Octavo (21 cm); 186pp. Boards in light blue cloth with blue stamping, wrapped in intact publisher's jacket ($2.95). Yellow top stain. Jacket lightly soiled with scuffing, creasing and rubbing overall with light sunning to spine. Board corners and spine ends bumped with minor discoloration to spine. Offsetting at endsheets, otherwise pages clean. A Very Good or better copy in a Very Good jacket
Offered by Capitol Hill Books.
by Joyce, James
New York: Random House, 1934. First American Edition. Very Good+/Very Good+. First American edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original cream-colored cloth lettered in black and red. Very Good+. CLoth with toning to spine and edges, light wear to front joint. Former owner name to front free endpaper and contents tanned. In a Very Good+ unclipped dust jacket with designer's name Reichl to bottom corner of front panel, with tanning and edge wear, several small splits at the joints with a mending tissue repair made to the verso of the rear spine joint. A nice copy of the once banned novel.
Offered by Burnside Rare Books.
Early Black Superhero "Rapport" in Secret Six Comics, 1968-69
Archive of six issues of Secret Six, Nos. 1–6 (DC Comics, 1968–1969), featuring an early African American hero in a mainstream ensemble title. Six issues, in original color pictorial wrappers. Printed by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics). Complete run of the original 1968–1969 Secret Six series, illustrated by Jack Sparling and scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell and Joe Gill. Edited by Dick Giordano. Printed in full color.
A key ensemble series in DC’s late Silver Age experimentation, Secret Six remains notable for its unusually diverse cast, subversive tone, and for introducing one of the earliest Black protagonists in a mainstream superhero team. The character known as Dr. August Durant (alias “Rapport”) is a critical member of the covert six-person task force led by the mysterious “Mockingbird.” A skilled African American surgeon and operative, Durant was a rare example of non-stereotyped Black heroism in 1960s comics—a field that otherwise offered minimal space for serious, complex representations of Black identity. Although his race was not a constant focal point, Durant’s presence in the group predated the arrival of better-known Black superheroes like Marvel’s Falcon (1969) and Luke Cage (1972), making his inclusion historically significant. Archive includes:
[1] Secret Six No. 1 (Apr.–May 1968), “Code Name: Mockingbird,” introduces the team and the central dilemma—each member’s dark secret is known to Mockingbird, who uses that knowledge to manipulate them.
[2] Secret Six No. 2 (June–July 1968), with a plot involving Cold War sabotage and a fictional nuclear bomber, the XB-107.
[3] Secret Six No. 3 (Aug.–Sept. 1968), deepens the interpersonal drama, highlighting the internal fractures in the team.
[4] Secret Six No. 4 (Oct.–Nov. 1968), “Escape for an Enemy,” centers a mission to rescue a disgraced Chinese general, featuring coded racial tropes typical of Cold War fiction, with Durant emerging as a moral counterpoint.
[5] Secret Six No. 5 (Dec. 1968–Jan. 1969), “The Queen Without a Crown,” a heist storyline involving the Crown Jewels of a fictional European country.
[6] Secret Six No. 6 (Feb.–Mar. 1969), “The Victim is a Killer,” closes the series with a noir-inflected assassination mystery.
The Secret Six series was notable for its relatively progressive narrative structure, its commitment to moral ambiguity, and its break from traditional superhero conventions. While Durant did not become a breakout solo character, his role within the series laid groundwork for later ensemble-based inclusivity in mainstream comics and offers critical insight into DC’s transitional publishing era. Moderate wear consistent with age. Overall very good condition. An uncommon run that features one of the earliest Black heroes in a sustained team role in mainstream comics—preceding broader Black representation in the genre by several years.
Offered by Max Rambod, Inc.
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft; Lynd Ward
New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1934. First trade edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Lynd Ward. 259pp. Octavo [24 cm] Blue cloth over boards with wraparound illustration. The spine is a touch rolled, and the boards are mildly warped. The spine is sunned. The edges of the boards are rubbed. Toned adhesive remnant, likely from a bookplate, on the front pastedown. Lacks slipcase. Dance 064. Includes fifteen full-page illustrations by Lynd Ward, plus illustrations scattered throughout. This is Lynd Ward at the height of his powers, and this gothic novel may be the perfect avenue for his work.
Offered by Ken Sanders Bookseller.
The General Laws of the State of California, From 1850 to 1864
by Hittell, Theodore Henry; Parker, Charles
1865. San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft, 1865. 2 vols.. San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft, 1865. 2 vols. From the Library of San Francisco Attorney Emanuel S. Heller the Founding Partner of the Law Firm of Heller Erhman Hittell, Theodore Henry, Compiler. Parker, Charles, Compiler. The General Laws of the State of California, From 1850 to 1864, Inclusive: Being a Compilation of All Acts of a General Nature Now in Force, With Full References to Repealed Acts, Special and Local Legislation, And Statutory Constructions of the Supreme Court. To Which are Prefixed the Declaration of independence, Constitution of the United States, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Proclamations to the People of California, Constitution of the State of California, Act of Admission, And United States Naturalization Laws, With Notes of California Decisions Thereon. San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1865. 2 volumes. Quarto (10" x 7"). Contemporary sheep, blind frames to boards, with red and black lettering pieces to spine. Worn and soiled. Joints cracked, but holding. Rubbing to boards, corners bumped and worn. Ex-library with property stamp to front pastedown of volume one. Previous owner's contemporary signature to front free endpaper of volume one. Light toning, offsetting to margins of endleaves, wear to edges of some leaves, internally clean.
Only edition. The first compilation of California laws was issued in 1853, three years after the state's admission to the Union. The second, organized by topic followed in 1857. Hittell and Parker's compilation, a more extensive and sophisticated work, was the third. This set belonged to Emanuel S. Heller, a notable member of the California Bar and the founder of the important San Francisco firm Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe. Babbitt, Hand-List of Legislative Sessions and Session Laws 24.
Offered by Lawbook Exchange.
by [Fore-edge Painting] ROGERS, Samuel (1863-1855).
London:: Printed for T. Cadell; and E. Moxon, 18030, 1834., 1803. 2 volumes. 8vo. ITALY: vii, 284 pp. POEMS: vii, 284 pp. Engravings throughout. Bound ca. 1890/1905 in full olive brown crushed morocco, gilt corner decorations, dentelles, a.e.g., marbled endleaves. Bookplates of Alfred Trapnell and Oscar Ehrhardt Lancaster (both owned fore-edge paintings). ITALY: p. 273/4 torn and mended. ITALY has only the Trapnell bookplate, as the books had been separated for many years in the past. Very good. Each volume with a vertical fore-edge painting of a large porcelain urn or vase with a plant. The painting is not signed or dated – the evidence of ownership (Trapnell) suggests these two paintings were made before 1910.
PROVENANCE: Alfred Trapnell bookplate, his library sold in NY ca. 1910 ["997" + "998" label]. The fore-edge was painted before Trapnell bought (possibly as a commission from him) the book. The ITALY was from the Phoebe Jane Easton collection of fore-edge paintings (Jeff Weber bought), a clear companion to the other volume, also with Trapnell's bookplate. Alfred Trapnell was a famous collector of porcelains. Unstated Provenance: Matt Wyse. LANCASTER did not have both of these volumes, his bookplate appears only in the one book. It was Matt Wyze who bought the stray volume and then I recognized it and married the two back together again – probably apart for more than 30 or 40 years. ITALY: From the Phoebe Easton collection of fore-edge paintings.
SIDE NOTE: Professor Carl J. Weber visited Lancaster on May 1, 1954 and inscribed a copy of his book [1001 Fore-edge Paintings, Waterville, 1949] on fore-edge painting to him. Lancaster (b.1887) who was a patent lawyer from Pennsylvania, also a book collector and had a collection of fore-edge paintings. See: Frederick Litchfield, Albert Amor. The Trapnell collection. An appreciation. ca.1912. (19 pp.); An Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Porcelain and Pottery, Forming the Collection of Mr. Alfred Trapnell. Bristol, 1901.
Offered by Jeff Weber Rare Books.
Original program for United States I-IV; with: first edition of United States
by Anderson, Laurie
Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1982. Original program for an early Chicago performance of selections from Laurie Anderson’s United States I-IV, her eight-hour multimedia performance piece on “life in the nuclear technocracy” which would first be performed in its entirety the following year at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. United States I-IV included some of Anderson’s most enduring contributions as an artist: her innovative use of the vocoder and her own invention, the “tape-bow;” her fascination with written and spoken language; and the surprise hit single “O Superman.” The Chicago program is accompanied by two original handouts from that performance and a first edition of Anderson’s subsequent book, United States, published by Harper & Row in 1984. Fine examples. Single bifolium, measuring 11 x 8.5 inches: [4]. Text printed in red over images of Anderson printed in silver. Photocopied notes on the performers for May 19-20 and flyer for the New Music America ‘82 Festival laid in. With: oblong volume, measuring 8.5 x 11 inches: [232]. Original color pictorial wrappers, illustrated with photographs throughout text. Lightest edgewear.
Offered by Honey & Wax Booksellers.
Natemoonlife, 2021. 401/930 copies. VG+. Color silkscreen, measure 18" x 24" A Tour 2021 poster created for the DTE Energy Music Theatre show in Clarkson, MI held on Sept. 10, 2021. From the collection of Bill Walton with a small ink stamp on the reverse indicating as such.
Offered by Mullen Books.
Teacher's Guide: "A Hard Day's Night"
by {THE BEATLES} ALLEN, THOMAS P.
New York: United Artists Corporation / The Center for Understanding Media, Inc.. Fine. (ca.1972). First Edition. Softcover. [as new, with no discernible wear of any kind]. (B&W photo cover)
An uncommon piece of Beatles-related ephemera, consisting of four mimeographed pages (text on one side only), fastened together with a single staple, inside a printed folder with a photo of the Fab Four on the cover. This was issued under the banner of UA:16, the non-theatrical (16mm) distribution arm of United Artists, to assist high school teachers who wanted to use The Beatles' 1964 debut feature film as part of their classroom curricula (these teachers would have to have been quite a few degrees cooler than any high school teacher I ever had, with the exception of Mr. Patrick Burns).
Its contents are organized under four headings -- The Origin of the Film; The Filmmakers and Their Format; The Attitude of the Film; Suggestions for Usage -- and as might be expected from the imposition of such an overlay onto such an essentially anarchic film, the results (despite their obvious sincerity) are often unintentionally hilarious. One sample: The film, "according to type, may be classified as an entertainment documentary, or as an actuality reenactment, or as all other kinds of contradictory terms. It is unique in its class because it sets out to record the actual face of an entertainment event without losing the distancing effect of cinema artifice." The "Suggestions for Usage" section begins: "A Hard Day's Night is basically an experience. In colleges, it has a validity as a sociological study, but on the high school level it is a chance for a teenager to confront himself and his values. The teenagers presented in the film are actually people, not actors, and as previously described by [Hunter] Davies, 'emotionally, mentally, or sexually excited, foaming at the mouth' etc. Although the film elicited the same reaction, hopefully in the seventies in the classroom it would received a more balanced reaction. The movie itself is an antidote to runaway emotionalism." (NOTE that I have dated this based in part on its inclusion of quotes from Hunter Davies's 1968 biography of The Beatles and Joseph Gelmis's 1970 book "The Film Director as Superstar.").
Offered by ReadInk.
[Warsaw: NP, 1939. Broadside/ Poster. vg. Measuring 20 1/2 x 25 1/2]
This extremely important and scarce historical document officially announces the event that would become the start of the Second World War, which would go on to be among the deadliest conflict in human history. This is known to be the first printed official communication of the Polish government regarding the German invasion, and therefore the very first printed mention of the events initiating WWII. These declarations were officially posted in cities throughout Poland, in the wake of the initial early morning assault by German Naval forces and the Luftwaffe, on September 1st. Although Polish radio had started to broadcast announcements about the invasion as early as 6:30 am, this presidential proclamation was the first in print. This is a copy from Warsaw.
In the text Polish president Ignacy Mościcki announces the German invasion and appeals to the Polish citizenry to the take arms to defend their freedom and independence. The text blesses the Polish people and asks them to stand united with the army, promising a strong and victorious military response.
Proclamation is in very good condition, with only some minor foxing at stains towards the bottom and right side, as well as some light creasing and closed tears along the right edge. Folding creases. All text clean and vibrant. In overall very good condition. These printed proclamations (posters) are now extremely scarce with only one known institutional holding known, located in the National LIbrary of Poland. (
Offered by Eric Chaim Kline Bookseller.
THIS IS ANN : She's Dying to Meet You
by [Seuss, Dr.]; [Leaf, Munro]
(Washington, DC): (Government Printing Office), 1943. Near fine.. First printing of this cheeky safety pamphlet on the dangers of malaria, handed to US troops during WWII. Both Leaf and Seuss were serving in uniform at the time of this pamphlet's creation — and while neither is credited, Seuss's cheerfully bizarre illustrations and Leaf's breezy prose nevertheless betray their distinctive styles. An unusual and highly sought piece of Seuss ephemera, quite evocative of the era. 5.25'' x 4.25''. Original saddle-stapled pictorial wrappers printed in black and red. Illustrated by Seuss in black and red. [32] pages. Faint toning and a bit of spotting, else largely clean. Firm
Offered by Type Punch Matrix.
Yoko at Indica [Unfinished Paintings and Objects]
by ONO, YOKO
London: Indica Gallery, 1966. First edition. Very Good. The exhibition catalog for Yoko Ono’s transformative one-woman show at London’s Indica Gallery. Famous for the place where she and John Lennon first met. A REMARKABLE SURVIVAL: THE ONLY COPY WE CAN LOCATE WITH ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND SLIPS INTACT. The “Yoko at Indica” catalog is an interactive work of performance art, much like her actual exhibit, held in November 1966. There are eight leaves of black and white images of the exhibits printed on gummed paper, with three images to a page, perforated so each of the 24 images can be removed and pasted onto a half-page slip with the correct caption. The slips were created by splitting the text pages horizontally – the caption slips are on the top, while the bottom slips, moving independently of the top slips, contain vintage Ono sayings, instructions, and “imaginations”, as well as a somewhat humorous sales/price list, a bio (“gave birth to a grapefruit / collected snails, clouds, garbage cans”) and an artist’s statement (“People went on cutting the parts they do not like of me finally there was only the stone remained of me that was in me but they were still not satisfied and wanted to know what it’s like in the stone”).
Some of the pieces exhibited (and illustrated in the catalog) include her famous white chess set (Play It by Trust), Painting To Be Stepped On, Painting To Hammer A Nail, and significantly, Apple, and Ceiling Painting. “Apple” was the piece that first got John Lennon’s attention when he visited the gallery before the opening at the request of the gallery co-owner John Dunbar. The exhibit – an apple on a pedestal – was supposed to decay over the run of the show as a commentary on the cycle of life, impermanence, and deterioration, but Lennon walked up to the apple and started eating it. He then discovered “Ceiling Painting”, where a ladder was placed under a magnifying glass attached to the ceiling. If the visitor – in this case Lennon – climbed the ladder and used the magnifying class, they could view the tiny painting on the ceiling, simply the word “yes”. Lennon was impressed, much more so than with the apple. As he later explained:
“Well, all the so-called avant-garde art at the time and everything that was supposedly interesting was all negative, this smash-the-piano-with-a-hammer, break-the-sculpture boring negative crap. It was all anti-, anti-, anti-. Anti-art, anti-establishment. And just that ‘yes’ made me stay in a gallery full of apples and nails instead of just walking out saying, ‘I’m not gonna buy any of this crap.’” (quoted in Sheff, 62).
Although their relationship didn't begin immediately, the impression each made on the other at the Indica Gallery set the stage for the future.
Interestingly, the catalog notes “production by Anthony Cox.” Cox was Ono’s husband at the time, and soon to be in a very contentious relationship with Lennon and Ono over the dissolution of their marriage and the custody of their daughter Kyoko.
The catalog is often overshadowed by the fact that it marks the place where Ono and Lennon first met, but that does a disservice to the remarkable nature of the catalog itself. With its innovative format and provocative Ono quotes, the catalog is an interactive work of art, inviting the reader to fully participate in the exhibit through the catalog. It is a natural sequel to Ono’s groundbreaking Grapefruit from 1964, and a monument of the Fluxus movement.
London: Indica Gallery, 1966. Size: 5.5x11 in. (14x28 cm). Composed of illustrated card stock wrappers, complete with 8 thin sheets with 3 photographs per sheet (perforated but still all held together) and gummed adhesive on back (but not sticky, thank goodness) for a total of 24 images; 12 interior text sheets split along the horizontal with the top sheets designed for the 24 images (front and back of each sheet) and the bottom with Ono’s text. Housed in custom box. Some light rubbing to covers, a few sheets with just a hint of adhesive offset. An absolutely remarkable survival in such beautiful and complete original condition.
References: Sheff, David. Yoko: A Biography, 2025.
Offered by Manhattan Rare Book Company.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (with original artwork)
by Twain, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens]
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. First American edition. Very Good +. With original sketch by E. W. Kemble, artist of the iconic Huckleberry Finn frontisportrait, tipped onto the verso of the front free endpaper. The sketch is inscribed "To Ralph from E W Kemble" and captioned: "By gum: I do believe a Sody Fountain in Cairo would be a great snap."
A solid, Very Good+ copy of the book, with no repairs or restoration. Wear at the heel of the spine and lower corners, with the cloth worn through or fraying. Internal contents generally clean and fresh. Leather bookplate of Ralph C. Runyan and paper bookplate of K. O. Foltz to front pastedown. Frontis bust in the second state, but with the three main issue points to identify the first printing. Scarce with original artwork from one of the bookseller's key illustrators. Housed in a custom quarter leather slipcase with chemise.
Recounting the adventures of Huckleberry Finn as he flees his own abusive father and aids Jim in his escape from slavery, Twain's novel has been praised for its "distinctly American voice," putting at its center two common people who find an uncommon friendship. "Today perhaps the novel’s greatest significance lies in its conception of childhood, as a time of risk, discovery, and adventure. Huck is no innocent: He lies, steals, smokes, swears, and skips school. He accepts no authority, not from his father or the Widow Douglas or anyone else. And it is the twin images of a perilous, harrowing odyssey of adventure and perfect freedom from all restraints that so many readers find entrancing" (Mintz). A metaphor for a young and rebellious nation, as well as its individualist inhabitants, Huckleberry Finn defies genre by being simultaneously an adventure story, a road novel, a coming of age tale, an expression of nostalgia for the expansive natural spaces lost to industrialization, and an exploration of race and class. Listed on the American Scholar 100 Best American Novels and one of the 100 Best Novels Written in English.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Original press kit for the 2005 film)
by George Lucas (director, screenwriter); Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee (starring)
Los Angeles: Twentieth Century-Fox / Lucasfilm, 2005. Vintage press kit for the 2005 film. Full-color illustrated pocketed folder, containing two gatherings of promotional reading material, a "digital press kit" on a compact disc, and a fold-out color map.
The sixth film in the wildly successful "Star Wars" series, and the third installment in the prequel trilogy.
Folder, disc, and promotional material Near Fine.
Offered by Royal Books.
by Morris, William
Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895. First Edition. First Edition. 2 volumes, 12mo, uncut. Hand-colored borders and initials. Printed in Chaucer type in red and black, title page and facing page with full woodcut page border, 7ñline and small woodcut initial capitals. Contemporary dark green morocco elaborately gilt by ALFRED DE SAUTY designed with a gilt all over pattern accentuated with tiny red morocco inlaid dots, spine in six compartments gilt lettered and numbered, top edges gilt. Provenance: William Morris (presentation inscription "To W. Hooper from William Morris"); William Harcourt Hooper (1834-1912, wood-engraver); Asa Foster Lingard (1899-1957, bookplate).
IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY, LIMITED EDITION, one of 600 copies of a total edition of 612, INSCRIBED TO W.H. HOOPER, ENGRAVER OF THE KELMSCOTT CHAUCER. The beautifully executed binding is by Alfred De Sauty (1870-1949) who was the subject of an essay by Marianne Tidcombe entitled "The Mysterious Mr. De Sauty," published in For the Love of the Binding. Studies in Bookbinding History Presented to Mirjam Foot (2000), pp 329-336. She notes that "the first non-trade bookbinder, T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, emerged in the 1880's ... he was followed by hundreds of women, but only two male binders of any significance: Douglas Cockerell and Alfred De Sauty." Inspired by seeing illustrations of the bindings of Cobden-Sanderson in an issue of The Studio, he soon found work at the Hampstead Bindery and Guild of Women Binders. De Sauty was responsible for some of the best designs of the two binderies and carried out all the stages of the craft himself, from sewing to the designing and exceptionally delicate tooling of the covers. "Mr. de Sauty is another young binder, and his work is of considerable merit. His inlays are distinguished for the taste shown in the association of colors, and his finishing has some of the brilliant qualities of the French school, seen particularly in the finely studded tooling of which he seems particularly fond. He has now the post formerly held by Mr. Cockerell" (see Prideaux, Modern Bookbindings Gutenberg.org). William Harcourt Hooper worked with William Morris from 1891-1896 in particularly on the Kelmscott Chaucer. Afterwards he was at the Ashendene Press and Essex House Press and worked with Edward Burne-Jones, C.M. Gere and others. This copy not recorded by Peterson in his list of presentation Copies. Peterson A35. (
Offered by Nudelman Rare Books.
by Kavan, Anna
Lowestoft, Suffolk: Scorpion Press, 1963. First edition. 117 pp. Black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with the dust jacket. Slight rubbing to the head and tail of the jacket spine and corners, rear jacket panel a little toned. Overall clean and bright, nicer than usually seen. Cover designed by Laurence Edwards. Kavan's penultimate novel, like all her work, hallucinatory and bleak. This first edition is extremely uncommon. Her publisher Peter Owen rejected the book as being too short, and it was published by the tiny Scorpion Press, which usually published poetry.
Offered by Triolet Rare Books.
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (Signed)
by Wallace, David Foster
Boston: Little, Brown. 1997. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Very good+ with slight abrasion on the top 2" of the spine and along the bottom front board and light spotting to top of text block, in near fine dust jacket with slight wear at the head of the spine. Signed by the author on the title page. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 353 pp .
Offered by Beasley Books.
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