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White Fox Rare Books

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[Theatrical Souvenir] Hammer from Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic

The Midnight Frolic ran from 1915 to 1922. The legendary producer Florenz Ziegfeld observed that many a member of the audience of his Follies would then proceed to go to a nightclub elsewhere, so Ziegfeld staged a second show on the rooftop of The New Amsterdam Theatre, the home of the Follies, beginning at midnight after the curtain had come down on the Follies below. The Frolic caught on immediately, with some of the same talent which headlined the Follies, such as W. C. Fields, Will Rodgers, Eddie Cantor, etc. etc. The Frolic was more like a regular nightclub, though, with the patrons allowed to dance during the intermissions, and liquor and light refreshments served, and heartier food available if so requested. And to spare the Frolics' patrons fatigued hands from all the clapping, Ziegfeld came up with the notion of giving them the souvenir hammer which they could strike on their table instead to convey their approbation. The Frolic came to an end after the advent of prohibition when alcohol could no longer be legally served. We would imagine that literally thousands of hammers were given out, but as the case with freebies in general, they have a way of vanishing because the original owners place little value on them, and their direct heirs, even less. So while there are other hammers out there, they are not so easy to come by. The hammer gimmick has on occasion been imitated, but not often. Just as the Midnight Frolic is but a vague memory, fondly recreated in but a few of the films about or inspired by Ziegfeld -- most notably, "The Great Ziegfeld", released in 1936, and less historically, in "Easter Parade", which takes place in 1912, a few years before the Frolic was inaugurated, but of course featuring the music of Irving Berlin, who was one of the major contributors to the Follies. The hammer is 16 cm long, the anvil part, 5.5 cm across, and about 2 cm in diameter.
  • $250
book (2)

[Original Artwork] “Books add fun”

Sorel, Edward Two pieces, one being the original artwork, a combination of watercolor and pen-and-ink, by legendary living cartoonist, Edward Sorel, the other piece being a printed paper mobile, when assembled, with three sides, prepared by the New York Times, with the printed message, "Books are fun". which used part of this Sorel artwork, combining it with another whimsical Sorel design. N.d., circa 1970s. The original artwork shows an extra-long and narrow biplane (stacked wings) such as was used in the early days of aviation, with a width of a single seat, but instead of one or two seat cavities, this one has a dozen, each here occupied by Arabs, or men in Arab headress, and each of them assiduously reading an open book. Even the pilot has his head in a book. Beneath is a desert setting, with mountains in the distance, and a mosque, replete with towers and turrets, and a smattering of palm trees. The mobile used just the plane with the dozenb men focused on their reading. Instead of a physical setting, the bottom of the printed mobile features three buses, each triple decker and yet short in length, with five to seven windows front to back on the shown side, and all the passengers, but not the driver, staring at their open books. The bus is meant loosely to resemble the London double decker bus, but adding an enclosed floor, plus there are passengers sitting on the open-air rooftop. We do not know for a certainty whether Sorel did the illustration specifically for the mobile project, or whether the artwork was later seized upon for borrowing part of its imagery, but we tend to think it was. Regardless, both the original artwork and the printed mobile are fun, whimsical pieces. The artwork is on paper mounted onto card, with a wax paper overlay which is easily pulled back. The paper with the artwork measures 23 by 43 cm. The printed mobile is unused and thus flat, measuring 31 by 41.5 cm, not counting tabs to secure it closed when set up. It has two fold which would serve as edges when assembled, and there are three round holes at the top to insert string to dangle the mobile from a ceiling. The artwork has some brown staining. The mobile is unused and like new.
  • $1,500
  • $1,500
[Trade Catalogue] Graf . Morsbach & Co. Wholesale Manufacturers Harness & Saddlery. Cincinnati

[Trade Catalogue] Graf . Morsbach & Co. Wholesale Manufacturers Harness & Saddlery. Cincinnati, Ohio 17th Annual Catalogue [together with] three separate pieces of Morsbach ephemera — a blank order sheet, an envelope with the company’s name in relief, a small flyer announcing the company’s move to a new factory, with a picture of the new factory

Attractive, and highly collectible, equestrian equipment catalogue. Oblong, 19 by 22.5 cm. 180 pp. Fold-out frontis b/w illustration, title with chromo tinting, two text pages, pages 5-160 plates showing the company's wares, almost all of which are chromolithgraphic, and final last pages, on a mustard colored paper stock, a price list. Chromos generally are quite metallic in their finish, with bright gold and silver commonly featured. Of chromos, one page of harnass trimmings, 77 show a still horse in profile, and these are displaying harnasses, 45 are of saddles, two per page or plate, and these feature a lot of orange, red, brown in terms of colors, not to mention black and gray. Other items are promoted, but without chromolithographic illustration: horse collars, gig saddles, bridles, buggy lines, and other paraphernalia. Rear wrap has illustration of the company's factory. Only two institutional holdings evidenced on OCLC First Search of the company's catalogue for this year, and a small number of holdings for other years, earlier and later. A later catalogue of the company was reprinted in more recent times, which we believe corroborates our assertion as to the desirability of the company's catalogues. The front cover of this catalogue has a vignette of a white horse in profile, rendered in relief, and the lettering below also in relief. Condition: wraps with some scuffing and light soiling. Price list with prices written in in red ink. Otherwise, tight, bright, clean. A lovely copy that could be regarded as near fine, perhaps fine, excepting the enumerated issues. Cloth Spine. Heavy Card for boards
  • $750
book (2)

[Inscribed, Original Vignette Artwork] Der Spiesser Spiegel 60 Zeichnungen

Grosz, George Signed, with a modest watercolored vignette by Grosz, on the FFEP or first blank! Inscribed to the family of Leo Sauvage. Sauvage was a well-known French journalist -- he was the New York correspondent for the Parisian newspaper, Le Figaro, between 1950 and 1975, and later the drama critic for the publication, The New Leader, an American magazine associated with the Socialist Party. The inscription was done with blue and red paint, and a fairly thick brush was used for most of it. While the cursive most definitely doesn't come close to qualifying as calligraphy, Grosz did apply decorative touches to the letters of his name, with paintbrush bristles -- or so we think he had in mind -- emanating like twigs from the thicker brushstrokes of his letters, and his two capital Gs having a modest swirly flourish. Below his name are crisscrossing paintbrushes. At the bottom is written "Huntington May 5C". We can't say whether this was meant to signify merely May 5 or May 55, the "C" being inadvertent or a 5 not fully formed. Facing, on the FEP, is a black and white photo of Grosz, surely taken around the time of the inscription, when Grosz was in his sixties. Huntington is the Long Island town where Grosz lived the last 12 years of his life, and at the time of the book's issuance. 4to. 28 by 20 cm. Condition: Cloth spine with chip upper spine extremity, about 1 cm in height. Leaves within are clean, with normal age toning evident around edges. DJ torn the entire vertical length of the front joint, and two short closed tears emanating from this tear. DJ spine also chipped on top, just like cloth below, and it has a larger chip at the bottom, with a jagged edge top to the chip. Because virtually all the DJ does survive, we grade it good, despite the tears and chips.
  • $2,500
  • $2,500
book (2)

[Manuscript] L’État de 1785

A beautiful Ancien Regime manuscript for something one would not expect someone would apply so much ornamental artistry to -- a list of the 425 or so members of the Garde Ecossaise, or the Scottish Guard. The Garde Ecossaise, founded in 1418, came to serve as the Royal Bodyguard. As the name would imply, it was initially comprised of Scottish soldiers, but by the 18th century it was entirely made up of Frenchmen, as is obvious from many of the names entered into this manuscript. The Garde Ecossaise was disbanded in 1789 as a casualty of the Revolution, but was revived with the Restoration. The manuscript lists the officers by rank, followed by many pages listing members by the year that they joined, beginning in 1744, so as to inform about their seniority within the outfit. 16mo. 148 by 95 mm. Unpaginated, title, followed by 57 pages. Title page with a Rococo-style cartouche as the centerpiece, surrounded by a border evoking leaves and flowers. The following leaves abound in small floral ornaments, always in the painted borders but also as separations between sections, as top or bottom pieces within the borders, and often by each of the names listed on the page. These ornaments might incorporate other things such as an urn or a flame. While there is nothing singularly arresting about any of the ornaments, it is their cumulative effect that should register and make this manuscript something to be cherished when its original purpose, and the people listed therein, were long gone. Binding is full mottled calf, with gilt ruled borders and diaper gilt design on spine -- a semi-abstract floral repeat. Or what is known, somewhat esoterically, as "a la grotesque". Condition: light, thin surface loss to calf along joints from opening and closing of book. Otherwise, a finely preserved manuscript.
  • $2,000
  • $2,000