The Last of the Arctic Voyages: being a Narrative of the Expedition in H.M.S. Assistance, under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher in search of Sir John Franklin.
BELCHER, Capt. Sir Edward 2 vols. Full contemporary calf. Complete with all plates, coloured lithographs and folding maps. A handsome complete copy.- $1,883
- $1,883
The Central Route from Chicago to San Francisco is 500 Miles The Shortest
[Western Americana - Railroads] Chicago and North-Western Railroad Chicago, 1882 Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co, 1882. Lithographic broadside illustration printed in color measuring 11 x 5 ¾ inches. Closed tear to margin, paper reinforcement to corners verso, very good condition, quite bright and attractive. Very Good. An attractive advertisement for the Chicago and North-Western's routes to San Francisco, printed during the tenure of the railroad tycoon Marvin Hughitt as General Manager, a position he held from 1876 to 1880 before being named Second Vice President. The advertisement was printed by Rand, McNally and Company, which in its early years focused on railroad-related materials. The Omaha and California line of the Chicago and North-West Railway connected passengers from Chicago to California. Other maps printed by Rand, McNally and Co. during the period illustrate the route. We find no other examples of this broadside.- $950
- $950
Four Mounted Photographs of Deadwood and Lead City, South Dakota
[Western Americana - Photography] Locke, Henry Robinson Deadwood, 1890 Deadwood: H.R. Locke, 1890. Albumen photographs measuring 9 x 7 inches on larger mounts. Very good contrast, some chips and wear to mounts. Very Good. A group of four photographs by Henry Robinson Locke, who operated a studio in Deadwood, South Dakota in the early statehood years. He photographed the Black Hills region. This collection of four photographs shows a gold mill in Deadwood, a cyanide mill in Deadwood, and two views of Lead City, which was the home of the Homestake Mining Company during the period, and continued to be a center for natural resource extraction for several decades following the initial Gold Rush period of the 1870s which brought the first wave of Euro-American settlers to the area.- $1,500
- $1,500
Scenes in the Philippines / Cuba….. / Porto Rico / The Hawaiian Isands / And scenes Relating to Soldiers. J.D. Givens, Photographer / San Francisco, CA. [Supplied Title] [251 Half-Tone Photographs of the Philippine-American War]
[Philippine-American War - Photography] Givens, James D.; Rockett, Perley Fremont San Francisco, 1905 San Francisco, 1905. Loose photographs in box, images measuring 5 x 7 inches. 251 Half-Tone images, generally fine condition, box torn with missing panel. Fine images and good-only box. Fine. James D. Givens had a studio in San Francisco's Presidio for many years, and traveled to the Philippines in 1903 on an Army transport ship, where he took photographs of the Philippine-American War. This collection, with Givens' studio's imprint on the box, contains a mix of Givens work as well as many photographs by Perley Fremont Rockett, and many photographs by uncredited photographers, copied and sold by Givens without attribution. According to an article in the Spring, 2002 issue of Prologue, Givens would publish several different later books claiming credit for other photographers' work. This collection - of which we find no record, save for a similar assemblage with a different title housed at Stanford - seems to be earlier, likely pre-1905. Despite the title on the box, all but a couple of images show the Philippines. The numbering system at work in the photographs is inconsistent, with some of Givens' images having their own numbering system different from the typed captions, and Rockett's images with different numbers in the negative. This collection contains 251 images, whereas Stanford's contains only 229, though due to the numbering inconsistencies we cannot collate for completeness. Regardless, a rare and interesting collection of images of the conflict, with the violence on graphic display and many images showing domestic Filipino scenes.- $1,500
- $1,500
An Archive of Songs, Some Annotated, and a Partial Draft of Guthrie’s Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People from the Collection of Harold Ambellan, Guthrie’s Collaborator and Benefactor
[Music - Folk Music] Guthrie, Woodrow Wilson; Ambellin, Harold New York, 1940 New York, 1940. Eighty-five pages, including sixty loose pages and a partial draft of Guthrie's Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People, totaling twenty-five pages. With one handwritten page. One page - a typewritten copy of "The Ballad of Harry Bridges" - with a handwritten note by Guthrie to Ambellan. With photocopies of several letters from Guthrie to Ambellan included. Also with a broadside of the Carol Tree Carol by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax (1940) and a notecard with the lyrics to "Hawl Away Joe" written Inscription states "Here you are Harold, hope it aint late. Well if it is will be singing about old Harry for a many a day to come. Pour it on em, Boy. Woody G. A fascinating collection of material from the collection of Harold Ambellan, Woodie Guthrie's friend, collaborator and landlord during an important creative period for Guthrie in the 1940s. The group contains a partial draft of Guthrie's Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People, which was written while Guthrie was living in Ambellan's loft, as well as a collection of over sixty loose songsheets not included in the book. Of these, over thirty are not listed in Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center finding aid. The sixty pages include variant titles and verses to recorded and published versions, with some items attributed to Ledbelly, and overall the group should shed light on scholar's efforts to map out the landscape of the American folk song at the time of Guthrie's work. The typescript draft generally matches the published version, with the occasional typo. Nora Guthrie writes in her introduction to Hard Hitting Songs of the influence of Ambellan on Guthrie's creative process. Ambellan was an artist and sculptor and part time musician, and Guthrie lived in Ambellan's loft on 21st Street. "The loft was mostly filled with Ambellan's sculptures, which were abstract and very large. However, the couple managed to throw a cot up in the back of the loft for Woody to crash on... Evenings at the loft often included impromptu hootenannies, where Woody and Pete's [Seeger] musician friends would gather to raise some money to help pay the Ambellans' rent... There was a lot of singing, and a lot of songwriting, and it was in the 21st Street loft that Hard Hitting Songs came into existence." Guthrie wrote "Vigilante Man" and "Hard Travellin" while staying at the Ambellans' loft. Nora Guthrie continues: " Alan Lomax's father, John Lomax, had collected a group of songs that dealt with migrant workers', share crop farmers', and industrial workers' issues, many of the lyrics protesting workers' conditions and advocating for their rights. At the time, the material was considered 'too hot to handle' by government employees, so Alan handed it over to Pete [Seeger] and Woody to browse through. They loved the material and together with Alan, they decided to create a new songbook they would embellish with their own writings and commentary, as well as some additional original songs. Working fourteen hours a day, they completed the songbook in about five months. [...] The manuscript, which they had titled Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, was left behind in the loft, literally saved by Elisabeth Higgens until its existence became known in the 1960s, when it was first published in 1967." Overall a very scarce relic of an important period in Guthrie's career with a fantastic association. Guthrie ephemera and archival pieces are notoriously scarce on the market, with single letters occasionally surfacing.- $12,500
- $12,500
A Long Account of a Violent Attempt to Occupy Land in Chihuahua by a Canadian Citizen Working for a Plumas County-Based Mining Company, 1883
[Mexico - Land Schemes - Mining - California - Misdeeds] Unknown Author Quincy, 1883 Quincy, 1883. 8 x 6 inches. Twenty page letter by an unknown author written to his mother. Some tears, quite legible, very good overall. Very Good. [Warning - this description contains violent content and racist language] A long, highly unusual and and descriptive letter written by an employee of a mining company based in Quincy who leaves San Francisco for Guaymas before heading into the mountains on a very violent journey in which he attempts to occupy land in the hills outside of Guaymas based on an incorrect assumption that his Canadian citizenship will allow him to circumvent Mexican laws regarding American seizure of land. After getting arrested and possibly extorted by Mexican forces, he is eventually freed when a British captain finds him and persuades the Governor to formally charge him with a crime. He is acquitted in court in Chihuahua, and closes the letter by lamenting the lack of opportunity in California and the United States more broadly, as he is eventually sent back to California unsuccessful in his endeavors. He begins the letter by describing his employment by a Plumas County-based company, which we are unable to identify, before describing his arrival in Guaymas and the trip into the mountains. He writes, "I hired a couple 'hard cases' to take charge and look after the greasers - I had 20 of them - as a guard. Of al. the incorrigible lot of thieves and cutthroats commend me to the average Mexican for the first three days out we had to keep watch... to prevent the scoundrels from deserting with the whole train and goods, but after we got them in the mountains we had more control over them, particuarly after Maxwell one of my white desperadoes caught "Jesus" (every other Lousy Indians named 'Jesus' or after some other saint) trying to sneak off the fifth night with his mustang and two pack mules, for he took a short way of stopping him, which was simply shooting him. This had a good effect on the other fellows." After he arrives at his destination in the mountains - in an unnamed town, he then describes building a "fort or hacienda... so that in case of attack I could make a good fight or 'hold the fort.'" After sending notice of his arrival to Guaymas, a brigade of soldiers arrives to arrest him based on charges of "[taking] possession of Mexican soil, [building] a fort and [holding] it with armed men." He is then imprisoned in his house and put under guard, and though he thinks he could have bribed any of the guards and escaped to Guaymas and back home, he does not due to the three thousand dollars of the company's money deposited at the "German bankers" in Guaymas. Choosing to stay, he writes a letter to the agent at Quincy, which is burned by the guard. He writes another letter, puts it in a bottle with directions for a carrier, and positions his hammock at the edge of his fort, waiting to pass the letter to someone outside the walls. His chance comes when a number of British ships enter the port and he is able to pass his note to a commander of the HMS Comus while visiting the town square with his captors. The captain of the ship, possibly James East, eventually has a meal with the author and his captors, making inquiry into the author's detention a the hands of the Governor. He writes, " the captain gentrly requested a little explanation from his Excellency as to my detention for months without a charge being made against me... his excellency of course was much astonisthed that my letters had never reached their destination, that was the only reason that I had been detained (of course the old rascal did not hint at the $3000 which he had hoped I would have given him long ago...)." The Captain is successful in securing the author's freedom, at which point the author returns to Guaymas and eventually takes up residence in the house of the banker, a Mr. Goldberg, who is holding the company's funds. He writes to his company in California, and awaits formal charges from 'Don Cavallo,' which eventually arrive. He leaves for Chihuahua and is "met with quite a crowd of English-American and Californians, who were quite ready to back [him] in anything [he] wished..." He is charged with illegal seizure of land, and states in the letter that he had been under the impression he had allowed to take it as he was not a resident of the United States but instead "had sworn allegiance to Victoria (it is later revealed that he is Canadian). It becomes clear that the company had attempted to use him in this land grab plot due to his not being a US citizen. The court dismisses his case and returns his money, stating that he had been ignorant of the law, after which he returns to California and explains the situation to his bosses, who put him on a different case involving a quartz mine. He is saddened by his inability to make money and relates this to his mother, stating "I am getting used to failure to make money, after all I do desire great riches for myself as my tastes are simple enough if I became a California Banana King tomorrow I would probably be in the interior of Africa in six months, I would like to get some money for you though..." The letter ends with talk of friends and family back home in Canada. The author offers the following advice to a family member considering coming to California, "if he has not money sufficient to start in some business, or to take him out of the country again he will be sorry that he ever came. If he wishes to waste a dozen years of his life in learning a totally new way of living let him come. But let him go to Montana he will bet all he wants of a new country there. California is fearfully overcrowded with fellows from the east allured by stores of sudden acquired wealth, where one succeeds 1000 fail. California is after all a poor country." He signs the letter as John. Overall a fascinating account of a failed attempt at a land grab by a Canadian citizen working for a California mining company in Plumas County - unusual in its detail and scope.- $1,500
- $1,500
Lengthy Letter Describing the Food and Scenery of Vera Cruz, Written by Captain George Clutter of Wheeling, [West] Virginia, Captain of the the ‘Mountain Boys of Monongolia.’
[Mexican-American War - Correspondence - Food] Clutter, George Vera Cruz, 1847 Vera Cruz, 1847. Folded letter to Wheeling, Virginia with learly struck two-line datestamp with "Paid 10" manuscript rate and blue "Steam" handstamp of New Orleans on 1847, with an unusual "Steam" marking applied in New Orleans. Fine condition. Fine. A descriptive and interesting letter from Captain George W. Clutter of Wheeling, Virginia, describing the scenes and food in Vera Cruz in detail. Clutter had enlisted a detachment of thirty-two men in early 1847 in Monongalia County for service in the war, who would eventually become known as the "Mountain Boys of Monongalia." Clutter was promoted to the captaincy upon the resignation of John Tyler. The company sailed in June of 1847 on the Brig "Tuckahoe" from Old Point Comfort to Point Isabel, where they marched to join General Taylor's forces. This interesting letter, written by Clutter from Vera Cruz, describes the city and cuisine of Vera Cruz in detail. He writes, "I am now boarding at the best Hotel in the city - it is called "Bells Stage House'. It is kept by a German lady, in great grandeur. The quantity of fruit here is astonishing. Oranges are for sale at about the rate apples would sell in the Wheeling market. I only wish I could send you and the children some of them - such ones as you never eat in the United States, as it would be impossible to carry them so far without rotting. As we get dinner here at 3 o'clock and no such thing as supper is known, I stepped out this evening and obtained a 'cup of chocolate' and 'toast'. If an American (or rather United States) cook could taste such chocolate as the Mexicans make, they never would attempt making the article again - and it is not so much in the simple making of the chocolate, but it's in preparing it at the start - for every family, even the provost, understands making the article from the Cocoa." Clutter offers additional details on troop movements and logistics of the campaign. Other letters by Clutter during the period are held at the West Virginia Regional History Center at WVU. Full contents follow: Vera Cruz, Mexico Thursday Sept. 30th 1847 When I wrote to you from the Brazos, I felt in rather a bad humor, and as I have arrived at this splendid city, the first splendid place I have found in Mexico, I will endeavor to write to you more at length than I did from the above named place. We left the Brazos at 5 o'clock P.M. on Monday, on board the Steamship Ohio, and without ever seeing the sun once during the voyage, arrived here today (Thursday) about 11 o'clock A.M. - truly a quick trip. None of our Regiment, except those who were favored with a passage on the Ohio, in Company with Brig. Genl. Cushing, are here yet. Those of our Regiment here, are as follows: Lieut. Col. Withers, Capt. Clay & his Company and Capt. Campbell & your humble servant, who came upon the sick list. I am much improved since the commencement of the voyage and will with a day or two's rest be able to take up the line of march by the time the Regiment gets ready to move forward to join Genl. Scott. [I must explain here, the balance of the Regiment is coming in ships, which may detain them two or three days, in which event I will have become rested]. I am now boarding at the best Hotel in the city - it is called "Bells Stage House'. It is kept by a German lady, in great grandeur. The quantity of fruit here is astonishing. Oranges are for sale at about the rate apples would sell in the Wheeling market. I only wish I could send you and the children some of them - such ones as you never eat in the United States, as it would be impossible to carry them so far without rotting. As we get dinner here at 3 o'clock and no such thing as supper is known, I stepped out this evening and obtained a 'cup of chocolate' and 'toast'. If an American (or rather United States) cook could taste such chocolate as the Mexicans make, they never would attempt making the article again - and it is not so much in the simple making of the chocolate, but it's in preparing it at the start - for every family, even the provost, understands making the article from the Cocoa. In this City may be seen all the fashionable, fine buildings and streets to be found in any city of the United States. Also, all the various, fancy and other goods now in the cities of the North & East can be found here. I have not yet found another horse since my arrival, but must try and get one tomorrow. I hope my friend Pollock will receive the Mexican roan, 'J.B.' which I sent him from Brazos. From hard usage he is not in very good order at present, but with little care will be a very useful horse. Don't you ever ask the privilege of riding him, however. Mind I know him well. As you have heard before this, Genl. Scott is in the City of Mexico, having sustained a very heavy loss in getting there. We expect to have considerable fighting between here and the City of Mexico ourselves. Time, however, will reveal all things. The soreness in my legs which I complained of is better, but I fear exercise will cause it to return. What it will terminate in I am unable to say at present. I received a letter from you at this place today, which was read with the usual interest, notwithstanding it was written on the 13th August, 17 days previous to the last one received at Sabinito, which was dated 30th August. I have just bought five Vera Cruz papers, which I will send you. They are half Mexican, which half you can dispose of as you see proper. By the bye, Mr. Fleeson promised to send you the Matamoros Flag regular. Tell me if you get it. Oct. 1st 1847 This morning I have been all over the city. It would take me a month to describe all the curiosities I have beheld. I will save that for a private chat some long evening, after my return. I would like to have you, Dear little Ada, to examine and see the curiosities to be seen. When papa comes home he will bring you some of them. My love to Sarah Ann. I would write longer to her had I time. My love to all my friends & acquaintances. I am Dearest Sarah your loving husband Geo. W. Clutter [to] Sarah M. Clutter.- $950
- $950
Muster Roll for Company B of the First Battalion, Native Cavalry California Volunteers [“Californio Lancers”] – Aug. 31, 1865
[Mexican - Americana, California - Civil War - California Native Cavalry] Camp Low, 1865 Camp Low, 1865. Original partially printed document, 26cm x 77cm. Printed on both sides of the sheet, completed in manuscript. Darkening at folds from old tape repairs; partial splits to folds and extremities; complete and quite Good. Docketed verso, signed in ink by Lieutenant M[organ?] Owen. Lists twelve enlisted soldiers, most with Spanish surnames (two with French surnames). Fine. The formation of the California Native Cavalry in 1863 marked a significant chapter in the state's history. Comprising primarily Mexican-American individuals, colloquially referred to as "native" Californians, the California Native Cavalry unit was formed 1863. Initially commanded by Maj. Andreas Pico, a distinguished hero from the Mexican-American War, and later under Salvador Vallejo, the regiment drew its ranks from diverse backgrounds. Recruitment efforts began with vaqueros from southern California, expanding to include individuals from San José and San Francisco. The unit boasted a varied composition, encompassing not only Mexican-Americans but also Chilenos, California and Yaqui Indians, and even French legionnaires. Company "B," a contingent largely recruited from the northern part of the state, is reflected in the existing muster roll. The company assembled at Camp Low near San Juan Bautista in 1865, making a striking entrance into the town. Described as "gay and gallant Spanish lancaroes," the cavalrymen presented a formidable sight with lances in hand and flags flying, leaving a lasting impression on the townspeople who had never before encountered soldiers."The gay and gallant Spanish lancaroes [sic] came dashing through the town with the lances in their hand, a flag flying from each of them. I assure you that they presented a war like appearance, the people here had never seen a soldier in their lives - Yes Sir!.." (letter, Maj. Michael O'Brien to Gov. Frederick Low, January 1865; quoted in Prezelski, "Lives of the Californio Lancers: the First Battalion of Native California Cavalry" in Journal of Arizona History, v.40, no.1 (Spring 1999). Under the command of Capt. Porfirio Jimeno, Company B swiftly engaged in a critical mission: dismantling the notorious Mason-Henry Gang that had terrorized the San Juan region in the preceding months. Despite successfully wounding John Mason in early April 1865, the gang persisted for another month until Mason met his demise at the hands of a miner he sought to kidnap. However, Company B faced challenges, including low morale and a high rate of desertions, with over 40 men leaving the company in 1865 alone. Transferred to Tubac, Arizona Territory, to confront the Apaches, the company encountered further desertions along the way. The muster roll, listing only twelve soldiers alongside Capt. Porfirio Jimeno, reflects this tumultuous period. Overall the muster roll provides scarce documentation of the role of Mexican-Americans in the Civil War, with few other examples in the trade or institutionally.- $4,250
- $4,250
A 19th-century Seafaring Shantyman’s Daybook Kept on a Journey to Brazil on a Steam Frigate
[Life at Sea - 1860s - Brazil - Musicology] Littlefield, Otis Massachusetts, Brazil, et al., 1861 Massachusetts, Brazil, et al., 1861. (Newport, England; Bahia, Brazil; Vp, MA and ME; Charleston, SC): (April 20, 1860 - March 1, 1861). Large 16mo (3" x 5"; 76 x 127mm). Pocket journal(s) in marbled self-wrappers rebound in contemporary or old boards; front board absent, back board present but detached, scuffed, bumped, and rubbed. 48 leaves machine-ruled paper, paginated in pencil, comprising approx 82pp mss text recto-verso also in pencil; original marbled self-wrapper and first signature detached from a shaken text block, internally uniformly toned with some smudging. Manuscript contains text of three (3) 19th-century sea shanties, some of which showing possibly unattested verse variants. Good. In this journal, American mariner Otis Littlefield vividly documents one important phase of his career as a rigger on a 19th-century transatlantic shipping vessel. He names himself as author at the outset, and announces the scope and purpose of his narrative: "[This is] the journal of Otis Littlefield showing some of the events that transpired on his passage from Newport, [England], to Bahia in Brazil on board the ship Tranquebar [under Captain] Goodwin. We sailed Friday, 20 April [1860]. It is called an unlucky day...." In what follows, Littlefield does not only describe his passage to Brazil; instead, he also records his subsequent northbound voyage to America, with port calls in Bath, ME, and Charleston, SC, respectively, and his final return voyage to England early the next year. Apart from Littlefield's proem, there is only limited internal evidence to establish his identity, or his place of birth. However, his scattered references to "the folks Downeast," and his ostensible familiarity with the port of Bath, ME, do suggest that he was a denizen of that latter state. External evidence more securely corroborates this e.g. a listing in a Maine census of 1860, and later a federal census of 1870; an epitaph of 1922, housed in the Maine tombstone surname indices, and supplementary records in other Maine cemetery archives; and abundant holdings in the Maine Vital Records. In sum, it is very likely that Otis Littlefield was born in 1843 Chelsea, ME, and that he died in Augusta in 1922. His ship was certainly of Maine extraction: a decade later, South Carolina shipping records of 1870 do mention a certain Ship Tranquebar, whose embarking port was Richmond, ME, with its regular destination port in Liverpool, England. Against the broader context of Littleton's youthful career at sea, this journal necessarily begins in medias res. In an entry of May, 1860, just one month after his April embarkation from England, Littlefield notes he has been at sea six months to the day. What happened in the five months prior is, of course, uncertain, but what follows unto the conclusion of this journal constitutes a very thrilling story. Littlefield vividly describes catching flying fish for dinner; eating the sickening flesh of a porpoise, whose braised brain veritably poisoned his superior officers; stalking unhygienic cockroaches below deck; collecting desperately needed rainwater, both for drinking and washing; making various strategic alliances with with crew members, and seeing intense fights on board; longing for home, and the idyllic farm life he left behind; seeing sharks, and "a whale as long as our long boat" [p12]; and repairing his own clothes and making a checkerboard to pass the time. Furthermore, Littlefield's account of 1860 Bahia, with contemporary recollections of his first view of its plantations and surrounding landscape, are likewise compelling, and they will be of interest to students of Brazilian colonial history. It may be musicologists, though, who are most impressed by Littlefield's journal, because it retains the text of three early shanties in manuscript form: "Annie Lisle," the verses of which conclude with one of Littlefield's droll but mysterious illustrations [pp 14-16]; "All the Girls Around the Horn" [pp 38-41]; and the "Salt Horse Shanty" [pp 43-44]. It is conceivable that Littlefield's three shanties are among the earliest extant in manuscript form; they do, at the very least, evidence important textual variants in comparison to other known iterations. Overall an engaging and substantive seafaring journal.- $1,750
- $1,750
‘Go For Broke’ / 442nd Combat Team Song
[Japanese-Americana - World War Two - 442nd Infantry Regiment] Hamada, Harry Hattiesburg, 1944 Hattiesburg: Earl M. Finch, 1944. Sheet music measuring 12 x 9 inches, 4 pp. Signature of a Nabuko Hayashida on front cover. Slight tears at fold, some toning, two small pinholes, very good overall, quite attractive. Very Good. In Hawaii in May 1942, a battalion of Nisei volunteers was assembled for service in World War Two, despite earlier failures of efforts to recruit Japanese-Americans due to the Army's labeling of Nisei recruits as 4-C enemy aliens. Designated as the 100th Infantry Battalion, they were deployed to North Africa in June 1943, integrating with the 34th Division in active combat. Their subsequent deployment to Italy in September 1943 exposed them to intense warfare, earning them the moniker of the "Purple Heart Battalion" due to their notably high casualty rate. In January 1943, the U.S. War Department officially declared the establishment of the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), which was comprised of Nisei volunteers originating from Hawaii and the mainland. The culmination of this initiative transpired in June 1944 when the 442nd RCT merged forces with the 100th Infantry Battalion in Europe, subsequently absorbing the latter into its structure. The notable achievements of Nisei soldiers in combat operations prompted the reinstatement of the draft in January 1944, specifically targeting Nisei detainees to augment the ranks of the 442nd. Over time, the 442nd RCT expanded to encompass the 2nd, 3rd, and 100th Battalions; the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion; the 232nd Engineering Company; the 206th Army Band; Anti-Tank Company; Cannon Company; and Service Company. Offered here is a very scarce piece of sheet music entitled "Go For Broke," which was written by the Hawaiian musician Harry Hamada, reflecting the slogan of the 442nd, and performed by Shelby and others during the war as part of efforts to boost morale. Hamada would feature in the 1951 movie "Go For Broke" as Masami alongside several other veterans of the 442nd. This publication of "Go For Broke" is from 1944, seven years before the movie's release. The piece is dedicated to Colonel C.W. Pence. Hamada was a Hawaiian musician who performed with a band called the Shelby Hawaiians or the Shelby Serenaders. They performed as early as 1943. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi merchant Earl M. Finch, who ran an Army and Navy store close to Camp Shelby, befriended Hamada and other members of the 442nd and acted as a sponsor for the group, and eventually published this version despite his business being a dry goods merchant house and not a publishing house. The group, with the support of Finch, performed throughout the country to lift morale. At some point Hamada penned this composition, likely in 1944, as we find no reference to it in 1943 articles, and Finch published it - Hamada's composition would become the theme song of the 442nd, and Hamada would perform at the Halloran General Hospital in New York and the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. in 1944, likely performing this composition. Another composition called "Go For Broke" exists as well, and it is unclear to what degree Hamada's work caught on among the regiment. We find two records of Finch's published version of the composition, one listed as part of an online remembrance of the 442nd by the Smithsonian Institution (https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/day-remembrance-70-years-after-executive-order-9066), which appears to have been on loan from the National Japanese American Historical Society, and another copy held at Stanford, though not listed in OCLC. Finch's story is also interesting, and is the subject of a remembrance on a 100th Battalion History page online (https://www.100thbattalion.org/history/stories/earl-finch/). We find no copies listed in OCLC. Overall a very scarce piece of Japanese-American wartime history.- $2,500
- $2,500
Document Noting the Capture of Patrick Keegan and Patrick O’Brien for the Murder of Colonel Henry F. O’Brien who Was Murdered in the New York Race Riots, and the Payment of a Reward for the Capture, Signed by New York City Mayor George Opdyke and Others
[Irish-Americana - New York Race Riots] [O'Brien, Colonel Henry] Opdyke, George, et al. New York, 1863 New York, 1863. Document measuring 9 ¾ x 8 inches, folded. Signed by George Opdyke and others. Very Good with some splitting at folds else fine. Very Good. In July 1863, the Civil War draft in New York City led to protests, escalating into widespread riots by July 14th. The Irish-born Colonel Henry O'Brien, who had been put in charge of recruiting for the New York 11th Infantry, would die gruesomely in the riots, highlighting the class elements of the unrest which existed alongside the racial elements. Born in Ireland in the 1820s, O'Brien had served with Company H of the 155th New York State Infantry before resigning in February 1863. He returned to New York, promoted to Colonel in June, tasked with recruiting for the 11th New York State Volunteers. The aggressive mandate coincided with high casualty rates for Irish New Yorkers in the Union Army. The Battle of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg increased the challenges, coupled with the perceived injustice of the $300 exemption clause in the Conscription Act. To protest the draft, thousands gathered in Central Park on July 13th, marching across the city. In the 18th Ward, armed protesters gathered on 14th Street. Reports of a threatening mob on Second Avenue and 34th Street prompted police response. O'Brien, offering aid, saw his house attacked, but spared from fire as he didn't own it. Chaos ensued as police faced resistance, and O'Brien led military reinforcements from the 11th NYSV. Attempts to disperse the crowd resulted in violent clashes, with bullets causing casualties, including two children. A fierce battle at the Union Steam Works led to O'Brien's gruesome death at the hands of the rioters, after he had returned to his house likely in a misguided attempt to salvage any belongings. Though multiple assailants caused O'Briens death, no one was ever convicted of the crime, partially due to the mob's intimidation of witnesses and the complicity of his neighbors in the murder. The first people arrested were Patrick Keegan and Patrick O'Brien, after the coroner deemed them responsible. However the charges were later dropped. No one would ever be convicted of the crime. Offered here is the original certification of the arrest of Keegan and O'Brian, signed by multiple officials including George Opdyke, the mayor of New York. The document was first certified by an official with the last name Ramsey, then signed both by the mayor and the officers Albert Bogart and Valentine Gass, who were responsible for the apprehension of Keegan and O'Brian, acknowledging the receipt of the $100 reward. The document is docketed, and crosshatched writing notes from the comptroller's office note the payout to Gass and Valentine. Opdyke's note states that he offered the reward initially on July 22nd. We find no similar documents relating to the riots in the trade, with the closest examples being contemporary manuscript accounts of the riots which turn up occasionally. Overall a remarkable ephemeral survival of the riots and the death of Henry O'Brien. References: Reynolds, Kelly Ann. Henry F. O'Brien, The Man Murdered by the Mob. Glucksman Ireland House, New York University, accessed online at: https://ethnic-village.org/henry-f-obrien-the-colonel-murdered-by-the-mob/, 1/24.- $2,750
- $2,750
The Speech of Robert Emmet, Esq. As Delivered at the Sessions House, Dublin, Before Lord Norbury, One of the Chief Judges
[Irish-American Imprints - Robert Emmet] Emmet, Robert; Barralet, John James [Artist] Seymour, Samuel [engraver]; Simms, John [Printer] Philadelphia, 1814 Philadelphia, 1814. Composite broadside measuring 20 ½ x 17 inches, consisting of an engraving credited to Barralet and Seymour measuring 17 x 13 inches at upper portion and the text of Emmet's speech, measuring 17 ½ x 7 ½ inches on lower portion. Verso with various reinforcements including with two manuscript receipts dated 1814, which would date the print to around that time, when all three men were in Philadelphia. "No 111" written in margin in ink. Various creases, small tears and some soiling to engraving, good overall and quite presentable. Good. A fabulous mock-up for a broadside created by the artist John James Barralet, the engraver Samuel Seymour, and the printer John Binns in Philadelphia, this being a preliminary version of OCLC 191261216, which would be entitled A correct copy of the speech of Robert Emmet, Esq. delivered at the Sessions House, Dublin, on the 19th September, 1803, before Lord Norbury, one of the chief judges of the Court of King's Bench, and others, before whom he had been convicted of high treason. The design was used for a broadside printed by Menzel and Co. and copyrighted in 1852, as well as a version by the Irish-American publisher William Smith of Philadelphia several decades after the original. OCLC locates two copies but may have the date incorrectly listed as 1803, which despite being the date of Emmet's death was actually four years before Binns moved to Philadelphia, and several years before the receipts on the verso. Overall the broadside represents an early and significant expression of Irish-American anti-English sentiment. "[Binns] was exposed to the advanced ideas of the Irish patriots and Volunteers, making him a republican. Between 1792 and 1794 he played a small role in the Dublin Society of United Irishmen, which was seeking parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. In 1794 he moved to London, where he worked first in the plumbing trade, then lived off the fees from hiring out debating rooms that he rented in the Strand. He joined the radical London Corresponding Society and was soon prominent on its executive committee. In 1796 Binns traveled the provinces as an LCS delegate hoping to revive the movement for political reform. In Birmingham he was arrested for uttering seditious words in a public house. After long delays he was acquitted in 1797, probably because a sympathetic court official rigged the jury. Soon thereafter, Binns left the LCS, but almost certainly joined the underground revolutionary United Irishmen in London (his comments on this part of his life in his autobiography are disingenuous). He was arrested twice more, the most important occasion, in February 1798, leading to a charge of high treason. Again he was acquitted, although one of his associates, the Catholic priest James O'Coigley, was hanged. In March 1799 he was jailed under the Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act and released after nearly two years." -ANB Barralet and Seymour's involvement were also significant. Barralet had emigrated from Ireland several decades earlier. Seymour would later gain fame for his illustrations of westward Euro-American travels among indigenous Americans, and being a native-born Englishman his involvement in this project is notable. Overall a very scarce early Irish-American broadside, this being the third known copy and the only which exists in draft form.- $7,500
- $7,500
18th-century American Schoolboy’s Computation Notebook, Kept by Joseph Brewer of Maryland, Using Aspects of Trade and Diplomacy as the Basis for Mathematic Exercises
[History of Science and Mathematics - Children's History] Brewer, Joseph Maryland, 1787 Maryland, 1787. One Volume. "Arithmetic Book." Brewer, Joseph (Newton). [Maryland]: June 17, 1786 - (April 21,1789, or after). Folio, half calf bdg, contemporary or old boards; scuffed and chipped and bumped, later rebacking. 80 folio sheets (of which 15 blank) with seated Brittania watermarks. 135 pages mss text in brown ink, original manuscript pagination recto-verso, sgd and dated on front pastedown; internally toned, some closed tears. Near Fine. This manuscript journal comprises an 18th-century American student's mathematics course from 1786 - 1789. The author, Joseph Brewer, signs and dates the journal on the front pastedown, but he never mentions his hometown or his parentage. It is only in the last exercises of 1789 that he reveals himself more fully as "Joseph Newton Brewer," and further, firmer internal evidence regarding this identity is wanting. However, inasmuch as he was ostensibly a student in his mid-teens at the time of composition, and makes frequent reference to Maryland in numerous exercises in his book, it is likely that he was Joseph Nathaniel Newton Brewer (January 10, 1771 - January 8, 1841) of Edgewater, Anne Arundel, MD. Marriage and birth certificates found among online genealogical corpora do corroborate this. Joseph Brewer's "Arithmetic Book" is noteworthy among other extant 18th-century curricular manuscripts, because it showcases a variety of word problems, all of which relate explicitly to period themes. There are expected school subjects such as fractions and decimals, and practice tables, but most of Brewer's assignments are more practical in scope. They treat topics of an especially economic, even mercantile, nature, including problems of currency conversion; partnership, exchange, and barter; loss and gain; legacies and wills; land and surveying. The commodities Brewer emphasizes his math exercises are also of interest, as they emphasize in most instances prestige goods and other expensive imports e.g. beer, rum, chocolate, gold dust, coffee, and tobacco. He writes, in one example, "Three merchants A. B. & C. freight a ship with 248 tons of wine," before extreme weather causes them to throw much of it overboard, necessitating calculations. In another, three men spend a guinea at a tavern, each consuming varied amounts. The persons described in the word problems are also worthy of further study, as in one case where various farm personnel are featured: "one man, three women, and one boy made a crop of 1700 pounds of tobacco...." (p14). Brewer's journal also contains several practice exercises in letter-writing, as to foreign traders (p93). The author of the "Arithmetic Book" seems to have enjoyed this work, and there are many whimsical flourishes in his handwriting (and a few occasional doodles). Most surprising however, is Brewer's decision to conclude his journal with a composite psalmic coda: "Oh God, who didst command the light to shine out of darkness / speak but the word and light shall dart into my soul at once / when thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth my / praise shall burst out into a chearful [sic] song" Overall an interesting relic of education during the years following the Revolution, which should be of interest to scholars of early American education due to its detail and thematic content.- $1,375
- $1,375
Highway Map of Oklahoma. “The Right Way.” Complete Road Information
[Great Depression - Automobile Travel - Oklahoma] Author Unknown Topeka, 1930 Topeka, 1930. Folded map measuring 28 x 17 inches. Some small tears at folds, very good. Very Good. A scarce depression-era map of Oklahoma, with graphic advertisements to the verso showing the range of automobile-centric establishments in the state at the time. The map shows all the automobile routes of the time, with text along the borders listing the towns and the telephone numbers of various services and lodging options. The instructions on the the top read "Put Out Your Fires / Leave a Clean Camp / Keep the Streams Pure / Don't Be a Road Hog." According to the single copy in OCLC, at the Denver Public Library, the map was printed in 1930, though we see no date on the map itself. The depression hit Oklahoma following the drought in 1930, which also coincided with the opening of the East Texas oil field. This map is a relic of the period just before the state's economic downturn, with the early automobile infrastructure still intact and vibrant.- $450
- $450
Circular / Treasury Department, March 25, 1795. Sir, It is necessary that I inform you that John Kean, Esquire, has resigned the office of Cashier of the Bank of the United States, in consequence of an Infirm state of health, and that George Simpson, Esquire, as been appointed his Successor. [Signed by Wolcott and Simpson]
[Finance - Early Republic] Simpson, George; Wolcott, Oliver; United States Treasury Department Bath, Massachusetts, 1795 Bath, Massachusetts, 1795. Folded circular, franked by Wolcott and addressed to William Webb, Esquire of Bath, Massachusetts [now Maine]. With the signature of George Simpson. Fine condition. Fine. An uncommon treasury circular announcing the appointment of George Simpson as cashier, following the retirement of John Kean due to illness. Simpson would serve as cashier from his appointment in March of 1795 until the Bank's decommission in 1811. Simpson would take up residence across the street from the bank on Chestnut Street, and was hired by Stephen Girard as cashier of the Girard Bank, which operated out of the same building, in 1811. He would serve in this position until his death in November of 1822, after which Girard promoted Simpson's first teller, Joseph Roberts, to be Cashier. We find no other examples of Simpson's signature in the trade, though several letters to him have surfaced over the years. Despite his low profile from a policy standpoint he was a key figure in the Bank of the United States. We find no record of this circular institutionally, though it is listed in Bristol and Shipton and Mooney. Wettereau, James O. "The Oldest Bank Building in the United States." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 43, no. 1 (1953): 70-79. https://doi.org/10.2307/1005663. Wettereau, James O. "New Light on the First Bank of the United States." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 61, no. 3 (1937): 263-85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20087054. Bristol B9395. Shipton & Mooney 47660.- $1,500
- $1,500
Collection of Maps, Diaries, Manuscripts and Photographs Documenting the Life and Work of the Con Artist, War Correspondent and Cartographer Jack or Jacques de Beaufort aka “The Dude Reporter,” with a Focus on His Cartographic and Literary Activities in Mid-Century Los Angeles
[Con Artists - Cartography - War Correspondence - California] De Beaufort, Jack or Jacques Europe and California, 1950 Europe and California, 1950. Includes two small diaries from 1901 and 1917 with sporadic entries, a large photo album measuring 14 x 11 with appx. 400 small photographs from 1906-1909 attached to album pages, most measuring 3 x 2,, as well as a few larger format images laid in. With 100 plus pages of typed pages including retained correspondence, story ideas, and various other manuscripts. With eleven maps, produced for his "Of Men and Maps" series, including five copies of a large map entitled "Whither Russia," in varied states and in large sizes up to 30 by 36 inches, and a handful of small ephemeral pieces. Generally near fine condition, with the exception of the album, which is missing its rear board and has some pages loose and torn. Very Good. J.M. de Beaufort, a war correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph and New York American during World War I, recounted his wartime adventures in the 1917 book "Behind the German Veil: A Record of a Journalistic War Pilgrimage." Originally arriving in Chicago in 1909, he married a steel magnate's daughter and pursued a career in show business. However, by 1912, he had gone through a divorce and transitioned to newspaper work, earning the moniker of the "Dude Reporter." Originally born in the Netherlands as Jacques Albert Uilenbroek, he was thought to be a deserter. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, apparently jailed in San Francisco for a stint in the 1920s, and eventually settled in Los Angeles. Offered here is an interesting smattering of material from the life of the mysterious De Beaufort, which bookends his most unusual career and life with a large visual photographic record of his life in Europe as a young man and over a hundred pages of manuscript material from late in his life, with a highlight being several maps in draft form for an apparently unpublished project called "Of Men and Maps." As a group the material shows the work of an ex-con artist and war correspondent trying to regain his form while living in Los Angeles. He was still writing as a "Special Correspondent" at this point, though the title seems to have been fully honorary. Also included are two small pocket journals, with sporadic notations from his life in Europe in 1900 and in 1917. In its entirety the group gives an interesting visual and manuscript record of a literary, fraudulent and imaginative transatlantic life and intellect. The cartographic highlight of the group is several iterations of a large map called "Whither Russia," in varied forms, which show an interesting interpretation of the sphere of influence of the USSR and its growth from 1939 to 1946. Also included are two drafts of a map of Operation Market-Garden in the Netherlands in 1944, an unidentifed tactical map of a military battlefield, a map called "Middle East Jackpot," showing the division of territory between the Allied and Axis powers, a map called "Dawn's Early Light, some reproduced small format maps from the De Beaufort's and a small map called "Gifts from Yalta." De Beaufort was working on these maps for a column called "Of Men, Maps and Memories," that was published in the East Los Angeles Tribune. He also sent the columns out in newsletter form from his address at 1635 N. Ogden Drive in Los Angeles. The collection of manuscripts, drafts and retained correspondence tackle a range of subjects, perhaps most interestingly those detailing De Beaufort's creative process - drafts of stories, lists of ideas for stories, and letters. His over the top style is on display in a lot of the writings, some of which are of unknown origin and purpose. The documents contain correspondence between De Beaufort and Edwin Pauley, the oil man and presidential advisor. In one untitled essay, he asks himself the question "What has been your most thrilling experience?" and his reply is, " Silly questions. Who or at least what newspaperman of some 25 turbulent years standing - and falling - could answer such a question. A reporter's life has a thousand thrills. There was that rainy day in Marcy 1915, in the fortress of Loetzen, when I stood face to face with Hindenburg. Hm, yes, that was quite a thrill..." De Beaufort was entrenched in the Los Angeles journalistic scene at this point, and the documents show the degree to which he relied on his former glories to attempt various career revitalizations endeavors. The album of photographs from 1906-1909, over 400 in total, give a visual record of the young Uilenbroek's life in Europe. The star of the collection is his bulldog Bob, who travels throughout Europe with him and eventually comes to America by 1907. Mary, who we presume to be his future wife, is featured heavily in the images. It is unclear whether he was working at this point, the images show affluent young people (and their dog) in varied cities and are purely of a personal nature. Other photographs laid in are relics from his war correspondent period. The loose photographs and ephemera are a mix of portraits from different periods from his life, including two pictures of Sydney Turing Barlow Lawson, one signed by his widow. The journals are sporadically filled and hard to decipher though one legible passage says "drinking all day." Overall the group gives evidence of this intriguing life and is the only extant group of material relating to Beaufort, to our knowledge, with the exception of a single journal from his time in Belgium during WWI that was sold at Bonhams and is still available in the trade as of this writing.- $3,250
- $3,250
Letter to John K. West, Member of the Notorious New Orleans Attorney, Discussing a Conversation with John Austin Wharton Concerning a Crime in Texas, a Hanging, and Fugitives in Jamaica, 1838
[Crime - Texas - New Orleans] Andrews, Edmund Republic of Texas, 1838 Republic of Texas, 1838. Stampless letter, folded, with red two-line handstamp of Steam Packet Columbia on January 16, 1838 from Brazoria Tex. to New Orleans. Fine condition. Fine. An intriguing letter written by Edmund Andrews, a judge in Brazoria, Texas, who had arrived in Stephen Austin's colony eight years before he penned this, in 1830. The letter is written to John K. West, the New Orleans attorney who was an original member of the notorious "New Orleans Associates." Andrews discusses a conversation he had on behalf of West with John Austin Wharton, who would die later in 1838, relating that Andrews had a conversation with Wharton on West's behalf. The conversation with Wharton revolved around a man with the last name Chase and Andrew Mills, who had both left Texas, presumably, and traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, where Mills was hanged for an undisclosed crime. Andrews writes that Wharton related that that Mills told him he "would not have done it if he had not been drunk," presumably talking about the crime for which he was hanged. Overall a very intriguing letter relating to crime, exile and misdeeds in the Republic of Texas, which should be of interest to scholars of the Republic. Full text follows: Brazoria, Jan'y 16, 1838 Mr. John K. West Sir, Since I wrote to you in reply to yours under date 19th ulto., I have seen Col. John A. Wharton upon the subject contained in your favor. He says he does not recollect who the person was referred to in yours, but recollects to have heard Haney speak of it, and says, he, Haney told him that he actually saw Andrew Mills hung and says he described the rope he was hung with. Col. Wharton seems to think Haney's statement entitled to credit. These facts can be known, if they are really facts, by sending a commission to Kingston, Jamaica, for although both Chase and Mills had no doubt assumed names, yet a person of so much notoriety as Capt. John Chase must have been known to some there. Haney said Mills begged him when he saw him in Kingston never to make known his fate and that he would not have done it if [he] had not been drunk. The foregoing is the substance of the conversation held with Col. J. A. Wharton. I am yours truly, Edmund Andrews.- $1,250
- $1,250
Collection of Seventy-Six Checks Written to Chinese Businesses in Montana, 1870-1872
[Chinese-American Communities - Montana - 1870s] L.H. Hershfield & Brother Bank Montana Territory, 1872 Montana Territory, 1872. Lot of seventy-six checks measuring 8 ½ x 4 inches, with vignette illustration of a prospector and his dog. With one additional document relating to the Hershfield account with the Bank of California. Most checks issued to "Gold Coin," and drawn on the Bank of California in San Francisco. The checks are printed by Robert F. Macey Stationery in New York. Fine condition with an occasional tear and chip. Fine. In 1870, one out of ten residents of Montana Territory were of Chinese descent, a figure that would decline precipitously in the ensuing decades until Chinese-Americans made up less than one percent of the population around the turn of the century. Chinese immigrants arrived in Montana following the discovery of gold in Bannack and Virginia City in the 1860s. Many of the Chinese immigrants settled and worked in the Big Belt Mountains east of Helena, including the Cave, Cooper, Oregon, and Confederate Gulches. Collected here are a collection of seventy six checks from Helena in 1870 and 1871 written to Chinese-owned businesses and cashed at the L.H. Hershfield and Brother bank in Helena, and drawn on the Bank of California in San Francisco. The checks contain the names of over thirty different Chinese merchants operating in Montana at the time - with some companies like Wan Yuen and Co. having multiple checks present. As a group they offer an interesting map of the Chinese-American business community operating at the time, and the duplicate checks, which sometimes have notes on the verso, giving a representation of the relative size of the firms and individuals involved. The LH Hershfield & Bro. Banking House in Helena operated from 1865 to 1882, in Last Chance Gulch, near the corner of Bridge and Warren Streets. It later became the Merchants National Bank, from 1882-1898, then the Union Bank and Trust Company from 1898 to 1859. Hershfield also had a banking operation in Virginia City during the Gold Rush period. Overall the group documents the Chinese-American community during the period and the breadth of economic activities of Chinese-Americans in Montana's early mining camps.- $4,500
- $4,500
Lighte & Bradburys’ Patent Insulated Full Iron Frame New Scale Piano Fortes! Also, Piano Fortes from John B. Dunham. Sheet Music and Music Books Sold at New York Prices. Martin’s Guitars
[California - Music - Ephemera] Salvator Rosa's [Martin Guitars] San Francisco, 1864 San Francisco, 1864. Broadside measuring 12 x 8.5. Some wear and archival tape repair to margin, fine contrast, excellent condition overall. Very Good. An interesting broadside advertising the Lighte and Bradbuiry piano as well as Martin Guitars, printed for the Salvator Rosa music store at 615 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. Lighte and Bradbury was in its third iteration in the period from 1858-1864 when this broadside was printed, having been started by the German immigrant Ferdinand C. Leuchte in 1847, who did business with a range of partners after anglicizing his name to Lighte. Among the testimonials listed on the broadside is praise from Lowell Mason, the composer and music director. Salvator Rosa's store was around from at least 1852, when a fire in the city destroyed the building on Clay St., making this location at 615 Montgomery Street at least the second for the firm. The firm published sheet music including "Fireman's March" and "Garibaldi's Hymn." Martin Guitars had been based in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, since 1838 and were a relatively small company at this point before the growth of popularity of guitars and the shift to steel strings that happened in the early twentieth century. We find no other nineteenth century examples of broadside advertisements for Martin in trade records.- $1,500
- $1,500
Articulos Filosoficos y Cartas a un Campesino
[California - Mexican-American Imprints - Los Angeles] Verea, Ramon Los Angeles, 1909 Los Angeles: La Aurora Mexicana, 1909. 8vo, wraps, 92 pp. Some chips to front wrap and first two pages, slight brittleness, very good minus overall. Very Good. Ramon Verea was a writer and inventor who was best known for his invention of a mechanical calculator capable of multiplying large numbers with great speed, an invention he never marketed but that has remained legendary in history of computing circles, with a prototype held at the IBM corporate headquarters. He was also an editor and writer, founding the magazine El Progreso in 1884. Known for his anti-colonial ideas, he moved to Guatemala in 1895 and then to Buenos Aires in 1897, dying two years later. This collection of Varea's collected essays on various subjects was published by the "La Aurora" Libreria Mexicana, located at 611 North Spring St. in Los Angeles, a publishing house about which we find no information, though it is notable as a Spanish-language publisher of radical works. OCLC locates six copies.- $450
- $450
Shipping Manifest for the Barque Equator, Documenting Cargo on a Voyage Around Cape Horn, 1850-1851
[California - Gold Rush Period - Mercantile History] Alsop and Company Callao, 1850 Callao: Alsop and Company, 1850. Folded ship manifest measuring 15 ¼ x 12 ½ inches. Fine condition with slight normal wear. A very scarce Gold Rush period shipping manifest for the Barque Equator, captained by William Weir, listing the passengers and cargo for a voyage to San Francisco in December of 1850, with notations showing the vessel's arrival in San Francisco in May of 1851. Alsop & Co. was the work of Joseph Alsop, the grandson of Continental Congress delegate John Alsop, and his friend Henry Chauncey. Originally from Middletown, Connecticut, the pair established Alsop & Co. in New York City in 1824, and would eventually play a large role in the gold trade in California and trade extensively in South and Central America. Chauncey, Alsop and others were among the partners in the trans-Panamanian railway that helped transform trans-continental trade in 1850. One of Alsop & Co.'s treasure boxes was aboard the S.S. Central America when it sank in 1857, carrying gold to the Eastern United States from Panama. The shipping manifest offered here lists the primary cargo as 195 tons of coal, and also lists the names of fourteen passengers on the voyage. Imported coal - from Callao in this case - was essential to heat houses and run furnaces at factories, including assay offices, before the development of a local coal industry in California. We find only two instances of Gold Rush-era ship manifests - which were usually thrown away - surfacing in the trade or auction records, this one and one other, which sold for $3,600 at PBA Galleries in 2014.- $3,000
- $3,000
A Group of Documents, Printed and Manuscript, Relating to Marysville in the 1850s, Including Several Original Land Claims
[California - Gold Rush Period - Marysville] Marysville, California Marysville, 1860 Marysville, 1860. Marysville, 1850s-1860s, the bulk mid-1850s. A collection of documents including eleven receipts, three manuscript legal documents, four manuscript documents relating to land claims; five partially printed documents relating to land claims; two letters from the US Land Office in Marysville, 1858, regarding land claims; six billheads from Marysville firms with receipts for a range of goods, some illustrated; one letter from Marysville, written in 1853, concerning a death in a family. Generally fine condition. Fine. A mini-archive or assemblage of documents relating to the early Euro-American citizens of Marysville and its environs in the 1850s. The population of Marysville grew quickly after the town's incorporation to 10,000 by the mid-1850s due to its strategic location close to the gold fields, but the levee system put in place to control flood damage limited the town's growth beyond this initial phase. The documents here relate to Marysville in this early period of growth, and include several quitclaim land deeds as well as illustrated billheads. As a group they offer an ephemeral record of the city in its early period with the legal documents and deeds showing the means with which the area was settled. A well preserved group overall.- $1,250
- $1,250
Instructions No. 10, 1850. By Command of the Postmaster General. Notice to the Public, and Instructions to all Postmasters, Sub-Postmasters and Letter Receivers. California and Oregon, Option of Transmitting Correspondence, for Through United States
[British Postal History - California and Oregon - Gold Rush Period - Panama Route] Royal Mail Great Britain, 1850 Great Britain, 1850. Broadside measuring 9 ⅞ x 15 ⅜ inches. Some chipping and wear to edge, ink number written in corner, two small section of loss due to improper mounting, very good overall. Coat of arms of the United Kingdom above printed text. Very Good. A scarce broadside relating to British postal rates across the Panama Route through the Chagres River, which supplied mail to California and Oregon beginning in 1848 before eventually being replaced by the Overland route in 1860. The service was characterized by long delay times, as steamships on either side of the isthmus were often not coordinated, causing major delays in the delivery. Several different steamship companies operated privately, some carrying express mail. The letters were transported by canoe or pack animal across the isthmus. Postmaster General Cave Johnson began establishing post offices in California in 1848. Johnson also oversaw the transition to the prepaid delivery system. The broadside here, of which we find no other records, does state that postage must be prepaid, and that the route can be accessed by writing "via New York" on the letters. A scarce postal history item relating to the expansion of mail services to California. We find no other records of this institutionally or in the trade.- $1,500
- $1,500
Laminated Tintype Portrait of an African-American Man with the Prince Hall Freemasons Insignia, c. 1910s
[African-Americana - Prince Hall Freemasonry - Photography] American, 1910 American, 1910. Tintype measuring 8 x 6 inches with an African-American portrait, laminated at borders with a decorative frame with the insignia of the Prince Hall Masons. Some chips to lamination at corners, very good. Very Good. An interesting portrait of an African-American man with a decorative masonic border bearing the distinctive shape of the Prince Hall Masons emblem. Prince Hall Freemasonry stands as the earliest officially recognized and consistently operational organization established by individuals of African descent. Its inception occurred on March 6, 1775, when Prince Hall (ca. 1748-1807), a proponent of abolition and a civil rights activist, alongside fourteen other free black individuals, underwent initiation into freemasonry. They established African Lodge No. 1 on July 3, 1775. In 1784, a formal request for a charter was submitted to the Grand Lodge of England, and upon approval, African Lodge No. 1 was redesignated as African Lodge No. 459 in Boston, Massachusetts. By the time this picture was taken, there were numerous lodges, making the exact location or identity of the sitter unknown.- $375
- $375
Livre des Heures Horae Studenbuch Book of Hours
Book of Hours AN EXCEPTIONAL MANUSCRIPT THAT COMBINES POETRY, MYSTICISM AND ALLEGORY. A richly illuminated Parisian Book of Hours from the end of the 15th century with illuminated borders or architectural frames on every page. (18.5 x 11.5 cm). Red 18th century morocco binding. Some thumbing, cockling and occasional losses of pigment, else in very good condition. 138 leaves, calendar miniatures with signs of the Zodiac and occupations of the month, and 21 full page miniatures and 16 small ones. $ 125,000.- An exceptional manuscript that combines poetry, mysticism and allegory. This manuscript is a rediscovery, previously kept in a German private collection. Research has not identified the patron, who is proudly depicted in her red dress on folio 124v. She was, in any case, sensitive to the mystical bestiary and to forest life, which includes dragonflies, birds, boars, rabbits and monkeys. The depiction of the Tree of Life surrounded by innocent-looking bunnies and an owl is a depiction that might be unknown thus far. We yet, need to find a single miniature in the literature. There is something moving in this imagery. As the Book of Hours begins with Adam and Eve standing next to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the expulsion from paradise, it ends with the Tree of Life, in which paradise is regained. This profusely illuminated Hours falls in a category of extra-illustrated Books of Hours with borders on every page and bas-de-page scenes from the turn of the 16th century associable with the output of the workshops of the Master of Martainville and Jean Pichore, one of the most dominant figures in turn-of-the century Parisian illumination This was a period when the proliferation of densely embellished printed Hours in Paris (by Vostre, Kerver, and Pigouchet) led to a cross-fertilization between manuscript and printed compositions, facilitated by the artists who both illuminated manuscripts and designed cuts for printed books. The list of comparable manuscripts must be carefully studied. The closest in style are the Hours of "HJ" or "JH" with the mystic pelican, offered with an estimate of 250.000-300.00 by Giquello, see the resemblance. with the female donor and the landscape. The miniatures are in different hands, but the one of the Virgin Mary opposite that of the Donor is particularly striking, the work of a master. Some miniatures seem to be close to the Workshop of the Martainville Master (e.g. the Labouchère Hours). See www.konstantinopel.nl for more info.- $133,997
- $133,997
L’écriture et la Différence (Writing and Difference).
DERRIDA, Jacques. Half-title with the author's other works noted on the verso + TP + [7] = Quote page + 9 - 439 + [440] = Printer's information. Octavo. First Edition. A Lovely Copy of Derrida's Seminal Writing and DifferenceWriting and Difference is a collection of Jacques Derrida's essays written between 1959 and 1966 which has become a landmark of contemporary French thought because it clearly presents Derrida's deconstructive approach and was designed to accompany the other two works that he published in the same year-De La Grammatologie and La Voix et le Phenomene.Here we find Derrida at work on his systematic deconstruction of Western metaphysics. The book's first half, which includes the celebrated essay on Descartes and Foucault, shows the development of Derrida's method of deconstruction. In these essays, Derrida demonstrates the traditional nature of some purportedly nontraditional currents of modern thought-one of his main targets being the way in which "structuralism" unwittingly repeats metaphysical concepts in its use of linguistic models.The second half of the book contains some of Derrida's most compelling analyses of why and how metaphysical thinking must exclude writing from its conception of language, finally showing metaphysics to be constituted by this exclusion. These essays on Artaud, Freud, Bataille, Hegel, and Lévi-Strauss have served as introductions to Derrida's notions of writing and différence-the untranslatable formulation of a nonmetaphysical "concept" that does not exclude writing-for almost a generation of students of literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.Writing and Difference reveals the unacknowledged program that makes thought itself possible. In analyzing the contradictions inherent in this program, Derrida goes on to develop new ways of thinking, reading, and writing-new ways based on the most complete and rigorous understanding of the old ways. Readers from all disciplines find Writing and Difference to be an excellent introduction to perhaps the most challenging of contemporary French thinkers-challenging because Derrida questions thought as we know it. Publisher's original printed wraps. The spine is lightly creased from reading, but otherwise this is an excellent copy which shows no signs of wear, tear or use. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.- $450
- $450
Views of Society and Manners in America: in a Series of letters from that Country to a Friend in England during the Years 1818, 1819, and 1820. By an Englishwoman.
[WRIGHT, Frances]. TP + [iii]-iv = Dedication + [v] = Advertisement + [vii]-x = Contents + [1]-523. Octavo. First Edition. An account by an altogether original feminist's and first utilitarian philosopher's initial visit to America. Praised by lovers of America, it was published locally in the United States, France, Holland and Sweden. The book went through a series of editions and brought Wright into contact with four American Presidents, General Lafayette in Paris, along with Jeremy Bentham and a host of other famous and influential figures in England. Wright was scandalized by the contradiction of racial slavery in the US and ends this work by claiming that the President of the United States had assured her in 1820 that "the day is not very far distant when a slave will not be found in America." (p. 523)Her second visit to America in 1825 was with the 61-year-old General Lafayette and caused a different kind of notoriety. By the end of that second visit, she had become an American reformer with the mission of ending slavery and pushing the United States into the fullness of its promise that "all men were created equal." Original publisher's green boards with a ½ brown cloth spine with the original spine label almost perfectly preserved (the "S" from "Society" is worn off). The edges of the spine are lightly split a several places. With an old owner's name (W. Newsome) in black ink to the top right corner of the front free endpaper. An absolutely lovely untrimmed, wide-margined copy of this important and interesting work by Wright. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.- $2,500
- $2,500
La condition ouvriere (The Working Conditions).
WEIL, Simone. Half title with publisher's advertisement on the verso + TP + [7]-56 + tipped in facing pages reproducing two pages from her famous "Factory Journal" + 57-273 + [275] = Table + [276] = Printer's information [dated September 12, 1951]. Tall octavo. First Edition (Little Aa9).Weil Reports on the Horrible Working Condition of the French ProletariatNobel Prize Winner, Saint-Leger's CopyFrom the library of Alex Saint-Leger who wrote under the pseudonym Saint-John Perse and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1960. With his underlined initials (A. S. L.) to the front free endpaper in pencil. Accompanied by E. Wharton & Co.'s original description of the item and Priscilla Juvelis' handwritten note to famed collector Lord Eccles attesting to the validity of the provenance. Weil's meditations on the mechanization of labor and the increasingly hazardous and inhumane conditions of the working class. During her factory years (1934-1935) Weil endeavored to personally experience the "proletarian condition" by enlisting as a manual laborer in various factories throughout suburban Paris. During her time in the factories, she rendered detailed accounts in her journal of the workers' daily struggles, including the grueling hours, the monotonous work, and their merciless treatment amidst the dangerous machines and equipment. Publisher's original wraps with green lettering to the front and back covers and the spine. Showing just the mildest bit of aging to the covers and spine. A remarkable association copy of Weil's work, which remains a penetrating meditation on life, work, and fulfillment the modern West. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.- $800
- $800
Seven Articles in Cahiers du Sud.
WEIL, Simone. Seven issues, each in the original wrappers. A Superb Collection of Seven Essays by Simone Weil Published in Les Cahiers du Sud between 1941 and 1947This collection of Weil's contributions to Les Cahiers du Sud stands as an enduring testament to her revolutionary genius and vision-a vision that soared well beyond the confines of her short but very active life. Les Cahiers du Sud was an avantgarde, ultraliberal review that published poetry, essays, literary criticism, and cultural commentary from Marseille between 1925 and 1966. Jean Ballard, its founder and editor-in-chief, never turned away the works of writers who, for political reasons, could not find publishers elsewhere, among them Weil, Georges Bataille, Paul Valéry, Walter Benjamin and Antonin Artaud. Weil published eight articles in the magazine between 1940 and 1943, many of them under the pseudonym "Emile Novis," which was a loose anagram of her name (and likely a disguise of her Jewish surname). Following her death in August of 1943 at the age of thirty-four, the magazine continued to publish her works. This collection includes her essays "A propos des Jocistes" ("About the Workers"), "La Philosophie" ("The Philosophy"), "L'Avenir de la Science" ("The Future of Science"), and "Reflexions à propos de law Théorie des Quanta" ("Reflections on Quantum Theory"), and "L'Iliade ou le Poème de la Force" (The Iliad or the Poem of Force), among others published both before and after her death. During her days spent among the writers and editors of the magazine in Marseilles, Weil filled detailed notebooks with material for future articles and essays. Although her works were little known during her lifetime, they were posthumously assembled, published, and celebrated throughout the world in the years after her death - leading many to identify her as a modern saint.Despite this informal canonization, these works show her more secular side, highlighting her intellectual sensitivity to the turbulence of the world around her: included are her detailed reports on the status of local workers coalitions, criticisms of philosophical trends, and numerous complex attempts to grapple with the nearly incomprehensible tragedy of World War II - all of which demonstrate her immense skill as a writer and sophistication as a thinker. PLEASE SEE OUR CATALOG 23 "20th Century Women Philosophers" for a complete description of all seven of these rare publications. There is a small "Specimen" stamp to the covers of the April and May 1941 issues; minor toning throughout; more pronounced toning to the wrappers of the 1943 issue, with pages uncut, and glassine wrap over wrappers. This collection assembles many, but not all, of the articles and essays known to have been published by Simone Weil, some under her pseudonym, "Emile Novis," in the pages of the French literary magazine Les Cahiers du Sud. An amazingly well-preserved set of these delicate war and post-war publications. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.- $3,000
- $3,000
A MILITARY ORDER WRITTEN TWO DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER.
CROMWELL, OLIVER CROMWELL DOCUMENT SIGNED TWO DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER Manuscript letter, 1pp, mailing folds, torn at head with loss of text, occasional fold tears, integral blank, red wax seal, signed O Cromwell, overall size 310 x 200mm, 5th September, 1651. This document orders the protection of a local citizen and his family. Addressed To all Officers & Soul[ie]rs und[e]r my Comand ordering that no violence be offered to William Baker and his family, and to forbeare to take anie more of their goodes by way of plunder[.]. Cromwell led the Parliamentarian forces against the Royalists in the English Civil War. Fighting continued for years and finally ended at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, with a Parliamentarian victory. The battle destroyed any lasting hopes the Royalists may have had of regaining power by the use of military force; as well as setting the stage for Cromwell's republican rule, commonly known as the Protectorate. Charles escaped into exile in France and the long and bitter Civil War was finally over.- $4,946
- $4,946
Letter to J.H. Addington
BARROW, SIR JOHN [Secretary of the Admiralty] Signed letter,1pp., mailing folds, folio, Admiralty Office, 17th July 1817. A letter to J. H. Addinton, saying he has put his letter before the Commissioners of the Admiralty and has it in command to acquaint you that their Lordships having directed Commissioner Cunningham to furnish you for Lord Sidmouths information with a list of the Articles taken from those placed at his Lordships disposal for the sick men in the Batavier agreeably to your request., signed John Barrow. The HMS Batavier was captured by the Royal Navy from the Batavian Navy on 30 August 1799. She functioned as a hospital ship from April 1809 until January 1817, after which she was moved to Blackwall to receive distressed seamen. Her final service was as a prison ship based at Sheerness from September 1817 until finally being broken up in March 1823. This letter was written in the short period when HMS Batavier was situated in Blackwall, London. Barrow was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty in 1804. In this capacity he promoted British exploration, most notably of West Africa and the North Polar Region, with attempts to find a north-west passage from east to west through the Canadian Arctic.- $651
- $651
The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland
STEWART, WILLIAM GRANT New Edition, xi, [4], 203p., illustrated frontispiece, ownership note to flyleaf head, original publisher's cloth, title gilt in centre board, spine sunned, 8vo, London, Aylott and Jones, [1851] Stewart s groundbreaking work in which he attempts to systematically classify supernatural beings. The Table of Contents impressed readers with its formal chapter divisions, slicing up supernatural beings according to their properties, powers and traits. The author discusses Highland ghosts, fairies, brownies, water-kelpies, as well as Highland festivities from Halloween, Christmas, and Beltane. The third part is dedicated entirely to the history of witchcraft, with the following headings: Origins and History of Witchcraft Of the Agents, Qualifications, and Ceremonies of their Constitution Of the Personal Similitude of the Agents or Members of the Craft Of their Professional Powers and Practices Of the Witch s Powers of Transformation Safeguards from Witchcraft Distinguished for its classifactory, Enlightenment spirit, Stewart s work mirrors a form of the late Romantic travel book. These are not just travel books, charting moral and psychological, as well as literal paths, but often encyclopaedias of folklore, natural history, superstitions, stories; the authorial figure in questions is a historian, an archivist, a collector. Stewarts work is defined as part of a well-exemplified fascination with the Highland landscape. His work reflects the language of eighteenth-century primitivism, and also draws on the romantic cult of the picturesque and sublime. The work had considerable impact, influencing famous authors like Sir Walter Scott and the Brothers Grimm. The Grimms relied heavily on Stewart's work in their translation of Croker's work on Irish fairy legends. [History of British Folklore, Dorson, 1999; Scotland and the 19th-Century World, 2012]- $391
- $391
Bemühung den Aberglaube zu stürzen.
STERZINGER, FERDINAND FIRST EDITION, [12], 187pp., woodcut printers device, head and tail-pieces, slight foxing to first few leaves, marginal tear to 135/136pp not affecting text, contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spine gilt, red and green morocco labels, a.e.r., marbled endpapers, 8vo, Munich, Lentner, 1785. The Bavarian Witchcraft War First Edition of this important work on the witch hunt craze that was so endemic in Bavaria during the mid eighteenth century. Ferdinand Sterzinger (1721-1786), a Bavarian priest of the Theatine order and one of the leaders of the Bavarian attack on witchcraft in the 1760s, wrote this deeply sceptical work. As an Enlightened Catholic thinker, he found the notion of physically dangerous demons silly and unbiblical. As a prominent member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Sterzinger ignited a noisy discussion on witchcraft in his Academie Address which he delivered on 13th October 1766, a decade after the last execution of a witch in Bavaria. In a speech that was only sanctioned on a technicality, Sterzinger launched a full-frontal assault on witchcraft beliefs. He defined witchcraft beliefs as common prejudice, skirting around the Academys rule forbidding the discussion of religious topics. Sterzinger treated the belief in witchcraft as a laughable superstition, relegating the theological authority of St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas into the era of fairy tales. Sterzinger was tactful enough to establish certain reservations to avoid offending church authorities. His concessions reveal some of the fundamental paradoxes of the early Catholic Enlightenment, which was considerably more tradition-bound than its Protestant counterpart. Sterzinger could not dare take the decisive step of rehabilitating all the victims of the persecutions as innocents. However this did not diminish Sterzingers resilient insistence that witchcraft is [ ] in and of itself an empty and vain nothingness, a prejudice and imagining of unstable minds. His speech, swiftly issued in printed form, touched on the Bavarian witchcraft war (Bayrischer Hexenkrieg), the last major public debate on the subject in early modern Europe. Sterzingers presentation was well received in all German speaking regions, winning approval from champions of the Enlightenment. [ VD 18 13823132;, Ackermann IV, 918;Exorcism and Enlightenment, Midelford, 2005; Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria, Behringer, 2002]- $2,603
- $2,603
The Humourist. Being Essays upon Several Subjects:Treating of New-writers, Enthusiasm, Spleen, Country Entertainment, Love, History of Treatinanage, Ambition and Pride, Idlencss, Euckleness of human Nature, Prejudice, Witchcraft, Ghosts &c., Weather, Female Disguises, Art of modern Conversation, Use of Speech, Punishment of staying at Home on Sunday &c., Criticism, Art of Begging, Anger, Avarice, Death, Grief, Keeping the Ten Commandments, Travel misapply d, Flattery, Abuse of Words, Credulity, Eating, Love of Power, Expedients to get rid of Time, Retirement, Story of W. Hacket the Enthusiast.
[GORDON, THOMAS]. Fourth edition: xxx; [6], 240, [12]pp, ownership inscription in pen to title page, woodcut initials, head and tail pieces, armorial bookplate to front pastedown, sprinkled calf, ruled in gilt, contrasting red roan lettering-piece to spine, spine numbered I in gilt (complete in one vol. according to ESTC, the BL. copy of the 1741 edition is also numbered I and bound uniformly with a second vol, containing the 1735 edition of the text), joints rubbed but holding, head cap worn, 12mo (16.5 x 10.5 cm) London, Printed for T. Woodward et al, 1741. INCLUDES REFLECTIONS ON WITCHCRAFT AND GHOSTS A fascinating miscellany attributed to the Whig pamphleteer and classicist Thomas Gordon (d.1750), comprising 34 essays on various themes from enthusiasm (Of all Sorts of Madness, a religious Delirium is that which, in my Opinion, calls for the most Pity), to grief (It covers the Soul with Blackness and Horror). Gordon's reflections on witchcraft and ghosts show him to be ahead of his time. Questioning why women rather than men suffered under the accusations, he noted first, the Men having the whole Discretion of this Affair, are wise enough to slip their own Heads out of the Collar; and, secondly, an old Woman is grown by Custom to the most avoided, and most unpitied creature under the Sun, the very Name carrying contempt and Satire in it. ESTC records only 4 copies in institutional collections in the British Isles. Provenance: Francis Erys, Enys, near Penryn, Cornwall (bookplate); Jno' Enys (inscription). [ESTC T152044.]- $3,254
- $3,254
Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq.
SCOTT, WALTER Second Edition, engraved frontispiece after J. Skene, ownership annotations to front free endpaper, contemporary green half calf over marbled boards, slightly rubbed, title in gilt to spine, 12mo, London, John Murray, 1831. Second edition of Walter Scott's popular work on witchcraft and the supernatural. A lifelong student of folklore, Scott was able to draw on a wide-ranging collection of primary and secondary sources. The work was commercially successful and exercised a significant influence in promoting the Victorian vogue for Gothic and ghostly fiction.- $651
- $651
The History of Oracles and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests, in Two Parts
FONTENELLE, LE BOVIER DE BERNARD; BEHN, APHRA [TRANSLATOR] FIRST EDITION, [20], 227, [5], occasional light foxing, title stabilised with tissue, repairs to front and rear gutters, light pencil annotations and manicules, contemporary speckled calf, corners rubbed, 8vo, London, 1688 First Edition of a Scarce Work. A translation of Bernard Le Bouvier de Fontenelles Histoire De Oracles (1687) by Aphra Behn. This work on debunking the Oracles of Ancient Greece and Rome as frauds of the priests used to manipulate the masses, rather than under Demonic influence as suggested by the Church. This is an abridged version of Antonius van Dales Latin work De Oraculis Ethnicorum (1683). Van Dales argument against the supernatural and the role of the Devil in the pagan oracular tradition was highly influential, but was not popularised until Fontelles adapted version two decades later. Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing. She broke cultural barriers and opened up public space for women writers. She was employed by Charles II to work as a spy in Antwerp. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her into legal trouble; she thereafter devoted most of her writing to prose genres and translations. The History of Oracles was the penultimate work to be published before her death in 1689. The dedication by Behn is to Lord Jeffreys, known as the "hanging judge". He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. His conduct as a judge was to enforce royal policy, resulting in a historical reputation for severity and bias. Jeffreys historical notoriety comes from his actions in 1685, after Monmouths Rebellion, where he was responsible for a high number of executions. Estimates of the numbers executed for treason have been given as high as 700. Behn's dedication has been criticised as a "triumph of sycophancy". Her name does not appear in the work, but the dedication is signed A.B. This dedication was removed from later editions.- $1,432
- $1,432
Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq.
SCOTT, WALTER AND CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE [ILLUSTRATOR] FIRST EDITION, [4], IX, [1], 402p., engraved uncoloured frontispiece after J. Skene, extra illustrated with 12 plates by Cruikshank, later straight grained brown morocco, boards twice ruled in gilt, original spine ruled in gilt, spine gilt with fleurons, title, author and year, raised bands, t.e.g., original endpapers, 12mo, London, John Murray, 1830. First Edition of Walter Scott's popular work on witchcraft and the supernatural. A lifelong student of folklore, Scott had long harboured the idea of writing about witchcraft. He was able to draw on a wide-ranging collection of primary and secondary sources, including the large occult library at his stately home at Abbotsford. Empirical archivist, Robert Pitcairn, had been greatly influenced and inspired by the work of Sir Walter Scott and sent copies of the more dramatic cases to the author almost as soon as he found them. Pitcairns private generosity with his research notes, and the public interest they generated through their serialised publication in popular literary magazines, ensured that there would be a ready market for a book on witchcraft by Scotland's foremost historical novelist. The resulting book, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, was written very quickly during the summer months of 1830 and published together with a series of illustrative plates by Cruikshank in time for Christmas. The work was a bestseller and exercised a significant influence in promoting the Victorian vogue for Gothic and ghostly fiction. The book takes the form of ten letters addressed to J. G.Lockhart, the epistolary mode permitting Scott to be both conversational in tone and discursive in method. In these, Scott presents a wide survey of attitudes to demonology and witchcraft from the Old Testament period to his own day. Scott's account is amply illustrated with anecdotes and traditional tales and may be read as an anthology of uncanny stories as much as a philosophical treatise. He also considers the topics of ghosts, fairies, brownies, elves, second sight and mythologies of the various Germanic peoples. Belief in these phenomena is presented as the result of ignorance and prejudice, which eventually dispersed by the rise of rational philosophy in the 18th century. Examining Scottish criminal trials for witchcraft, Scott notes that the nature of evidence admissible gave free reign to accusers and left the accused no chance of escape. Prisoners were driven to confess through despair and the desire to avoid future persecution. One trial which Scott had been quick to realise the importance of is that of Isobel Gowdie. Her confessions, rediscovered by Pitcairn in the archives of the Edinburgh High Court, became a sensational new source of Scottish witchcraft, bringing the term coven - to denote a group of witches- into popular usage and attesting to a wealth of fairy lore in the highlands of Scotland, that was far removed from the traditional demonologists. Scott also observed that trials for witchcraft were increasingly connected with political crimes, just as in Catholic countries accusations of witchcraft and heresy went together. Throughout he treats his subjects in an analytical, rationalist manner, although pockets of superstition remain. Lockhart was Scott's friend, and later his son-in-law, and biographer. He was married to Scott's eldest daughter Sophia, and they settled on Scott's estate until he became editor of The Quarterly Review in London. His biography of Scott was his greatest book. [Cohen 188 (plates) and 731; Embracing the Darkness A Cultural History of Witchcraft, Callow, 2018]- $2,343
- $2,343
A Historical Account of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland
SHARPE, CHARLES KIRKPATRICK First Edition Thus. 268p., half title, title reinforced along margin, advertisements present at rear, publishers red cloth, original paper label on spine, slightly toned, 8vo, London; Hamilton, Adams and Co; Glasgow; Thomas D. Morison, 1884. Known as a Scottish antiquary and artist, this work from Sharpe was first published in 1819 as part of Memorials by Robert Law. Walter Scott uses the information from Sharpe in his Letters on Demonology 1830. Specifically the last case in Scotland of an unnamed woman who was executed at Dornoch. Sharpe dated the execution to 1722, adding further embellishments that the victim sat very composedly warming herself by the fire prepared to consume her while the other instruments of death were making ready. Sharpes date of 1722 was accepted by Scott, but maintains the date and information was derived from the Countess of Sutherland. Walter Scott, convinced that the countess was the subject of a witch hunt herself over the Sutherland Clearances, emphasised her good works. As part of the book there is an 8 page list of Scottish books on Witchcraft. [The last of the witches? The survival of Scottish witch belief, Cowan and Henderson, 2002]- $391
- $391
The Eclectic Abecedarium
Edward Gorey (author), Patrice Miller (publisher) Dallas, TX: Aredian Press, 2022. Approximately 4 x 12". LIMITED EDITION of 5 copies, this being #2. Design binding by Patrice Miller of Aredian Press. The structure is decorative paper over heavy book boards with paper label on cover, stiff paper Tyvek accordion spine backed by Indian cotton screen printed paper, flag book design with blue, red, and green cover weight papers to back the letter illustrations, colophon, and limitation which is, signed and numbered by the publisher, in fine condition. Beautifully structured and original book.First published in 1983 with only 100 copies, this is a beautiful (but typically macabre for Gorey) book with illustrations and text referring to each letter of the alphabet. An example: The way to Hell is down a Well. Patrice Miller's work has found its way to private and university collections, in the states and abroad. Human foibles, nature's panoply, and artistic cleverness cannot help but inform future work. She continues to bind, and rebind, in Dallas, Texas.- $575
- $575
Three Hearts and Three Lions
Poul Anderson (author), Edward Gorey (illustrator) New York: Doubleday Science Fiction, 1961. Approximately 5 1/2 x 8 1/2". First Edition. Illustrated dust jacket by Edward Gorey, some creases, small nicks mostly to spine ends, minor rubbing, original price of $3.95 intact, in very good + condition. Red cloth over boards with gold stamped design on cover and gold/black stamped lettering and designs on spine, top edges red, really minor edge wear, slight corner bumping,small pen marks on rear cover, otherwise, in very good + condition. (Toledano D-Anderson)Poul Anderson (1926 - 2001) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was awarded three Nebula Awards and seven Hugo awards. This book is listed in Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels by Pringle as number #25. Dust jacket is illustrated by Edward Gorey (1925 - 2000), an American artist and writer, best known for his eccentric imagery and stories, often set in Victorian and Edwardian settings- $200
- $200
Birds of the Bible: Bearded Vulture.
[never mind the press] Alisa Golden. Berkeley, California:, 2019. Berkeley, California:: never mind the press ,, 2019.. Edition of 18. 6 x 7.5" closed, extends to 66"; two accordions extending from each interior back panel. Letterpress printed from handset type and linocuts. Materials: black Stonehenge paper, acrylic ink-dyed muslin, paste paper, book cloth. Bound in cloth boards. Signed and numbered by the artist Alisa Golden: "The Bearded Vulture is a fascinating Old World bird; we don't have them in North America, but they did have them in Palestine/Israel as far back as biblical times, and as recently as 1982, the last time a pair raised a family there. I was fascinated that the majority of their diet is bones, and they wait for other scavengers to finish before they swoop in. In captivity their body feathers remain white. By creating a doubled cover and two one-sheet accordion structures I wanted to capture the feeling of unfolding out into their seven-to-nine-foot wingspan. "Peres. Bearded Vulture is a bird that is unclean to eat. In Genesis, Abraham beats away vultures from a sacrifice he offers, but it is not likely it was the Bearded Vulture. Bearded Vultures eat only bones and marrow; they clean up when the last bone has been picked clean by other animals. Bearded Vultures also preen with iron-rich dirt, so I printed linoleum cuts first, then hand painted the earth tones into the feathers.- $650
- $650
PMS Handbook.
Kokin, Lisa. El Sobrante, California:, 1993. El Sobrante, California:: Lisa Kokin,, 1993.. One-of-a-Kind. 7.5 x 9.5 x 4"; 16 pads making 32 pages. Materials: rubber; latex-coated mini-pads; leather; photo transfers; found objects. Mixed media collage. Bound with leather run through two holes in each leaf sewn to rubber glove. Covers made of rubber glove, rubber balloons and top of rubber hot water bottle. Includes cloth pathology bag. Lisa Kokin, Mixed Media Books: "My definition of 'book' is open-ended, a freedom which is in many ways attributable to my lack of formal book art training. I am blissfully unaware of all the rules I am breaking as I go about my routine of sewing, stapling, riveting and otherwise reassembling objects to transform them into something readable. My books address themes which have preoccupied me for many years -- loss, the rescuing of memory, cultural and sexual identity, and a critique of the prevailing social values." In this mixed media book Kokin uses text from a Scientology pamphlet on latex-coated mini-pad pages. The first two leaves start with the instruction "Your happy task is to /separate your real nature / from the false nature / that has temporarily taken over your life." An interesting pairing of Scientology instruction and doctrine with the natural function of a woman's body.- $4,800
- $4,800
Model Theory.
Deschamps, Francois. New Patlz, New York:, 2023. New Patlz, New York:: Francois Deschamps,, 2023.. Edition of 100. 9 x 12" tin box containing 3 books and 3 unassembled die cut cubes. Title label on box lid. Signed by the artist. Model Theory, Artist Statement: "The book project 'Model Theory', 2023, is a work of visual philosophy that examines the presentation of reality as a digital model. The project was inspired by a half year Fulbright residency in Prague in 2018. As Deschamps oscillated between looking at the 3D Google earth modeling of the city and photographing the actual city, he began to see the Prague as a model of itself. "The components of the project include three books and three die cut cubes based on souvenirs of Prague, all housed in a 9x12" tin box. These disparate elements are intended to bounce off of each other to create an atmosphere imbued with content. "The book Dark Curtains (10x8.5", 60pp) presents the city in a series of photographs juxtaposed with the surrealistic account of a Kafka scholar's visit to Prague. " The slim volume The Book of Models (8x4", 42pp) comprises 10 short stories based on various forms of modeling. " The die cut cubes (2.5 x 2.5x 2.5") can be easily assembled and disassembled for storage in the tin. " The 'Model Theory' project explores how models, physical and conceptual organize society, culture, and behavior.- $375
- $375
What I Didn't Learn in Hebrew School.
Kokin, Lisa. El Sobrante, California:, 2005. El Sobrante, California:: Lisa Kokin,, 2005.. One-of-a-Kind. 11.75 x 9.5 x .25" altered book. Mixed media book collage including sewing. Signed and dated by the artist. Lisa Kokin: "Using an early 20th century book for children called 'Around the World' as a substrate, I abraded parts of the text and added found photos of children's faces which I sanded down to remove the features, as well as part of a page from a Hebrew school notebook similar to the ones I used as a child. Holes drilled into the book recall bullet holes. "I was taught that no one lived in Israel/Palestine before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948." Lisa Kokin, Book Collages: "In my never-ending quest to find different ways to eviscerate books, I stumbled upon the book collage. First I find a book which interests me, either for some element of text, image or marginalia, or for the look of the book itself. Sometimes I remove some of the pages and glue and/or sew the book open to the particular page of interest. Other times I remove all the pages and use the inside covers as the collage surface. I build upon what initially interests me by layering images and text from the same or other books, found photos, and other small objects, using a variety of collage and transfer techniques." Lisa Kokin, interview with Meg Hitchcock: "My imagery can vary a lot, but there are certain elements that unify my work. There's the presence of sewing in one form or another, which I use as a means of attachment and embellishment. In the past I've made books, sculpture, and installations that have a social justice or historical component, and I've expressed my various experiences of being Jewish, being in a same-sex relationship, and my affinity with the underdog and marginalized. There's also an ongoing investigation into Jewish history in a way that makes sense to me as an adult, as opposed to how it was taught to me as a child. So there's a consistency of looking critically at the outer world and commenting on it, not heavy-handedly or didactically but often with humor. … "I grew up in a Jewish family, very secular, but I went to Hebrew school which was an indoctrination into a certain way of thinking about being a Jew. I accepted it all until I became an adult and started thinking for myself, and eventually realized that I couldn't accept the whole package.- $3,200
- $3,200
Typed letter signed, to Lord Birkenhead opposing the revision of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. A very lengthy and unpublished letter from Churchill to his close ally, planning united action to prevent changes to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty that they together negotiated and signed. Frederick Edwin "F.E." Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930), was one of Churchill's closest political friends. He was a member of the House of Lords, had served as Attorney General and Lord High Chancellor, and was soon to serve as Secretary of State for India. Both Birkenhead and Churchill (as Lord Chancellor and Colonial Secretary respectively) played a crucial role in the drafting of the Treaty, which allowed the formation of the Irish Free State as a Dominion within the British Empire under the Crown. Churchill's letter relates to the interpretation of Clause XII, a point of contention then flaring up. Clause XII provided that a boundary commission could be established to alter the boundaries between the Free State and Ulster. The Free State was pushing for a commission, but Ulster was refusing to appoint a commissioner and consequently blocked the process. The Free State was demanding the alteration of the treaty to allow the British government to override or coerce Ulster on this point. Churchill rigidly opposes these demands in his letter, which he heads "secret and personal", and opens "Like you, I am deeply troubled about this Irish business". He writes that the British Parliament would not have passed the treaty if it had contained such a clause, which "would have constituted a perfectly definite and unmistakable overriding and 'coercion' of Ulster. On this point we have made public pledges. again and again every member of the Government declared there would be no coercion". For Churchill, to amend Clause XII would open the way for much further revision of the treaty and risk the settlement. Moreover, Churchill asserts that Britain had faithfully followed the treaty, unlike the Free State. "Nothing could be more grudging than their treatment of the Crown, their association with the Empire and their attitude towards the Union Jack". Indeed, he writes there are many indications of the eventual establishment of a republican government. Churchill criticizes the Free State for failing to assume a portion of Britain's war debt and for the recent shooting of British soldiers at Queenstown. "When the broad justice of the issue between the British and Free State Government is considered, I am sure no reproach could be made against us and serious reproach against the other party". Churchill desires both himself and Birkenhead to publicly state their position at the time of their drafting of Clause XII. Churchill's trump card is a letter Birkenhead then sent to Prime Minister Balfour. "This places on record with the utmost clearness what we really meant. I consider that we are bound, and more than anyone the signatories of the Treaty are bound, to give full and loyal effect to what we meant". The spirit of the treaty and clause was that Ulster would not be coerced. Moreover their desire at the time was that Ulster should not "in any circumstances undergo such mutilation, amputation and excision as would effectively rupture its essential integrity and unity". There was the prospect of a general election that winter, and Churchill feared the treaty would become a leading issue. Churchill is adamant he would maintain his stand irrespective of the Conservative Party's position, and could not support the revision of the treaty: "If I did not feel myself honourably and conscientiously able to adopt the reasoning I have set out here, or if you convince me that it is not sound and fair, I should simply stand aside at the election and remain in private life for some years longer without seeking to re-enter Parliament". Churchill encloses a letter he received from James Craig, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, 21 August 1924. Churchill had passed Craig the letter which Birkenhead sent to Balfour. Craig hopes Birkenhead's letter could be published, "as it should clear the air, and break it to those in Southern Ireland who have so long been sedulously coached to believe that large areas were involved, that only boundary rectification was intended". A transcript of both letters is available on request. Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes. 8 pages quarto (254 x 204 mm) headed Chartwell Manor, c. 1,750 words typed recto only, with 40 words postscript in Churchill's hand offering his commiseration for a bereavement and signed by him "W"; enclosing a letter from James Craig, one page folio (330 x 203 mm) on Stormont Castle letterhead, 21 August 1924, c. 200 words typed recto only. Housed in black chemises within quarter morocco slipcase, red morocco label to spine and front panel. Light creases as folded, extremities a little browned and creased, paperclip impression and rusting at head. In very good condition.- $19,524
- $19,524
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. First editions, first impressions. Churchill's great history met with acclaim and proved an international best-seller, further vindicating his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. A masterpiece of readable, popular history, it remains in print today. Churchill began his history during his period in the political wilderness in the early 1930s but did not complete it until the latter half of the 1950s, after his final retirement as prime minister. He presented a single intertwined narrative of the histories of Britain, the United States, and the Empire's dominions. It was history as manifesto, setting out a vision of the English-speaking nations as bound by a common history and purpose; through stressing their shared heritage and destiny, Churchill, by birth half English and half American, believed he could cement the bonds between them. He consequently gave considerable attention to the key events of American history, especially the War of Independence and the Civil War. Cohen A267.1(I)-(IV). 4 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, spines lettered in gilt, top edges red. With dust jackets. Illustrated with maps and genealogical tables. Short closed tear to front fold of vol. I, a hint of rubbing, sunning, and soiling to unclipped jackets but still unusually fresh. A fine set in near-fine jackets.- $976
- $976
Frederick Edwin Earl of Birkenhead: The First Phase. By his son.
CHURCHILL, Winston S. (foreword) - BIRKENHEAD, Frederick Winston Furneaux Smith, Earl of. First edition, first impression, of this filial biography of the Conservative statesman, one of the closest personal and political friends of Winston Churchill, who contributes an adulatory foreword, and advised on the book. Provenance: ownership signature and bookplate of Clementine Waring (1879-1964), eldest daughter of the Marquess of Tweedale, and wife of Walter Waring, Liberal MP for Banff; the collection of Steve Forbes. Cohen B51. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Unclipped jacket with slight sunning and rubbing, very minor chipping at extremities, slit to rear panel: a fine copy in very good jacket.- $260
- $260
The Jungle Book.
KIPLING, Rudyard. First edition, first impression. Based on folk tales and legends that Kipling learned during his childhood in India, The Jungle Book was first published in periodicals in 1893-4, before it was printed in book form in 1894. An immediate success on publication, the book was reprinted twice the same year, and twice again in 1895. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907; he was the first English-language writer, and the youngest ever, to receive the prize. The present book, and its sequel The Second Jungle Book (1895), were loosely adapted into the 1967 and 2016 Disney movies of the same name. Grolier Children's 100, 52. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, spine lettered and decorated gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, pictorial block to front board gilt, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. Illustrated by J. L. Kipling, W. H. Drake, P. Frenzeny. Light foxing throughout, an excellent copy in a fine binding.- $4,556
- $4,556
Memories: My Seventy-Two Years in the Romantic County of Yuba California
W.T. Ellis John Henry Nash 1939 printing of Inscribed Presentation Copy in Fine Condition, Limited Edition 1 of 1,000 copies. Frontispiece portrait of W.T. Ellis (1866-1955) , 308 pages with some additional photographs and illustrations. Boldly inscribed and dated 1942 by Ellis. Book is 11 inches in height by 7.75 inches in width, FINE, quarter bound, mustard paper boards with paper spine label on tan cloth spine. Scarce Jacket is near Fine a tad bit of wear to corners. Looks sharp in a new mylar sleeve. A Fantastic Limited Edition. Ellis was the son of a Marylander who became a well to do merchant in Marysville, California. Ellis carried on the family business and served on the Marysville's Levee Commission for 40 years. This work is his account of his boyhood in Marysville as well as the towns early history. He proudly displays his knowledge of flood control that helped protect Marysville from the Feather and Yuba Rivers. Also information on the impact of hydraulic mining.- $250
- $250
African Game Trails (2 volumes)
Theodore Roosevelt 1920 on Tile Page, 1909 and 1910 on copyright page, later printing in 2 volumes, Octavo: 7.75 inches in height by 5.24 inches in width. Vol1. 327 pages with 6 illustrations, Vol 2: 329 to 676 pages with 6 appendices and index, Books are near Fine, very clean publisher's ribbed green cloth with borders and TR brand in blind on front boards, bright gilt titles to spine, NO previous owner bookplate r writing, tad foxing on preliminary ages, tight and square with sharp points, protected in custom mylar sleeves. Bargain Priced TWO Volume Set.- $150
- $150
Hugo PRATT : Corto Maltèse en Egypte, SERIGRAPHIE Originale signée, 500ex, 50×40 cm
Art, Affiches et Gravure Hugo PRATT (1927-1995). - Corto Maltèse en Egypte, 2020. - Sérigraphie originale. - Signée dans la planche + timbre sec + tampon officiel "Hugo Pratt" au dos. - 2 passages couleur. - Sur papier d'art Innova, 50 x 40 cm. - Numérotée sur 500 exemplaires (numéro du certificat donné à titre d'exemple). - Certificat d'authenticité Informations : édité en 2020 par les éditions Christian Collin En excellent état Né à Rimini en Italie en 1927 et mort à Pully (Suisse) en 1995, Hugo Eugenio Pratt est un auteur de bande dessinée italien. Son uvre la plus connue est Corto Maltese (1967-1991), qui a largement dépassé le champ de la bande dessinée.- $144
- Artfever |
- $144
Rahman, Abdul (illustrator). “Remember the African Holocaust”/Lynchings. [Caption Title]
New York, 1992 New York: High Awareness, Inc, 1992. Very good. Poster measuring 23¾" x 18". Very good with scattered light creases. This is a large calendar meant to bring awareness of the history of slavery, as well as lynchings in the United States. The days of the calendar are in columns at opposite edges of the poster, with three large illustrations in the middle. The illustrations depict the process of enslaving Africans, with visceral drawings of the capturing of new slaves, the middle passage, and breaking camp. Interestingly, in the breaking camp image, a young man is being whipped and the aggressor is also Black. At the bottom of the poster are two columns of text which detail the lynchings which are highlighted in red on the calendar. In between those columns is text dedicating the poster to Ida B. Wells whose early investigative journalism led to the topic of lynchings becoming part of the national conversation. A searing reminder of slavery and lynching. OCLC locates no copies.- $600
- $600
![Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association Presents a 1967 Calendar of 12 Great Days in the Growth of Carver Federal Savings. [Cover title]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1582121077.0.l.jpg)
Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association Presents a 1967 Calendar of 12 Great Days in the Growth of Carver Federal Savings. [Cover title]
New York, 1966 New York: Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association, 1966. As new. 5½" x 8 3/8". Stapled wrappers. pp. [32]. As new in original illustrated, unused mailing envelope which is good due to the lack of a flap and some loss to the front panel. The 1967 edition of the CFSLA calendar is quite different from the others: it's essentially a short illustrated history of the bank itself, beginning with the initial meeting of Harlem residents who sought to create a community-owned banking institution for African Americans. Other months cover the bank's opening day, its expansion to other offices, its first church account and its first computer. The illustrator is unidentified.- $400
- $400
THE FAMOUS AND MEMORABLE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS.– Extra illustrated. A man of much honour and learning among the Jews. Faithfully translated out of the latin and French, by Tho. Lodge, Doctor n Physick. Whereunto are newly added the the references of the Scriptures throughout the History, and afterwards collected into a Table.
JOSEPHUS. FLAVIUS. ; Lodge, Thomas. Translates. Extra illustrated copy. (13.1 x 8.7 inches). 10, 812, 32(Table) pp. Curiously, the extra title page to part two (The lamentable and tragical history of the vvarres and utter ruine of the Jevves. Comprised in seven books) is dated 1656 and gives Abel Roper of Fleet Street as publisher. Some pagination errors but complete and this copy with six illustrations not called for, bound in at a later date. Some staining and toning to many pages. Title page with 2 previous owners names and addresses written in ink. A couple of pages with minor tears to the margins and neat strengthening to page edges but overall a very good copy in a 20th century full panelled calf binding. Spine with raised bands. Compartments decorated in blind and lettered in gilt. ---- Extra illustrated copy with six early pages bound in, not called for in the collation; 2 folding maps (A map of the Children of Israel's travels and marches in the wilderness from their going out of Egypt to their passage over the River Jordan, and The expedition of Shalmaneser King of Assyria against the Syrians and the Ten tribes of Israel) and four full page plates (The Tabernacle with its curtains; Golden candlestick with seven branches; The Brasen Laver or Bason; Table of Shen bread and Altar of burnt offerings). --- More photos available on request.- $1,041
- $1,041
26 Sketches in Color
Barr-Sharrar, Beryl & Pierre Lecuire A remarkable sketchbook with 25 original gouache paintings (there is no work number 14) by Beryl Barr-Sharrar, for Pierre Lecuire. Small oblong octavo (8 1/8 x 5 1/4 inches). Cardboard covers, metal spiral binding. Some light bumping to edges, paintings in beautiful and bright condition, overall excellent. N.p. (Paris), 1968. This beautiful notebook is inscribed inside the front cover, "Pour Pierre de Beryl, 20 Août, 1968, ces 25 esquisses en couleurs". The title is hand-written on the front cover, and a date of 1965 given under Barr-Sharrar's name. There is also a hand-written note from Lecuire, which mentions that Béryl was his neighbor in Paris in the 1960's and was married first to sculptor Roger Barr and then to Bill Rubin of the Museum of Modern Art, and has since returned to New York. Beryl Barr-Sharrar (b. 1935) is an American artist who studied the American Abstract Expressionists in Berkeley and New York before moving to Paris in the 1960's and beginning her career as a professional artist. In 1962 she co-founded the College Art Study Abroad program, and served as its director until she returned to the United States in 1968. She taught painting and printmaking at Mount Holyoke, and in 1970 began studying classical archaeology at the IFA at New York University. She continued to paint and exhibit her work for several years but after 1980, focused primarily on her academic career. A handful of years ago, she returned to exhibiting her work as a painter with a three-person show in Long Island City, in 2016. Her work was exhibited at the Lucian Durand Gallery in 1967, and of her paintings it was said, "Beryl Barr-Sharrar's work has the vigor and know-how of American action painting at its best, and the refinement of color of the School of Paris. The result is both captivating and awe-inspiring." Pierre Lecuire (1922-2013) was a French poet and publisher who collaborated closely with numerous artists to design and publish beautifully crafted books. It is unclear how exactly Lecuire and Barr-Sharrar crossed paths, but perhaps he became aware of her work during those exhibitions in Paris in the late 1960s. The 25 small paintings in this sketchbook showcase Barr-Sharrar's study of Abstract Expressionism and her bold use of color. A beautiful and unique volume of original art.- $2,750
- $2,750
Issacus Newton Eq. Aur. Aet. 83.
(Isaac Newton) Issacus Newton Eq. Aur. Aet. 83. After the painting by John Vanderbank (1694-1739) in 1725 and engraved by George Vertue (1683-1756) in 1726 (the year before Newton died). 222x161mm in the impression (portrait 190x152mm) on a sheet 390x335mm. SO, a fairly large portrait, printed on very heavy unwatermarked paper. [++] I really don't know what this is, as I am certain that the paper is new-ish, like 50 years old. What the story is with the plate impressions I do not know. It is a strong impression on good paper, though the right side of the sheet has been bumped here and there over the years. Still, an unusual itemI do not know its printing legacy.- $125
- $125
Sr. Isaac Newton”
(Newton, Isaac) "Sr. Isaac Newton" London, ca. 1750-1799 (18th century) Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780), Engraver. Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (1646-1723), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 1689 portraits. Image: 358x235mm; sheet (wove paper) 423x260mm. Strong impression Condition: there's a little foxing in bottom margin and the sheet along the top has some curling to it that would disappear I do believe if you matted and framed the engraving.- $150
- $150
26 Sketches in Color
Barr-Sharrar, Beryl & Pierre Lecuire A remarkable sketchbook with 25 original gouache paintings (there is no work number 14) by Beryl Barr-Sharrar, for Pierre Lecuire. Small oblong octavo (8 1/8 x 5 1/4 inches). Cardboard covers, metal spiral binding. Some light bumping to edges, paintings in beautiful and bright condition, overall excellent. N.p. (Paris), 1968. This beautiful notebook is inscribed inside the front cover, "Pour Pierre de Beryl, 20 Août, 1968, ces 25 esquisses en couleurs". The title is hand-written on the front cover, and a date of 1965 given under Barr-Sharrar's name. There is also a hand-written note from Lecuire, which mentions that Béryl was his neighbor in Paris in the 1960's and was married first to sculptor Roger Barr and then to Bill Rubin of the Museum of Modern Art, and has since returned to New York. Beryl Barr-Sharrar (b. 1935) is an American artist who studied the American Abstract Expressionists in Berkeley and New York before moving to Paris in the 1960's and beginning her career as a professional artist. In 1962 she co-founded the College Art Study Abroad program, and served as its director until she returned to the United States in 1968. She taught painting and printmaking at Mount Holyoke, and in 1970 began studying classical archaeology at the IFA at New York University. She continued to paint and exhibit her work for several years but after 1980, focused primarily on her academic career. A handful of years ago, she returned to exhibiting her work as a painter with a three-person show in Long Island City, in 2016. Her work was exhibited at the Lucian Durand Gallery in 1967, and of her paintings it was said, "Beryl Barr-Sharrar's work has the vigor and know-how of American action painting at its best, and the refinement of color of the School of Paris. The result is both captivating and awe-inspiring." Pierre Lecuire (1922-2013) was a French poet and publisher who collaborated closely with numerous artists to design and publish beautifully crafted books. It is unclear how exactly Lecuire and Barr-Sharrar crossed paths, but perhaps he became aware of her work during those exhibitions in Paris in the late 1960s. The 25 small paintings in this sketchbook showcase Barr-Sharrar's study of Abstract Expressionism and her bold use of color. A beautiful and unique volume of original art.- $2,750
- $2,750
Motion in Vision/Vision in Motion
Unpaginated (26 pp.) catalogue published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition at the Hessenhuis in Antwerp, held from March 21 to May 3, 1959. Square octavo (8 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches). Original side-stapled wrappers. Light rubbing to aluminum leaf, slight rust-staining around staples, scattered foxing, back cover loose, overall very good. Antwerp: Hessenhuis, 1959. The ZERO group was founded in Düsseldorf by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack. Their aim, Piene once wrote, was to create "a zone of silence and of pure possibilites for a new beginning." In contrast to the popular Abstract Expressionist movement, ZERO artists championed kinetic and light elements such as chrome, aluminum, latex, and motors. Contemporaneous groups existed in other parts of Europe and Asia, as well as the Americas, including the Nul group in the Netherlands, the Nouveaux Réalistes in France, Azimuth in Italy, and the Gutai group in Japan. According to an article on the group, "No longer certain that painting best represented the modern age, Piene, Mack, and Uecker developed a new visual language based on science and a poetic existentialism. Many of the works that emerged used light, colour and movement rather than solid materials to convey the visionary potential of science, while also reflecting Cold War anxieties. As the artists' friend and champion Yves Klein wrote, 'We are living in the atomic age, where everything material and physical could disappear from one day to another, to be replace by nothing but the ultimate abstraction imaginable.'" (Heroes of Zero: the art collective that inspired a generation, Christies.com, 2022) In 1959, the ZERO group held their first exhibition which introduced them to the international public. This catalogue was published in conjunction with that exhibition. The exhibition was artist-curated, and included the participation of Robert Breer, Pol Bury, Yves Klein, Heinz Mack, Enzo Mari, Bruno Munari, Günther Uecker (spelled "Necker" on the cover), Otto Piene, Diter Rot, Jesús Rafael Soto, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. Contributors to the catalogue, which was edited by Marc Callewaert, included Emmet Williams, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Pol Bury, Dieter Rot, Jean Tinguely, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. These include paper cuttings, a silver aluminum leaf, tipped-in illustrations, and a letterpress page. Very scarce; as of February 2024, OCLC only locates two holdings of this important catalogue in North America.- $2,500
- $2,500
Set of Four Volumes of Kawakita’s Architectural Designs
Kawakita, Renshichiro Vols. I and III. Modan ko jutaku sekkei gurafu Nos. 1 and 2 [On the design of small modern houses]. II. Modan ko shoten sekkei gurafu [Design of small modern shops]. IV. Torokkenbau no ie - Kanshikikozo no ie [Trockenbau - Dry construction], each volume with 4 pages of text and 20 illustrated plates. Octavos (10 1/8 x 7 1/4 inches). Original illustrated cardstock wrappers with metal spiral bindings. Scattered foxing and toning to covers, small losses to binding of volume IV, light browning and foxing to interiors, overall very good. Tokyo (Koyosha) 1932-1933. Renshichiro Kawakita (1902-1975) was an important Japanese Modernist architect who studied the works of the Viennese Secession architects and the Bauhaus. Early in his career he worked on urban planning proposals and designed theaters, outdoor cinemas, and other public spaces. He was a founding member of the Shinko Kenchiku Renmei (League for New Architects) in 1930, and that same year was one of the group of international architects invited to submit a proposal for the design of the new Ukrainian National Theatre. He was the only Japanese architect to reach the final round of applicants. In 1931, he cofounded the Seikatsu Kosei Kenkyusho (Research Institute of Construction), together with Ken Ichiura, Takehiko Mizutani, Masuji Hamada, Sadanosuke Nakada, Takao Itagaki, and Isaku Ishimura. The institute was founded primarily to hold exhibitions and give lectures, and in November of that year began publication of the journal "Kenchiku Kogei. I See All". The same group together opened a school the following year, the Shikenchiku Kogei Gakuin (School of New Architeture and Design), with the goal of providing "theoretical and technical education for designers with excellent abilities in architecture and crafts for the new age." In the mid-1930s, Kawakita was running the Kawakita Renshichiro Tenbonoritsu Kenkyusho (Renshichiro Kawakita Institute for Efficient Management of Shop and Merchandise) and undertaking a much larger number of shop design projects. His style of shop design quickly became popular all over Japan; by October 1939, 864 shops in Japan and abroad were using the "Kawakita style". These four volumes contain examples of designs for houses, shops, and other types of construction primarily by Kawakita, but also feature designs or contributions by other artists and architects. The first set has examples of designs by Van Doesburg - Rietveld and Sharoun. Volume II has examples of typography by Josef Albers and Herbert Bayer, and Volume IV presents creations by Kawakita along with Mendelsohn, Gropius, Gellhorn, Hilberseimer, Häring, Ichiura, and others. As of January 2024, we could not find any record of these titles through OCLC.- $4,500
- $4,500