![Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31697114852-800x1142.jpg)
HAECKEL, ERNST
Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]
Bibliographisches Institit, Leipzig & Vienna: 1904
- $6,500
FIRST EDITION OF HAECKEL'S BEAUTIFUL AND HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL COLLECTION OF "ART FORMS OF NATURE", WITH 100 STUNNNING FOLIO PLATES, MOST COLORED. "The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel's prints, still influence artists and designers to this day. Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel's portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments. illustrate Haeckel's fundamental monistic notion of the 'unity of all living things' and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and 'constructive' aspects, document the oneness of the world in its most diversified forms. This collection of plates was not only well-received by scientists, but by artists and architects as well. Rene Binet, a pioneer of glass and iron constructions, Emile Galle, a renowned Art Nouveau designer, and the photographer Karl Blossfeld all make explicit reference to Haeckel in their work" (Breidbach, Olaf. et al. Art Forms in Nature). "From the delicately intricate architecture of micro-organisms such as diatoms and algae, to the graceful variations of hummingbird species, Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) visually explored the diversity of life on Earth through his stylistic and painstakingly detailed illustrations.These artworks opened people's eyes to the complexity of life forms rarely seen by his contemporaries. Even in today's world of high resolution photography and digital archiving, these illustrations remain wondrous.While it would be ideal to have more information about the images themselves, Art Forms in Nature is a mesmerising collection of science and art history" (Ten Great Books on Scientific Illustration). The plates were originally published in sets of ten before collected in this first edition. WITH: Supplement bound-in. Two volumes bound in one. Leipzig & Vienna: Bibliographisches Institit, 1904. Folio (10.5 x 14), contemporary half-morocco; later endpapers. Fading to spine. In outstanding condition with text nearly pristine and plates extraordinarily bright.
More from Manhattan Rare Book Company
As We May Think
BUSH, VANNEVAR FIRST EDITION of Vannevar Bush's landmark paper credited for originating the idea of hypertext and, by extension, providing many of the theoretical underpinnings for the world wide web. "In a 1945 article entitled "As We May Think," published in the Atlantic Monthly, Bush proposed a device that he called the Memex-an indexed, archival, microfilm machine for cross-referencing and retrieving information. For Bush, this article was an extension of his work in analog computing and microfilm technology. To the modern reader it portends the creation of hypertext and the World Wide Web" (Britannica). "Different people place the origins of the Internet at different times. The earliest accounts put it in the mind of Vannevar Bush, as long ago as 1945. Bush, the man who had played such a prominent role in the building of the atomic bomb, envisaged a machine that would allow the entire compendium of human knowledge to be 'accessed'" (Peter Watson, The Modern Mind). Bush's Memex device for storing and accessing vast quantities of information was the direct influence and inspiration for the later invention of hypertext by Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart (see Engelbart's classic 1962 paper, Augmenting Human Intellect). IN: The Atlantic Monthly 176, no. 1 (July 1945), pp. 101-8. Rumsford Press, Concord, N.H., 1945. Quarto, original wrappers.The subscription issue (as opposed to the newstand issue). The subscription issue has several additional pages of ads, and an additional five pages of short reviews of new books and is presumed to have been issued before the newsstand issue. (The Bush article is identical in each issue.) Light, general wear. An outstanding copy. RARE. Communication / Information Theory: A Collection
SHANNON, CLAUDE; NYQUIST, HARRY; HARTLEY, RALPH; WIENER, NORBERT; et al. A remarkably complete collection of works documenting the history of the theory of communication of information - what 'information' actually is, and what are the theoretical restrictions on the accurate transmission of information from source to receiver. Note: The numbers in brackets correspond to the titles listed in the accompanying pdf, accessible via the link below the images. The first group of works details the development and proof of what is now called the 'Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem'. If an analog signal (e.g., voice or music) has to be converted to a digital signal, consisting of binary zeros and ones ('bits'), the theorem states that a sample of twice the highest signal frequency rate captures the signal perfectly thereby making it possible to reconstruct the original signal. This theorem laid the foundation for many advances in telecommunications. The first evidence for the sampling theorem was found experimentally by Miner in 1903 [8]. It was formally proposed by Nyquist in 1924 [9, 10] and by Küpfmüller in 1928 [8], but first proved by Nyquist [12] and later by Küpfmüller's student Raabe [8]. In 1941, Bennett [15] referred to Raabe's work and generalized it. A result equivalent to the sampling theorem had, however, been proved by Whittaker as early as 1915 [8, 14] in the context of interpolation theory. Finally, in 1948 Shannon [8, 19] published a proof of both the sampling theorem and the interpolation formula as one part of his broader development of information theory. The term 'information', as a precise concept susceptible of measurement, was coined by Hartley in 1928 [11]. "Hartley distinguished between meaning and information. The latter he defined as the number of possible messages independent of whether they are meaningful. He used this definition of information to give a logarithmic law for the transmission of information in discrete messages . Hartley had arrived at many of the most important ideas of the mathematical theory of communication: the difference between information and meaning, information as a physical quantity, the logarithmic rule for transmission of information, and the concept of noise as an impediment in the transmission of information" (Origins of Cyberspace 316). In the following year, the physicist Szilard established the connection between information and the thermodynamic quantity 'entropy'. "Szilard described a theoretical model that served both as a heat engine and an information engine, establishing the relationship between information (manipulation and transmission of bits) and thermodynamics (manipulation and transfer of energy and entropy). He was one of the first to show that 'Nature seems to talk in terms of information'" (Seife, Decoding the Universe, 2007, p. 77). Another physicist, Gabor, pointed out the relation between the sampling theorem and the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics [16]: "Signals do not have arbitrarily precise time and frequency localization. It doesn't matter how you compute a spectrum, if you want time information, you must pay for it with frequency information. Specifically, the product of time uncertainty and frequency uncertainty must be at least 1/4Ï." In 1942 Wiener issued a classified memorandum (published in 1949 [23]) which combining ideas from statistics and time-series analysis, and used Gauss's method of shaping the characteristic of a detector to allow for the maximal recognition of signals in the presence of noise. This method came to be known as the 'Wiener filter'. In his Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948) [19], Shannon notes: "Communication theory is heavily indebted to Wiener for much of its basic philosophy and theory. His classic NDRC report 'The Interpolation, Extrapolation, and Smoothing of Stationary Time Series', to appear soon in book form, contains the first clear-cut formulation of communication theory as a statistical problem, the study of operations on time series." Many of the developments in communications theory up to 1948 were summarized and systematized in Weiner's famous book on cybernetics [17]. It is this work of Shannon's that represents the real birth of modern information theory. "Claude Shannon's creation in the 1940s of the subject of information theory is one of the great intellectual achievements of the twentieth century" (Sloane & Wyner, Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers, 1993, p. 3). "Probably no single work in this century has more profoundly altered man's understanding of communication than C. E. Shannon's article, 'A mathematical theory of communication', first published in 1948" (Slepian, Key papers in the development of information theory, 1974). "Th[is] paper gave rise to 'information theory', which includes metaphorical applications in very different disciplines, ranging from biology to linguistics via thermodynamics or quantum physics on the one hand, and a technical discipline of mathematical essence, based on crucial concepts like that of channel capacity, on the other . The 1948 paper rapidly became very famous; it was published one year later as a book, with a postscript by Warren Weaver regarding the semantic aspects of information" (DSB). "The revolutionary elements of Shannon's contribution were the invention of the source-encoder-channel-decoder-destination model, and the elegant and remarkably general solution of the fundamental problems which he was able to pose in terms of this model. Particularly significant is the demonstration of the power of coding with delay in a communication system, the separation of the source and channel coding problems, and the establishment of fundamental natural limits on communication. "Shannon created several original mathematical concepts. Primary among these is the notion of the 'entropy' of a random variable (and by extension of a random sequence), the 'mutual information' between two random variables or sequences, and an algebra that relates these quantities and their derivatives.- $90,000
- $90,000
Jean-Michel Basquiat Drawings
BASQUIAT, JEAN-MICHEL FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT. Signed by Basquiat and numbered ("281/1000") in blue ink on the verso of title page, facing a magnificent photograph of Basquiat taken in 1982 by James van der Zee. Illustrated with 32 colored plates and beautiful color dust jacket. The illustrations are of drawings created in New York and during travels abroad during the winter of 1982/83. Although the book is numbered as one of 1000 copies, it is extremely rare on the market and it is generally understood that a number much smaller than 1000 were produced and signed by Basquiat. Housed in a spectacular box by book artist Sjoerd Hofstra, which reproduces Basquiat's "Ascent" on the front cover. Zurich: Edition Gallery Bruno Bischofberger; New York: Mary Boone Gallery; 1985. Oblong quarto (14x10.5 in), original cloth, original dust jacket. A FINE COPY. RARE. Original cloth, original dust jacket- $9,500
- $9,500
![Typed Letter Signed [TLS] introducing The Lord of the Rings](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31725056738.jpg)
Typed Letter Signed [TLS] introducing The Lord of the Rings
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE PUBLICATION, TOLKIEN ANXIOUSLY INTRODUCES HIS MASTERPIECE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, TO A FAN OF THE HOBBIT. Tolkien had begun work on The Lord of the Rings in December of 1937 and by early 1950, after over twelve years of labor, the writing was essentially complete. The road to publication, however, was not an easy one, for Tolkien feared his book would have difficulty finding an audience. In February, 1950, he wrote about his concerns to his publisher (Allen & Unwin): "My work has escaped from my control and I have produced a monster: an immensely long, complex, rather bitter, and rather terrifying romance, quite unfit for children (if fit for anybody)." (Carpenter, 213). Tolkien's admission that he had produced a "monster" turned out to be prescient, for seeing the book through publication proved to be a challenge for both him and his publisher and three years after completion, the first volume (The Fellowship of the Rings) was still not in print. At the time of the present letter -December 2, 1953 -publication finally seemed imminent, and Tolkien was understandably nervous. Writing to Mrs. F.L. Perry, a fan of The Hobbit, he explains the delays in publication (it was supposed to be published by Christmas, 1953), worries that the book will be too long and expensive to reach a wide audience, introduces the world of The Lord of the Rings and expresses his hopes that she will like the book despite humbly worrying that it is filled with too much history, geography, and genealogy. His was right to be concerned about further delays in publication -the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring wouldn't actually appear until July 29, 1954 - but of course his other major concern -that the book would not find an audience - was wildly misguided. The letter reads in full: December 2nd, 1953 Dear Mrs. Perry, Thank you very much for your letter, and kind words. All I can say is that, if you have so much enjoyed The Hobbit, then at least you will not be disappointed with The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, I have not only been crushingly busy this year, but also during October and November often ill, and certain adjuncts, necessary to publication, which only I can supply (e.g. maps) have been so long delayed that issue of Vol. I for Christmas, as planned, has become impossible. I hope it will appear early in 1954, and the next two vols. in quick succession. I am correcting the proofs of Vol. II at the moment. I do not know the price yet. Alas! Having put so much into this sequel, it has grown to such a large book that size and cost alone will, I fear, keep it out of many hands that would enjoy it. But I hear that the Americans are taking it up, after seeing an advance copy of Vol. I, and I am told that may make a larger issue and a rather lower price possible on the side of the Water. There is no more about Mirkwood or the northern countries, I am afraid; and the story moves away down the Great River to the kingdoms of the South. But there is a great deal of Ancient History and geography and genealogy in it: too much, I dare say, for all but the most devoted friends of Hobbits. I would send you some proof-copies, if I had any to spare, and if I did not think that you would enjoy it more, when it is complete, and has maps and appendices and all. But I hope very much that when at last you get it you will not be disappointed. It will take a very long time to read, even once, and even quickly! Yours sincerely, [signed] JRR Tolkien Typed Letter Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien") to Mrs. F.L. Perry, two pages, on one half-sheet (both sides) of Tolkien's 76 Sandfield Road stationery. Center mailing fold, two tiny closed tears at extreme edges; generally fine. Housed in custom presentation folder. As far as we can tell, this letter is unpublished. References: Carpenter, Humphrey. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.- $37,500
- $37,500
Autograph Letter Signed [ALS] on The Lord of the Rings
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. A REMARKABLY REVEALING LETTER: TOLKIEN DISCUSSES HIS SPECIFIC FEARS ABOUT THE TWO TOWERS AND DEFINES "THE FOUNDATION" OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND CONNECTS IT TO HIS LIFE'S WORK. The Fellowship of the Ring (the first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) was published on July 29, 1954. There were a number of rave reviews (mostly notably from Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis) but there were also enough harsh or critical assessments (particularly the reviews in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times) to concern Tolkien and make him anxious about the reception of the second volume, The Two Towers. Professional reviews were one worry, but Tolkien always seemed even more eager to discover if his works connected with "regular" readers as well. One such reader whose opinion he held in high regards, was one of his early supporters, Miss F.L. Perry, whom he had corresponded with earlier about The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The present letter was written on November 22, 1954 -only eleven days after the publication of The Two Towers - but the opening of the letter implies that Tolkien has already written her for her thoughts on his new book ("I did not mean to put you to any trouble") and has been eagerly awaiting her reply. Then, in a revealing passage that gives insight into Tolkien's thinking on potential failures of The Two Towers, he confesses that he worried about how his readers would accept the return of Gandalf (who was presumed dead at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring), and more generally, "would feel a falling off on a failure of their expectations," or "feel they had had enough after the novelty had worn off, and perhaps regret the decrease of hobbitry and elfishness as the darkness increases and war and terror come out of the East." With relief - and evidently pleased with Miss Perry's previous response - he writes that "All this is answered! Though by no means all are so satisfied by Gandalf." It's clear that Miss Perry was curious to learn more about Tolkien's writing and the history of Middle-earth, for Tolkien then goes on a wonderful digression first focusing on The Lord of the Rings before shifting to a discussion of his previously published work grounded in Anglo-Saxon history (noting, interestingly, that he is at his best when he is writing "verses arising from the emotions of a story, and written to represent the feelings of other 'characters' than myself"). He concludes with an important statement identifying the theme that unites all his work, both reality-based and fantasy-based. The historical work, he writes, "is really on the theme which has always engrossed me and is the foundation of 'The Lord of the Rings': the noble and the ignoble. For hobbitry you have the plain farmer-soldier; for the chivalry, a young minstrel or poet." He concludes his letter with the hope that Miss Perry will stay with him through volume III, "when all the complicated plot, and many characters, must be drawn together." The text reads in full: Nov. 22nd 1954 Dear Miss Perry It was very nice indeed of you to write; but I did not mean to put you to any trouble, specially not when unwell. Still, I was anxious about one or two points: specially about the return of Gandalf; and generally whether my friends would feel a falling off on a failure of their expectations; or feel they had had enough after the novelty had worn off, and perhaps regret the decrease of hobbitry and elfishness as the darkness increases and war and terror come out of the East. All this is answered! Though by no means all are so satisfied by Gandalf. However, all the reviews of the T.T. so far have been good, and Edwin Muir (Observer) is much less patronizing. As for the Chronicles: it has been impossible to include all that I have written or sketched out in this book. But there is really quite a lot of stray information about Arwen scattered about. It was the northern Númenórean realm of Isildur with its capitals at Annúminas and Fornost of which a good deal is said in the 'Council of Elrond.' The King of Angmar becomes the Lord of the Ringwraiths, who appears in Book 1, and will appear again. I have written a good deal of verse (of very varying merit), and some of it has been published here and there. But I have never collected it. I think I am best at the kind of thing seen in the present book - verses arising from the emotions of a story, and written to represent the feelings of other 'characters' than myself. The very long narrative poems, I do not suppose will be ever published. They may! Of longer things a 'Breton Lay,' Aotrou and Itroun was published in the 'Welsh Review' (now deceased); and on Dec. 3 you can hear (if you wish) a dramatic dialogue in alliterative verse concerning the 'Battle of Maldon (fought A.D. 991), broadcast by the B.B.C. It might interest you since it concerns one of the most heroic events in Anglo-Saxon history, and is the history of Essex; the death of the great Duke Byrhhnoth of Essex in battle with the Vikings of Anlaf (Olaf Tryggvason) of Norway. And also because it is really on the theme which has always engrossed me and is the foundation of 'The Lord of the Rings': the noble and the ignoble. For hobbitry you have the plain farmer-soldier; for the chivalry, a young minstrel or poet. I hope you will soon be better. And I hope, too, that you will continue to approve of Vol III, when all the complicated plot, and many characters, must be drawn together. Thank you once more for your kindness in writing, and for the great encouragement you have given. Yours sincerely, [signed] J.R.R. Tolkien Autograph Letter Signed. Four pages on two sheets (170 x 132 mm) of Tolkien's 76 Sandfield Road stationery. Custom presentation folder. Usual mailing folds, a few spots, particularly on last page; visually very attractive, showcasing Tolkien's famous calligraphic handwriting. As far as we can tell, this letter is unpublished. References: Carpenter, Humphrey. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. Boston: Hou- $48,000
- $48,000
Autograph Manuscript “Concerning ‘The Hoard'”. WITH: Autograph Manuscript Genealogical Tree “Kinship of the Half-Elven”. WITH: Typed Letter Signed to Eileen Elgar
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. - A MAJOR TOLKIEN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT ON THE CENTRAL THEMES OF HIS WORK AND CONTAINING A VARIANT HISTORY OF THE FIRST AGE; LIKELY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MANUSCRIPT IN PRIVATE HANDS -A VISUALLY STUNNING HAND-DRAWN CHART, "KINSHIP OF THE HALF-ELVEN," TRACING THE GENEALOGY FROM FËANOR TO ELROND, ARWEN, AND ARAGORN -A LONG, REVEALING LETTER TO EILEEN ELGAR PRESENTING THE MANUSCRIPTS, REFLECTING ON THE RECENT DEATH OF C.S. LEWIS AND DISCUSSING LITERATURE AND WRITING, INCLUDING A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF HIS MIDDLE-EARTH POEM "FASTITOCALON". "Concerning 'The Hoard'" Manuscript: Responding to Eileen Elgar's letter about the meaning of Tolkien's poem "The Hoard," Tolkien here pens what he calls "a long screed" discussing the poem's themes and its relationship to his writing. Only recently published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book(1962), "The Hoard" was a bardic poem telling of an ancient elven hoard successively claimed by a dwarf, a dragon, and a man - each of whom is killed in consequence of his feverish greed for the hoard. Tolkien here calls The Hoard "one of the main strands in The Silmarillion," and he explains that this work-in-process "concerns the great hoard of Nargothrond, which contained much of the treasure and works of Elvish art that had been preserved from the wreckage of the Elven-kingdoms and the assaults of the Dark Lord from his unassailable stronghold of Thangorodrim in the North." In endeavoring to give his correspondent a fuller idea of "what my proposed book, The Silmarillion, is about," Tolkien then proceeds to give a substantive account of the fate of this legendary hoard and its three great gemstones, the light-capturing silmarils magically crafted by Fëanor. The story arc and First-Age history Tolkien here charts differs in many subtle ways - especially in its rerouting of the Ruin of Doriath - from that found in The Simarillion and other related accounts of First Age history (e.g. the story of Nauglafring, as published in The Book of Lost Tales). But Tolkien's essay "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is much more than a behind-the-scenes look into "The Hoard". The nature of obsession, discussed so vividly in "Concerning 'The Hoard'", is at the core of Tolkien's most celebrated works, namely: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, and "Concerning 'The Hoard'"provides vital insight into the dramatic underpinnings of these works. After explaining in this manuscript how "dark and secret hoards" were originally formed and indicating that such hoards are very often "possessed and guarded by a dragon," Tolkien affirms that such "dragon-hoards were cursed, and bred in men the dragon-spirit: in possessors an obsession with mere ownership, in others a fierce desire to take the treasure for their own by violence and treachery." Beyond the insight such a "dragon-spirit" offers for the immediate analysis of The Silmarillion - where even the noblest of heroes succumb to its obsessive poison and go to extreme lengths to obtain the silmarils - we see the "dragon-spirit" driving the actions surrounding the Arkenstone in The Hobbit and The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's essay gives new meaning to the dragon Smaug's role in The Hobbit (and the reveling delight he takes in his hoard) and it further helps us understand the basis for Thorin Oakenshield's insatiable avarice and his fixation on recovering a treasure that he had never seen. InThe Lord of the Ringswe see Bilbo's reluctance to relinquish the One Ring and many of the early pages are occupied by Gandolf's explication to Frodo of how the Ring has affected its bearers. And who, after all, is Gollum but one who succumbed entirely to the "dragon-spirit"? A major unpublished essay, "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is a highly important addition to Tolkien's known work. Broadening the characters and events of Middle-earth history, this manuscript affords us insight into Tolkien's evolving conception of the First Age. This manuscript was unknown to Christopher Tolkien at the time he was piecing together The Silmarillion, and one can only imagine the contribution its text might have made to that work. But even beyond its significance for The Silmarillion, this manuscript offers a penetrating view of how Tolkien conceived the "dragon-spirit" that is a driving force in all his major works. Encapsulating as it does the core history and thematic at the heart of Tokien's legendary works, "Concerning 'The Hoard'" is, to the best of our knowledge, the most significant Tolkien manuscript in private hands. "Kinship of the Half-Elven" Genealogical Tree: Tolkien's 1964 letter to Eileen Elgar also included the offered autograph genealogical tree entitled "Kinship of the Half-Elven". Tolkien was in the habit of creating itemized documents to help him keep track of the rich layers of detail present in his complex narrative structures. This particular tree begins with Fëanor in the early days of the First Age and traces his descent through the House of Hador and the House of Bëor to the Third-Age figures - Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn - we encounter inThe Lord of the Rings. The chart is a stunning visual companion to his work, meticulously and stunningly drawn with black, green, and red ink and pencil. Letter to Eileen Elgar: Tolkien's letter of March 5, 1964, presenting the chart and manuscript to Eileen Elgar, begins on a somber note, with Tolkien explaining that he had been through some troubling times, highlighting that "The death of my friend (C.S. Lewis - whom I do not think you have confused with C.D. Lewis) was the first blow." He then discusses "Concerning 'The Hoard', hoping that it will give Elgar a better idea of what "my proposed book, 'The Silmarillion' is all about." The rest of the letter is a detailed discussion of various aspects of writing and publishing: complaining about proofreaders' attempted changes to passages in The Lord of the Rings, an analysis of certain phrases with an explication- $375,000
- $375,000
Miss Virginia Stephen”: Large Charcoal Drawing of Virginia Woolf
WOOLF, VIRGINIA; DODD, FRANCIS ORIGINAL, HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT DRAWING OF THE YOUNG VIRGINIA STEPHEN BY FRANCIS DODD. DODD'S WORK FROM HIS 1907-1908 SITTINGS WITH WOOLF ARE THE ONLY EXTANT LIKENESSES OF HER FROM THIS PERIOD. FROM THE BENJAMIN SONNENBERG COLLECTION. Virginia Woolf famously hated being an artist's subject. According to her nephew Quentin Bell, "one of the things she most disliked in life was being peered at. A very few friends had been allowed to make pictures; some were made by stealth." We have, therefore, very few surviving images from artists of Woolf, and Dodd's work from 1907-1908 are the only extant artist portraits of her in the early years of her work on her first novelThe Voyage Out and were the only artist likenesses of Woolf made prior to Duncan Grant's painting of her of 1911 (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). At the time of her 1907-1908 sitting with the artist Francis Dodd, Woolf was not yet a famous writer (The Voyage Out would not be published until 1915). In a letter to Violet Dickinson (June 3, 1907) she mentions her first sitting for Dodd, almost with amusement:â "Dodd, a little New English Club artist, half drunk and ecstatic, wishes to paint my portrait, and I am to sit in the afternoons from 2 to 4:30. Alone?" On 1 October she mentions further Dodd sittings to Dickinson, and later in the month to Vanessa Bell. The sittings extended well into 1908: in March 1908 she writes to Lady Robert Cecil about Dodd, wittily calling him "friend-brother-citizen-Dodd" and on 10 August 1908 she mentions to Vanessa that Dodd was "much pleased with his print of me" but complains that "my lip is probably a chronic blemish; I always forget to anoint it-and how do you account for that, considering my vanity?" From his sessions with Woolf, Dodd created three known drawings in preparation for a print etching (as mentioned by Woolf in her letter): One of the drawings is in the National Portrait Gallery; another is held privately; the third is this drawing from the Sonnenberg collection and it is by far the most complete and detailed of the drawings. The others are incomplete sketches of just her head; this Dodd drawing is a large, full drawing showing Woolf adorned with a flowing scarf from just above her waist and appears to be a completed work. Of particular note is Dodd's evocative rendering of Woolf's eyes -Woolf stares off the side in a wonderful portrayal of pensiveness. The artist Francis Edgar Dodd (1874-1949) was a successful and highly regarded painter and etcher, active in the New English Art Club, a trustee of the Tate Gallery (1929-35), and a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, from 1935 until his death (by suicide) in 1949. He was introduced to the Stephen family and Clive and Vanessa Bell by the painter Henry Lamb. Provenance: â -J. S. Maas & Co., Ltd., London, 1965. -Benjamin Sonnenberg (1901-1978), renown art collector and member of New York's high society. Sold his sale Sotheby Parke Bernet, 3-5 June 1979, lot 1490 (where it sold for $6500). Illustrated in catalog. -Private collection, with gift presentation note on frame backing Exhibited: -London, Maas Gallery,Pre-Raphaelite to Post-Impressionists, 1965, no. 38. -New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library,Artists and Writers: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Portrait Drawings from the Collection of Benjamin Sonnenberg, May 13 to July 30, 1971, no. 40, p. 37, illustrated in catalogue. DODD, Francis.Miss Virginia Stephen. Charcoal on paper. Signed and dated by Dodd in pencil at upper right "Francis Dodd / 1908" and inscribed by Dodd at lower center "Miss V. Stephen". "Virginia Stephen" also in another hand in pencil at upper left. In beautiful ornate frame, from Mass Gallery/Sonnenberg, now refitted with museum plexiglass. Dimensions: sight = 11.75x 7.5 inches. framed = approx. 15 x 19.5 in. Paper uniformly toned, only evident when drawing removed from frame. References: BELL, QUENTIN. Virginia Woolf. Vol 2., p.160. NICOLSON, NIGEL; TRAUTMANN, JOANNE, ed. Letters of Virginia Woolf, Vol 1., 1888-1912.- $80,000
- $80,000
![All the Pretty Horses; The Crossing; Cities of the Plain [The Border Trilogy]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31721605003-600x510.jpg)
All the Pretty Horses; The Crossing; Cities of the Plain [The Border Trilogy]
McCARTHY, CORMAC FIRST EDITIONS, with All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing signed and inscribed by McCarthy. Inscribed in ink on the half-titles of All the Pretty Horses: "For Darla / All best / Cormac McCarthy"; and The Crossing: "For Darla / All best wishes / Cormac McCarthy". All three volumes are from the recipient, with detailed letter of provenance (available upon request). "The completion of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy - All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998)--marked a major achievement in American literature. Only ten years earlier this now internationally acclaimed novelist had been called the best unknown writer in America. "The trilogy is McCarthy's most ambitious project yet, composed at the height of his mature powers over a period of fifteen years. It is 'a miracle in prose,' as Robert Hass wrote of its middle volume, an unsentimental elegy for the lost world of the cowboy, the passing of the wilderness, and the fading innocence of post-World War II America. The trilogy is a literary accomplishment with wide appeal, for despite the challenging materials in each book, these volumes remained on bestseller lists for many weeks." (Arnold and Luce, A Cormac McCarthy Companion). Note: The Crossing was also issued in a signed limited edition of 1000 copies with a tipped-in leaf signed by McCarthy (before binding). The copy in the present set is a much more desirable first trade edition where McCarthy actually signed the book. There was no signed limited edition issued for All the Pretty Horses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992-98. Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jackets. Fine copies. Original cloth, original dust jacket- $4,900
- $4,900
![Über das Wasserstoffspektrum vom Standpunkt der neuen Quantenmechanik [On the Hydrogen Spectrum from the Standpoint of the new Quantum Mechanics]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31704790530-600x646.jpg)
Über das Wasserstoffspektrum vom Standpunkt der neuen Quantenmechanik [On the Hydrogen Spectrum from the Standpoint of the new Quantum Mechanics]
PAULI, WOLFGANG FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of Pauli's influential paper demonstrating the superiority and validity of the new quantum mechanics. Following the development of quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, Born, and Jordan, "the first nontrivial and physically important application of quantum mechanics was made soon afterwards by Wolfgang Pauli [On the Hydrogen Spectrum from the Standpoint of the new Quantum Mechanics], who calculated the stationary energy values of the hydrogen atom by the matrix method and found complete agreement with Bohr's 1913 formulas. From this moment, there was no longer any doubt about the correctness of the theory among physicists" (Max Born, Physics in My Generation). IN: Zeitschrift für Physik, Band 36, Heft 5, pp. 336-363. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1926. Octavo, original wrappers; custom box. A few smudges to wrappers, otherwise fine. Rare in wrappers and without any institutional stamps.- $3,800
- $3,800
![Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31697114852.jpg)
![Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31697114852-400x571.jpg)