The Butterfly [New Series]
Octavo (24cm) Two volumes in brown leather, single gold fillet around perimeter of boards, spines tooled in gilt with brown leather spine labels, all edges gilt; marbled endpapers, with turn-ins tooled in gilt; iv,278pp; [ii],ii,[294]pp; numerous black and white plates. Bound with the original front wrappers for issues 1, 7, and 12 (others omitted). A firm, handsome set with mild rubbing to edges, a few inital leaves professionally re-attached, generally Very Good indeed. Second iteration of the Aesthetic literary journal of the 1890s, complete. The first series was issued in 1893-94; this New Series was published by Grant Richards, a publisher known for his discerning taste (he published Shaw, Housman, Butler, and Joyce, and launched the World's Classic series now continued by Oxford). Particularly notable contributions to the journal include first appearances of an anonymous story by H. G. Wells, "A Vision of Judgment" (vol. II, p.21) and a story by Baron Corvo, "About What is Due to Repentance" (vol. I, p.267). Other contributing authors included Laurence Housman, Max Beerbohm, Nora Hopper (later Nora Chesson), Arthur Morrison, Allan Monkhouse, Norman Gale, Barry Pain, Riccardo Stephens, Henry Dawson Lowry, and Arthur Wimperis. Contributing artists included Joseph Pennell, S. H. Sime, Dion Clayton Calthrop, Leonard Raven-Hill, Maurice Greiffenhagen, and Martin Hardie; the journal also features two copies of prints by Hiroshige. The title is thought to be a reference to Whistler's butterfly signature. This cataloger also notes that the Butterfly features the most infuriatingly idiosyncratic pagination system we have ever encountered, a rampant defiance of the bibliographical fact that every leaf has two pages. But overall, a complete run of this charming example of Aesthetic literary and artistic style, from a tastemaking publisher. [63909].
More from Lorne Bair Rare Books
Angela Davis: An Autobiography [Inscribed]
First Printing. Octavo (21.75cm); red cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine and author's name in blind on front cover; dustjacket; xii,400,[4]pp. Inscribed by the author in a contemporary hand on the title page: "To Sally - Solidarity! Angela Y. Davis." Gentle sunning to spine ends and upper board edges, top edge dust-soiled, with lower corners bumped (though still sharp), and a small stain to lower right corners of the textblock; Very Good+. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $8.95), spine-sunned and shelfworn, with a few tiny nicks, tears, and attendant creases, and a few faint dampstains toward base of spine; Very Good. Attractive, inscribed copy of Davis's autobiography. Written shortly after her imprisonment and trial in the Soledad brothers murder case (she was found not guilty), the volume chronicles her life from her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama to her rise to the FBI's list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. A Little Learning
Octavo. 22cm. Publisher's grey cloth titled in gilt to spine. Dustjacket. 234pp. Light bumping to spine ends and some faint sunning of the cloth at edges, in a clean, bright example of the dustjacket with a couple of closed tears. A very good, bright copy. Internally clean, top edge stained orange. The first volume of Waugh's attempt at a memoir of his extraordinary life. [81493]. Broadside: Travesty [Signed]
One of 150 numbered copies signed by the author, this being copy no.129. Broadside, with text and pictorial elements screenprinted in five colors on white Rives handmade paper, measuring 33cm x 50.5cm (13" x 19.75"). A Fine copy, issued as No Mountains Poetry Project Broadside No.5, containing an excerpt from Hawkes's 1976 collection Travesty. Portfolio 1
4to. 30cm x 23.5. Limited to 50 copies only. Publisher's grey paper-faced card portfolio, titled to a paper label applied to the front panel, minor rubbing and scuffing to extremities, purely superficial, and a little soiling to the white paper label. Portfolio perhaps a trifle flattened, but essentially a very good, clean copy indeed. Inside cand be found 10 25cm x 20cm silver gelatine prints consider iconically representative of Hine's work, a single sheet prospectus for the portfolio, a single sheet describing the contents, and a further single printed sheet with a timleline of Hine's career and a short suggested bibliography for further reading. Included are a number of Hine's best known and instantly recognizeable images, including his 1920 image of a young Power House mechanic, the 1931 image of The Empire State Building, and the 1905 image of a Slovak Woman at Ellis Island, carrying all of her worldly possessions on her back. A scarce collection of Hine's work, illustrating the full power of his imagery, and making it entirely clear how they could be so instrumental in bringing about radical change to, among other things, America's early 20th century Child Labor Laws. [63373]. Three Pieces of Souvenir Ephemera for Ray R. Myers ” The Armless Musician”
Three pieces of promotional ephemera, produced for Ray Myers during the 1940's and later. Comprising: Pamphlet, 23cm x 15cm. Original grey card wraps, titled in black to front wrap. Clean and sharp with a small closed tear to the upper of the fore-edge, not interfering with text. Signed in pencil by Myers to a "Welcome" page at the front, underneath an image of the musician and his wife. Also present is a 2pp. loosely inserted song sheet. [with] A folded green card envelope, 16cm x 10cm. Titled in dark blue to front panel: "Souvenir Folder of Ray R. Myers 'The Armless Musician.'" Lightly sunned to edges, slight touches of wear and spotting to card, very good. Containing 9 black and white photographs of Ray Myers, arranged in a concertina format that folds out into a panorama of images of Mr. Myers performing mundane every day tasks without the benefit of arms. The general theme of his promotional material was to depict him driving, shooting, lighting a cigarette etc. [with] A folded brown card enevelope, 14.5cm x 10cm. Clean and sharp, inscribed by Ray R. Myers to the front panel: "Best Wishes, Ray R. Myers." Titled in black to rear closure flap; "Souvenir of Ray R. Myers." Containing 9 black and white phtographs of an older Mr. Myers, now in his 50's, playing guitar, composing with a keyboard, riding a small tractor, playing with his dog etc. Ray R. Myers was a celebrity steel guitarist and variety musician, born without arms, in Lancaster PA in 1911. Quickly showing musical aptitude, he was sent to a local community school after his parents maintained they wanted him to have as "normal" an upbringing as possible. Despite living in relative poverty, they rejected offers from large circuses and carnivals to take Roy in, and did their best to ensure he could make up his own mind as to what career he wished to pursue. Eventually, after the death of hs father relatively young, Roy did take up Ripley's "Believe it or Not Oddities" offer to perform and became somewhat of a musical celebrity and radio star, and by the 1950's he had a daily show on WPDX in West Virginia. [63910]. Gem Elixirs and Vibrational Healing Vol I.
Quarto. 25.5cm. Publisher's decorated card wraps titled to spine and front panel. 296pp. Some marginal wear and creasing clean and bright, a little dog-earing to the front cover. A very good strong copy. Internally clean, small corner of paper missing to top of title page. A surprisingly scarce and rather dauntingly detailed assessment of the benefits and intrinsic benefits of various crystals and gemstones. [81497]. This We Can Do: Activity Suggestions Arising Out Of the 1940 Workers’ Education Conference of the Ohio C.I.O. Council [with] Twenty Questions About the Labor Movement to Amuse, Interest, and Inform. Used at 1940 Workers’ Education Conference of Ohio C.I.O. Council, Columbus, June 15 and 16
Corner-stapled, mimeographed sheets on standard bond, 11" x 8-1/2"; first document 23pp, second document 4pp. Faint toning, corner-crease, still Near Fine. "This We Can Do" includes a full program of the conference, followed by a series of action items, reading lists, and contact information for sponsoring organizations. The second document is comprised of twenty questions about labor history and contemporary events, presented in multiple-choice format. The questions range from the general ("The Industrial Revolution consisted of.?") to the highly specific ("What booklet was widely distributed to Ohio Jewish citizens by the State C.I.O. Council?). Rare, evocative, and a great piece of pre-War Ohio labor history. Harrild & Sons’ Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Printers’ Bookbinders’ & Stationers’ Machinery & Materials
Folio (32cm). Brown cloth stamped in black and gilt, with large gilt view of the "Fleet" Works on rear board; pale floral patterned endpapers; [iv], 122pp; numerous wood engravings. Title page printed in four colors. Card of Representative H. C. Marquet, Nottingham, to front pastedown. A sound, upright copy, corners bumped, a few minor stains to cloth, rear free endpaper heavily browned, but interior generally clean and bright: Very Good. Detailed and extensively illustrated catalogue from a printing supply company; a valuable resource for studying or teaching about late nineteenth-century printing technologies. Robert Harrild, originally a printer, developed composition ink rollers in the 1810s, which were instrumental in the shift to cylindrical presses. He soon shifted from printing to manufacturing rollers and other printing supplies. By the 1890s, Harrild & Sons was a prosperous printing supply company; they also sold printing presses manufactured by Bremner of Otley in Yorkshire. This catalogue advertises lithographic and relief printing presses; folding machines; guillotines; ink rollers; printing types and rules; composing room furniture, including typecases, composing frames, imposing stones, and form racks; chases and furniture; stitching machines and binding equipment; stereotype manufacturing equipment; and a wide variety of other miscellaneous supplies, most illustrated in clear detail. [63976]. The Narrows
First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); two-tone yellow and blue cloth, with titles stamped in alternate colors on spine and front panel; dustjacket; [xiv],428pp. Tiny crimp to cloth at crown, faint foxing to upper edge of textblock, else a clean, very Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $3.95), with light wear to spine ends and extremities, and gentle sunning to spine; Near Fine. Petry's third novel, set in the fictional town of Monmouth, CT during a time ripe with racial tension. The story is centered around the disastrous love affair between a rich white girl and a black man. BLOCKSON 5932; COAN, p.192. 81402. Death in the Making
First Printing. Quarto (28cm); taupe cloth, blocked and titled in black on spine and front cover; dustjacket; unpaginated [96]pp; photographically illustrated. Gently spine-sunned, lightly shelfworn, with foxing to spine, joints, board edges, and upper edge of textblock; pronounced offsetting to gutters at endpapers from binder's glue, though text and illustrations are mostly clean; just Very Good. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.50), spine-sunned, showing moderate wear, several chips, tears, and attendant creases, with a half-dozen or so tears archivally reinforced on verso; Good or better. One of the definitive photobooks of the 20th century and an essential title in any collection of books on the Spanish Civil War. The untitled jacket image, capturing the moment of death of a militiaman on the Cordoba front, established Capa's reputation as one of the great battlefield photographers of all time and remains one of the most recognizable photographs of the Twentieth Century. PARR-BADGER I:139. 81496. A Tourist in Africa
WAUGH, Evelyn Octavo. 20cm. Publisher's blue cloth titled in gilt to spine. Dustjacket. 167pp. Bumping to corners and spine ends, clean and presentable in a strong pictorial dustjacket with some toning to edges and spine panel, and a faint cup ring to the front panel. A good, bright copy in dustjacket. Internally clean. Waugh's account of his tour of Kenya, Tanganyika, and the former Rhodesia. [81492].- $138
- $138
What About Our Japanese-Americans
McWILLIAMS, Carey First printing. 12mo. Staple-bound pamphlet; pictorial paper wrappers, 32pp; illus. Mild aging, with gentle toning to text margins; Very Good. A critique of U.S. policy towards American citizens of Japanese descent in the years following America's entry into WW2. Produced under the auspices of the American Council, Institute of Pacific Relations.- $83
- $83
The Penguin News; US Naval Air Station Minneapolis, Minnesota
[US NAVY] VARIOUS Five issues. 21cm. all running between 40 and 48pp. in length. Publihser's decorated card wraps, stapled. Clean, bright and fresh with some marginal light creasing and chipping to the covers of the February 1943 issue, otherwise a remarkably well preserved little handful of issues. Wartime on base (or onboard ship) printed newsletters and magazines were considered an important piece of morale building, typically produced by serving men and women, and containing everything from current news, to base gossip, to profiles of fellow service people, cartoons, comic strips and a number of other potential subjects. In general they were rather "thrown together" affairs, reflecting the unpredictable nature of serving during wartime, overseas, often in difficult circumstances; the Penguin News stands out as being a very professional piece of ersatz publishing, with decent print standards, numerous illustrations, photomontage effects and a general level of competence and attention to detail which sets it aside from the hand folded mimeo'd broadsheets that are often seen.- $330
- $330
Policy Concerning Homosexuals in The Armed Forces: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate
[LGBTQ] VARIOUS Octavo. 23cm. Original printed green card wraps titled in black to spine panel and front wrap. 1075pp. Some light creasing to corners, and some very slight sunning to the spine panel, a very good, strong, clean copy. Internally clean. The report and findings of the Committee on Armed Services under the Clinton Administration that produced the infamous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.- $94
- $94
Houseboy
[POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE] OYONO, Ferdinand (novel); REED, John (translation) First Impression. Octavo (20.25cm); russet paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in silver on spine; dustjacket; [iv],2],3-140pp. Previous owner's ink name to front endpaper, hint of dust-soil to upper edge of textblock, else a clean, very Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced 18s net), showing a hint of sunning to spine and some trivial wear to extremities; a bright, Near Fine example. First English-language edition of the Cameroonian author and statesman's first novel, originally published as Une Vie de Boy in 1956. The novel is centered around "the tragic life of Toundi Ondoua.a houseboy at the service of, successively, two white men: Father Gilbert and the commandant of the colony. The story is told in a double-voiced diary genre: written by Toundi but read by the Cameroonian Frenchman who was given Toundi's diary while witnessing the houseboy's untimely death in Spanish Guinea" (DAB, Vol.5, p.68). An attractive copy of a significant anticolonial work. 81476.- $275
- $275
Wide Sargasso Sea
[POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE] RHYS, Jean (pseud. of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams) First Impression. Octavo (20.5cm); red paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [4],5-189,[3]pp. Faint foxing to text edges, previous owner's ink name to front pastedown, with some gentle sunning to upper and lower board edges; Very Good+. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced 21s. net), showing some light wear to extremities, and faint foxing along the upper edge on verso; Near Fine. Rhys's postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jayne Eyre (1847), told from the point of view of Antoinette Cosway, Mr. Rochester's Creole wife. Winner of the WH Smith Literary Award in 1967, which brought Rhys to public attention after decades of obscurity. [81478].- $605
- $605
The Confessions of Nat Turner [Inscribed to Gregorio Prestopino]
STYRON, William First Printing, trade issue. Octavo (22cm); black cloth, with titles and author's facsimile signature stamped in silver, gilt, and orange on spine and front cover; brown topstain; dustjacket; xvi,428,[2]pp. Inscribed by Styron a few weeks after publication on the front endpaper to American artist and social realist painter Gregorio Prestopino (1907-1984): "To Gregorio Prestopino / best wishes, warm greetings / Bill Styron / Roxbury, Conn. / 10-24-67." Sunning to upper board edges, subtle fading to topstain, touch of dust-soil to covers, with a small circular stain to lower edge of textblock and some faint foxing to text edges; Very Good. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $6.95), showing modest shelfwear, some sunning to spine, mild handling, and a tiny scuff at the center of the front joint; Very Good+. Styron's fourth novel, set in the milieu of Nat Turner's four-day slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1967. While Styron signed a great many copies of this book well into the waning years of his life, we have seen very few inscribed so close to the date of publication. BLOCKSON 5043. 81488.- $330
- $330
Customizing Your Van
GIRDLER, Allan Octavo. 21cm. Publisher's decorated card wraps, with the rear wrap occupied by adverts for other TAB publications, and the front wrap with pictures of.well, vans. 192pp. Clean, bright and near fine, with only the lightest edgewear. Internally clean. A phenomenal piece of work, as relevant now in the age of tiny homes and vanlife as it was in '75 when all any red blooded American wanted was a Chevy Sportvan with a Barbarian Queen fighting a giant Anaconda painted on the side; "Everything you have to know to convert your van into a rolling rumpus room or a complete home on wheels." I'm not sure what happens in a "rolling rumpus room", but it feels like it might end up involving HR.- $83
- $83
How To Pick Pockets: A Treatise on the Fundamental Principle, Theory, and Practice of Picking Pockets – For Entertainment Purposes Only
JOSEPH, Eddie Small Octavo. 17cm. Publisher's white card wraps titled in black to front wrap. 30pp. Some light soiling to the front wrap, and a little rusty around the staples, but a very good, clean copy. Internally clean. The introduction is dated 1940 from Calcutta, where Joseph was the pre-eminent magical and conjuring authority for a number of years, during which he cultivated his legendary habit of inventing a new magic trick every day.- $72
- $72
An Oration Spoken Before “The Connecticut Society, for the Promotion of Freedom and the Relief of Persons Unlawfully Holden in Bondage.” Convened in Hartford, on the 8th Day of May, A.D. 1794
AFRICAN-AMERICANA] DWIGHT, Theodore Early such piece arguing against slavery, delivered by the Federalist lawyer and cousin of Aaron Burr. The Society was founded just four years previously, in 1790, and Dwight would work assiduously as an attorney representing free black New Yorkers who had been kidnapped to be placed on the slave market. "Although he wrote too much and too rapidly for lasting fame, his political articles were bright and spicy" ("Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1888), Vol. II, p. 282). EVANS 26922; SABIN 21530. Octavo (19.5cm.); disbound; 24pp.; [A]-C4. Title page and last leaf of text (serving as upper and rear wrappers) separated but present, upper wrapper rather soiled, extremities chipped and a bit brittle. A Good, serviceable copy only.- $550
- $550
