Serendipity Awaits!
The first ABAA Virtual Book Fair starts at 10am (EDT) on Thursday, June 4. Here are some preview items drawn from the rare books and print ephemera you'll find when the virtual doors open.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
London, Chatto & Windus, 1876. First English Edition, which preceded the American edition by six months. Bound in red cloth lettered and decorated in black and gilt. Housed in a custom red leather backed cloth clamshell.
The River War, An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan
by Winston Spencer Churchill
First edition, first printing, two-volume set. The personal copy of Princess Alexandra of Wales before she became Queen Consort of the United Kingdom won the accession of her husband King Edward VII in 1901.
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
New York: The Viking Press, 1939. First edition. Unclipped, wrap around pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a custom-made clamshell.
Hebdomidaire
Set of miniature blank journals housed within a book box. France, 1840.
The LIfe of Samuel Johnson
by James Boswell
An uncut first edition, first issue of James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson. (London, Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791.) Two quarto volumes. A fine set in the original binding.
The Drawings of John Woodhouse Audubon. Illustrating his Adventures through Mexico and California
by DENTZEL, CARL SCHAEFER
San Francisco:, 1957: Book Club of California, 1957. Book. Illus. by John Woodhouse Audubon. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. One of 400 copies printed by the Grabhorn Press. First Edition. Only 5 of the illustrations were previously published. Introduction & notes by Dentzel.
John Woodhouse Audubon (1812 - 1862) was the second son of the famed ornithologist and painter, John James Audubon. Like his father, he was primarily a painter of wildlife, but also did some portraits and genre scenes of the westward migration.
Cloth-backed decorative boards, leather spine label. Oblong; 13.25 by 10.25 inches. Illustrated with 34 plates, 2 in color. Carefully handled; Bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear.
Dentzel was dedicated to preserving the landmarks of Los Angeles, and played a major role in founding the city's Cultural Heritage Board in 1962. His relationship with the Board continued beyond its founding and Carl served as both president and vice-president. He also was a member of the "El Pueblo de Los Angeles Movement," which helped preserve historic landmarks of Los Angeles, particularly in the downtown area. REF: GB 592; BCC 97.
The Feminine Mystique
by FRIEDAN, BETTY
First edition, first printing. Signed and inscribed "For a liberated man" by Betty Friedan on the front free endpaper just above a former owner's bookplate causing a slight ripple to paper. Bound in publisher's gray paper-covered boards over blue cloth spine lettered in gilt. Fine, in a Very Good unclipped dust jacket, with some light shelf wear, minor sunning and light creasing. A fantastic copy.
Fifteen years after graduating from Smith College, Friedan was tasked with surveying her fellow all-female alumni. Curiously, she found that despite having children and enjoying material comforts, many of the women she spoke to were unhappy in their role as housewives. She coined the phrase "feminine mystique" to highlight the prevalent assumption that a "feminine" woman would be completely fulfilled by domestic life and not seek anything more, such as education, work, or even have political opinions. Shining a floodlight on women's previously-hidden problems, Friedan takes aim at society's structural sexism and urges women to find fulfillment outside of the domestic realm that engages their full mental capacity. The Feminine Mystique is credited with sparking the second wave of feminism in the United States, and is considered one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.
Federico Fellini, Signed Record "Amarcord"
Italian film director and scriptwriter (1920-1993), known as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century. Signed record for the soundtrack of his famous film Amarcord (music by Nino Rota). Signature is on the record sleeve, record itself is inside, untested. Size is 12.3 x 12.3 inches, in excellent condition.
Small archive of photos and ephemera kept by an anti-imperialist American YWCA missionary in China as the country lurched through The May Thirtieth Movement towards the Second Chinese Revolution and eventually full civil war
by “JO” [JOSEPHINE BROWN]
The archive consists of 11 captioned photos, a 14-page letter, a bilingual brochure for a Camp for Chinese Girls and Women, and a 17.5" x 22" anti-imperialist broadsheet. Some soiling, ink bleed, beginning splits, and minor insect predation.As noted in a Kingston, New York newspaper article from 1965 (copy included), Josephine Brown devoted her life to attempting "to organize rural women in all parts of the world . . . with the feeling that these women should be freed from the limitations of home and village customs so that they can become articulate in the women's movement. . . ." She arrived in China following a YWCA assignment in California's Imperial Valley and served there for the next 11 years until she returned to the United States, no doubt as a result of the three-way conflict between the Chinese Nationalists, the Soviet-backed Communists, and imperial Japan.The letter and its accompanying items were sent by Brown to a former colleague, probably in California's Imperial Valley, in the midst of the anti-Japanese, anti-British May Thirtieth Movement following the deaths of thirteen Chinese students who had attacked a police station in Shanghai's International Settlement in an effort to free eight striking workers who had been jailed for disturbing the peace after participating in melee at a Japanese-owned cotton mill.In addition to describing her work with Chinese women and girls, Brown's heady political naiveté is apparent in her letter which contains a denial of Soviet attempts to influence Chinese politics, considerable anti-imperialist sentiment especially against Great Britain, enthusiastic support of the street protests ("how the students thrill me. I was right out with them during a demonstration in Peking"), and her idolization of a Soviet-backed, Chinese warlord, Feng Yuxiang, and his "marvelous scheme [for the] colonization of Mongolia." A transcript of the letter is included.The anti-imperialist broadsheet is exceptionally important. It is titled Many Important Statements Bearing on the Shanghai Case Issued and compiles numerous accounts of the May 30th Massacre (which led to the anti-Imperialist May Thirtieth Movement and Second Chinese Revolution) when the city police opened fire on anti-Japanese protesters who, inspired by both the Communists and the Nationalists, were preparing to storm the police headquarters inside the International Settlement.The photographs show Chinese women and girls, YWCA facilities, scenic views, and two white women, most likely Brown and her YMCA colleague, Lelia Huikley.The pamphlet promotes a YWCA camp as "an opportunity for rest and recreation" for Chinese women, girls, students, teachers, doctors, and nurses.An exceptional first-hand account by a female American activist of the birth of the political and military turmoil that would begin in earnest two years later with the White Terror and consume China for the next twenty-five years.
ATLAS SHRUGGED
by RAND, AYN
New York: Random House, 1957. First Edition. Near Fine/About Fine. First Printing (stated) in a very good+, first issue dust jacket, with $6.95 on front flap and 10/57 printed on the lower front flap and the Random House name and address on the lower rear flap. Internally clean and bright, with no markings of any kind. Atlas Shrugged is Ms. Rand's most important work and embodies her philosophy of objectivism. In a 1991 Library of Congress survey, a majority of Americans polled, named Atlas Shrugged as the book that had influenced their lives the most next to the Bible. Internally clean and bright, with no markings of any kind. A beautiful copy.
Christmas Carol [With:] The Chimes. [And:] The Cricket on the Hearth.
by DICKENS, CHARLES
An Excellent, Complete Set of Dickensís Christmas Books, With a First Edition, First Issue ìA Christmas Carol. With Some of the Original Cloth Bound In DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition, first issue: i.e., ìStave Iî; blue half-title and red and blue title. Small octavo (6 7/16 x 4 inches; 163 x 102 mm). [viii], [1] -166, [2, publisher's advertisements] pp. With four inserted hand-colored plates, including frontispiece. In-text black and white illustrations. With two pages of publisher's advertisements. Original trimmed cloth from front board and spine bound in at the back. [Together with:] DICKENS, Charles. The Chimes. A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. London: Chapman and Hall, 1845 [i.e., December 1844]. First edition. Small octavo (6 3/8 x 4 inches; 163 x 102 mm). [vi], [1]2-175, [1, colophon], [1, publisher's advertisement], [1, blank] pp. First state of the additional engraved title and frontispiece after Daniel Maclise, by F.P. Becker. Eleven in-text black and white illustrations after Doyle, Leech, and Stanfield. With the publisher's advertisement leaf for the tenth edition Christmas Carol bound at the rear. Original trimmed cloth from front board and spine bound in at the back. [With:] DICKENS, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. London: Printed and Published for the Author, by Bradbury and Evans, 1846 [i.e., December 1845]. First edition. Small octavo (6 3/8 x 4 inches; 162 x 102 mm). [viii], [1]2-174, [2 publisher's advertisements] pp. Engraved title and frontispiece after Daniel Maclise, by G. Dalziel. Twelve in-text black and white illustrations by various artists chiefly after John Leech. With the second state of the final leaf of publisher's advertisements for the new edition of Oliver Twist. Original trimmed cloth from front board and spine bound in at the back. [With:] DICKENS, Charles. The Battle of Life. A Love Story. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1846. First edition. Small octavo (6 7/16 x 4 inches; 163 x 102 mm). [viii], [1-3]4-175, [1, colophon], [2, publisher's advertisements] pp. With fourth state engraved title and frontispiece after Maclise by Thompson. Eleven in-text black and white illustrations after Maclise, Doyle, Stanfield and Leech. Final leaf of publisher's advertisements for Dombey and Son. Original trimmed cloth from front board and spine bound in at the back. [And:] DICKENS, Charles. The Haunted Man and the Ghostís Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-Time. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition. Small octavo (6 7/16 x 4 inches; 163 x 102 mm). [vi], [1]2-188, [2, publisher's advertisement] pp. With leaf of publisher's advertisements for "Works by Mr. Dickens" bound at the back. Additional pictorial frontispiece and title after Tenniel by Martin & Corbould. Fifteen in-text black and white illustrations after Leech, Stone, Stanfield and Tenniel. Original trimmed cloth from front board and spine bound in at the back. Together all five volumes beautifully and uniformly bound by Tout in three-quarter green morocco, over green marbled paper-covered boards. Morocco ruled in gilt. Spines elaborately stamped and lettered in gilt. All edges gilt. Matching marbled endpapers. Spines all uniformly slightly darkened. Christmas Carol with some mild darkening to morocco along outer hinges. Cricket with small marginal paper repairs to pages 59 and 61. Battle with faint signature at head of frontispiece. Some occasional offsetting from the bound in cloth. Overall an about fine set. Each volume housed in a full red morocco pull-top slipcase. Smith, Dickens, II, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9.
Charming Die-cut Dance Card in the Shape of a Handbag - 15th Annual Ball of the Delaware S. Fire Engine Co.
Delaware, December 30, 1870. Embossed die-cut 2 1/4' x 3" dance card in the shape of a handbag with a velvet strap. 4 pp, Unused. For the Fifteenth Annual Ball of the Delaware S. F. E. Co., in the Saloons of the Odd Fellow's Hall, Friday Evening, December 30, 1870. Order of dance includes 27 dances. Final page includes Committee members and Aides.
Caruso, Enrico - Chaliapin, Fedor - Maurel, Victor and others Fan Signed by Multiple Artists 1893-1907
Wooden Fan, hand signed by multiple artists between 1893 and 1907. Fan belonged to German mezzo-soprano/contralto Therese Rothauser (1865-1943), a famous interpreter of Mozart and a leading performer in Leipzig and Berlin.
Rothauser, who was jewish, tragically perished in 1943 during the holocaust while being captive in Theresiendstadt concentration camp. Fan is full of signatures on both sides (we counted a total of 60), from artists, mostly singers but also some composers, conductors and actors. Names include some famous artists, such as Enrico Caruso (who signed twice), Fedor Chaliapin, Victor Maurel, Siegfried Wagner (Richard Wagner´s son), Rosa Sucher, Franz Betz, Theodor Reichmann, Francesco D´Andrade, Karl Muck, Eugene D´Albert, Arturo Vigna and others.
Full list:
SIDE A - 29 signatures, from top to bottom: mezzo-soprano Therese Rothauser (the fan owner), soprano Thila Plaichinger, actress Maria Popischil, unidentified artist, actor Ferdinand Suske, baritone Theodor Reichmann, soprano Ida Hiedler, bass Vittorio Arimondi, actor Oscar Sauer, actor Ludwig Barnay, baritone Francesco D´Andrade, 2 unidentified artist signatures, soprano Aino Ackté, composer and pianist Eugen D´Albert, composer, manager and conductor Siegfried Wagner (son of Richard Wagner), conductor Arturo Vigna, baritone Otto Schelper, 2 unidentified artist signatures, actor Max Pohl, actor Georg Engels, soprano Emilie Herzog, actor Josef Kainz, 2 unidentified artist signatures, actress Teresina Sommerstorff, actor Otto Sommerstorff, conductor Karl Muck.
SIDE B - 31 signatures, from top to bottom: unidentified artist, actress Marie Kahle Kessler, unidentified artist, soprano Virginia Guerrini, actor Richard Kahle (husband of Marie Kessler), soprano Anna Schramm, bass Fedor Chaliapin, actress Amanda Lindner, unidentified artist, actor Josef Nesper, actor Wilhelm Arndt, 3 unidentified artist signatures, baritone George Baklanoff, baritone Victor Maurel, soprano Maria de Macchi, actor/director Adolf Klein, star tenor Enrico Caruso, 2 unidentified artist signatures, soprano Rosa Sucher, soprano Elisabeth Leisinger, actor Adalbert Matkowsky, star tenor Enrico Caruso (2nd signature), tenor Emil Götze, composer Joseph Sucher, unidentified artist, bass-baritone Franz Betz and star soprano Lilli Lehmann.
Fan spans 26.75 x 14.5 inches when fully open, each wooden blade is 13.5 inches long, is in excellent condition.
This is a truly fantastic, quite unique historical item, in excellent condition.
THE COMEDIANS
by GREENE, GRAHAM
New York: The Viking Press, 1966. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. First American edition. Set in Haiti during the last days of the murderous Papa Doc Duvalier regime, The Comedians is the last of a quartet of novels written by Greene (1904-1991) over a ten-year period, from 1955 to 1965, that take place in Third World countries on the brink of political upheaval. Some general minor edgewear to the dust jacket, with three tape reinforcements to the verso; otherwise a near fine copy.
City of Bones: The Mortal Instruments Book One
by CASSANDRA CLARE
NY: Margaret K. McElderry [2007]. 8vo, [x] 485pp. Black half-cloth stamped in gold with black boards. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Signed twice by Cassandra Clare.
First edition. The first book in Cassandra Clares NY Times best-selling The Mortal Instruments series. Adapted into both a major motion picture and a television show, this series continues to find ever more fans.
These preview titles will be available to buy at the inaugural ABAA Virtual Book Fair beginning June 4, 2020. Doors open at 10am (EDT). The virtual book fair closes at 10pm (EDT) on June 7.