Robert Browning - An Account of the Illness and Death of His Father, Robert Browning the Second - Privately Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Limited to 30 Copies - $225

BROWNING, Robert. An Account of the Illness and Death of His Father, Robert Browning the Second: With Further Records of Walter Savage Landor.

London: Richard Clay and Sons, 1921. Printed for private circulation for Thomas J. Wise and limited to 30 copies. Sewn pink paper wraps. Pages still uncut along edges. Covers show some toning and fading along with some light creasing at corners, but no chips, tears, or marks. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. Not an ex-library copy. 

Browning's letter to the artist Baron Seymour Kirkup dated February 19, 1867. Edited and privately published by Thomas J. Wise, the collector and bibliographer notoriously exposed in 1934 for producing number of literary forgeries and stolen documents. This pamphlet was limited to a print run of thirty copies, roughly a third of which are accounted for in institutional holdings. [Pearsall C3582.1]

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$225

Robert Browning - Paracelsus & Sordello - First Editions [1835 & 1840] - $800

BROWNING, Robert. Paracelsus and Sordello. First Editions bound as one volume.

London: Effingham Wilson, 1835 and Edward Moxon, 1840. First Editions. Octavo (6.75" x 4.5"); [xii], 216p; [iv], 253p +1 ads. Three quarter brown leather over brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Oxford Cambridge University Club Library bookplate on front pastedown with club stamp occasionally throughout, but with no other library markings or additions. Front board very lightly curved with bumping to corners and spine ends, scuffing down joints, and some general light smudging. Covers open easily with an obvious thin gap at center where the volumes were joined, but binding is still tight and sound. Pages a bit toned along edges but unmarked. [Pearsall A4 and A14]

The author's second and third collections of poetry, but the first to bear his name. Browning suppressed his first collection--the anonymously-published Pauline: A Confession, which sold no copies and which John Stuart Mill wrote revealed an author "possessed with a more intense and morbid self-consciousness than I ever knew in any sane human being"--until being discovered as its author by Dante Gabriel Rosetti and eventually reluctantly including it in his 1868 Poetical Works. Unlike Pauline's personal reflection, and likely due to criticism such as Mills's, Paracelsus and Sordello (and the play Stafford published between them in 1837) marked a shift from the personal and sentimental to a narrative dramatic style that he would come to master in his famous dramatic monologues. This copy bearing the bookplate and occasional stamps of the Oxford Cambridge University Club Library, a London club for Oxford and Cambridge alumni and official affiliates.

$800
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J. Frank Dobie - The Flavor of Texas - SIGNED FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE - $700

DOBIE, J[ames] Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Illustrated by Alexandre Hogue.

Dallas: Dealey and Lowe, 1936. First Edition, in First State jacket and binding. SIGNED by Dobie "Ann Armen, of "Life and Literature of the Southwest." Her friend and teacher, J.Frank Dobie, 5/30/46" on front free endpaper. Octavo (8.75" x 6"); [xii], 287p. Nine illustrations including frontis, all present. First state dustjacket with cowboy illustration and showing original $2.00 price on inner flap. Cloth-covered boards with checkered beige and salmon "GTT" (Gone to Texas) and black lettering, with "GTT" appearing at both head and tail of spine. Jacket shows a few fair-sized chips at spine ends and bottom back corner, with a few smaller chips and tears along edges, some general smudging and fading, mainly to back. Boards lightly faded with a very slight cock to spine and some scuffs to lettering on front. Previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown, with name in pen at top. Opens easily to between a few gatherings, but binding is sound. Two or three instances of light pencil marginalia, else unmarked. Not an ex-library copy.

Bookplate is of R. Lee Rode, M.D., an Abilene obstetrician and husband of Elizabeth Ann Arlen, to whom the book is signed. The couple shared a love of ranching and together owned a ranch in Buffalo Gap. Rode was also president of the West Texas Fair for two years and was active in local and state historical associations. The couple met at the University of Texas, where Dobie taught; his Guide to the Life and Literature of the Southwest having been first compiled for use in his class of the same name.

[McVicker A5, Six-Guns 602, Herd 691, Phelps Photographic Reference for the Western American Collector 531] 

$700
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Carl Van Vechten - Excavations: A Book of Advocacies - First Edition SIGNED to Algonquin Hotel owner Frank Case - $200

VAN VECHTEN, Carl. Excavations: A Book of Advocacies

Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. First Edition. Octavo (7.75" x 5.5"). [xii], 285p. SIGNED by the author with Christmas gift inscription to Algonquin Hotel owner Frank Case and his Wife Bertha, with Case's bookplate on front pastedown. Printed blue dustjacket; book in blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Dustjacket is in sections with back and spine missing. Remainder is chipped along edges with a few small tears, along with some creasing and toning. Boards square with some darkening to spine and along edges and tugging/bumping to head and tail. Opens easily to between gatherings but binding is holding soundly. Pages a bit toned but unmarked.

As a young hotel manager, Frank Case convinced Albert Foster to change his hotel's name from the Puritain to the Algonquin. Years later he bought the place, and when writers, actors, and critics such as Dorothy Parker, Harpo Marx, Ruth Hale, and Robert Benchley began showing up for lunch, it was Case who moved them to the more prominent Rose Room and their now famous "Round Table." Van Vechten was also active in the New York arts scene as a patron and promoter of the Harlem Renaissance, famously hosting racially mixed cocktail parties at which, according to biographer Emily Bernard, "powerful whites were able to meet black artists on the most intimate terms."

$200
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John T. Scopes & James Presley - Center of the Storm: Memoirs of John T. Scopes - SIGNED by both, with letters, etc. - $600

SCOPES, John T[homas] and PRESLEY, James. Center of the Storm: Memoirs of John T. Scopes.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. Second Printing (stated). SIGNED by both Scopes and Presley on front free endpaper to book reviewer Evelyn Oppenheimer, with additional letters and ephemera. 16mo (8.5" x 5.75"); [viii], 277p. Illustrated dustjacket with $5.95 price; book in blue cloth with white and black pine lettering/illustration. Jacket shows a small chip at top near spine and creasing to bottom front, along with some general scuffing, toning, and edgewear. Boards are square. Back endpaper toned from previously laid-in clippings. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked.

Included are an additional written letter signed by Scopes, two signed typed letters and a Christmas card from Presley, typed and written biographical notes from what seems to be another researcher/reviewer, and assorted photocopies of articles. In the letters the authors thank Oppenheimer for her review of the book and a radio interview and program she moderated. 

$600
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Samuel Travers Clover - On Special Assignment - First Edition, 1903 - Scarce Johnson County War Volume - $1,800

CLOVER, Samuel Travers. On Special Assignment. Being the Further Adventures of Paul Travers; Showing How He Succeeded as a Newspaper Reporter.

Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company, 1903. First Edition. Octavo (7.5" x 5.25"); 307p +4 adverts. 4 plates including frontis, all present. Light bumping to corners and tugging at head and tail of spine, along with some light smudging/soiling. Rear free endpaper is torn horizontally with torn piece missing. Last advert page creased horizontally and at corner. Ownership inscription dated 1924 on front free endpaper, else pages are unmarked with some occasional foxing. Opens easily to between a few gatherings, but binding is holding soundly. Not ex-library.

Very scarce volume on the Johnson County War. From Adams "The author was a reporter sent out by a Chicago newspaper to cover the Johnson County War. Although written in the form of fiction, this book calls actual names and relates factual events as the author witnessed them" [Six Guns 444; Herd 493]. A few old catalog and auction listings mention that bibliographer Jeff Dykes was never able to find a copy for his collection.

$1800
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Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Other Volcanos - 1774 - $650.00

HAMILTON, William. Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Other Volcanos: In a Series of Letters Addressed to the Royal Society, From the Honourable Sir W. Hamilton, K. B. F. R. S. His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples. To which are Added, Explanatory Notes by the Author Hitherto Unpublished.

London: T. Cadell, 1774. New Edition. Octavo (8" x 5"); iv, 179p with advert on final verso. 5 copper plates and one foldout map, all present. In brown calf with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine (incorrectly dated 1772). Pencil erasure and some spotting to front free endpaper. Original pages a bit toned with expected offsetting from plates, but pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is solid. Not an ex-library copy.

$650
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Galatea - Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian - 1804 First Edition in English - $250

FLORIAN, Jeah-Pierre Claris de. Galatea: A Pastoral Romance. Translated by Miss [Harriet] Highley. 

London: S. Highley, 1804. First Edition. Octavo (7.25" x 4.75"); 167pp, complete with three plates and three pages of ads at back. Three-quarter green leather and marbled paper with gilt lettering and decoration to spine. Boards show a good bit of rubbing/bumping along edges and overall scuffing, with some tugging to head and tail of spine. University of Texas Library stamp on front pastedown and twice internally, but no other library marks, cards, or additions. Splits just starting at front and back hinges, but binding is holding soundly. Pages toned a bit with some light offsetting opposite frontis and some foxing to final plate, but no writing or markings.

First publication in English of Florian's 1788 condensation and completion of Miguel de Cervantes's first published work, La Galatea, whose sequel Cervantes promised but never wrote. Florian shortens Cervantes's six books down to three, adding a few scenes and a concluding fourth book of his own contrivance. The result (and Ms. Highley's translation) was favorably reviewed in the May 1804 edition of The Monthly Mirror. No other copies available for sale online at the time of writing.

$250
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Frederick Nolan - The Lincoln County War - Deluxe Edition - 1 of 50, with original L.G. Murphy & Co. check - $500

NOLAN, Frederick. The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History.

Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. Limited Deluxe Edition, signed by the author and numbered 12 of 50 copies. Photograph made from original (c. 1879) of Jimmy Dolan and Bob Olinger attached to frontis; original L.G. Murphy & Co. check in pocket attached to rear pastedown. Quarter leather over light brown cloth-covered boards, in matching cloth-covered slipcase. Very slight curving to boards near fore-edge, with a clean inch tear at top of page 457, not extending to text. Some pages still uncut. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked. Slipcase is sturdy and square with no bumps or splits. 

A detailed and heavily researched account of the Lincoln County War--fought by a who's who of the Old West including Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, John Chisum, the Jesse Evans Gang, and many more--drawing from numerous primary sources on all sides of the conflict. The conflict was the basis for Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Arthur Penn's The Left Handed Gun, the John Wayne film Chisum, and of course Young Guns. 

$500
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Lewis H. Garrard - Wah to Yah and the Taos Trail - First Edition, 1850 - $800

GARRARD, Lewis H. Wah-To-Yah and the Taos Trail; or Prairie Travel and Scalp Dances, With a Look at Los Rancheros from Muleback and the Rocky Mountain Campfire.

Cincinnati and New York: H.W. Derby & Co. and A.S. Barnes & Co., 1850. First Edition. First issue, with page 269 numbered as 26. Rebound in black leather boards with gilt lettering and rules to spine. A few pages show light foxing and dogeared corners, and there are one or two spots of oxidation from a previously laid in object. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked. 

Taking its name for an Indian name for Colorado's Spanish Peaks, Garrard's book recounts tales of "the Indian, the trader, the mountain man, their dress, and behavior and speech and the country and climate they lived in" (A.B. Guthrie, Jr., introducing a later edition), while crossing paths with frontier and mountain men such as Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, and Ceran St. Vrain. [Graff 1513, Howes G69]

$800
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Elmore Leonard - The Bounty Hunters - Signed First Edition, 1954 - $1500

LEONARD, Elmore. The Bounty Hunters.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954. Octavo. First Edition. Signed without inscription by the author on full title. Dustjacket with original $2.00 price shows some chipping at head and tail of spine as well as some small tears along edges, a bit of scuffing, and some general fading to face and sunning to spine.  Boards are square with solid lettering, showing darkening to spine and some soiling with tugging to head and tail and some scuffs/chips to joints. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked.

Though he became better known for mysteries, Leonard began his career writing Westerns. The Bounty Hunters tells the story of an Army scout and a young lieutenant tasked with tracking down a renegade Apache chief south of the border. This was Leonard's debut novel.

$1500
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The Paste Papers of the Golden Hind Press - SIGNED / LIMITED ED. of 70 COPIES - $250

FRASER, James H. The Paste Papers of the Golden Hind Press.

Florham, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Library and The Tideline Press, 1983. Tall octavo (12.5" x 6.5"). 40 pp. Plum paper-covered boards over cream-colored linen spine with a brown title card with gilt lettering. Printed from hand set type on dampened, handmade Fabriano Pace paper. Tipped in examples throughout of 1930s paste papers used by the Golden Hind Press for decorative bindings. The Pace paper and cover paper are also former stock of the Golden Hind Press, which closed in 1955.

Limited Edition, signed by paper artist Delight Lewis and numbered 55 of 70 copies on limitation page at back. Single page prospectus laid in at front, in clean, crisp condition. The eighteen tipped in paste paper samples are all present, and are clean, and crisp. Acetate jacket shows a tear across the width of the book from spine down to bottom front corner, along with a small chip at top corner at fold. Book itself is clean and square with just some light edgewear and a bit of toning near top edge of boards. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked. Correspondence between a local bookseller and the curator and director of the Fairleight Dickinson University Library laid in.

Founded in 1927 by Harper and Brothers typesetter and printer Arthur W. Rushmore and run primarily with his wife, Edna, and two daughters, Delight and Elaine, The Golden Hind Press printed over two hundred books, broadsides, and leaflets until its closing with Arthur Rushmore's death in 1955. The paste papers highlighted in this volume were designed by Delight Rushmore Lewis after studying samples brought back from Arthur's 1929 trip to England, France, and Germany.

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$250

Hippolytos of Euripedes - The Gehenna Press - Limited Edition Signed by Leonard Baskin, with 10 Prints - $800

EURIPIDES. Hippolytos.

Northampton: Gehenna Press, 1969. Limited Edition. Etchings by Leonard Baskin printed from plates by Emiliano Sorini. Large folio with marbled boards and leather spine in marbled clamshell case. 10 prints with tissue overlays in marbled inner case. Boards show very light edgewear with some curving to edges. Prints and tissue overlays are clean and crisp, with a couple dog-eared corners and some rubbing to edges from outer case closure. Clamshell case shows a bit of curving at edges and some rubbing/bumping to edges and corners, but is sturdy and square with no splits or marks. 

Signed by Leonard Baskin under colophon at back and numbered 44 of 200 copies, of which 100 were available for sale.

$800
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Adventurous Hobby - I.J. Zimmerman - Limited Edition of 40 copies - Inscribed - Lino-block and Handpress - $175

ZIMMERMAN, I.J. Adventurous Hobby: Achievements in Lino-cutting and Printing.

Pittstown, NJ: Long Book Press, 1960. Quarto (9.5" x 8.25"). Signed with inscription by the author on flyleaf. Numbered 6 of a Special Limited Edition of 40 copies. Decorative quarter cloth and paper boards with title card; 62pp. Hand-set with engravings and text printed in color on Ticonderoga paper with lino-block and handpress. Title card coming free from glue but holding at right edge. Covers show some fading toward spine with a bit of smudging on title card, otherwise just some light rubbing/bumping along edges and corners. Offsetting (likely unavoidable) throughout book, but images are still clear and impressive with bright colors. Binding is sound and pages are unmarked. Scarce.

A collection of hand-colored linoleum-block engravings representing a portion of Zimmerman's work over three years.

I know of no better and rewarding adventure than to prepare a copy of art or writing, and then to multiply it many times, with fidelity and exactitude; and to wait with impatient eagerness to see it in print, and drink with joy at the consummation of this stimulating and most absorbing effort. Hail, Adventurous Hobby!

--The Author, from the Foreword

 

$175
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Larry McMurtry - In a Narrow Grave - First Edition, Second Printing in First State Dustjacket - $695

First Edition, Second Printing of Larry McMurtry's In a Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas in a First State dustjacket, published by the Encino Press in 1968 and conforming to all edition points: no edition statement or letter on copyright page, "skycrapers" misprint corrected on line 12 of page 105, dustjacket showing no price and with the "wtih" and "head" misprints in the fifth and final paragraphs, respectively. Unclipped dustjacket is clean and crisp with just some light rubbing to the top edges, but no chips, tears, or marks. Jacket also shows some light rubbing to top corner of front flap and a thin crease down spine, but is very nice overall and protected in a removable Brodart cover. Boards are clean and square with some very light scuffs. Previous owner's brief gift inscription on front free endpaper, obscured by flap. Thin crease showing down the very edge of page 105/106. Binding is solid and pages are unmarked. Not an ex-library copy. 

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Thomas Mann - Mario and the Magician - Signed First Edition - 1930, in Dustjacket - $850

Signed First Edition of Thomas Mann's Mario and the Magician, published in 1931 by Alfred A. Knopf. Book is signed without inscription by the author on front free endpaper. 1931 copyright with no subsequent printings listed. Unclipped dustjacket shows a small, clean tear at top near spine along with a good bit of scuffing to face and edges, smudging to back, and rubbing to top and bottom. Jacket is now protected in a removable Brodart cover (removed for photos). Boards show some darkening/soiling, with the front board starting to curve outward just a bit. Binding is solid and pages are unmarked. Not an ex-library copy.

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