London: L. Davis and C. Reymers, 1765. Second Edition. Leather over boards. Octavo. 168 pages. Brown argues that laws alone (and their coerced observance) cannot sustain a civilized society, but that in addition there must be a foundation of virtuous manners and principles in the hearts and minds of the..... More
Cambridge: Cornell Maritime Press, 1963. Charts, drawings, photos. Hardcover. Octavo. xiv, 319 pages. Landmark hull design book by Lindsay Lord. During prohibition he was commissioned by rumrunners to design boats fast enough to outrun law enforcement. He went on to revolutionize the naval architecture of small, fast, surface-skimming boats during..... More
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., (1917). First edition. Cloth over boards. Duodecimo. xiv, 141 pages. An indictment of what the author believed was America's woeful unpreparedness for World War I, followed by his solution--a program of Universal Military Training. Well documented, with a brief bibliography. Col. Jennings C...... More
New York: Doubleday, Page, & Co., 1901. First printing. Black and white frontispiece photograph. Cloth over boards. Octavo. x, 330 pages. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Franklin County, Virginia--the illegitimate son of a white man and a black woman. Washington graduated from the Hampton Institute, founded..... More
Amstelodami [Amsterdam]: Viduam Sebastiani, & Christianum Petzoldum, 1710. Second edition. Vellum. Duodecimo. [xvi], 296, [8] pages. Dr. Johannes Bohn was a noted 17th century German physician, professor of medicine, and pioneer in forensic science. He introduced the policy of thorough autopsies of the deceased. Bohn's specialty was the investigation of..... More
London: George Newnes, Limited, 1902. First printing. Frontispiece and 15 tipped in plates by Sidney Paget. Cloth over boards. Octavo. [viii], 359 pages. First edition of the third of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels, and widely considered the best. It is the first reappearance of Holmes after his apparent death..... More
Sauk City: Arkham House, 1947. First printing. Cloth over boards. Octavo. xiv, 418 pages. A comprehensive, yet deliberately chosen collection of the poetry of the supernatural. There are contributions by Sir Walter Scott, Lizette Woodworth Reese, James Whitcomb Riley, Edgar Allan Poe, Christina Rossetti, H. P. Lovecraft, Donald Wandrei, and..... More
Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1944. First edition. Illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. Hardcover. Duodecimo. 31 pages. Scarce first edition of the story that was adapted into the beloved holiday classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life." Philip Van Doren Stern was an accomplished Civil War historian and author but perhaps his most..... More
(Los Angeles): Center Publications, 1979. First edition thus. Softcover. Octavo. 70 pages. Inscribed and signed by Harrison with a small drawing on half title page. Inscription reads: "Moody, / A volume that / will sell like a / New Year's ['day' crossed out] Eve / crack shipment. Or / not..... More
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, (1935). Early printing. Cloth over boards. Octavo. xiv, 263 pages. An account the author's 7 month stay in a major New York mental hospital undergoing treatment for acute alcoholism. Seabrook was an adventure writer and writes about his own experience as a strange adventure..... More
(Cambridge): Harvard University Press. Diagrams. Cloth over boards. Quartos. xlii,547 and [vii], 548-916 pages. Newton's landmark achievement. This new edition from Harvard University Press in 1972 traces the evolution of one of the great products of human intellect in the 250 years between the manuscript draft of the 1680s first..... More
[Oneida]: (S.n.), 1850. First printing. Wrappers. Sixteenmo. 14 pages. Scarce pamphlet that cleverly harnesses the contemporaneous debate over slavery to attack the institution of marriage. Many of the Abolitionist arguments against slavery are here effectively turned against mid-19th century marriage. The text is structured as a fictionalized dialogue between..... More
[Chicago]: Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform, [1930?]. Single sheets. 6 1/8" x 9 1/8" Women in the early 20th century were assumed to favor Prohibition, and indeed had been a powerful force--in the form of the Women's Christian Temperance Union--in getting it passed. By the late 1920s, however, Pauline..... More
New York: The Tea & Coffee Journal Company, 1935. Limited edition. Color frontispiece, numerous black and white illustrations in text. Cloth over boards. Quarto. xiv, 818 pages. The first independent work to fully cover all aspects of coffee, including the historical, technical, scientific, commercial, social, and artistic. Everything from early..... More
Boston: Parker Fraternity Rooms, 1870. Card stock. 2 13/16" x 4 1/2" An amazing piece of ephemera featuring Frederick Douglass and other big names in 19th century American civil rights activism. The front of the ticket lists the Parker Fraternity's lecture committee: John C. Haynes, Sarah B. Otis, and John..... More
Boston: Dana Estes & Company, (1902). First printing. 15 Black & White Tissue-Guarded Plates. Full cloth. Octavo. xxiv, 407 pages. This handsome volume of poems contains the first book appearance of baseball's most famous poem--Casey at the Bat--in an anthology. The poem was written by Ernest Lawrence Thayer but is..... More
New York: George H. Doran Company, (1914). First printing. Tan-gray laid paper over boards. Octavo. 75 pages. Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American poet, editor, critic, and Roman Catholic lecturer who contemporary critics often compared to G. K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc. Today Kilmer is remembered as the..... More
Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1869 and 1870. Early printings. Black and white illlustrations. Cloth over boards. Duodecimos. 341 (+ads) and 359 (+ads) pages. The classic coming-of-age novel about four sisters in New England during the Civil War, by Louisa May Alcott. These are early printings of both volumes, within a year..... More
(S.l.): (E. P. Dutton/Seymour Lawrence), (1986). Advance Reading Copy. Self-wraps. Octavo. [54] pages. An advance printing of the title story in the collection "To Skin a Cat," published in October of 1986. This is copy #28 of 250, signed by McGuane on front cover. Letter from publisher dated June 19..... More
[Baltimore]: [Democratic City Convention], [1848]. Broadside. Approximately 13" x 18 3/4". Single sheet. Democratic broadside from Baltimore attacking the Whigs and their Presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor, in the 1848 campaign. The Whigs had nominated Taylor for President and Millard Fillmore for Vice-President at their convention in June. This broadside presumably..... More
Harrisburg: The Military Service Publishing Company, 1944. First U.S. Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. 99 pages. The tools of war may have changed dramatically since this work first appeared about 500 BC, but its focus on fundamentals and the influence of politics and human nature on military operations gives it a...... More
Baltimore: For private circulation only (Press of Fleet, McGinley & Co.), 1898. First printing. Original cloth over boards. Octavo. 177 pages. Excellent memoir of a young Maryland Confederate officer who participated in many battles and was wounded three times. Booth served as a staff officer for George H. Steuart and..... More
New York: Atheneum, 1968. First printing. Cloth over boards. Octavo. xvi, [1-2], 3-226 [227-237] pages. Inscribed and signed by Watson on preliminary blank leaf. Here is Watson's story of his work with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins--the three merging data from chemistry, physics, and biology--to solve the molecular structure of..... More
London: Oldburne, (1958). First printing. Black and white frontispiece and photographic plates. Cloth over boards. Octavo. 222 pages. George Burchett was kicked out of school at age 12 for tattooing his classmates. After a stint in the Royal Navy--from which he absconded--he became a full-time tattoo artist in 1900... More
New York: The Century Co., 1900. First printing. Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty and George Varian. Cloth over boards. Octavo. xvi [xvii-xviii], 294 pages. Bright first edition of this landmark sailing narrative. Slocum was the first person to single-handedly circumnavigate the earth, doing so in his gaff-rigged sloop, "Spray," between April..... More