Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird, 1863. Wrappers. Octavo. 8 pages. Prominent economist and publisher here presents an argument in favor of the admitting Black troops in the fighting ranks of the Union Army during the Civil War, pointing to their similar participation in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812..... More
Washington: Printed at the Office of the National Journal, [1836]. Disbound. Octavo. 32 pages. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky was the unanimous choice of the delegates at this convention, held in Baltimore in December of 1831. Former congressman John Sergeant of Pennsylvania was the nominee for Vice President... More
New York: [Isaac Goldmann Co, Printers], 1911. First edition. Softcover. Octavo. 48 pages. Mr. Canfield conducted public exhibitions of card tricks and cheats in an effort to demonstrate that gambling doesn't pay and that casual but habitual gamblers will always ultimately lose. He observes that in the end "...men will..... More
[New Castle?]: R. Porter, Printer, [c.1809]. Single sheet approximately 10" x 15 1/2", folded once, to 7 3/4" x 10". Printed on both sides. The New-Castle and French-Town Turnpike was chartered in Delaware in 1809 and in Maryland in 1810. It constructed and maintained a road between New Castle, Delaware..... More
San Francisco: Wine Advisory Board, c.1965. Color offset lithography. Poster, 28 1/2" x 40" Amado Gonzalez was born in Mexico but immigrated to San Francisco in 1927 and studied at the California School of Fine Arts. He painted murals for the WPA in the 1930s. He created this spectacular map..... More
Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, (1961). First printing. Black and white photographs. Cloth over boards. Octavo. 206 pages. The International Christian Leadership Movement, founded by Abraham Vereide, is perhaps best known for its sponsorship of the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. Every President since Dwight D. Eisenhower has..... More
Hollywood: Marcel Rodd, 1943. Cartoon drawings. Saddle-stapled wraps. 32mo. 64 pages. Scarce booklet from World War II, describing the variety of entertainments then available to the soldier or sailor stationed in Southern California. Includes info on sights, both high and low brow. Illustrated throughout with drawings by Ellis. None of..... More
Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company, [c.1876]. Wood cuts, steel engravings. Original cloth over boards. Octavo. Over 800 pages. An unusual book canvasser's sample book for the firm of John E. Potter and Company of Philadelphia in the latter 19th century. They showcase 150 books in an array of subjects..... More
Minneapolis: Press of the William Hood Dunwoody Industrial Institute, (1918). Black and white halftones, diagrams. Cloth over boards. Octavo. 116 pages. World War I era instruction manual for aviation mechanics aimed at a practical understanding of airplane construction and rigging. Also includes a section on the theory of flight. Illustrated..... More
Sauk City: Arkham House: Publishers, 1964. Limited edition. Original cloth. Octavo. xii, 432 pages. Arkham House collection containing Lovecraft's three horror novels, along with shorter masterpieces. Colophon states 3,000 copies in this first printing. More
Canton: The Watts Printing Co., [1901]. Black and white photographic illustrations. Oblong duodecimo (about 5" x 7"). Black cord binding, 51 leaves. This scarce souvenir album contains about 50 leaves, printed on rectos only, with captioned photographs of the funeral events honoring the slain McKinley in his hometown of Canton..... More
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1924. First edition. Cloth over boards. Octavo. 229 pages. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, lays out his "Mellon Plan" for reducing the national debt following World War I while simultaneously reducing taxes on the highest earners. The book is a first printing..... More
(S.l.): (S.n.), [1940s]. Black & white halftones from photographs. Saddle-stapled wrappers. Octavo. [8] pages. Interesting booklet on Ray R. Myers, born without arms. Though a circus sought to employ him at age 3, his parents chose to give him as normal a life as they could. He learned to play..... More
New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., (1948). First Edition. First Printing. Black & white photos, data tables. Hardcover. Octavo. xvi, 541 pages. The scarce first edition of the account of efforts by the Office of Strategic Services to get control of their recruiting of operatives in the middle of World..... More
1971. Limited edition, #926 of 1000. Serigraph. Poster, 22" x 30" Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was a native of Scotland, born of Italian immigrants. He studied art at the Edinburgh College of Art and Slade School of Fine Art. He was a founder of Pop Art, and his seminal 1947 collage..... More
[Philadelphia?]: [Province of Pennsylvania], 1734. Single sheet, 12 1/2" x 8" A Proprietary warrant requiring Thomas Griffitts, Esq., Deputy Keeper of the Great Seal, to affix the Seal to a land patent for three lots of 61 feet in Front Street, Philadelphia. The warrant is written out by hand and..... More
London: Charles Wilson, 1877. First edition. Fold-out frontispiece map, cuts, color plate of signal flags. Cloth over boards. Octavo. [iv], 80, 16, 16, 12, 16 pages. Contains practical yachting instruction on navigation by dead reckoning or observation, nautical astronomy, seamanship, the log book and how to keep it, charts, sextants..... More
San Francisco: Louis Roesch Co., Printers, [1898]. Broadside. 8 7/8" x 5 7/8" An 1898 handbill advertising swimming races at San Francisco's famous Sutro Baths. The teams from Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee, Montana, and Washington were volunteer soldiers in the Spanish-American War, encamped near San Francisco in the summer of 1898..... More
New York: Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., (1929). Early reprint. Black and white drawings by Alexander King. Cloth over boards. Octavo. x, 3-336 pages. Willie Seabrook, born in Westminster, Maryland, was an adventurer, World War I ambulance driver, occultist, and ex-pat writer whose friends included Aleister Crowley, Ernest Hemingway, and e.e...... More
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874. First edition. Wrappers. Duodecimo. 39 pages. Rare booklet on the autopsy of Chang and Eng Bunker, the conjoined twins whose fame in the 19th century gave us the expression "Siamese twins." The brothers were born in Siam in 1811, joined at the chest..... More
New York: Investment Managers Company, (1926). First edition. Cloth hardcover. Duodecimo. x, 51 pages. Edgar Lawrence Smith's 1924 book "Common Stocks as Long Term Investments" did a lot to fuel the stock market boom of the 1920s. This book, published two years later and three years before the great crash..... More
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., (1943). First printing. Diagrams, typographical examples. Cloth over boards. Octavo. 164 pages. Published during World War II, the importance of cryptography to the Allied armed forces is emphasized in this systematic presentation of the basic elements thereof. Includes interesting and typical examples..... More
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1908. First edition. Black and white photographs, drawings, and seven maps. Two volumes, half green morocco by Bayntun-Riviere. Octavos. lii, 518 and xii, 542 pages. English botanist Richard Spruce was one of the great Victorian era botanical explorers, and this is the record of his..... More
Boston: Privately Printed, 1902. Limited edition. Color and black & white plates. Original cloth over boards. Folio. 402 pages. Detailed, nicely illustrated, and well documented history of the origin and early races in the America's Cup yacht racing event. Some hostility to the New York Yacht Club is evident here..... More
Philadelphia: The Young Friends Movement of the Philadelphia Yearly Meetings, [1949]. First printing. Softcover. Duodecimo. 32 pages. The scarce first printing of a lecture by noted Harlem Renaissance writer, Jean Toomer. His first book, the novel "Cane," had burst on the scene in 1923 and was hailed by both white..... More