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1.
Abel, Annie Heloise. The History of Events Resulting in
Indian Consolidation West of the Mississippi. Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1908. $300
First
Edition of the author’s first book. Neat name at top of ffep
"W. H. Abel," so presumably a family copy (although we
have not been able to determine the relationship). 8vo; 218pp;
numbered 233-450; original dark blue cloth, a bit of rubbing to
tips, spine ends, and joints, small stain on back cover, else
very good. This separate publication published by the American
Historical Association was part of their Annual Report for 1906
as it was awarded the prestigious Justin Winsor Prize by the AHA
in 1906.
Annie
Heloise Abel (1873-1947), was "in the top rank of American
historians of her generation." - NAW. She was a graduate of
the University of Kansas and after studying at Cornell, earned
her Ph.D. at Yale in 1905. This book is her dissertation, THE
HISTORY OF EVENTS RESULTING IN INDIAN CONSOLIDATION WEST OF THE
MISSISSIPPI. Abel wrote and edited, with sympathy, numerous
books on Native-American history, including THE SLAVE-HOLDING
INDIANS and a work tracing the history of proposals for an
Indian state. Abel pursued a career of college teaching,
including positions at Wells College, Goucher College, Johns
Hopkins, and eventually at Smith from 1915-1922 as professor of
history. She continued to write, concerning herself almost
entirely with Indian affairs. Annie Abel was a suffragist;
during 1913-1915, she served as president of the Maryland branch
of the College Equal Suffrage League. She was decorated for her
services to the British-American War Relief Association. NAW I,
pp. 4-6. American Women Writers, I pp. 7-9. (9428)
ABOLITION
See #38, 71.
2.
Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull-House with
Autobiographical Notes. New York: The Macmillan Company,
1910. $175
First
Edition. Thick 8vo; 462pp; including index; 6pp. ads of other
books by Addams and others published by Macmillan; brick cloth
stamped in gold with color illustration of Hull-House mounted to
front cover, teg. Tips a bit bumped, spine slightly dimmed,
lightly worn as are spine ends, pages age-toned at edges, very
good. Cover design and color illustration by Frank Hazenplug.
Hazenplug, who shortened his name to Hazen when he went to New
York as house artist for George Doran, had spent several years
as a resident at Hull-House, teaching classes and ceramics and
other design media. Illustrated by Norah Hamilton with ink
sketches and with half-tone photographs of Julia C. Lathrop and
other associates of Hull-House.
Jane
Addams, 1860-1945, settlement founder, social reformer and peace
worker, was born and educated in Illinois - also the site of her
life’s great work. She founded Hull-House in Chicago and
within a few short years it was "the center of some forty
clubs, functions, and activities, including a day nursery,
gymnasium, dispensary and playground, cooking and sewing
courses, and a cooperative boardinghouse for working girls, with
some 2,000 people passing through its doors weekly." (NAW)
Addams and her cohorts recorded tenement conditions, sweatshops,
child labor and lobbied for legal remedies; fought for special
treatment of children by the courts (the first juvenile court
was established in Illinois as a result); saw the corruption of
the Chicago municipal system and worked for its reform. Addams
wrote a series of books connected with her work. TWENTY YEARS AT
HULL-HOUSE is the best known for "it ranks among the great
American autobiographies." (NAW). In 1931 she shared the
Nobel Prize for Peace with Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia
University — the first time the Nobel was award to an American
woman. Krichmar 4411. NAW, pp. 16-22. 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN
OF ALL TIME, pp. 19-22. TIMELINES, pp. 226, 228, 320. NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY’S BOOKS OF THE CENTURY, p. 52. (9363)
Early
Anthology Highlighting
African-American Writers
With Five Poems by Frances E.W. Harper,
"The Bronze Muse"
Contribution by Charlotte Forten [Grimke]
3.
[African American] Child, L[ydia] Maria. The Freedmen’s
Book. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865. $1,500
First
Edition. 12mo; [1-v]vi, 277pp; + 24pp. publisher’s catalogue
dated November 1, 1865; brown cloth with double rules stamped in
blind, leaf at each corner, front and spine; lettered in gilt at
spine; brown-coated endpapers. Corners bumped, spine ends
chipped, spine sunned, front hinge starting, flyleaves and
publisher’s catalogue starting to brown, scattered foxing to
prelims, good+ and not as bad as it sounds. A scarce book in any
condition. This early anthology highlights African-American
writers who, still more than a century later, are considered
among the most important to African-American literature as a
whole. This was a ground-breaking book, intended for a
readership of former slaves to inspire them to learn to read in
post-Civil War period.
Child
profiles important African-American figures: Frederick Douglass,
Phillis Wheatley, et al. and, as a further inspiration, profiles
Afro-American contributors such as George Horton (the slave
poet, whose only significant predecessor was Phillis Wheatley,
Harriet Jacobs (INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL), Peter
Williams and others. Only one other ‘collective biography’
had been published prior to THE FREEDMEN’S BOOK (Abigail Field
Mott’s BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND INTERESTING ANECDOTES OF
PERSONS OF COLOR, 1825). The Harriet Beecher Stowe contribution
"Sam and Andy" is adapted from UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
though whether the revisions are by Child or Stowe is unclear.
Other contributors: Lydia Sigourney, John G. Whittier, Charlotte
Forten [Grimke], and James M. Whitfield [sic], the anti-slavery
poet. Five poems by Frances E.W. Harper, more than any other
contributor, suggest her pre-eminence and popularity; the poems
include the first book appearance of "Bury Me in a Free
Land" (published first in "Anti-Slavery Bugle"
Nov. 20, 1858 and then in THE LIBERATOR on Jan. 14, 1864) and
the oft-anthologized "Ethiopia."
Harper’s
pre-eminence in nineteenth century American literature can be
summed up with a list of her "firsts": author of the
first short story — "The Two Offers" — written by
an African-American author, the first Reconstruction novel by an
African-American author — IOLA LEROY — and for the beginning
of African-American protest poetry with "Poems on
Miscellaneous Subjects" which had 20 printings between its
first appearance in 1854 and 1874. Involved with the Underground
Railroad, she was a tireless lecturer for the anti-slavery
movement, as well as the suffrage and temperance movements.
AfroAmericana 2278. BAL 3199, 19435, 31488. Gates and McKay
(eds.) The Norton Anthology of AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE.
Yellin and Bond, THE PEN IS OURS. (9318)
Dust
Jacket
4.
[African American] Fauset, Jessie. The Chinaberry Tree.
London: Elkin Mathew & Marrot,
1932. $5,000
First
English edition. Introduction by Zona Gale. Corners slightly
bumped, a little fading at the extremities, about fine in an
age-toned, very good plus dustwrapper with three old and
unnecessary internal repairs. A very attractive copy of the
third novel by the influential literary editor of "The
Crisis." Extremely uncommon. OCLC lists five copies in
world libraries, how many retain the rare jacket is not
specified, and we suspect the answer is none. (9262)
First
Book of Essays Published by African American Woman
5.
[African American] Plato, Ann. Essays; Including Biographies
and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry. Hartford:
Printed for the Author, 1841. SOLD
First
Edition. 12mo; [19]-122pp; copyright notice on slip inserted;
rebound in green cloth with author and title on spine, white
label 1" x 1½" with black lettering and numbers and
date of 1841 on front cover; ex-libris with the Library of
Congress ex-libris on front free endpaper, perforated dot stamp
"LC" on title page about ½" x ½", pencil
numbers on verso of title page, tiny pencil note along edge of
copyright page "MRG MY 14", some dates penciled on
text pages and several other notes in pencil, pp. 33 mis-numbered
as it follows page 30 but there is no missing text. An extremely
scarce title.
Ann
Plato (c.1820-????) was a free Black who lived in Hartford CT.
She was the first African American to publish a book of essays.
A schoolmistress, she is quoted as saying, "A good
education is another name for happiness." There are few
details known of Plato’s life - even her parentage is unknown,
although she was probably related to the Plato family prominent
in Hartford’s African American community. It is known that she
was a member of the Talcott Street Congregational Church. The
Rev. James Pennington wrote the Preface for this book, and
signed himself "Pastor of the Colored Congregational
Church."
The
book contains sixteen short essays, four biographical sketches
and twenty poems. The text shows a well-read writer who refers
to Benjamin Franklin, Milton and other classical authors. The
biographical sketches focus on pious women Plato knew who died
young but had embraced Christianity. There is no documentation
that Plato was teaching in 1841, although it is intimated in
some of the text. But by 1844, she was teaching at the Elm
Street School, also known as the South African School. Nothing
is known of Plato after 1847.
Plato’s
publication of her ESSAYS in 1841 make her the first woman to
publish a collection of essays and one of the first to publish
poetry. She followed Maria Stewart who published a volume of her
speeches in 1835. Part of The SCHOMBURG LIBRARY OF
NINETEENTH-CENTURY BLACK WOMEN WRITERS series. AMERICAN NATIONAL
BIOGRAPHY on line. TIMELINES, p. 308. (9352)
6.
[African American] Prince, Nancy. A Narrative of the Life and
Travels, of Mrs. Nancy Prince. Boston: Published by the
Author, 1850. $1,200
First
Edition. 12mo; 87 pages; bound in original brown cloth with
title gilt stamped on front panel within elaborate blind
stamping; spine with three holes to cloth worn through to white
about 1", ½" and 1/8" circles, small hole to
cloth on front panel about 1/8", corners bumped, endpapers
soiled with damp stains at edges, soiling to text with damp
stains at fore edge for first 37 pages; closed tear pp. 9/10,
good+, a scarce title in any condition.
Nancy
Gardner Prince (1799-ca. 1856) is described as a "fervently
religious reformer who chose different paths from the ones that
most women were expected to follow during the era of
slavery." To be a black woman in nineteenth century America
was to live in the double jeopardy of belonging to the
"inferior" sex of an "inferior" race. Yet
two million slaves and 200,000 free women of that time possessed
a tenacity of spirit, a gift of endurance, a steadfastness of
aspiration that helped a whole population to survive. The most
fortunate who were living in a quasi-free status, such as Mrs.
Nancy Prince, working for wages or services. As a widowed
seamstress and world traveler, born in Massachusetts to free
parents, Prince had returned to the United States penniless in
the 1840’s after living abroad for many years, first with her
husband in Russia who was a servant in Russia’s Imperial
Court, and then on the island of Jamaica. She had hoped to
convert and educate Jamaica’s emancipated slaves. Widespread
violence and corruption in the ranks of the evangelists doomed
this attempt.
By
1848, she was encouraged her to write and sell this narrative
for profit. The sale of this book enabled Prince to end a life
of destitution. She became active in the abolition movement and
attended the Fifth National Woman’s Rights Convention, held in
Philadelphia. Though not a conventional feminist, Prince, as an
abolitionist, traveled in those circles, having met members of
the Anti-Slavery Society as early as 1841, at the home of Mrs.
Lucretia Mott. Prince has been described by chroniclers as
"a colored women" who, after invoking the blessings of
God upon "the noble women engaged in this enterprise,"
explained why ‘"she understood woman’s wrongs better
than woman’s rights." Mrs. Prince used her brilliance to
navigate the white world, its customs, religion, men and women,
different languages and countries and yet maintain her identity
as a feminist who supported women’s rights, representing the
communities of African American women. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn,
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE VOTE, 1850-1920.
Schomburg Library Series, Collection Black Women’s Narratives,
1988. Ann Shockley, AFRO-AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS. Hazel V. Carby,
RECONSTRUCTING WOMANHOOD. Dorothy Sterling, WE ARE YOUR SISTERS,
BLACK AMERICAN WOMEN, pp. 946-7. Sabin 65570. Not in Howes or
Smith, AMERICAN TRAVELERS ABROAD. (9351)
AFRICAN
AMERICAN Also
see #9.
Inscribed
by Anthony to Another One of the
14 Women Who Tried to Vote in 1872
- 48 Years Before It Was Legal
7.
Anthony, Susan B. An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial
of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting at the
Presidential Election in Nov., 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly
W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh and William B. Hall, The Inspectors of
Election by Whom Her Vote Was Received. Rochester, N.Y.:
Daily Democrat and Chronicle Book Print, 1874. $18,000
First
Edition, inscribed by Susan B. Anthony on the front wrapper,
"Susan M. Hough / With kind regards from her fellow voter /
Susan B. Anthony." 8vo; [i-v] vi-vii; [1] 2-212pp; original
drab (gray-blue) front wrapper printed in black, lightly soiled,
lacking rear wrapper, spine missing about 1¼" at either
end, corners of wrapper chipped, affecting "g" and
"h" in recipient’s name, top right corner of first
14 pages dog-eared; old glue traces on spine and edge of front
wrapper, later professional restoration. Housed in custom-made
cloth clamshell box. Although the inscription is a bit faded, it
is still quite legible. A unique surviving testament to the
struggle for women’s rights and the primary source account of
one of this country’s key trials. OCLC / RLIN locate 24 copies
but none of them are inscribed by Anthony - let alone to one of
the women who stood beside her in this attempt to secure women
the right to vote. Anthony’s inscription "from her fellow
voter," while true in the sense that both she and Mary
Hough cast ballots in 1872, reflects Anthony’s ironic
sensibility as the women’s votes were declared illegal. It
would be 48 years before a ballot cast by a woman in a
presidential election would be legal.
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In
November of 1872, Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) cast her
ballot in Rochester, NY for the President of the United
States - along with 14 other women - one of whom was
Susan M. Hough, the recipient of this account of Anthony’s
trial. Anthony was arrested on November 28, along with
the 14 other women who voted as well as the voting
inspectors (all men) who had registered them. All were
offered release upon payment of $500 bail. Anthony alone
refused to pay. Henry Seldon, acting as her attorney
applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and Anthony was
temporarily released. A U.S. district judge denied the
writ and reset bail at $1,000. Anthony refused to pay,
but Selden did. Anthony was released, but she had lost
the right to appeal to the Supreme Court on the basis of
the writ of habeas corpus. |
Anthony
next mounted a speaking campaign throughout the county in
defense of her action. She was deemed to have prejudiced any
possible jury, and the trial was moved to another county.
Anthony started on yet another speaking marathon. The trial
opened before Judge Ward Hunt, who promptly read a statement to
the jury declaring Anthony guilty and directing the jury to
deliver a guilty verdict - and this before he heard any
testimony. It is no small wonder that Anthony, in a letter to
Myra Bradwell dated July 20, 1873, declared him to be
"small & pettifogging & pitiable...". The jury
asked for a new trial; Judge Hunt refused and fined Anthony
$100. She never paid but Judge Hunt refused to enforce the
punishment making it again impossible for her to bring the case
to the Supreme Court.
Anthony,
and other women’s rights advocates, were following a strategy
that had been outlined by attorney Francis Minor, whose wife,
Virginia, was president of the Missouri Women Suffrage
Association. In 1869, "The Revolution" published a set
of resolutions drawn up by Minor in which he stated the
Fourteenth Amendment had given women the right to vote, and that
no state legislation was necessary to enable women to vote. He
went on to say that no state could abridge the privileges or
immunities of the citizens of the U.S., and as women were
citizens of the U.S., they were entitled to vote. In 1875, in
Minor v. Happersett, the Supreme Court decided against Minor’s
interpretation. This pushed the woman suffrage movement in the
direction of securing the vote for women state by state and on
the federal front by attempting to pass an amendment to the
Constitution. It would be another 48 years before women were
successful. Anthony, Susan B., Matilda Joslyn Gage and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, THE HISTORY OF THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT, Vol. II.
Knappman, Edward W. Ed. GREAT AMERICAN TRIALS. Wheeler, Marjorie
Spruill. ONE WOMAN, ONE VOTE. Flexner, Eleanor and Ellen
Fitzpatrick. CENTURY OF STRUGGLE. Woloch, Nancy. WOMEN AND THE
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. (9369)
8.
[Anthony, Susan B.] Harper, Ida Husted. The Life and Work of
Susan B. Anthony Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and
Many from her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted
Harper / A Story of the Evolution of the Status of Woman in Two
volumes. Indianapolis and Kansas City: The Bowen-Merrill
Company, [1898] 1899 1898. Two Vol. $500
First
Edition, one of two printings, priority undetermined (Hollenbeck
and Bowen Merrill). According to DAB, both volumes were
published in 1899 despite the 1898 date on Volume II. However,
we have had copies of Volume I (with the 1899 date on the title
page) inscribed by Anthony in 1898. Large 8vo; frontispiece
portrait of Anthony, [iiv] v- xxiv, 513; and frontispiece
portrait of Anthony, [i]-iv] iii- xi, [xii-xiv], 515-1070pp;
original blue cloth with title, author, and volume printed in
blue, Anthony’s name in red, on white labels within red rule
(one of at least three bindings, priority not established).
Illustrated with frontispiece portraits of Susan B. Anthony and
numerous half-tones and facsimile autograph signatures
throughout the text. Volume I shows wear to extremities, with
¼" fraying to top edge just to right of spine, corners
bumped and rubbed, pages a bit age-toned. Volume II also shows
wear to extremities and covers lightly soiled, rear endpapers
with light foxing, pages age toned, still an about very good
set.
An
important primary source for the history of the woman suffrage
movement, Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper collaborated on
this account of Anthony’s life and of the suffrage movement
which was her life. Harper (1851-1931) was a natural choice for
Anthony. She wrote a weekly column for "The Terre Haute
Saturday Evening Mail" called "A Woman’s
Opinions" for some 12 years and in 1890 became the
editor-in-chief of the "Terre Haute Daily News." She
served as Secretary of the Indiana National Women’s Suffrage
Association in 1887, and with its President Helen Mar Gougar
helped to organize conventions in each of Indiana’s
Congressional districts. A decade later Harper had overseen, at
Anthony’s behest, press relations during the California
campaign for a state suffrage amendment. To accomplish this
re-creation of Anthony’s life, Harper moved in with her
subject. Anthony had never liked writing, and without Harper it
is doubtful Anthony would have undertaken a biography /
autobiography. The volumes are, of course, key sources of
primary source material on Anthony and the woman’s movement
with, as the subtitle suggests, generous citations from letters
to Anthony and newspaper pieces about her. FAILURE IS
IMPOSSIBLE, pp. 308-309. THE FEMINIST COMPANION, p. 190.
Krichmar 4442. NAW I, pp. 51-57; II, pp. 139-141. DAB V. I, pp.
318-321. (9417)
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9.
Baldwin, James. Gypsy & Other Poems.
Illustrated by Leonard Baskin. Leeds, MA: The Gehenna
Press, 1989. $450
Limited
to 325 copies on Magnani paper containing one etching of
Baldwin by Baskin signed and numbered by the artist,
bound by Claudia Cohen in grey paper over boards, red
morocco label on spine and front cover. This edition is
also signed in the colophon by Baskin. Page size: 11-7/8
x 8-7/8 inches, fine. (3846) |
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10.
Basbanes, Nicholas. A Splendor of Letters. New York:
Harper Collins, 2003. $30
First
Edition, first printing, signed by the author on the half-title
page, "Nicholas Basbanes" in black ink. 444pp;
including Index and Bibliography, brown paper over boards, black
paper over boards spine stamped in gold gilt, pictorial dust
jacket of library stacks, blue spine with author, title, and
publisher in white, fine in fine jacket. Sold for the benefit of
the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of American
Benevolent Fund, a non-profit charity to benefit all antiquarian
booksellers in time of personal need, this is a list price. The
fourth of Nicholas Basbanes’ exploration of the world of books
and bibliophiles, following A GENTLE MADNESS, PATIENCE AND
FORTITUDE, and AMONG THE GENTLY MAD. (9386)
With
Original Carte-de-Visite of the Author
11.
Bennett, Mrs. S. R. I. Woman’s Work Among the Lowly.
Memorial Volume of the First Forty Years of the American Female
Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless. New York:
American Female Guardian Society, 1877.
Together
with:
Our
Golden Jubilee A Retrospect of the American Female Guardian
Society and Home for the Friendless from 1834-1884.
New York: American Female Guardian Society, 1884. New York:
American Female Guardian Society, 1877. $150
Both
First Editions, the first title inscribed by the author, Mrs.
Bennett, on the front free endpaper, "Mrs. Harris Wilson /
With the love of her long / time friend and fellow-laborer /
S.R.I. Bennett". 514pp; + 14pp. Index; original green
gilt-stamped cloth, aeg, some rubbing and soling, front hinge
starting, corners bumped, good+. 83pp; original tan cloth
stamped in gilt and black, covers soiled, corners bumped
interior fine, good+. OUR GOLDEN JUBILEE has tipped in a
carte-de-visite of Mrs. Bennett. Mrs. Wilson served as Recording
Secretary on the Board of the American Female Guardian Society
while Mrs. Bennett served as corporate secretary. Mrs. Wilson
was on a number of the standing committees as well, as was Mrs.
Bennett. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the
Friendless was founded in 1834 to aid impoverished women and
children and was run entirely by women except for a small board
of male counselors. (9440)
12.
Books About Books. Devauchelle, Roger. La Reliure en France
de ses Origines a nos Jours. Tome I. Des origines a la fin du
XVIIe siecle. Tome II. De 1700 a 1850. Tome III. Depuis 1850. Three
Volumes. Paris: Rousseau-Girard, 1959-61. $3,000
First
edition, limited to 900 copies. xvi, 201 pp; 88 plates; 259+ (1)
pp; 71 plates; 288+ (1) pp; + 92 plates; 4to; many plates
tipped-in in color; numerous text illustrations. Loose as
issued, in publisher’s wrappers, glassine (chipped) and
publisher’s board slipcases. slipcase of Vol. III cracked at
bottom edge, the books themselves are fine and uncut. Two copies
of original subscription notice laid in, noting publication
price of 17,500 French francs. An extensive account of
bookbinding in France through the ages, with extensive
bibliographies, biographies of 20th century binders, index,
details of binder’s workshops, etc. The definitive history.
(9436)
Dinner
with Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor and the British
Ambassador
Signed by All
13.
Carnegie, Andrew et al. Author’s Club Dinner Menu to Honor
James Bryce Ambassador of Great Britain. [New York:] Author’s
Club, January 23, 1908. $1,500
Original
Menu for the dinner honoring British Ambassador and author James
Bryce signed by those attending the dinner, 38 signatures,
including Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor, Henry Holt, George
Putnam , George Wharton Edwards, Franklin Giddings. Menu: single
sheet of tan paper, printed in sepia with device of the Author’s
Club, title below image, 12¼ x 15½ inches, folded in quarters,
"Bill of Fare" on inside verso, including Martini
Cocktail, Cape Cod Oysters, Olives Radishes Celery, Cream of
Asparagus Soup au Croutons, Sauterne, Kennebec Salmon with Sauce
Hollandaise and Parisian Potatoes, Tenderloin of Beef with
Mushroom Sauce and French Peas, Prunelle Punch, Squab on Toast,
Waldorf Salad, Champagne, Biscuit Tortoni, Assorted Cakes,
Cheese, Crackers, Coffee, Benedictine and Cigars. On the inside
page is printed a quote from Ambassador James Bryce’s book,
THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH. The quote reads, "Cooper,
Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, and those on whom their mantle
has fallen, belong to England as well as to America; and English
writers, as they more and more realize the vastness of the
American public they address, will more and more feel themselves
to be American as well as English, and will often find in
America not only a Larger but a more responsive audience."
Menu is darkened with some soil marks and some foxing. The
signatures are on the inside in pencil and where the top edge
(about 2 inches) was exposed it is darkened. One assumes the
signing was done over cigars and Benedictine and the spots
happened at that time. In general, this is a very good copy of
the autographs of most of the important men in American
publishing at the turn of the century.
James
Bryce (1838-1922) British historian, statesman, and diplomat was
posted to Washington, D.C. from 1907-1913. He was, reportedly,
one of the most popular British ambassadors ever. A leader in
the Liberal Party, he had been a professor of civil law at
Oxford. His great work, showing an interest in sociology and
philosophy, was THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH (1888), by 1908
considered a classic. His is the fourth signature on the menu.
The menu is also signed by Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Born in
Scotland, this American industrialist was passionately
interested in the spread of knowledge through books. He
established libraries in this country, and expended much effort
in furthering relations between his birth country and adopted
country. An event such as this would have been just the sort of
thing he would have encouraged. At the time of this dinner, the
Author’s Club had premises at Carnegie Hall.
The
Author’s Club was founded in 1882 by author Richard Watson
Gilder, Harold Brydges, Brader Matthews, among others. They were
instrumental in forming the Copyright League and certainly
interested themselves in the business end of authorship as much
as the creative end. (9458)
14.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin;
Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1962. $250
First
Edition. 368pp; green cloth boards with title in gilt on front
board and spine; dark green dust jacket with title in white and
author in yellow on front and spine. Green patterned endpapers
with black and white wavy vertical lines. Dust jacket rubbed and
chipped a tiny bit at spine edges and spine, more pronounced at
top edge of spine, book a tiny bit rubbed, about very good.
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Rachel
Carson (1907-1964) became a biologist after graduating
from Johns Hopkins University. Her first book, UNDER THE
SEA-WIND, was published in 1941. It was followed in 1951
by THE SEA AROUND US and in 1955 by THE EDGE OF THE SEA.
THE SEA AROUND US was well-received, winning the
National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal as well
as worldwide praise from readers and literary critics.
SILENT SPRING is Carson’s most influential book.
Originally intended to be an article about the dangers
of the pesticide DDT, it soon grew into a book, not only
about the dangers of DDT, but also about the dangers of
toxic chemicals and the indifference of modern society
as a whole to the environment.
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Despite
unsuccessful attempts by the agricultural chemical industry to
discredit Carson and SILENT SPRING, the work began to receive
worldwide acclaim. SILENT SPRING is now credited with launching
the environmental movement in the United States. NAW: The Modern
Period, pp.138-141. (9291)
15.
Cather, Willa. A Lost Lady. Illustrated by William Bailey.
Introduction by John Hollander. New York: The Limited
Editions Club, 1983. $125
One
of 1500 copies printed for the LEC by The Anthoensen Press on
cream white Mohawk letterpress paper in Caslon Old Face. The
frontispiece is an original etching by William Bailey that was
printed by Bruce Chandler at the Heron Press. The pen-and-ink
drawings were reproduced in a screenless lithographic process by
Black Box Collotype Inc. Page size: 7 x 10". Bound: 3/4
deep red morocco with a calico cloth over boards, title in gilt
on spine, aeg, housed in publisher’s deep red paper over
boards slipcase. Spine of book a bit dimmed else fine with
original monthly letter laid in. (9329)
16.
Celine, Louis-Ferdinand. Voyage au Bout de la Nuit.
Paris: Denoel et Steele, 1932. $375
First
Trade Edition, ordinary paper, of Celine’s first novel. 8vo;
623pp; original publisher’s wrappers of buff paper printed in
red and black, spine skewed, edges of pages browned, wrappers
slightly soiled, ex-libris of French man of letters and editor
at "Mercure de France" and "La Revue
Blanche," Leon Belugou. Belugou has put his initials in
blue copy editor’s pencil on front cover and written a quote
from Benjamin Constant on the dedication page. The quote
indicates a profound disgust on Belugou’s part with Celine’s
novel - which was controversial from its publication. (9444)
|
17.
Chesterton, G[ilbert] K[eith]. The Vampire of the
Village. [NP: Privately Printed], 1947. $6,500
First
Edition, one of 10 copies only, printed for the "Chestertonians".
12mo; 23pp; original blue wrappers printed in black with
title, author, and an image of the author, stapled, a
fine copy with no discernable defects, housed in
custom-made red cloth clamshell box with red leather
label stamped in gold gilt on spine. Extremely rare, the
first and only printing of a Father Brown mystery not
collected until four years later in the Father Brown
omnibus. (9358) |
|
18.
Churchill, Caroline Nichols. Active Footsteps. Colorado
Springs: Mrs. C. N. Churchill, Publisher, 1909. $150
First
Edition. 8vo; 258pp; frontispiece, one in-text illustration,
both of the author, original green decorated cloth, front board
with title, author and vignette set in a double-line border
printed in black, spine with the title and author in black, pp.
231-234 tipped in; tiniest bit of rubbing to tips, early
ownership signature and address on front blank, else fine.
Caroline
Nichols Churchill (1833-1926), the "Queen Bee,"
journalist, editor, and suffragist, was born in Canada and, as a
widow, moved to Denver in 1879. That year she founded Colorado’s
earliest women’s rights newspaper, the "Colorado
Antelope," (later "The Queen Bee Antelope").
Denouncing compliance, she declared, "Women should remember
that all the evils of society are caused by the bad management
of men, and women are greatly to blame for folding their hands
and permitting this state of things."
By
the early 1890’s, women’s organizations and outspoken
individuals like Churchill called for a suffrage amendment to
the Colorado Constitution. When Colorado’s male voters passed
the suffrage referendum in 1893, twenty-seven years before the
Nineteenth Amendment made equal suffrage the law of the land,
headlines of "The Queen Bee Antelope" announced the
victory. ACTIVE FOOTSTEPS is an entertaining volume of Churchill’s
memoirs, written in the third person. There is much on Colorado
history, the history of printing and journalism in Colorado, and
Indian incidents, as well as information on Colorado suffrage.
(9290)
19.
Cocteau, Jean. Le Grand Ecart Roman. Paris: Librairie
Stock, 1923. $450
First
Edition, one of 550 copies on pur fil lafuma. Original salmon
pink wrappers printed in black, spine and edges a bit sunned,
edges of pages a bit age toned, but generally very good with the
ex-libris of French man of letters and editor at "Mercure
de France," Leon Belugou, laid in.
Jean
Cocteau (1889-1963), film maker, poet, novelist, publisher and
artist, was part of most of the art movements that swept Paris
in the first half of the 20th century. He was an intimate of
Diaghilev and worked with Picasso on the famous Ballet Russe
production "Parade." Credited with establishing the
ground work for France’s "New Wave" filmmakers, his
"Beauty and the Beast" is considered one of the
greatest films of all time. His friends and artistic partners
are a "who’s who" in the cultural world of Paris.
(9443)
20.
Cocteau, Jean. La Noce Massacree. (Souvenirs) 1. Visites a
Maurice Barres. Paris: a la Sirene, 1921. $150
First
Edition, one of 340 copies (this copy not numbered). Small 8vo;
82pp; + 2pp. (justification). Original printed wrappers, ex-libris
of Leon Belugou, French man of letters, editor of "Mercure
de France" and "La Revue Blanche" and friend of
the author, with his initials on cover and title page, very
good. This self-published title by Jean Cocteau is dedicated to
Raymond Radiguet. (9448)
Wright
II Fiction
Inscribed
21.
Corbin, Mrs. Caroline Fairfield. Rebecca; or, A Woman’s
Secret. Chicago: Clarke and Company, 1868. $300
Second
Edition, inscribed by the author on the free endpaper,
"Miss Fanny R. Edmunds / From C. F. C. / In commemoration
of / Jan. 3rd 1870." and with another owner’s name and
purchase information. 8vo; 440pp; original green gilt and
blind-stamped cloth, binding rubbed, spine ends chipped, corners
bumped, about very good.
Caroline
Fairfield Corbin (1835-1918), novelist, poet and political
activist, lived in Chicago and was a strong anti-suffragist. In
1897 she founded the Illinois Association Opposed to the
Extension of Women’s Rights. REBECCA... is an anti-suffrage
novel first published the previous year as A WOMAN’S SECRET.
Corbin seemed to determined to keep women in their
"sphere" - a not uncommon reaction to the radical
proposition that women should enjoy equal rights. She was a
prolific author often published by the Illinois Association
Opposed to the Extension of Women’s Rights. Her works were
reprinted up until the passage of the Anthony Amendment and were
translated into German. She regarded suffrage as akin to
socialism, both of which she eagerly fought. Wright II 635. See
also Mark W. Sorensen’s (archivist of the State of Illinois)
article, AHEAD OF THEIR TIME: A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE
IN ILLINOIS online at the Illinois state website. (9435)
22.
Daingerfield, Henrietta G. Our Mammy and Other Stories.
Lexington, Kentucky: [Hampton Institute Press, Hampton,
Virginia], 1906. $250
First
Edition. 8vo, 143pp; illustrated with 12 black and white
half-tones (including frontispiece) tipped in on coated stock,
original blue gilt-stamped cloth, rear hinge partially exposed
due to removal of rear free endpaper, binding still sound,
extremities rubbed, except as noted good +. Short stories are
accompanied herein by 12 black and white full-page half-tone
photographs of (with one exception) African-Americans -
ostensibly the subject of the ensuing story.
Henrietta
G. Daingerfield is most probably "Nettie" Daingerfield
as the author’s name on the front cover is N. G. Daingerfield
and "Henrietta G." on the title page. She was born
Nettie Gray in Virginia. Her sister Orra Gray Langhorne was a
noted suffragist in that state before moving to Richmond,
Kentucky to live with Nettie. Nettie’s stories, set in the
Civil War, start with a story that is a first-person narrative -
told by an adult who, as a child, was raised by a Black nanny.
While there is an admission on the narrator’s part that
Southern slavery was a "dark cloud," these stories
offer a stilted view of relations between white southerners and
their slaves. The slaves are often imbued with child-like
qualities and their owners are benevolent. The photographs are
quite wonderful. Not in Work or Blockson. (9426)
23.
Dall, Caroline [Wells] H[ealey]. The College, The Market, and
the Court; or Woman’s Relation to Education, Labor, and Law.
Boston: Lee and Shepard, London: Trubner & Co., 1868.
$175
Second
Edition, with an additional preface, an index here for the first
time, and some corrections. 8vo; 1, [III] - xxxvi, 512pp;
Original brown cloth, recased, top & bottoms of spine
repaired with small pieces of matching cloth, front flyleaf
& half-titles re-margined at fore-edges, new paper label;
pages browned about ½" in at edges, a good copy.
Caroline
Wells Healey Dall (1822-1912), Unitarian and Transcendentalist,
Boston author and reformer, attended Margaret Fuller’s
"Conversations" at the suggestion of Elizabeth Palmer
Peabody and wrote the only first-hand account of them (MARGARET
FULLER AND HER FRIENDS, 1895). Dall’s reform activities
included trying to provide schooling for free African-Americans
in Washington, helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada while
she was in Toronto, being a founder of the American Social
Science Association, and most avidly, advocating women’s
rights by organizing, writing and speaking. THE COLLEGE, THE
MARKET, AND THE COURT( first published 1867), her most important
work, is a series of lectures given during 1859 to 1862. An
appendix begins at page 377 and takes up suffrage, medical
education for women, female clergy, civil progress of women in
other countries, etc. "In this book, while calling for the
removal of educational and legal disabilities based on sex, she
attributed the discontent of modern women to the lack of
employment activities and suggested that the home no longer
provided an adequate sphere of activity...This approach, going
beyond the suffrage question to a fundamental critique of the
economic role of women, anticipated such later feminist writers
as Charlotte Perkins Gilman." [NAW] She also called for
equal pay and specifically notes that female shoe workers in
Lynn, Mass. were paid one-quarter of the wages received by their
male counterparts. Dall continued to call for reform for working
women the rest of her life. NAW I pp. 428-429. TIMELINES, p.
309. Sabin 18304. (9425)
Doyle
Discusses Houdini
24.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. Autograph Letter Signed.
Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex: Dec. 6 [1925]. $14,500
One
page letter on Doyle’s letterhead, engraved with his address
and phone number, 6-15/16 x 5-3/16 inches, folded to fit
envelope, addressed in Doyle’s hand, to "Miss Gertrude
Hills / 41 East 59th Street / New York City / USA." Fine
except for a bit of age toning to edge of envelope. Doyle has
written, "Dear Miss Hills/ Thank you for your note. We had
full / warning here of Houdini’s coming fate, but as he /
would only have published the letter & made mock of / it we
could not warn him. / I can quite believe that he had no fear of
/ death for he was a very brave man. I regard him / with mixed
feelings, but I hope I recognize all the / excellent qualities
in his complex nature. / I shall always think that some
(underscore) of his / "tricks" were psychic in their
nature. This idea is / confirmed by the fact that he cannot
transfer them to / others after death, tho’ they are clearly a
valuable / asset. / Thanks you again / A Conan Doyle / Dec.
6".
One
of Doyle’s most insightful letters on the death of his once
friend, Harry Houdini, whose anti-spiritualist stand distanced
their relations. This is a fascinating letter, in which Doyle
seems to be defending his belief in spiritualism and assigning
some part of Houdini’s death to his lack of faith in
spiritualism. Letters by Doyle discussing Houdini are scarce.
Gertrude
Hills was a friend of Harry Houdini. According to Ruth Brandon’s
book on Houdini, she was connected with a charity even at which
Houdini appeared. After his death she wrote a letter to the New
York "Sun" describing an injury that may well have
contributed to his death. There is a copy of Houdini’s book,
HOUDINI’S PAPER MAGIC. THE WHOLE ART OF PERFORMING WITH PAPER,
INCLUDING PAPER TEARING, PAPER FOLDING, AND PAPER PUZZLES,
inscribed by Houdini to "his friend" Gertrude Hills
available for sale from another bookseller. (9459)
One
of 50 Copies Illustrated by Barry Moser
25.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Illustrated by Barry Moser. Afterword by Peter Glassman. New
York: Books of Wonder / William Morrow & Company, [1992].
$150
|
|
Signed
Limited Edition, one of 50 copies signed by Barry Moser
with an original woodblock print signed by Moser in
pencil laid into a pocket on rear pastedown. 342pp;
original brown cloth with image of Holmes by Moser in
color on front panel, author, illustrator, title, and
publisher in gilt on spine, publisher’s brown slipcase
blind stamped with Moser image of Holmes, fine.
Illustrated with 12 full-page color illustrations by
Barry Moser, fine.
Together
with:
First
trade edition, fine in dust jacket. (9456) |
Original
Dust Jacket
26.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Case of Oscar Slater. New
York: George H. Doran Company, [1912]. $900
|
First
American Edition in original dust jacket. 8vo; 108pp;
gray paper over boards with white paper label on spine,
gray dust jacket printed in green (Green and Gibson’s
variant binding); corners a tiny bit bumped, top edge a
bit sunned about 1/8 inch, front endpapers with
offsetting, as are pp. 10-11, from news clipping, still
present about the death of Oscar Slater, mark ½ inch
square of old tape removed, 1 inch closed tear in same
spot; jacket with a few small chips resulting in loss of
"C" and part of "A" in title on
jacket spine, ½ inch square missing from middle of
jacket spine old cello tape - about 3 inches at bottom
third of spine. The book is very good + and the jacket
only lightly used and intact. A remarkable survivor in
the original dust jacket. This is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
attempt to clear a Silesian Jew wrongfully accused and
convicted of murder in Glasgow in 1909. He was cleared,
largely through Doyle’s efforts, in 1928. Green and
Gibson B11b. (9455) |
|
27.
Doyle, Sir Arthur. The Sign of Four. London: Spencer
Blackett, 1890. $10,000
|
|
First
Edition in book form, first issue, with foot of spine
reading "SPENCER BLACKETT’S Standard
Library." 8vo; [4], 283, [1, blank]pp. Frontispiece
by Charles Kerr, with tissue guard. No publisher’s ads
at end (according to Green and Gibson, not essential),
with the numeral "138" on the contents page
incomplete and reading "13," as usual.
Original dark red fine-ribbed cloth blocked in black
with front cover and spine letter in gilt, all edges
uncut, black coated endpapers, minimal soiling to
covers, upper portion of front joint neatly repaired,
hinges expertly and almost invisibly repaired, small
abrasion on recto of frontispiece, not affecting image
on verso, some marginal soiling, housed in custom-made
morocco and cloth slipcase, still a very good+ copy of
this scarce Sherlock Holmes mystery. |
This
Sherlock Holmes novel first appeared in the American publication
of "Lippincott’s" magazine for February 1890 and was
published in book form in October of that year in London. The
plot concerns Holmes’s investigation into the murder of
Bartholomew Sholto, his search for Jonathan Small, and the Agra
treasure (original subtitled "The Problem of the Sholtos")
and Watson’s romance with Mary Morstan. The sheets of this
Spencer Blackett edition were re-issued in 1891 this with the
spine imprint of Griffith Farran Company. Green and Gibson A7a.
(9460)
Queen’s
Quorum
28.
Eberhart, Mignon. The Cases of Susan Dare. Garden City,
NY: The Crime Club, Inc. by Doubleday, Doran & Company,
Inc., 1934. $50
First
American Edition. 8vo; 303pp; original black cloth with red
stamping on spine, spine slightly skewed, edges rubbed, pencil
inscription and ink as well on ffe, inside hinge starting, small
bookseller’s ticket on inside rear pastedown, good. Susan Dare
is the detective in this Queen’s Quorum title and all six
stories feature her – a mystery writer who encounters murders
and is called upon to help solve the crimes. Queen’s Quorum
#88. (9412)
Wright
I
Panic Fiction
29.
Follen, Eliza Lee Cabot. Sketches of Married Life.
Boston: Hilliard, Gray & Co., 1838. $1,250
First
Edition (of at least 4 subsequent). 8vo; (iv), 304pp; original
green cloth ("P", as per BAL), blind-stamped with a
pattern of four-element ornaments and stars and dots, spine gilt
with title at top, anchor and dolphin device at bottom,
occasional light foxing to text, else fine. A sparkling trade
binding in unusually fine condition. The Aldine-like device was
adapted by Hilliard, Gray from devices of the British publisher
William Pickering.
Eliza
Lee Cabot Follen (1787-1860), Unitarian, writer, abolitionist
and anti-slavery worker, wrote only two adult novels: this
popular one, and THE SKEPTIC (1835). Her other writings were
anti-slavery tracts, and poems and stories for children. Eliza
and her husband, Charles Follen, a professor of German at
Harvard, introduced the Christmas-tree custom into America.
SKETCHES OF MARRIED LIFE, features a strong and able heroine who
deals with everyday life in an efficient and practical manner.
Set in the US of 1837, amidst the Panic of 1837, it is one of
dozens of novels that appeared at this time, nearly all by
white, middle-class, Northern women, in response to the national
threat of financial failure. For this insight, and more,
concerning "Panic Fiction" please see Mary Templin’s
"Panic Fiction: Women’s Responses to Antebellum Economic
Crisis" in LEGACY, A JOURNAL OF AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS, V.
21, No. 1, 2004, pp. 1-16. Templin points out that that
"panic fiction" authors used their novels to weigh in
on the economic issues of the day and the ancillary social
issues, such as debtor relief. These topics are dealt with in
SKETCHES OF MARRIED LIFE. Follen, as a woman, would have been
denied the right to air her views in public meetings or
congressional chambers, but she could write fiction and put her
ideas in her novel. As a vehicle for economic discourse, panic
fiction shows "that a stable feminine middle-class identity
cannot be achieved through isolation from the marketplace or
denial of its interconnectedness with the home, but only by
gaining a measure of control over one’s economic
circumstances." [Templin] Wright, AMERICAN FICTION, I #968.
NAW I, pp. 638-639. AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS (Abridged), I, pp.
228-230. "Panic Fiction: Women’s Responses to Antebellum
Economic Crisis" in LEGACY, A JOURNAL OF AMERICAN WOMEN
WRITERS, V. 21, No. 1, 2004, pp. 1-16. (9418).
30.
[Fuller, Margaret] Dall, Caroline H. Margaret and Her Friends
or Ten Conversations with Margaret Fuller Upon the mythology of
the Greeks and Its Expression in Art. Held at the House of the
Rev. George Ripley Bedford Place, Boston. Beginning March 1,
1841. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1895. $350
First
Edition, one of 600 copies only. 12mo, 162pp; green cloth with
front panel stamped in gilt, white daisy with gilt center
stamped on front cover. Spine slightly soiled and dimmed, edges
and corners a bit rubbed, a few smudges on covers, gilt on cover
undimmed and fresh, about very good.
Caroline
Wells Healy Dall (1822-1912) was a Boston author and reformer.
From a wealthy family, she was asked by Elizabeth Peabody to
join Margaret Fuller’s 1841 weekly "Conversations."
Dall notes in her Introduction that Miss Peabody "had more
regard...to Margaret’s purse, than to my fitness for the
company." Dall not only noted the attendees — and she was
among august company indeed: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sophia and
George Ripley, Jones Very, Caroline Sturgis, Bronson Alcott,
Sophia and Elizabeth Peabody (among others), she took notes of
who said what and published them in this book. It is the only
first-hand account of one of Fuller’s famous conversations,
with direct quotes attributed to Fuller, indicating how and with
what force she led the discussions. These were the first of
Fuller’s "Conversations" to which men were invited,
and Blanchard tells us that the result was not successful. The
women, except Elizabeth Peabody and Caroline Sturgis, deferred
to the men and "Margaret’s attempts to round them all up
again were only momentarily successful." Nonetheless, the
"Conversations" had a profound affect on Dall’s life
— as indeed they did on so many (directly and indirectly).
Later an important figure in the organization of the woman’s
rights movement in Massachusetts, her most important work, THE
COLLEGE, THE MARKET, AND THE COURT; OR WOMAN’S RELATION TO
EDUCATION, LABOR, AND LAW (1867) went beyond the suffrage
movement, calling for removal of educational and legal
disabilities based on sex and anticipated Charlotte Perkins
Gilman’s WOMEN AND ECONOMICS (1898) by 31 years. Fuller’s
attempts to enable women to discover that they could actually
think and speak for themselves on subjects outside their
"sphere" were entirely successful here! NAW I, pp.
428-9. DAB. Blanchard, Paula. MARGARET FULLER, 150-151. Myerson,
J. MARGARET FULLER, A BIBLIOGRAPHY. A11.1.a. (9375)
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