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“New, Useful, & Entertaining”
Daboll, Nathan. New-England almanac, for the year ... 1808 ... By Nathan Daboll. New-London [Conn.]: Pr. by Ebenezer P. Cady, [1807]. 12mo. [18] ff.
$75.00

A Pretty Little
Vita Nuova
Dante Alighieri. La vita nuova e Il canzoniere. Firenze: G. Barbèra, 1888. 16mo (10.6 cm, 4.2"). xx, 477, [3] pp.
$100.00
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Conveniently portable, yet still desirably decorative production from Barbèra's “Collezione Diamante” of Dante's works. This edition features extensive commentary by Giambattista Giuliani.
Binding: Publisher's vellum, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped red leather title-label. Endpapers with gilt and black Renaissance design; all page edges stained red.
Binding as above, somewhat sprung; spine slightly darkened with label a bit rubbed. Front pastedown with ticket of a Rome bookseller. One signature unopened; pages very clean. Delightful. (28960)
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“STUMPED & the KITTENS Are Everywhere” — One of 26 Special
Copies
Davidson, Michael. Two views of pears. Berkeley, CA:
Sand Dollar, 1973. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.9"). [10] ff.
$80.00
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A collection of poems on various subjects, with an especial emphasis on
art
history. The title-page is lettered in sky blue and black, with a small blue sand dollar ornament.
376 copies comprise this limited edition printed by Wesley Tanner at the
Sand Dollar Press,
including
26 on Wookey Hole paper and signed by the poet, of which this is number 14.
Michael Davidson (b. 1944) was the first curator of the Mandeville Special Collections
Library at the University of California, San Diego, where he has taught American Literature since
1988.
Stitched in orange paper wrappers with matching
orange paper jacket, title and author printed in light brown surrounded by black ornamental
frame on front cover. Fine, in a mylar slipcase.
(30796)
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Hague & Gill Bibliography — “Observing Eric Gill's Centenary”
Davis, James. Printed by Hague and Gill a checklist prepared in conjunction with the exhibit A Responsible Workman observing Eric Gill's centenary. [Los Angeles]: Regents of the University of California, © 1982. 8vo. [2], 48, [2] pp.; illus.
$20.00
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“Days When ALL the Dreams Come True”
De La Mare, Walter, et al. Number Five Joy Street a medley of prose & verse for boys and girls. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1927. 4to. ix, [1], 220, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 8 col. plts.
$35.00
Charming fifth entry in the Appleton “Joy Street” series of stories and poems for children. In addition to De La Mare, contributors include Algernon Blackwood, Rose Fyleman, Lord Dunsany, Madeleine Nightingale, and Hilaire Belloc, among other familiar names. The volume is illustrated with eight color half-tone plates tipped onto colored paper leaves, along
with numerous in-text black-and-white illustrations, these done by May Smith, Hugh Chesterman, Marian Allen, and others.
Publisher's tan cloth with terra-cotta printed medieval pattern, dust wrapper lacking; spine sunned, corners with minor soiling. Title-page with minor offsetting from frontispiece. Showing some external wear, but still a clean, solid, engaging copy of an entertaining work — in fact, a joy. (26068)
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"I wish she would write
a
Jalna book a year for the rest of her life . . ."
De la Roche, Mazo. The building of Jalna. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1944. 8vo. [4] ff. 366 pp.
$15.00

First U.S. edition, second printing, of this episode in Canadian writer
De la Roche's multi-volume epic of Jalna. The front of the dust jacket bears
Lee Thayer's colorful depiction of Adeline sitting on a large stump, with
Capt. Whiteoak standing next to her gesturing at the construction of Jalna
in 1850.
Very good condition with a good+ dust jacket (small tears, price clipped
from front flap).

Crusoe, in Victorian Depiction
Defoe, Daniel. The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Boston: Lee & Shepard; Concord, NH: E.C. Eastman, 1868. 12mo. 631, [9 (adv.)] pp.; 8 plts. (of 16).
$40.00
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Illustrated edition of the beloved classic, featuring eight wood-engraved plates.
Publisher's red cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped decorative title; cloth gently faded, extremities and spine gilt slightly rubbed. Eight plates lacking (of 16). Frontispiece recto with private collector's rubber-stamp, back free endpaper with same owner's small bookplate pasted in upside-down. Pages lightly age-toned with light offsetting opposite some plates, first few leaves with faint waterstaining in upper portions. A few corners dog-eared. Although not all called-for plates are present, there are no obvious excisions or absences. (30003)
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Brave Enough to Tell?
Deland, Margaret. The hands of Esau. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1914. 8vo. 85, [1] pp.; 2 plts.
$47.50
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First book-form edition: A budding romance is threatened by the young man's possibly tainted heredity, and whether or not the secret will be kept. A contemporary critic called this “a volume small in size but large in thought-provoking qualities” (Boston Transcript). Originally serialized in Woman's Home Companion, the work is here illustrated with two black-and-white plates featuring the very modish heroine, by an unknown hand.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in white, red, and gilt; spine with gilt-stamped title.
Binding as above; dust jacket lacking, minor rubbing to extremities, back cover with crease in cloth (not board). Front pastedown with private collector's bookplate dated [19]15. A nice copy! (28612)
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Camelot's FIRST Birthday Party — A Souvenir
BOTH Culturally Evocative
& Supportive of Thoughtful Research
Democratic National Committee. Dinner Committee. [cover-title] President Kennedy's birthday dinner. May 27, 1961[.] National Guard Armory. Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C.: Democratic National Committee, 1961]. 12mo (22.2 cm; 8.75"). 54 pp., [3] ff., pp. 61–68.
[SOLD]
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This souvenir program from
John Kennedy's official 44th birthday party, organized as a desperately needed post-election fund-raiser by the Democratic National Committee and held at Washington's National Guard Armory on 27 May 1961, is offered complete with an 8-page small-print “Continuation of [the] Contributors and Seating Arrangements” list and with
two actual tickets to the event included (“Doors open at 6:15 . . . Dress Optional . . . Guests must be seated by 7:00 . . . Consult seating lists upon arrival . . . for your table assignment”).
The very large party was successful both as fund-raiser and as a festive and joyful Democratic Party occasion, but examination of the program’s detail reflects the fact that Kennedy’s nomination was highly contested, showing continuing regional and other fractures that went back at least to the Dixiecrat walkout of 1948. The names of well-known, longtime, key Kennedy loyalists may be found in the lists of those attending this event a few months after the inauguration, along with the names of those who came on board only after the inauguration; comparison of this roster with the lists of those who attended the inaugural ball (and who was on each dais, for example) would be instructive. It’s also thought-provoking to
see who DIDN’T attend the birthday fiesta: We observe that notably missing from this guest list are the top three members of Congress from Virginia at that time, Senators Harry Byrd, Sr., and A. Willis Robertson, and Howard W. Smith, who became notorious as the segregationist Chair of the House Rules Committee.
The program notes that Morton Downey (senior, of course) sang the national anthem; “Gentlemen head table guests [were] escorted from their places to visit with dinner guests for 15 minutes” during a “7th-inning stretch”;
Jerry Lewis provided the main entertainment; and apart from the president's own address, remarks were made by half a dozen Democratic luminaries including Harry Truman, Sam Rayburn, and Lyndon Johnson. Door prizes included items so various as two Sarkes Tarzian radios (contributed by Indiana), an American broadtail jacket with mink collar (from a citizen of the District of Columbia), a $50 gift certificate towards purchase of American Indian jewelry (from Sen. Stewart Udall of Arizona), an aluminum and plastic lounge chair and ottoman and a walnut card table (from two gentlemen of Arkansas), a Rose Marie Reed bathing costume (from a lady of California), and six canned hams (from the State of Iowa).
Provenance: The family of one of the attendees listed.
Program very good, with its stiff covers a little dust-soiled and sunned; “Continuation” soiled across top inch; admission tickets pristine. (31352)
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A Leading Light of
17th-Century
French Poetry
An Elegant Retrospective Edition
Deshoulières, Antoinette. Poésies de Madame Deshoulières. Paris: Chez Lemoine (pr. by J.L. Bellemain), 1826. 16mo (10.4 cm, 4.1"). viii, [5]–156 pp.
$100.00
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Sole edition thus, a petite rendition from the “Bibliothèque en Miniature” series: Miscellaneous poems by the socialite, philosopher, and belle-lettrist once acclaimed as the French Calliope.
Binding: Contemporary green calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations, board edges with gilt rolls at corners. All edges marbled. Red silk bookmark present and intact.
Binding as above, corners bumped, spine sunned (not unattractively), joints and spine extremities slightly rubbed. Pages clean. An appealing
little collection of highlights from a once-adored salonnière. (29943)
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A Herculean Effort — A Beautifully Produced Book
Di Bassi, Pietro Andrea. The Labors of Hercules. Barre, MA: Imprint Society, 1971. 4to (27.9 cm, 11"). 89, [3] pp.
$75.00
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To redress his having killed his own wife and children during an episode of insanity, the Greek hero Hercules was ordered to serve King Eurystheus for twelve years and to complete twelve seemingly impossible feats. This English version of his Labors is the first translation made of an Italian manuscript in the Philip Hofer collection at Harvard's Houghton Library, written by Pietro Andrea di Bassi for Niccolo III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, before 1435.
The translator, W. Kenneth Thompson, selected thirteen episodes from Bassi's text, and illustrations including
one double-page plate and twelve miniatures, reproduced from photographs of the manuscript in five-color facsimiles printed by offset lithography at The Meriden Gravure Company in Meriden, CT. Giovanni Mardersteig designed the text in his own Monotype Dante on Manunzia paper, and oversaw production with his son Martino at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy. The edition was limited to 1950 copies, of which this is no. 164, as written in ink below the colophon.
Bound as above, spine very lightly sunned with light pencil smudge; case with one side a little soiled and a limited patch of staining. Text very fresh and clean. (30549)
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So, Will You Hear “Polly's Lecture to Dolly” or
“Dot Lambs Wot Mary Haf Got”?
Dick, William B., ed. Dick's juvenile speaker for boys and girls containing original and selected speeches and recitations for young folks and little children. New York: Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation[,] successor to Dick & Fitzgerald, n.d. [©1897, but printed later]. 12mo. 90 pp., [3 (ads)] ff.
$45.00
Insufferably cute children surely learned whole portions of this volume by heart, and entertained adults with their skill upon parental demand.
Plain robin's-egg blue wrappers printed in black, a little darkened. Excellent condition. (28507)
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“Only Such Hymns as Will Be Approved by
the Entire Body of the Protestant Church”
Doane, W.H. Songs of devotion: a collection of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with music, for church service, prayer and conference meetings, Young Men's Christian Associations, religious conventions and family worship. New York & Chicago: Biglow & Main, [copyright 1870]. 12mo. 288 pp.
$40.00
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Very early YMCA hymnal.
Binding: Dark green publisher's cloth, cover edges bevelled and title gilt-stamped in a cartouche on front one, this within a blind-stamped vaguely “gothic” frame. Glossy brown endpapers and all edges red.
Bound as above, somewhat scuffed and with loss of cloth at head and foot of spine; hinges (inside) open. Ticket of a music publishing concern and “musical merchandise” establishment in Worcester, MA, inside front cover; endpapers chipped. Text age-toned, generally clean; a few pencillings. (3192)
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Dobson, Austin. The ballad of Beau Brocade and other poems of the XVIIIth century. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1892. 8vo. Frontis., xiii, [3], 89, [3] pp.; 25 plts., illus.
$90.00

Second edition, with numerous illustrations by Hugh Thomson.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; spine, lower edges, and corners a touch rubbed. Top edge gilt. A few leaves and plates with waterstaining to lower outer corners, scattered spots of light foxing. (18409)
Under-Rated?
Donn-Byrne, [Brian Oswald]. Messer Marco Polo. New York: The Century Co., (copyright 1921). 12mo. [4 (3 blank)], frontis., [4 (1 blank)], 147, [5 (blank)] pp.; 4 plts\.
$15.00

“WOMEN'S
THEATER”
— San Francisco
1923
Dramatic-Musical Society of San Francisco. [drop-title] The Dramatic-Musical Society of San Francisco. Seventh performance of the 19221923 season. Friday, April 20, 1923 at 2:30 o'clock. San Francisco: Dramatic Musical Society, 1923. 8vo. [1] f. (verso blank).
$75.00
Program and cast of characters for “The Knave of Hearts” by Louise Saunders and “The Unseen” by Alice Gerstenberg, two plays by women dramatists with all-female casts.
Fine. (19234)
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Dryden Nicely Dressed
Dryden, John. The poetical works of John Dryden. Chicago & New York: Belford, Clarke, & Co., [ca. 1882]. 12mo. 6, [19]–559, [1] pp.; 6 plts.
[SOLD]
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Attractive volume of Dryden's verse, with pages framed in red and six steel-engraved plates.
Binding: Publisher's sage-green cloth, front cover stamped in black, terra-cotta, and gilt with swirl design surrounding chrysanthemums and a pegasus medallion; spine similarly stamped, with double flute player vignette. All edges gilt. Not a signed binding, but, as noted on verso of title-page, a production of “Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, New York.”
Binding as above, corners and spine extremities a bit rubbed, spine gilt a bit dimmed. Front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription dated 1884. Pages and plates clean.
Overall a very attractive copy. (26902)
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From the
Friends of B.R.
Duschnes, Philip C. Bruce Rogers: a gentle man from Indiana. [Lunenburg, VT]: The Stinehour Press, [December] 1965. 8vo (23 cm, 9.05"). 25 pp.
$25.00
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In this address to the 25th Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Brown University Libraries, 25 March 1963, bookseller Philip C. Duschnes shares fond memories of his friend Bruce Rogers (1870–1957), the great American typographer.
This edition was limited to 750 copies privately printed at
the Stinehour Press in December 1965 for the friends of Philip and Fanny Duschnes, using Rogers' Centaur types in black with a few red accents. An inserted facsimile of a Stowaways club “invitation” of the 1920's lists B.R. as “Typster,” his self-styled moniker; the text concludes with a facsimile of B.R.'s personal envelope, “with his own bust and profile the same purple color and size and style as the George Washington oval stamp on the self-stamped envelope.”
Provenance: “Bequeathed to the Library of Purdue University by the late Bruce Rogers” (bookplate, inside front cover,
designed by Rogers himself for his alma mater).
Work of Bruce Rogers, 467 (bookplate). Brown paper wrappers, title printed in black within a russet and brown ornamental border (designed by Rogers?). Pristine, in a mylar wrapper, and good reading. (30534)
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