He was shot to death in his study on 14 September by a still unknown gunman using a shotgun!

Craig Walley's relatively recent Murder at Mount Hermon: The Unsolved Killing of Headmaster Elliott Speer has resurrected interest in the mystery.

•  Original wrappers. Fine. (17126)

Provenance: The front free endpaper bears a neatly inked ownership inscription dated 1860 (J.C.W. Kempe) and an additional inked “sold to” inscription dated 1871 (Aden Mc Bowman); Bowman also signed another blank, and the presentation leaf is made out to Kempe as “P.G.J.C.W. Kempe.”

Binding:  Publisher's deep blue/black diced sheep in imitation of morocco, covers with gilt-stamped vignette of Friendship, Love, and Truth personified within an architectural frame; spine gilt extra with column motif. All edges gilt.

•  BAL 6877; Faxon 609.   Binding as above, joints and extremities rubbed, spine gilt slightly dimmed. Inscriptions and presentation leaf as above. Poetry clippings, fabric swatch, and lock of hair laid in. Scattered staining, generally light, throughout; chromo very bright and nice.  (27041)

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover blind-stamped, spine with silver- and blue-stamped title and publication information, in original unclipped dust jacket; dust jacket with edges lightly rubbed, back panel darkened and with one small spot, spine very slightly sunned. A nice copy in a gently worn dust jacket.  (32640)

The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.

Binding:  In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298.   Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy.  (30117)

Offered here is folio ccxii: Printed in a single column in Germanic roman type.

Provenance:  From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorns.

•  Goff J162; Hain 9978*; Schreiber 4309; IGI 5049; GW M11369; ISTC ij00162000.   Light dust-soiling in margins. Tipped into a plain, single-ply mat. With a typed identification label on the front of the mat.  (31083)

numbered copy 98 of 125 printed, signed at the colophon by Nicholas and Mary Parry

•  Binding as above. A clean, handsome copy.  (31281)

Printed here for the first time.

The original manuscript is in the Jeffers archive at the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas and is reproduced here in tipped-in facsimile. “Prefixing the poem is a stunning woodcut by . . . Allison Clough” (prospectus) and following the poem and facsimile is an “Afterword” by William Everson.

Printed in an edition of only 200 copies on Tovil paper imported from England and using Weiss roman and italic type, the book is bound in quarter black goat with natural linen sides; this is copy 158 and includes the prospectus.

•  Bound as described above. A fine copy.  (30926)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  NSTC 2J9375.   Publisher's textured sage cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked, corners bumped, extremities lightly rubbed, spine sunned, cloth with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) cracked. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, call number on endpapers, old circular rubber-stamp on title-page and several others, no other markings. Paper slightly embrittled, some pages with short edge tears, some age-toned; a few corners dog-eared. Three small pencilled annotations. Not a pristine copy, but very readable and enjoyable.  (27403)

Heavily illustrated; hammer prices pencilled in.

•  Original printed boards, scuffed and stained yet volume sound and pleasant enough with interior clean. As noted, most hammer prices pencilled in.  (26156)

•  Schweiger, II, 513; this ed. not in Brunet. Contemporary half vellum over paste paper covers, spine with early inked title; sides and edges lightly scuffed, spine with vellum darkened and chipped. Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription dated 1775, lined through; front free endpaper with 19th-century (?) inked inscription; title-page with early inked inscription reading “Carolus Comes a Wartensleben.” Back free endpaper excised. Title-page torn along inner margin and with short tear from outer edge, just touching one letter. One leaf with small ink blots and several leaves with small nicks to outer edges; scattered light foxing. A few small early inked annotations.