rmb  Occasional Online List, Number Eight

 
 

 


1.    [AFRICA.] O'Swald, Paul. Unpublished typescript describing an African boy's adventures in his native land.Germany & East Africa: not published, ca. 1928 - 1935.    $6,800

3 volumes, small 4to, consisting of 32 leaves of typrescript in German, and 30 vivid full-page watercolor illustrations which are likley native; the 3 volumes are bound in full coconut bark, vine-tied, and are of varying size: volume I (untitled) measures 9" x 7"; volume II (titled "Totos Heimkehr" = Toto's Homecoming) measures 9½" x 8½"; and volume III (titled "Das Ende der Hitze" = The End of Heat) measures 10½" x 8½".

The illustrations depict the said Toto on the ocean with sharks, on the beach with shore birds, in the desert with cactus, in the jungle with monkeys, gazelles, hyenas, giraffes, snakes, crocodiles, etc. Some depect killing and death. The O'Swald family was prominent in the Hamburg shipping business which likley accounts for the author's African travels, and in the 19th century the O'Swald firm was particularly active in the East African trade.


2.    [AFRICA.] 5,000 miles through Southern Africa on the South African Railways. London & Johannesburg: published by authority of the general manager South African Railways and Horbours Administration, 1934.      $225

8vo, pp. [2], 102; 2 maps (1 double-p.), 8 full-p. color illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 4 plates, many other photographic illustrations throughout (many full-p.); original blue printed wrappers embossed in gold; some wear, but generally very good. Cover title: South Africa Calling. Sunshine and Romance Await You.

Promotional guide for the prospective tourist, with much on modes of transportation, hotels, currency, natural wonders, various cities, sites to visit, etc.


3.    [AUSTRALIA.]  The news-letter of Australasia, or narrative of events; a letter to send to friends ... No. 7. Melbourne: George Slater, 1857. $1,750

A single sheet gently mounted to card, approx. 11" x 8½", printed on tissue-like blue paper; blank integral leaf discarded, else fine. The letter-sheet displays 3 maps within circles: Geelong and its suburbs; Melbourne and its suburbs; and, Port Phillip Bay.


4.    [AUSTRALIA.] The news letter of Australasia, or narrative of events; a letter to send to friends ... No. 9. Melbourne: George Slater, 1857. $1,500

A single sheet gently mounted to card, approx. 11" x 8½", printed on tissue-like cream paper; blank integral leaf discarded, else fine. The letter-sheet displays 2 aborigines of Victoria, an engraving drawn by M. Chevalier, from daguerreotypes by H. Haselden.


5.    [AUSTRALIA.]  The news letter of Australasia, or narrative of events; a letter to send to friends ... No. 10. Melbourne: George Slater, 1857.      $950

A single sheet gently mounted to card, approx. 11" x 8½", printed on tissue-like cream paper; contains a full 2-p. letter in ink, with neat tape repairs on integral leaf, the ink showing through to the illustrations on the recto of South Park, Melbourne, and Thomas Bungeelene, an 11-year old aborigine taught to read and write.


6.    [AVIATION.] The Aeroplane Supply Company, Ltd. London, n.d. [ca. 1920?] $45

Tall 8vo, pp. 12; original pictorial wrappers; illustrated throughout; very good. The company issued their first catalogue in 1909.


7.    [BASEBALL.] Lange, Fred W. History of baseball in California and Pacific Coast Leagues 1847 - 1938. Memories and musings of an old time baseball player. Oakland, Cal., 1938.    $75

First edition, wrapper issue; 8vo, pp. [4], 231; a number of illustrations throughout; original pictorial wrappers a little soiled, tera in the margin of p. 5 (no loss); all else very good.


8.    [BURTON, RICHARD, & Isabel Burton.] Alencar, Jose Martiniano De. Iraçéma the Honey-Lips a legend of Brazil by J. De Alencar [and] Manuel de Moraes the convert. Translated from the Brazilian... London: Bickers & Son, 1886. $1,500

First edition in English of both of these novellas, translated by the Burtons during their stay in Sao Paulo in the late 1860's, but not published until later; 12mo, pp. vii, [1], 138; original printed wrappers; one small chip from the top outer corner of the front wrap (no loss of letterpress), and small cracks starting at the ends of the joints, else very good. Penzer, p. 149.


9.    [CALIFORNIA.]  A description of the Lake County California showing its advantage as a place of residence. [Lakeport ?]: published by authority of the Board of Supervisors, Clear Lake Press, 1888. $1,250

First edition, 8vo, pp. 80; folding map of Lake County, 6 wood-engraved illustrations in the text (4 full-p.) plus a lithograph of Clear Lake on the back wrapper; original chromolithograph front wrapper (with a very small hole), the whole neatly and almost imperceptibly rebacked; very good copy or better.

Lake County is just north of Napa. The pamphlet includes descriptions of Clear Lake, Borax Lake, Upper Lake, Lakeport, Kelseyville, and Middletown and their surroundings, Lower Lake, as well as the region's topography, timber, climate, mineral springs, natural history, etc. The last 20 pages contain ads for local businesses, and there are two poems by local residents extolling the virtues of Clear Lake.

Rocq, California Local History, 2599; 6 copies in OCLC.


10.   [CANESTRELLI, PHILIP.] Catechism of Christian doctrine prepared and enjoined by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. Translated into Flat-Head by a Father of the Society of Jesus. [Woodstock, Maryland]: Woodstock College, 1891. $150

First edition, 16mo, pp. 102; orig. unprinted pale green wrappers; light soiling but generally fine.

The work of Canestrelli, though uncredited, is "reported to be the most perfect Kalispel in print" (Schoenberg). Canestrelli (1839-1918) devoted his life to the Indians of Montana.

Pilling, Salishan, p. 12.


11.   [CATECHISM & HYMNS, in Tinne.] Canotle Rannaga Kelekak. Delochet Roka [Canticles, Hymns and Catechism in the Tinne language]. Winnipeg: Free Press no-rodeneleketekteyar, 1904.      $125

16mo, pp. 54; original limp pebble-grain black cloth; generally fine. Tinne is the language of the Ingalik Indians of Alaska.


12.   [CRIMONT, RAPHAEL, Joseph Cataldo, & Peter Paul Prando.] Prayers in the Crow Indian language [cover title].De Smet Mission Press, Idaho: 1891. $250

8vo, pp. 17; cream self-wrappers, title within an ornamental border; fine.

Schoenberg, Jesuit Mission Presses, 74 notes a blue wrapper with ornamental border.


13.   [DOVES PRESS.] Browning, Robert. Dramatis personae. [Hammersmith: 1910.].     $600

Edition limited to 265 copies, this one of 250 on hand-made paper, small 4to, pp. [19], 10-[203], [5]; printed in red and black, full original limp vellum; fine. The text is that of the first edition of 1864. Tomkinson 23; Tidcombe DP22.


14.   [DOVES PRESS.] Cobden-Sanderson, T.J. London: a paper read at a meeting of the Art Workers Guild ... March 6, 1891. [London: presented to the subscribers of the Doves Press by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, 1906].  $350

Edition limited to 305 copies, this one of 300 on handmade paper, small 4to, pp. 7, [1]; colophon leaf printed in red and black; original limp vellum; fine. Tomkinson 8; Tidcombe DP9.


15.   [DOVES PRESS.] Shakespeare, William. Venus and Adonis. [Hammersmith, 1912.]   $750

Edition limited to 215 copies, this one of 200 on hand-made paper, small 4to, pp. 8-[59], [1]; printed in red and black, full original limp vellum; fine. The text is that of the first edition printed by Richard Field, 1593. Tomkinson 32; Tidcombe DP30.


16.   [ELIOT, T. S.] Two chromolitograph trade cards from the firm of W. Prufrock, manufactuers of parlor furniture, etc., St. Louis.St. Louis: ca. 1890s.      $550

Each 3" x 4½", tracks of previous mount on the verso of 1, else generally fine. Trade cards from the source of Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Eliot took the last name of the title character from a sign advertising the William Prufrock furniture company, a business in Eliot's hometown of St. Louis. The initial J. and the name Alfred are inventions, probably mimicking the way Eliot occasionally signed his name as a young adult: T. Stearns Eliot.


17.   FINLEY, ANTHONY, publisher. A new general atlas, comprising a complete set of maps representing the grand divisions of the globe, together with the several empires, kingdoms, and states in the world; compiled from the best authorities. Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1826. $5,750

Second edition, folio, engraved title-page, engraved index page, 58 hand-colored copperplate maps on thick paper, hand-colored copperplate of the principal mountains of the works, and another hand-colored copperplate of the principal rivers of the world; engraved title a litte soiled, one small tear closed on the verso of 1 map, but in all a very good, complete copy with contemportary coloring throughout, bound in recent quarter straight-grain maroon morocco over marbled boards.

Finley was among the greatest map publishers of the period. The maps are engraved by Young and Delleker. See Phillips, Atlases, 4314 for another edition.


18.   HALL, BASIL, Captain. Narrative of a voyage to Java, China, and the great Loo-Choo Island, with accounts of Sir Murray Maxwell's attack on the Chinese batteries, and of an interview with Napoleon Buonaparte, at St. Helena. London: Edward Moxon, 1840.      $450

First edition thus, slim 8vo, pp. [8], 81, [1]; text in double column; 2 full-p. maps; original diaper-weave green cloth, morocco label on spine chipped, endpapers foxed, all else very good.

This is the account of the Feb. 9, 1816 - Oct. 14, 1817 voyage of the Lyra. Pages 10-68 cover the same part of the voyage described in the author's Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island, published 1818, but the text has been rewritten and the appendix omitted. An 1826 edition was published under title Voyage to Loo-Choo, and Other Places in the Eastern Seas, in the Year 1816; and an 1827 edition was published as Voyage to the Eastern Seas, in the Year 1816.

Capt. Basil Hall (1788-1844) was a captain in the navy and an author. He witnessed the Battle of Coruna in 1809, accompanied Lord Amherst's embassy to China, carried out pendulum observations off South America, interviewed Napoleon, and traveled in North America 1827-28, his Travels in North America appearing in 1829. He died insane in Haslar Hospital.


19.   HOWARD, FRANK. Colour, as a means of art, being an adaption of the experience of professors to the practice of amateurs. London: Joseph Thomas, sold by Charles Tilt, and Simpkin and Marshall, 1838.   $750

First edition, small 8vo, pp. [4], ii, [3]-106, [2] ads; frontispiece and 17 hand-colored lithograph plates after works by Howard; original blindstamped green cloth, gilt lettering on upper cover and spine; spine a little sunned, else near fine. Wakeman, Victorial Book Illustration, p. 40.


20.   LAYARD, AUSTEN HENRY. Early adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, including a residence among the Bakhtiyari and other wild tribes before the discovery of Nineveh. London: John Murray, 1887.      $1,250

First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. 8, [2], 490; 8, [2], 511; 2 frontispiece portraits (the first hand-colored), 2 plates and 3 folding maps; original decorative pea green cloth stamped in red and deep green (an unusual design); bookplate removed from vol. II; bookplate of Samuel Aldrich Croker in vol. I; generally a fine, sound set, largely unopened. Account of Layard's first trip to the Middle East, 1839-1842.


21.   LEE, GEORGE. River George. New York: Macaulay Company, [1937].    $450

First edition, 8vo, pp. 275; original green cloth, spine a bit faded; dust jacket worn, with some chips at the spine extremities, but barely touching any lettering.

Inscribed "Best wishes, George Lee" on the front free endpaper.

George Lee was a black author from Memphis who was active politically and served in World War I as one of the few black officers in the American Expeditionary Forces. He was politically active in the Republican Party and in 1928 he worked for the presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover, and again for Alf Landon in 1936. In 1960 he opposed Goldwater in favor of William Scranton, and he emerged from the convention "as a national symbol of the black struggle to find a place in the Republican Party." This is his first novel.


22. MBERI, ANTAR SUDAN KATARA. Bandages and bullets: in praise of the African revolution. A book of poems... Cambridge, Mass.: West End Press, [1977].         $125.00

First edition, 8vo, pp. 24; 1 full-p. illustration; generally fine in pictorial wrappers.

 Inscribed: "We will never bow down to racism, injustice and exploitation! Never forget Soweto and Miami - Antar Mberi 6/19/80."


23.   MURRAY, EUSTICE CLARE GRENVILLE. Young Brown ... Illustrated. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1874. $300

First American edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 157, [1], [2] ads; text in double column; frontispiece, vignette title-p., and 6 nearly full-p. illustrations in the text by M. Stone; original pictorial blue-green wrappers, slightly chipped at the spine extremities, else near fine. Issued as no. 38 in Osgood's Library of Novels series.

Wolff 5056 citing the Tauchnitz edition of the same year: "This absolutely brilliant, bitter novel attacking the aristocracy ran serially (anonymously) in The Cornhill from July 1873 through February 1874. It overlapped with Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd."


24.   [NAPA COUNTY, California.] The resources of Napa County, California, illustrated and described. Napa: by authority of the Board of Supervisors, 1887.  $2,800

First edition, large 8vo, pp. 34, [14]; folding map, vignette title-p., numerous wood-engraved illustrations throughout, including illustrated advertisements; fine in original decorative blue wrappers printed in gilt.

Includes a general description of the topography, climate, and timber; a description of Napa City (with a full-p. bird's-eye view), St. Helena, and Calistoga (also with bird's-eye view); gold and silver; fruit growing, and the grape and wine industry, etc.

Not found in OCLC; LC only in NUC; Rocq, California Local History, 5904, however, finds 7 in California libraries.


25.   NUTT, FREDERIC. The imperial and royal cook: consisting of the most sumptuous made dishes, ragouts, fricassees, soups, gravies, &c. foreign and English: including the latest improvements in fashionable life. London: printed by Mathews and Leigh by James Moyes, 1809.      $2,500

First edition, 8vo, pp. xxiv, 311, [13]; engraved frontispiece portrait of the author; lightest wear at the extremities else a near fine copy in origina; drab printed paper-covered boards, the title on the upper cover within a Greek key border, advertisements for Nutt's first book, The Complete Confectioner (now in its 6th edition) on the back cover, also within a Greek key border. A choice copy.

The Imperial and Royal Cook, Nutt's second book, was not intended for standard domestic use as so many cookery books were at this time, but the expensive recipes were intended instead for the "higher development of the art ... [for] opulent families, both in town and country, who wish to give handsome occasional entertainments to their select friends."

Bitting mentions only the second edition of 1819; Cagle 910; Vicaire 634; OCLC locates 7 copies in the US, and 1 in Canada; COPAC adds 3 more.


26.   [PACIFIC OCEAN.] Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Passage rates and general regulations... New York: Passanger Departmenbt, 6 Bowling Green, n.d., [1878].      $600

16mo, pp. 16; general information on the PMSC in Spanish, German and French; folding color map showing the various routes of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and tables throughout showing vessels, tonnage, connections, fares, etc., for voyages to Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco, Central America, British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, Bolivia, Chile, Equador, Peru, Hawaii, Japan, and China; original chromolithograph front wrapper; fine.

Berkeley and Cornell only in OCLC.


27.   PARK, WILLIAM HECTOR. Opinions of over 100 physicians on the use of opium in China. Shanghai: printed at the American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1899.     $200

First edition, slim 8vo, pp. xiv, 95, [3]; original cloth-backed printed boards, worn and stained, several pages loosening; a fair, but complete copy.


28.   [PATTERSON, A. W.] The Pacific coast speller. Revised edition. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co., n.d., [after 1873]. $100

12mo, pp. 132; text partially in printed script; 26 vignette illustrations for the 26 letters of the alphabet; original blue printed paper-covered boards (a la Webster) backed in brown cloth; rear hinge cracked, a few early pen and pencil annotations in the text; a very good copy. The text is divided into three sections: orthography; prefixes and suffixes; and, dictation. At the head of the title: Pacific Coast Series.


29.   [PAULDING, JAMES KIRK.] Letters from the South, written during an excursion in the summer of 1816. New York: James Eastburn, 1817. $950

First edition, 12mo, 2 vols., pp. [2], 254; [2], 260; contemporary American full tree calf, contrasting black and orange labels on gilt decorated spines; a lovely copy.

BAL 15693; Clark, Travels in the Old South, 228; Sabin 59203.


30.   [PRANDO, PETER PAUL.] History of the Old Testament [in the Crow language].[Pryor Creek, Montana(?), 1890s.]    $225

8vo, pp. 20; mimeograph [i.e. "spirit process" ] text in red (English headings) and blue (in Crow); self-wrappers; generally fine.

Peter Paul Prando was one of the most successful Indian missionaries in the Northwest. He arrived at St. Peter's Mission, Montana, in 1880 and established a small mission at Birch Creek among the Blackfeet in 1881. Prando made his first expedition among the Cheyenne in 1883; erected St. Joseph's Church at Sun River, Montana in 1887. He opened St. Charles Mission at Pryor Creek, Montana in 1892. This school closed for want of money in 1898, but was subsequently reopened in 1925. In 1898 Prando built a church dedicated to the Holy Cross at Dupuyer, Montana. He died of typhoid at the age of 61 at St. Michael's Mission, Spokane, in 1906. Nicknamed "Iron Eyes" by the Crow, he was not only an idol to them but also the finest Crow linguist among all the Jesuits.


31.   [PUNCH.] Press, M. Bound volume containing 25 original drawings by M. Press for Punch magazine. [London: mostly 1859-69.] $1,250

Small 4to, the mounted pen & ink drawings each approx. 6" x 4½", all but the first fully captioned; contemporary full green polished calf, gilt-paneled spine, a.e.g.; some rubbing but externally very good; internally fine.


32.   SEWELL, ANNA. Black Beauty. Boston: American Humane Education Society, [1890].      $2,000

First American edition, 8vo, pp. 245, [13]; a near fine, bright, sound, and clean copy with some very light chipping at the bottom of the spine, some light wear to the joints, one short crease to the rear board; unusual thus. New clamshell case with leather label.

A remarkable novel and worldwide bestseller, subtitled "The 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of the Horse." It was composed in the last years of Sewell's life, during which time she was confined to her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell living just long enough (five months) to see her first and only novel become a success. Although not originally intended as a children's novel, but for people who work with horses, it soon became a children's classic. With 50 million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time. While outwardly teaching animal welfare, it also contains allegorical lessons about how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect.



33.   THOMSON, JOHN. A letter to the Vice-President of the Board of Trade (R. L. Sheil), on protection to original designs and patterns, printed upon woven fabrics. Illustrated with plates. Clitheroe: H. Whalley, n.d., [1840].    $2,250

Only edition, 8vo, pp. [4], ii, 25, [1]; frontispiece and 14 color-printed plates of calico designs; modern gray paper-covered boards. Laid in is a late 18th century recipe on a single leaf approx. 5½" x 6½ " for printing lining" [i.e. linen] for makling paint in various colors and instructions for how to use the paint for stamping designs on cloth.

Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature, 31448; OCLC locates only the copy at the British Library; COPAC adds 5 others in the UK. Apparently no copies in North America.


 

 
 

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