Search Results: Essays from 20 Ants Fine Books, IOBA

Helsington, York: Redbeck Press. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1986. Limited Edition. Stiff wraps. Very slightly thumbed at corners.; A collection of Chandler's characteristic, tiny, seemingly random prose paragraphs, 89 in total, some as short as a single sentence. Examples: "A gathering of albinos. / Who now dares to ask, Where are the snows of yesteryear?" "Dissonance of a high order could break out at any moment. Which of course enchants us. Draws us in. / But our technique is always there. At the ready. Keeping order. Effortlessly. / We are reassured. We are tickled pink!" Brossard was not a writer for the masses and challenging to read and absorb. The following are chapters and the number of paragraphs therein. Ch. I : 7, Ch. II : 5, Ch. III : 8, Ch. IV : 1, Ch. V : 7, Ch. VI : 12, Ch. VII : 21, Ch. VIII : 10, Ch. IX : 17, Ch. X : 1. One of an unnumbered edition of 500 copies. On off-white, wove paper with blue-gray, wove endpapers. Mould made card stock… Read More

New York: G. K. Hall & Company. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1996. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Stray, small, white marks at the tail of the rear cover. ; Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning American author James Merrill wrote lyric poetry, Divine Comedies is an example and longer narrative work like The Charged Light at Sandover. Peripherally, he was an essayist and playwright. This book is an anthology of selected criticism of Merrill's poetry and essays and is comprised of eight reviews and eight essays by various authors. Well-indexed. Blue cloth over boards with gilt title to spine and front cover. First edition from G. K. Hall, not a reprint. Clean, crisp, sharp and new-looking. Near Fine condition due to the stray marks on the back cover.; Critical Essays on American Literature; tall 8vo 9" - 10" tall; Ix, 256 pages .

Redondo Beach, CA: 2.13.61. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1985. Second Printing. Softcover. Light crease at the spine, from head to tail. Very slightly thumbed.; Quasi-beat, brief musings and blurtings out, taken from the author's notes and journals. Henry Rollins, lead singer of innovative punk bands Black Flag and Rollins Band, writes off-center, dramatic, drastic, profane, and often extreme thoughts that are hopefully fiction. Written in all capitals, because that's just how he is. One of the tamer examples: "THE WORLD CAN BE SUCH A COLD AND LONELY / PLACE. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT EVERYBODY / KNOWS. SO COLD AND DARK THAT SOMETIMES I / THINK I'M GOING TO DISAPPEAR AND GO / SPINNING DOWN THE DRAIN. DOWN TO SOME / COLD SEWER. SELF-DESTRUCTION BECOMES A / STRAIGHT LINE. STRIKING BACK AT A WORLD / THAT DOES NOT EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME. YOU / CAN'T HURT IT, IT CAN ONLY HURT YOU BACK." / "1-85 OAKVILLE, CANADA" Rollin's own book and record publishing… Read More

Toronto, ON: House of Anansi Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 2001. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Tiny, closed tear to the publisher's paper band.; Thirty, tiny, quirky essays from this frequent contributor to McSweeny's. The essays span a mermaid in a jar, newly created fairy tales, a frog that gives relationship advice to a plumber, love, bad love, sex, “the littlest dumpling who had never been told his name,” and many that are depressive and matter of fact without making an obvious point or having a moral resolution. Sheila Heti's writing is unique. Five essays are reprinted from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Issue 4. The author has signed "love Sheila" in pen on the title page with a hand-drawn potted plant, "April 2003.", and the inscription "for a man with flowers and ties[?]. Includes ephemera: two stiff, paper hang tags. Each has a different, halftone, monochrome reproduction of do-it-yourself photo booth picture of… Read More

East Aurora, New York: The Roycroft Printing Shop. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1896. Limited/Numbered Edition. Hardcover. A light mark to the front cover, spine tail slightly bumped, bruise or dent to the head edge of the rear cover. Occasional, foxing to the pages, some pages foxed in the gutter at the head. ; In a periodical, Roycroft printed the first US appearance of George Bernard Shaw's essay on the institution of the church, primarily the Catholic Church, and churchgoers' reliance on organized religion. Although Shaw, via a postcard, had given Elbert Hubbard permission to publish this work, Shaw was horrified to find that Hubbard had taken liberties and edited the essay instead of printing it as it stood. Thereafter, Shaw disassociated himself from the Roycroft version, treated it as a piracy, and did not miss an opportunity to vilify Elbert Hubbard. From the essay, Shaw's thoughts on how drink, smoke, drugs, or the lack thereof, produce creative works, including… Read More

Lunenburg, Vermont: The Stinehour Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1963. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Letters written from France and England in 1960, these describe John R. Nash's encounters and visits with engravers, book printers, and job printers in their own establishments. They form an engaging essay with sufficient detail to interest those who appreciate private press work and the personalities behind that. Nash was the former graphic arts Professor and long-time mentor of Rocky Stinehour. Has Nash's 6 ink line drawings of the people and equipment in their shops. This book is a 1963 Christmas keepsake for friends of the Press. Bound in stiff, orange, laid paper wraps. Printed fully justified in an unspecified Monotype face. This is a clean, crisp Fine copy. ; Ink line drawings; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 27 [1] pages .

Westport: Privately Printed. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1929. Limited Edition. Softcover. Faintest sunning to the edges of the wraps. Tail corner of front wrap has tiny, light crease.; The author's essay on why limited editions should exist in the wide world of publishing, reading, and collecting. "Why do the heathen so furiously rage against limited issues, large-papers, first editions, and the rest? For there is certainly more to be said for than against them. Broadly speaking, all such 'fads' are worthy of being encouraged, because they maintain, in some measure, the expiring dignity of letters, the mystery of books." "If writers and publishers only gave a thought to what they are doing when they generate such large families of books, careless as the salmon with its million young, we should have no such sad alms-houses of learning as Booksellers' Row, no such melancholy distress-sales of noble authors as remainder auctions. A good book is beyond price;… Read More

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1926. Limited Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Slight wear to tips and head and tail edges of the covers. The dust jacket is sunned and has slight chipping at the rear head edge and the head and tail at the spine. ; Fourteen humorous essays from this master of the genre and novelist, journalist, and poet. Christopher Morley's style is that of a man of letters and his work is dry, subtle humor, not lowest common denominator funny. Each essay illustrated with an ink drawing by Walter Jack Duncan, a noted book and magazine illustrator who drew scenes from WWI Europe for the US government. Copy 83 of a limited edition of 365 and boldly signed by Morley on the limitation page. Backed in black cloth with festive covers of textured black cloth printed with bunches of grapes in purple and gold, over boards. Paper title label to spine. Gilt head of the text block with uncut and rough fore edges. A page… Read More

Norwich, New York: Private Printing. Very Good. 1939. Limited/Numbered Signed Edition. Hardcover. Some splay to the front cover and a slight roll to the spine. The title label was applied at a slight angle. The glassine wrapper has a couple of nicks. The box is darkened with wear to the extremities.; In 1897, young Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the New-York Sun newspaper. "I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?" The letter was handed to Francis Church, a cynical and sardonic Sun writer, who rose to the challenge and in 423 words crafted a kind response that struck into the souls of readers, then and now. Church cast Santa Claus as someone who didn't need to be seen to be proven, but as a supernatural manifestation of love, generosity, beauty, and faith it what is good. "Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding." This copy was privately… Read More