Search Results: Culture, Customs, Folklore from Citation Books, ABAA/ ILAB

London: John Russell Smith, 1851. First edition. Sextodecimo (6.5" x 4.5"), xvi & [1] - 200 pages. Errata slip tipped to p. xvi. Publisher's maroon cloth lettered in gilt on the spine & decorated in blind.
Binding moderately soiled, small stain on the lower cover, brief wear at spine extremities & corners, short annotation in old ink at the ffep, otherwise very good.
"The following little work is intended to embrace a collection of the lingual localisms; popular superstitions, fairy-lore, and other traces of Teotonic heathenism, to this day preserved among the rural population of Northamptonshire ..." ~Excepted from the Preface.

New York: Book Collectors Society, by arrangement with Thames & Hudson, no date (ca. 1953). Limited to 250 copies, this unnumbered & out of series. 8vo, x & 350 pp, indexed, Illustrated by numerous photogravure plates & line drawings. Publisher's full pebbled brown morocco lettered in gilt on spine, with pink satin marker sewn in.
Lightly rubbed, brief wear at corners, gift inscription at title page, front hinge cracking, otherwise very good.
Maya Deren, born Eleanora Derenkowskaia, is highly regarded as the mother of avant-garde film making She visited Haiti between 1947 and 1954 funded by a Guggenheim fellowship where she wrote Divine Horsemen and filmed what would become a posthumously released documentary of the same name.

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1930. First edition. Octavo (9.25" x 6.25"), 473 & [1] pages, illustrated, the frontispiece by Keith Mackaye & linoleum cuts by Ina Annett. Publisher's gilt-lettered light brown cloth, with a pictorial device depicting a team of horses & a man plowing a field.
Margins sunned, base of the spine with shallow loss, corners bumped, internal toning mostly affecting endpapers & pastedowns, previous owner's name & place in ink at the ffep, small booksellers' label at front pastedown, otherwise good or better.
This copy from the library of Allen Walker Read, an American etymologist and lexicographer, best known for his studies into the words "okay" and "fuck."
Contents include Wide River by Langston Hughes, Apocrypha of Billy the Kid by Maurice G. Fulton, & The Witch by Paul Horgan.

New York: A.A. Wyn, 1948. First American edition but printed in Great Britain with price in pounds sterling. Duodecimo (7.5" x 5.25"), xi & 159 pages, the title page printed in red & black. Publisher's yellow cloth lettered in brown on the spine, in pictorial dus jacket.
Slight shelf wear, otherwise near fine in soiled dust jacket, browned at the spine, with edge wear including nicks & small losses, a good or better example.
The original Chinese edition, "Hsing Shih Heng Yen" [Common Tales to Rouse the World], was published in 1627. The tales include Love in a Junk; Brother or Bride?; The Everlasting Couple; & The Mandarin-Duck Girdle.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970. First edition. Octavo (8.5" x 5.75"), 287 pages. Publisher's light green cloth lettered in orange on the spine & upper cover, in pictorial dust jacket.
Margins slightly sunned, bottom corners lightly bruised, two leaves roughly opened causing a small loss & short tear in the bottom margin (text unaffected), a very good or better copy in moderately soiled & foxed dust jacket with light edge wear (including a couple ot tears without loss), browned at the spine, with small stain at the top (mostly evident on the verso), still about very good.
The Ghanaian author's second novel which "takes its major theme from the shattered spiritual vision versus the grotesque material expectations of Africa today." ~Excerpted from the dust jacket.

London: J.R. Smith, 1849. First edition, this copy with presentation in ink at the ffep: "R. Higginson, Esq / With the author's / kind regards." Octavo (8.25" x 5"), xiv, [1, "Addenda et Corrigenda"] & 151 pages plus 12 pages of publisher's advertisements. With frontis map depicting "Part of Teesdale in Durham. Showing the District to which the Teesdale Glossary refers." Publisher's light brown cloth lettered in gilt & decorated in blind.
Binding soiled, spine cocked, small splits at the joints, corners bruised, minor foxing, otherwise about good & still quite useful.
The author notes in his preface that he has "introduced into this work some descriptions of local custums, sports, and pastimes, which may tend to rescue from oblivion these fast-perishing relics of a bygone period."

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905. First edition. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 29. Octavo (9.5" x 6"), 448 pages. Publisher's gilt lettered & decorated olive cloth.
Modest wear at spine extremities, corners, & edges, gilt dull, binding moderately soiled, front hinge started (still secure), internally toned, otherwise good or better.
The language of the Haida was suppressed at Native American residential schools during the late 19th & early 20th centuries in favor of the English only dictum. Today, it is estimated that fewer than 50 people speak Haida, most over age 70.

[Tokyo]: Published by the Government of Japan with the cooperation of the Mainchi Newspapers, (1964). First edition. Complete in three small folio volumes: 224; 215, [1]; & 220 pp, profusely illustrated mostly from photographs (many in color). Publisher's yellow, red, or light blue cloth lettered in black on the spines, housed in a black cloth slipcase with printed paper label on the upper cover, secured by bone clasps. Spine lettering lightly rubbed, slight soiling, trace edge wear, otherwise Very Good An extensive survey of Japan near the end of the mid-century period. The lengthy introduction concludes with a portion of the preamble of the Japanese Constitution: "We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth."Please note, international shipping is by quote only for this 16 lb set.

New York: Viking Press, 1940. First edition. 4to, 70 & [2] pp, including charming illustrations in color & black & white throughout. Publisher's salmon cloth lettered in brown on the spine, with an applied paper illustration in color on the upper cover, in pictorial dust jacket.
Gift inscription & date in ink in a childish hand at the ffep, otherwise Fine in price clipped dust jacket, moderately soiled, with tanning mostly on the verso.
Author Hilda Van Stockum's A Day on Skates was a Newberry Honor book in 1935.

London: William Pickering, 1848. First edition, this copy with signed presentation by Evans in ink at the front pastedown to the Library of the [Royal] Archaeological Institute. 16mo, xvii & 116 pp. Publisher's maroon cloth lettered in gilt & decorated in blind. All edges gilt.
Ex-library with the small rubber-stamped mark of the Royal Archaeological Institute in the margins of several pages, brief edge wear, moderately soiled, spine & margins browned, occasional minor foxing, bookplate of V.S.M. de Guinzbourg at the ffep with attendant glue stain on the verso, a good or better copy.
Post-Archaelogical Institute, this title ended up in the collection of Lt. Colonel Victor de Guinzbourg who served in the Counter-Intelligence Corps during World War II as a liaison officer with the French Foreign Legion & as political adviser to General Alexander M. Patch, commander of the Seventh Army. Later, he worked at the United Nations as staff interpreter & executive officer of the Military Staff Committee.… Read More

Tokyo: T Hasegawa, Publisher & Art-Printer, [ca 1902]. 12mo, [24] pages (including covers) printed in color on crepe paper on 12 folded sheets, stabbed & tied with silk thread, illustrated throughout. Blanck/ BAL 7937C. Margins lightly sunned, briefly soiled, modest edge wear, otherwise very goodThe publisher's address as given in the colophon in Japanese (p. [23]) is 17 Kami Negishi which, as noted in OCLC (citing the BAL), is one of three Tokyo-only printings but preceded by an issue with the address provided as 38 Honmura-cho.

Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A Hart, 1837. First American edition. Complete in two octavo volumes, [9], 10 - 199; [9], 10 - 186 pp. Contemporary paper over boards backed in plum muslin with printed paper spine labels.
Bindings soiled & rubbed, spines & labels browned, lettering on labels obscure, shallow losses at spine extremities, joints splitting on volume two, previous owner's name in old ink at the pastedowns & first blank page of both volumes, Good or so. From the library of Henry Augustus Muhlenberg who was a Lutheran clergyman in Lancaster, Pennsylvania & additionally served in congress from from 1829 to 1838. The first American edition, originally published with a slightly variant title in Dublin in 1836. The Dublin imprint supplies Philip Dixon Hardy as editor & describes the contents as "selections from the Dublin Penny Journal."

Penzance: F Rodda, Printer & Publisher, 1895. First edition. 8vo, xii, 139 pp, frontis portrait of the author. Publisher's gilt lettered blue cloth.
Lightly rubbed, brief offsetting at pastedowns & endpapers, minor foxing, binding started in a couple of places (still secure), last two leaves of text roughly opened causing small losses not affecting text, otherwise Very Good.
Presents a collection of the author's poetry printed by his friends after his death & available by subscription. In addition to the lengthy glossary, a section of "Charms" (including a charm for stopping bleeding), and "Local Proverbs & Phrases" is provided. As we learn from the glossary, "Randigal" means "rigmarole, a nonsensical story."

Prague, Czechoslovakia: Artia, (1958). Oblong quarto (8.25" x 10.5"), publisher's pictorial boards backed in light gray cloth-patterned paper initialed in print on the front cover by Vojtech Kubasta & signed in print at the colophon. The front cover features an oval cutout showing Snow White which revolves to reveal the seven dwarfs, with text in Dutch & 8 pop ups within (as issued).
Lightly rubbed, couple of bruises in the edges, corners bumped, slightly soiled, previous owner's name in ink at the colophon, otherwise very good or better.
A delightful & early pop up book by architect & artist Vojtech Kubasta (1914 - 1992). Beginning in 1956, he designed & illustrated pop ups for Artia, the Cold War-era state-owned publishing house in Prague. Kubasta's books have been translated into 24 languages & over 35 million copies have been sold.

Hamburg, Germany: Carlsen Verlag, printed in Prague, Czechoslovakia by Artia, (1960). Oblong quarto (8.25" x 10.5"), publisher's pictorial boards backed in decorated white cloth-patterned paper signed in print by Vojtech Kubasta. The front cover features a dropdown depicting the unset table when closed & revealing the set table when opened, with text in German & 8 pop ups within (as issued).
Lightly rubbed, couple of bruises in the edges, brief wear at corners, slightly soiled, otherwise very good or better.
A delightful & early pop up book by architect & artist Vojtech Kubasta (1914 - 1992). Beginning in 1956, he designed & illustrated pop ups for Artia, the Cold War-era state-owned publishing house in Prague. Kubasta's books have been translated into 24 languages & over 35 million copies have been sold.