Search Results: Authors starting with K from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

London: Gollancz, 1937. First Thus. Hardcover. Good. The uncommon first English language edition of this classic 20th century novel. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, with an epilogue by Kafka's friend and champion Max Brod. 285 pages. First edition (first printing, with no additional printings noted). Spine faded; offsetting to endpapers, possibly from an old book covering; generally good; lacking the dust jacket. This copy, however, has an interesting provenance, with the ownership signatures of the Surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Texas writer Larry McMurtry along with McMurtry's stirrup bookplate.

Milano [Milan]: Edizioni del Buon Tempo (in collaboration with Lazy Dog Press), 2010. First Edition. Pamphlet. Fine. An Italian translation of one of the most widely reprinted sections of Kafka's book Contemplations (Betrachtung), here printed in xylographic calligraphy. The artist Luca Barcellona carved the text into wood blocks and printed it over five pages of this eight-leaf book. Limited to 40 copies, signed by the artist on the colophon. With an afterword by Lucio Passerini and three pages reproducing color photographs of the production process. Luca Barcellona is an Italian calligrapher. Roughly 10 by 7 inches (oblong). 8 folded leaves, sewn Japanese-style at the spine. One leaf is blank. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine folding-paper sleeve. Signed by Barcellona on the colophon.

Sacramento, CA: Yorozu Shoten Shutchojo, 1916. First Edition. The earliest work treating the Japanese from Hiroshima Prefecture in California which stresses agricultural activities. Provides statistics for the years 1912-1913 broken down into Gun origins, data on the distribution of those engaged in agricultural pursuits, and information on the various prefectural organizations throughout the state. Concludes with a Who's Who in California."-Buried Past, 311. In the author's introduction, he says work on the book began in October 1913 and continued for two years. He traveled throughout California to meet and interview farmers and business owners for the Who's Who section. The book is illustrated with 37 pages of halftone plates of Japanese American businesses, farms, and prominent families. The Who's Who has in-text halftone portraits of many of those profiled. The prefaces provide context for this early directory and history. Despite the anti-Asian sentiment in the United States, the Japanese… Read More

New York: Waldon Press, 1961. First Edition. A biography of Abraham Lincoln written in Albanian. The author (1904-1989) was an Albanian Sufi Muslim journalist who emigrated to the US after World War Two. He worked for the Albanian section of the Voice of America and in retirement wrote several books (this seems to have been his first) and edited an Albanian-American newspaper. While he lived mostly in Washington, DC, Kallajxhi was very active with the Sufi community in Michigan. An interesting footnote to the perennial interest in Lincoln. 80 pages. Kallajxhi's biographical details are from Huseyin Abiva's translation of Kallajxhi's "Bektashism...." First edition (first printing). Very good in wrappers (paperback).

Istanbul: Saye-i Sahane-i Humayûn, 1844. First Edition. The first edition of the first Turkish cookbook, which was the foundation of Turkish cuisine through (at least) nine 19th century editions. Türabi Efendi's Turkish Cookery Book, which had two 19th century editions, was a translation that didn't credit Kamil's book. Kamil provides the first printed recipes for well-known Turkish dishes like kebabs, kofte, dolmas, pulao rice, and baklava. A number of the recipes call for tomatoes, which were still relatively uncommon in European cuisine. The author was on the medical school faculty in Istanbul. The book is lithographed from a manuscript written in Ottoman Turkish written with the Arabic alphabet. There is a printed gloss in the margins of many pages, in the style of Arabic manuscripts of the era. The colophon concludes (in English translation), "completed and printed in the shadow of HMS [Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I], in the year 1260 [i.e. AD 1844], in the last days of Sha'ban month." 2-132… Read More

Tokyo: Tobei Kyokai, 1906. Trade paperback. Very good. Third edition. "An updated and expanded guide to America which has information on employment, the Texas Japanese rice colony, and a special section on women. The 54-page appendix consists of basic English."-A Buried Past, 118. This is one of many guides to studying and immigrating to the United States by Katayama Sen that he published under a variety of similar titles with somewhat different content. This guide came out near the end of the brief period of open Japanese immigration to the United States. The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 would significantly curtail immigration. Katayama spent a dozen years in the United States, returning to Japan in 1896. He discovered socialism while in America and became one of the founding members of the Socialist party in Japan. He saw emigration to the United States as an opportunity for the Japanese working class and founded the Tobei Kyokai (the Going to America Association) and published a magazine… Read More

Tokyo: Rodo Shinbunsha, 1901. Trade paperback. Near fine. The third printing (same year as the first) of this very scarce guide to emigration to the United States. "A brief guide to America primarily for students and laborers. The author describes his own 13-year experience in America as a student and laborer from 1884 to 1896. Also reprints short notes from students studying in America. The appendix consists of basic English."-A Buried Past, 117. The appendix presents words in Japanese kanji, with the phonetic pronunciation in English using katakana characters. (NB: This is the same book as Tobei annai, the title listed in A Buried Past. See Tokyo Life, New York Dreams, chapter 6, footnote 56.) This guide was published by the socialist Labor Press and was a publication of Katayama's immigration company, the Association for the America-Bound (Tobei Kyokai). Among the courses of study Katayama recommends is medine, since "the anatomy of Americans, Japanese and Indians are all the same" (pp.… Read More

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green and John Taylor, 1830. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. An introduction to the topic issued in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia series. ix, 342 pages, and ca. 20 plates. 4 by 6-3/4 inches. First edition (first printing, with 1830 date on the title page and on the second, decorative title page). Bound in half-calf over marbled paper-covered boards. Paper worn; edges showing wear.

Tokyo: Nihon Tosho Shuppan, 1921. Hardcover. Very good. A book divided into two parts. The first looks at the political and military significance of the Pacific area, the importance and role of the Hawaiian Islands, the American national character, the American economy, and finally U.S.-Japanese trade relations. The second half provides a summary of the economic and social life of the Japanese, mainly in California, and surveys the exclusion movement."-A Buried Past, 246. The front and back matter, including the endpapers, have ads for many Japanese American businesses, with the majority located in San Francisco and Stockton, California. [16], 5, [1], 12, 506, [2], 18, [14] pages. The 18-page appendix before the final group of ads is a bit of boosterism for Monterey, California. Due to the typically complex pagination of Japanese books, it is not clear if all copies have the appendix. OCLC: 682927365, 33758665, 682927365. First edition (first printing). A very good or better copy in blue cloth.… Read More

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good/Very good. A scarce and interesting look at a Japanese laborer's view of the possibilities of working in America at the height of Japanese immigration to this country. "Based on the author's 4-year personal experience in America, this book presents facts on labor conditions and wages by skilled versus unskilled, urban versus rural job categories and on the prospects for employment for Japanese workers."-A Buried Past, 120. Kawamura (who shares a name with a well-known Japanese banker) provides one of the most detailed guides to working in the United States published in the Meiji era, just before the Gentlemen's Agreement severely restricted Japanese immigration to the United States. He provides anecdotal and detailed information on dozens of professions and industries in the United States accessible to Japanese immigrants, from work in mines and railroads to farming (with separate entries for dozens of crops) to service jobs in… Read More

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A scarce and interesting look at a Japanese laborer's view of the possibilities of working in America at the height of Japanese immigration to this country. "Based on the author's 4-year personal experience in America, this book presents facts on labor conditions and wages by skilled versus unskilled, urban versus rural job categories and on the prospects for employment for Japanese workers."-A Buried Past, 120. Kawamura (who shares a name with a well-known Japanese banker) provides one of the most detailed guides to working in the United States published in the Meiji era, just before the Gentlemen's Agreement severely restricted Japanese immigration to the United States. He provides anecdotal and detailed information on dozens of professions and industries in the United States accessible to Japanese immigrants, from work in mines and railroads to farming (with separate entries for dozens of crops) to service jobs in cities. He seems… Read More

Tokyo: Keibunkan, 1925. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. An examination of the likelihood and potential shape of a war in the Pacific between Japan and the United States, with an emphasis on naval and aerial battles. Kawashima focuses more on the Philippines and Guam and less over Hawaii than some writers on the subject. He also considers wireless (telegraph) communication lines and the relative abilities of the US and Japan to replace damaged ships. Kawashima published this book in February 1925, several months before the appearance of Hector Bywater's Great Pacific War, the most influential book in English to predict a US-Japan conflict. Like Bywater, Kawashima was a naval journalist, and he was one of the most well-regarded Japanese analysts. An extensive translation of Kawashima's response to Bywater's Great Pacific War was published in Our Navy, which billed itself as "the standard magazine of the U.S. Navy" (Mid-September 1925, Vol. XIX, no. 10). Politically, Kawashima was a member… Read More

New York: A Lookout Book / powerHouse Books, 2002. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. A curious volume reproducing amateur clown paintings from the collections of actor Diane Keaton and gallerist Robert Berman. With essays by comedians on clowns, including contributions by Woody Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Roseanne Barr, Dick Van Dyke, John Waters, and Robin Williams (to include just last names beginning A-B and V-W). 128 pages. 9 by 11-1/2 inches. Illustrated throughout in full color. First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). This copy is inscribed by Keaton to her close friend, the Pulitzer-and-Oscar-winning author Larry McMurtry, "Larry--> You need this like a hole in the head. di." With McMurtry's distinctive stirrup bookplate on the front pastedown. A fine copy in a near fine, slightly spine-faded dust jacket.

Iowa City, Iowa: The Stone Wall Press, 1960. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Weldon Kees mysteriously disappeared in 1955 and is presumed to have committed suicide; this book collects Kees's three published collections as well as uncollected poems. This book was an attempt (largely successful) to establish Kees's reputation as a major mid-20th century American poet. In his introduction, Donald Justice describes him as "an important poet, among the three or four best of his generation." This is one of 180 numbered copies, quarter-bound in leather, from an edition of 200 copies. [iv], 140, [3] pages. Printed letterpress. 7 by 10-1/4 inches. First edition (first printing). A near fine copy (minor wear to the corners with almost none of the fading to the boards that so many copies seem to have. Lacking the unprinted acetate dust jacket.

[Washington DC]: (n.p.), 1862. First Edition. Pamphlet. Fine. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, claiming to speak for the business community of the West Coast, argues that the success of Chinese merchants in California and the growing trade with China requires armed transport across the Pacific Ocean to ensure the safe passage of gold and silver: "A steam mail line across the Pacific to Japan and China, in subsidized steamers or in armed vessels of the government, by which treasure shipments can be made and protected, is a necessity..." Such a route would transfer the commerce in bullion, which at the time depended on Mexican silver, to California gold. "The Chinese merchants of San Francisco are now exclusively using gold bars, in preference to silver, in their remittances to their countrymen... Within a few years after the establishment of a line of steamers, the entire production of the precious metals of California will be absorbed in the East India and China business." The Pacific Mail… Read More

New York: Doubleday & Company, 1976. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A Double D Western set in Texas, written under one of Kelton's pseudonyms. First edition (stated). A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. A bit of foxing to the endpapers. Signed by the author, "Elmer Kelton alias Lee McElroy.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. A frontier Texas novel whose protagonists are a Comanche warrior and a Buffalo Soldier. First edition (stated). A very good copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket. The jacket has some surface scuffing and small spots of discoloration. Inscribed, "For Tom-Best wishes-Elmer Kelton 11/18/93.

Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2008. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. This book reproduces 148 tintype portraits by Kendrick of modern cowboys who look like they walked off the range 150 years ago. Essay by Marianne Wiggins. Afterword by photographer Jay Dusard. Published as volume 22 of the M. K. Brown Range Life series. 232 pages. 8 by 10-1/2 inches. First edition (stated, with no indication of later printings). A fine copy in a slightly grubby but otherwise fine mostly white dust jacket. This copy is signed by Kendrick. It also has a signed print of the image of Stephanie Hagenbarth with her horse, in Idaho (plate 49). The top edge of the book has also been branded by Kendrick, "RK*XIII." How many copies were in this branded limited edition is not known to your cataloguer.

New York: Dial Press, 1969. First edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The author's first book. First edition (first printing stated). A very good copy in a very good dust jacket with moderate surface scuffing. Decent, but not great.

London: Edward Moxon, 1838. First Edition. Leather bound. Very good. A collection of poems by a British man of leisure (John Kenyon was born in Jamaica, where his father owned sugar plantations and kept workers in bondage, but he lived most of his life in England). He provided financial support to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, introduced Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett, and supported literary and cultural programs. This is his second book of poems. Rather uncommon. First edition (first printing). Light wear to the corners, else very good in later 19th-century full pebbled morocco with all edges gilt (binding by P. Low of Boston). This copy is inscribed by the author, "To Mrs. Paige from her friend the Author. London 1839." The recipient seems likely to be Harriette Story Paige, who accompanied Daniel Webster on a tour of England in 1839, where Kenyon paid special attention to them. Paige's diary of the trip was published as "Daniel Webster in England" in 1917.