Search Results: Authors starting with O from McBride Rare Books

Chicago: April 2-4, 1948. Very good.. [1],23pp. Mimeograph typescript, stapled. A couple of small chips and short internal closed tear to preliminary sheet; otherwise, light toning and dust soiling. A fascinating typescript report that provides a detailed account of a meeting entitled the "Conference on More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity," which took place in Chicago during early April, 1948. The conference sought to distill the focus of antiwar leaders following World War II, and led to the foundation of the Peacemakers, an influential pacifist group into the Vietnam War era, and brought about renewed focus on tax resistance as a war protest tool and conscientious objection to the continuing military draft during peacetime. The conference was called by many prominent and rising members of the Civil Rights movement, such as George Houser, a founder of the Congress on Racial Equality; Ernest & Marion Bromley and Juanita & Wally Nelson, organizers of the first Freedom Rides, David… Read More

[Philadelphia, 1955. Overall, very good.. Thirty-two items, totaling [115]pp. Previously folded. A few staples, with light oxidation. Very occasional, moderate damstaining. Otherwise light toning and minor edge wear. Interesting collection of materials emanating from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO), an important secular pacifist organization established in the late 1940s. The group was chaired by eminent and longtime supporters of conscientious objection, Ray Newton and A.J. Muste, and its other founding leaders included civil rights and anti-war activists such as Bayard Rustin and David Dellinger, later one of the Chicago Seven. The organization gained most prominence during the Vietnam War years, but the present material provides good context for the early years of the group. Included here are eighteen issues of the official newsletter, "News and Notes of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors," which printed news of significant legal developments regarding… Read More

Akron, Pa: Mennonite Central Committee, 1945. Very good.. Two pamphlets. [12];[8]pp. Illustrated self wrappers, stapled. Minor soiling and wear. Two pamphlets issued by the Mennonite Church promoting peaceful contributions to the war effort for its pacifist members. The first offers details on the Civilian Public Service, a string of nearly fifty camps across the United States and Puerto Rico operated by the Mennonite Church for agriculture, conservation, and healthcare, to which men could volunteer for the duration of the war. The second explains the necessity of being a conscientious objector as a Mennonite as well as its validity, and denounces various occupations such as working in defense plants as inherently violent, before it exhorts readers to join the CPS.

Middletown, Ct, 1955. Very good.. 32pp. Spiral bound small folio. Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photo reproductions. Minor wear. A remembrance book produced by a group of conscientious objectors (COs) who worked at the Connecticut State Hospital mental hospital instead of joining the armed forces. In the introduction, they wrote: "Though it is true we have not gone out of the battle fronts of war, we sincerely desire that we may have served our God and our nation well by enlisting in the battle against disease and suffering, in the name of Christ." Assistant Superintendent H.S. Whiting, M.D. commented in the booklet that the COs played an important role: "One of the most important, and perhaps least understood, elements in the treatment of mental patients is the role of interpersonal relations in this environment...The group for which this is written has, in my judgement, filled this role unusually well." The booklet includes biographies and photographs of the COs who served as… Read More

[Various places, including New York, Los Angeles, Louisville, Ky., & Cherokee, Ia, 1948. About very good.. Four typed articles, totaling [13]pp., plus five pieces of printed ephemera. Some staples. Light toning and wear, slightly heavier in places. An interesting group of four typed reports from Methodist conscientious objectors spanning World War II and just after, and cover a series of disparate topics. The earliest, dated August 2, 1940, is titled, "Statement of the Commission on World Peace of the Methodist Church to the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives," which, while not supporting pacifism and conscientious objection, affirms the denomination's commitment to peace efforts and its opposition to the peacetime draft. Another reprints an editorial from the Methodist Pastor of Los Angeles supporting the right of conscientious objectors to refuse military service. The final two typescripts provide accounts of Methodists in Civilian Public Service jobs later in the war,… Read More

Hudson, Mi, 1898. Good.. 40pp. Original red printed wrappers; front cover detached. Spine and covers chipped, contemporary library ink stamps on front cover and title page. Internally clean, though a bit fragile, several leaves loosening. Poetry published in the tiny town of Hudson, Michigan, near the Ohio border. One poem, "At Last," extolls the virtues of the Spanish-American War: "At last we are after those butchers / Who blew up our boys and the Maine, / And starved half a million of wretches, / Those miserable subjects of Spain." The cover notes that the poems "Old Glory," "The Bells," and "The Girls of Michigan" will also be published in the form of sheet music. Two copies located in OCLC, at the Library of Congress and the Library of Michigan. We locate no other works by this author in OCLC.

Cincinnati: Printed by J.B. & R.P. Donogh, 1839. Good.. 520pp. plus 10 plates. Lacks pp.25-26. Modern quarter morocco and marbled boards. Scattered foxing and soiling to text, outer leaves with some chipping and wear. Top half of pp.43-46 cut away (ads), likewise bottom half of pp.55-56 (also ads). A solid copy. Scarce early directory for Cincinnati, with additional coverage of the small towns of Covington and Newport located directly across the river in Kentucky. The first eighty pages contain advertisements for local businesses, printed in blue, brown, red, or green ink, and often illustrated. (It is assumed that the leave which have been cut away contained interesting woodcut advertisements, resulting in their removal from the volume.) The ten plates interspersed throughout the text are engraved advertisements for businesses in the area. There follows an alphabetical listing for each town, with Cincinnati comprising the bulk of the text, and the three little towns occupying the last eighty or so… Read More

Columbus, 1914. Very good.. 33pp. Original green printed wrappers, stapled. Light wear and soiling, heavier to spine. Internally clean. A report prepared following the enactment of an Ohio constitutional amendment requiring the state to set a minimum wage. This report summarizes responses to a state-wide survey about women's wages in department stores and other retail establishments, providing statistics on wages by both city and age group. The most common wage was $6 per week, and the most common number of hours worked was 52. An interesting tool in the historical investigation of women's work.

[Mystic, Ct, 1954. Overall, very good.. Approximately 210 individual documents of varying lengths. Light wear. Post-World War II business archive of George Deneke, an Old Mystic, Connecticut, resident who invested heavily in oil and mining operations in the Western United States and Canada. Present here are well over 200 individual documents documents relating to numerous ventures in which Deneke had an interest or for which he had requested information. Included are large group of over fifty documents concerning the notorious Canadian stock scheme, Gaspe Oil Ventures Limited, which in 1954 the New York state Attorney General called "the largest fraud case in 15 years." Also here are about thirty items relating to the Landowners' Royalties Company, a curious husband and wife operation based in Framingham, New Mexico, that offered wildcat investment opportunities in Montana's Williston Basin, of which there is a large and detailed map. Another sizable and attractive map depicts "Oil in the Rockies,… Read More

San Francisco: California State Mining Bureau, 1922. Very good.. Blueline map, approximately 29 x 44 inches. Old folds, scattered dust-soiling, minor wear at crossfolds, light wear and occasional short closed tears to edges, subtly reinforced with tape on verso, a handful of small pencil emendations. An impressive plat map showing land and mineral rights ownership in Long Beach, California in the early 1920s. The owners of the land include notable oil companies such as Standard Oil, Shell, United, Dabney, General Petroleum, Long Beach Petroleum, and others. Several plots of land are noted as owned by "Alfred Barstow, Trustee." Barstow described himself as an accountant in the petroleum industry in the 1940 census. A legend of thirteen symbols keyed to locations on the map designates such features as rigs, tanks, drilling sites, and more. Several handwritten pencil notations and markings add an extra level of interest to the map, with numerous pencil points added (which according to the key indicates… Read More

[Oakland, 1909. About very good.. Six pieces, including three real photo postcards, typed letter, folding map, and transmittal envelope. Light creasing to images; light tanning to letter and map. Interesting promotional material for the La Blanc Oil Company for their developments in the Sunset Oil Field in Kern County, California in 1909. A folding plat map of the field near Maricopa, southwest of Bakersfield, shows La Blanc's holdings highlighted in red and a brief text touts the geographical relation to other producing wells. Also included is a typed progress report on the depth of drilling accomplished and the anticipated time before reaching the deposits, which assures investors that, "No doubt is expressed by any one of our ultimate success." The photo postcards show supposedly representative images of gushing oil pipes, overflowing oil barrels, and a very pleased group of men overseeing the scene. A nice group, with the original transmittal envelope addressed to an Edgar Bonnemort of Oakland.

[N.p., but likely Pennsylvania], 1892. Good.. [28]pp. Folio. Original black half sheep and marbled boards. Spine and corners heavily worn, boards worn. Several leaves cut away, with later French funeral notices pasted in on stubs. Ledger recording transactions for several companies and individuals extracting oil in Pennsylvania from 1889 to 1892. The ledger records the name of the company, listing the date and then barrels of crude and refined oil "sound" and "broke." Named parties involved in the extraction include James Stewart, Aetna Oil Co., Miles Stitt, Crew Levick Co., Jos. Kelly & Co., James Harding, and others. Several have street addresses listed below their names, which would allow for firmer identification with some research. Notations are occasionally in French, and taken together with the funeral notices pasted in at the front of the volume, we surmise that the owner of the ledger may have been Francois Poulard of Philadelphia, to whom one of the notices is addressed.

Houston: L.L. Ridgway Co, 1929. About very good.. Blueline map printed on linen, 38.5 x 58.5 inches. Handcolored. Old folds. Some light scattered soiling and dampstaining in spots. Expansive map of the northern portion of Tyler County, Texas, which is located northeast of Houston near the Louisiana border. Ownership plots are individually delineated, noting both the owner and often the acreage. There are numerous manuscript notations in the north-central portion of the map, indicating oil leases and ownership changes over the years; the whole is color-coded with handcoloring, though no key is present. Tyler County is still a significant area for oil and gas production today. This copy belonged to Charles Laverne Decker (1898-1955), a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Decker was a native of Missouri who spent much of his time working oil in Texas. We find no record of this map in OCLC, and this is certainly a unique artifact, given that it has been annotated and colored by hand.

Corpus Christi, Tx: Zingery Map Co, 1930. Very good.. Blueline sheet map, 41.5 x 52 inches. Printed on thick paper. Old folds. Contemporary manuscript notations and coloring. Minor soiling at center fold. Large and handsome blueline map of the northern portion of Jim Wells County, in far southeast Texas. The map contains a key indicating oil well information such as rigs, dry holes, active wells, etc. Individual plots are outlined and labeled as to ownership and acreage, as well as drilling company if one is present. Neat manuscript notations indicate updated ownership and drilling information; a previous owner has also made notes in red and regular pencil with further intelligence about the subject. No copies in OCLC.

Ft. Worth: Standard Blue Print Map Company, 1928. Very good.. Blueline map, 24.75 x 20.75 inches. Old folds, minor toning, extensive manuscript notations and hand coloring. An unrecorded Texas oil map showing the richness of a plot of the oil field in Upton County, Texas that was ostensibly assigned as the Thorckmorton County School Land. The map shows claims and mineral rights of a field particularly rich in oil, owned by such aggressively entrepreneurial companies as Phillips Petroleum Co., Empire Gas & Fuel Co., Roxana Petroleum, Marland, Humble, White Eagle, Amerada Petroleum Co., Corzelius Bros., Transcontinental Oil, and the Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company. Numerous plots of land are either noted in pen and pencil manuscript or colored in various shades to indicate competing ownerships. Various notations in the margins regarding terms for the land sales indicate the map very likely belonged to an employee of a real estate concern. "In 1926 George McCamey's wildcat brought 700 hopeful… Read More

Gainesville, Tx: W.W. Howeth Co, 1920. About very good.. Blueline map, 27 x 29 inches. Old folds, very short separations to some fold lines, most reinforced with archival repairs on verso. Extensive hand coloring and some pencil notations. A rare and seemingly unrecorded cadastral map showing land ownership and mineral rights along the north-south borderline between Montague and Cooke counties in far northeast Texas. The oil properties were divided between major companies such as Foster, Vacuum, Texas (Texaco), Humble, Gulf, Sunoco, and Pure, evidenced by numerous pencil annotations added to the map, especially in the hand-colored sections. The map was produced at the behest of the W.W. Howeth Company in Gainesville, a title and escrow company which remains one of the longest-running companies in Texas. In addition to the oil content, the map is useful as a snapshot of overall property ownership in the area, with hundreds of plats drawn by owner and noting the acreage of each; among the multiple… Read More

[N.p., likely Fort Worth, 1932. Very good.. Blueprint map printed on linen, 40 x 60 inches. Original folds, minor edge wear. A seemingly-unrecorded, large-scale annotated Texas oil map featuring the breadth of the southern portion of Rusk County, located below Henderson, and just north of Nacogdoches in the eastern part of the Lone Star State. Several hundred plats of land are represented and labeled by owner, with numerous manuscript annotations in pencil across the map, and with dozens of plats colored in either red or yellow pencil. The map seems to date from the midst of the Rusk County oil boom in the early 1930s. Several of the colored plots as well as many of the notations relate to "The Texas Company," i.e., Texaco, one of the major players in the Texas oil industry since its inception at Spindletop at the turn of the 20th century. "At the end of the [1920s], Rusk County remained chiefly agricultural, with cotton still the leading crop. But in October of [1930] Columbus M. (Dad) Joiner… Read More

[N.p., likey Lubbock or Dallas, 1950. About very good.. Blueline map, 20.25 x 16.25 inches. Old folds, some expert reinforcement of fold lines on verso, moderate dust-soiling, extensive lead and color pencil notations. An apparently unrecorded Texas oil map for a small but important area of West Texas just northeast of Lubbock, documenting the oil and gas leases held by the Matador Oil & Gas Company after the energy products were discovered there in the late 1950s. The town of Matador is the seat of Motley County, one of the least-populous counties in the state of Texas. The present plat map shows available land along the county line between Motley and Dickens counties, some of which were held by railroad companies such as the Houston & Great Northern Railroad Company and the Brooks & Burleson oil company. Numerous blocks are colored in red, with mathematical figures at top left and bottom right. The map's key includes locations for drilling wells, oil wells, gas wells, dry holes, and abandoned… Read More

[Various places, mostly Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, 1932. Overall, good plus.. Eighty-five typed and manuscript letters, including thirty mimeographed copies of a form response. Moderate chipping and wear to a few letters, most previously folded but otherwise in strong condition. A fascinating collection of correspondence relating to spurious Depression-era claims on the famed Beaumont estate of Pelham Humphries (1810?-1835?). In 1834, Humphries, a colonist in the disputed lands along the US border with Mexico, filed a claim for a league (some 4,428 acres) of land to the west of the Neches River, a few miles south of what is now Beaumont in Jefferson County, Texas. The land, a patchwork of swamp and grassland good only for grazing, was deemed valueless until oil was discovered there in 1901, by which time it had become known as Spindletop, and the area became the epicenter of the Texas oil boom. No one made more money than William Perry Herring McFadden (1856-1935), a rancher who had… Read More

Abilene, Tx: Zingery Oil Map Co, 1930. Very good.. Blueline map on drafting linen, approximately 54 x 41 inches. Minor wear, contemporary pencil notations. A substantially-sized and seemingly unrecorded Texas oil map featuring the Joiner oilfields in Rusk County, Texas, the first known map to show the Joiner Subdivision, with oil wells, claim ownership, and much other important information.  C.M. "Dad" Joiner leased this subdivision from the widow Daisy Bradford in August 1925, obtaining a lease on widow Daisy Bradford's 975 acre farm; the map shows the three "Daisy Bradford" wells in pencil. Joiner then moved to Rusk County in 1926.  Joiner and his crew drilled for three years beginning in 1927, using a flimsy pine rig and battered tools, trying their luck about six miles northwest of Henderson. The first two wells came up dry, but in 1930 the third struck the largest oil deposit discovered to that time and became one of the richest oil fields in the country, let alone Texas. This… Read More