Search Results: Authors starting with V from Michael Laird Rare Books LLC

Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini, 1585. First Edition. Good. 8vo. Together 3 works in one volume. 1) [9], 2-31, [1] ff., signed A-E8, COMPLETE; 2) [40 ff.], signed A-E8, COMPLETE; 3) 31 ff., signed A-C8, D7 (lacking 9 leaves at end: D8, E1-8). Old Italian limp vellum, spine title lettered in ink (now faded). Binding worn, some staining, second and third works somewhat toned. NO ugly stamps or markings. With stated faults, and priced correctly. SAMMELBAND OF THREE 16TH-CENTURY ITALIAN PLAYS, ONE OF WHICH IS STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO SHAKESPEARE'S "TWELFTH NIGHT," AND YET IT HAS APPARENTLY REMAINED UNKNOWN TO SHAKESPEARE SCHOLARS. Della Valle's "Gelosi Amanti" (1585) is a play about boy/girl twins who become separated; the girl twin disguises herself as a young man; the twins reconcile; after much confusion the love triangle is resolved, resulting in the creation of two happy couples. How is this not like "Twelfth Night," which incidentally was first performed seventeen years later (February 2, 1602), and… Read More

London (and New York): Ad 1: William Heinemann (Medical Books); Ad 2: Covici-Friede, 1933. First English edition. Good. Together 2 vols. Ad 1: 8vo. xviii, 164 pp. With 58 full-page illustrations and 480 flicker cards bound in to produce 12 "cinematographic films." Two flip cards with short tears (not affecting images or functionality). Original blue publisher's cloth (shaken, extremities worn, front endleaf with ugly creasing and with a small chip, front joint strengthened), internally excellent. NOT ex-library! Ad 2: 8vo. 441 pp. With 20 b/w plates. Original publisher's blue cloth (slightly scuffed, lacking dust-jacket). NOT ex-library! ANTICIPATING BY SEVERAL DECADES THE SOCIAL CHANGES THAT HAVE SEEN IT ACCEPTABLE FOR WOMEN TO SEEK EROTIC SATISFACTION. Published by the respected Medical Books imprint of William Heinemann, this work is complex on a number of levels. Whereas it purports to be a medical guidebook for women, the "cinematographic" flicker cards are unsettlingly suggestive. These were… Read More

Paris: Jacques Lecoffre & Cie / E. Lefranc, Imprimeur-libraire, 1858. First Edition. Very good. Together 2 vols., folio. Paper stock untrimmed. Bound in contemporary French blue quarter basane over blue marbled endpapers (headcaps of both vols. chipped, that of vol. 1 partially defective, some wear to covers and binding extremities). In vol. 1 the first two binder's blanks excised. Original front wrapper of vol. 2 bound in. Ad 1: an annotated interleaved copy of the 1852 edition of "Histoire et analyse des alphabets sémitiques et européens." 3 ff., 56 pp. with annotations + 25 plates (some folding) with descriptive text on facing tissue guard. Ad 2: an interleaved, unannotated copy of the 1858 edition of "Grammaire comparée de l'hébreu, du chaldéen, du syriaque, de l'arabe et de l'égyptien." viii, 208 pp. THE AUTHOR'S OWN INTERLEAVED COPY WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS IN VOL. 1, INTENDED TO BE INCORPORATED INTO THE SECOND EDITION. Here Eugène Van Drival, a well respected and extremely… Read More

[London and Paris], 1851. Very good. Together 2 vols., folio. Vol. I: 127 pp. manuscript written on rectos only, with insertions of the author's Port of Entry, various MS slips, maps, a folding letterpress plan of the British Museum, and a large folding depiction of the Museum of Practical Geology. Vol. II: printed documents bound into an album of blank leaves, some of which have extensive MS annotations and articles in the hand of the author. Bound in contemporary French quarter green basane, marbled endpapers, edges of the textblock untrimmed (headcap of vol. I chipped, some wear to other binding extremities). Overall in excellent condition. ENGAGING 19,000-WORD MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT OF A FRENCH POLYMATH'S 17-DAY TOUR TO ENGLAND WHERE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM HE STUDIED EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ANTIQUITIES AND RARE BOOKS, AND TOURED THE 1851 "GREAT EXHIBITION" AT CRYSTAL PALACE. THERE ARE MANY INTERESTING NOTES CONCERNING ENGLISH CATHOLICISM IN GENERAL, AND AMBROSE PHILLIPPS DE LISLE IN PARTICULAR. The… Read More

Chicago: P.F. Volland Co, 1928. First Edition. Near Fine. Square 8vo. 39 pp. (small tears in lower margins of pp. 29-32). Original illustrated boards (insignificant smudging on back cover), green cloth spine. NEAR FINE CONDITION. Original illustrated box, reproducing front cover of the book (slight soiling on top and botton, edges a bit scuffed, NOT split or torn). Very good condition. Preserved in a orange-red cloth protective case. BEAUTIFUL COPY IN THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED BOX, RARE THUS. Helen Vanderveer's enchanting story of Slambang (sic), a baby elephant, who chases his friend Wiggley Tail, a monkey, into the jungle. They soon realize that the grim tiger Old Sharptooth is charging them and Slambang races as fast as he could through the jungle. Old Sharptooth almost catches him, but Slambang's mother and father flatten Old Sharptooth "into a beautiful, flat tiger rug." Meanwhile, Slambang has been hiding in the water, using his long trunk as a snorkle. The reader is informed that, having faked… Read More

Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1907. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 2 volumes, large 8vo. [2], x, [4], 504; [2], iv, [2], 538 pp. With numerous full-page photographic plates. Bound in original publisher's black cloth, rebacked and recornered in very handsome dark brown morocco, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. BEAUTIFUL COPY. ¶ This vast and comprehensive work covers the region of the State of Texas, South and West of the Guadalupe River, with particular emphasis on the Borderlands, with biographical accounts of local leaders and early settlers to the region. Includes, but is certainly not limited to, accounts of the establishment of missions, Spanish occupation, Austin's colony, LaSalle's colony, the Alamo and Goliad, San Jacinto, the Republic of Texas, Annexation and the new State of Texas, the Civil war era, the cattle industry, the railroads, and much more. ¶ Provenance: From the library of Rudolph L. Biesele, author if the still-indispensable "History of the German Settlements in… Read More

Bologna: Vittorio Benacci, 1591. First Edition. Very good. Small 4to (horizontal chainlines). [4] pp. Later Italian decorated wrappers, old (19th-century?) label on front cover. On title-page old ink inscription "84," on verso of final leaf the faint ink inscription of "85" (in reverse) suggesting that our pamphlet was at one time bound in a larger volume (or volumes) of tracts, broad spine lining with large anchor within two circles (nothing of this type in Heawood). Rare 4-page tract concerning two Bolognese archbishops responding to the October 1591 Conclave and the Collegium Cardinalium crisis, occasioned by the death of Gregory XIV on 15 October 1591. This crisis is discussed in an English manuscript in the Robbins Collection (Robbins MS. 45). EDIT16 locates a single copy only (Bibl. Comunale dell' Archiginnasio Bologna).

Mexico City: Impreso en Madrid en la imprenta de Vega y compañia, y reimpreso en México en la de D. Alejandro Valdés, en dicho año, 1820. Second edition. Very good. Small 4to. 26 pp., a little age toning. Recent drab wrappers lettered in manuscript. REPUBLICAN SPAIN COLLAPSES, ERODING SPANISH DOMINION OVERSEAS: A WEIRD AND VERY LITTLE-KNOWN DIATRIBE CONCERNING THE 1820 SPANISH ELECTION SCANDAL, INVOLVING LATIN-AMERICAN BORN REPRESENTATIVES IN THE NEWLY REFORMED SPANISH PARLIAMENT ("CORTES OF CÁDIZ). This issue fueled the debate on the future of the former Spanish colonies in the Americas, which openly advocated independence -- as here. In 1820 the provisional Cortes of Cádiz election board limited to 30 the number of Latin-American born substitute deputies, which led to strong criticism across the Atlantic. Particular outrage was expressed by those born in the Americas and who had been summoned to Spain to elect the aforementioned substitutes on May 28 and 29, 1820, an event which occasioned… Read More

Mendville, PA (etc.): Keystone View Company, 1934. Good. Sterograph (176 x 85 mm), on gray card mount identified as "Tex 45" and "No. 34163." Ink number "9" on upper right corner. Scarce stereograph view "Texas State College for Women" as it became known in 1934 (the name was changed to Texas Woman's University in 1957). The photo depicts the Administrative Building, which is now known as the Old Main Building. The manufacturer, Keystone View Company, was a major distributor of stereographic images, active from 1892 to 1963. The present item bears the Keystone number "TEX 45" suggesting that it formed part of a series of Texas stereoviews. Unlike many other contemporaneous Keystone products, the present item does not have any text on the verso. There is an actual photograph of this image held in the Keystone-Mast Collection at UC Riverside; other than that, we have found no other examples of it. From the Dorothy Sloan Collection of Women and Their Work.

Sarajevo: J. Studnicka & Co, 1918. First Edition. Unbound. Very good. N.d. (before 1918). Large oblong octavo (19 x 26 cm). Complete suite of 12 color plates of scenes and costumes. Original blue cloth portfolio, ties lacking. ¶ Not listed in OCLC-FirstSearch. Rare WWI-era portfolio of Sarajevo Costumes and Views -- its survival is a small miracle given the ordeals and outcomes of the First and Second World Wars, not only in Bosnia and Germany but also in Czechoslovakia. To these hellish blood-baths we must add the harrowing ordeals in Sarajevo in the early 1990s. Thus it is no surprise to find that the portfolio is not listed in Worldcat (although there is a copy at Princeton). This is an outstanding pictorial work of Sarajevo costume, scenery, social life and customs; the plates were printed in color by Graph. Kunstanstalt M. Schulz, in Prague. We have seen mention of another publication by J. Studnicka & Co. in Sarajevo dated 1898. We can date the portfolio before 1918 owing to the publisher's… Read More