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

1921. Good. Quarto (10 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches). 46 leaves, including 4-page "Circular Letter" to friends (detached) and 1-page text "What Drought Means in India" (detached, text incomplete). With a few handwritten corrections and additions. WITH: Autograph letter signed: Deaville Walker to his son, written from Ceylon, dated Sept. 20, 1920. Contemporary thick paper wrappers, two brass fasteners (wrappers worn along spine and extremities, typescripts with some toning or creasing). A British Methodist missionary's travels to India. The letters were composed (and typed?) either on the Indian continent, or at sea aboard the S.S. Kitano Maru or S.S. Atsuta Maru. This typescript records a well-known Methodist missionary's epistolary diary from a trip to India between August 1920 and January 1921, with a visit to Marseilles, before proceeding through the Suez to Ceylon, Madras, Conjeeveram, Bangalore, Tumkur, Hassan, Mysore, Gwalior, Landour, Bulandshahr, Haidarabad, Secunderabad, and more. It includes… Read More

Wilmington, DE: Printed for John Boggs, Jun. by Bonsai and Niles, 1801. First Edition. Good. 8vo. xx, 390 pp. Text foxed and brown as commonly. Contemporary Wilmington binding by Taylor & Andrews (signed with their letterpress ticket): tree sheep, smooth spined panelled in five compartments, gilt red morocco label in the second, edges plain, pair of binder's blanks at the front (those at the back torn away). Front joint split, board almost detached, extremities rubbed and worn. Preserved in a protective cloth case. The binders Taylor and Andrews of Wilmington, DE remain completely unrecorded in the standard sources, and it would appear that no bindings by them are located in AAS, Bryn Mawr, UDel, Winterthur, or anywhere else for that matter. Of this edition of "Lectures on Primitive Christianity," the List of Subscribers (p. xvii) records "Taylor and Andrews, Wilmington" having subscribed for 50 copies (!), easily eclipsing all other orders. With some effort we have discovered in the Maryland State… Read More

Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms, 2000. First Edition. Near Fine. Small 4to. 142 numbered photographs + texts. Original dark gray cloth, original dust-wrapper (MMA price sticker on back of jacket). NOT ex-library! PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO BERNARD ("BERND") BRESLAUER IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION. "With dedication and intensity, Thomas Walther, a visionary collector of photography, has been sorting through the seemingly superfluous vernacular photography of this century. Other Pictures is his selection of over 150 [recte: 142] unique images from his 'other' collection, his collection of found images. They are perfectly presented here, giving us the opportunity to appreciate and muse over these singular anonymous masterpieces, images as indelible as any created by the most democratic of tools-the camera." From the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, with bookplate loosely inserted along with several contemporary newpaper reviews.

London: Henry Colburn, 1828. First Edition. Very good. Vol. I: xix [1], 591 [1] pp.; Vol. II: viii, 730 pp. (lacking Colburn's 2-page ads). With 11 (of 13) plates after original artwork by Lady Emily Elizabeth Swinburne Ward, 5 of which are folded (8 aquatints of which one is hand colored, and 3 lithographs), 5 wood-engraved text illustrations, 1 folded engraved map (of 2 - see plate and map list below) with repairs, tables in text. 2 vols., 8vo (216 x 130 mm), modern half calf over marbled boards, smooth spines, red morocco labels. Text, plates, and maps in excellent condition. With stated defects, and priced accordingly. First edition of this "classic book on Mexico" (Streeter). The exquisite plates were created from the original art work of the author's wife, Lady Emily Elizabeth Swinburne Ward (1798-1882). A near-contemporary review states that Ward's is "The most systematic and complete work of which we are in possession respecting Mexico." (SOURCE: London Literary Gazette, January 7, 1832, No.… Read More

Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring, for E. Larkin, 1805. First Edition. Fair. 3 vols., 8vo. xii, 447; vii, [1], 412; vi pp., 1 f. (blank), 475 pp., browning and foxing throughout. Nineteenth-century quarter buckram over marbled boards, WORN, front board of vol. 1 reattached, some binder's blanks detached or starting, NUMEROUS ex-library stamps throughout each volume: "DeMilt Bequest 1845," standard library markings including accession stamps and circulation slips, 19th-century paper book covers from the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of New York (see below). Not pretty, but an interesting, complete, and correctly priced set. THIS IS THE FIRST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORK WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN. "[Warren's] history is interesting both for the expert knowledge it reveals of public affairs and for its lively and penetrating commentary upon the leading figures of the day, more especially for the caustic analysis of character and motives among the 'malignant party' who opposed American… Read More

London: Sotheby's, 1939. First Edition. Very good. Large 8vo. 21 pp., 82 lots. Illustrated issue, complete with 5 plates not found in ordinary issues. Original printed wrapper (to the upper cover is affixed Maggs Bros. label soliciting bids). Loosely inserted is a reproduction of the price-list and buyers' names. IMPORTANT BUT LITTLE-KNOWN SALE CATALOGUE OF PRE-RAPHAELITE PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND MANUSCRIPTS BELONGING TO SWINBURNE AND TO ROSSETTI'S FRIEND AND FORMER ASSISTANT, WATTS-DUNTON. The full title of the catalogue shows that the sale contained "important drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a self- portrait by Ford Madox Ford, drawings of Rossetti and his house in Cheyne Walk by Henry Treffrey Dunn; an extensive and interesting autograph correspondence from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to his studio assistant, H. Treffry Dunn; H. Treffry Dunn's autograph ms. "Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his circle"; an unrecorded proof of a Byron engraving presented to Watts-Dunton by Swinburne;… Read More

Boston: printed and sold by John W. Folsom, 1794. Fourth Edition. Good. 12mo in 6's. 140 x 87 mm. A-H6 = 48 ff, COMPLETE AND UNSOPHISTICATED. Paper-covered scaleboard binding with sheep spine, hinges cracked, paper almost completely removed from covers, wood chipped away at corners, leather chipped at head of spine, leather rubbed along spine. Front binder's blank slightly detatched, pages browned, small water stain on bottom edge of back pastedown, inscription on p. 18. Ownership inscription of Joseph Gould on verso of final binder's blank (see below). A scarce 18th-century American scaleboard binding on a popular work by Noah Webster. Despite the modesty of the present binding, its first owner, Joseph Gould, was clearly a discerning bibliophile: on page 18 he has written: "If any should chance this book to red (sic) let keep his fingers clean." Scaleboard (a.k.a. scabbard or scabboard) was made from very thin sheets of wood that had been split (going towards the grain) instead of being sawed.… Read More

Istanbul: Selamet Matbaas, 1928. First Edition in Turkish. Good. 8vo. [2], v, [1], 395 pp. illustrated with line drawings by the author herself. Original wrappers with illustrated cover by JEAN HEE (text evenly browned on account of the paper stock, marginal water staining in last half of the text, most pronounced on lower wrapper which is chipped, spine strengthened with Japanese tissue). Preserved in a four-flap lig-free chemise with paper label. AMERICAN FEMINIST LITERATURE IN TURKISH WHICH -- WITH ITS YOUNG FEMALE PROTAGONIST WHO COMES OF AGE MORALLY, SOCIALLY, AND PROFESSIONALLY -- INSPIRED TURKISH WOMEN IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. THE NOVEL HAS BECOME INFAMOUS FOR ITS SUPPORT OF THE EUGENICS MOVEMENT WHICH WAS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THE TURKISH ELITE AND MEDICAL COMMUNITIES. Originally published in 1915, "Dear Enemy" is set in Dutchess County, New York; in letters written by the protagonist Sallie McBride, the novel describes the life of a decidedly "modern" American woman who… Read More

Philadelphia: Henkels, 1902. First Edition. Very good. Small folio. [2], 140 pp., 997 lots, neatly PRICED throughout. Original printed wrappers (toned; chipped where extending over the fore-edges and bottom edges). Written on front cover: "Priced Catalogue / Priced by lot" and in another hand an early census of copies. ADDED: Contemporary NY Times clipping (browned) concerning the results of the sale (dated March 15, 1902). The Library of WILLIAM R. WEEKS, Esq. comprised much rare and valuable Americana, in particular relating to New Jersey and New York, and many record prices were realized according to a review of the sale by the NY Times (of which a copy is loosely inserted). The most important book in the sale was a superlatively rare Indian item (and one of the earliest books printed about New Jersey), namely "A True Account of the Dying Words of Ockanickon, an Indian King" (London, 1682) which realized $1,450. Weeks owned an excellent copy of Horsemanden's History of the Negro Plot (lot 56:… Read More

San Francisco: Institute of Historical Cartography, 1963. First Edition. Near Fine. Together five vols. in six. Large folios (355 x 260 mm). Original publisher's dark green buckram over gray linen, spines gilt-stamped; standard offsetting inside boards from publisher's brown dust-wrappers, now no longer present. Unread copy. ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF CARTOGRAPHIC HISTORY -- easily the most important work on Western American maps from 1540 to the Civil War. "Wheat" (as it is known) is the ne-plus-ultra of its genre, and takes pride of place as the preeminent work on this subject, surely never to be surpassed. Comprising more than 1,600 pages and featuring more than 300 high-quality reproductions of rare maps and plans (some double-page), plus a "Bibliocartography" describing 1,302 maps, "Wheat" is nothing short of epic. Howell ("California 50" no. 1655) assigns justifiable praise: "A truly monumental work on the cartography of the West, from the Spanish Entrada to the Geological Survey of 1877. It… Read More

1951. Very good. Typescript (3 pp.) with substantive and editorial corrections throughout. Two pronounced horizontal folds, 1" tear to p. 3. ADDED: cloth chemise in which the folded typescript was contained for many years, accompanied by a note from the editor of "The Amateur Book Collector" (see below). Surely this typescript belongs at Beinecke Library, Yale University, in which are preserved the papers of the novelist John P. Marquand (1893-1960). The typescript itself was sent to the editors of "The Amateur Book Collector" who published it in their May 1951 issue (vol. I, no. 5), and in March 1953 was sent to a "Mr. Baatz" accompanied by a brief note by W.B. Thorsen, editor of the journal. Thorsen states: "Here's the MS with the printer's marks and all the corrections in ink are by Prof. White." As it turns out, White was a professor of journalism at Wayne State University and editor of the Walt Whitman Review. His article "Why Collect Ernest Hemingway -- or Anyone?" is well worth reading… Read More

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard College Library, 1983. First Edition. Softcover. Fair. Quarto, 190 pages, illustrated in black and white. Paperback. Waterstain along fore-edge throughout (the text and images are perfectly legible) as well as having some wear to covers. ¶ An important exhibition catalogue of illuminated manuscripts held by the Houghton Library and focusing on the period between 1350 and 1524. The exhibition represented the strongest period in the collection and surveyed the growth and development of artistry represented within.

Philadelphia, 1845. Very good. Stereotyped map of Oregon, highly detailed, neat line to neat line: 59 x 90 cm. Inset map of Columbia River, neat line to neat line (irregular shape): 54.4 x 24 cm. Scattered foxing and creasing where formerly folded, generally a very good copy. Matted in a handsome maple frame (not examined outside frame). THE FIRST OFFICIAL MAP OF THE NORTHWEST. It was in many respects the most detailed of this extensive area yet published, and for the main Oregon regions and the Hudson's Bay Company's territories to the north it was an accurate, quite extraordinary map. "The areas now embraced by Oregon, Washington, and Idaho are very well mapped... This map had much influence on the later maps of the area." (Wheat, 457). A GIGANTIC, EARLY, AND INFLUENTIAL U.S. MAP OF OREGON TERRITORY, stereotyped issue. The map conveys a detailed depiction, showing topography, river courses, and currents along the west coast. The map first appeared as an engraving in Wilkes' six-volume "Narrative… Read More

Boston in New-England: Ad 1: Printed by B. Green, and J. Allen; Ad 2: B. Green, 1722. First Edition and Second Edition. Ad 1: 16mo. Lacks pp. 1-14 (including title), and pp. 199-208, [2] at end. Bound in contemporary American sheep over scale-board (VERY WORN: SEE IMAGES). Preserved in a cloth protective case with 4-flap lig-free chemise. Ad 2: 40 pp. (lacks title-page). Stitched as issued (text stained). Preserved in a mylar L-sleeve. FIRST EDITION. Very rare early American Judaica, the last copy on the market appearing ninety-three years ago in a 1929 Goodspeed's catalogue (untraced). Seventeenth-century American books on the Jewish Conversion Question are almost unobtainable in any condition. This 1700 first edition of "The Fountain Opened" is distinguished by the fact that only SEVEN American Judaica books preceded it. The work is #8 in A.S.W. Rosenbach's "Books and Pamphlets by Jews or Relating to Them, Printed in the United States, From the Establishment of the Press." Whereas our copy is… Read More

New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1852. First Edition. Good. Together 2 volumes including Atlas. Text volume: 295 [1 blank] pp. (small errata slip bound in between pages 294 and 295). COMPLETE with 1 folded lithograph map of the world, 1 folding diagram (thermal curves), 1 plan, 14 tinted lithograph plates (including frontispiece) with views of Tehuantepec (all by Sarony & Major of New York). Original publisher's cloth, headcap chipped, edges worn, cloth covers scratched and scuffed, lower front joint repaired but the binding is perfectly sound. ATLAS VOLUME: [4] pp. (title-page + list of maps). COMPLETE with 8 large folded lithograph maps (most by Barnard), formerly tipped in, now loosely inserted into original cloth chemise (sympathetically rebacked). Maps with splitting along folds, some repaired tears. With faults a good copy, and priced accordingly. First edition. "This book was published to inform the American public of the advantages to be gained by an inter-ocean link built across the Isthmus of… Read More

St. Petersburg, Russia: Izdanio upravleniia Imperatorskimi [Published by Golike & Vil'borg for the Imperial Factory], 1906. First Edition. Large and very heavy folio (370 x 275 mm). COMPLETE: viii, 422, plus 63 pages, including French summary ("La manufacture impériale de porcelaine à St. Petersbourg") on pp. 325-372. Photogravure frontispiece + 12 mounted heliograph plates numbered I-XII on facing tissue-guards + 1 chromolithograph plate showing 40 different makers' marks and monograms, 493 monochrome illustrations and 8 line-drawings within the text. Mid-twentieth (Swedish?) half calf, spine title lettered in Russian (spine a trifle scuffed, minor wear to headcap, spine leather with some speckling), decorated paper over boards, original gold-printed wrappers bound in (soiled, back wrapper with two large infills). Overall in excellent condition, certainly the nicest copy we've seen. MASSIVE AND MAGNIFICENT STATE-SPONSORED PUBLICATION, BEING THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN PORCELAIN… Read More

Dublin: Printed by Alexander Thom [for H.M.S.O.], 1868. First Edition. Fair. Folio (330 x 215 mm). Uniform title-page (1 f.), Instructions (7 pp.), Addendum No. I (11 pp. + 1 plan), Addendum No. II (1 f., 20 pp., followed by stubs of 20 [?] excised plates), Addendum No. III (1 f., 3 pp. + 9 PLATES), Addendum No. IV (1 f., 3 pp.). Uniform title-page SOILED. Original printed wrappers, WORN AND SOILED, spine partially defective. RARE, UNKNOWN "BLUE BOOK" OF PROPOSED REMEDIES FOR THE AGRICULTURAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IN IRELAND DURING THE FAMINE, CONTAINING COLOR-PRINTED DESIGNS FOR THE HOUSES OF IRISH AGRICULTURAL LABORERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. The articles in the present volume document the urgent programs initiated by the Irish Board of Works, allowing for the application of loans to improve lands and by extension save lives. We have found only a single copy of this remarkable book worldwide (National Library of Ireland) and only a single reference to it anywhere, namely in a contemporary… Read More