Search Results: Titles starting with B from McBride Rare Books

Philadelphia: M. Thomas, 1818. About very good.. [4],198pp. Contemporary red morocco, ornately tooled in gilt with owner's name on front cover; sympathetically rebacked with original spine laid down. Front hinge cracked, corners lightly worn. Light scattered foxing. First edition of James Kirke Paulding's romance of the frontier in a handsome early American bespoke binding. Paulding is perhaps most remembered for his collaboration with his friend Washington Irving on the satirical periodical Salmagundi (1807-1808). He was also, however, a prolific writer of fiction, poetry, drama, travel, and biography, and he served as Secretary of the Navy from 1838 to 1841. The present work is intended to inspire a sort of nativism in the reader, drawing on "the rich poetic resources with which [this country] abounds." The Backwoodsman is thus an extended lyrical treatment of the American landscape, punctuated by stirring speeches of Native Americans threatening settlers with scalping. This copy is bound in… Read More

Denver: Ballenger & Richards, 1898. Good.. 12,[9]-1407,[1]pp. Lacks pp.1393-1394. Thick octavo. Original printed cloth boards; spine perished, boards detached. Corners worn, cloth lightly soiled. Last few leaves loose. Ex-library Newark Free Public Library (withdrawn) with bookplate and ink stamps. Text clean. Massive city directory for Denver, published by the prolific firm of Ballenger & Richards. Corbett, Hoye & Company began publishing Colorado directories in Denver in 1873. The firm eventually evolved into Corbett & Ballenger, publishing directories from 1881 to 1888; subsequently Ballenger & Richards took over publication in 1889 and continued for many years thereafter. The directory includes an extensive listing of civic associations, a street and avenue guide, and a lengthy listing of citizens. Interspersed with numerous advertisements for local businesses.

Guanabacoa, 1888. About very good.. Broadside, approximately 12 x 17 inches. Previously folded. Contemporary manuscript rubric and small ink stamp. small patch of ink burn, causing separation along rubric line. A few tiny wormholes, slightly affecting text. Light tanning, minor foxing. An otherwise unrecorded, 19th-century Cuban broadside decree, announcing the rules for celebrations in Guanabacoa during "las fiestas de su Patrona," taking place on August 14 & 15, 1888. The patron saint of Guanabacoa, then a small town just outside Havana and now an outlying district of the city, is Our Lady of the Assumption, and August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption. This broadside prints eight articles, the first of which allow games and "diversiones públicas," but prohibit games of chance and gambling of any kind, and authorize the erection of food and drink stalls in public places that do not impede public traffic. Permission must be obtained from the municipal magistrates for balls and parties in private… Read More

[New York: Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, 1932. Very good plus.. 12pp., on a single folded quarto sheet of green paper. Illustrated. Minor wear. A very rare promotional pamphlet issued by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, touting their missionary work amongst the school-age children in Mexico. The author, Dorothy Detweiler, writes about the schools supported by the society, the state of "Baptist Work in Mexico," and includes sections on the Virgin of Guadalupe, Christian Leaders in Mexico, the "Anti-Religious Movement" in the country, and a rather tone-deaf section on the "False Gods" worshipped by some of the indigenous peoples in Mexico ("There are Tarascan Indians in certain parts of Michoacan who believe that God is the sun, and who daily hail its rising with an invocation"). There are six monochrome photographs reproduced in the text, five of which picture Baptist school students, such as "Girls at Colegio Howard Dressed as Indian Women with Decorated Gourds,"… Read More

Gainesville, Fl: Daily Advocate Job Print, 1890. Very good.. [4]pp., on a single folded sheet. Mild soiling, minor toning, old folds. A seemingly unrecorded real estate promotional leaflet issued by Louis A. Barnes and Watson Porter, local land attorneys working in and around Gainesville, Florida. The pair is seeking prospective purchasers for "much valuable" homestead lands now available for settlement again after being abandoned "under the homestead or pre-emption laws." They also offer services for claims on "Spanish Grants," land warrants, soldiers' homestead rights, and more. Interestingly, one of the two lawyers here, Watson Porter previously served as a surgeon in the Third U.S. Colored Troops. In Florida, Porter and his wife Olivia established O.A. Porter's Addition to Gainesville, selling lots exclusively to African-American people who did not have ready access to land or financing; the neighborhood survives today in Gainesville as Porters Quarters. Porter also served as the Principal of… Read More

[Washington, D.C.: ca. October, 1942. Very good.. [1],454-464pp. Original printed self wrappers, stapled. Minor fraying to edges, light dust-soiling and toning to wrappers. An offprint of an important article on the morale of African-American soldiers during World War II, written by Charles H. Thompson and first published in the Journal of Negro Education in October 1942. Thompson actually delivered the article as a commencement address to the June 1942 graduating class of Virginia Union University. The work traces the morale of African American troops through a study of their status during World War I and the tendency of African-American troops to be critical of current segregationist military policies. As Thompson points out: "Negroes point out that you can't put a ball and chain on a man and expect him to run as fast or as far as other men who are not so encumbered...Negroes have tried to point out to the Government that the gratuitous and reactionary segregation policy of the armed forces not… Read More

Beatrice: Daily Democrat, 1888. About good.. 24pp. on a single folded sheet. Light soiling and wear, separating at central fold. Unrecorded and ephemeral promotional brochure for the tiny town of Beatrice, Nebraska, located in the southeast corner of the state. The town, founded in 1857, experienced a boom in the late-19th century when three major railroads passed through it. The present work gives a brief history of the state, the town, and the town's merits for manufacturers and agriculture, while a full panel advertises a series of rail excursions to the town from various locations in the East.

St. Louis: John S. Swift Co, 1925. About very good.. 64pp. Original pictorial wrappers, string-tied. Some creasing and wear at wrapper edges. Light toning. First edition of this attractive promotional for the virtues of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, published by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1925. Chief among the attractions are the fertility of the region for agriculture and livestock, but the modern amenities and architecture of South Texas towns are also praised extensively. Extensively illustrated with photographic reproductions; the Missouri Pacific connected Brownsville to Houston and Laredo, and therefore had a serious interest in developing the area.

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1892. Very good.. [2],6,8,354,[6]pp., plus folding plate. Original printed wrappers. Somewhat worn and dust-soiled, minor staining. Some toning to title page and last leaf, but otherwise clean internally. A highly-detailed report containing seemingly everything the author learned about the internal operations of a large American mercantile house during a six-year stay in the United States beginning in the mid-1880s. The work contains numerous data tables, floor plans, a bank distribution analysis, and other information useful to Japanese businesses both in Asia and for those companies planning to operate in the U.S. The folding plate is an elaborate ring chart (or concentric circle chart) involving various aspects of business, values, money, and other factors. A very rare work, with only one copy anywhere in OCLC, at the National Diet Library.

Tokyo: Daikosha, 1928. Very good.. [2],6,296,[4]pp. Original color-printed wrappers. Light foxing and dust soiling to wraps. Moderate tanning, heavier at edges. "Analysis of American society in the late 1920s by an anonymous Japanese observer living in the United States. The author comments on a wide range of subjects including housing, food, transport, labor unions, courtship, gender roles, marriage and religion. The author shares candid observations and comparisons between America and Japan." -- Huntington Library. An attractive copy in the publisher's original decorated wrappers, inscribed on the front free endpaper. OCLC locates only the copy at the Huntington.

Tokyo: Kinkodo, 1908. Very good.. [4],7,331,[4]pp., plus four leaves of plates with halftone photographs. Original green cloth, stamped in red, blue, and gold. Light wear at edges; some rubbing to boards, a bit heavier along spine; hinges started. Light tanning internally. A book describing American social and household customs, written by a Japanese journalist who spent several years in the United States. As a student writing about experiences in America, Mori mostly describes New York and New England; in the introduction he professes not to know much about the West or the South. Mori (1870-1955) attended Yale's graduate school from 1901 to 1904, but may have come to the United States prior to that date. When he returned to Japan after Yale, he worked for the newspapers Osaka Jiji Shimpo and Toyo Shimpo. A quite rare work and an interesting view of American society in the first decade of the 20th century from a Japanese perspective. OCLC locates only one copy, at the National Diet Library in Japan,… Read More

Los Angeles: Kashu Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1940. About very good.. [2],2,16,420,[1]pp. Original pictorial wrappers. Minor soiling and light edge wear to wrappers; spine ends a bit chipped; front hinge starting from both ends. Text browned, but not brittle, with scattered foxing and dust soiling. A rare collection of writings by an important Japanese-American activist, journalist, and editor. Sei Fujii (1882-1954) was the founding editor of the Kashu Mainichi (Los Angeles Japanese-California Daily News) in L.A. Fujii emigrated to California from Japan in 1903 and obtained a law degree from the University of Southern California. Sadly, Fujii was unable to practice law in the United States because he was not an American citizen, and he was unable to earn American citizenship because he was Japanese - a cycle of injustice that took a few more decades to correct. After graduation, Fujii went back and forth to Japan, finally settling for good in Los Angeles shortly before 1930, where he founded the Kashu… Read More

[Mexico, 1770. Very good.. Small broadside, approximately 12.25 x 8.25 inches. Minor wear, a couple of small chips at edges. Light toning and dust soiling. This single-page production, printed in double-column format in Roman and italic types, shows a mid-18th-century change to the Catholic marriage service, and is essentially a cancel to be inserted into the liturgy book. The place and date of publication are based on typography and watermark. This scarce example of job printing for the church in Mexico is not located by the standard bibliographies, and OCLC locates only one copy, at the Bridwell Library.

Havana, 1916. Good plus.. Eight parts in two volumes. Original half calf and marbled boards, spine gilt. Calf scuffed at spine ends; light wear to corners and edges; boards rubbed. Rear board with a dime-sized chip at lower fore-edge. Slightly later pencil ownership inscriptions to initial title pages of each volume. Small chip at fore-edge of first title page. Light tanning. The first eight issues of this scarce Cuban literary periodical, which published twice monthly during 1916. The editor of the series, Nestor Carbonell y Rivera, grew up in the United States before returning to Cuba and obtaining his doctorate from the University of Havana; he was active in several prominent intellectual and literary societies of Cuba, and later served as ambassador to Argentina and Peru. Each issue of the periodical comprises one previously unpublished work by Cuban author including José Martí, Manuel Sanguily, and Máximo Gómez. We locate runs of the series at seven institutions, as well as scattered… Read More

[Atlanta: The Print Shop on Morris Brown College Campus, 1940. Very good.. [8]pp. Original cream wrappers printed in black, stapled. Moderate foxing to wrappers, light foxing to text. A brief but notable biography of the namesake of Morris Brown College, written by a legendary bishop of the A.M.E. Church, Bishop Daniel Payne, who was a contemporary of Brown's in the 1840s. According to the Foreword, the text was originally intended to be published as part of The Lives of the Bishops of the Methodist Church, but the book was apparently never published. The present work was found by a librarian at Morris Brown as part of the unpublished book. In addition to Payne's brief biography, the work includes a brief biography of Payne himself and a photographic reproduction of a painting of Morris as a frontispiece. OCLC lists just one copy of this biography, at Emory.

San Antonio, 1917. Very good.. Large panoramic photograph, 8 x 92 inches. Rolled. Minor wear at edges, with one very short closed tear at top edge. Light blemish in negative at center of image. Light dust soiling and toning. An outstanding and extremely long panoramic photograph, measuring well over 7.5 feet in length, that depicts Camp Travis in San Antonio, following its recent opening. Although the camp was open and housing an entire division-in-training at the time of this image, the camp was still under construction, as evidenced by the organized piles of lumber at the far right of the image and the incomplete barracks building in the center foreground. The panorama nevertheless gives a sense of the scope and size of the training camp, with barracks and outbuildings stretching almost as far as the eye can see in the center and left sections of the photograph. Structures are sparser in the right-hand side of the image, both because they as yet unbuilt and because some of the training fields were… Read More

New York & Switzerland: J.O & J.H. Locher, 1850. Very good plus.. Tinted lithograph, 24.5 x 33. Wide margins. Archivally lined on verso, with small marginal restorations not affecting image, including unobtrusive repairs of three short closed tears. An attractive and very rare bird's eye view of Philadelphia, drawn on stone by Gustav Matter after Bachmann's original view. The panorama looks west across the city from the perspective of Camden, New Jersey, and the Delaware River waterfront. Names can be seen on a few of the paddle-wheel steamships navigating the river, two of them discreetly giving a nod to the artist and publisher with a small portrait of each. Numerous and varied other ships line the waterfront, and the city's buildings, rendered in excellent detail, sweep into the background to meet the Schuylkill River. The very left of the image shows the still undeveloped fields of what is now South Philly. Overall, a finely drawn and delicately colored depiction of bustling, mid-19th-century… Read More

Chicago: Mayhart Studio, 1917. Very good.. Large panoramic photograph, 8 x 90.5 inches. Rolled. Light wear at edges, with a couple of small chips and very short closed tears along top edge. minor dust soiling and toning. A fabulous and extremely long panoramic photograph, measuring approximately 7.5 feet in length, that depicts Camp Bowie in Fort Worth during October 1917. At this time, the camp was still under construction but also housed an entire infantry division in training for World War I. Ongoing construction efforts are clearly evident, as piles of lumber in various states of organization occupy the field in the center foreground. Already completed barracks and other out buildings occupy the right of the image, and thousands of army tents sweep into the background of the center and left portions of the image. A group of standard houses, likely for officers and their families, is located at the lower left of the image. The photographers, Mayhart Studio of Chicago, were responsible for a… Read More

Panama: I.L. Maduro, 1910. Good plus.. Folding map, 18 x 24 inches. Original printed wrappers. Light wear and sunning to wrapper edges. A few short separations along folds, one of which repaired with tape, none affecting text of map image. Attractive promotional for the construction of the Panama Canal, issued by a local souvenir store. One side of the sheet are an overhead view of the canal route with locations of the proposed canal locks and other unfinished construction and two smaller maps, one of Panama as a whole and a topographical profile of necessary excavations along the route. The other side prints a "History of Isthmian Canal," accompanied by eleven photographic reproductions depicting work sites and other views related to the construction.

Chicago: J.W. Middleton & Co, 1918. Very good.. Tinted lithographic certificate, 8.25 x 11 inches, completed in manuscript. Old folds, minor dust soiling. A rare surviving stock certificate for a corporation established in 1916 by Emmett J. Scott and other well-intentioned but somewhat cinematically-naive individuals who wanted to make their own silent film as a rebuke to the virulently racist (and still celebrated) The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffiths. The title of the proposed film is obviously a play on Griffiths' title. Scott's group raised quite a bit of capital to finance Birth of a Race, but otherwise floundered, and the film Scott wanted to make was never realized. Instead, new investors got involved and refocused the movie to promote world peace while telling a trite story about two German American brothers who end up fighting on opposite sides during the First World War. The movie, finally released in 1918, was watched by practically nobody, and investors got nothing. A sad ending for a… Read More