Search Results: Titles starting with I from Ian Brabner, Rare Americana (ABAA)

College Station: Texas A&M, 1978. 70pp. Softcover. Like New. First edition of this memoir by this Texas book collector and bookseller,  published by Friends of the Texas A&M University Library.

London: Macmillan and Co., 1914. First edition in English. xxii, 483, 4[ads.]pp. Translated by Agnes McCaskill. 8vo., publisher's red cloth without dustwrapper, top edge gilt. General binding wear; endpapers slightly browned; very good. Dedicatee's copy of Italian professor Antonio Aliotta's (1881-1964) philosophical study of intellectualism and theories of knowledge with particular regard to science and mathematics. Professor Alliota's book, La Reazione idealistica contro la scienza won the 1912 Paladin Prize. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: "A. E. Taylor e dono auctoris 1914." Educated at Oxford, the idealist philosopher Alfred E. Taylor (1869-1945) was influenced by British Idealism and neo-Hegalianism and subsequently became a scholar of Plato. He was professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and at the University of Edinburgh. With a later ownership inscription by Dr. George Basalla, a distinguished academic and author of the history of science and technology.

Honolulu, T.H.: Johnny Noble (1930). [4]pp. Sheet Music. 12 x 9 inches. Bifolium. Half tone cover illustration from a photograph. Lyrics in English. Music is for both piano and ukulele. Near Fine. Sheet music for Ruth Florence's I'll Come Sailing Home to You with music for piano and ukulele by King Kalakaua and Johnny Noble, both honorees of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. On the final page of the sheet music are two additional songs with lyrics in Hawaiian: Lei Ohi, a Hawaiian hula, and Heeia, an ancient Hawaiian hula. Published in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii by Noble's own company, the cover of the sheet music shows him with his Moana Hotel Orchestra. Born in Honolulu and trained as a musician, composer, and arranger, Noble (1892-1944) developed the hapa haole style of Hawaiian music and was instrumental in popularizing Hawaiian music in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The musical composition is co-credited to Noble and to Hawaii's King Kalakaua (David Kalakaua, 1836-1891). During King… Read More

[Np, 1818]. Broadside. Approx. 10½ x 8¼ inches. Laid paper with watermark. Ink manuscript with red ink and pencil illustration and decorations. Folds and creases; irregularly trimmed margins; light soiling; some wear in right margin, not affecting text or decorations; very good. [offered with:] a 1-page, German manuscript leaf of laid paper bearing the identical watermark and also dated 1818. Folds and creases with small perforation, not affecting text; very good. Curious crudely-executed folk art, dated 1818, a German-language taufschein or baptismal certificate illuminated with ink and pencil decorations. Fitting for a baptismal wish, the manuscript is illustrated with a chicken and egg motif symbolic of creation, birth, and new life. The opening lines declare in German [transcription approximate:]: "I've been baptized and registered, The Book of Life includes me [now], My Father will love me eternally / And be merciful to His child, / Godly surely knows me already for a long time, / My name rests… Read More

New York: New Music. July, 1950. 14, [2]pp. Small quarto wrappers with small abrasion to front cover, short closed tear near gutter of title-page, two music library stamps, very good. First edition of Morton Feldman's first piano work (1950) to appear in print, one of his earliest compositions and one of his earliest published works: "Feldman's aesthetic crystallized in the early 1950s when he became associated with John Cage, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff and David Tudor. His strongest influence, however, came from New York abstract expressionist painters. Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and especially Philip Guston stimulated Feldman to imagine a sound world unlike any he had ever heard." (Steve Johnson) The second portion of this title contains "Four Cantos" by Seymour Shifrin. A very brief biographical of both composers appears at the end.

New York: Ecco, Harper Collins, (2012). 370pp. First edition and so stated. Illustrated. Hardcover in dust jacket. Fine copy. An outstanding copy of this comprehensive memoir on Leonard Cohen, signed by the author and dated in the year of publication. A slip is inserted stating "The signature in this copy was inscribed at the author's office and is authenticated by the Alabama Booksmith."

New York: Arcade Publishing, (1990). 442 pages. Illustrated. As new in publisher's hardcover binding and photo-illustrated dust jacket. First Edition. Autobiography of this giant in cinematic history. Bergman re-screened all of his films to write his memoir.

Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, c. 1906-1910. 11, [1]pp. 9 x 6 inches. Illustrated, color printed self-wrappers. Half tones; music and lyrics. Some minor erosion to upper wrapper along spine; Very Good. Religious order of service or liturgical celebration for recently arrived immigrants to the United States and those in the church who welcome and support them published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work. The service comprised several hymns (here presented with lyrics and music, including My Country 'Tis of Thee (America)), readings from the Bible, singing by the school, brief addresses and reports, a benediction, and, most notably the "Superintendent's Words." The latter feature is a formal question and answer dialogue between the "Leader" and the "School" on such themes immigration, the needs of "foreigners," colportage, Sabbath-school work, and fundraising to support this outreach: "Rally Day shall be 'exclusively set aside as a… Read More

New York and London: Published by the Century Co., (1926). Frontis., xxii, 483pp. Publisher's pictorial cloth. Fold-out color map; numerous half tone plates from photographs. Raven bookplate of James McDonald with the motto "Nec Tempore Nec Fato." Near fine with light foxing to textblock fore-edge. In a very good or better dustwrapper. First edition in publisher's pictorial cloth; graphics and gilt in stunning condition. The publisher's laud Powell's travel book for its "discussion of historical, religious, racial, and political questions for those contemplating a travel to French North Africa" -Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco-during the 1920s. Blockson Catalogue 1397 (reprint ed.).

New York, Washington, London: Publishers Company, Inc., (1968). Quarto. 307 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated. Rear cover soil and light dampstaining to rear free endpaper, else very good. First edition and inscribed by one of the deans of Black American history: "To Jean, our sister, with love from Charles H. Wesley, 1968."  A volume in the series "International Library of Negro Life and History," published under the auspices of The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. First edition. Octavo. Publisher's binding in quarter cloth; dust jacket. A near fine copy. "Many African Americans had fought for America's liberty and their own in the Revolution, but their place in the new nation was unresolved. As slavery was abolished in the North, free blacks gained greater opportunities, but still faced a long struggle against limits to their freedom, against discrimination, and against southern slavery. The lives of these men and women are vividly described in In Hope of Liberty, spanning the 200 years and eight generations from the colonial slave trade to the Civil War." (publisher's blurb)

[New York, 1902-1904]. [158]ff. 12½ x 9½ inches. Album filled with tipped on or pasted in letters, ephemera, calling cards. Disbound, lacking covers, secured with recent cord tie; original black bordered leaves reinforced on left edge with cloth lining. Overall, Very Good. A useful and packed album providing fine insight into the life of the German-American homeopathic physician Martin Deschere (1848-1902) of New York City. Deschere's widow, Olga Deschere, assembled this archive after Martin Deschere's passing. It reveals a constellation of physicians and medical institutions who were in his orbit. The bulk of the matter comprises: 200 pages of handwritten letters of condolences and tributes -from New York City medical organizations, leading homeopaths, and other physicians; 70 obituaries from newspapers and medical journals; and over 150 mourning calling cards, almost all with a brief autograph sentiment. Some letters refer to Deschere's homeopathic practice, to Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843),… Read More

Memphis State University, 1979. 47 pages. Slim quarto. Dark blue cloth binding with white lettering. Fine condition. Dissertation discussing the tremendous cultural respond of the television phenomenon and adaptation of Roots by Alex Haley written in 1976. Roots: The Saga of an American Family became Roots the 1977 miniseries. Its effect upon the public imagination was profound. The television show was nominated for 37 Emmy Awards, winning 9 while its final episode remains the third-highest-Nielsen-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.

Chicago: Quadrangle, 1971. 272 pages. First edition. Near fine in publisher's cloth in a moderately-rubbed very good dust jacket. Inscribed and signed by the author, a professor at Atlanta's Morehouse College,  at the 68th meeting of the ASALH in Detroit. A collection of historical eyewitness accounts from novelists, educators, journalists, lawyers, historians, physicians and theologians who described African Americans from the Reconstruction Years to the eve of the New Deal.

Pittsburgh: E. Lloyd and Company, Printers, MDCCCXXXV [1835]. 15, [1]pp. Pamphlet; removed, without wrappers; some foxing, else Very Good. Speech by Rev. Gilbert Morgan, one-term president of the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh. Morgan authored the Report on Public Instruction in Pennsylvania (1836) which became the basis for the state's education system. (University of Pittsburgh online) His speech regards his educational philosophy, the study of languages, and political science. With sections addressed to the Board of Trustees and the citizens of Pittsburgh, "this Thermopylae of the Great Valley." "The University's buildings, along with most of its records and files, were destroyed in a widespread 1845 fire that wiped out 20 square blocks of the most valuable part of Pittsburgh." (Wikipedia)

Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, by Kimber, Conrad, & Co., 1805. 48pp. Pamphlet, removed from nonce volume. First Edition. Presentation Copy. Author's inscription to dedication leaf's verso: "For George Poyntell with the respects of The Author." Title-page trimmed down affecting imprint (i.e., publisher and date trimmed out); subsequent leaves trimmed crudely or tightly, affecting author's inscription, and a few words or signature marks, but not sense.  Foxing; soil and small perforation on title page; one leaf with old paper repair; otherwise, good. Doctoral dissertation by Philadelphia physician and surgeon Joseph Parrish (1779-1840), submitted to the trustees and medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Parrish here investigates the effects upon the body of the passions of fear, anger, joy, and grief. He presents notes on 29 medical cases and discusses such diseases or conditions as epilepsia, hypochondriasis, hysteria, mania, melancholia, and gestation and parturition. The pamphlet… Read More

St. Louis, Mo.: Printed by Chambers & Knapp, 1847. 19, [1 (blank)]pp. Pamphlet. 8½ x 5½ inches. Removed; without wrappers. Presentation inscription on title page: "U. P.[?] Library from the Author 1850". Trimmed at top and bottom edges, just touching inscription; Very Good. Address delivered by Rev. Erastus Wentworth (1813-1886), president of McKendree College, the oldest college in Illinois and the oldest Methodist-affiliated college in the United States. The college was founded in 1828 as Lebanon Seminary; in 1830 it was re-named in honor of Bishop William McKendree (1757-1835), the first American-born Methodist bishop, who donated 480 acres of land to the school. This copy with an 1850 presentation inscription by Erastus Wentworth, the year he joined the faculty of natural philosophy and chemistry at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Wentworth subsequently became a missionary in Foochow, China and was editor of the Methodist monthly The Ladies' Repository.

[Washington, D.C.] House of Representatives Doc. 434. 25th Congress, 2d Session. 1838. 10pages. Pamphlet, removed, else very good condition. Streeter: "This relates to the disturbances by Indians on the south side of the Red River near Fort Towson, over which both Texas and the United States claimed jurisdiction at this time. It is reported that the population bordering on the Red River had greatly increased in the last year." STREETER 1336. RADER 3493. GILCREASE-HARGRETT p201.

[New York?1856]. 7pp. Pamphlet. 8vo. Removed; without wrappers. Soft vertical center crease; spine expertly strengthened with tissue; Good. Anti-Republican and anti-John C. Fremont (1813-1890) attack during the 1856 presidential election. The author warned that the former advocated for free love and considered Blacks and women as equals to white men. Wendell Phillips was vilified as was Anson Burlingame, among others, for purportedly demanding an "Anti-Slavery Bible, and an Anti-Slavery God." LCP, AFRO-AMERICANA 5123.

Paris: Chez E. Dentu, Libraire-Éditeur, 1859. First Edition. [3], [1]-162, [1 (errata)]pp., untrimmed. 8vo. Publisher's printed blue wraps. Pencil annotations, likely contemporary, throughout including mathematical and algebraic calculations. Wraps soiled, one separated; spine perished; sewing so loosened as to be almost disbound, else good. Still popular today in France, Italy, and Monaco-and within other casinos of Continental Europe-Trente et Quarante (Thirty and Forty), i.e., Rouge et Noir (Red and Black), is a French gambling card game that requires a special betting table. This rare gambling work, with only two known copies in America and one in France, is divided into two parts, nine chapters in all. In the first part, the author muses about the role of chance in revolutions and civilizations and refers to his own experiences in Egypt. The second part of almost 90 pages, the majority of the work, demonstrates the author's primary concern: successfully playing and gambling on the game of Trente… Read More