Rare books from Lorne Bair Rare Books

Urumqi, XinJiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Cultural Revolution Committee of Urumqi / Xinjiang Army Divisioni, 1967/8. Two extraordinary hand-crafted parade banners, ca. 110" x 84" (9 feet x 7 feet), one slightly smaller. Each entirely composed of hook-work with colored yarns on white muslin backing. Slight age-toning and soil; a few threads loose but no significant losses; Near Fine condition overall. Folded and stored in original velvet draw-string carrying bags, as found. Both banners bear the inscription "Chairman Mao Reviewing the Great Army of the Cultural Revolution," and depict the August, 1966 mass rally at Tiananmen Gate, where more than 10 million Red Guards from all over China converged to express their solidarity with Mao and his second-in-command, Lin Biao. Additional text on the lower banner reads "Long Live Chairman Mao for ten thousand years" and "Sailing in the ocean requires a helmsman" -- both quotes from Lin Biao. The agencies responsible for the banners are identified in lower… Read More

[Baghdad: S.i., ca.1943-44]. Original illustrated poster, offset printed in five colors on beige stock, measuring 56.75cm x 72.75cm (22.25" x 28.5"). Signed "FAIK H" (in plate) at lower left corner. Two old folds smoothed out, trivial wear to intersection of folds at center, with a handful of short marginal tears and attendant creases; unbacked; Very Good+. Superb example of this agricultural-themed wartime propaganda poster designed by Iraqi painter Faeq Hassan (1914-1992), widely heralded as "the father of Iraqi modern art." Born poor in Baghdad, Hassan showed an early aptitude for art. When he was 12 he visited his uncle, a gardener in the royal palace for King Faisal I; when the King saw his drawing of a horse drinking from a river, he recognized his talent instantly, and offered him a scholarship. Faisal died in 1933, while Hassan was still in high school, though his successor, King Ghazi, carried out his father's will and send him to the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1935. After returning… Read More

V.p.: 1946-47. Archive of six TNS (typed notes, signed), five TLS (typed letters, signed), and one Western Union telegram from Upton Sinclair to the Paris literary agent and translator Jean-Robert Lamour (better known by his pseudonym, Yves Malartic). Together with ten of Lamour's retained carbons of communications to Sinclair and others. Correspondence spans the period January, 1946 to December, 1947, and deals with Lamour's efforts to secure publishing contracts for French-language translations of Sinclair's works including The Jungle, They Call Me Carpenter, Our Lady, and others, as well as Sinclair's ongoing work on the Lanny Budd series. Sinclair's letters range from notes of as few as four lines to letters of two pages, the entirety comprising approximately 2500 words, with numerous hand-corrections and signatures in blue or black ink. Lamour's letters to Sinclair comprise nine pieces of correspondence (of which three are partial) and one draft contract, with a total of approximately 3000… Read More

[N.p.: S.i., 1934]. Holograph manuscript, composed in dark blue ink on 152 numbered leaves (rectos), and housed in a bespoke chemise and slipcase by Barrieri. With presentation inscription from Cobb to MGM film produced and screenwriter Samuel Marx (in pencil) at upper right corner of title leaf: "Original manuscript copy for Sam Marx Esq / with my compliments / Irvin S. Cobb." A heavily-revised draft, with extensive holograph additions and elisions (in pencil and in pen) throughout, marking substantial textual differences between this and the final draft of the screenplay. Mild wear and handling; preliminary leaves with faint creasing to extremities, with subtle toning to title leaf; Very Good+ or better. Slipcase with some light wear and minute board exposure to points around opening, else Near Fine. Early, unpublished manuscript treatment of the 1939 Paramount Studios film Our Leading Citizen, directed by Alfred Santell, with a screenplay by Jack Moffitt. A "Capital vs. Labor" story, set in a… Read More

[London]: New Burlington Galleries / Women's Printing Society, Ltd, 1936. First Edition. Slim octavo (24cm); pictorial wrappers, saddle-stitched; 31,[1]pp. French gallerist and art dealer Pierre Loeb's copy, with "Exemplaire de Pierre Loeb" in red ink on title page by E.L.T. Mesens, along with his signature, and those of the following individuals associated with the exhibition directly beneath: Shiela Legge, André Breton, Jacqueline B. (Jacqueline Lamba, Breton's wife), Roland Penrose, David Gascoyne, Humphrey Jennings, Hans Arp, and George Reavey. Light external wear and dust-soil, wrappers starting to pull away from staples, with some scattered discoloration to rear wrapper; a few very light pencil marks in-text, else contents quite fresh; Very Good+. Housed in a custom clamshell case. Well-preserved catalog of the first Surrealist art exhibition in England, organized by artist Roland Penrose and poet David Gascoyne, and held at the New Burlington Galleries from June 11th - July 4th, 1936. A… Read More

New York: Cameron & Kahn, 1955. First Edition. Original illustration, composed in ink, gouache, and drybrush on art paper, measuring 30.5cm x 31.5cm (12" x 12.5"); titled by Kent in pencil along the lower margin ("Jacket design for The Judgment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, by James Wexley"), and signed by him (in pencil) at lower right corner. Faint trace of soil to margins, with a small patch (5cm x 1cm) of correction fluid applied toward upper left corner of image; mounted on mat board along upper edge, tastefully double-matted behind glass and gallery frame. Offered together with a first printing of the book. Octavo (22cm); brown paper-covered boards and beige cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in black on spine; dustjacket; xiv,672pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the Sobell family on the front endpaper: "To Helen and Morton, Sidney [sic] and Mark / For that great day soon! John Wexley." Extremities worn, with board exposure along lower edges, and some soil and staining to… Read More

Oneida, NY, et al.: Oneida Community, 1839-1879. First Edition. The Perfectionist [vol. I nos 1&2 condensed]. New Haven, CT: 1835. Second edition. One folio issue (40cm), 4pp. Split along fold, with damage to margins, small spots of discoloration: Good. DARE 1517. The Witness [vol. I nos xx, xxii, xxv; vol. II nos ii, iv-vi, viii, xi-xii, xiv-xvi, xviii-xxi]. Putney, VT: 1839-1842. Seventeen individual issues (30cm), each 8pp. Some disbound, with sewing holes and remnants of thread, others never bound. With one leaf from vol. I no. vi. Largely whole, with small clippings excised from vol. I nox. xxii and vol. II no. xii; vol. II no. xviii lacking two leaves. Condition varies, with some issues clean and fresh, others battered at edges, with splits along folds, occasional foxing and minor dampstaining: overall, Good and sometimes better. DARE 1543. The Perfectionist [later issues titled: Perfectionist and Theocratic Watchman] [vols III-IV complete, vol. V nos 1-2, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 24]. Putney,… Read More

[Garden City]: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1941. Limited Edition. No. 148 of one thousand sets, signed by Kipling in the first volume. Twenty-eight octavo volumes; red gilt-blocked beveled cloth, top edges gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed; in uniform dustjackets. Front endpapers with printed bookplates of Harry Bishop Clapp (to each pastedown) and James Glen Mead (to each free endpaper). The latter have caused some mild rippling to the endleaves, else a fresh, fine set in the original printed dustwrappers, uniformly fine and free of darkening or wear. The authoritative edition of Kipling's works, rarely found in the original dustwrappers and almost unheard of in this condition, certainly the finest set to reach the market in the past twenty or more years. RICHARDS D25.

Palo Alto, CA; Rome; Holllins, VA, 1957-1970. A small but substantial archive of Cowley family correspondence, comprised of 44 items (38 letters and six post cards) on 56 pages, mostly 4to, various places (Palo Alto, CA; Rome; Hollins College) but primarily from the Cowleys' principal residence in Sherman, CT. All addressed to their son Robert and his wives, first Blair, and then Susan (Cheever), Nov. 30, 1957 - Sept. 17, 1970. 23 letters and all 6 post cards are in Muriel's hand, the remaining 15 letters in Malcolm's, though almost all of the letters are written as from both parents. All the letters are in Very Good to Fine condition, many with original mailing envelopes. Also included are five retained carbons of letters from Robert to Malcolm, and six miscellaneous items including the engraved invitation to Robert and Susan Cheever's wedding as well as notes from Robert's children and first wife Blair. An extensive, widely informative and intensely personal series of letters from the Cowleys to… Read More

Camden, NJ: By the Author, 1876. The so-called "Author's Edition," actually the third printing of the fifth edition (600 copies). Second issue, with integral title leaf. Signed by Whitman in ink on title page; additionally inscribed in Whitman's hand on front free endpaper: "Henry King / from the author." Original cream leather spine and corners over marbled boards; bright yellow coated endpapers; 384,[3] + 1pp ads. Evidence of old professional strengthening to front and rear joints (external); leather spine and corners have darkened to tan, as usual; a few leaves with brief marginal tears, not affecting text. A generally clean, Very Good copy in the original binding. BAL 21412. MYERSON A.2.5.c.(2). The Author's edition of Leaves of Grass was issued uniform with Two Rivulets in August, 1876, and the two titles were advertised for purchase separately or as a set. Many if not most copies were signed by Whitman on the title page, and it is not altogether uncommon to find copies with additional… Read More

Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1914. First Edition. Octavo (19cm); light brown cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine and front cover; portrait frontispiece; 315,[1],[4]pp ads. This copy originally owned by American radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist George Ephraim Sokolsky (1893-1962), with his pictorial bookplate mounted to front pastedown, and his holograph signature ("George E. Sokolsky / School of Journalism / Columbia University / New York City") at upper right corner of front endpaper. Beneath his signature is a holograph note in Emma Goldman's hand: "First copy sold to George Sokolsky." "Witnessed by:" (also in her hand), followed by the holograph signatures of Alexander Berkman, Rebecca Edelsohn, and M. Eleanor Fitzgerald, and dated N.Y. April 30, 1914. Circular rubber stamp of the Otis Free Public Library (Otis, MA) on lower front pastedown, with an unused library "Date Due" card tipped onto rear endpaper, and beige trapezoidal paper remnant mounted to lower rear pastedown.… Read More

Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. First Edition. First and only printing, with the contents listed on pp.iii-iv and without the preface added in the second edition. Octavo (19cm). Blindstamped brown cloth, titled in gilt on spine, pale yellow endpapers; iv,322pp. Title page printed in two colors. With Hawthorne's signature clipped from a Salem Custom-House document, and tipped in facing title page. Bookplate of Francis H. Underwood to front pastedown. Former dealer's pencil notes to front free e.p. A skillfully rebacked copy, with original backstrip laid down; expert conservation to board corners; straight, sound, and complete, the text quite fresh; Very Good. An appealing copy, despite the repairs, with Hawthorne's signature clipped from a customs document. Hawthorne famously wrote the novel while working at the Salem Custom House, and opened it with a frame narrative in which the narrator discovers the preserved scarlet A itself. A significant association copy, bearing the bookplate of the… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1939. First Edition. First edition, with "First Published in April 1939" on copyright page and first edition notice on front flap of dust jacket. 8vo., publisher's heavy grain decorated beige cloth. A near fine copy in like dustjacket, bright, clean and fresh. Housed in a tailor made leather spined case. Inscribed by the author to the front flyleaf: "For Jules and Joyce and also Joan with love John Steinbeck." Beneath the signature is one of Steinbeck's irreverent flying pig sketches (or "Pigasus" if you prefer), generally an indication that the recipient of his presentation was a close and valued friend,or someone he held in high esteem. In this case it was Jules Buck, and Joyce Gates, with their young daughter, Joan. Jules Buck started out as John Huston's camerman for his wartime documentaries ("Winning Your Wings", "Let There Be Light" etc.) and then grew into an influential producer, both in the US and abroad. Although having a sketchy working relationship with… Read More

Boston: Published for the Author, 1875. First Revised Edition. First Printing. Octavo (19.75cm); dark blue-green cloth, with titling and portrait of the author stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; xii,[13]-324pp, with an engraved tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of the author, and the errata slip tipped onto the preface at gutter. Contemporary ink ownership inscription to front pastedown ("L.G. Ransom's Book" - possibly Limon G. Ransom, a Methodist churchman from Iowa), with a holograph correction and marginal annotation on the Preface page in an editorial hand. Light wear to spine ends and corner tips, a tiny rubbed spot to right edge of rear cover, hint of sunning to spine, with faint creases to a handful of page corners, subtle toning to the edges of the frontispiece, and a brief (early) holograph note in pencil on p.324; hinges sound, with the text notably fresh and without foxing; Near Fine. "Her given name was Isabella. Standing six feet tall with a deep, resonant voice, this… Read More

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); beige linen, blocked and titled in red and black on spine, with Hemingway's facsimile signature stamped in black on front cover; brown topstain; dustjacket; [x],471,[1]pp. Some offsetting to pastedowns from binder's glue, hint of foxing to upper edge of textblock, with a few pinpoint rubbed spots on the red panel at upper spine; contents fresh; Near Fine. In the first state dustjacket, without the photographer's name on lower rear panel; unclipped (priced $2.75), with a few pinpoint rubbed spots to spine ends and corner tips, and some trivial dust-soil to flap edges; a very Near Fine example - not torn, worn, or restored, as most copies tend to be. A striking copy of the author's 1940 novel, centered around a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. Basis for Sam Wood's Oscar-winning adaptation, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.… Read More