Association Copies

Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1847.. Large, thick octavo. Original decorated red moiré cloth, a.e.g. Illustrations by E. Leutze, "engraved by American artists." Some gilt stamping perished, neatly rebacked, with original backstrip laid down, plates a bit spotted, as usual, fore-tips worn, otherwise a good copy. First edition in this format (a reprint, save for the prefatory note "To the Reader," "The Stream of Life," and "The Waning Moon"). Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on a prelim: "To James Lawson Esq. from his much obliged friend The Author Dec. 1846." The recipient, James Lawson (1799-1880), was a Glasgow-born American author, editor, and insurance expert. In late 1815 he emigrated to New York and, having as a young man acquired an interest in literature, ". . . in 1821 he selected American writers for representation in John Mennons' 'Literary Coronal' and, later, for similar miscellanies. Duyckinck credits him with the introduction of the best American authors to the British… Read More

NY: Harper & Brothers, 1933. Signed first edition. Hard cover in original cloth. Published NY: Harper & Brothers, 1933, first printing. Presentation to American journalist and historian Mark Sullivan (1874 - 1952), author of the six volume "Our Times". "For Mark Sullivan from Thomas W. Lamont, June 1933." Mark Sullivan was a titan of twentieth century journalism. Born on a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1874, he was only in his late teens when he bought an interest in a local newspaper, the Phoenixville Republican, for $300. The profits from this investment funded his education at Harvard, where he earned bachelor's and law degrees. In the first decade of the century he was a muckraker in the mold of Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens. His 1904 exposé on patent medicine quacks for Ladies' Home Journal helped stoke the public outrage that resulted in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act two years later. He was a close friend of Herbert Hoover and… Read More

New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1983. Association Copy, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR in the year of publication on the half-title page - "for Nan Miller Umberto Eco, June 83". An excellent Association Copy, Nan Miller was an editor at Indiana University Press for over 30 years. In IU Preident Thomas Ehrlich's 1993 address for Eco's Honorary Degree for Doctor of Humane Letters he noted that " ... for more than 15 years, Indiana University has been a home away from home. One draw was the university's Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies in Bloomington. Another was the Indiana University Press, which inaugurated its Advances in Semiotics series with Professor Eco's first major English publication, A Theory of Semiotics. Since then, the IU Press has published five additional books in semiotics that were authored, coauthored, or coedited by Professor Eco." First Edition stated, First Printing with complete Harcourt letter row BCDE. Very Good Plus,… Read More

[Teofilo Folengo] Opus Merlini Cocaii Poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum. Venetiis, apud Nicolaum Bevilacquam, 1613. In-12. 14.5 cm. Contemporary lap-edged polished vellum, titled on the spine by hand, possibly by Simon Abbes Gabbema. Woodcut printer's device with motto "sciencia immutabilis" on the title page. [iv (blanks); 1 – 541; viii; i (blank)] Verso of p. 541 blank; Twenty-seven woodcut illustrations at: A1b; A12b; C11; D7b; E4; E12b; F8b; G5b; H2b; H11; I6b; K3; K11; L6b; M3; M11; N8; O3; P2; P8b; Q4b; Q12b; S2b; T3b; T8; V3b; V10. Signed and dated in 1650 by noted Frisian historian, Simon Abbes Gabbema (1628 – 1688), the official historian of Frisland, promoter of the Frisian language and a sometime owner of the Codex Roorda. There is a second manuscript motto on the title page and another note on the front flyleaf.

First edition published 1517, Delepierre says this edition was printed in Germany not in Italy, as the paper and the wretched woodcuts (chétives figures) indicate, citing David… Read More

Theophrasti, Eresi Characteres ethici, siue morum descriptiones. Graecè & Latinè. Cum notis & Monitis Ioannis Angelii Werdenhagen I.C.C., Lugduni Batauorum, Ex Officinâ Ioannis Maire, 1632. 90 mm x 47 mm, in-32, 2 pt, three parts in one volume : Greek text printed in Greek, followed by the Latin translation by the Calvinist theologian Isaac Casaubon. The third part is the commentary of Johann Angelius von Werdenhagen. [Initial blank(s) missing; 71 pages (verso blank); 98 pages; 3 blanks; 237 pages, errata of 2 pages; 2 concluding blanks]. Title page signed by I. J. Brownlee and Peter Wilson. Original vellum over paper boards, darkened and worn from use. The numeral "19" is inked on the back at the head. Notation on the verso of the final blank: "VP. 1746".
Peter Wilson (1746–1825) was born in Ordiquhill, Banffshire, Scotland, and studied at the University of Aberdeen. After moving to New York City in 1763, he worked as a teacher and then as principal of the Hackensack Academy before becoming… Read More

London: John Murray, 1914. Presentation Copy SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by Harry Gordon Selfridge front end page of Vol. 1 - "To Mrs. Skidmore With best wishes from H. Gordon Selfridge Wed. April 6, 1921". Harry Gordon Selfridge was the founder of Selfridges department store in London whose innovations revolutionized English merchandising and created a fortune for him. His life is the subject of the popular PBS TV series "Mr. Selfridge" starring Jeremy Piven. This set contains eight volumes bound as four from the Edition in 17 Volumes ( lacking Vols. 13 and 17), as follows: Pauline-Sordello, Vols 3 & 4 bound in Vol. I, Vols. 5 &6, and 7 bound in Vol. II, Vols. 8-10 and Vols. 12 & 13 bound in Vol. III, and Vols. 14 & 15 and Vol. 16 with General Index bound in Vol. IV. In signed Riviere & Son fine binding of half vellum over powder blue buckram, the backs richly gilt, top edges gilt, marbled end pages, Near Fine, light soiling to vellum, scant toning at illustrations.… Read More

London: Secker & Warburg, 1976 First printing of the first British edition. Signed and inscribed by Saul Bellow to Terry Eagleton, the eminent literary theorist, new historicist, and Thomas Wharton Professor of English at Oxford: "For Terry Eagleton / from his neighbor at Durrant's / Saul Bellow / London Dec. 22, 1976." Book with light toning to spine and top edge of boards, else in fine condition; dust jacket with toning to spine and mild edge wear, else fine. Recipient of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize.

1852. London: Parker, Furnivall, And Parker, 1852. London: Parker, Furnivall, And Parker, 1852. Treatise on Courts Martial Owned by Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart [Stuart, J.E.B. (1833-1864)]. Simmons, Thomas Frederick. Remarks on the Constitution and Practice of Courts Martial; With a Summary of the Law of Evidence, As Connected with Such Courts; Also Some Notice of the Criminal Law of England, With Reference to the Trial of Civil Offences Where There is no Competent Civil Judicature. London: Parker, Furnivall, And Parker, 1852. xvi, 668, [4] pp. Includes 4-page publisher catalogue. Octavo (8-3/4" x 5-1/2"). Original cloth, blind frames to boards, blind fillets and gilt title to spine. Light rubbing, soiling and a few minor dampstains, chipping to spine ends, corners bumped, hinges cracked. "J.E.B. Stuart./ 1st Cavalry" in large penciled hand to front free endpaper. Moderate toning to text, light foxing in a few places, upper corners of a few leaves dog-eared. A copy with an interesting Civil War… Read More

Amherst, Mass.: J. S. & C. Adams, 1840. viii, paginated 9-320, illustrated, 3 fold-out charts. RARE SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at front end page - "Mr. A. Jenkins, Jr., with the respect of the author", with laid in single sheet center fold with one side in author's manuscript handwriting, titled "Topics on Geology" followed by 19 numbered topics with corresponding pages noted. ASSOCIATION COPY, Reverend Abraham Jenkins, Jr., (1811-1861), graduated Amherst College in 1838. Upon graduation, he assisted Hitchcock in his chemical lectures, and in his geological survey of the State of Massachusetts until the summer of 1839. Edward Hitchcock later became the third President of Amherst, (1845-1854), and was the first State Geologist of Massachusetts. The book a bit less than Very Good, tear to black cloth at front joint running the length of the book with1/4" loss of cloth at top edge of spine, light foxing, mainly at end pages, with heavier toning on verso of rear… Read More

New York: Prentice Hall, 1970. SCARCE Association Copy, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at front end page -"to Janet Saxe, Best of Luck Teaching Black Literature. Louise Meriwether April 1972". Louise Meriwether (born1923) is an African-American novelist, essayist, journalist and activist. Daddy Was a Number Runner is her critically acclaimed first book, and the first novel to come out of the Watts Writers' Workshop. Considered an underappreciated classic, it is her fictional account of a year in the life of a 12 year old girl growing up in Harlem during the Great Depression. "It risks offending people by taking up such issues such as police brutality, the unemployment situation, the desperation caused by the Depression and the different ways that the Blacks and whites are treated by society." (Ishmael Reed, The New York Times, June 18, 2021 "A Novel From ’70 Is Still Resonant"). Janet (Cheatham) Saxe (Bell) is an African-American educator, author and independent… Read More

Chicago: The David Company, 1991 First edition, publisher’s original stiff wrappers, a black and white mottled design of a composition notebook with poems written in first-person voice of twenty imagined young characters. Presentation copy signed and inscribed "For Kenan Heise. / Sincerely / Gwendolyn Brooks / July 21, 1996."
A few faint creases to front cover, else book in fine condition, issued without a dust jacket.

Kenan Heise’s links to Chicago history are strong, nurturing relationships with Chicago luminaries such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Studs Terkel. Kenan Heise is a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame, a prolific author and historian, a poet and a playwright, and a prodigious book collector and broker (Proprietor of Chicago Historical Bookworks). He worked for the Chicago Tribune newspapers for 36 years, including Chicago's American, Chicago Today and the Tribune. He is a Michigan native, and has written or collaborated on more than 25 books and memoirs… Read More

New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. Presentation Copy, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at half-title page - " for Nan the only of my ( furlogh?) books she did not co-authored ( what a pity !) Umberto June 83 from the Bloomington Abbey". A wonderful and notably personal Association Copy, no other signed copies of Eco's books found without his surname. Nan Miller was an editor at Indiana University Press for over 30 years. In Indiana University President Thomas Ehrlich's 1993 address for Eco's Honorary Degree for Doctor of Humane Letters he noted that " ... for more than 15 years, Indiana University has been a home away from home. One draw was the university's Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies in Bloomington. Another was the Indiana University Press, which inaugurated its Advances in Semiotics series with Professor Eco's first major English publication, A Theory of Semiotics. Since then, the IU Press has published five additional books in… Read More

1914. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1914. 1st ed.. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1914. 1st ed. First Edition, Inscribed by Frankfurter to a Protege Brandeis, Louis D. [1856-1941]. Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, [1914]. xiv, [2], 223 pp. Original cloth, gilt titles to front board and spine. Small stain to front board, light wear to spine ends and corners, majority of gilding rubbed away from spine title. Moderate toning to interior, gift inscription from Felix Frankfurter to front free endpaper. $1,950. * First edition, first issue. This scathing critique of "Our Financial Oligarchy" is based on a series of articles published in Harper's Weekly from 1913 to 1914. Frankfurter [1882-1965], a protege of Brandeis, inscribed this copy to one of his proteges, Francis Shea [1905-1989], who was one of his former Harvard Law students (LL.B., 1928). Shea became a prominent New Deal official and went on to a distinguished career as the dean of… Read More

New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at recto of frontispiece - "For the beautiful lady and gentleman - from their affectionate and admiring son, Booth. May 2nd. 05". Also SIGNED AND INSCRIBED at front decorative end page -"Given to my friend Ada Bradshaw by Elizabeth B. Tarkington". Elizabeth B.Tarkington, (10 Nov 1833 - 17 Apr 1909), was Booth Tarkington's Mother and the person who kindled his interest in literature and writing. She was featured in two of his novels, The Two Van Revels (1902) and Penrod and Sam (1916). Very Good, no jacket, boards are soiled and stained, the interior is clean and unblemished, gilt lettering at spine dulled. Red cloth lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, illustrated end papers, frontispiece, and 6 illustrations in text. 144 pages. A truly wonderful Tarkington Association Copy, bearing a loving and respectful inscription from a son to his beloved parents, and additionally bearing his Mother's signature.… Read More

1781. London: Printed by H. Hughs, 1781.. London: Printed by H. Hughs, 1781. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Copy of an Important Work on Parliamentary Procedure Hatsell, John [1743-1820]. [Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)]. Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons, Under Separate Titles; With Observations. London: Printed by H. Hughs, 1781. xi, 247, [32] pp. Quarto (8" x 10-1/2"). Nineteenth-century calf with later rebacking retaining existing spine, which has gilt fillets and red and black lettering pieces, gilt tooling to board edges, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing and a few minor nicks and scuffs to boards, light gatoring to perimeters of boards, moderate rubbing to board edges, corners bumped and worn. Light browning to interior, light foxing to sections of text, retained armorial bookplate of Richard Brinsley Sheridan to front pastedown, his signature to head of title page. $1,850. * First edition. Holdsworth cites this book several times at length and says it is "[p]erhaps the… Read More