Postcards

1949. Unbound. Near Fine. Typed Postcard Signed to David McDowell of New Directions. Postmarked 29 November 1949 from Key West Monica providing a blurb for the American edition of Elio Vittorini's *In Sicily* (which was not used on the first American edition). Near fine. Good content, in full: "There is no warmer and sweeter spirit in the world today than that of the Italian and Sicilian peasantry. They are the true nobility of the world, and their spirit has been caught by Elio Vittorini's book IN SICILY. Tenn Williams. McDowell had a long and distinguished career in American publishing, working at New Directions, Random House, and Crown. For a short period in the late 1950s he and Ivan Obolensky published under their own imprint, most famously issuing the Pulitzer Prize-winning posthumous novel by his good friend James Agee, *A Death in the Family*.

[No place: no publisher], 1960. Unbound. Near Fine. A collection of 25 decorative title cards for a range of motion pictures released between 1952 -1960. Each measures approximately 14" x 11". There is some wear to the extremities, a few scattered creases, and a bit of rubbing, but overall near fine with surprisingly bright colors. Each card has been screenprinted on the verso of a large movie poster that was cut into sections to match the dimensions of a typical lobby card. Movie theaters would occasionally commission local sign makers to produce lobby cards for display. The production symbols on many of the cards indicate they were created in the same years as the films they represent. Among the most notable titles in the collection are: *From Here to Eternity*, *Shane*, *Duel in the Sun*, *Stalag 17*, and *Gidget*. An attractive set of mid-century film memorabilia. A complete list is available upon request.

Unbound. Fine. Real photo postcard (image directly from a negative, not printed). Approximately 5.5" x 3.5". Postmarked 21 July 1906 from Barnstable, and 22 July 1906 from Boston. About fine. Oval photographic image of Perkins sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, probably in Barnstable. Perkins has labeled the photo "Jack did it!" and has addressed the card (in effect Signing it) to himself at Apthorp House at Harvard (a distinguished Colonial home in Cambridge, now the Master's residence in Adams House). A nice, early, and perhaps unrecorded image.

England. Excellent condition. 45 paper cards, usually colored lithographs with pointille embossments in gold and silver, decorated with additional cut-out parts from other colored embossments, multicolored materials, gold-foil or silver-foil, many with silk applications. With English texts. Sizes vary (duodecimo to quarto), all mounted on thick modern handmade paper. Housed in a green protective cloth drop-down-back case. An extraordinary and exquisite assemblage of these delicate items.

Silver Lake, NH, 1962. Surface abrasion, not affecting text. Airmail postcard to Howard Rothschild in London, dated shortly before Cummings' death: "thanks immensely for the priceless information about Norway - & for the 2handedswordlifting Swedish hero. Let us know how you like guided tours in the proletarian paradise; & don't miss Lenin! Marion sends love." [With:] Four page Autograph Letter, signed, from Cummings' wife, Marion Morehouse, reading in part: "Thanks so much for the clipping, though I'm always dismayed by the way journalists misquote. C did say to Sonia [Orwell] that artists should be in the opposition but as for saying he'd not been happy since Roosevelt was elected, not only did he not say it but it's no the sort of thing he would say ...".

Ny, 1905. 12mo. Some browning at edges. 12mo.

The artwork's title is translated as, "Concord of Slovakian Nation." Mucha has signed in his fine hand, "Mucha," above and perpendicular to his printed name. Mucha's printed name appears to the left under the image and the Czech title to the right.A note on provenance: the signed postcard originally came from Mucha's daughter. Ideal for display and exceptionally attractive.

Nice, France: Frank Lalou, 1998. First Edition. Fine. Frank Lalou (b.1958) is a writer, artist, and Hebrew calligrapher. All of his modern-day "illuminated manuscripts" are eminently collectible, but in these bilingual renditions of sacred texts Lalou has truly found his metier. His particular calligraphic style is suited to the aesthetics of both English and Hebrew letter forms. His design also incorporates invented shapes with appear alphabetic but in fact only mimic the abstract features of a true written script. The effect is at once modernist and timeless, hinting even at a pre-Babel language. This "one of book" is signed and dated by Lalou alongside his chop stamp. Quarto. Text in Hebrew and English. Issued loose, the unsewn sheets are laid in hand-painted and hand-lettered Fabriano wrappers in black and red accents. The text is primarily in black, with red, orange, and blue accents, and accompanied by full-page die-cut illustrations with tissue guards. Housed in a red cloth-covered slipcase,… Read more

[Kraków: Drukarnia Narodowa, 1939]. First Edition. Twenty color postcards all measuring 15x10.5cm or the inverse; all in Fine, postally unused condition. Explanatory text printed on versos in English and Polish. The set reproduces twenty of the artist's twenty-three miniature paintings commissioned by the Polish foreign office for the Polish pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. Each image, including portraits of George Washington and Woodrow Wilson, conveys "Polish-American connections...and contributions of Polish people in America" (Ansell, p. 101). The collection is comprised of the following pieces (in approximate chronological order, though beginning with the lead painting, the portrait of George Washington): 1. "George Washington." 2. "Jan z Kolna." 3. "The Polish pioneers in Virginia in the 17-th Century." 4. "Olbracht Zaborowski (Zabriskie)." 5. "Karol Błaszkowicz." 6. "Tadeusz Kościuszko." 7. "Kościuszko constructing the fortifications of Saratoga." 8. "Felix Miklaszewicz."… Read more

NP. ND. . FINE LARGE DECORATIVE VELLUM BINDING. Folio. (14.8 x 12.8 inches.). A collection of 211 items of late 19th and early 20th century cards and ephemera including 26 rare, 3-D, movable, lift-up, Valentines and Christmas cards, each mounted onto a white stiff card page and with multiple pieces of ephemera attached around the page. Attractive late nineteenth century binding of full white vellum. Spine with decorative gilt designs within double gilt ruled lines in compartments. Boards with triple gilt ruled borders to the very edges and elaborate dark brown morocco panels with highly decorative gilt tooling. A thin blue ink line inside and out of the brown panels. Four gilt corner pieces inside the middle panel. Red painted initials, with gilt borders, to the centre of the front panel. Board edges and turn-ins with decorative gilt rolls. Green and white patterned endpapers. All edges gilt. Inner hinges reinforced with buff cloth strip. A little marking and a couple of small splits to the binding… Read more

Ink, watercolor, ink stamps and collage on paper 14 5/8 x 23 inchesSigned and dated recto; inscribed verso.
A wonderful example of Saul Steinberg's lush and playful postcard-style landscapes.From the Saul Steinberg Foundation website:"Exquisitely brushed or sponged in oil or thin watercolor wash, they are simple compositions, with cloud-sky formations above, punctuated by rubber stamp sun-seals, and a horizontal expanse of flat land and/or water below; sometimes a bit of faux calligraphy feigns elucidation. They are peopled with painted or (usually) rubber stamp figures, the kind of embellishments called staffage in earlier landscape painting. 'If I use a rubber stamp…I do it to show that this paint is not real paint, it's a symbol of the thing painted.' Steinberg didn't depict nature, but nature as translated by art, from high to low, the low end here represented by the clichéd vistas of tourist postcards."

This is a lifetime photograph of Leo Tolstoy. Lifetime edition. 1900s Russian Empire. Very Good condition.
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; 9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909; the fact that he never won is a major controversy. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, Tolstoy's notable works include the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based upon his experiences in the Crimean War. His fiction includes dozens… Read more

This is a lifetime photograph of Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy in front of his house in Yasnaya Polyana. Photographer Karl Bulla. Lifetime edition. 1900s Russian Empire. Very Good condition.
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; 9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909; the fact that he never won is a major controversy. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, Tolstoy's notable works include the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches… Read more

This is a rare photo of Fyodor Dostoevsky in postcard form. Posthumous edition. 1890s. Russian Empire. Very Good condition.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (11 November [O.S. 30 October] 1821 – 9 February [O.S. 28 January] 1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. Numerous literary critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces. Dostoevsky's literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed novels include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), The Adolescent (1875), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.

This is a lifetime edition photo of Isaac Levitan (Russian: Исаак Ильич Левитан). 1890s Russian Empire. Very Good condition. The surname "Левитанъ" is printed with an error - "Левцтанъ".
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (Russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; 30 August [O.S. 18 August] 1860 – 4 August [O.S. 22 July] 1900) was a Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape".