The Physical Basis of Life by Wilson, E.B - 1923

Ann Arbor, MI: The Legacy Press, 2018. cloth, dust jacket. Bookbinding. 8vo. cloth, dust jacket. 707 pages. Research into the history of the book and bookbinding makes our historical bindings relevant again and makes them better company. Studying and understanding and identifying and describing give us more information to consider when we must make decisions about our historical books. Accumulating this information most affects our great institutional collections, and to an extent, private collections, because the custodians of those collections have often tried to pay attention to issues of rarity and importance beyond content. There is certainly a growing and very welcome and broader interest today about the whole book (text and binding), its materials and structures, and the ways that time and use mark books, all books. Custodians and scholars have both arrived at the point where they realize materiality and marking are equally important, and sometimes are just as important as content, for… Read More

Napoli (Naples). Full Cloth. Very Good. N.d., circa 1880s. Leporello of the ruins, including one of the museo and a photogravure of local paesane carrying baskets generally over head in the ruins. Closed, 18 by 13 cm. 22 panels with photographs. Probably missing two photos. Giogio Sommer (1834-1914) was a well-known, and extremely prolific, German-born photographer who made a successful business out of photographing and selling photographs of Italian scenery and ruins, and most specifically, in and around Naples, where he came to have multiple storefronts operating simultaneously. Condition: as noted, probably missing two photos. Soiling of the spine. Some fraying of the cloth along the joints, and a few folds reattached discreetly on the blank backs. Some scattered minor soiling within.

This Medal of Honor-winning U.S. Marine Corps officer downed 21 enemy planes in World War Two, making him the fourth ranking USMC fighter Ace. PS, 8" X 10", n.p., n.y. Fine. Handsome, high-quality glossy modern reproduction of a candid WW2-era shot of a smiling Walsh standing in front of his plane, inscribed and signed boldly in black fineline at left center: "Ken Walsh CMH / Lt Col USMC (Ret.) / VMF-124 & 222 / 21- Victories." This is accompanied by an 11" X 14" print, a 1991 reproduction of a pencil portrait of Walsh, his fighter plane and his Medal of Honor, boldly signed in pencil at lower right by noted aviation artist Lonnie Ortega. Near fine.

Aspen CO: (published by author), 1968. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Near Fine. Stiff pictorial covers, plastic spiral-bound, 130 pages, b&w photographs throughout. All kind of recipes from Aspen townsfolk - retailers, hoteliers, chefs, ski-instructors, teachers, artists - with not only photographs of them but also of Aspen historical and natural sites. Besides being a "local" cookbook, the book is a wonderful time capsule of Aspen as a small town in the Rockies before it became an international destination for the rich and famous who skied or didn't. Copies in library collections are not uncommon, but the title is seldom found on the commercial market. Clean, solidly bound copy.

CHIN, Jason. Grand Canyon. [NY]: Roaring Brook [2017]. 4to, [44]pp. Color pictorial boards. Color pictorial endpapers; color illustrations on every page including one gate fold spread. A fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket. Signed by the author/artist, Caldecott Honor artist Jason Chin.
First edition. 2018 Caldecott Honor Book! Follow a father and daughter as they make their way through the cavernous wonder, discovering life both present and past. Weave in and out of time as perfectly placed die cuts show you that a fossil today was a creature much long ago, perhaps in a totally different environment. Complete with a spectacular double gatefold, an intricate map and extensive back matter.

McKay, 1957. Hardcover. Condition: Used: Very Good. Tight and unmarked, lightly toned, no jacket, covers soiled 1957 David McKay first printing.

London: Henry Lintot and John Osborn, 1746. Folio. An extract of pp. 467-478 of Vol. VI of the third edition of Churchill's Voyages. Bound to style in quarter leather, red leather lettering piece, gilt; marbled paper boards. A near fine copy. Translated from the High-Dutch original. Backhoff traveled from Moscow to China via Siberia in 1654. Wagener traveled throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and America. This account is taken from his diary. He was in China in 1653. The account is quite short. .

Purchase: local show

London: Chapman and Hall, 1878. First edition. Hardcover. Good. 8vo. 372pp plus publisher's catalogue dated November, 1877. Gray cloth, gilt spine title, boards printed in black. Endpapers partially pasted down, first two pages partially detached, and others reinforced with what appears to be archival tape. A purple War Srvices stamp on the title page, and a longer one on the front free endpaper. Light wear to the spine tips, edges and corners. Still gives a good appearance. Illustrated with eight full page Woodburytype plates. .

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo, 261 pages; VG-/None; quarter tan cloth binding, boards in green decorated paper; spine with age-toned paper label, with black lettering; some shelf wear and soiling; corners bumped; some soiling and age-toning to spine; spine label creased and age-toned; spine cocked; inscribed by Van Vechten at front free endpaper; frontispiece starting; bookseller's sticker at back pastedown; pages clean; CX consignment; NOTE: Shelved in Room G. 1347983. Special Collections.