Rare books from 20 Ants Fine Books, IOBA

New York: R. F. Fenno & Company. Very Good with no dust jacket. N.D.. Hardcover. Light soil and wear to covers, spine ends, and tips. A white spot and two light spots to the front cover. Front endpaper has a creased corner, 1/4" closed tear at the head, and a "ghost" offset from a sticker that isn't present.; A reprint from one of R. F. Fenno & Company's original series of approximately thirteen pamphlets of Oscar Wilde's poetry issued by R. F. Fenno & Company. The table of contents list the poems; Impressions: I. Les Silhouettes II. La Fuite de la Lune, The Grave of Keats, Theocritus: A Villanelle, In The Gold Room: A Harmony, Ballade De Marguerite, The Dole of the King’s Daughter, Amor Intellectualis, Santa Decca, A Vision, Impression De Voyage, The Grave Of Shelley, and By The Arno. This poetry was generally derided by Wilde's critics as lightweight and derivative of Algernon Charles Swinburne's work. Some of these poems are reprinted… Read More

Santa Barbara, CA: Unicorn Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1971. Limited Signed Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. A few thin, dark marks to the paper of the back cover. Slightest bumps to the lower tips of the covers.; This poem is written in Levine's characteristic style of short, declarative phrasing and the lines speak in the voice of a child, the voice of an adult, and the voice of the wall, all presumed to be in Spain. The dedication references the girl Pili, the author's wife, and Spain, for which he had a long-standing fascination. Prior to his 2011 appointment as Poet Laureate of the United States, Philip Levine won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lily Prize in Poetry and the Wallace Stevens Award. The author was also named Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Copy 43 of an edition of 50, numbered in yellow ink and signed in black by Levine. From a total edition of 750, the 50 numbered and signed copes are specially bound in… Read More

East Aurora, New York: The Roycroft Printing Shop. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1896. Limited/Numbered Edition. Hardcover. A light mark to the front cover, spine tail slightly bumped, bruise or dent to the head edge of the rear cover. Occasional, foxing to the pages, some pages foxed in the gutter at the head. ; In a periodical, Roycroft printed the first US appearance of George Bernard Shaw's essay on the institution of the church, primarily the Catholic Church, and churchgoers' reliance on organized religion. Although Shaw, via a postcard, had given Elbert Hubbard permission to publish this work, Shaw was horrified to find that Hubbard had taken liberties and edited the essay instead of printing it as it stood. Thereafter, Shaw disassociated himself from the Roycroft version, treated it as a piracy, and did not miss an opportunity to vilify Elbert Hubbard. From the essay, Shaw's thoughts on how drink, smoke, drugs, or the lack thereof, produce creative works, including… Read More

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1926. Limited Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Slight wear to tips and head and tail edges of the covers. The dust jacket is sunned and has slight chipping at the rear head edge and the head and tail at the spine. ; Fourteen humorous essays from this master of the genre and novelist, journalist, and poet. Christopher Morley's style is that of a man of letters and his work is dry, subtle humor, not lowest common denominator funny. Each essay illustrated with an ink drawing by Walter Jack Duncan, a noted book and magazine illustrator who drew scenes from WWI Europe for the US government. Copy 83 of a limited edition of 365 and boldly signed by Morley on the limitation page. Backed in black cloth with festive covers of textured black cloth printed with bunches of grapes in purple and gold, over boards. Paper title label to spine. Gilt head of the text block with uncut and rough fore edges. A page… Read More

London: William Heinemann. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. c.1916. Limited Signed Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Tail fore corners bumped, some light rubbing at the hinges, light overall foxing to the free endpapers with a bit on the pastedowns, light dampstain at the tail of the front free endpaper and the next two leaves, a sliver of unobtrusive foxing along the fore edge of numerous pages. Light scuffing to the cloth of the rear cover. The slipcase has light rubbing to all edges, with wear to the head and tail of the leather.; These 13 collected tales represent the traditions of the Allied nations of World War I and, arguably, amount to uplifting, positive propaganda, possibly for the young and most certainly for their parents. English, "Scotch," Welsh, Irish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Siberian, and Belgian folk tales and "fairy" tales recount the meek besting the mighty and both people and the supernaturals working toward the common good.… Read More

Kingswood, Surrey: William Heinemann Ltd. - The Windmill Press. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1927. Press Proof; First Printing. Hardcover. The first copy has a 3" split, without loss, along the front of the spine at head and a tiny spot to a page with offsetting to the adjacent page. The second copy has a 1/2" closed tear, without loss, to the leather at the spine head, a 5/15" split, without loss, to leather at the spine tail and a pinpoint spot to a page. Common to both copies: Boards are splayed, common to most copies of this book. Overall wear and scuffing to all surfaces and extremities. Spines have wear and some sun-lightening Faint toning at the edges of all pages. Verso of free endpapers has offsetting from some production process. Lack the ephemeral, plain dustwrappers.; TWO of only 12 copies of the press proof of the first pages composed and printed at The Windmill Press, Kingsmill, Surrey, on December 8th, 1927. The proof pages are the facing pages 2 and 3 from… Read More

Dublin Ireland: Cuala Press. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1942. Limited/Numbered Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Endpapers are wrinkled where they meet the gutter. Dark speck on front cover. Light, 1/2" long impression at the head edge of the front cover and a similar, very faint impression to the head edge of the back cover. Lower corners of the boards are bumped at the fore edge. Lacks the ephemeral tissue wrapper.; This compelling memoir recounts the author's childhood views of living in Dublin Ireland during seven consecutive winters, her summers being spent in County Cork. The memories are detailed and evoke both the chilled, gray days and the beauty of Dublin. Founded and operated by women, entirely, the Cuala Press was focused on new works in the emerging Irish Literary Revival. One of only two titles published by the press in 1942, as the entire press operation was moved to a different location in that year. This is copy 448 of an edition of 450 "finished in… Read More

San Francisco: twowindows Press. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1968. Limited/Numbered Edition. Hardcover. Faint smudges of silkscreen ink to front cover and tail corner of the rear cover. Tiny hole in the cloth at the tail edge of both covers.; Don Gray's six short-lined, jagged poems for his very young child, Rasan. Interspersed with the text are Rasan's drawings of people, all in the manner of a child just learning to depict people. Some figures don't have arms, one has a single arm, some don't have pupils in their eyes, one has eyelashes, one has a beard. Of an edition of 262, this is copy 9 of 12 that are specially bound in cloth and signed on the front endpaper by the the author "9/12 / Don Gray / 24 June 68" Don Gray was a poet, artist, and founder of twowindows press, publisher of numerous authors of poetry. This book was a family effort with poetry and presswork by Don Gray, drawings by Rasan Gray, and Elenore Gray bound the special copies and… Read More

Ann Arbor, Michigan: Roger Jackson. Fine with no dust jacket. 1995. Limited/Lettered Signed Edition; First Edition. Broadside. The publisher's 8 1/2" x 11" letter is folded once. ; The 14 "vignettes" are the briefest essays about the author's real and imagined sexual encounters, all these vignettes being printed on unbound, small sheets. These encounters seem to be loveless and purely sexual. They are a.) Laundromat, b.) Being Single, c.) My Indifference, d.) Small Breast, e.) Lover's Nuts, f.) Blowsy Tart, g.) Older Lady, h.) Cotton Underpants, i.) Japanese Businesswoman, j.) Femme Fatale, k.) Active Sex Life, l.) Being Naked, m.) Suntan Lotion and Whisky, n.) Three Emancipated Women. Includes both the limited and trade editions housed in the publisher's folder. Limited edition of 26 lettered copies, this one being copy W and signed by the author on the special bifolium. This special inclusion is a brief essay about a writer who wanted Saunders to have… Read More

No Place Stated: Black Swan Letterpress Printing and Graphic Design. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1995. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Short, tight split to the wrap at the tail of the spine.; One woman's journey in letterpress and graphic design, from unloading machinery in her driveway, to the tedious business of book and job printing, to the "Swan Song" of her Black Swan press years later. More than storytelling, it's rendered as an artist's book with text printed over illustrated leaves. Some pages have two story lines interspaced together in different text colors. One of a limited edition of 500. No place of publication stated, but likely Providence, RI where Black resided at the time of publication. 12 pages, but unpaginated. Black says of her two presses: "It might take me several hours to get the make-ready just right. The thing about C&P's (sic) is that the first impression always looks like shit. Even after three years I have to steel myself for… Read More

Toronto, ON: House of Anansi Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 2001. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Tiny, closed tear to the publisher's paper band.; Thirty, tiny, quirky essays from this frequent contributor to McSweeny's. The essays span a mermaid in a jar, newly created fairy tales, a frog that gives relationship advice to a plumber, love, bad love, sex, “the littlest dumpling who had never been told his name,” and many that are depressive and matter of fact without making an obvious point or having a moral resolution. Sheila Heti's writing is unique. Five essays are reprinted from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Issue 4. The author has signed "love Sheila" in pen on the title page with a hand-drawn potted plant, "April 2003.", and the inscription "for a man with flowers and ties[?]. Includes ephemera: two stiff, paper hang tags. Each has a different, halftone, monochrome reproduction of do-it-yourself photo booth picture of… Read More

No Place Stated: The Golden Bough Press. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1930. Limited/Numbered Edition. Hardcover. The free endpapers have a slight curl, likely from the marbling process. Spine and joints slightly darker than the rest of the leather. Minor rubbing to the joints, cover paper abraded where it wraps under the tail edge of the rear board, corners bumped with wear through to the boards.; Daudet's novel of the personal failings and stumbling, lurching relationship of a young Southern French student Jean Gaussin and his older Parisian lover Fanny Legrand. Jean is troubled by Fanny's life of luxury from many profitable, personal relationships: an engineer, a poet, an engraver, and a sculptor who had her pose for his statue of Sappho. After their living in the country and his dalliance with a young woman, it all falls apart. In the end, Fanny leaves him with little but a letter and he's right to lament his "...broken, wasted life, all wrecked and tearful... From… Read More

Boston: Small, Maynard & Company. Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. 1925. First American Edition. Hardcover. Spine ends slightly bumped and bump to one corner. Light soil to the head and tail edges of the front cover, two tiny marks at the head. Faint toning at the edges of the pastedowns and endpapers. Dust jacket is intact with considerable wear and soil. Chips to head and tail of spine, all edges, and corners. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. ; At once mystic and a celebration of life, the rubaiyat (quatrains) form a beautiful, poetic work by Omar Khaiyam [Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami] (1040-1131) the Persian Sufi poet, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. The rubaiyat are considered by some to exalt earthly pleasure, consider death, and point out the unreliability of religion in addressing human issues. This English translation by Frederick Rolfe ["Baron Corvo"] (1860-1913) was based on the French… Read More

Kirkwood, Missouri: The Printery. Fine with no dust jacket. 1975. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Slightest rubbing to tail corners.; "Vincent Starrett was one of the most civilized and versatile literary figures of the twentieth century. Upon his death on January 4, 1974, Michael Murphy collected these 15 distinguished tributes to Starrett’s life and work. Contributors include Carl Sandburg, Christopher Morley, Charles Honce, and August Derleth. Robert G. Little’s charcoal portrait of Starrett, the last portrait taken from life, is reproduced as a frontispiece." In total, 15 contributions and entries. Frontis printed in green. Paginated 42,[2],[2 blank]. Number 221B of 225 copies, all copies being numbered 221B, the address of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson on Baker Street, London. Vincent Starrett was an avid enthusiast of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes and Watson characters. Starrett was a prominent member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the world's first… Read More

New York: Brentano's. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. N.D.. Hardcover. Lacks the elusive dust jacket. Rubbing to edges, corners, hinges, and spine ends. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. The front endpaper has a small abrasion, possibly from sticker removal. Pastedowns and endpapers lightly toned.; Tannhäuser, the full title being Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg, is Richard Wagner's epic, poetic, opera of the opposition of sacred, otherworldly love and profane, worldly love. The mythical character Tannhäuser is a medieval German poet and songwriter who abandons his chaste Elizabeth and descends to be with Venus in her ethereal, subterranean realm of Venusberg. Dissatisfied, he ascends to the real-worldly Wartburg. reunites with Elisabeth, enters the songwriting contest of the Minnesängers, and horrifies the staid, pious listeners with his song of earthly, sensual love. In disgrace, he repairs to Rome to do… Read More