Different readers will of course have different favorites; one PRB&Mer's is the poem on Van Buren, beginning, “A panic wild has seized our glorious land!” and moving to its denoument with that president couch[ing his] lance anent / Commercial Ruin, who on the field is slain.”

•  Publisher's blue cloth with all edges rose; gilt-stamped title on front cover and spine, blind-stamped American eagle on front cover; spine very slightly darkened, extremities a bit rubbed, back cover with spots of light discoloration. A solid, clean copy, better-looking than above description might imply.  (26694)

This is copy 44 of a deluxe limited edition of 50 copies containing “a suite of ten original prints by Fritz Scholder, hand-printed in the Kallitype process on Rives BFK by James Hajick, and each signed by the artist.”

•  The book and the added material of the limited edition housed in a red cloth clamshell box with the artist's signature artfully reproduced on a rectangle of gold cardstock and adhered to the front of the box. All items in fine condition.  (30503)

•  Pebbled cloth, lightly worn. Leaves with minor cockling, some staining and offsetting. Some pages with portions excised; one leaf excised entirely.

The work is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, a folding map of the coast of Greenland and part of the Arctic Circle, and five plates in color (notably “ice blue”) of snow flakes, ice floes, an atmospheric phenomenon, and two views of different parts of the Greenland coast.

•  Sabin 35452 & 78184.   Publisher's purple textured cloth, boards blind embossed and front one with a gilt center device; spine sunned; lettered in gilt. Top of spine with small loss of cloth and an excellent repair; one plate with a separated sliver of tissue-guard adhered to it. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, very light rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page, pressure-stamp on another page, light rubber stamp on map, no other markings. A good++ copy.  (26822)

NO U.S. editions in NCBEL.

•  Shoemaker 26032; NSTC 2S9985. No U.S. editions in NCBEL.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Ex–social club library: pressure-stamp on title-pages and one other page, no other markings. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text; one leaf with tear from outer margin extending into text, without loss; two leaves with lower outer corners torn away. Occasional small spots of staining; minor offsetting in vol. II.  (28743)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Wright, II, 2174; Sabin 78641.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with star-shaped design, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decoration; binding cocked and rubbed, spine extremities chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on pastedown and fly-leaf, front free endpaper lacking, title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (26565)

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover with moose vignette stamped in brown, spine with brown- and black-stamped title and additional moose; rubbed, spots of soiling, spine sunned and with inked shelving number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate (no other library markings); back pastedown with bookseller's small ticket. Pages clean. Still fun and you can still learn stuff.  (27088)

•  Richmond, Shaker Literature, I, 1279; MacLean, Shaker Literature, 441; McKinstry, Andrews Shaker Collection, 397.   Publisher's printed paper wrappers, unevenly age-toned; front wrapper with minor offsetting of printed text. Pages clean and crisp.  (27503)

Click the images for enlargements.

Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with black-stamped hunting scene and title framed in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Binding as above, corners and spine head lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages clean.  (27113)

ten oversized, folding maps

•  Sabin 81135; Howes S461; American Imprints 44-5635.   Publisher's plain paper–covered boards, recently rebacked with olive green cloth, spine with new antiqued printed paper label; paper rubbed and stained. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page and sectional title, no other markings. All leaves affected by an unusual sort of very light and remarkably even waterstaining that left the upper outer corners (only) untouched and even bright, with a variously wavy line of light to moderate brown marking the “border”; otherwise a few other pages with other soiling or staining; one page with smudge of green ink, touching but not obscuring text; one leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text; and a bit of cockling. An excellent example of a good book that has suffered accidents but also is “better than it sounds.”  (29420)

Simms was a poet, novelist, and historian later known for his pro-slavery response to Uncle Tom's Cabin; Edgar Allan Poe declared him “immeasurably the greatest writer of fiction in America,” and this book “decidedly the most American of American books.”

•  American Imprints 45-5946; Wright, I, 2436.   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped series and title labels; worn and rubbed, spine head with paper shelving label and cloth tape reinforcement done some time ago, front joint tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Intermittent staining and spotting; back free endpaper with upper outer corner torn away. Clearly much read, still a solid copy of the first edition of an American classic of a particular and popular kind.  (31869)

•  Original printed paper wrappers with title-page reproduced on front and publisher's advertisement on rear, as above. Wrappers partially detached, mild foxing.  (31408)

•  Shoemaker 17997; NSTC 2S24902.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Pages gently age-toned, a few faintly foxed. A nice copy of one of the most highly regarded natural histories of the time.  (30335)

Click the images for enlargements.

Original edition, not a modern reprint.

•  Publisher's oxblood cloth, covers decoratively stamped in black, spine black- and gilt-stamped; corners and spine extremities rubbed, sides with small areas of minor discoloration, spine sunned with paper shelving label at head, a little cocked. Ex–social club library: call number on endpapers, rubber-stamp on title-page and four others. Final blank leaf excised. Clean, sound for use.  (27367)

Click the images for enlargements.

Binding: Publisher's ribbon-embossed green geometric-patterned cloth of Krupp's style Gt2; original printed paper labels.Do please click to enhance the image of this handsome American binding cloth— it's hard to show, but worth trying to see!

•  American Imprints 49627. On the binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England & America, 1823–1850, Gt2.   Bindings as above, cocked; edges, extremities, labels rubbed, chipped, spotted — far from fresh, but also far from devastated. Ex–social club library: bookplate on each front pastedown, call numbers in a 19th-century hand (lined through) on pastedown and front free endpaper, title-pages and a few others rubber-stamped. No other institutional markings. Front hinge (inside) of vol. I starting, text block pulling away from spine, first few leaves starting to separate. Front fly-leaf with pencilled numeral and pencilled doodle/sketch of a chubby child; occasional faint pencilled annotations. A few scattered spots of staining, pages mostly clean.  (26294)

Some sources indicate that Marion Southwood was a pseudonym of Matthew Estes, a Mississippi author and defender of American slavery.

•  Wright, II, 2288; Library Company, Afro-Americana (rev. ed.), 9661.   Publisher's blind-embossed pale purple cloth, spine sunned to tan. Occasional light foxing.  (32979)

•  Publisher's cloth, lettered in gilt on the front. Near fine.  (26702)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Drake 4017.   Uncut, stitched, partly unopened.  (21434)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Drake 4251.   Stitching renewed. Some loss of paper and small amount of text on first four leaves to hungry rodent. Waterstains.  (21375)

For a few more ALMANACS
described with illustration,  click here.
Or for an unillustrated, PDF-format catalogue of
some 250+ Almanacs,  CLICK HERE.

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and orange. A clean, crisp copy.  (23630)

•  Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 16.   Publisher's blue-gray wrappers as above, spine slightly sunned. Signatures uncut and unopened. An elegant example of Hamady's work.  (30789)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, edges chipped and corners lost. Being a "pulp" novel, this is on pulp paper — pages therefore age-toned, brittle, and breaking off where the corners are sharply dog-eared. (12422)

Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance: Title-page with affixed presentation slip from the State Historical Society; front free endpaper with affixed envelope flap addressed to the Rev. E.A. Dalrymple of Baltimore, MD.

•  Publisher’s cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title. Binding sturdy but with portion of spine cloth missing, exposing underlying material; corners bumped, extremities very lightly rubbed. Front pastedown with institutional stamp. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean.

Binding:  Publisher's ribbon-embossed green floral-patterned cloth of Krupp's style Ft6.

•  American Imprints 53109; Palau 322394; Sabin 91388. Not in Smith, American Travellers Abroad. On the binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50.   Publisher's green floral-patterned cloth, spine with printed paper label; corners and spine foot rubbed, spine head pulled, paper label darkened with edges chipped. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription; occasional pencilled annotations and marks of emphasis. Light to moderate foxing.  (25425)

The second part (pp. 267–403), which contains its own title-page, is a collection of testimonies by “inspired writers,” or Shakers professing their faith in the book's divine source.

“Read and understand all ye in mortal clay,” exhorts the title-page — “Received by the church of this communion, and published in union with the same.”

Provenance:  In the library of Colgate Rochester Divinity School; inscription on front free endpaper “To be returned to Amelia G. Mace, Office.”

•  Sabin 32664, 79708; and 90701.5 for revised collation.   Contemporary sheep, recently rebacked in plain calf with gilt-ruled bands and gilt-stamped green leather title-label. Ex-library copy, with rubber-stamp on all paper edges and p. [1]; rubber-stamped five-digit number at base of p. [iii]; inscription on front free endpaper in blue ink (see above); and faint traces of a librarian's penciling at inner margin of p. [iii] and verso of title-page. Small bookseller's ticket at lower outer corner of rear pastedown. Some foxing, especially to endpapers; offsetting from leather affecting title-page and following page, at edges; very good condition.  (24495)

Binding:  Publisher's quarter “tiger-striped” orange-brown cloth with gray cloth sides, front cover with gilt-stamped title and black-stamped door, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  BAL 18880; Johnson, High Spots of American Literature, 69; Wright, III, 5242.   Binding as above; minor rubbing, spine gilt dimmed. Front hinge (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: call number in 19th-century hand on front free endpaper, rubber-stamp on half-title and title-page, no other markings. A very clean, nice copy.  (26250)

The second volume contains “The Sands of the Green River” (Neith Boyce), “The Unsullied Brow of the Viceroy” (Edwin Lefévre), “The Saving of Jim Moseby” (Anthony Leland), “The Escape” (Dabney Marshall), “Dick” (Maria Louise Pool), “The Primrose Dame” (John Regnault Ellyson), “When His Majesty Nicholas Came to England” (Clinton Ross), “At 'The Temple of Unending Peace'” (Alfred Dwight Sheffield), “The Tumbrils” (Nathaniel Stephenson), “Gil Horne's Bergonzi” (Maurice Thompson), “Her Last Love” (Clarence Wellford), “A Little Boy of Dreams” (Beatrice Witte), and “The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing” (Edith Franklin Wyatt).

Bindings:  Both volumes in publisher's pinkish-tan cloth, all edges gilt. Vol. I's spine in dark blue, each cover with A.E. Borie's Art Nouveau design of a woman walking down the street while reading, stamped in black, green, yellow, and blue. Vol. II's spine in red, covers each with striking black and red reproduction of Claude Bragdon's Chap-Book poster of the “Sandwich Man”: a vignette of a bowler-hatted man in triplicate, wearing Chap-Book sandwich boards.

•  Vol. I: Binding as above, minimal shelfwear, faint smudging to sides. Pages with a few instances of pencilled marks of emphasis, mostly but not entirely confined to the first essay, pages otherwise clean. Vol. II: Binding as above, very slightly cocked, sides with faint spots of discoloration, light wear to extremities. Two stories with faded inked marks of emphasis, and one with a few pencilled marks; a very few small spots of staining, pages otherwise clean.  (29013)

Click the images for enlargements.

The second edition's “Postscript” promises “additional facts connected with this interesting subject, equally wonderful,” or even “more so.”

William Leete Stone (1792–1844) was a journalist, editor of the “Commercial Advertiser,” advocate of slave emancipation and Greek independence, historian of colonial New York and New England, and first superintendent of public schools in New York City.

Very scarce.

•  NSTC 2S41964; Sabin 92135. See: Dicitonary of American Biography for much on Stone.   Removed from a nonce volume; mildest foxing to first and final leaves with crescent of lost paper to foremargin (only) of one leaf not nearing text. A very good copy.  (11023)

•  Clean, crisp copy in publisher's red cloth, slightly darkened, gilt-stamping on front cover still bright. Front free endpaper with number stamped in upper right corner, also with author's gift inscription as described above; pages clean. (4898)

Provenance: “Miss Carrie G. Skinner, Fort Ann Village, NY.”

•  American Imprints 43-4820; Sabin 93131.   Publisher's violet cloth, covers blind-stamped with central gilt-stamped urn vignettes, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorations; cloth sunned especially at edges and spine, corners bumped, front joint with small spots of old insect damage. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription, as above. Foxed; a few poems with early pencilled annotations (brief) — one is, simply, “Splendid.”  (27650)

•  Garrison A7.1.a. Publisher’s olive paper–covered boards, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the now seldom-seen dustwrapper, spine very slightly darkened, extremities showing touches of wear. Top edge gilt. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1903. Pages clean. A good-looking copy.

Binding:  Publisher's ribbon-embossed brown cloth with flower and acanthus leaf design (Krupp's style ft1), spine with gilt-stamped title.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  American Imprints 53164; Adams, Manual of Historical Literature, 168. On the binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England & America, 1823–1850, ft1.   Binding as above; corners rubbed and small rubbed spot on front cover, spine extremities chipped, spine head with small lightly discolored area from now-absent label. Ex–social club library: bookplate and early inked call number on front pastedown, title-page pressure- and (faintly) rubber-stamped. No other markings. Front hinge (inside) partially reinforced with paper some time ago. Scattered light staining. A nice book.  (26289)