• Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2019 Issue

"Oh, The Places We Will Go" with Zephyr Used & Rare Books

Oh The Places We Will Go.

Zephyr Used & Rare Books has published a catalogue titled "Oh, The Places We Will Go." This refers not just to physical places, in effect a travel catalogue, but to new technology, ideas, and such. This is a journey taken not just through books, but even more so by ephemeral items, including catalogues, manuscripts, photographs, maps, scrapbooks and the like. There is no shortage of fascinating material to be found, primarily American and 20th century. So, let's begin our ride.

 

We begin with an item that certainly went places, although they were all within the state of Alabama. The title is The Movable School Goes To The Negro Farmer, by Thomas Monroe Campbell. This was published in 1936, in the midst of the Depression. This was a tough time for most everyone, so it was particularly bad for those on the low end of the pole. The Tuskegee Institute was equipped to help poor black farmers who had nowhere else to turn, but many could not afford to make the trip. So, Tuskegee sent out a truck with a home agent and nurse to help out poor rural African American farmers. They would demonstrate both modern farming methods and provide advice on health and sanitation, often dealing with individuals' health problems. Originally designed by George Washington Carver, it promoted education and his ideals of self-sufficiency and self-improvement. This copy has been inscribed by Campbell. Item 2. Priced at $500.

 

If you want to go someplace, it will certainly be handy to have a map. I can think of worse places to visit than California and Nevada, so that will be our next destination. Item 42 is a Mileage Map of the Best Roads of California and Nevada Showing Paved Roads - Road Distances... As a caution, it may be a bit out date. It was published circa 1923. This is a Clason Map, Clason being one of the first companies to publish road maps, along with Rand-McNally. Unlike the latter, Clason did not survive the 1930s. By 1923, some states had begun to assign numbers for roads, but the federal highway numbering system was not initiated until 1926. The result is that interstate routes had names instead of numbers. These names include the famous Lincoln Highway, Dixie Highway, National Trails Route, Overland Highway, Old Spanish Trail, National Roosevelt Highway, and Bankhead Highway. You can see this quickly became confusing, leading to the assignment to route numbers. In those days, the federal government provided some financial aid to the states, but was not yet in the road building business. Private organizations, which did not actually build roads, would find the best interstate routes by combining existing state and local roads and giving them a name and road signs, so travelers could find their way. $150.

 

What would you like to get you there? How about a Locomobile! Founded in 1899, Locomobiles were once very popular cars. They were produced for three decades, succumbing in that watershed year, 1929. Item 29 is a color catalogue for the 1909 Locomobile. The catalogue is beautiful and so are the cars. The company labeled their automobiles "the best built cars in America." Based on their prices, one would hope so, but I don't know. After all, how many Locomobiles are still on the road? $300.

 

Here is another traveling show, but unlike the Tuskegee one, this is downright creepy. This is a book for The Alert America Convoys Sponsored by Valley Forge Foundation in Cooperation with Federal Civil Defense Administration... It was published in 1952, at the height of the Cold War and paranoia over nuclear war. The Alert America Convoys were traveling civil defense exhibitions. They would come to your town and tell you how to prepare for nuclear annihilation. Duck and cover. The exhibitions used shock value, including displaying the effects of atomic warfare, which somehow was supposed to help you survive the unsurvivable. It's the thought that counts. Item 75. $450.

 

Our next trip takes us to the future, although this future is now the past. Item 155 is Le Vingtieme Siecle. La Vie Electrique (The twentieth century, the electric life). The author was Albert Robida and this is a science fiction novel. Published in 1890, it is designed to predict the impact of electricity and technology on the world in 1952. Oh my, duck and cover. Based on Zephyr's description, it looks like Robida was amazingly prescient, predicting the atomic bomb and many other things that came to pass. Zephyr writes, "Robida spins a tale surrounding a world filled with videoconferencing, television, television news, records, tape recording devices, surveillance cameras, intercom systems, women's suffrage, weapons of mass destruction, and even the dangers of chemical and industrial pollution destroying the environment." Sounds like he was quite a prophet. $1,250.

 

What could be more satisfying than a salad? Lots of things, but Ida Bailey Allen claimed to find a way to be both satisfying and healthy in her book Satisfying Salads, the Perfect Health Food... published circa 1925. Ms. Allen wrote over 50 cookbooks and claimed to be the first person to host a cooking show on the radio. At its peak in the late 1920s, it was broadcast for two hours five days a week by CBS. She is also said to have been the first female host of a cooking show on television, though I have been unable to determine when or from where it was broadcast. This book provides menus and recipes for 365 fruit, frozen, and green salads. You got to eat steak for one day on leap year. Ms. Allen lived to be 88 so her salads must have been healthy after all. Item 93. $100.

 

Next we have a 1936 Disney comic book titled Mickey Mouse and Pluto the Pup. The cover shows a happy Mickey and Pluto playing. Don't be fooled. This one is heavy. It is based on the 1935 Disney film Pluto's Judgment Day. In it Pluto chases a kitten to which Mickey warns him he will have much to answer for on Judgment Day. C'mon, Mick. That is some heavy guilt to lay on a poor little puppy. I can only quote The Disney Wiki for the plot of this short cartoon: "When Mickey catches Pluto chasing a kitten, he angrily scolds and punishes his dog, who falls asleep by the fire and dreams that he is put on trial in Hell by a judge and jury of vindictive cats. He is found guilty of several crimes against cats, which involve the cats being scared or dying, which is surprisingly dark for a Disney cartoon. As he is about to be burned to death, he awakens with a newfound appreciation for the kitten after Mickey tells them to 'kiss and make up.'" Thanks, Walt. Item 85. $550.

 

Zephyr Used & Rare Books may be reached at 360-695-7767 or zephyrbook@gmail.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions