Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2022 Issue

Digging Into the Past with Zephyr Used & Rare Books

Excavations.

Zephyr Used and Rare Books has published a catalogue of Fall & Winter Excavations. It is filled with ephemeral items, numerous trade catalogues, photo albums, archives, some forgotten twentieth century books, and lots of miscellaneous items. There are even some catalogues of heavy equipment for those who take the “excavations” part of the title literally. They were building the infrastructure we now want to build back better because we let it fall into disrepair. Oh well. The early twentieth century was a time of great progress for America. Here are a few items from this catalogue.

 

We begin with a guide from the first automobile club in America. From 1908, this is The Automobile Club of America Bureau of Tours Year Book. It is a guide for traveling along the east coast from Maine to Maryland and as far west as Chicago. Farther west than that, there wouldn't have been much in the way of roads in 1908 as the Lincoln Highway was still many years away. It lists hotels, garages and repair shops, along with other sorts of services, such as attorneys and physicians. It also showed speed limits, mileage markers, railroad crossings and such. The club sponsored auto races and advocated for the Good Roads Movement which in turn advocated for the building of a highway system in the country. It was formed in 1899 in New York, and its members would have been well-off as how many people could afford a car in 1899? It grew to 6,000 members at its peak, but the Depression hurt its membership, their number declining until the club was disbanded in 1932. The AAA had greater success at reaching ordinary travelers and so while formed a few years later it went on to achieve lasting success. Item 58484. Priced at $475.

 

I'll bet some of those early ACA members had one of these cars – a Stanley Steamer. In the 1890s and first decade of the new century it was one of the biggest selling cars around. The creation of the twin Stanley brothers, many people considered steam technology to be better than the internal combustion engine. This is a dealer's catalogue for the 1921 model. It promoted “power, correctly generated, correctly controlled, correctly applied to the rear axle.” Therein lies the impending doom of the Stanley Steamer. It was powerful and economical in the early days, but by this time, major advancements had been made in gasoline powered automobiles. While still simple and reliable, Zephyr notes that “it did take up to 45 minutes to start.” That is a bit of a drawback. Meanwhile, the invention of an electric starter replaced the dangerous cranks on the earlier gasoline models. They were taking over the business. So, all the “controlleds” in this promotion was designed to make people fear the dangers of the internal combustion engine, which some still feared would explode (ironic considering steam boiler explosions). In 1918, one of the Stanley brothers died in an accident, and the surviving brother sold the company. It lasted until the mid 1920s when Stanley closed for good. Item 58417. $250.

 

This is an album of Civil War era photographs. Several are CDVs of notable figures from the time. There are four of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Napoleon III, and many family images. There is a composite image of Mary Todd Lincoln kneeling by Lincoln's deathbed with cabinet officers nearby. There is even the bizarre image of Washington hugging Lincoln as he welcomes him to heaven. Obviously, this is not a photograph, nor are the CDVs of Martha Washington. Item 58507. $1,250.

 

The young people of America were being warned back in the 1930s, but they did not take heed. The warning came from The Narcotic Educational Foundation of America, founded by Henry B. Hall, in the form of a broadside. It is headed, Marihuana The Assassin Of Youth. Among the physiological reactions, they point out “the person under the influence may be hilarious, possibly hysterical, weeping or laughing, talks very rapidly, and in a loud tone.” More ominous than laughing too much, they say that a large dose “may cause criminal maniacal acts.” Most dangerous, they continue, are those driving under the influence as “their illusions as to time and space destroy their judgment as to speed and distance. When eighty miles an hour seem only twenty, they often leave a trail of fatal accidents in their wake.” They conclude, “A user of marihuana is a degenerate.” Item 58424. $175.

 

This man was an artist, illustrator, adventurer, writer, and left wing political radical. He is most noted for his for his work as an illustrator for which he was in much demand. That would normally be for books, but in this case it was clearly just for the money since he was illustrating an advertising piece, and writing it too. From 1936, it is headed The Home Decorator. It is hawking paints from Sherwin-Williams. It features a freshly painted home on the cover and inside it offers various color schemes and designs. Item 58559. $150.

 

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

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
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    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.
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    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
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    Modern First Editions
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    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
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    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
  • 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:
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    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.

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