Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2008 Issue
Americana and the American West from Clark Rare Books
none
Item 107 is a book I don't particularly want to read, but it makes an interesting collectible: Scatalogic Rites of All Nations, by John G. Bourke. Clark quotes Sigmund Freud's review of this 1891 book, "Most of our information, as well as the best of it, on the role of scatology in the life of mankind has been gathered together in this volume by Burke...a courageous...and valuable undertaking." This copy comes with a laid-in copy of the ever-popular The Urine Dance of the Zuni Indians... $340.
Item 3 is not exactly a book on what most people think of as the West, unless, perhaps, you come from Maine: Historic Views of Boston and Vicinity. This is a collection of late 19th, early 20th century photographs of colonial and revolutionary war sites from that area, published in 1902. $15.
Since most people from Nebraska don't have loads of money (Warren Buffet excluded), here's an inexpensive item for Cornhusker collectors: The Prairie Capital [Lincoln, Neb.], 1880-1930. It tells of commerce and life in Lincoln in the half century up to its date of publication, 1930. Item 9. $8.50.
Item 1 is a very limited edition, yet comprehensive collection of women's tales from the overland trail: Kenneth L. Holmes' Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1890. This eleven-volume set was published by the Arthur H. Clark Co. from 1984-1993. This is one of only 33 copies bound in leather (copy #26). The work represents 15 years of research into the accounts written by women of their journeys, many published here for the first time. Along with each volume is a separately printed accompanying "keepsake," mostly additional writings by women or girls (including 12-year-old Mae Stone's account). $4,950.
You may reach Clark Rare Books at 405-307-0088 or info@clarkrarebooks.com.
