Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2010 Issue

Uncommon and Inexpensive Books from Peter L. Masi

Some of everything from Peter L. Masi Books.

Some of everything from Peter L. Masi Books.


By Michael Stillman

Peter L. Masi Books has released Catalog 203. Masi's catalogues are perennially hard to describe because there seems to be a bit of everything inside. He has broken the listings down by subject, so for example, there are books on agriculture, almanacs, Americana, amusements, architecture, art, and automotive. That's just the A's. There are over 500 items here, and if you want to spend a lot of money, you will have to buy just about all of them. Nothing here is expensive, most being priced in the $8-$25 range. You never know what you will find in these catalogues, but the chances are it will be something uncommon and unexpected. Let's take a look inside.

Item 43 pertains to one of the most sensational murder cases of the 19th century. Dr. George Parkman, a physician and wealthy landowner, as well as uncle to the famous Oregon Trail writer Francis Parkman, disappeared one day. The next time he was seen, he was in pieces, quite literally. A few of those pieces were discovered under the floorboards of the office of Dr. John Webster, a chemistry professor at Harvard. Webster claimed they came from research cadavers, but a dentist identified them as coming from Parkman. Webster had borrowed money from Parkman, secured by a cabinet of minerals he also used as security for another loan. It was after Parkman came to see Webster about this matter that he disappeared. Webster was convicted, and his life ended at the end of a rope. Item 43 is the Soliloquy of Prof. John W. Webster, after the Murder of Dr. Geo. Parkman up to the time of his execution. Written by Mary G. Doe, it provides a rhyming soliloquy of Webster at the gallows, which seems hard to believe he actually said: And now I lean my head, / Upon the gallows high, / And to a gazing throng I say, / I am prepared to die. Priced at $50.

Item 116 is one of those salesman's books, a description of a book along with a how-to sales piece. The book to be sold was Discovery of the North Pole describing Frederick Cook's journey, and there's some irony here in that few people believe any more that Cook discovered the Pole. His claims were not backed up by evidence. The book also explains Robert Peary's journey the following year, the one most often cited as the first to reach the Pole, though his claims have been questioned as well. $10.

Item 264 is The Wonderful Escape, one of many religious works aimed at children offered by Masi, most, like this, from the American Tract Society. This, as are most of these tracts, are horror stories designed to scare children into what they believed to be the right behavior. This one is the story of 12 young men who drink of the evil spirits. Eight end up dead before they are 40, three in poverty, and the ringleader, an infidel who reads Thomas Paine, eventually has a conversion experience, overcomes the demon drink, and lives to write this tale. $8.

Here is a biography of a man who came up with a very clever idea we now take for granted, but solved a problem that at one time wreaked havoc on long-distance travel. Item 329 is Charles F. Dowd, A.M., Ph. D.: A Narrative of His Services in Originating & Promoting The System of Standard Time... The author was Charles N. Dowd (probably his son) and it was published in 1930. The senior Dowd was the guy who came up with the idea of time zones. Before 1883, every community set its own time, likely based on noon coming when the sun was at its high point. This was a particular problem for setting timetables for high speed train travel, as departure and arrival times for each station could be different than what corresponded to a traveler's watch. Very confusing. So, he came up with the idea of large zones where the time in all communities would be the same, followed by another, clearly marked zone where the time was exactly one hour different. It is hard to imagine travel, or telephone, radio, etc., today without Dowd's idea. $20.

Item 54 is The German Conspiracy in American Education, a 1919 book by Gustavus Ohlinger. Ohlinger was himself descended from German immigrants, but was very wary of some others who emigrated from that land, especially more recent arrivals. During the year before America joined the allies in the First World War, he wrote a book challenging the patriotism of this group. He appeared before the Senate attacking the National German-American Alliance. Even after the war, he obviously entertained suspicions, based on this book. The Toledo lawyer and law professor saw a German conspiracy to control American education. $15.

Peter L. Masi Books may be reached at 413-367-2628 or masibook@verizon.net.

You will find many of Peter L. Masi's books listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sGeek Week2-17 July | New York Sotheby’sGeek Week2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Geek Week
    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.
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    DOYLE
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    July 23, 2025
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    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800

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