Search Results: Books from The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA

Henri Ternaux-Compans was one of the first collectors of Hispanic-Americana20 volumes bound in 10. Volume I: Narration du premier voyage de Nicolas Federmann le Jeune, d'Ulm (1557) 227 pages bound with Volume II: Histoire de la province de Sancta-Cruz / par Pero de Magalhanes de Gandavo (1576)162 pages. Volume III: Histoire d'un pays situé dans le nouveau monde, nommé Amérique / par Hans Staden de Homberg, en Hesse (1557) 335 pages bound with Volume IV: Relation véridique de la conquête du Pérou et de la province du Cuzco, nommée Nouvelle-Castille / par François Xérès (1547) viii+198 pages. Volume V: Histoire véritable d'un voyage curieux / fait par Ulrich Schmidel de Straubing (1599) 264 pages bound with Volume VI: Commentaires d'Alvar Nuñez de Cabeça de Vaca, adelantade et gouverneur du Rio de La Plata (1555) 507 pages. Volume VII: Relation et naufrages d'Alvar Nuñez de Cabeça de Vaca, adelantade et gouverneur du Rio de La Plata (1555) 302 pages bound with Volume VIII:… Read More

Alain Campbell White letters to Frederick Gamage cover the years from April 4, 1935 to September 15, 1944. For this ten year period there are 364 dated letters and 28 incomplete letters (lacking front date page). The letters are an ongoing correspondence between White and Gamage which covers all aspects of problem chess. The letters show a development of mentor (White), encouraging ad occasionally prodding his protégé (Gamage) in developing skills in problem construction. As the letters progress over this ten year period, the reader can observe the relationship develop between the two men, from a formal intercourse to a more comradely banter. White offered suggestions, comments and themes for problems. White's vast and profound technical knowledge, his artistic appreciation, his ability in expressing himself, and his enthusiastic and friendly encouragement were the great inspiration of many problems Gamage constructed, and he was lucky enough to be among his host of correspondents. Some of the… Read More

1764?-1769, Oaxaca, Manuscript. 35 gatherings with approximately fourteen folded folio leaves (12 1/4"" x 10") in each gathering which are now stored in an archival protective sleeve. All hand written generally on recto and verso, but in many different hands with seals stamped or embossed to documents. Now housed in a custom designed folio enclosure (15" x 12 1/2") along with the original velum.This work details the agricultural, household and commercial operations, as well as the daily life, at the Hacienda. The manuscript includes business records, legal documents and a variety of other historical material. Originally housed in a vellum binding which has become loose, but enclosed within the custom enclosure for the document. This gives a glimpse of Oaxaca life at the end of New Spain's colonial reign in Mexico.Condition:Worming throughout, sometimes heavily. The terminal pages have heavy chipping and wear at extremities affecting text, some pages damp-stained. Original vellum wormed at the spine… Read More

2 volumes in one. [xx]+engraved title-page+folding map+355 pages with frontispiece, folding maps and folding plates. [xxvi]+folding map+178 pages with folding plates. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5") bound in attractive later red morocco with five raised spine bands and gilt lettering to spine, edges in gilt. (Graff 1862; Howes H-416; Lande 423; Pforzheimer 461; Sabin 31371; Streeter J106; Thwaite, 1903 edition, p.xlii; Wing H1450) First English edition.
The "Bon" issue (with the first line of the printers on the title-page ending in "Bon-"). This work includes A Continuation of the New Discovery bound at the end with separate title-page and pagination, but with continuous signatures.
One of the most important 17th-century accounts of the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions. Louis Hennepin, Rene Robert Cavelier and Sieur de la Salle established Fort Crevecouer in Peoria, Illinois, and explored the upper Mississippi River before being captured by the Sioux. Hennepin reached St. Anthony's Falls (near… Read More

[12]+19+[errata+104+40+64+83 pages with engraved frontispiece, fourteen engraved plates, all by Gribelin and folding letterpress table. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 4 3/4") bound in contemporary style leather with five raised spine bands with gilt lettering to spine and blind stamped decorative cover. ( Church 821; European Americana, 705/21; Field 122 (later edition); Howes B410; Pilling, Algonquian, p. 43; Sabin 5112; Streeter sale 2:1098; Vail 297) First edition.
Robert Beverley, best known, as author of The History and Present State of Virginia, In Four Parts (1705), the first published history of a British colony by a native of North America. Beverley worked as a clerk in Jamestown using family connections to advance politically while acquiring substantial wealth. In 1703 he sailed to England to appeal a suit he lost before the General Court, and there he penned his history, a collection of personal history, official accounts, and material borrowed from others. Beverley self-consciously identified… Read More

5+[3]-277+[5]+65+[1]+53+[1]+87+[1] pages with frontispiece, 3 folding tables, a chart (on 5 separate leaves) and 6 maps (5 folding). Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") rebound in red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and lettering in gilt with five raised spine bands in custom enclosure. (Howes P-373, "b"; Wagner-Camp 9:1; Graff 3290; Wheat Transmississippi 297, 298, 299; Field 1217; Streeter Texas 1047C; Bradford 4415; Rittenhouse 467; Sabin 62936; Jones 743; Braislin 1474; Jenkins Basic Texas Books 163; Hill 1357; Reese, Best of the West, # 32) First edition.

Zebulon Pike, U.S. army officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was named. In 1805 Pike, then an army lieutenant, led a 20-man exploring party to the headwaters of the Mississippi River with instructions to discover the river s source, negotiate peace treaties with Indian tribes, and assert the legal claim of the United States to the area. Pike traveled 2,000 miles by boat and on foot from St. Louis, Missouri, to Leech and Sandy lakes, in… Read More

[vi]+214+[i] pages with chessboard illustration, 6 chess pieces as text vignettes and many decorated woodcut initials. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/2") bound in later vellum with brown label to spine in gilt lettering. Translated from the Spanish by G. Domenicus Tarsia. (Schmid p. 236 ff. L/N 372. van der Linde I, 348) First Italian edition, first state with gomito, Gobito and Gombito on lines 1, 3 and 6 on page 133 whereas the later variant has consistent spelling gomito (elbow). First Italian edition of the original Spanish edition by G. Domenicus Tarsia, extremely rare. This Italian translation is a somewhat free adaptation, which was enhanced with woodcuts. Selenus edited the main content of his chess work from the printed Italian translation. His textbook contains the rules of the game, strategies and openings. He preferred the Bishop game, especially "the Gambit des Lopez" and the King's Gambit. Lopez is considered the "father of chess theory" since he was the first to explain his moves. An important… Read More

112+[1 ad] pages with diagrams and errata laid in. Square folio (12 1/4" x 10 1/4") bound in original publisher's wrappers in original onionskin jacket with a handwritten letter signed by Marcel Duchamp housed in a handcrafted archival enclosure by Octavaye. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 2273) First edition.
Letter by Marcel Duchamp to Richard Hulbeck 25 October 1947. Reads as follows: Dear Hulbeck, The pictures are not back and I am afraid won't be back for some months. Schweizer, the representative there is in France and is coming back in a few weeks or days. He will have exact information about the return of the shipment. Don't worry and I will call you up some day soon. Affectueusement Marcel.
Richard Hulsenbeck (1892-1972) was a German writer, poet and psychoanalyst. In 1920 he was editor of the Dada Almanach and wrote Dada siegt-Eine Bilanz des Dadaismus. After emigration to USA in 1923 he changed his name to Hulbeck.Curiosity has impelled the authors to elucidate a question which… Read More

The trilogy in five volumes. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 215 pages. Bound in quarter purple cloth with purple gilt lettering to spine over grey boars with blind-stamped pictorial to cover in original jacket. Signed on title; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 250 pages. Bound in original quarter aqua cloth with purple gilt lettering to spine over black boards with purple pictorial to cover in original jacket. Inscribed on the front end paper; Life, the Universe and Everything 204 pages. Bound in black cloth with green gilt lettering to spine and green gilt pictorial to cover in original jacket. signed on title; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish 204 pages. Bound in black boards with green gilt lettering to spine and pictorial to cover in original jacket. Inscribed to Josh on title. Small octavos (7 ½" x 5") bound original quarter cloth with original pictorial jackets. Mostly Harmless 277 pages. Signed on title. Octavo (8 ½" x 5 ½") bound in original publisher s quarter purple… Read More

The Venus Quintet Series
Pirates of Venus: 314+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's blue pebble cloth with red letting to spine and cover. Lost on Venus: 318+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blue pebble cloth with red letting to spine and cover. Carson of Venus: 312+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. . Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's royal blue pebbled cloth lettered in red, red top edge, Escape on Venus: 347 pages with frontispiece and illustrations.. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with red lettering to spine and cover. The Wizard of Venus: 205-282 pages illustrated by Roy G Krenkel, all with illustrated endpapers of map of Amtor; all in original pictorial dust jackets. Included a signed typed letter from Burroughs. one page, (8. 1/2" x 11"), Edgar Rice… Read More

[vi]+450+[1 blank]+[19 index] pages. Duodecimo (6" x 4 1/4") bound in period vellum with hand written title to spine. Dedicated to Beato Luis Gonzaga. Original manuscript.The work is attributed to Francisco de Avila. He was curate or vicar in the province of Huarochiri of Peru, later curate at Huánaco, finally Canon of the Church of La Plata (now Sucre), in Bolivia. Born in Peru as a foundling (quorum parentes ignorantur he says himself); date of demise unknown. He was one of the most active investigators of Indian rites and customs of his time. In 1608 he wrote a treatise of the "Errors, False Gods, and Other Superstitions of the Indians of the Provinces of Huarochiri, Mama, and Chaclla", of which unfortunately only the first six chapters are known to exist and have been translated into English. It is, even in its incomplete form, an invaluable contribution to the knowledge of the Peruvian Indians and their primitive lore. In 1611 Avila wrote an equally important report on the Indians of Huánaco in… Read More

71 pages with two fold-out maps, one fold-out plan, and four fold-out views. Octavo (8" x 6 1/4") bound in vellum like material with hand lettering to spine. (Sabin 77961) Third Vlasblom edition of Schouten's diary. This account of Schouten's voyage was first printed in Dutch in 1617. All editions of great rarity.Willem Schouten, Dutch explorer whose 1615–16 expedition discovered a new route, the Drake Passage, around the southern tip of South America, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific.
The Dutch East India Company held a monopoly on all East Indies trade by ships routed through the Strait of Magellan when, in 1615, an Amsterdam merchant, Isaac Le Maire, mounted an expedition to find a new route to the Pacific. His son Jakob and veteran sea captain Schouten led the voyage that set sail in May 1615 with two ships—the second piloted by Schouten's brother Jan. By December they reached the far southeastern coast of South America, where the smaller ship caught fire and had to be abandoned.… Read More

[12]+160+[7] leaves with 2 woodcut illustrations. Small quarto (7 1/2" x 5 3/4") bound in original contemporary vellum with hand written title to spine. (Woodbridge, Printing in Colonial Spanish America, page 26). Medina, Mexico 260; Palau 135423; Pilling 2252; Sabin 40080 ("extremely scarce") First edition. An early catechism, confessional, and church calendar in Nahuatl, with Spanish on facing pages in some parts.
This was the last known book printed by Dávalos, who used the type and press inherited from his father-in-law Antonio de Espinosa, the second printer in the New World. The printing press at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Santiago Tlatelolco or Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco was established by Maria de Sansoric or Sansores, second widow of Pedro Ocharte, in the year 1597. Its importance lies in the publication of religious works translated from Spanish into Nahuatl and other native languages ​​for the Christianization of the inhabitants of New Spain in 1601, it is believed that… Read More

1694, Oxford, Sheldonian Theatre. 3 parts in one volume: Part I. (De Ludis Orientalibus. Libri Duo ...) Mandragorias, seu Historia Shahiludii, viz. ejusdem Origo, Antiquitas, Ususque per totum Orientem ... De ludis Orientalium Libri primi ... 36 sheets (including two title pages)+184 pages with one folded copper plate, diagrams and facsimiles. Part II. Shahiludium. Traditum in tribus scriptis hebraicis, quae sunt Rabbi Abraham Abben - Ezrae elegans Poema ryhtmicum ... Omnia ex Chartis MSS jam primus deprompsit & Latinè vertit Thomas Hyde ... 2 sheets (including title), 71 pages. Part III. Historia nerdiludii, high est dicere, trunculorum; cum quibusdam aliis Arabum, Persarum, Indorum, Chinensium, & aliarum gentium ludis tam politicis quàm bellicis, plerumque Europae inauditis, multò minùs visis: additis omnium Nominibus in dictarum Gentium Linguis. Ubi etiam Classicorum Graecorum & Latinorum loca quaedam meliùs quàm hactenùs factum est explicantur. Item, Explicatio amplissimi Chinensium Ludi,… Read More

120 volumes plus all indexes and supplements. Royal Octavo (9 1/4" x 6 1/4") and Quarto (11" x 8 1/2") issued in wrappers. Early volumes from the library of George M Foster and bound in green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Other volumes from the library of Robert V Kemper. First editions.American Anthropologist is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). It is known for publishing a wide range of work in anthropology, including articles on cultural, biological and linguistic anthropology and archeology. Its first incarnation (known as the "Old Series") started in 1888 and was published by the Anthropological Society of Washington, the first anthropology association in the United States. The "New Series" began in 1899 under an editorial board that included Franz Boas, Daniel G. Brinton, and John Wesley Powell and continues to this day. The four fields of Anthropology include cultural, linguistic, archeology and biological/physical. Sometimes applied anthropology is… Read More

Four volumes: cxii+632+[1] pages with five plates; vii+511+[2 errata] pages with three plates (two of which are folding maps); viii+651+[2] pages two plates (of which one is a map); viii+619+[1 errata] pages plus five plates (of which one is a color folding map). Folio (13" x 9 1/2") bound in quarter leather with five raised spine bands decorated in gilt and red labels in gilt lettering over brown boards. Deckle edges. (Palau, 89532; Sabin 57990) First edition.Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes (1478-1557) was a Spanish historian and writer who united a classical humanistic education with extensive experience in the New World. As a youth he entered the service of Alphonso of Aragon, nephew of Ferdinand the Catholic and soon afterward he became a page of Prince John, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella. Throughout his life he retained close contacts with the royal court. He was present at the return of Christopher Columbus in 1493. He traveled and studied in Italy. He went to the New World in 1514 in… Read More

2 volumes in one. [4]+656 pages with armorial engraving on title page. [2]+185+[13] pages. Folio (11" x 7 1/2) bound in later 1/2 calf with gilt lettering to spine. (Sabin 23592, 66551. Medina, Puebla 860; Palau 56648) First edition.
It contains a collection of rules and ordinances for civil and religious conduct in Puebla, based on the third Mexican Council of 1585. It includes questions related to the way of treating the Indians, the use of indigenous languages, the prohibition of gambling, the rules for the use of tobacco, as well as other ordinances related to daily customs. Starting the second volume Collection of Providences given for the five convents of Religious Calzadas in the city of Puebla de los Angeles.
Francisco Fabián y Fuero was a Spanish Roman Catholic bishop. He studied in Calatayud and Alcalá, and was at different times rector of the colleges of San Antonio de Siguenza and Santa Cruz, in Valladolid. He was appointed bishop of Puebla, Mexico, in 1764, and was present at the fourth… Read More

xviii+443 pages with folding copper-engraved map. Octavo (8¼" x 5"), early half calf-backed boards, morocco lettering piece. Translated by A.J.N. Lallemant. (Graff 1519; Howes G77; Wagner-Camp 6:3; Wheat Transmississippi 300.) First French Edition.
First publication in a foreign language of any detailed information of the Lewis and Clark expedition, of especial interest to the French, since it was through lands they had so recently laid claim to. Perhaps more notable, however, is the presence of the map by J.B. Tardieu, "Carte Pour servir au Voyage des Capes. Lewis et Clarke..." which seems to be the first one published that mentions Lewis and Clark and locates parts of their route. It measures (9½x7¾"). Wheat notes that "Tardieu had no Lewis and Clark map to assist him, but he apparently had at hand Meriwether Lewis's brief letter-report to Jefferson, and he did his best to locate on his map at least a few of the Expedition's points of geographic interest. His available topography, based as it… Read More

Captain George Vancouver explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are now the American states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia.6 Volumes. 28+[33]-410 pages with 2 folding copper-engraved charts and one foldout plate; [2]+418 pages with four folding plates, lacking the plates which should face pages 77 and 134; [2]+435 pages with one folding plate; [2]+417 pages with three folding plates;[2]+454 pages with three folding plates; [2]+412+[2 ad] pages with three folding plates. Folding plates are copper-engraved; engraved by Landseer and others after W. Alexander, most from sketches made "on the spot" by Sykes, Heddington and others. Octavos (8 1/4 x 5") bound period tree calf with spines tooled in gilt, morocco lettering pieces. (Cowan p.654-5; Forbes 335; Hill, Pacific Voyages, pp.304; Howes V23; Sabin 98441; Streeter Sale 3497) First octavo edition. First published in 1798. George… Read More

314 pages with color lithographic frontispiece and 4 black and white illustrations by Will Grefé. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's pictorial black cloth stamped in grey and yellow, lettered in gilt, with applied chromolithographic illustration housed in custom cloth clamshell box. Inscribed in bold hand by author. (McIlvaine A13a) First edition.A Gentleman of Leisure is a novel by P G Wodehouse. The basic plot first appeared in a novella, The Gem Collector, in the December 1909 issue of Ainslee's Magazine. It was substantially revised and expanded for publication as a book under the title The Intrusion of Jimmy by Tit-Bits between 11 June and 10 September before being published as A Gentleman of Leisure by Alston Rivers Ltd, London, on 15 November 1910. There are minor textual differences between the American and British editions of the book. A Gentleman of Leisure was adapted for the stage in 1911 and has twice been filmed, in 1915 and 1923.Condition: Inscribed in bold… Read More