Tony's Christmas

[San Francisco]: Printed [by the Grabhorn Press] for Members of The Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, 1932. Limited Edition. Wraps. Near fine. One of 100 copies, small quarto size, 15 pp. A charming story of a young boy's Christmas morning in San Francisco, and a promise he made to the Christ child in the church's creche - a promise which required a bit of explanation to the parish Priest...

In "Chronology of Twenty-Five Years, The Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, 1928-1953", Douglas S. Watson is listed as a Roxburghe member, serving as Printer's Devil for the 1932-33 season and subsquently as Master of the Press for the two seasons of 1933-34 and 1934-35.

Watson was the author and/or editor of many books having to do with San Francisco/California history and growth, including "The Life of Johann August Sutter" (printed by the Grabhorn Press in 1932/33), "The Expedition into California of the Venerable Padre Fra Junipero Serra and his companions in the year 1769...." (printed at the Nueva California Press, 1934), and "The Santa Fe Trail to California 1849-1852" (printed by the Grabhorn Press for The Book Club of California in 1931), to name only a few.

___DESCRIPTION: String-bound into blue paper wraps, printed label tipped onto the front wrap with a decorative border in orange, yellow and blue, title in dark green lettering with a decorative initial capital, yapped edges, title page with same title lettering (in black), stated on the bottom of the title page "Printed for Members of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco" (note that the volume does not mention the Grabhorn Press as the printer, it is in their bibliography), decorative title also opens the first page of text, decorative page numbers at the top of the text; small quarto size (10" by 6 5/8"), pagination: [i-ii] [1] 2-13.

___CONDITION: Near fine, the wraps clean, the label on the front wrap clean and without any wear, the string binding strong, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; a hint of edgewear to the edges of the wraps, some light sunning to the top edge of the wraps and at the spine, and one shallow crease to the bottom corner of the back wrap. Altogether a bright, near fine copy of this somewhat scarce (in the marketplace) piece of Grabhorn printing (as of this writing, there is only one other copy listed online; OCLC locates 23 copies with institutions).

___CITATION: Grabhorn Press Bibliography no. 176, which states that one hundred copies, of which forty were for members of the Roxburghe Club, were privately printed for Douglas S. Watson in 1932.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.