Search Results: Celebrities from Bolerium Books Inc., ABAA/ILAB

New York: J. Albresch Studio, 1940. Photograph. 8x10 sepia photograph of Licia Albanese as Violetta in "La Traviata" signed across the front by Albanese, very good condition. Licia Albanese (who passed away at 105 in 2014!) was an Italian American soprano who performed at the Met in NYC but also was a favorite in San Francisco for many years. Best known for her Madame Butterfly she was also quite popular in "La Traviata" depicted here. The photo shows her opening the curtain in her gorgeous white gown and shoulder-length Scarlett O'Hara curls, face in profile, signature in blue ink across the lower part of the gown. Abresch's printed in-plate signature at bottom right corner.

Hollywood: Universal City Studios, 1968. Pamphlet. Unpaginated folio leaves staple-fastened in 13.5x8.5 inch pink and black wraps; four pages (2 prelims, 2 terminal "shorts") of keyboard-set text, plus four pages of publicity images printed in varying sizes meant to be camera-ready for various promotional outlets. Black and white images only. Clean and sound, a very good copy.

New York / London: Simon and Schuster / George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1966. Hardcover. 552, 581p., illustrated, reprint of the 1937 first issue, hardbound boxed set complete and fine except for the box which has split joints but (at this point in its decay) could be repaired, best done by a professional. The two casings are matched in spring-green cloth boards gilt with top-edges tinted in identical green (tints to both are sunned near exposed headbands), immaculate volumes in their damaged cardstock box: perfectly sound, clean and unmarked.

Buffalo, NY: World's Dispensary Medical Association, 1927. Staplebound. 32 pp., illustrations, color printed wraps. 4 x 5.5 in. Oblong pamphlet. Surface scratched on rear cover. A booklet with a very abridged history of aviation, emphasizing the then-recent solo flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris and the emerging possibilities of aviation in both war and commerce. The majority of the booklet is in fact a series of advertisements and testimonials for various medical products produced by V.M. Pierce, such as the "Golden Medical Discovery," "Anuric Tablets," and "Pleasant Pellets." Also includes ads for a publication, Medical Adviser, and Dr. Pierce's Invalids Hotel and Surgical Institute. A blank form questionnaire (unused) and instructions for a free consultation are appended.

New York: Avant-Garde Media, 1968. Magazine. 64p., 10.75x11.25 inches, illustrated with photos and artworks, essays, articles, reviews, poetry, fiction, light wear to covers, toning else a very good magazine in pictorial wraps. Nineteen artists redesign a new $1 bill. Warhol's Women. Krassner profile. Mailer short story.

[Holyoke, MA]: Gladtree Press, 2009. Pamphlet. Softbound chapbook, [8]p. of monocolor portraits reproduced from inkstick or brush, plus nice blank endpapers; a sewn (but thread is loose) decorated pamphlet in 7x7 inch wraps with silkscreened portraits of Miles Davis and Kim Jong II, one of 100 cc. Leaves are nested though very loose, front cover is sunned, item is slightly edgeworn.

Bath: Tangent Books, 2006. Paperback. 281p. paperback, wraps lightly worn else very good condition.

USA: J.L.D. Publishing, 1964. Magazine. 66 p, illustrations, 8x10.75 inches, full color glossy covers with newsprint pages, black and white images and text, wear to edges and spine with several closed tear at right edge of front cover, text block in good condition. Beatles fan mag published sometime in the late spring 1964, before Hard Day's Night released in July, Contents include How to greet the Beatles -- Beatles' movie: A hard day's night -- Beatle bulletin--Their month-long late summer US tour. What's not to like?

[Los Angeles]: Paramount Pictures, 1928. Handbill. 9.5x12.25 inch handbill, very good. Advertisement with rave reviews for the silent film co-written by Herman Mankiewicz. Jannings won the first ever Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of a general in exile who becomes a movie extra.

Los Angeles: Daystar Publishing Company, 1992. Paperback. 174p., numerous vignette portraits, signed by Moon, first edition trade-size wraps. African American filmmakers.

[Detroit?]: Buick Motor Division, General Motors Corp, 1960. Pamphlet. Slick-paper brochure of about 16p., gotten up to look like a Life magazine, dated from back-cover ad for the "Turbine Drive Buick '60". Profuse captioned site and portrait photos with running text and caption-salutes to Hope's fellow funny-men written by Hope; accompanied by a page-long salute to Hope by Bing Crosby. A nice clean copy; laid in is a single-leaf ad for a 1963 Seattle appearance ("The Bob Hope show starring Bob Hope in person") that promises a fantastic juggler, Jimmie Rodgers (song), Juliet Prowse (dance); evidently the item is an all-purpose alert that the big guy is coming to town.

New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1968. 191p., illustrated with a line map and a chronology; hardbound in 8x5.5 inch maroon leatherette gilt and dust jacket. An ex library copy with an ugly pocket and a titlepage rubberstamp, both overstamped "Withdrawn" (top edge also stamped), these the only damage to the book itself, which has entirely presentable cover and text; while the dj spine panel is a little faded with an inconspicuous label at the heel. Reading copy, structurally very good. Apparently a useful item unaccountably scarce, to judge by prices asked. Twayne's Rulers and statesmen of the world series, 7.

New York: A Joint Production of the Los Angeles County Mueum of Art [and] Universe Publishing; distributed by St. Martin's Press, 2000. Unpaginated, manufactured in Thailand with lots of hand-work, an ambitious 3-D compendium of high and low art, many pop-up styles and pop-up devices on display here, not entirely successful but a good try. Things inset tend to fall out of their compartments, the Golden Gate Bridge is unwieldy, the Watts Towers rather bland, and so on. We should mention triumphs: the glassed-in elevated Case Study House, Gehry's Concert Hall, plus general excellences such as the wonderful welter of color, and, well, back to "ambitious." This copy is just out of its shrinkwrap and we haven't lost any pieces yet! - so hurry.

Los Angeles: Advocate Books/Alyson Pub, 2001. Paperback. 138p., 9.25x11.75 inches, introduction, 16 interbviews, photos, Liz Smith afterword, fine first edition oversized glossy magazine/reade paperback in pictorial wraps.

New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2000. Paperback. 148p., 8p. b&w photo section, very good first mass-market paperback edition in pictorial wraps.

Hong Kong: Dian ying shi jie chu ban she 電影世界出版社, [197-]. 74 pages, single issue of the staplebound magazine, very good. The magazine is about Hong Kong films and celebrities, e.g. Sisi Chen, Connie Chan, accompanied with numerous black and white photographs. There is a formal letter on page 4 that demands that 3 bookstores in the USA and Brunei pay off their debts to the publisher.

Spoleto: Archivio Fotografico, 2011. Two related items in a clever slipcase cum snap-closer box: largely captioned portrait and group photography, b&w only in the Gian Carlo Menotti honor-fest, vivid color in book devoted to Carla Fendi. Neither volume paginated, Fendi's is lengthy and bound in laminated colorphoto boards, the Menotti in openweave black cloth and dust jacket, and much shorter. Item shows very classy upper-class doings, the men in formal attire, the women quite variously dressed (there are g-strings for burly-que fun). Readers musically in tune will recognize many faces here, this cataloguer was merely Oooo! Pavarotti! Both Menotti and Fendi make people open up; he for example is the only party host who ever (publicly) drew out Jackie Onassis' reserve; his congrats to her on RFK's win in the 1968 CA primary was met with her flairing "Why? they will just kill him like they killed my husband," a remark that made European media but not here.

Cupertino CA: Foothill-De Anza Community College District, 1989. Paperback. 38p., a large softbound booklet, 11x8.5 inches, printed on super-glossy coated paperstock, illustrations from b&w exhibit photography, cuts usually quarter- and half-page size fitted into the double-column text. A fine unhandled exemplar, perfectly sound, clean and unmarked. A number of celebrity artists are discussed, amongst them Ruth Asawa, Saul Steinberg, Robert Arneson and Wayne Thiebaud.

Santa Fe NM: Institute of Fine Art, 1968. Pamphlet. Unpaginated, a brief pamphlet consisting of a two-page bio and eight near-cardstock leaves printed recto only, eight quick sketches of coaches and teams. Presswork on heavy alkaline paper staple-fastened into 12x9 inch decorated grey wraps, covers a little worn with marginal toning and a former seller's price in ballpoint on front. The artist (1873-1945) grew up in San Leandro in the Bay Area, which was still "ranching country". Borein drew from his cowpuncher saddle, fixed the sketches at night.

N. pl: E. Press, 1994. Paperback. 235p. including documents and b&w photos, text in Spanish, very good first edition trade paperback in pictorial wraps. Novel based on Elvis myths by a former editor of La Gaceta de Cuba, who emigrated to the US in 1979.