Search Results: Authors starting with M from Swan's Fine Books

San Francisco: John Henry Nash, 1926. No binding. Near fine. Folio size, [4] pp. John Henry Nash (1871-1947), San Francisco-based printer of fine press books and numerous broadsides and ephemera, is known for superb typographical design and attention to materials, particularly the paper used for printing and for his bindings. Nash worked for Stanley-Taylor Co. until 1901 and Tomoye Press from 1903 to 1911, before founding his own firm in 1916, which remained in business until 1938. Although apparently he printed quite a few pieces of ephemera, most of them are not included in the bibliography (O'Day). This piece printed, as stated on the front cover, to commemorate a poem read during a dinner given in honour of Frank D. Madison, of the San Francisco firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, on April 19th, 1926. No copies available online as of this writing. ___DESCRIPTION: A single sheet folded once to four pages, title page information on the front, the poem on both inner pages surrounded by… Read More

New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc, 1959. First Edition. Soft cover. Near Fine. 256 pp., with letter signed by John D. MacDonald. A three-paragraph letter from John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) to Miriam Allen DeFord (1888-1975), signed by MacDonald, accompanied by the first edition of the book discussed in the letter. The letter was sent by MacDonald to deFord to thank her for her note to him about this volume (a collection of mystery stories by 14 female mystery writers), and he states "I am glad I had one of yours to include" - deFord's story, "To Be Found and Read" is included in the anthology. He goes on to talk about the challenges of ordering the various stories, and at one point says "I understated the problems of corresponding with the eight(crossed out letter)y gals. The professionals, as you would suspect, caused no problems whatsoever. But we have some amateur members, believe me, who should be netted and placed in little padded rooms." ___DESCRIPTION: The letter is a standard 8.5" by 11",… Read More

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Comany, 1954. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good +. Sendak, Maurice. First printing, octavo size, 128 pp. An early Sendak title, third (of five) in the series about the delightful Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, who "lives in an upside down house, smells like cookies, and was married to a pirate who buried his treasure in the backyard!" (N.B., quote from dust jacket flap, quoting the Philadelphia Inquirer). The character remained so enduringly popular that a new title was published in 2016 featuring the character's great-niece, "Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure" (N.B., from Wiki). ___DESCRIPTION: Green cloth boards with a vignette on the front in dark purple of a small girl and boy holding hands, dark purple lettering on the spine, plain endpapers, pictorial title page (with illustrations spreading over two pages), "First Edition" stated on copyright page (correct for first printing per Hanrahan), wonderful in-text illustrations by Maurice Sendak throughout; octavo… Read More

Fairfax, California: The Roxburghe Club of San Francisco (printed by Mallette Dean), 1958. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 125 copies, octavo size, 40 pp. Henry Miller Madden (1912-1982?) served as the University librarian at CSU-Fresno for thirty years, and was, in addition, an author, scholar, and translator in his own right. A collector of works in German that describe early travel experiences of Germans in California, Mr. Madden bequethed his collection to Fresno State. This slim volume, printed by Mallette Dean in 1958 for the Albert Bender Memorial Fund, is an essay by Mr. Madden on his passion for these books; it may have arisen out of a presentation he gave to the Roxburghe Club, San Francisco, of which he was a member from 1958-1982. With two hand-coloured illustrations, likely by Mallette Dean. ___DESCRIPTION: Natural linen shelfback with paper spine label, tan paper over boards with black and orange printed pattern of bears and the California poppy, fore-edge uncut, illustrated… Read More

San Francisco: The Book Club of California [printed by The Grabhorn Press], 1958. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. One of 400 copies, folio size, 96 pp. This bibliography comprises ninety-nine titles published by The Book Club of California, from 1912 to 1958 with the bibliography itself being "the hundredth book"; with detailed descriptions of the content and physical appearance of each book, this reference serves as both a catalogue for the avid book collector and a document of the prestigious work put out by the Club. The bibliography goes beyond mere cataloguing, and includes some history of the printing and the content of each book, and is itself printed and bound in a lovely fine press book by the inimitable Grabhorn Press. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter tan cloth with decorative paper boards, white paper spine label with gilt lettering, fore- and bottom edges rough cut, title page in red and black, types printed in red and black throughout, colour facsimiles of previously… Read More

San Francisco: Printed at The Grabhorn Press, 1957. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. One of 225 copies, folio size, 119 pp. A limited, fine letterpress edition of the second volume of the Grabhorn bibliography, printed by Edwin & Robert Grabhorn, Jane & Mary Grabhorn and Sherwood Grover, from the library of esteemed book collector Roger K. Larson, and the Richard A. Gleeson Library at the University of San Francisco (with lovely bookplates from both). Beautifully printed with specimens from numerous publications laid in, an essential item for anyone attempting to keep up with the Grabhorn Press's prolific history and bibliography. ___DESCRIPTION: Original quarter red morocco and decorative red and white paper covered boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, fore-edge and tail-edge ucut, title-page in red, black and gilt, with illuminated initials and text printed in black and red throughout, illustrated fold-out of printer's devices from the press, six reprinted title-pages or pages of text, one… Read More

San Francisco: Printed at The Grabhorn Press, 1957. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. One of 225 copies, folio size, 119 pp., inscribed "from Bob and Jane Grabhorn" and dated May, 1957. A limited, fine letterpress edition of the second volume of the Grabhorn bibliography, printed by Edwin & Robert Grabhorn, Jane & Mary Grabhorn and Sherwood Grover, inscribed to the prior owner "For ----- / with deep affection, as always / from Bob and Jane Grabhorn / May, 1957" (we believe in Jane's hand). Beautifully printed with specimens from numerous publications laid in, an essential item for any collector of the Grabhorn Press. ___DESCRIPTION: Original quarter red morocco and decorative red and white paper covered boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, fore-edge and tail-edge ucut, inscription from Jane and Bob Grabhorn (as set forth above) in ink at the top of the front free endpaper, title-page in red, black and gilt, with illuminated initials and text printed in black and red throughout, illustrated… Read More

Ditchling Sussex: S. Dominic's Press, 1924. Fourth Edition. Wraps. Near fine. Duodecimo size, 100 pp. The Saint Dominic's Press, founded by Harry (Hilary) Douglas Clarke Pepler, flourished at Ditchling, Sussex, from 1916 to 1936. The first home of the Press was "a disused stable", with a hundred-year-old Stanhope hand-press which supposedly had belonged to William Morris. Pepler endeavored to do everything possible by hand, believing that such would both produce the best results and also be a "more individual or 'humane'...product". He therefore "preferred the handpress to the machine, handmade to machine-made paper, and handset founder's type to the products of typesetting machines." Pepler met Edward Johnston and Eric Gill while living in Hammersmith; Pepler and his family would eventually move to Ditchling to join Gill, who was one of the most important artists to provide illustrations for the St. Dominic's Press. Other artists who provided illustrations included David Jones, Desmond Chute,… Read More

[New York]: The Limited Editions Club (printed by Heritage Printers, Inc.), 1990. Limited Edition. Leather bound. Fine. Hejduk, John. No. 122 of 375 copies, quarto size, 193 pp., signed by John Hejduk, with LEC Monthly Letter. German writer Thomas Mann (1875-1955), a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929, is best known for his novels and short stories employing symbolism and examining the psyche of those in intellectual circles, most famously in his works "Buddenbooks" and "Death in Venice"; he wrote "The Black Swan" in 1954, and the novella revolves around an aging woman who must deal with her changing body and the expectations of an uncaring society that values youth over old age. Noted for being one of the first works to utilise hard medicine in the narrative, "The Black Swan" is here published by the Limited Editions Club, with lithographs by celebrated architect and artist John Hejduk (1929-2000), who brings an architect's eye for symmetry and simplicity in his geometric imagery.… Read More

London: The Verona Press [Printed at the Officina Bodoni, Verona, 1939], 1939. Limited Edition. Leather. Very Good Plus. Laurencin, Marie. No. 10 of 30 de luxe copies, quarto size, 328 pp., signed by Marie Laurencin (twice). Kathleen Mansfield Murry (1888-1923), born and raised in New Zealand, moved to the UK at the age of 19 where she became a friend of modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf; she died at the age of 34 from tuberculosis. This work is a collection of her short stories, wonderfully illustrated by Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), a French painter and an important figure in the Parisian avant-garde. She was a member of the circle which included Pablo Picasso and other cubists, and is known as one of the few female Cubist painters (n.b., above info from Wiki). The lithographs in this volume are more traditional, being lovely portraits of the characters evoking the deep emotions of the stories. ___DESCRIPTION: De luxe version bound in turquoise leather and signed by the… Read More

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc, 1936. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Schwabe, Randolph. The first illustrated edition, one of 751 copies, quarto size, 698 pp., signed by both Maugham and Schwabe, with publisher's slipcase. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) became a renowned author and playwright; this work, "Of Human Bondage", is now regarded as his masterpiece. The novel was made into a film on three separate occasions: in 1934 starring Bette Davis; in 1946; and again in 1964 starring Kim Novak. First published in 1915, this the first illustrated edition, issued as a limited edition (this no. 578 of 751 copies) signed by both the author and illustrator. The illustrations by Randolph Schwabe (1885-1948), a recognized British painter and etcher who, among many other achievements, was the Slade Professor of Fine Art at University College, London, for eighteen years. Schwabe also worked as a draughtsman, and his attention to detail and lines are apparent… Read More

San Francisco: A. M. Robertson (Philopolis Press), 1909. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Good +. No. 2 of 500, duodecimo size, 47 pp. Written by American meteorologist Alexander McAdie (1863-1943), who made many advances in the field of meteorology and was also in charge of the U.S. Weather Bureau in San Francisco from 1903 to 1913, this volume contains three essays reprinted from "Philopolis" magazine, a publication printed by Arthur and Lucia Mathews at their press, the Philopolis Press. The book also contains a reproduction of a painting by Lucia K. Mathews, who, along with her husband Arthur F. Mathews (1860-1945), was one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America; the Mathews were a husband-and-wife team of artists and designers and had a significant influence on the art in California at the beginning of the twentieth century. ___DESCRIPTION: Full white paper, illustration of a flower in gilt on the front board, red leather spine label with gilt rules and lettering, fore- and… Read More

New York: Random House, 1965. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. First printing, octavo size, 251 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This work, "The Orchard Keeper" was McCarthy's first novel; it would receive the 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel. Initial reviews, although somewhat mixed, praised McCarthy's "flashing visual impact" and his "unusual writing furrowed by a stark, visual imagery while the story itself has a shadowed fascination"… Read More

London: Picador by Pan Books, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. First UK edition, first printing, octavo size, 345 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This the first UK edition of McCarthy's "Great American Novel"; it was McCarthy's fifth novel and although it received only lukewarm praise upon publication, it is now viewed as his magnum opus. The first UK edition scarce signed; as of this writing, we see no copies online. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full red… Read More

New Orleans: B.E. Trice, 1998. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 300 copies, octavo size, signed by Cormac McCarthy, in publisher's slipcase. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. The "Border Trilogy" begins with a quintessential coming-of-age story of two young cowboys. "All the Pretty Horses" won the U.S. National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. "The Crossing" is similar in that it, also, is a coming-of-age story, albeit with difference characters. McCarthy brought the two… Read More

New York: Random House, 1979. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good +. First printing, octavo size, 479 pp., inscribed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This work, "Suttree" was McCarthy's fourth published novel, although he began writing it twenty years earlier, well before the publication of "Orchard Keeper". The story features Cornelius Suttree, who has left his prominent family and the society they represent, "choosing instead a different world inhabited by people who live precarious,… Read More

New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good +. First printing, octavo size, 205 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This work, "Child of God" was McCarthy's third novel and was published to critical praise. As stated in the New York Times book review (dated 12-5-73): "It's interesting to see how a good writer can make us care about a 'bad' character. I mean bad in a moral sense. Talent, [it] seems, can find the humanity behind the inhuman, the pathos that… Read More

New Orleans: B.E. Trice, 1998. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 50 deluxe copies, octavo size, 297 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy, in publisher's slipcase. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. The "Border Trilogy" begins with a quintessential coming-of-age story of two young cowboys. "All the Pretty Horses" won the U.S. National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. "The Crossing" is similar in that it, also, is a coming-of-age story, albeit with difference characters. McCarthy brought… Read More

(London): Andre Deutsch, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good +. First UK edition, first printing, octavo size, 250 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This work, "The Orchard Keeper" was McCarthy's first novel; it would receive the 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel. Initial reviews, although somewhat mixed, praised McCarthy's "flashing visual impact" and his "unusual writing furrowed by a stark, visual imagery while the story itself has a… Read More

[Oakland, California]: The Oakland Museum Art Department, 1973. Soft cover. Near Fine. Oblong octavo, 105 pp. A documentation, through interviews taken with leading Bay Area artists, of the pioneering era of San Francisco Abstract Expressionism. Artists interviewed for the book include Adolph ("Ad") Reinhardt (1913-1967), abstract painter active in New York beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s; he lived in the Bay Area while teaching at the California School of Fine Arts during the summer of 1950. Other artists included in the book are Jeremy Anderson, Dorr Bothwell, Ernest Briggs, Joan Brown, Lawrence Calcagno, Edward Corbett, James Budd Dixon, Edward Dugmore, Alfred Frankenstein, Jorge Goya, Dimitri Grachis, John Grillo, John Hultberg, Jack Jefferson, James Kelly, Walter Kuhlman, Seymour Locks, Douglas MacAgy, Madeline Diamond Martin, Robert McChesney, William Morehouse, Raymond Parker, Deborah Remington, Philip Roeber, John Saccaro, Jon Schueler, Peter Shoemaker, Hassel… Read More