Search Results: Authors starting with V from Midnight Books

American Sports Publishing Co, 1915. Softcover. Very Good. Collectible first edition, second printing of P. A. (Percy Augustus) Vaile's early-century primer on golf. Number 2P of the green cover series. 1915 date to copyright page. Note that later printings - 1922, e.g. - are often misidentified as first printings when in fact they are third or later printings. The content in this copy, the second printing, is identical to the 1914 LOC control copy with the exception of the latter's 1914 date to the copyright page. Also note that Joseph Murdoch's The Library of Golf asserts that the 1922 printing was the first, which of course is in error. 41 numbered pages, 36 numbered plates (action golf swing photos) and 11 unnumbered Spalding catalog pages packed with illustrated golf balls, golf clubs and associated priced golf equipment. Chapter headings include Putting, Playing a Stymie, Prevalent Misconceptions About Golf, The Mashie, The Iron, The Cleek, The Driver and Brassie, Golf Ball Facts… Read More

Taurus, 1974. Softcover. Very Good. 0x0x0. Spanish realist author, diplomat, and politician Juan Valera y Alcala-Galiano's compilation of intimate letters, 1853-1897. 368 pp. 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Tight, unmarked copy with light shelf wear. Photographs of this book or additional information available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Orchard Lake Community Church, 1959. Softcover. Good. 0x0x0. History of Orchard Lake Community Church, Orchard Lake, Michigan. Illustrated with historical photographs. Scarce. 34 pages. 9 1/4" x 6". Tight, unmarked copy with minimal shelf wear and fading to cover. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Uitgeverij Hollandia BV, 1989. Hardcover. Very Good. 0x0x0. Kasper Van Zuilekom's hard to find diesel engine how-to for water sports. Topics include vibration, power and fuel, motor setup, lubrication, filters, exhaust, cooling, winter care, etc. Densely illustrated with drawings and photos. Text in Dutch. 175 pp. 8 3/4" x 7 3/8". Tight, unmarked copy with light shelf wear. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Privately Printed for W. S. Van Dyke by California Graphic Press, 1931. Hardcover. Very Good. 0x0x0. Collectible first edition, first printing of legendary American film director W. S. Van Dyke's journal written during the filming of Trader Horn in central Africa, a film, in turn, based on the book Trader Horn by celebrated ivory trader Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn. "First Printing" so stated on copyright page. Inscribed and signed by W. S. Van Dyke on front free endpaper thus: "To you Tyler - | and don't be too hard | on it! | W. S. Van Dyke | L. A. | 1-22-35." Signature unconditionally guaranteed to pass any COA examination. Bound in dark blue linen with gilt lettering to front and spine panels and gilt water buffalo to front panel. Includes 26 full-page photos of natives, big game animals and more, taken on location. 219 pp. Tight, unmarked copy with minimal shelf wear. An exceptionally presentable copy of an important African safari collectible.

Robin H. Smiley, 2003. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. December, 2003, Volume 13, Number 10 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. This issue focuses on Collecting Thomas McGuane, noted in his early works for a comic appreciation and multiple takes on the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. His later writings reflect on relationships with the natural world in the changing American West. Comparisons are made between McGuane and Ernest Hemingway, thus explaining the cover of this issue. The article states that "This confounds McGuane." A bibliography of first editions included. Also featured in this issue is an article on Floyd Salas, an American fiction writer and boxer. His work is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area and among aficionados of both Latino literature and 60s era protest literature. Salas taught English at several local colleges, coached boxing, volunteered to teach at prisons and His work is well known in the San… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2005. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. February 2005, Volume 15, Number 2 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue begins with an article on Spaceflight in Modern Non-Fiction with an extensive bibliography of first editions on space travel by various authors. Author Richard Powers, an American novelist and professor whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology, is the featured author. Bibliography of his first editions included. Issue includes an article on several "End of the World" novels which were made into films are highlighted including "On the Beach" and "Seven Days in May." Also included is Part Two of The Fundamentals of Book Collecting: Why collect books? Clean copy with minimal shelf wear. 64 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Robin H. Smiley, 2004. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. March 2004, Volume 14, Number 3 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue focuses on Collecting C.S. Forester, Part Two, which explores his personal life and writings from 1937 until the author's death in 1966, notably the Horatio Hornblower series. Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. (Part One is in FIRSTS February 2004 issue.) His most notable works were the Horatio Hornblower series, highlighted in this issue, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). An annotated bibliography of first editions from 1937 through two books published posthumously included. Copy is unmarked. Clean copy with minimal shelf wear. pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Robin H. Smiley, 2009. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. June 2009, Volume 19, Number 6 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Article is included on Collecting "The Boys of Summer," which is also the title one of the most popular sports books ever written. Roger Kahn's book focuses on the love of the Brooklyn Dodgers and interviews with 13 key players on the team. The article discusses the many books written about the Dodgers, including nine of which were published by members of the original boys of summer: Jackie Robinson, Duke Snyder, Carl Erskine, Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella. A bibliography of selected first editions is included. Issue also highlights Collecting Richard Russo, an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. His 2001 novel "Empire Falls" received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Russo is quoted a saying, "I want that which is hilarious and that which is heartbreaking to… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2009. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. October 2009, Volume 19, Number 8 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue includes Collecting Frank McCourt, Irish-American teacher and writer, whose first book was published when he was 66 years old. He won a Pulitzer Prize for this book "Angela's Ashes," a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. In addition to earning a Pulitzer, the book also won the National Book Critics Circle award, and in 1999 it was adapted into a well-received film. Bibliography of first editions included. Also included is the article "New Journalism, or what might be called author-centric reporting..." Among the authors included in the article are Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe. Bibliography of first editions on this topic included. Clean copy with minimal shelf wear. 56 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Photographs of or additional information… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2009. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. September 2009, Volume 19, Number 7 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue is dedicated to London born author Bernard Cornwell. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. The article goes into some detail about his unhappy and rebellious childhood. In addition to his hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series and the Alfred series. A chronological list of the complete Sharpe series and an Annotated Checklist of first editions are included. Clean copy with minimal shelf wear. 56 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Robin H. Smiley, 2009. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. May 2009, Volume 19, Number 5 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue includes Collecting Annie Proulx, American writer whose darkly comic yet sad fiction is peopled with quirky, memorable individuals and unconventional families. Proulx traveled widely, extensively researching physical backgrounds and locales. She frequently used regional speech patterns, surprising and scathing language, and unusual plot twists in her novels and short stories about disintegrating families who maintain attachments to the land. She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, "Postcards." Her second novel, "The Shipping News" won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was adapted as a 2001 film of the same name. Her short story "Brokeback Mountain" was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2011. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. March 2011, Volume 21, Number 3, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue highlights Collecting Charlotte Armstrong, recognized as the Queen of Suspense. Her works have survived her for many years and are still enjoyed by thousands all over the world. She was the recipient of the Edgar Award in 1957 for "A Dram of Poison" as the Best Novel of the Year, the most prestigious honor that can be bestowed upon a mystery writer. Charlotte Armstrong introduced suspense into the commonplace, the everyday, by writing short stories and novels in which one simple action sets a series of events spiraling into motion, pulling readers along, breathless with anxiety. By creating characters that could be one's next-door-neighbors and by relocating suspense, in many cases, from its Gothic ancestral settings, to locales she knew best, Armstrong created known as suburban noir. A briefly annotated… Read More

Privately Printed, 1995. Softcover. Very Good. Compilation of Central Brevard County, Florida historical articles. Topics include cattle ranching, development of a mosquito fog generator, the miniature golf course, settlement of Georgiana, tribute to Emory Lawrence Bennett, Oleander Point, The Recreation Building, Dennis Sawyer (freed slave), duck hunting, Cocoa High School principal memoirs, steamer Swan, state theater, Cocoa - Merritt Island - Orsino mail route, class of 1924 history, Saw Palmetto berries, first public health nurse, the Wild Cat Saloon and history of the Cocoa-Rockledge Garden Club. Illustrated with many historical photos. Scarce. 84 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Tight, unmarked copy with light shelf wear. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Privately Printed, 2002. Softcover. Very Good. Compilation of Central Brevard County, Florida historical articles. See attached image for table of contents. Illustrated with many historical photos. Scarce. 84 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Tight, unmarked copy with minimal shelf wear. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Privately Printed, 1999. Softcover. Very Good. Compilation of Central Brevard County, Florida historical articles. See attached image for table of contents. Illustrated with many historical photos. Scarce. 80 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Tight, unmarked copy with minimal shelf wear. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

Privately Printed, 2003. Softcover. Very Good. Compilation of Central Brevard County, Florida historical articles. See attached image for table of contents. Illustrated with many historical photos. Scarce. 80 pp. 11" x 8 1/2". Tight, unmarked copy with minimal shelf wear. Photographs of or additional information about this item are available on request. All inquiries answered promptly.

The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1862. Hardcover. Good. Mid-19th century KJV English Bible printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1862. Bound in dark-brown leather with gilt "Holy Bible" to spine panel. Blind rulings and decorative elements to spine, front and back panels. Presumably a personal copy of prominent Seventh Day Adventist leader and pastor and later one of its most outspoken critics D. M. Canright. Inscription on front free endpaper reads: "R Deming Bible | Bought January 24, 1866 | of Elder Canright | Seventh day adventist | Price $3.00". Numerous additional inscriptions on endpapers, likely in Deming's hand. Unpaginated. 6 7/8" x 4 5/8". Tight copy with moderate shelf wear, slightly bumped corners and superficially split hinges (not affecting integrity of binding). Light staining to front pastedown and two preliminary blanks. Short tears to fore edges of front and terminal blanks.… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2011. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. January 2011, Volume 21, Number 1 and Twentieth Anniversary issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue dedicated entirely to America's Great Playwright, Eugene O'Neill, including an in-depth and excellent article by Bill Hanrahan. As quoted in the article, "Eugene O'Neill not only wrote great plays... he changed the American stage. It is often said that before O'Neill, America had theater; after O'Neill, it had drama. In American theater he stands alone, blazing the path for later playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams." A checklist of first editions, first separate editions and limited editions of major books included. Also included is issue is an article written by FIRSTS publisher Robin H. Smiley on eight of O'Neill's plays, three of which won Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and seven made into major motion pictures. Of… Read More

Robin H. Smiley, 2005. Softcover. Very Good. FIRSTS: The Book Collector's Magazine. May 2005, Volume 15, Number 5 issue, an invaluable magazine resource for book collectors. Issue focuses on Collecting Connie Willis, a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. An exceptional writer in the science fiction field, she mixes social commentary and a sense of humor into her books. Willis has received seven Nebula awards and eleven Hugo awards for her fiction, more major Science Fiction awards than any other writer. Bibliography of first editions included. Also highlighted is Collecting author Fritz Leiber, an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. His legacy appears to have been consolidated by the most famous of his creations, the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, written over a span of 50 years. Leiber was named the second Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy by participants in the 1975 World Science Fiction… Read More