Search Results: Titles starting with A from James Arsenault & Company

Braintree, Mass., 1845-1849. 8vo (21 x 17 cm), three-quarters calf with marbled paper. 148 pp. of manuscript. CONDITION: Covers moderately worn and rubbed; contents fair, a few pages torn in half, but the cited pages are clean with no losses to the text. A brief but striking account of a widowed doctor's visit to his wife's tomb to look upon her once more, recorded in his daybook. Kept by a doctor with the surname Richard in Braintree, Massachusetts, this day book consists mainly of entries relating to his medical practice (primarily the dispensing of medicine) and miscellaneous expenses. However, on 2 June 1846, he notes that his beloved wife, one Mrs. Elizabeth Gardner Richard has passed away "after a lingering sickness of 5 months the disease was Tubercular phthisis pulmonalis." Her funeral takes place three days later on 5 June, whereupon "her remains were deposited in my tomb & placed on the coffin of my late father on the left hand side." On Sunday 17 June-15 days after her death-the widower… Read More

West Chester, Pa., 22 May, 1803. 4to (10.5" x 8"), plain blue wrappers, 11 pp. ink, 12 blank pp. An early manuscript register of students written by a girl attending what would become the longest operating boarding school in the United States, including two sisters apparently absent from the school's official history. Anna Thomas, who was among the first 250 girls to enroll at Westtown School, "which commenced 5th month 6th 1799," records the names and parents' names of her fellow female students "together with their ages, numbers of their bills of admission and places of their former residence." A small pencil x-mark appears by Anna's name (number 210, age 12, daughter of George and Sarah Thomas, from Valley), and by that of her sister, Sarah, who had arrived the year before. Occasional entries record siblings swapping places (and register numbers) with each other ("The latter took the place of the former"). Anna's entries seem largely to align with A Brief History of Westtown Boarding School,… Read More

Various locations, primarily Japan, taken mainly between 1896 and 1906, with a small number of photos dating as late as 1922. Eight folio vols., original decorative cloth. 2182 photographs, various sizes, bromide prints and silver prints, some hand-colored, most photos with typed captions, 1 folding panorama. CONDITION: Two albums with one cover detached, all albums heavily worn at spine, one spine perished, all extremities worn, one album with damp-stain at upper right corner of front cover, photos generally very good or better, panorama of Hakodate with some creases and short tears. A stunning and important set of eight photo albums documenting Japanese life, scenery, and culture, as well as the activities of two American expatriate brothers in Japan and the foreign community to which they belonged. Also included are images of China, Hong Kong, and Formosa (Taiwan). These albums, compiled by Bert Poole, the brother of photographer Otis Manchester Poole (known as 'Chester'), appear to consist… Read More

New York: Published for distribution among the visitors to the Woodworth Tower; Baltimore-New York, Munder-Thomsen Press, 1913. Copyright by Hugh McAtamney. 8vo (10.25" x 6.125"), embossed gilt and green on light brown wrappers. Black silhouette affixed to blank 1st p., early inscription., 32 pp., numerous b&w and color illus. A souvenir guide celebrating the completion of the Woolworth Building in N.Y.C. The author traces the history of the Woolworth building location, including Henry Hudson's discovery, Company Farm, Trinity Church, Vandenberg Inn, City Hall and Park, Knickerbocker Group and the Philip Hone Club. The guide describes attributes of the building, such as the 17,000 bricks and 7,500 tons of terra cotta for the external architectural details. Early inscription on the first blank page reads "E. E. W. 1915", two adjacent blue pencil flourishes. CONDITION: Good +, wrappers lightly toned, light soiling on back wrapper, worn at extremities, first page with foxing.

Printed at Strawberry-Hill, [England], 1758. Hardcover. 12mo (7.25" x 4.5"), later full English calf by Arno Werner with gilt-stamped title on spine. Title page with engraved view of Horace Walpole's Gothic revival home. xxiv, 158 pp. Two bookplates of Wyman Parker on front paste-down. Pencil collector's notes on rear endpapers. CONDITION: Very good, slightly worn. 5th book of Strawberry Hill. 2nd year of press. 1 of 700 copies, edited by Horace Walpole. According to Walpole's introductory advertisement, "Lord Whitworth's little treatise will throw considerable lights upon the formation of the Muscovite power, and upon the plans of the extraordinary genius, Peter the Great." Whitworth's "An Account of Russia as it was in the Year 1710, though not published until 1758, was soon available in manuscript to the ministry at home [in England]. Succinct and perceptive, it was a survey of Petrine Russia which held its readership through to the century's end and beyond" (Whitworth, DoNB). Noted among the… Read More

London: Printed for Giles Widdows, 1674. 16mo, 18th-century calf, gilt, spine gilt with raised bands, green morocco label, combed marbled endpapers. [8], 215, [1], [8], 227-279, [3] pp. (with errors in pagination as issued). License leaf with woodcut printer's device (often lacking) preceding the title-leaf, errata leaf following the dedication, and 3pp. advertisements in the rear. Woodcut of winged dragon to license leaf. First edition of this scarce 17th-century description of New England, including valuable observations on the natural history of the region: "the earliest work on the Natural History of New England" (Rich). Josselyn visited America in 1638-39 and again from 1663 to 1671, spending most of his second sojourn with his brother on Prout's Neck (then known as Black Point) in what is today's Scarborough, Maine. Although parts of his history are based on inaccurate references, the book is renowned for its firsthand observations of the natural history of New England and the description of… Read More

Omaha, NE: National Printing Co., 1904. 8vo (8" x 5.5"), green black-stamped cloth illustrating a Western scene of a wagon trail, with gilt lettering spine and front-cover. 151 pp. First edition of Collins's account of his overland journey and other western adventures. "The author was a post trader at Fort Laramie for 10 years. His book is a most valuable journal of his trip across the plains and adventures among the Indians; hunting, mining, and trading experiences" (Eberstadt). In 1911, following Collins's death, the undistributed copies of the first edition were bound up with his Stories of the Plains and distributed to friends, per his will. REFERENCES: Howes C594; Eberstadt 134: 536. CONDITION: Good, moderate wear to extremities, corners bumped; contents bright and clean. An appealing copy.

Orange, Massachusetts: Minute Tapioca Company, 1926. 16mo (19 cm) brochure, pictorial blue wrappers. 16 pp., 1 ad. inside back wrapper, numerous b&w and color illus. A recipe book for Minute Tapioca, with advice for planning better meals, discussion of nutrition for children, general directions, and Tapioca recipes for items such as Tomato Bisque, Baked Cheese, casseroles, stews, creamed salmon, puddings, Chocolate Minute Tapioca, many fruit tapiocas, and finally, "For the Children's Scrap Book, Non-Injurious Paste" listing sugar, lemon and cinnamon etc. ingredients. The cover design reflects the magnified image of the relatively small starch cells of tapioca, as discussed within. CONDITION: Very good.

London: Longmans & Co., Chiswick Press, 1898. Hardcover. Sm 8vo (8.25" x 5.75"), half linen, blue paper over boards. 25 pp. Bookplate of Wyman Parker at front pastedown. Pencil note on Golden Type at head of ffep. CONDITION: Very good, slight loss to head and foot of spine, worn covers, light offsetting at endpapers and pastedowns.

Poughkeepsie, New York: The Artists and Writers Guild, Authorized American Edition, 1935. Paperback. 4to ( 29 cm x 23.5 cm), pictorial color wrappers. 26 pp., numerous color illus. A charming 1935 reproduction of an original H. G. Wells illustrated manuscript, written when he was a boy, with printed text below. Appearing on the verso of the title page is a printed author inscription to Miss Marjory Hicks, and an excerpt of an 1898 letter from Henry Hicks explaining the origins of the story. CONDITION: Very good, light wear, wrappers toned, spine rubbed, interior clean and very appealing.

Boston: Henry L. Shepard & Co, 1874. 8vo., decorative red cloth, spine and upper cover stamped in gold and black, gilt hippopotamus on upper cover and spine. 190 pp., 20 full page wood-engravings, including frontispiece with tissue guard. Second American Edition. Three Englishman, three Russians and their guide-a bushman named Mokoum-set out to measure the arc of a meridian in the Kalahari Desert and encounter the wild beasts of South Africa and a war between England & Russia.  First published in London under the title Meridiana: The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa (Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1873). An edition for distribution in America consisting of Sampson Low sheets, with a Scribner title page inserted (with mention of Sampson Low) appeared in 1873 as well. The first proper American edition was published by Scribner, Welford and Armstrong, New York in 1874. This second American edition, published by Henry Shepard of Boston, appeared in the same year as… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. Hardcover. Green cloth, gilt title on spine. Xi, 125 pp. Stated first edition. Inscribed on flyleaf to novelist John Evans, son of Mabel Dodge Luhan: "To John on his gracious birthday -- with Hal's affection. Witter Brynner January 4 1941." One of a number of books we have acquired from the library of John Evan. Condition: Good, top edge dusted, endpapers toned and lightly foxed, contents clean and sound; dust jacket fair with wear on covers, loss at head, foot, and center of spine, and 3 cm x 6 cm loss at lower left corner of back panel.

Chicago: Alaska Steamship Company; Poole Bros., printers, 1917. Folding map, 53 x 77 cm, plus margins. CONDITION: One 8.5 cm tear at bottom-left corner, several small separations along old folds, but no losses to the map. A promotional map for a cruise from Seattle, Washington to Alaska, published roughly a decade after the height of the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) and reflecting development in the state in the first two decades of the twentieth century. This map depicts Alaska, the Klondike District, and the westernmost portion of the Northwest Territory. Highlighted in red are over a dozen salient features in the Klondike and elsewhere: coal and gold fields, copper mines, salmon districts, oil fields, gold placers, a U.S. Seal Preserve, and so on. The inset map at the upper-right-entitled Map of the Copper River & Northwestern Railway and the Alaska Railroad-depicts the Copper River Region (labeled the "Great Copper Belt"), and shows automobile highways, military telegraph lines, stage routes… Read More

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. Hardcover. 8vo (8" x 5.75"), gilt red cloth. t.e.g. Frontis. with tissue guard, xiii, 343 pp., b&w illus. plates. CONDITION: Good, cover spotted, spine lightly sunned, light wear at extremities, offsetting to front and rear pastedowns.

Paris: H. Gache, Rue de la Victoire, 66, [1850?]. Oblong 8vo, original red cloth, blind-stamped ornaments and gilt-rule borders to covers, re-backed, original spine laid down. Illustrated title, 24 tinted lithographs. A rare collection of comic illustrations, a fair number of which involve the antics of children and animals. A couple's "repas Champêtre" is interrupted by a horse and rider flying over the stone wall behind them; a regiment of toddling girls in their walkers stands arrayed before the Napoleonic figure of a boy who announces "Le patrie en danger"; an artist paints a young woman's portrait, her mother remarking "N'est ce pas Mr. l'Artisse que ma Clarisse passerait bien pour une vierge?" The quality of the drawing and lithography is excellent. Artist Leo Scherer (1827-1876) is an obscure figure. He is listed in Benezit as a painter born in Ettelreid, Germany, the brother of artists Sebastien, Alois, and Joseph Scherer. OCLC records two other works by him, Alphabet Drolatique (1850) and… Read More

Suva, Fiji: John William Waters, Walu Bay Studio and Curio Depot, [ca 1900]. Oblong 8vo (19 x 24.5 cm), red cloth, decorative gilt title on upper cover. 18 pp, 16 full page b&w illus. A scarce and evocative souvenir album of the Fiji Islands, picturing villages, mills owned by Colonial Sugar Refinery (C. S. R. Co.), fishing boats, huts, portraits of Fijian girls, Chief's house, feasts and more; including locations on the Ovalau, Navua and Lami Rivers, Lautoka, Kadavu, Naviti-Levu Bay, Nausori Rewa, Labasa, Levuka, and Suva. CONDITION: Good, most leaves detached from binding, light foxing, toning on first and last illustrations, images have strong tonality.

[Arizona Territory, 1908-1914]. 8vo (9.25" x 8"), faux brown leather, embossed with gilt title. 53 photographs and postcards, 3.5" x 5.5"; 31 mounted one image per leaf, 22 loose. Images include 4 original photographs, 14 real photo postcards, 35 photomechanical postcards (including 13 color, 3 embossed color greeting pcs, and 19 b&w). Versos include notes written in ink in German, canceled stamps, and later notes written in two hands in pencil. One used card with note written in English. 26 items have been used, 15 with additional notes on the image side. The majority of the cards were sent to Mr. Sig. Kaelin in Mayer, Arizona, San Diego and Long Beach, CA; also to Miss Bertha Ochsner in Prescott, Arizona. CONDITION: Very good, most images with strong tonality, others with some fading. An engaging album of photos and postcards documenting the activities of a community of Swiss immigrant miners in Prescott, Arizona. In 1912, the newly established state of Arizona supported some 445 active mines,… Read More

Berlin: Ukrainske Slowo, 1923. Hardcover. 4to, tan cloth. 65 pp. [2]. CONDITION: Very good, covers lightly worn, some toning to pastedowns. First edition. Signed by Archipenko on title: "Alexander Archipenko New York 1924."

New York: Gilberton Company, Inc., July 1948, Number 49. 8vo (10.25" x 7"), original color wrappers. [48] pp., publ. ads inside wrappers, numerous color illus., [4] pp. color illus. ads. A comic book adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in Gilberton's Classics Illustrated series. The series was created by Albert Kanter, who oversaw publication from 1941 until 1969. Twenty-five of the classic stories were illustrated by Alex Blum. The publisher's ads include illustrated summaries of other publications in the series. CONDITION: Fair to good, partially detached covers, 2 cm closed tear on right edge of front wrapper, chipping at corners of covers, sound binding, marginal light damp stains on bottom right corner throughout, double .5 com vertical holes regularly-spaced throughout center pages.

Philadelphia: Wolf & Co., [ca. 1885]. 12mo (5.8" x 4.8"), original white wrappers, embossed copper-gilt title on front wrapper, cord tie at spine. Title leaf, 12 chromolithographic plates. A scarce and delightful little St. Lawrence River view book, with chromolithographic vignettes of Durham Terrace, Among the 1000 Islands, Entering the Rapids, Lighthouses, Camping Out, Cap Gaspé, Cap Blanc, Victoria Bridge, Falls of Montmorency, Breakneck Stairs, Martello Towers of Battery, and Percé Rock. CONDITION: Good, with light crease and foxing to front cover, light foxing and toning to a few leaves, 1 cm creased corner with small tear at top left corner of back wrapper, images generally clean and very appealing.