Search Results: Titles starting with I from Argonaut Book Shop

New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000 First edition. xii, 244pp. Illustrated with photographs, facsimiles. White boards lettered in silver. A very fine copy with dust jacket. Based on research in British Admiralty records, Cookman re-creates the full story of Franklin's ill-fated polar expedition, the baffling disappearance of the largest, best-equipped expedition of its day. Led by veteran Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, two ships and 129 handpicked officers and men sailed from Greenland on July 12, 1845, seeking a navigable shortcut to link the Atlantic and Pacific. On July 26, Franklin's ships were spotted by two whaling ships in Baffin Bay. They were never seen again..

London: Secker & Warburg, 1987 First edition. A fine copy with dust jacket. The account of six strangers wintering in Antarctica while studying its natural history..

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988 Cloth. A very fine copy with pictorial dust jacket..

Lyon: Gulielmo Rovillio, 1562 1562 Italian pocket edition, published a year after the first English edition. 32mo. (4¾x2¾). Pp. 494, [34]. Text in Italian. Decorative woodcut chapter headings and initials. Later half black morocco, gilt lettering, pebbled cloth sides. Contemporary ink name at head of title page, light damp stain to first 70 pages. Overall, a very good copy, tight and clean. As in all copies of this edition, page 324 is incorrectly numbered 224. The publisher of this edition (with the publisher’s woodcut device on title page) was Guglielmo Rovillio, whose refined books in Italian were highly prized among the wealthy Italian community in Lyon. The Book of the Courtier was written by Baldassare Castiglione over the course of many years, beginning in 1508, and first published in 1528 just before the author’s death. The work is a courtesy book and addresses the constitution of a perfect courtier. Castiglione’s work is an example of the Renaissance dialogue, a… Read More

New York: George H. Doran Company First edition in book form. Illustrated with drawings and diagrams by the author in both color and black & white. Also, many photographic plates. Hard back in blue cloth, lettered in gilt. Very minor foxing near beginning of book, pages beginning to brown with age. Head of spine slightly chipped, short repaired tear to upper inch of front hinge. A very good copy. Based on articles taken from a periodical series which were rewritten, enlarged and expanded upon. A complete look at illumination from its history, to its development and usage, instructions on how to design, decorate and implement it, etc..

Sacramento: Contra Costa County Historical Society, 1952 Facsimile reprint of the original 1879 edition. Includes a foreword for this edition. Presentation inscription, SIGNED by Justice A. F. Bray, President of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society. One of 600 lithographed copies. Oblong quarto. 54pp. of text plus 2 color maps and a large number of views. Original brown cloth, gilt. A fine copy. The original of this work pre-dated the "History of Contra Costa County" published in 1882, although it is similar to that work in that it gives a history of the county, provides all the statistical information, and is illustrated throughout with views of the well-known residences within the county..

Santa Fe: New Mexican Printing Company, 1912 First edition in English (best edition). First published in Spanish in Santa Fe the prior year. Number 378 of 500 copies. Translated into English under the direction of the Author, by Eleuterio Baca, of Las Vegas, N.M. 812pp. Illustrations from photographs, printed errata slip tipped-in. New red cloth, leather labels, gilt, endpapers renewed. Some library stamps (withdrawn) to title page, else a fine copy. Very scarce. This notable work covers the period of early exploration, the Indians and their culture, the work of missionaries, the various governments of New Mexico, and more. This English edition is considered the best as it is very much expanded over the Spanish version that preceded it. [Graff: 3420; Howes I: R-90; Howes II: R-88; Rader: 2765; Saunders: 4545]..

Sacramento: Contra Costa County Historical Society, 1952 Facsimile reprint of the very rare original 1879 edition. Includes a foreword for this edition by the Board of Directors of the Contra Costa County Historical Society. One of 600 lithographed copies. Oblong quarto. 54pp. of text plus 2 color maps and a large number of views. Original brown cloth, gilt. A fine copy. This work was the first major project of the Historical Society just after its inception. The book is the county's oldest history and gives a thorough history of the county as well as all the usual statistical information, and is illustrated throughout with views of the well-knowm residences within the county..

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1976 First edition. One of 450 copies printed by Adrian Wilson. 68pp. Photos by Stellman. Red cloth-backed boards decorated in black and white, printed paper spine label. A very fine copy. Photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown from 1906 to World War II. Stellman was a newspaper man and author, but he is best remembered for his photography, especially of San Francisco's Chinatown. Source material on Stellman is hard to come by..

Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2008 First edition. xiii, [3], 283pp. Illustrations from photographs, old prints, etc. Extensive note, bibliography and index. Black cloth. A very fine copy with pictorial dust jacket. While Ellis Island was a symbol of hope for immigrants, Angel Island's Immigration Station, in operation from 1910 to 1940, was built to facilitate the exclusion of Asian immigrants. The author shows how both natives and newcomers experienced the immigration process on the West Coast..

San Francisco: Printed at the Grabhorn Press, 1941 One of 300 copies privately printed for the Zellerbach family in handset Franciscan type on mold made paper. Small quarto. 15pp. Photographic portrait, 2 beautiful hand illuminated initals with borders by Rob Rose. Blue-gray boards, gray paper spine, lettered in gray on front cover. A fine copy. Words spoken by Rabbi Irving F. Reichert at San Francisco's Temple Emanu-el at a memorial service for Isadore Zellerbach, together with a prayer offer at the Commitment Service. Includes two beautiful hand illuminated initials in colors and gold with a a hand-colored extended floral border motif. [Grabhorn bibliography: 357]..

New York: Macmillan Company, 1973 First edition. 168pp. Black & white photographs. Cloth. A very fine copy with pictorial dust jacket. Good climbing autobiography covering Haston's major Alpine climbs & his participation in the 1971 Everest expedition. .

San Francisco: Printed by John Henry Nash, 1937 First "Collectors' edition". Number 142 of 250 numbered copies SIGNED by the author. Quarto. Pp. ix, [1], 178. Frontis portrait and title page within elaborate borders of grapes and leaves by Dorothy Payne. Printed in red and black. Original lavender boards, tan linen spine with paper spine label. Slight fading to top edge of front board. A fine copy with decorated lavender dust jacket. An interesting story of the 1890's set in one of the lovely vineyard districts of California. "Mrs. Colburn is an authority on grape culture... "In Old Vintage Days" is a colorful romance with the facts of the wine war that took place at the turn of the century, resulting in havoc to many of the California grape growers. It gives a vivid picture of the pleasant mode of living among the prosperous vintners which, as Mrs. Colburn says in her Foreword, will never be entirely relived" (O'Day). [O'Day, A Catalogue of Books Printed… Read More

Stoughton: Western Hemisphere, Inc., 1970 First trade edition, first issue in the red cloth binding. Edited by Dale L. Morgan. Quarto. lxv, [1], 390pp. Frontispiece, seven illustrations, 2 maps (one folding). Red cloth, gilt. A fine copy. Designed and printed by Lawton Kennedy. Detailed reminiscences of a "Forty Niner." Contains interesting observations on life in San Francisco and in the mines. Gardiner came to California via Panama and remained for eight years. Morgan's 65 page introduction provides an extremely comprehensive survey of the entire literature of Gold Ruhs reminiscences, discussing in detail every such work published from 1860 to the present day, making clear why Gardiner's narrative stands "in the very first rank" of this literature. [Kurutz: 262]..

London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1984 Small oblong quarto. Illustrated with 68 color plates. Black cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Upper front corner slightly jammed, else a fine copy in chipped and faded dust jacket. A look at some of the lesser known remote areas of Burma. .

New York: Random House, 1988 First edition. Purple cloth. A very fine copy in original dust jacket. The biography of one of the most important and reclusive writers of the twentieth century..

Ashland: Lewis Osborne, 1970 First book edition, first published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, September, 1862. One of 1,400 copies. Introduction by David Lavender. 74pp. Illustrations, map endpaper. Decorated cream cloth, gilt. A fine copy. The third and last essay Brewerton wrote in which he gives an account of Aubry's ride from Santa Fe to Independence and repeats Ruxton's tale about the death of Bill Williams. Includes the excellent introduction by David Lavender. Winner of the Western Book Award..

San Francisco, 1875 Large octavo. 10 x 7 inches. 98pp. Original dark gray wrappers printed in black. Top of spine with some damage, some widely scattered very light foxing. A fine copy. Rancho San Pablo was a nearly 18,000 acre land grant in present-day Contra Costa County. It was granted in 1823 by Governor Argüello to Francisco Maria Castro. The San Pablo grant covered what is today Richmond, San Pablo and Kensington in CC County. The original grantee, Castro, died in 1831. He left one half of his Rancho to his wife, Maria Gabriela Berreyesa de Castro, and the other half to his eleven children. Unfortunately, the heirs each received undivided shares, which meant that no boundaries were drawn to clearly define what each heir owned. Instead, each heir owned either a 1/22 interest (each child) or 11/22 interest (Castro's wife) in every square inch of the entire Rancho. It became utter confusion. Some sold land, some mortgaged land, and in general no one told anyone else what they were doing.… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape, 1987 First British edition. Octavo. Illustrated with numerous color photographs and map endpapers. Blue cloth with gilt-lettering on spine. Spine ends very lightly bumped, else a fine copy in pictorial dust jacket. The history of Antarctic exploration..

Urbana: University of Illinois, 1992 First edition. x, 168pp. Fine copy with dust jacket. One of the most detailed personal accounts available of itinerant life in California just prior to the United States' entry into World War I..