Rare books from Back of Beyond Books

Mexico: Talleres Graficos De La Nacion. Good. 1950. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Limited edition of 600 copies, this is number 489. Double signed by Neruda; once with just his last name in green pen on the limitation page and then again on the verso of the half-title page in red pen with a large doodle of a kite and an inscription to Chilean author Juan Agustin Palazuelos, dated 1963. Published in Mexico City in March of 1950, this copy was printed on "Malinche" paper (colophon). Folio, measuring approximately 14 x 10 inches; 568 pages, plus subscriber list (subscribers include Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso). Publisher's red cloth boards with gilt fish imprint on cover and gilt lettering on spine. Gilt is quite faded and the cloth is somewhat soiled and faded as well. Rubbing to edges, exposing boards at the corners. Cloth on spine is wrinkled. Binding is in a delicate condition with cracking gutters and a downward slant to the text block. Interior is clean except for a stain… Read More

Belgium: Manufacture Liegeoise D'Armes A Feu. Very Good. Leather Flexi-board. Black pebbled leather album 7" x 11" with gilt title on cover and spine. Wear to edges, binding pulling from spine but all pages holding tight. Marbled endpapers. Leaves show light foxing to edges plus definite wear from use. Most pages are linen backed with photo images securely mounted to either album leaf or thinner note paper bound in. Images generally are 4 1/2" x 7 1/2". Album contains 145 photographs plus several pages tipped in from printed trade catalogs. In addition, 6 pages of ledger sheets are tipped in at back of album. This remarkable in-house catalog contains photographs of shot guns, pistols, and revolvers which Manufacture Liegeoise produced for hunting, military and personal use. All photographs are stamped "ML" (Manufacture Liegeoise) or "Cockerill", the English steel supplier and founder of Manufacture Liegeoise (1866). The company continued… Read More

1813. Manuscript Map. 1813 Manuscript map of contemporary Europe. Approx. 43.7 x 64.5 inches. Manuscript on paper, with glue and water stains, small defects; cut into 28 parts and pasted on cloth. Glue has dried in many corners and map is lifting however all panels present and remain mostly pasted down. Text and map in black and rose. Amazing detail with rubricated letters in great detail. Mountains, hills and streams clearly delineated. Manuscript map dedicated to Maria Annunziata Caroline Murat née Bonaparte (1782-1839) , the younger sister of Napoleon; seventh surviving child and third surviving daughter of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, and a younger sister of Napoleon I of France. She was queen of Naples during the reign of her spouse there, and regent of Naples during his absence four times: in 1812-13, 1813, 1814 and 1815. The dedication dates from the time Caroline was queen of Naples and more specifically when she was regent of Naples during his absence because of… Read More

Cincinnati, J. A. & U. P. James, 1847. First Edition, First Issue. 8vo. 189pp. Hardcover. Good. Rebound in full leather with gilt lettering on spine and housed in custom clamshell box (modern); original wrappers are not present; no errata sheet. First issue; no textual changes to page 31 and 121 and “Publisher’s Advertisement” as single preliminary leaf. Previous owner’s signatures on front endpaper (contemporary). Modern boards and clamshell box in fine condition; text block is heavily rubbed around edges and has moderate foxing and light soiling throughout; page iii has a 2 ½” tear, affecting content, first leaf has archival repairs where bound in, and last leaf was torn in half and detached from binding but has been repaired. Overall good. A well-used, unsophisticated copy of the “most reliable of early guides to Oregon; in addition the best narrative by a participant in the overland migration of 1845, which more than doubled the population of… Read More

Very Good. Condition: Very Good. Set of seven photo albums depicting engines and scenes from the Boston & Maine Railroad dating from the late 1880s to the 1930s. Approximately 630 photographs tipped or laid into seven albums; also includes 2pp of typed notes, two ALS and 1 TLS regarding engines and history of the B&M railroad system. Photographs range in size from 2 ¼" x 3" to 7 ½" x 11"; 25 of the 630 photos are mounted albumen prints; includes a variety of photographic printing methods including albumen, gelatin silver, RPPC, and b&w. Pliable leather album covers measure 11 ¼" x 7" with black leaves; around half the pages have annotations in white pencil or annotations on verso of photos. Albums are organized chronologically by engine number; this range is written on the front of the album in white pencil (annotations list the alternate names and numbers of engines, most engines had at least one alternate name or number over… Read More

Archive of material from the businesses of Anton M. Holter, the father of the lumber business in Montana. This archive includes 13 binders of manuscript letters, orders and receipts, most on company billhead and dated between the 1870s and 1890s. Each binder has between 50 and 125 sleeves; most sleeves contain multiple items. There are approximately 1500 items. Correspondence has expected wear and soiling but overall the archive is in very good condition. Holter family papers are found at the Montana Historical Society and the Library of Congress.This archive of material surrounds the A. M. Holter Hardware Company, a business influential in the social and economic development of Montana Territory. A treasure trove of information for the Montana historian, this archive contains correspondence from Montana businesses during its territorial and early statehood days. Anton Martinius Holter (1831-1921) has an impressive resume. "The father of the lumber business in Montana" was a… Read More

Paris: P. F. Tardieu. Fair. 1802. First Edition. A large, hard-to-find early United States map with hand-colored borders. The map is backed by heavy linen with reinforcing linen tape on split folds, with holes at fold corners, browning, and light soil. The image is of the title area with an illustration and text on Niagara Falls. More scans available upon request. Inset map is Plan De La Ville De Washington Situee Sur Le Territoire De Columbia Cede Par Les Etats De Virginie Et Maryland Aux Etats Unis D-Amerique (Map of Washington, D. C. ). Ex-Library of Congress. P. F. Tardieu updated the map from a 1796 original by prominent English mapmaker Aaron Arrowsmith, as explained in his note above the title. ; 49 1/2" x 55 1/2" .

A set of 1,122 lantern slides from the collection of Wilbur A. Fiske, who was the head of the Department of Geology at Occidental College from approximately 1905 until 1913. The collection includes a mixture of photographic images (672) , diagrams (174) , portraits of scientists (26) , and maps (95) , plus slides of aerial photographs from two different commercial providers (97 slides from Spence Air Photo, and 61 from Geo-Aero-Photo, Oklahoma City, Okla. ). 85 slides are of images that appear to have been photographed from books or scientific papers given visible figure captions or other evidence of printed publications in them (although more slides may be photographs from publications, but it wasn't possible to make that determination). Slides credited to Fiske are dated from 1906-1910; the slides from Spence Air Photo are dated from 1928 and 1938; and the slides from Geo-Aero-Photo are dated from 1937-1941. All lantern slides are black and white except for five slides that are at… Read More

London, England: Voyage). Very Good with no dust jacket. 1773, 1777, 1785. Hardcover. Ten volumes, (nine quarto volumes plus one folio atlas volume) all bound uniformly in contemporary tree calf with elaborately gilt-decorated spines with raised bands and red and green morocco spine labels interspersed with gilt stamped image of Cook's ship the Endeavour or Resolution. Volumes have been expertly re-backed. Light rubbing to leather on board edges with some abraded areas. Overall text, plates and maps are quite clean with occasional foxing and a rare small chip or tear to edges of pages. Plate XLII in volume II has a minor closed tear. One plate in atlas volume shows an archival repair, expertly rendered. One leaf in volume 1 missing 3/4" piece from edge. Three volumes from the 3rd Voyage have extra-wide margins. Trimming to several plates is a little tight to plate margins but no content loss was observed. Within several of the folding maps are very small blemishes at folds, not… Read More

Irvine, Kentucky. 1862. Broadside. Confederate broadside, 1pp. 6-1/2 x 9-3/4 inches, Irvine, Kentucky; September 22, 1862. Generally fine condition. Very light toning to edges; ragged top edge with several chips not affecting any text. Verso is blank. A proclamation issued by Morgan to the citizens of Estill County, Kentucky, ordering them to turn in their weapons. It reads, in full: "PROCLAMATION! To the people of Estelle [sic] and adjoining counties. The Gen. Commanding, takes this means of informing the people that he has not come among them to disturb them in the enjoyment of their rights, either of person or property. The Home Guards are required to come in at once and deliver up their arms, those who fail to do so will be regarded as enemies of the Government and treated accordingly. Those who comply will be treated as noncombatants, and private citizens. Private citizens who seek opportunity to ambush our soldiers commonly known as 'Bushwhackers' will be regarded as… Read More

Two volume set. New York, Henry G. Langley, 1844. First Edition, First Issue. 12vo. [v]-320; [iii]-318pp. Hardcover. Very Good. Green variant binding, complete with maps and plates; both volumes are housed in modern clamshell boxes. Previous owner’s bookplate on front pastedown. In much better condition than usually seen. Boards have light wear and soiling; text block has moderate foxing and plates have toning; map has a 4” tear, repaired with archival tape, but is otherwise clean and bright. A cornerstone account of the trans-Mississippi West and Santa Fe Trail history. “Born in Tennessee, Josiah Gregg set out for Santa Fe in 1831 to recover his health, and afterward he became an active trader on the Santa Fe Trail for the next decade. Largely self-educated and an acute observer, Gregg made detailed notes on many facets of his experience” (Wagner-Camp). The folded map, titled “A Map of the Indian Territory, Northern Texas and New Mexico Showing the Great Western… Read More

Salt Lake City. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1861. Document. This is a title transfer of a partial lot of land owned by Brigham Young to William Bond, containing several prominent Utah men's signatures as witnesses and notary. "Be it known by these Presents: That I Brigham Young, Trustee in Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of Great Salt Lake City, in the County of Great Salt Lake and Territory of Utah, the rightful claim[ant and owner of] the east half of lot five (5) in Block (13) as platted in plat A. Great Salt Lake City survey; do for the sum of One Hundred Dollars paid by William Bond of the city, county and territory aforesaid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged sell, release, quit claim and transfer all my right of claim interest and possession of and to the aforesaid premises, together with all the rights, privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging to the said William Bond his heirs or assigns. Dated this 10th day of May, A. D. 1861… Read More

1938. Photography. Ten large format views ranging in size from 15 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches to 19 1/4 x 15 1/2 inches. Most of them are mounted; all are dated 1938 with the exception of one 1940 print. Photographs are all identified in manuscript in an unknown hand. We believe the prints themselves were made in the later 20th century. Most have the initials, in pen, JAC on the verso along with the title repeated from the front. All are in very good condition. Several have very light soiling and a couple shows small nicks along the edge but no damage to the actual print. John Adair spent over 20 years living in and around the Navajo Reservation working as a visual and medical anthropologist. In the 1930's he lived at Many Farms, Arizona working with the Cornell-Navajo Field Health Research Project and in Pine Springs, Arizona while working on the Navajo Filmmaking Project. After serving in World War Two Adair lived at Zuni Pueblo while working on his (unpublished) dissertation on the World… Read More

Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Grambo & Co.. Good. 1851-1857. First Edition. Hardcover. Six-volume set bound in later blue cloth with leather labels on spine. Cloth is lightly soiled and specked with numerous small dots of white. Binding is tight on all volumes. Interior generally clean with scattered areas of light foxing. Most tissues for plates are present. This is an ex-library set of first editions. As best as I can tell, EACH and EVERY plate, map and illustration and title page has a library stamp, often smack within the map or plate. If you can get past the issue of the library stamping, this would make an excellent research set for any library. "Henry Schoolcraft worked for years on the history and survey of the Indian tribes of the United States. It was published in six volumes from 1851 to 1857 by J. B. Lippincott & Co. Of Philadelphia. Critics praised its scholarship and valuable content by Schoolcraft, and the meticulous and knowledgeable illustrations. Schoolcraft… Read More

Near Fine. Large format goldtone paper print. Image measures approximately 11 x 15 inches. Single weight paper print mounted on a stiff mat board that measures 16 x 20 inches. Curtis signature is visible in the negative, copyright 1900, number 73. Near fine condition with minor wrinkling and light scratching. Image has a rich russet sepia tone and very sharp resolution. The provenance of this photograph is the Edward S. Curtis Gallery in McCloud, California. Edward Curtis (1868-1952) was an acclaimed photographer and ethnologist who undertook one of the most ambitious anthropological projects ever attempted. After participating in the 1899 Harriman expedition to Alaska, Curtis came up with his “Great Idea”: to record the traditional culture and lifestyle of North America’s indigenous inhabitants before those old ways disappeared. Between 1900 and 1930, Curtis traveled the continent and produced a 20-volume set of books that document the stories, languages, and rituals of… Read More