Rare books from Zephyr Used & Rare Books

[Seattle, WA: William Jennings Coyle, Motor Car Dealers’ Association of Seattle, 1921]. Oblong 4to. (11.5 x 7.75 in.) 30 silver gelatin photos (7.5 x 9.5 in.), backed in khaki-coloured linen, mounted on white linen hinges, most w/ negative number in corner of image. Contemporary simulated textured black leather post-binder, rounded corners, gilt stamped title & place on front cover (some stamping rubbed out, rubbing head & foot of spine, minor edgewear, slight bumping to corners), still a VG copy w/ fine crisp photos. This outstanding photo album provides irreplaceable historical documentation of one of the most successful Automobile Shows held after World War I in Seattle, Washington. Coyle and the other show organizers intended it to provide the backdrop for forming the Washington Automotive Trades Association, and this exhibition saw the new factory offerings from Sheridan Motor Car Company of California managed by Eddie Rickenbacker, as well as the 1921 Briscoe, the Paige 6-66 Larchmont, the… Read More

[Hamilton, MA: Colonel Francis T. Colby, ca. 1920-1940]. Two vols. Oblong 4to. [80; 86 leaves (unnumbered).], archival mylar sleeves including 166 original silver gelatin photographs, printed on thick photo paper stock with almost all sized from 7 x 9.5 in. to 8 x 10 in., many with Francis T. Colby photo stamps on versos, many with pencil and ink annotations in bold hand (occasional creasing, a few w/ minor soiling, a couple with very minor closed tears). Recent cloth post-binders, lettering stamped on front covers, a superb archive from the collection of Massachusetts gunsmith, Thomas F. Moseley. This extraordinary archive of original African safari photos across East Africa, the Belgian Congo, French Cameroon, and Ethiopia, document a big game hunter during the heyday between 1900 and 1945, when Edouard Foa, Major Foran, William Buckley, Theodore Roosevelt, and others hunted across Africa. Colby (1882-1953) graduated from Harvard in 1905, and as an investment banker with Kidder, Peabody & Co. in… Read More

[Cuba, IL; Chicago, IL, Topeka, KS & St. Louis, MO: Raymond Whitnah, Display Products Co., Kaye Whitnah, Industrial Designs, 1897-1970]. Fifteen vols. sized 4to. 9.5 x 12 in. up to Folio. 14 x 17 in. [Approx. 1414 pp (nearly all unpaginated, or unnumbered).], including 295 silver gelatin & silver print photographs, Polaroid, and albumen images, sized from 2 x 2 in. up to 13 x 15 in. hand-coloured silver prints, the majority of the photographs are tipped-in 8 x 10 in. images into albums with thick black paper stock, some linen-backed, some are hand-coloured, many of the silver print designs have been hand-painted, or hand-coloured, most on glossy photo stock, 1 albumen photo mounted on studio card sized 6 x 12 in., many w/ annotations on versos, some w/ captions in lettering below, or dittoed and/or mimeographed explanatory texts on versos, or mounted below the images; the majority of the silver print designs are mounted on beige or black linen hinges; with four of the photo albums still preserving… Read More

[Honolulu, HI & Kohala, HI: Frost & Frost, 1967-1972]. Archive. Approx. 820 photographs, 760 are 3.25 x 4.5 in. black & white silver gelatin; 40 colour photos (damage to 10 or so from dampstaining at margin, affecting image), all photos carefully marked in black & red ink codes, keyed to the film negatives also included with the archive, many with photo lab stamp on verso, a few with annotations on versos; more than 30 contact negative print strips; 257 strips of film photo negatives with over 1000 images, majority .35 mm. film stock (about 30% in colour); 70 strips of larger 4 x 5 negatives with most of those in colour, nearly all preserved in original wax paper negative sleeves, and almost all carefully marked in pen with numbers corresponding to the printed photos, as well as manuscript annotations indicating places, objects, as well as some dates added in manuscript, or in date codes; 8vo. 35 loose sheets held together with metal clip, in pencil & ink manuscript, dated 1972, diagrams,… Read More

San Francisco, CA & [Schenectady, NY]: Panama-Pacific International Exposition Co.; [General Electric Co.], April 13, 1915. Oblong folio. 14.25 x 11.4 in. [58 pp (unpaginated).], on thick black paper stock. With 52 large silver gelatin photographs, nearly all sized 10.5 x 13.25 in., all mounted at corners, w/ the hand-coloured title photograph laid-in, sized 10.75 x 13.75 in. (title photo w/ minor chipping, minor closed tears, edgewear to fore-edges). Contemporary limp padded calf, label of the Superior Printing & Box Co., Schenectady, NY on rear pastedown (scuffing & edgewear, minor gouge to front cover, spine perished), still an exceptional exemplar, with nearly all of the photos in excellent crisp condition with bright contrast. This astonishing presentation photo album contains 52 singular photographs displaying the lighting, lighting fixtures, buildings and courts of the famed Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco, 1915. Ryan (1870-1934) was the director of General… Read More

[Guilford, CT, & Washington, D.C.: Parmelee, (Typist or compiler not indicated), ca. 1892- 1911-1920]. 4to. 8.5 x 11 in. 354 loose typescript letters, documents & diary entries on 462 leaves (unbound and several stretching up to four leaves), typed on a few different bonded typing papers, including watermarked Monoplane Bond from Samson (introduced 1911), and Samson Aristocrat Parchment, with many bearing typing corrections, occasional erasures, or careful overtyping, occasional half-spacing of characters, with the majority appearing to have been the top sheet, while a much smaller percentage do not bear as deep of impression from the typewriter strikes, and appear to have been carbon copies (largely the diary entries, and a few of the letters written in 1892 & 1910 to and from Samuel Parmelee), and some still bearing minor creasing at upper fore-edges from occasional paperclips. All preserved in original Samson Typewriter Papers 20 LB. Aristocrat Parchment box, Art Deco lettering in silver on lid,… Read More

[Tchiatouri, Georgia & Wallace, ID: Georgian Manganese Mining Co., Day Mining Co., ca. 1925-1929]. Thick oblong 4to. 11.75 x 8.25 x 2.25 in. [168 pp (unpaginated).], on thick black paper stock. With 635 silver gelatin photographs sized from 2 x 3 in. up to 8 x 10 in., with the majority sized 3.25 x 5.25 in., nearly all annotated below in neat white ink lettering, some w/ annotations, somew/in negative indicating negative number, those partially lifed from black paper have ink & pencil annotations on versos matching the white ink captions, some are RPPC’s w/ captions w/in the negatives at lower fore-edges of image, and also present is an 8 page folded manuscript inventory documenting about 400 of the photos, closely matching most of the captions. Contemporary flexible black calf Badger post-binder, black enamel coated screw-posts (a few leaves loose, others proud, some photos overlapping, occasional closed tears, a few inner joints neatly repaired at gutter), still an outstanding exemplar. This… Read More

[Anchorage & Seward, A.T.: Alaska Engineering Commission, AEC, Phinney S. Hunt, ca. 1916-1917]. 4to. 86 silver print photographs, sized 6.25 x 8.25 in., nearly all w/ photographer’s imprint w/in negative at lower fore-edge, as well as caption, negative number, and AEC, some w/ occasional pencil annotations on verso, all preserved in mylar sleeves (occasional creasing at corners, a couple w/ slight loss at corners in the small blank margin). Recent 3-ring clamshell binder, an excellent set of photos, with all retaining bright strong contrast. This outstanding photo archive provides not only some of the earliest photographs of Anchorage, Alaska Territory, but also this immense railroad project first authorized by the US Congress in 1912. The few existing privately-run railroads operating in Alaska at the time, including the Alaska Northern Railway, and the Tanana Valley Railroad primarily fulfilled the needs of the mining companies carrying resources to sea ports, and very little allowance was made… Read More

[Paris, France: Seldow, 72, Rue Bonaparte, Paris - VI, ca. 1945]. Thick 4to. 10.75 x 12.25 x 2.5 in. [194 pp (unpaginated).], on thick paper stock, nearly all leaves carefully blocked out in pencil for the caption space to the photographs, w/ many of the chapters and sections including neat manuscript pencil titles, as well as annotations for performers and acts. With 266 silver gelatin photographs, sized from approx. 1 x 2 in. up to 9.5 x 12 in., nearly all mounted, or tipped-in directly to leaves, some w/ photographer’s stamps either w/in negative or on verso (several carefully blocked out in preparation for publication), ownership markings, occasional pencil & pen annotations on versos in German, French, or English. Contemporary black-cloth backed post-binder, brass screw posts at gutter margin, photo plate filling front board repeating the photographic title w/in, w/ 3 leaf typescript “Foreword” by Cochran laid-in w/ red pencil editorial markings, and stapled at upper left corner (some… Read More

[Reading, PA: Metropolitan Edison Co., 1925]. Oblong 4to. 11.5 x 8.25 in. 57 linen-backed silver gelatin photographs, nearly all w/ typed captions on versos, linen hinges & stubs at gutter margin, bound w/ two brass screw-posts at gutter margin, recent flexible mylar cover as protection secured w/ screw-posts (slight curling at fore-edges), still all photos w/ bright strong contrast. This remarkable series of undocumented photographs visually produces the efforts of Metropolitan Edison to further expand their footprint in the Pennsylvania market after electrifying over 35,000 customers by 1925. As they accelerated their push to introduce additional electrical appliances following World War I, they sponsored trade shows and expositions to advertise the latest available products, and even commissioned their employees to regularly make house calls after hours with electrical toasters, and lamps with prizes awarded for the most sales. Met-Ed customers could pay for the latest appliances with… Read More

[East Waymouth, Boston, MA, Hoboken, NJ, Toledo, OH, & Chicago IL: Edward Weston Young, Boston Edison Company, Eastern Massachusetts Railway Co., Lackawanna Terminal, Electric Railroaders Assoc., Inc., National Railway Historical Society, Central Electric Railfans’ Assoc., ca. 1910-1950]. Seventeen albums & archival document binders, including 3715 photographs, with 1629 interspersed, mounted, and annotated across 14 different post-binder albums assembled from 1910-1949, most Oblong 4tos. sized 12.5 x 8 in., nearly all on black paper stock, with photos sized from 1.5 x 2.5 in. up to 5 x 7 in., most annotated with extensive white ink annotations & manuscript notes, many bearing extensive local railway histories in manuscript ranging up to 5000 words, manuscript track maps, paint samples for trolley & railway car company colours, and nearly all w/ embossed board post-binders, punch-sewn at gutter margins; Two of these are 4to. on thick wood-pulp paper, bearing many typed captions, and identifying… Read More

[New York: n.p., Gov. Alfred E. Smith Houses, A. Mengelkoch, Off. Rep. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co., 1946-1947]. Two vols. Oblong 4to. 99; 106 leaves of linen-backed silver gelatin photographs, mounted on white linen hinges, sized 10.25 x 8 in., w/ additional 11 leaves of colour map reproductions inserted into archival mylar sleeves acting as “city block” dividers, all photographs w/ typed pencil address identification on hinge stub at gutter margin, many of the images have negative numbers in pencil MS on verso, many w/ additional identifications, or location corrections on more recent mounted white typed labels on versos, some w/ typed captions, many of the images w/ “Gov. Alfred E. Smith Houses” rubber stamp on versos (occasional edgewear, fraying to linen, some stub holes reinforced, occasional soiling, couple images which appear to have originally been placed at front & back below the original post-binder covers (now perished) have some minor dampstaining, further fraying to lowerfore-edges, minor… Read More

[Sydney, NSW; Hobart, Tasmania & New York: Beatties Studio; Photographers Photo Service, ca. 1927-1934]. Two vols. Thick oblong folio. 13.5 x 10.25 x 2 in. [200; 170 pp (unpaginated).], on thick black paper stock. With 197 silver gelatin photographs all tipped-in, nearly all w/ typescript mimeograph captions mounted below, or alongside, sized from 5 x 7 in. up to 8 x 10 in. (most sized 8 x 10 in.), all printed on glossy photo stock, some on thicker heavier weight, most w/ pencil annotations, typescript, or imprints on verso, a few w/ photographer’s imprint w/in negative at lower fore-edge, others w/ embossed armorial photo studio stamp of kangaroo on shield. Uniformly bound in contemporary black pebbled flexible shagreen, nested steel backed post-binders, black brass screw-posts at gutter margin (chipping, edgewear to covers, some scuffing, spine leather covering perished, occasional closed tears & chipping to some leaves, light faint previous mounting offsetting, occasional soiling or slight… Read More

[Cranbrook, Kent & London: Lt. Col. Charles William Fothergill, R.A., 1887-1897]. Oblong 4to. 10 x 8 x 1.75 in. [2], 52, [1] leaves, numbered in pencil manuscript, including manuscript index leaf listing all the paintings within, excluding the frontisp. & rear pastedown watercolour paintings. With 55 paintings, with most sized from 5.5 x 4.5 in. up to 7.5 x 5.5 in., all w/ neatly penciled manuscript borders, most w/ annotations below, and nearly all paintings signed, many dated, 2 smaller are mounted on leaf 25 of the Scottish Highlands, most are watercolours with graphite underdrawing, a few are graphite sketches, w/ watercolour highlights, and elements added. Contemporary black half-diced-calf over gray-brown pebbled cloth, white silk moire endpapers, gilt ruling & lettering on spines (minor scuffing, edgewear, minor wear to corners), still an exceptionally bright exemplar. This marvelous album of original Victorian watercolours by retired Royal Marine Artillery officer, and longtime art… Read More

[Park Ridge, NJ & Pearl River, NY: Dexter Press, ca. 1929-1939]. 4to. [27 leaves (unnumbered).], 2-pocket mylar sleeves holding 55 silver gelatin photo postcard proofs, many w/ collaged text, and elements mounted on stiff board, some w/ extensive notes indicating addresses, photographers, and/or suppliers on versos, sized from 2.25 x 4 in. up to 4 x 6.5 in., w/ 1 pair of images showing the proof copy, alongside the finished printed standard sized photo postcard sized 3.5 x 5.5 in., w/ photographer’s info & publisher on verso, many w/ some colour-tinting, as well as ink editorial overpainting and airbrushes of clouds, or other elements to enhance the original photographs. Recent beige-coloured cloth 3-ring binder, excellent group of images. This small archive of photo postcard proofs impressively evoke the period of the vast expansion and development of the American highway system following World War I. With the number of miles doubling from 1920-1930, and then again from 1930 to 1940, Americans… Read More