OTHER PAPER
Here are some of our other paper items, listed chronologically, available for purchase:
Early American Graphic Humor
David Claypoole Johnston (1799-1865) was America’s first great graphic satirist. During his career that spanned nearly forty years, he produced comic prints, both political and social, and illustrated a score of books, perhaps the most famous two being Smith’s Life and Writings of Major Jack Downing (1834) and Neal’s Charcoal Sketches (1838). He is best remembered today for his erratically published annuals, Scraps (nine issues from 1828 to 1849). They were relatively simple affairs, four small folio oblong engraved sheets, bound in colored wrappers. Each sheet featured from a dozen to fifteen comic drawings, sometimes related in theme, sometimes not. They were usually issued in December and sold for 25 cents each. While not so profitable that they prompted Johnson to publish Scraps annually, they were successful enough to justify producing them over and over again for more than twenty years. This issue features cartoons on balloon warfare in the 20th century, temperance, anti-immigration, and a page devoted to fanaticism, including a comic strip on anti-catholicism (Johnston became a Catholic upon his marriage). Issues no. 7 and NS no. 1 are seen on the marketplace with some frequency, a box of both being discovered decades ago. The other numbers, though, are scarce and represent some of the most elegant early American graphic satire to be had.
D. C. Johnston. Scraps No. 6 (Boston: Author, 1835). Oblong small folio. VG, foxing, light general wear. String binding shaken but sound. Only two tissue guards of four present. $1,600
“Go Ahead!” Davy Crockett’s 1837 Almanack of Wild Sports in the West. (Nashville, Tennessee: “Heirs of Col. Crockett,” [1836]). Octavo. 8vo. Good, with spotting and edge wear. Pages 43-46 in expert facsimile. Our price reflects the defect. $2,500
The third Crockett Almanack, and the first to be published posthumously, features stories of mayhem and heroism in the West, as well as a front cover woodcut portrait of Crockett, Crockett’s death at the Alamo, and a back cover woodcut of “Fall of the Alamo-Death of Crockett.” The almanacs ran from 1835 to 1856 and although none were written by Davy himself, he certainly participated in the creation of his mythical self, which became the foundation for the tall tail humor of the frontier and the early American West. Crockett’s biographer Constance Rourke states “the Crockett almanacs …made Crockett a legendary figure and a part of American folk- lore.” The stories they contained “constitute one of the earliest and perhaps the largest of our cycles of myth, and they are part of a lineage that endures to this day, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Ozark Mountains.”
“Go Ahead!!” The Crockett Almanac 1841. Containing Adventures, Exploits, Sprees & Scrapes In The West, & Life And Manners In The Backwoods. (Boston: J. Fisher, [1840]). 12mo. 36 pp. Untrimmed. Stitched as issued. Light general edge wear throughout. Very Good. This copy was previously owned by Oscar Lewis (1914-1970), the renowned American anthropologist. “Oscar Lewis his Almanac” is written in his neat hand on the cover. $3,000
The seventh Crockett Almanac, with more stories of mayhem and heroism in the West, graphically illustrated. The illustration on the front wrapper shows the great scout wrestling an alligator; other illustrations include “Buy Log – Buy Nigger,” “Incivility of a Bear,” “A Regular Row in the Backwoods,” and “Dreadful Massacre of the Whites by Indians!!” The almanacs ran from 1835 to 1856 and although none were written by the actual David Crockett, he certainly participated in the creation of the mythical Davy, which became the foundation for a large part of the myth and folklore of the frontier and the early American West. Crockett’s biographer Constance Rourke states “the Crockett almanacs …made Crockett a legendary figure and a part of American folk- lore.” The stories they contained “constitute one of the earliest and perhaps the largest of our cycles of myth, and they are part of a lineage that endures to this day, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Ozark Mountains.”
Beautiful European Views
James Duffield Harding. Harding’s Portfolio (London: Charles Tilt, 1837) Folio. Binding VG, original olive green quarter leather binding with scuffing to leather and wear to tips. Contents VG+, with heavy foxing to title page and light foxing throughout. $500
James Duffield Harding (1798-1863) was a recognized painter. lithographer, and watercolorist of his day. He made a name for himself through a number of drawing manuals published in the 1830s. This is one of several books he published of landscape views. This one contains twenty-four tinted lithographic plates of European scenes (On the Thames near Rotherhithe; Ludgate Hill; On the Thames near Gravesend; The Low Fall, Aysgarth, Yorkshire; Hastings; Arundel Castle; Hastings, Beach; Little Hampton, on the Avon; Entrance to Feildskirch; Feildkirch Castle; Tyrolese Peasants at Maltz; Trento, Tyrol; Boppart, on the Rhine; Bacharach, on the Rhine; Ehrenfels, on the Rhine; Finisso Castle, Val d’Aosta; Croix d’Arrolet, Val Savaranche; Ivrea, Val d’Aosta; Roccabruna, Coast of Genoa; Pallazuolo; Cathedral at Puy, France; Sisteron, South of France; Pont-Neuf, Paris; Rouen), accompanied by tissue guards. Lovely.
“I Love the Rough Log Cabin” and Other Hokum
The Harrison and Log Cabin Song Book (Columbus, OH: Whiting, 1840). 16mo. 108 pages. Bound in cloth and pictorial paper-covered boards. Binding good with edge wear and old script on cover. Contents VG, with lots of writing on flies. $300
This songster features sixty-nine songs, including such hits as “Should Good Old Cider Be Despised,” “I Love the Rough Log Cabin,” “Sly Matty’s Face was Overcast,” and, who can forget, “The Hero Ploughman of North Bend.” On the front pastedown, “Joseph H. Geiger” declares: “To be preserved as a precious relic of noisy and happy days.” The front fly and the rear pastedown bear the ink stamp of A. H. Smythe who identifies himself as “the oldest U.S. bookseller (1876) Berkeley, CA.”.(Huh, he must have never heard of Leary’s or Brattle) with his signature and the date “xmas 1935.” (Did he sign and date every book that passed through his hands?) The back fly is probably missing. The other inscription on the rear pastedown reads: “The property of W. F. Griswold, Worthington [OH].”
S. A. Mitchell. The Tourist’s Pocket Map of the State of Illinois (Philadelphia: Mitchell, 1845). 16 mo. Hand-colored. Binding is VG, rubbed. Map is VG+ with 4 mm loss to one point and tiny loss to a few others.$325
J. H. Colton. Township Map of the State of Ohio (New York; Colton, 1852). 12mo. 24” x 30”. Hand-colored. Binding is VG+, with a short tear to lower spine cloth. Map is VG+, with wear and tiny loss to some points. $225
The Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York was published from 1841-42 to 1870 (missing 1867) and edited for most of its run by city clerk David Valentine. In its early years, it was primarily a guide to the city government with a map and a few views inserted. But Valentine was a history-lover and he began filling it with a hodge-podge of foldout maps and plates chronicling the history of the city. By 1866, the volumes had become massive compendiums of chromolithographic views and maps of all vintages. Valentine was criticized at the time for the wasteful extravagance of these annuals, but collectors today thank him. The books are a treat for the eye. We collate all of our volumes against the 1906 cumulative index. Since none of the volumes contains a list of plates, this is the only way to be sure that the volumes are complete.
Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York 1855
This is a complete 1855 edition of David Valentine’s celebrated Manual of the City of New York, containing twenty-six plates and illustrations. Octavo. 600 pages. Binding VG +, with light general wear. Contents near fine. Highlights include a frontispiece foldout tinted view of City Hall Park in 1827, two maps (one a 1817 plan of the city and the other a1775 plan of the city), a foldout tinted view of Five Points in 1827 (a tear along fold repaired), as well as views of churches, old homes, and commercial buildings. $325
Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York 1858
This is a complete 1858 edition of David Valentine’s celebrated Manual of the City of New York, containing forty-two plates and illustrations. Octavo. 646 pages. Binding VG+, with light general wear. Contents near fine with frontispiece map laid in. Highlights include a frontispiece foldout map of New York city, 1858, a tinted foldout view of Fort George, 1740, a tinted foldout view of Chatham Street, 1858, two more foldout maps (one a map of Brooklyn, 1776, and the other an elaborately colored 1621 map of America), as well as views of churches, old homes, and commercial buildings. $325
Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York 1863
This is a complete 1863 edition of David Valentine’s celebrated Manual of the City of New York, containing thirty-eight plates and illustrations. Octavo. 852 pages. Binding near fine, with light edge wear. Contents near fine. Highlights include a tinted view of the U.S. ironclad “Roanoke”, a chromolithographic view of the Metropolitan Police Headquarters, a chromolithographic view of the Old Bowery Theatre, a chromolithographic fold-out view of Jackson Ferry, East River, a chromolithographic fold-out view of “Harlaem, 1765” as well as views of churches, old homes, and commercial buildings. $325
Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York 1864
This is a complete 1864 edition of David Valentine’s celebrated Manual of the City of New York, containing forty-five plates and illustrations. Octavo. 856 pages. Binding near fine. Contents near fine. Highlights include a frontispiece hand-colored fold-out map of NYC, five chromolithographic views of the Soldier’s Depot, a tinted foldout lithograph of the terrace in Central Park, a foldout chromo of the Phoenix and the Rose in battle, 1776, a chromolithographic view of Brooks Brothers store, as well as views of churches, old homes, and commercial buildings. $325
Shannon’s Manual of the City of New York 1869
This is a complete 1869 edition of Joseph Shannon’s (formerly David Valentine’s) celebrated Manual of the City of New York, containing all forty-five plates and illustrations. Octavo. 896 pages. Binding VG, with light edge wear. Contents VG+, with some spotting throughout and a tear to one of the foldout documents. Highlights include a beautiful fold-out steel engraving of the proposed Brooklyn Bridge, a chromolithographic fold-out of Harlem, a fold-out tinted lithograph of the Merchants’ Exchange after the fire of 1835, a beautiful bird’s-eye view of Manhattan, and a large fold-out chromolithographed map of the city, and many views of commercial buildings throughout the city. $325
[Charles Godfrey Leland]. Ye Book of Copperheads (Philadelphia: Frederick Leypoldt, 1863). Oblong octavo. 32 pages. Fully illustrated. VG with edge wear to front wrapper and light foxing thoroughout. $600
This comic satire ridiculing northerners who opposed the Civil War was the creation of Charles Godfrey Leland, late editor of the comic weekly Vanity Fair and current editor of the defiantly radical Continental Monthly. Though he denied authorship during the war, he took full credit for it later. In a letter he wrote near the end of his life, Leland asserted that he drew all of the pictures, except No. 24, which was drawn by his brother. Furthermore he wrote all of the verses, except four by Frank Wells, four by G.H. Boker, and three by E.S. Rand. Leland had the nasty habit in his dotage to take credit for all sorts of things he had little to do with, but in this case he is probably reliable. A number of the full-page plates depict famous politicians of the day, including Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Clement Vallandigham, Horatio Seymour, and Fernando Wood. A nice copy.
Prang’s Roses Parts 1 and 2. (Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1863/65). This is a complete set of twenty-four 2.5” x 4” chromolithographic trading cards depicting rose varieties published by the great Boston chromolithographer Louis Prang. The cards are quite clean, a few with foxing. Each set is housed in the decorated envelope that it came in. (The Part 2 envelope is an expert recreation with an affixed original front panel. Complete sets are difficult to assemble and rarely seen in the original envelopes. $500
Prang’s Natural History Series. Birds I (Swimming) and Birds II (Wading). (Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1872). This is a complete set of twenty-four 2.5” x 4” chromolithographic trading cards depicting birds published by the great Boston chromolithographer Louis Prang. The cards are quite clean, a few with light soiling. Each set is mounted on a stiff sheet made for the cards. The title panel of the envelope that the cards were issued in is neatly affixed to the reverse. Complete sets are difficult to assemble and rare seen in such a nice presentation. $500
1880s Roller Skating in San Francisco. This is great little lot of ten pieces of ephemera relating to the 1880’s roller skating craze in San Francisco. The lot includes:
— Four c. 1880s illustrated trade cards, two for skating rinks (the Columbia Rink and the Mission Pavilion Rink) and two for the Golden Rule Bazaar on Market “for the best skates.”
— A Grand Opening leaflet for the Olympian Club Elite Roller Skating Rink in 1890.
— Two c. 1885 spectator pass tickets complements of the Pacific Skating Club.
— A large ticket to the Grand Prize Carnival at the Original Mission Rink in 1886.
— A c. 1885 illustrated ticket to Wednesday evening events at the Skating Academy.
— An 1884 illustrated ticket to a White Dress Party at the Mission Street Skating Rink (“Requirements: Ladies to wear White Dresses, Gents to wear White Aprons and Neckties.”)
For more San Francisco ephemera, search seller site “Periodyssey” on eBay. $400
W. C. Riley. The Northern Pacific Tour/From the Lakes & Mississippi River/to the Pacific Including Puget Sound & Alaska. (St. Paul: W. C. Riley, 1888). Oblong octavo (5.5″ x 7.5″). VG, wear to corners, archival repairs to several folds. Embossed cloth covers enclosing an enormous accordion fold (5.5″ x 212″) of twenty-nine panels featuring approximately 75 photographically reproduced and tinted lithographs. $150
The lithographic view book flourished in the 1880s and 1890s, much like carte de visites dominated the popular culture of the preceding twenty years and pretty girl magazine covers the succeeding twenty years. Most were about half the physical size of this one and with two-thirds fewer views. With the Northern Pacific Tour, Riley created a view book like no other, including three-panel panoramas of St. Paul and Minneapolis and bird’s eye views of Duluth, Butte, Spokane Falls, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, sprinkled with vignettes of farming and mining life as viewed from the window of the Northern Pacific railroad. This is the first of four editions of this wonderful piece of Northwestern United States and railroad ephemera.
The Mott Equivalent for California Magazines
Ella Sterling Cummins. Story of the Files: A Review of Californian Writers and Literature (San Francisco: World’s Fair Commission of California, 1893) Octavo. Binding VG+, with edge wear. Rebacked in cloth to match the blank paper-covered spine which is fragile and usually found in poor condition. $150
Despite the cryptic title, this book is still the best historical record we have of 19th century California magazines, newspapers, and the men and women who made them. Originally serialized in the Wasp, Cummins’ articles were collected into a book made available at the Chicago World’s Fair as part of the state’s effort to advertise California as a place of culture as well as beauty. The Zamorano Eighty is a list of books intended to represent the most significant early volumes published on the history of California. Cummins’ The Story of the Files is Zamorano Eighty # 24. Here’s what the creators of the Zamarano Eighty had to say about it: “Nowhere else can be found the wealth of material on the early writers and their literature that is given in The Story of the Files. There are more than a hundred portraits of California authors of note, and sketches from many of their writings. Also found in this book are histories of the famous early magazines and newspapers of San Francisco. Aside from its extreme textual value and interest, this book has become a collector’s item.”
A Year’s Worth of Bradley
Will H. Bradley. Twelve Cover Designs (Chicago: Inland Printer, 1895). Portfolio. Small folio. Tied with a ribbon. Near fine. $1,250
The Inland Printer, the trade magazine par excellence for the printing trade, entered into a novel experiment in February 1894 when they commissioned Will Bradley, a bright new star on the Chicago graphic arts scene, to draw all twelve covers of a year’s worth of forthcoming issues. The covers he drew for the April 1894 through March 1895 issues took the publishing world by storm. Nothing like it had been seen before. To say it was a success is an understatement. It solidified the Inland Printer’s reputation as a cutting-edge magazine and it catapulted Bradley to fame. The Inland Printer received so many requests for reproductions that it issued this portfolio in the spring of 1895, which featured all twelve covers exactly as they first appeared, in black and white or color, and in full-size. It was graced with its own cover design by Bradley. When the portfolio sold out, they reproduced the twelve covers once again as a 16mo. booklet. Both versions are rare, but this is, of course, the more desirable of the two because of its large format and elegant presentation.
A Rare Inscribed Copy
Will Bradley, designer and printer. Edward Fitzgerald. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer. (Springfield, MA: Wayside Press, 1897). 12mo. Near fine, with minor rubbing to tips and slight loss to head and toe of the fragile paper spine. $1,000
This is a possibly unique pre-press run of this lovely Bradley work, inscribed by Bradley to his early champion, Chauncey Williams, of the Chicago publishing firm of Way and Williams. The inscription reads; “To Mr. C. L. Williams with the kind regards of Will Bradley, September 1897.” This copy differs from others on the market because the cover design is in black, not green, and the title page is lacking the R. H. Russell imprint.
William Nicholson and Rudyard Kipling. An Almanac of Twelve Sports (NY: Heinemann, 1898). Quarto. Binding VG, with light edge wear. Contents near fine. $600
William Nicholson (1872-1949), half of the Beggarstaff Brothers (the other being his brother-in-law James Pryde), was one of the most influential graphic artists of the 1890s. His bold simple style harkened back to the 18th century and yet seemed to suggest the coming 20th. This book features twelve beautiful lithographically reproduced woodblock prints in black and ocher with discreet red, blue, and green accents, featuring images of golfers, hunters, boxers, skaters, etc. Kipling supplied verse to accompany each woodblock. Nicholson later became a respected still-life, landscape, and portrait painter, illustrated Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, and taught Winston Churchill how to paint, but he is best known for his suite of boldly designed and executed Fin de siècle children’s books like this one.
William Nicholson. An Alphabet. (NY: R. H. Russell, 1898). Quarto. Binding VG, with general edge wear. Contents near fine, with glassine protectors present, one partially torn away). $800
William Nicholson (1872-1949), half of the Beggarstaff Brothers (the other being his brother-in-law James Pryde), was one of the most influential graphic artists of the 1890s. His bold simple style harkened back to the 18th century and yet seemed to suggest the coming 20th. This book features twenty-six beautiful lithographically reproduced woodblock prints in black and ocher with discreet red, blue, and green accents. “A was an artist” is his self-portrait. Nicholson later became a respected still-life, landscape, and portrait painter, illustrated Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, and taught Winston Churchill how to paint, but he is best known for his suite of boldly designed and executed Fin de siècle children’s books, of which An Alphabet is rightly considered to be his finest.
Frank Luther Mott. A History of American Magazines 1741-1930 Vol. I-V (Cambridge, MA; Belknap Press, 1958-1968). Quartos. All near fine in VG DJs, with some sunning to spines and a few tears. The first volume is a third printing, volumes two and three are fourth printings, and volumes four and five firsts. $300
This is a complete set of Mott’s monumental five-volume A History of American Magazines, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and many other awards. In each volume Mott dissects the magazine business, looking at all its facets, from editing and writing through to production and circulation. He also examines magazines by type — literary, religious, ladies, sporting, humor, etc. Finally all volumes are anchored by a substantial section devoted to the history of the most important magazines of the periods covered. Mott was an entertaining and skilled writer — the books are a pleasure to read. He was also an astute historian who had both broad and incisive observations on the trade that are exceedingly valuable. Of course, the volumes contain errors — no work of this sweep could avoid them — but the gold herein far exceeds the dross and is still the standard reference in the field fifty years after completion. Kenneth Murdock said of the set, “It should, and must, become a standard and indispensable item in the armory of every historian and writer concerned with the cultural history of the nation.“