BIJOU ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HOLY LAND
[circa 1850]
First American edition of this true miniature book of engraved views of various holy sites.
Type Punch Matrix
Costumes of Italy
[circa 1850]
Hand-colored panorama depicting the costumes of Italian people from a variety of walks of life.
DAS SCHWEINE ALBUM
[1886]
A pun on the German for autograph book, "Sein-Album," this SCHWEINE ALBUM invites the signers to blindly draw pigs instead of write their signatures.
"H. L. OPERATION" [Rear Cover Title]
[ca. 1960s]
Stirring series of photographs captured by a skilled photographer documenting the many diverse aspects of an operation involving a probable heart-lung ("H.L.") bypass.
LES TUILERIES Peepshow
[circa 1830]
Gorgeous three-scene peepshow depicting the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, the Tuilieries, and other landmarks of Paris as they looked in the early 19th century.
THE MYRIOPTICON
[1866]
First edition of this historical panorama of the US Civil War, a complex marriage of education, play, and propaganda.
Photo Album of Train Engines
[circa 1962]
Original photograph album composed with great care, containing forty photos of British train engines mounted one to a page and captioned in a neat hand.
RUSSES ET FRANCAIS
[circa 1893]
Satirical novelty pamphlet marking the Russian diplomatic visit to Toulon, France during the formation of the Franco-Russian Alliance, a key development in the lead up to World War I.
THE SAD TALE OF THE ZEPPELINS
[circa 1916]
First edition of this fascinating piece of World War I ephemera, celebrating the downing of four zeppelins in a parody of the "Ten Little" rhyme.
Sales Sample Book of Watch Faces
[Ca. Mid-20th Century]
Elaborate sales sample book containing over 700 watch faces representing a wide variety of styles and sizes from Besançon, France, a world center for watch production. One of the most striking sales catalogues we've encountered.
Slide Archive of a Southern California Realtor
1971-1972
Before Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin: a swank archive of images from the Sessions Realty firm of La Mesa, California in the early 1970s.
WEIHGESCHENT FUR JEDEN ECHTEN PREUSSEN
[circa 1835]
First edition of this miniature gift book of Prussian and Russian royalty, published during a push for unification.
JONATHAN TROY
(1954)
First printing – and only edition – of Abbey's hated first book.
SCRIPTORES RERUM GERMANICUM SEPTENTRIONALIUM
1706, 1679, 1694, 1676
First collected edition, featuring Adam of Bremen's chronicle of peoples from the Old North and the earliest known mention of the Vikings' discovery of North America, one of three key works in the history of Hamburg within a larger sammelband of six works total.
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE
(1980)
Signed first American edition of the sequel to THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
CALIFORNIA LA BELLA
(1926)
Rare signed true first edition of this novel of Mexican immigration to the United States from one of Bolivia's most celebrated writers.
THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW
(1895)
First edition of this history of Hawai'i, Samoa, and other Polynesian islands, published "to promote interest in Christian Missions" in the region (Preface) — printed in the year of the final Hawaiian Royalist military resistance, and Queen Liliʻuokalani's abdication.
DISSERTATIO DE LOQUELA
1700
First edition of this landmark work in the history of education for deaf people, especially deaf children, and focusing on articulation and lip reading.
AB-SA-RA-KA, HOME OF THE CROWS
1868
First edition of this narrative of "an officer's wife on the plains," published in an effort to clear her husband's name in the wake of his defeat at Fetterman's Fight.
THE BOOK OF THE ZODIAC
1974
Miniature book survey of the Zodiac signs, from an edition of "about 75" copies signed by the printer.
SOMETHING ABOUT CATS
(1983)
Signed limited first edition of this miniature missive on the benefits of owning a cat, written in the tone of a child asking their parents for a feline friend.
ZODIAC POSTERS
1974
Handsome small selection of minuscule broadsides, each featuring a brief description of a sign of the Zodiac, along with an illustration.
CHEMICALS, METALS AND MEN: A Bird's-Eye View of the Materials That Make the World Go Around
(1995)
First edition of this impassioned paean to the history of the American coke industry (that is to say: coke, the fuel byproduct of coal or petroleum distillation, not the other one, or the other other one).
COLONEL BOGEY'S SKETCH BOOK
1897
First edition of this tongue-in-cheek history of golf, beginning with the prehistoric Golfosaurian, moving onto the missing "link" Golfolinkius Anthropomorphus, and so on.
FINAL INTEGRATION IN THE ADULT PERSONALITY
1965
Inscribed first printing of this groundbreaking work by a psychologist and Islamic scholar, presenting an "integrated theory of personality development that takes into account a universal understanding of both humankind and culture" (Knabb and Welsh).
