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Works

"HERE AT LAST WAS A GREAT CONVERSATIONALIST WRITING AS HE TALKED"

WILSON, John. Works. London, 1855-58. Twelve volumes. First edition of Wilson’s collected works, including his famous series of 71 uninhibited, often scurrilous, conversations on people and books of his day— purported to be table-talk overheard in Ambrose’s Edinburgh tavern. $1200.

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De Arte Graphica (The Art of Painting).  ISSUED WITH: A Short Account of Painters

DRYDEN’S 1695 TRANSLATION OF DU FRESNOY’S ART OF PAINTING

(DRYDEN, John) DU FRESNOY, Charles Alphonse. De Arte Graphica (The Art of Painting). ISSUED WITH: A Short Account of Painters. London, 1695. Two volumes in one.

First translation into English prose by Dryden of Du Fresnoy’s Latin poem on the practice of art, prefaced by Dryden’s famous Parallel of Poetry and Painting, with engraved allegorical frontispiece by Henry Cooke, issued together with Richard Graham’s biographical chronology of painters. $2200.

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Pour que Paris soit

FROM THE LIBRARY OF DOISNEAU’S FORMER ASSISTANT, PHOTOJOURNALIST PETER TURNLEY

DOISNEAU, Robert. Pour que Paris soit. Paris, 1956.

First edition, a tribute to “the joie de vivre of the people and atmosphere of the city Doisneau loved” (McDarrah, 113), with 160 rich black-and-white heliogravures. From the collection of Doisneau’s onetime assistant, award-winning Newsweek photographer Peter Turnley. $400.

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Large illuminated initial (Adoration of the Magi)

"BEHOLD, THE LORD RULER IS COME"

(ILLUMINATED LEAF). Large illuminated initial (Adoration of the Magi). Naples, circa 1480.

Striking, very large illuminated initial, with the Adoration of the Magi shown within a large letter "E" from a Neapolitan Antiphonal, rendered in vivid colors and set within a frame of gold. $14,500.

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Magazine cover signed

SIGNED BY YANKEES ROBINSON CANO, JERRY COLEMAN, AND CHIEN-MING WANG

(BASEBALL). Magazine cover signed. New York, 2003.

First edition of the original wrappers (only) for Part 8 of the New York Post's series "The Yankees Century," signed on the front wrapper by Jerry Coleman, Chien-Ming Wang, and Robinson Cano. $450.

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Six Poets of the San Francisco Renaissance: Portraits and Checklists

SIGNED BY SIX BEAT POETS

KHERDIAN, David. Six Poets of the San Francisco Renaissance: Portraits and Checklists. Fresno, 1967.

First edition of this collection of biographies and checklists of Ferlinghetti, Snyder, Whalen, Meltzer, McClure, and Antonius, signed by Kherdian on the half title, and accompanied by the book’s prospectus, signed by each of the six poets. $550.

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Poems and Plays

LIMITED EDITION OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S POETRY AND DRAMA, ONE OF ONLY 250 COPIES, HANDSOMELY BOUND

GOLDSMITH, Oliver. The Poems and Plays. London, 1889. Two volumes.

Collected edition of Goldsmith's poems and plays, number 6 of only 100 copies printed for America (out of a total edition of 250 copies), edited by Austin Dobson and with six lovely, atmospheric etchings depicting scenes from the text by John Jellicoe and Herbert Railton, handsomely bound. $600.

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In Pursuit of Clouds: Images and Metaphors

COLORFULLY INSCRIBED BY RALPH STEINER, WITH A DRAWING, FIRST EDITION OF IN PURSUIT OF CLOUDS

STEINER, Ralph. In Pursuit of Clouds: Images and Metaphors. Albuquerque, 1985.

First edition of Steiner’s “experiment in the process of seeing,” inscribed in the year of publication, in red and blue ink, “For darling Barbara, Ralph Steiner, Chanukmass 1985,” with a stick-figure self-portrait, and continuing along the bottom of the page in red ink, “snap lovely pishers [sic], but don’t point at © clouds!” With 62 full-page duotone photogravures of striking cloud formations. $300.

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Kopfe des alltags unbekannte menschen

“A SINGULAR FIGURE IN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND PHOTOBOOK HISTORY”

LERSKI, Helmar. Kopfe des alltags unbekannte menschen. Berlin, 1931.

First edition of Lerski’s first photobook, with 80 black-and-white photographic plates dramatically lit by one of the leading figures of Weimar photography and German Expressionist cinema. $950.

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Poster signed ["CARE 1991"]

LOVELY SENDAK-ILLUSTRATED POSTER PROMOTING CARE'S 1991 WORLD HUNGER CRUSADE, SIGNED BY MAURICE SENDAK

SENDAK, Maurice. Poster signed ["CARE 1991"]. No place, 1991.

Beautiful poster, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, promoting CARE's 1991 World Hunger Crusade, signed at the bottom by Maurice Sendak. $1500.

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Book of Common Prayer

“AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, IT IS FOR MOST ENGLISHMEN SECOND ONLY TO THE BIBLE”

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Book of Common Prayer. London, 1723.

Beautiful early 18th-century tall folio edition of the venerable Book of Common Prayer— the treasury of ritual, prayer and Scripture that has indelibly shaped the piety and literature of the English-speaking world—with fine engraved frontispiece, handsome in nicely restored contemporary calf featuring the gilt device of King George I in the corners and spine panels. $8250.

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Scamandro

“ANTICIPATED AND INFLUENCED MUCH OF 20TH-CENTURY DRAMA”

PIRANDELLO, Luigi. Scamandro. Roma, July 1909.

First and only separate edition of the first published play by the winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature, probably privately printed for friends in a very small number of copies. Very rare. $2500.

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Portrait Gallery of American Editors

“IT REMAINS A MYSTERY TO ME THAT ANYONE SHOULD EVER READ A MAGAZINE” (MENCKEN)

ULMANN, Doris. A Portrait Gallery of American Editors. New York, 1925.

First edition of this collection of 43 lovely portraits by renowned photographer Doris Ulmann of the editors of American magazines and literary journals, printed in lush photogravure, and with an essay by each editor. Number 165 of only 375 copies produced. $600.

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Sermon Preached before... Francis Bernard

"WHERE MEN… PERVERT THEIR POWER TO TYRANNICAL PURPOSES; SUBMISSION… IS A CRIME": RARE FIRST EDITION OF LEADING BOSTON PASTOR ANDREW ELIOT'S 1765 SERMON DELIVERED BARELY TWO MONTHS AFTER PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (STAMP ACT) ELIOT, Andrew. Sermon Preached before… Francis Bernard. Boston, 1765.

First edition of the influential Boston pastor's most famous and most controversial work, his May 29, 1765 Election Day Sermon delivered two months after passage of the incendiary Stamp Act—boldly proclaiming "when tyranny is abroad 'submission… is a crime'"—one of only 700 copies published. $3800.

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Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles

WITH OVER 300 ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBIDA

(ROBIDA, Albert, illustrator) (LOUIS XI) (PHILIPPE LE BON) (DE LA SALE, Antoine, editor). Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. Paris, 1888. Two volumes.

Lovely illustrated edition of this classic collection of prose tales from the French Renaissance, purporting to be narrated by various persons at the court of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, while Prince Louis XI resided in exile there (1456-61), collected together by Antoine de la Sale shortly thereafter, with more than 300 wood-engraved illustrations by Albert Robida, handsomely bound by Peter Franck. $850.

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