Two Nonsense Stories: The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Round the World [and] The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple
by Lear, Edward; Martin, Gillian (Illustrations)
Monmouthshire: The Old Stile Press, 1990. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Martin, Gillian. Letter "P" of 26 special copies, quarto size, 67 pp., signed by Gillian Martin, with a separate insert. The two stories collected here are little-known works of prose by English artist and poet Edward Lear (1812-1888), best known for his literary nonsense poems and for popularising the limerick form. The stories are bound together, sharing a single spine and covers with the two front covers and... Read More
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Epitre au Marquis d'Argens; du 23 Septembre 1757
by Le Grand, Frederic
[Montagnola]: Officina Bodoni, 1924. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. One of 225 copies, unnumbered, folio size, 24 pp., in French. Written by Frederick the Great (1712-1786), king of Prussia from 1740 until his death, this letter contemplates suicide as an alternative to surrendering in battle; the king had just experienced a devastating defeat at Kolin during the Seven Years' War, as well as the death of his beloved mother (per Mardersteig). The epistle, written to his close friend... Read More
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California as an Island: An Illustrated Essay...; With Twenty-five Plates & a Bibliographical Checklist of Maps showing California as an Island
by Leighly, John
San Francisco: The Book Club of California [printed at the press of Robert Grabhorn and Andrew Hoyem], 1972. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 450 copies, folio size, [156] pp., with prospectus and original sales receipt. The curious misconception that California was an island was recorded by a minimum of 170 maps, in many editions, and continued to 1785 even after the island theory had been disproved. Dr. John Leighly, Professor Emeritus of Geography at... Read More
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The Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillane
by Le Sage, Alain-Rene; Smottell, Tobias (Translator); Priestley, J.B. (Introduction); Austen, John (Illustrations)
Oxford: Printed for the Limited Editions Club at the University Press, 1937. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Austen, John. Two volumes (complete), one of 1500 copies, quarto size, 700 pp., in slipcase, signed by John Austen. Alain-Rene Le Sage (1668-1747), French novelist and playright, had an immense influence over later authors such as Jonathan Swift, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This work, originally published between 1715 and 1735, was instrumental... Read More
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Lake, Mountain, Moon
by Levertov, Denise
[Berkeley]: Tangram, 1990. First and Limited Edition. Wraps. Fine. One of 200 copies, octavo size, 20 pp., inscribed by Denise Levertov on the half-title page. Priscilla Denise Levertov (1923-1997), recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry and a Guggenheim Fellowship, was socially active in the 1960s and 70s, serving as the poetry editor for "The Nation". Later she would teach at Brandeis University, MIT, Tufts University, and Stanford University. During her lifetime, she would eventually write and... Read More
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On The Edge
by Levine, Philip
Iowa City: The Stone Wall Press, 1963. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +. One of 220 copies, large octavo size, 63 pp., with postcard announcement from the Press. Philip Levine (1928-2015), poet, and teacher, born in working-class Detroit, would go on to be the Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011-2012, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1995 and the National Book Award for Poetry in 1980 - among many other awards. While... Read More
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Pennsylvania Pastoral
by Levine, Philip
Iowa City: Empyrean Press, 2012. Limited Edition. Broadside. Fine. No. 127 of 150, broadside, signed by Philip Levine. This broadside features a poem by Philip Levine (1928-2015), who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1995, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in 1987, and was named the Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011-2012. Printed in a limited edition of 150 copies on the occasion of the author's reading during "The Examined Life" conference at the... Read More
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Naming, A Poem by Philip Levine, Sutton Hoo Select Number Four [Copy "B" (beta) of 13 special copies lettered in Greek]
by Levine, Philip
[Winona]: [Sutton Hoo Press], 2004. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Jacobsen, Cheryl. One of 13 copies of the deluxe edition, duodecimo size, 64 pp., signed by Philip Levine. Philip Levine (1928-2015) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1995, the Ruth Lillly Poetry Prize in 1987, and was named the Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011-2012; this publication by the Sutton Hoo Press features a long poem by Levine with calligraphic marks by Cheryl Jacobsen running through... Read More
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Valenti Angelo, Author, Illustrator, Printer
by Lewis, Oscar; Grabhorn, Robert; Anderson, Sherwood; Duff, Annis (all contributing essays) / Angelo, Valenti (Autobiographical Story) / Englund, Anne (Editor, Bibliographical Checklist)
San Francisco: The Book Club of California [printed by Andrew Hoyem], 1976. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Angelo, Valenti. One of 400 copies, folio size, 99 pp., signed by Valenti Angelo. Valenti Angelo (1897-1982) was a highly-regarded designer, illuminator, and decorator of books over a career that spanned decades, doing much of his early work for the Grabhorn Press and the Book Club of California; he also printed his own books in extremely limited editions under the imprints of... Read More
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One Fifty-Five Sansome; Being the Story of the Land on which the Industrial Indemnity Building Stands Today
by Lewis, Oscar; Bechtel, K.K. (Foreword); Adams, Ansel (Illustrator)
San Francisco: Industrial Indemnity Company, 1955. First Edition. Wraps. Fine. Adams, Ansel. Octavo size, 26 pp. The fascinating history of the land and building at 155 Sansome, commissioned by the Industrial Indemnity Company. Written by noted San Francisco historian Oscar Lewis (1893-1992, not to be confused with the New York anthropologist of the same name). With a photographic frontispiece by Ansel Adams, designed and printed by the noted San Francisco printing firm of Taylor & Taylor. ___DESCRIPTION:... Read More
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Snooty Baronet
by Lewis, Wyndham (Text and Illustrations); LaFourcade, Bernard (Editor)
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1984. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. One of 226 deluxe hardcover copies, octavo size, 315 pp., signed by Bernard LaFourcade. Percy Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), an artist as well as an author, is known as the developer of "Vorticism" (so named by Ezra Pound), a style of geometric abstraction. He would eventually turn more and more to writing, and "is now regarded as a major British artist and writer of the twentieth century" (n.b.,... Read More
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Men Without Art
by Lewis, Wyndham; Cooney, Seamus (Editor, Afterword, Notes)
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1987. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. One of 176 deluxe hardcover copies, octavo size, 325 pp. Percy Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), an artist as well as an author, is known as the developer of "Vorticism" (so named by Ezra Pound), a style of geometric abstraction. He would eventually turn more and more to writing, and "is now regarded as a major British artist and writer of the twentieth century" (n.b., quote from Wiki). ... Read More
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The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein & Other Gothic Tales
by Ligotti, Thomas; Shea, Michael (Introduction); Pelan, John (Editor)
Eugene, Seattle, Woodinville: Silver Salamander Press, 1994. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. First hardcover edition, one of 125 copies, octavo size, 101 pp., signed by Thomas Ligotti and Michael Shea. Per Wiki, Thomas Ligotti (b. 1953) "is an American horror author, lay philosopher, and writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres - most prominently weird fiction - and have been described by critics as works of philosophical horror, often formed into short stories and novellas... Read More
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Grimscribe; His Lives and Works
by Ligotti, Thomas
London: Robinson Publishing, 1991. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. Large octavo size, 214 pp., with the signature of Thomas Ligotti laid in. Thomas Ligotti (b. 1953) has gained a following for his works of "philosophical horror", and is the recipient of three Bram Stoker awards. Per Wiki, "The Washington Post" called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction." This work is a collection of stories in which "Grimscribe tells us of strange encounters with a... Read More
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[Prospectus for] The Ephemera of Adrian Wilson; An Annotated List, 1944-1988
by Linden, James (Annotated List); Wilson, Joyce Lancaster (Commentary)
San Francisco: The Press in Tuscany Alley, 1994. Wraps. Near fine. Quarto size, [8] pp., with sample leaves. The grand prospectus for James Linden's comprehensive volume on Adrian Wilson's printed ephemera. Adrian Wilson (1924-1988) is known to all lovers of beautiful books; he started printing with Jack Stauffacher in 1948, and two years later set up his own printing house, called "At the Sign of the Interplayers", in his home in San Francisco. In 1952 he opened a... Read More
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The Case Law System in America
by Llewellyn, Karl; Gewirtz, Paul (Editor, Introduction); Ansaldi, Michael (Translator)
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. First edition in English, first printing, octavo size, 127 pp. Karl Nickerson Llewellyn (1893-1962) was named as "one of the twenty most cited American legal scholars of the 20th century" by "The Journal of Legal Studies" (n.b., quote from Wiki). This work originally based on a series of lectures Llewellyn gave at Leipzig in 1928 while there as a visiting professor;... Read More
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German Expressionism; Primitivism and Modernity
by Lloyd, Jill
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. First printing, quarto size, 277 pp., in cardboard slipcase. German expressionism focused on artist feelings, bright colors and simple shapes over earlier realism conventions. Here Lloyd explores the relationship between the German Expressionist movement to primitive arts and crafts: "This original and attractive book explores the forces that shaped German Expressionism in the years before the First World War...Lloyd argues that primitivism and modernity were the two poles... Read More
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A Legend of the Coos
by Lockhart, Agnes Ruth
San Francisco: Philopolis Press, 1909. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Duodecimo size, 45 pp. A small volume published by the Philopolis Press in 1909, telling in poem form within a Native American setting the age-old story of two lovers and the fate which divided them. The Philopolis Press ("Love of the City") was founded shortly after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Led by Arthur and Lucia Mathews, a group of artists and writers who... Read More
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Our Hawaii
by London, Charmian Kittredge (Mrs. Jack London)
Honolulu, Hawaii: Patten Company, Ltd, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. First printing, octavo size, 370 pp. Jack (John Griffith) London (1876-1916) remains a highly beloved author and his stories are still widely read today; beginning his career as a newspaper reporter, he gained fame with the publication of "The Call of the Wild" in July of 1903, and would eventually write over twenty novels and numerous short stories before dying tragically young from complications arising from previous... Read More
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The Seaside and The Fireside
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. First printing, octavo size, 148 pp. Three groupings of poems: seven "By the Seaside", thirteen "By the Fireside", the book also includes two translations, "The Blind Girl of Castel-Cuille" and "A Christmas Carol", plus a Notes section at the end. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was one of the most revered and popular poets of his day, earning almost instant recognition with his early poems both in America... Read More
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Mon Frere Yves
by Loti, Pierre; Dufour, D'Emilien (Illustrations)
n.p.: Calmann-Levy, 1936. Hardcover. Near Fine. Dufour, D'Emilien. Quarto size, 289 pp., all text in French. Pierre Loti, the pseudonym of Julien Viaud (1850-1923) was educated to be a naval officer, gradually rising in his profession until attaining the rank of captain in 1906. His life at sea, among seafaring men, inspired this and many of his other stories. Contemporary critic Edmund Gosse said of Loti: "At his best [he] was unquestionably the finest descriptive writer of the... Read More
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Sämtliche Schriften
by Löwith, Karl; Metzler, J.B. (Editor's Foreword Booklet)
Stuttgart: J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1981. Hardcover. Fine. Nine volumes (complete), all first printings (1981-1986), octavo size, approx. 4250 pp., with accompanying booklet, all text in German. Karl Löwith (1897-1973), student of Husseri and Heidegger, "was one of the most prolific German philosophers of the twentieth century" (n.b., from Wiki). "His main influences include Heidegger, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard. His writing after WWII can be read in the same vein as other Christian philosophers and theologians of... Read More
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De Cupidinis et Psyches [Cupid and Psyche]; Amoribus Fabula Anilis
by Lucius Apuleius; Ricketts, Charles (Illustrations)
[London]: Hacon & Ricketts [and] Iohannes (John) Lane [Vale Press], 1901. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Ricketts, Charles. One of 310 copies (unnumbered), quarto size, 31 pp., the first printing with Ricketts illustrations, all text in Latin. The story of "Cupid and Psyche" has been retold countless times, appearing first in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and thereafter "in poetry, drama, and opera, and depicted widely in painting, sculpture, and even wallpaper" (n.b., per Wiki). This incredibly... Read More
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Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm
by MacDonald, Betty; Sendak, Maurice (Illustrator)
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Comany, 1954. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good +. Sendak, Maurice. First printing, octavo size, 128 pp. An early Sendak title, third (of five) in the series about the delightful Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, who "lives in an upside down house, smells like cookies, and was married to a pirate who buried his treasure in the backyard!" (N.B., quote from dust jacket flap, quoting the Philadelphia Inquirer). The character remained so enduringly popular that a new title was... Read More
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The Lethal Sex, The 1959 Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America (with TLS by MacDonald to Miriam Allen DeFord)
by MacDonald, John D. (Editor); DeFord, Miriam Allen (Contributing Author)
New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc, 1959. First Edition. Soft cover. Near Fine. 256 pp., with letter signed by John D. MacDonald. A three-paragraph letter from John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) to Miriam Allen DeFord (1888-1975), signed by MacDonald, accompanied by the first edition of the book discussed in the letter. The letter was sent by MacDonald to deFord to thank her for her note to him about this volume (a collection of mystery stories by 14 female mystery... Read More
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![Two Nonsense Stories: The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Round the World [and] The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/552/147/1267147552.0.l.jpg)






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![[Prospectus for] The Ephemera of Adrian Wilson; An Annotated List, 1944-1988](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/458/684/1120684458.0.l.jpg)







![De Cupidinis et Psyches [Cupid and Psyche]; Amoribus Fabula Anilis](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/081/767/1578767081.0.l.jpg)

