Philadelphia: Crissy and Markley, 1847. Hardcover. Originally published in the 1700s, the Spectator was a daily publication in prose format intended to provoke discussion and address literary themes. The target audience was women, but it was advertised as being for the family. Volume I, No. I begins with an issue dated Thursday, March 1, 1710 and Volume XII, No. Monday, December 1714. Bound in the original dark brown cloth covered boards with gilt titles to spines. Heavy chipping to book cloth on spines, joints, and edges of boards of Volume 1/2. Minor soiling to boards of all volumes and minor chipping to book cloth on remaining volumes. Front board of Volume 11/12 is detached but present. Occasional spots of soiling and foxing to interiors, and browning throughout. LIT/082423. Very Good. More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1901. Hardcover. Scarce. Two folio volumes with all of the issues of the Weekly for 1901. They are a fascinating compilation of articles, events, news, and numerous illustrations documenting the events in the United States and around the world. They offer an enthralling view of the country's concerns and interests at the beginning of the 20th century. Even the advertisements for products and services are quite interesting. This was a year of important news. Wililiam McKinley was inaugurated as president in January. He was assassinated in September and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president. There was of course extensive coverage, particularly in September of the assassination and funeral. Queen Victoria of England died in January after a reign of over 63 years. This was covered with several pages of illustrations plus a supplement was published in February in memorium of the Queen along with several articles about British Royalty. In February there was a ten page pictorial review of the Queen's heir, King Edward VII. January also brought the inauguration of the Australian commonwealth. Other notable events included the excavation of the New York subway and the excavation of the Panama Canal. The US took over control of the project in 1904 and continued to control the canal until 1977. There was continuing coverage of the country's new possessions as the result of the Spanish-American War, particularly the Philippines and Cuba. There were several noteworthy literary contributions. In January Harper's began serializing Emile Zola's Labor. There were eleven installments. Also appearing in January was a poem "To the XIX Century" by John Kendrick Bangs. Bangs was a frequent contributor and also served as the editor from 1899-1901. An interesting item was a "debate" between Bangs and Mark Twain on the topic "Is Philippine Policy Just?" Twain said yes and Bangs said no. There were 27 installments of thehistorical novel Cardigan by Robert W. Chambers. He was famously noted for his weird short stories that sometimes had elements of science fiction. Bound in black cloth with gilt titling to spines, which are sunned. Covers jave wear and there is chipping to corners and spine edges. Interior pages are generally very good, with a closed tear on pages 585-586 and an open tear at the top of pages 1255-1256. PER/61923. Very Good. More

Philadelphia: James Kay, Jun and Brothers, circa 1830. Hardcover. An early English modern novel written as an allegory and originally printed in 1682. Bound in full speckled calf leather with gilt title and bands to spine. With two fold-out illustrations. The frontis fold-out has several repaired tears - with an antiquated sheet of paper adhered to the verso. The second fold-out is torn along a crease and has been repaired with archival tape along the verso. Inked ownership signature of Jacob R. Kirk dated Mar 3rd 1837 to front free endpaper. Foxing throughout. 252 pages. Size: 5.75 x 3.75 inches. LIT/072023. Very Good. More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857. A folio volume of the complete first year's issues of this influential periodical of the 19th and early 20th century. It is the first of an annual fascinating weekly publication of articles, serial novels, news, with numerous illustrations documenting the notable events in the United States and around the world. It includes the serialization of British novelists, including Wilkie Collins's "The Dead Secret," and a part of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "What Will He Do With It," with a flattering biography of Bulwer-Lytton at the beginning of the first episode. "The Dead Secret" was published without author attribution but a publisher's note does acknowledge Collins on p. 161 of the June 4 issue. There is also the serialization of a Dickens short story, "The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." Among other interesting items are a series of articles on travel in Bible lands; an article titled "Scenes in an American Harem, about Brigham Young and his wives; "Homes Exercises" for women; and much material about British India and the rebellion. The covers of this volume are missing, as is the spine. The first signature is detached, but the remainder of the volume remains intactly bound, albeit not very firmly. Early pages have dampstaining and sporadic foxing. There are several torn pages throughout, one page had been detached and glued in backwards, a cigarette burn on page 175. There is browning to all of the pages, not affecting legibility. Despite the condition issues, this is still an interesting and relatively scarce copy of the debut year of the publication. 828 pages. PER/053123. Good +. More

New York: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc, 1938. Hardcover. Features an introduction by Lionel Barrymore, who played Scrooge in a radio broadcast a few years prior to publication. Bound in dark red cloth boards with white box including gilt title to spine and front board. Browning to spine, wear to edges of boards, and water stains (in shape of a glass) to front board. (Don't use books as coasters!!) Occasional spots of foxing to interior, but clean overall. With many full page color plates as well as small line drawn vignettes. Size: Quarto. 131 pages. LIT/082423. Very Good. More

New York: Intima Press, 2021. Hardcover. Number 8 of 26 copies from the standard edition signed and numbered by the book artist. There were 6 deluxe copies. Artist and Master Printer, Mindy Belloff, specializes in fine book editions and custom letterpress. She has been creating art for over 35 years and printing letterpress since 1996. Her books are numerous permanent collections. Her press is committed to traditions of high art and the by-hand craft of letterpress printing, fine artist's books, unique bindings, poetic broadside editions, and elegant designs and typography. Mindy Belloff's custom designs are a union of art historical traditions with modern technology and sensibilities. Edition limited to 32: This fine edition is limited to 26 standard and 6 deluxe bindings. The volume is 300-pages, consisting of 75 folios folded into 19 signatures, with back endsheet printed letterpress. The text is digitally typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro with additional fonts (Lydian Cursive MT, Fine Gothic Medium, Luminari, Berliner, Berliner Fraktur, Garamond Premier Pro, and Goudy Text MT). The typography and page composi- tions were designed in Adobe InDesign over many hundreds of hours for more than 30 months. Image reproductions of artworks were painstakingly color-corrected in Adobe PhotoShop. A selection of drawings and photographs were manipulated in Adobe Illustrator. The text of the novels was digitally printed with archival pigmented inks on over 3,600 sheets, with an Epson Professional SureColor P600 inkjet printer. Most of the commentaries and calligrams were printed letterpress on a Vandercook Universal III Automatic Adjustable Bed Press (Uni III A/B), with a limited color palette of deep red, aqua blue, and grey inks. There are over 180 letterpress print runs. The pages are Crane's Lettra archival cotton rag text weight papers. The palette is limited, and the commentaries and page designs thoughtfully composed with reverence to the history of the book. The concept, designs, typography, research, artworks, and printing are by Mindy Belloff. This splendid production from Mindy's Intima Press is a feminist reading of three literary classics: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” Gustave Flaubert’s “Madam Bovary,” and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” The artist writes: "The volume gives voice to the main female characters, Hester Prynne, Emma Bovary, and Sonia Marmeladov, and presents multiple voices in dialogue. The subtitle, Joni. Annie. Tracy, highlights contemporary singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell, Annie Lennox, and Tracy Chapman along with other favored musical artists including Janis Joplin, Etta James, Leon Russell, Paul Simon, Mary J. Blige, Laurie Anderson, and others, whose poetic lyrics provide commentary in the margins. Text of philosophers, writers, and poets such as Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Karen Horney, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Rainer Maria Rilke, William Blake, and Arthur Rimbaud, are incorporated into brilliant typographical designs, deconstructing the original narratives. A selection of text is in Latin, French, and Russian." Mindy writes on her website that the book has additional references to contemporary issues including Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter protests. She further states: "The three sections are abridged and combined into one volume, reframed to create a critical dialog in the 21st-century. The resulting layered narrative recontextualizes the stories, bringing additional voices to the fore." This was an over three year project, with the concept, designs, typography, artworks, printing, and publishing all done by Mindy Belloff. The edition includes an Introduction, "No Text Stands Alone," written by Saul Ostrow, art critic and curator. There is an extensive appendix with over 50 bibliography listings to materials referenced in creating this work, over 50 lyric references used in the book, and an index of over 40 artworks reproduced in the book that were created by Mindy the artist at various times over her career. The book required 180 letterpress runs. It is digitally printed with archival pigmented inks on Crane's cotton rag text weight paper using various fonts. It is bound in in white letterpress printed covers, with an aqua blue Sokoto leather spine millimeter binding. Housed in a red cloth custom box with a unique middle opening showing the title, sewn and bound by Celine Lombardi. In fine condition. Measures 10.5 x 7.75 x 1.75 inches. 300 pages. ARTB/051223. Fine. More

Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Company, 1943. Hardcover. A Tower Mystery. First edition, Second printing. Includes 14 horror stories by A.M. Burrage, Helen R. Hull, Bram Stoker, Hugh Walpole, William Faulkner, Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Conrad, and more. Blue paper covered boards with light blue title to spine. Chipping to paper along spine ends, edges, and joints. Front and rear flaps of the jacket are pasted down to the inside of the covers; however, the front, rear, and spine panels of the jacket are no longer present. The front free endpaper is also partially adhered to the cover. The interior is browned, but still legible. Foxing to endpapers and to jacket remnants, but clean overall. Split to binding along front hinge exposing mull, but boards remain attached to the textblock. 317 pages. OCC/072123. Very Good. More

London: Printed for William Darton Jun. 1818. Hardcover. Presumed first edition of this uncommon book. English author Mary Hughes Robson wrote many books geared towards the moral development of young ladies, including this one. She moved to Philadelphia and opened a school for girls with the help of philanthropist John Vaughan. She wrote several pamphlets for the Christian Tract Society and became a lifelong member. Bound in green and dark green pastepaper over dark brown leather spine with title in gilt. Heavy rubbing to boards, chipping to paper, and heavy wear to corners and edges of boards. Dampstaining to rear board and evidence of dampstaining to several pages. Top inch of title page is no longer present, with the word "The" removed. Pen and watercolor markings to pastedowns and verso of frontispiece. Occasional spots of foxing and soiling, but the text pages remain clean and bright overall. Lacks 2 pages of ads and both free endpapers. 206 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's ads. LIT/080423. Very Good. More

London: Jacob Tonson, 1734. Hardcover. Jacob Tonson (1656? - 1736) was one of the most influential publishers in England. and the premier publisher of his age. In 1709, he famously purchased the “copyright” to Shakespeare. Tonson and his family over the next fifty years went on to publish some of the most significant editions of the collected works of Shakespeare, edited by the likes of Nicholas Rowe, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. This volume of Timon of Athens is one of the many plays that Tonson published in 1734. The several titles were the first of Shakespeare's plays to be published individually rather than in the folios or Tonson's multi-volume sets of Shakespeare in 1709. Tonson entered into a feud in 1734 with another bookseller over the rights to see copies of Shakespeare's plays. Due to the Copyright Act of 1709, any “rights” that the firm previously held expired in 1731. Regardless of the law, the Tonsons and the other proprietors continued to hold claim to the rights and they actively intimidated their competitors from trying their publishing luck with the Bard. When in 1734 a small-time London bookseller named Robert Walker began to produce inexpensive editions of the individual plays, Tonson threatened Walker with litigation to cease production. Undeterred by Tonson’s threats, and eventual bribery, Walker called his bluff and continued to sell the plays, offering volume title pages for the plays to be bound in seven volumes, if desired. Realizing that he did not have any lawful recourse, Tonson counter-produced his own editions of the individual plays, to eventually be bound in eight volumes, publishing more copies, at a lower cost than Walker’s. While trying to out-sell each other, the two booksellers took to issuing “advertisements” with their publications, in an attempt to defame the othe [Folger Shakespeare Library]. This copy of Timon has one of these advertisements, printed on the verso of the title page under the list of characters. Bound in modern black pebbled cloth with title and year published in gilt to front cover. Slight rubbing and bumping. Marbled red endpapers. The text pages are browned and have occasional spots but are still quite nice and readable. With a frontispiece illustration by Paul Fourdrinier, the 18th century engraver. Very good condition. Measures 4 x 6.5 inches. 72 pages. Very Good. More

Oakland, CA: Prototype Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 21 of 52 copies. A finely printed edition of Bukowski's semi-autobiographical work about coming of age in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. Huge fans of Bukowski's work, printers David Johnston and Mark Sarigianis, aspired to print this modern classic in their early days of working together at the Arion Press. Years later, after forming The Prototype Press in 2014, they began the process of acquiring the printing rights, and Johnston digitally keyboarded the novel in preparation to begin typecasting. Unfortunately, he tragically passed on within a week of completing it. Over the next few years his partner Sarigianis completed the book, which necessitated a two-part casting of type and printing - with the first half of type melted down in order to cast the second.  Illustrated by Sean StarWars, a woodcut artist living in Laurel, Mississippi with his wife and five children. He is also a proud member of the Outlaw Printmakers. Following is a note about this project from the artist: "Nobody really gets a Charles Bukowski quote right, so I’m just gonna paraphrase him: 'You’re only a writer when you’re writing’. I have taken that to heart as an artist, specifically as a printmaker. 'You’re only an artist when you’re making art, not when you’re talking about it…' With that in mind I have spent the last 25 years with my nose to the grindstone blasting out print after print after print. Being invited to illustrate Ham on Rye has been one of the most personally gratifying projects I have ever worked on. It has also been one of the most challenging. This project has forced me to do a number of things I don’t do well or easily, such as working small and working detailed. But there’s one other thing I learned from my years of devouring Bukowski and that’s to trust your gut, and I think I’ve gotten pretty good at doing that. I hope you see my woodcuts as Inspirations by Bukowski and not simply illustrations of his words.’’ Bound in handmade black paper from St. Armand over white pigskin with black title to spine. Light rubbing to boards, else fine. Letterpress printed in Goudy Powell with heads in Headline Bold. The chapter numbers and title page are printed with Condensed Gothic Bold woodtype. Printed on custom handmade paper from St. Armand with the watermarks of "CB" (the author's initials) and "HC" (the author's alter-ego, Henry Chinaski). The illustrations are printed from the original hand carved wood blocks over tinted blocks of cyan, magenta, and yellow. The type was cast and the book was printed and bound by the Prototype Press. Housed in a black paper covered slipcase titled in gilt to spine panel. 364 pages. PRI/051923. Fine. More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882. Hardcover. This is a scarce bound folio volume of Harper's Weekly with all of the issues for 1882. It is a fascinating compilation of articles, serial novels, news, and numerous illustrations documenting the events in the United States and around the world. They offer an enthralling view of 19th century concerns and interests, down to the advertisements for products and services. There were no reports of cataclysmic events for the year other than the famous trial of Charles Guiteau for the shooting of President Garfield, leading to the president's death. But there were many interesting things to be written about. Items included a piece on the ostentatious and costly mansions built by members of the Vanderbilt family; research on the Zuni Indians; and flooding in the West and by the Mississippi River. The advertisements reflected the great interest in electricity, with ads for such items as an electric corset and a girdle, and an electric hairbrush. There were several notable deaths and funerals reported on, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Henry Dana, and Guiseppe Garibaldi. To us, it was the death of Anthony Trollope, reported in the December 16 issue, and the serialization of his Kept in the Dark that was particularly noteworthy as he is one of our favorite authors. This is the last novel published while Trollope was alive. It was serialized from 5/27 to 10/7, about simultaneously with its appearance in England's "Good Words." Harper & Brothers published the book edition three weeks before it was published in England by Chatto & Windus (see the Heritage Bookshop Bibliography of Trollope, page 268). Bound in black cloth with gilt titling to spine, with some rubbing, bumping, and light soiling. Generally in very good condition, with a few loose or folded pages, and some dampstaining to margins starting on page 550. A nice compilation of that year's issues. 844 pages. PER/061423. Very Good. More

London and New York: George Routledge & Sons, (1877). Hardcover. with 48 illustrations by Riou. An undated reprint. Brown cloth boards with black illustration to front board and gilt title to spine. Minor wear to spine ends, edges, and corners. Rubbing to spine, effecting first few letters in title. Frong hinge is cracked, but repaired. Foxing to tissue guard by frontis. Minor toning to interior and occasional smudge marks, else clean. 284 pages. LIT/080923. Very Good. More