Rare Book Dealers with International Experience and Consulting Services

An Eclectic Mix

As generalists (who love the hunt!) we buy and sell a broad range of books, ephemera, prints and maps that, while varying in topic, era and type, are always interesting, usually rare and tend to be conversation pieces. We work with clients who are just starting out as well as those who have already built collections around a passion of theirs.

This superlative archive of 300+ letters written during the American Civil War offer an intimate view of life during the war from two distinct perspectives—military and civilian. Covering the entire period of Dave Masten’s service as a volunteer in the Union Army (Company E, 143rd Regiment, New York Volunteers), this correspondence with his wife, Ella, enables the reader to view the war through the lens of ordinary people navigating extraordinary circumstances. Required to suddenly run the household and their farm, Ella’s letters exhibit strength and resolve but exhaustion and impatience as well. Dave’s letters are less emotive, more factual ( the Battle of Resaca "... commenced on Friday and lasted until Monday morning and then the Rebs left purty baldy whiped the 143 Was in it they made two or three charges and Drove the Rebels evry time...We have a got a good many Rebs hear that is shot thay have as good care as our men dos ...the Hospital was two miles from the battle field it loked tuf to see so many have to have thair arms and legs taken of but such is the fortions of war....") but it’s clear he wants the war to end so he can go home. As a complete correspondence, one learns both what is happening at home, what the Union is fighting for, whilst also exhibiting a certain bitterness against the ‘powers that be’ for the disruption to their lives, and some sympathy for the ‘rebs’ (hospital near Marietta: "I tell yu it is tuf for the poor women and children I have seen the soldiers take the last thing that thay had to eat and ... have seen them go in to a house and brake up all thair furniture evry little peace...and When We come a long to a nice pice of Wheat We are shure to camp in it and turn our Horse and Mules in it ...don't you think it rathar tuf.”). .

$10,500

This collection of artwork centers on Robert “Bob” Andrew Parker’s illustrations done for children’s books circa 1970-2010: “Flight: A Panorama of Aviation” (1981), by Melvin B. Zisfein; “Pop Corn and Ma Goodness” (1969), told in verse by Edna Mitchell Preston.; The Fox and the Kingfisher (1990) by his wife Judy Mellecker, and many more. His art is to be found in private and public collections across the country: for example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Texas, and the Art Institute of Chicago. An inductee into Illustrators Hall of Fame, the Printmag.com describes Parker as ‘one of the masters of late-20th century illustration’, and we agree. He was also great fun, and this sense of joy permeates his work. A full list of the selection is available on demand.

$5,000

Painted by a trained eyewitness, this finely-rendered watercolor depicts the 1801 capture of the northern Italian city of Trento by Napoleonic forces led by General ‘en Chef’ Jacques MacDonald. The scale (21 x 30 inches) and level of detail is extraordinary for the medium of watercolor. This is one of only two watercolors by Mallet which were presented to Napoleon as First Consul, and subsequently permission was granted for the image to be engraved (in a letter from ‘the Ministry’ dated 17 November,1801). There is no trace of an engraved version of the present image ever being been produced, so, this work remains as what is probably the only record of the second most important event in the entire history of the city - after the 16th-century Council of Trent.

$4,500

Meticulous and detailed, this ledger records the financial life of Jared Lane (1745-1818) and his family during the early years of our republic. Lane was based in Connecticut, and the first part of the ledger records his business life when based in Salisbury. He then married, moved to New Milford in 1786 and built a house on land provided by his father-in-law. So, from about 1785 until Jared’s death in 1818, the ledger switches from business to become a record of the Lane family’s expenditures. These entries run the gamut, from buttons, shoes and cart-wheels to the costs involved in having Ralph Earl come and stay (twice) and paint a pair of portraits of Jared and his wife Apphia, and then a third picture of their new house. This extraordinary ledger is exceptionally detailed, offering a window into the expenses associated with running both a household and a business in early Federal America.

$7,500

A 14-year correspondence between Penelope Bennett and three women, two at least of whom were her lovers, dating from approx. 1958 to 1972. The three correspondents were Lina M. Slack, living in Switzerland; a Japanese woman Satoko Fujiyama (or Komitako or Takahashi) who was in Switzerland and subsequently in England. The final correspondent was Swiss-born artist Margot Veillon, who was based in Egypt. Some of the letters cover day-to-day matters, but the majority are love letters, with some of them being quite graphic. A glimpse of the LGBTQ world in London as things started to relax.

$1,850

This book is truly rare, possibly unique and apparently unrecorded: it is the true first separate edition of a well-known account of mid-19th century life in South Africa by Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon (1821-1869). This edition was probably produced privately for the author to show to her friends: it had previously appeared as part of a larger work featuring various travel writers, but for the present edition the pagination was reset as were the signatures. This particular octavo volume had a particularly distinguished start in life, having been inscribed by the author’s cousin Henry Reeve (a literary critic of note) and then by the political hostess, Lady William Russell. The book, despite minor wear, remains in good condition. “Letters from the Cape”, justly celebrated for its lively, sympathetic and candid writing, has become one of most widely disseminated accounts of the period (it was ‘first’ published as a separate work in 1921). We have not been able to find any other examples of this unrecorded true first edition: it should therefore be considered one of the rarest of all South African travel accounts.

$2,500

This extremely rare children’s book is stamped by the Library of Congress ‘Surplus… Duplicate’. Written and illustrated by Violet Moore Higgins [1886-1967], this title seems to have been barely recorded. There is a fleeting online reference to some of the individual plates, but no sign of another copy of the book - even in the Library of Congress! An Alice-In-Wonderland style adventure, the story is illustrated with 4 colored plates featuring figures which are designed to be cut out and assembled: the child’s imagination offering the only limit to the adventures of the characters. An excellent copy, this book was published in 1918 by Stanton and Van Vliet of Chicago.

Reserved

Possibly the first photographically illustrated book (our research is ongoing), this copy is inscribed by the author to his granddaughter. In the printed preface the author explains “The following pages have been printed with the wish of amusing some of my younger friends in this neighbourhood”. The poems have some of the ‘joie-de-vivre’ of Edward Lear’s ‘Nonsense’ poems, but the present work was published six years before ‘The Book of Nonsense’ ! One of the poems ‘The Mustard-Pot’ was later in a compilation edited by Wilhemina Lydia Rooper (see p. 35 of ‘Recitations for Infant Minds’ published in 1884), the others do not appear to have been published elsewhere. The illustrations are a puzzle: they have a charming naivete which recalls Lear’s line drawings to his ‘Book of Nonsense’, and are probably by Heathcote (a gifted amateur artist). But it is not clear how they were produced. They are not original pen and ink drawings, engravings, etchings or lithographs. Are they photographic? If so, this book would be the earliest photographically illustrated book. (Anne Atkins cyanotypes were published in 1843; Fox Talbot’s ‘Pencil of Nature’ 1844-1846). The subjects of the 38 poems are wide ranging: for example Napoleon, the Hare and the Snail, Thorney Abbey (and the Duke of Wellington), History of Mankind and the Rat.

Price to be Determined

Letter Archive Between a Union Soldier and His Wife 1862-1865

Extensive Selection of Original Artwork by Robert Andrew Parker (1927-2023)

Large Original Watercolor by Nicolas Ignace Mallet (1773-1819)

The following offers a glimpse of our current inventory highlights. Please feel free to contact us regarding any questions--we have more detailed descriptions and many more photos available upon request. Additionally, please let us know your 'wants' list.