The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 1st Printing by Twain, Mark; Samuel L. Clemens - 1867

London: Printed for the Author, 1778. First edition. Bound in 3/4 calf with raised bands and gilt titles, decorative endpapers. Published London: Printed for the author, 1778. 8vo., 5 1/2" x 8 1/4", xvi, [17]-543, [1] pp. errata page, two folding, engraved maps that are fully hand-colored, plus four plates - Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi, An (Indian) Pipe of Peace, and two plates of native peoples. Includes a Chippewa vocabulary. Large bookplate of Otto Oren Fisher on front pastedown. Jonathan Carver (1710-1780) was an explorer, mapmaker, author, and one of the first white men to explore and map areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Part of a small expedition to map uncharted territory west of the Mississippi, he visited many of the Native American groups residing in the area. He "penetrated farther into the West than any other English explorer before the Revolution" (Howes). While French explorers had been in the area earlier, they did not leave behind detailed maps or… Read More

Small quarto (11 x 8 1/4 inches) Published in the Interest of the Firemen's Relief Fund, December 1900. 116 pages of half tone black and white photos of early Los Angeles, portraits, and advertisements for Los Angeles businesses of the period.

Descriptive text includes a short history of the Los Angeles Fire Department: "In May, 1875, Engine Company No. 2 was organized."

Good condition: original red cloth binding, showing mild age toning, title on front cover, floral patterned end papers.

Many photos of early Los Angeles fire stations, with horse drawn equipment.

Portraits include: the mayor, the Fire Commissioners back to 1871, Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, Engine Drivers, Engineers, Hosemen, and Ladder men.

Advertisements include breweries, hardware supplies, saloons, blacksmiths, and stables among many others.

Horace Cox, 1894 1894. 1st Edition. Hardcover. VG. 1st impression. Publisher's original brown cloth with gilt stamped vignette to the front and titles to the front and spine. Inscribed by the author to 'Miss Barnett / With love from the author. / Xmas 1894.' Together with Mary Jaques family Church Services Book, 20 black and white photographs and Miss Barnett's autograph book c. 1905 which includes vers and illustrations from both Mary Jaques and Emma Hartley (a.k.a. "Didymusa", in Texan Ranch Life). The notes from a recent Texas A&M reprint say: J. Frank Dobie once claimed that 'the English write our best Western books:' and Jaques' account bears him out. Out of print for some ninety years, this collector's classic will delight and inform, entertain and amuse - a valuable resource on early Texas life, long sought by collectors and historians alike.' A very rare signed copy. Chipping to head and foot of spine, light rubbing to corners, two splits in the cloth at lower joint and a few white… Read More

London: George Routledge and Sons, 1887., 1887. First edition. First edition. 8vo. Original color pictorial wrappers, vi, 7-192 pp., frontispiece, advertisements on front and rear inside covers and rear outer cover. Quite possibly the rarest Buffalo Bill item. Howes W454. Graff 4677. Adams Six Guns 2401: "Rare." Being a British biography of Buffalo Bill. A very early Buffalo Bill item from the first European tour of the Wild West Show. Ramon Adams says, "This is said to be the rarest book about Buffalo Bill..." A small portion of the spine title missing, faint evidence of an old corner creases to bottom edge of front and rear covers, top edges of front and rear covers have small corner chips, and minor occasional wear to a few page fore-edges, else a very good copy, housed in a cloth slipcase.

Map Details and Condition:
color lithograph
dimensions: 26 3/4" x 19"
Brown Paper pocket covers with red bookstore label of Neal Stratford & Kerr, San Francisco
condition: professionally flattened and otherwise in as found, very good conditionDescription:
This 1914 map of now popular wine country Napa County, California shows the county in 1914, with early roads, largely undeveloped, vast open land areas, and natural features. The numbered grid system on this map reflects the Public Land Survey System. Large open tracts of land are identified as ranches, such as Rancho Catacoula, or Rancho Las Putas, Rancho LaJota all of which are large swaths of undivided land. Urban grids are shown in the southernmost part of Napa County, and sections of the southernmost sections of Sonoma County and Solano County. The cities of Petaluma, Sonoma, Vallejo and Napa and Benicia show populated urban areas. A corner of Marin County is shown.
C.F. Weber & Co. and the Punnett Brothers published… Read More

London: Printed for the Author, 1778. First edition. Bound in 3/4 calf with raised bands and gilt titles, decorative endpapers. Published London: Printed for the author, 1778. 8vo., 5 1/2" x 8 1/4", xvi, [17]-543, [1] pp. errata page, two folding, engraved maps that are fully hand-colored, plus four plates - Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi, An (Indian) Pipe of Peace, and two plates of native peoples. Includes a Chippewa vocabulary. Large bookplate of Otto Oren Fisher on front pastedown. Jonathan Carver (1710-1780) was an explorer, mapmaker, author, and one of the first white men to explore and map areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Part of a small expedition to map uncharted territory west of the Mississippi, he visited many of the Native American groups residing in the area. He "penetrated farther into the West than any other English explorer before the Revolution" (Howes). While French explorers had been in the area earlier, they did not leave behind detailed maps or… Read More

Horace Cox, 1894 1894. 1st Edition. Hardcover. VG. 1st impression. Publisher's original brown cloth with gilt stamped vignette to the front and titles to the front and spine. Inscribed by the author to 'Miss Barnett / With love from the author. / Xmas 1894.' Together with Mary Jaques family Church Services Book, 20 black and white photographs and Miss Barnett's autograph book c. 1905 which includes vers and illustrations from both Mary Jaques and Emma Hartley (a.k.a. "Didymusa", in Texan Ranch Life). The notes from a recent Texas A&M reprint say: J. Frank Dobie once claimed that 'the English write our best Western books:' and Jaques' account bears him out. Out of print for some ninety years, this collector's classic will delight and inform, entertain and amuse - a valuable resource on early Texas life, long sought by collectors and historians alike.' A very rare signed copy. Chipping to head and foot of spine, light rubbing to corners, two splits in the cloth at lower joint and a few white… Read More

London: George Routledge and Sons, 1887., 1887. First edition. First edition. 8vo. Original color pictorial wrappers, vi, 7-192 pp., frontispiece, advertisements on front and rear inside covers and rear outer cover. Quite possibly the rarest Buffalo Bill item. Howes W454. Graff 4677. Adams Six Guns 2401: "Rare." Being a British biography of Buffalo Bill. A very early Buffalo Bill item from the first European tour of the Wild West Show. Ramon Adams says, "This is said to be the rarest book about Buffalo Bill..." A small portion of the spine title missing, faint evidence of an old corner creases to bottom edge of front and rear covers, top edges of front and rear covers have small corner chips, and minor occasional wear to a few page fore-edges, else a very good copy, housed in a cloth slipcase.

Map Details and Condition:
color lithograph
dimensions: 26 3/4" x 19"
Brown Paper pocket covers with red bookstore label of Neal Stratford & Kerr, San Francisco
condition: professionally flattened and otherwise in as found, very good conditionDescription:
This 1914 map of now popular wine country Napa County, California shows the county in 1914, with early roads, largely undeveloped, vast open land areas, and natural features. The numbered grid system on this map reflects the Public Land Survey System. Large open tracts of land are identified as ranches, such as Rancho Catacoula, or Rancho Las Putas, Rancho LaJota all of which are large swaths of undivided land. Urban grids are shown in the southernmost part of Napa County, and sections of the southernmost sections of Sonoma County and Solano County. The cities of Petaluma, Sonoma, Vallejo and Napa and Benicia show populated urban areas. A corner of Marin County is shown.
C.F. Weber & Co. and the Punnett Brothers published… Read More

London: Printed for James Rivington and James Fletcher, 1759 First edition in English of the first history of California, which "gave the English-speaking world its earliest thorough account of the little-known areas of the west coast of North America," (Hill). The original Spanish edition was published in 1757. . Contemporary tree calf neatly rebacked to style preserving the original red and green spine labels. Spine stamped in gilt and with raised bands. Two volumes, octavo. With four engraved plates (including both frontispieces) and a folding map of Baja California. The plates in volume one are "Women of California" and "Men of California" (frontispiece); plus "The Cayote or Fox" and "The Taye or California Deer." The plates in volume two are "The Manner of Curing the Sick in California" and "Sorcerers of California" (frontispiece); plus "The Martyrdom of Father Carranco" and "The Martyrdom of Father Tamaral." Some rubbing to extremities and some light chipping to lower board of volume two.… Read More