Search Results: History from Bernett Penka Rare Books LLC

Granada: Librería Prieto (Ediciones Imperio), 1937. Octavo (17.5 x 12.2 cm). Original color printed wrappers; 354 pp., illustrated. Some light wear and soiling to covers, mild browning to pages, overall very good. The first edition of the work by the Spanish journalist Pedro Gómez Aparicio (1903-1983). Born in Madrid, Aparicio served as the President of the Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid, served as deputy director of the Agencia EFE, and was awarded several prizes and medals for his work. He served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Debate, of the magazine Mundo, and was the founder and first director of the Granada-based newspaper El Ideal. He also worked as a professor of journalism and was awarded a Medalla al Mérito en el Trabajo personally by Franco. During the first two decades of Francoism, Aparicio was given his own radio commentary show on Radio Nacional de España, which was broadcast together with the news report. He was popularly known as "Pedrogo". Prior to these years,… Read More

Tbilisi: Sakhelgami, 1930. Octavo (17.6 × 12.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers (signed "O. Bur" in Cyrillic); 278, [3] pp. Wrappers professionally restored preserving part of spine strip; light overall wear; stain to front wrapper; internally very good. First and only edition of the Georgian translation of Henri Barbusse's account of post-revolutionary Georgia, published shortly after the French original appeared. "In his 1928 book Voici ce qu'on a fait de la Géorgie, Barbusse praised post-sovietization political, social, and economic conditions in Georgia, triggering a critical response from the Georgian émigré Dathico Charachidze who published in 1929 Barbusse, les Soviets et la Géorgie, with a sympathetic preface by Karl Kautsky" (Wikipedia). One of 2000 copies printed. Chepyzhov 83 ("Although Barbusse's work can be viewed as a great example of Socialist Realism... the cover of the book tells a different story. The Constructivist style of the design by O. Bur reveals that art was in a… Read More

St. Petersburg: XX Vek, 1902. Octavo (18.3 × 12.3 cm). Contemporary beige cloth; [4], 379 pp. Sixteen photographic portraits on separate leaves; numerous decorative head pieces and vignettes. Original wrappers perished; stamp of a non-existing lending library to title; else about very good. First and only edition of this sensationalist account of the life of American billionaires of the Gilded Age, supposedly written by a French journalist with exclusive access to the likes of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Morgan. The supposed author -- according to the preface a former contributor to the journal 'Revue de revues' -- is likely a spurious pseudonym, as we have been unable to trace any French original with this title. The goal of the book is to expose the sheer power and inherent corruptness of the American financial and industrial elites, as demonstrated through descriptions of their business practices, but also their daily lives and intrigues. Chapters are devoted to the "first four hundred"… Read More

Prague: Präsidium der k. k. Polizeidirektion Prag, [1916 or 1917]. Large quarto (33 × 24 cm). Attractively bound in recent gray boards; [1], 198 leaves of text to rectos only. Pink rubber stamp "Vertraulich" ("Confidential") to first leaf. Introductory text followed by German-language wanted briefs and photographs. Very good. This alphabetical directory, with brief biographies and portraits, documents nearly 1400 persons accused or suspected of engaging in treasonous activities abroad against the Austro-Hungarian government and, in particular, the war effort. The suspects include Czech citizens living abroad - in Austria, Germany, France, Russia, North America and elsewhere, but also some foreigners who expressed sympathy for the Czech cause. Among the best known figures are the future president of the first Czechoslovak Republic, T. G. Masaryk, the writer Jaroslav HaÅ¡ek (then based in Kiev), and the brothers Vojta and Edvard BeneÅ¡. A one-line entry also mentions James Joyce, then still largely… Read More

Tbilisi: Sakartvelos SSR Gansakhk'omis p'olit'saganmanatleblo mushaobis sammartvelo, 1941. Octavo (17 × 12.3 cm). Original staple-stitched printed wrappers; 24, [2] pp. Light wear to wrappers; faint private note to upper front wrapper; still about very good. Published by the Department of political educational work of the Executive Committee of the SSR of Georgia, this pamphlet provides an overview of the work of public libraries during World War II, when Hitler sought to reach the Caucasian oilfields via Georgia, an objective he failed to reach. One of 1800 copies printed. As of April 2023, KVK, OCLC show one holding worldwide, in North America.

Single leaf, measuring 27.8 × 20.3 cm, printed to recto. Evenly toned; else very good. Apparently unrecorded broadside announcing a concert of Ukrainian songs, under the direction of Professor Iu. Kyrychenko, to be held at Washington Irving High School in New York City, on March 9, 1947. Interestingly, the bill announces that "Ukrainian partisan songs will be sung in America for the first time." The broadside further describes the availability of tickets at various New York Ukrainian businesses, such as Surma and Nash bazar, and outlines the aims of the society (American Society for the Popularization of Ukrainian Art, Amerykans'ke tovarystvo poshyrennia ukrain'skoho mystetstva). We cannot trace any copies via OCLC.

Prague: Izd. red. zhurn. "Vol'noe Kazachestvo", 1931. 12mo (15 × 11.5 cm). Original staple-stitched blue wrappers; 48, [1] pp. Very minor soil to wrappers; very good or better. Rare Cossack-related publication, issued by the "Vol'noe Kazachestvo" (Free Cossacks) movement when Prague was still a key center of Russian emigre and especially Cossack life. Balinov's essay, which is primarily concerned with the origin and nature of the Cossacks, is here reprinted after its publication in the movement's journal (Vol'noe Kazachestvo). Balinov, like a few others active in Prague, was a Cossack of Kalmyk origin and a defender of the thesis that the Cossacks were not a purely Slavic people descended from the people of Muscovy, but combined groups of Mongol origin. Not in Savine. Rare; KVK, OCLC show four copies in North America, at Hoover, UNC Chapel Hill, Toronto, and Wisconsin-Madison).

Small archive of 14 Communist propaganda pamphlets and single journal issues from the Weimar Republic, dating to the early 1930s, discussing controversial or divisive topics such as abortion, socialism, Marxism, and Adolf Hitler, ranging from 16 to 56 pages, not illustrated. 8vo., most approximately 21.5 x 15.2 cm. Original printed wrpps., some with illustrations. Scattered wear, minor toning, some slight edgewear, a few pamphlets with small tears or losses to front covers, overall very good. Various, circa 1931-1932. One of the pamphlets in this collection is titled "Kampfkomitee Gegen § 218: Reden und Aufsätze zum Fall Wolf-Kienle", and was printed in Stuttgart in 1931. It contains speeches and essays by Dr. Friedrich Wolf, Dr. Lothar Wolf, Dr. Hodann, Dr. med. A. Breuninger, Prof. Felix Halle, and Ottomar Geschke, MDR, speaking out against Section 218 of the Penal Code for the German Reich which outlawed abortion. This pamphlet dates to a period when discussions led to a reduction in the maximum… Read More

A beautiful group of 16 examples of early to mid-20th century American sheet music, most 4-8 pp., the covers noteworthy for their bright and colorful patriotic imagery, including Uncle Sam, military figures, war scenes, the Statue of Liberty, and women wearing flags, by a wide range of composers. Some minor soiling and edgewear, several with small tears and/or creasing, two with covers detached, several with retailers stamps to front covers, overall very good. Various sizes, 4to. to small folio. Items loose as issued. Various places, with most published in New York City, 1904-1943. A wonderful assortment of early 20th century patriotic sheet music with eye-catching cover illustrations. Titles included are: A Toast to the USA - Mantle Club (1938) Battle in the Sky - J. Luxton (1915) Camouflage (Nut Song No. 2) - L. Wolfe Gilbert & Anatol Friedland (1917) Columbia March - Seneca G. Lewis (1917) The Columbian Patrol - E.S. Phelps (1917) Dear Old Yankee Land - Harry Lester Mason & Chas. Cartmell (1908)… Read More

914 pp. volume comprising a posthumous publication of sermons by Reverend Samuel Willard, an early American-born Boston minister who served as the pastor of the Old South Church and Vice President of Harvard College, some pages misnumbered, complete as issued. Small folio. Contemporary leather with raised spine, abrasions, soiling, edgewear, some splitting along spine, some slight toning and foxing scattered throughout. Lacking engraved frontispiece portrait. Boston (Green and Kneeland for Eliot and Henchman) 1726. The preface to the work praises Willard as "universally and justly admir'd and celebrated in these Parts of the World, for his eminent Capacity Piety Wisdom, his deep and perspicuous Insight into the most difficult Points of Divinity, and his most judicious and accurate manner of expressing and clearing, as well as most useful application of them." They go on to say that the work was strongly desired and wished for ever since Willard's death, and describe the volume as "the first folio… Read More

2 vols., XXXII, 454, XIII, 291 pp. text documenting the history of guilds in Barcelona, mainly during the 15th and 16th centuries, including the apothecaries, silver-makers and book sellers, list of members, transcriptions of documents, extensive scholarly notes, 19 plates. Slight foxing on opening pages, front and rear covers of first volume almost completely detached but present. Lg. 8vo. Wrpps. Barcelona (Libreria Antiga y Moderna de Salvador Babra) 1915-1918.

A complete run in seven fascicules of the Argentinian cultural and political journal, edited by Luis Aznar and Guillermo Korn, born out of the socialist branch of the Reforma Universitaria, each issue with a specific focus topic and subtitle, celebrating the Reformation as a political-cultural and socialist movement, each issue containing essays, prose, poetry, and cartoons. Scattered illustrations throughout from cartoons and drawings. 8vo. Original illustrated wrpps., housed in two cloth-backed boards portfolios with matching slipcases. Very minor abrasions to slipcases, some very minor wear and soiling to wrpps. Caracas, Buenos Aires, and La Plata, 1968-1972. The seven issue subtitles are: 1) Cincuentenario de la Reforma Universitaria. 2) La Argentina del Año 2000. La Ley Federal de Educación. 3) Círculo Vicioso: La Actualidad Universitaria. 4) Apuntes Sobre la Rebelión de los Jóvenes - Chile: La Unidad Popular al Poder. 5) El Materialismo Dialéctico, La Universidad. 6) Chile: Documentos… Read More

Paris: 1907. Octavo (20.5 × 13 cm). Original printed staple-stitched wrappers; 96 pp. Light soil to wrappers, wrappers chipped at corners. Good or better. First and only compilation (of an intended series) containing the documents of far-left Russian terrorist and political organizations Narodnaia volia (People's Will) and the later Partiia Sotsial Demokratov (Socialist Revolutionary Party; SRs). Operating in 1879-1884, the People's Will focused on conducting targeted killings of government officials with the hope of sparking a popular revolution. The opening document in the publication, written by the Executive Committee of People's Will, is the first proclamation issued by the party in 1879 to address the failed attempt on the life of Czar Alexander II, who was "sentenced to death" by the party for "his crimes against the Russian people." Two more proclamations regarding Alexander II follow, the final one announcing the successful execution of the Czar in 1881. Despite its short lifespan,… Read More

Prague: Plamia, 1926. Small quarto (25 × 17.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; frontis portrait of Pushkin; 107, [5] pp. Numerous black and white photographs in the text. A very good copy, printed on better paper stock, wrappers lightly dust-soiled. Scarce collection of detailed reports on local festivities on the first international Russian Culture Day in 1925, a large-scale celebration of Russian culture and history held in many centers of the emigration at least three years in sequence. A brief introduction explains the origins of the celebration, which was based on a successful Russian Culture Day in Estonia in 1924. The reports were gathered in the form of letters from international organizers and provide details on the celebrations in major centers of the emigration, as well as less-prominent places, such as Dresden, Lviv, Pilsen, and Sarajevo. The appendix includes articles on Russian culture, selected press responses, as well as samples of local invitations to the festivities and sample… Read More

Vienna-Prague: [Ukrains'kyi skytalets'], 1923. Octavo (18.7 × 12 cm). Original printed wrappers; 162, [1] pp. Very good. Second edition, but first standalone printing, of this history and theory of Ukrainian nationalism, by Stepan Rudnyts'kyi (1877-1937), a geographer from Galicia. "After studying at Lviv University (1895-9) and Vienna University (1899-1901) he taught secondary school in Ternopil (1902-8) and lectured at Lviv University. During the First World War he lived in Vienna, where he was active in the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine and served as a consultant to the government-in-exile of the Western Province of the Ukrainian National Republic. After the war he was one of the organizers of and a professor at the Ukrainian Free University in Vienna and then Prague." (See Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, "Rudnytsky, Stepan"). After returning to Ukraine, he became a pioneering geographer and was later arrested and tried for supposedly propagating "fascism in geography." He was sent to the… Read More

Paris: Izdanie avtora (self-published), 1937. Large octavo. Recent navy cloth boards, original front and back wrappers bound in; pp. IV-VII, 1-157, [1]. Three folding maps; charts and tables. Slightly resized; expert archival repairs to lower and upper wrapper edge and one folding map; very light smudge to front board; internally very good. Privately published treatise on the financial underpinning of Russia's military and political might before the Bolshevik Revolution, with an eye to the monetary resources required to restore the country to its pre-Soviet state. With three large folding maps and countless charts and graphs in the text. Rare; KVK, OCLC show nine copies, of which only one outside the US (at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam). Savine 03839 ("rarity").

Paris: Rodnik (La source), 1929. Octavo (18 × 14 cm). Original printed wrappers; 91 pp. Very good; uncut and unopened copy; trace of moisture to margin of front wrapper; some bleeding of wrapper color on first and second pages. Sergei Mel'gunov (1879-1956) was a Russian historial and political activist instrumental in the anti-Bolshevik movement in the Russian emigration. Early on, he published on the Bolshevik terror and prison system and was exiled in 1922. He collaborated on numerous publications, such as the historical and literary journal Na chuzhoi storone (1923-28). In the present work, Mel'gunov lays out a critical response to another great historian of the Russian Civil War, Pavel Miliukov.

Printed photograph album commemorating the visit of the Crown Prince to the Karafuto prefecture in the summer of 1925, with preface by Okishima Kamazo and edited by Fujii Shoji, consisting of 20 plates with 73 black and white photographs tracing the Crown Prince's trip including visits to schools, agricultural research stations, naval bases, goverment offices, and mines, as well as his attendance at events staged for the visit, including athletic competitions, youth brigade assemblies, and dances; followed by 77 plates with 163 black and white photographs depicting various exterior and interior views of commercial and residential buildings in Karafuto, including lumber mills, colonial buildings, pig farms, agricultural operations, fisheries, shops, hospitals, hotels, and banks. Some scattered toning and soiling, minor foxing. Oblong 4to. Original silk-covered boards, silk shattered along spine, professionally repaired. Toyohara, Karafuto (Karafuto nichi nichi shinbunsha/Otz Shizuo) 1925. The album and… Read More

Å pilberk Castle, Brno: between 1841 and 1855. Wooden box, measuring 27 × 18.5 × 10 cm. A contemporary manuscript paper ticket (3 × 7 cm), mounted to interior of lid, reads: "Eine Sträflings-Arbeit von dem berühmten Räuber BabinskÓ± (früher Wachtmeister bei den Uhlanen) verfertigt. Er wurde wegen seinen Mordthaten und Grausamkeit zur lebenslänglichen Kerkerhaft auf den Spielberg zu Brünn verurtheilt, wo ich ihn 1850 sah" [A work of convict labor by the famous robber BabinskÓ±, former sergeant with the Uhlans. For his murderous deeds and cruelties he was sentenced to life imprisonment at Å pilberk Castle in Brno, where I saw him in 1850]. Upper lid with old restoration across center; the inlay work occasionally retouched; the decorative paper somewhat discolored; overall still very well-preserved. Babinský (German: Wenzel Babinsky, 1796-1879) was a Czech thief and professional robber and highwayman, who orchestrated numerous crimes starting in the 1820s with a small gang that included his… Read More

XXVI, 392 pp. text discussing the city from its origins until the beginning of 19th century, with special attention paid to the city's notable buildings, notes, transcription of documents, indices, 118 plates showing drawings and images from photographs of buildings, street scenes, artwork, architectural details, etc. 4to. Signatures loose as issued, housed in 1/2 cloth and boards cover, covers slightly discolored. Saint Etienne (J. Thomas et Cie.) 1902. One of 500 copies.