Great Depression from Lorne Bair Rare Books

New York: Vanguard Press, 1939. First Edition. First printing. Small octavo. Tan cloth; dustjacket; 91pp. Tight, straight, and unmarked - a Near Fine copy. In the original dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $1.00 at base of front flap), lightly rubbed and soiled with a small nick at upper margin of rear panel; Very Good. One of relatively few contemporary… Read more about this item

Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1939. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Patterned beige cloth, titled in black on spine; dustjacket; pictorial endpapers; 256pp; illus. Tight, straight, and unmarked - a Very Good to Near Fine copy. In the original pictorial dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $2.50 on front flap), rubbed and edgeworn with closed tears and marginal losses, not better than Good.… Read more about this item

New York: Robert M. McBride, 1937. First Edition. Special Missouri Edition", signed by Benton on an introductory leaf. Octavo. Blue cloth hardcover; dustjacket; x,276pp; 64 unnumbered leaves of plates in two colors. Tight and square, with some mottling to cloth at joints and a bit of foxing to endpapers; text remains clean and bright as do the tinted plates;… Read more about this item

New York: American Book Company, 1935. Octavo (23cm). Tan cloth stamped in red and black; pictorial endpapers; 128pp. Stamp of Rufus W. Kiser to front free endpaper. Sound but rubbed, small loss at base of spine, old dampstain to lower front and rear boards, occasional internal foxing: Good. Detailed account of the formation and activities of the… Read more about this item

New York: Random House, 1941. First Random House printing (originally published by Row, Peterson, 1941). Octavo. Blue cloth hardcover; 60pp; illus. Light rubbing at spine ends and board corners, else Near Fine. In the original illustrated dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $1.00 on front flap), but rather a wreck, rubbed, chippped and with a long closed tear to front panel, just… Read more about this item

New York: Crown Publishers, 1948. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 561pp. Tight, straight and unmarked copy, Near Fine. In the original dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $3.50 on front flap), rubbed at margins and slightly sunned on spine; Very Good. Haydn's third novel, an epic set in the American South during the last spasms of the… Read more about this item

London: Neville Spearman, 1954. First U.K. Edition. First Impression. Octavo (19cm); red paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in white on spine; dustjacket; [6],7-138,[2]pp. Near Fine copy, free of markings or notable wear. In the original dustwrapper, price-clipped, slightly toned on margins and spine panel; Very Good. West's third novel, originally published in 1934 (NY: Covici-Friede).

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1933. First Edition. First printing. Octavo (21cm). Black cloth stamped in gilt; [x],215,[1]pp. A straight copy, mild rubbing to edges, spine mildly sunned with gilt worn away, else Very Good. Account of the failure of the Bank of the United States in New York, which was organized in 1913 and failed in… Read more about this item

Elwood, IN: National Book Company, 1940. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Navy blue cloth; titles stamped in red; 291pp; frontispiece and 33 unnumbered leaves of double-sided photographic plates (halftones). Mild dusting to exterior; endpapers slightly discolored from aging to binding adhesive; complete and Very Good. Campaign biography of the 1940 Republican nominee for President, written to accentuate his populist… Read more about this item

N.p.: Republican National Committee, n.d., but 1932. First Edition. Octavo (22.25cm.); staplebound self-wrappers; 12pp. Minor dustiness to wrapper extremities, very light wear from handling, else Very Good or better. Republican Party attack on Democratic presidential hopeful Franklin D. Roosevelt and his running mate John Nance Garner, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Congress. The pamphlet, targeting African-American voters,… Read more about this item

New York: The House of Little Books, 1936. First Edition. Quarto. Pictorial card wrappers; [48]pp; illus. A few small corner-creases, else a clean, tight copy, Near Fine. One in a series of instructional books by the prolific cartoonist of the 1930s, who marketed his manuals as a means to "becoming your own boss" during the down-and-out years of the… Read more about this item

New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1938. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Cream linen titled in black; green-gray topstain; 352pp. Tight, clean, square copy with some fading to the top-stain; Very Good, lacking the dustwrapper. A collection of 14 short stories in classic Runyonesque style.

Rock Island, IL: The New Quarterly, 1934. Single quarto issue in printed thick paper wrappers; 26pp. Faint vertical crease; single ink stamp to front cover ("Bancroft Library / Mooney Papers / Withdrawn"). Else unmarked, and a clean, fresh and attractive copy. The New Quarterly, a magazine devoted to proletarian prose and poetry, and edited by the Chicago poet… Read more about this item

[Chicago: Pure Oil Company, 1936]. First Edition. First printing. Three 12mo volumes. Original gilt-pictorial paper-covered boards; each volume 64pp, photo illus. Mild rubbing and wear; internally clean and unmarked; Very Good or better. The complete serialization of Mattern's aviation anecdotes, as recounted on his 1930's radio program "The Diary of Jimmie Mattern." Published and sold by the… Read more about this item

New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940. First Edition. Inscribed by Willkie on first flyleaf: "Only the productive can be strong and only the strong can be free," signed, undated but contemporary with publication. A previous owner ("Elsie Louise Knieven") has neatly signed their name to the front endpaper, dated November, 1940, and further inscribed the likely date of the inscription:… Read more about this item

New York: The Daily Worker, 1935. First Edition. First printing. Limited issue; no. 50 of 100 clothbound copies signed by Burck. Quarto; tan buckram with titles and decorations stamped in brown on front and rear covers; 247pp. A lovely, fine copy, free of soiling or wear. There was a simultaneous trade issue in pictorial wrappers. The very scarce… Read more about this item

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, (1936). First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Plum cloth, titles stamped in silver on spine; 302pp. Some darkening of endpapers at gutters; erasure to front endpaper, still a tight, Near Fine copy in the original pictorial dustwrapper, price-clipped, somewhat faded on spine panel, Very Good. Iowa author's somewhat hard-to-find sixth novel, portraying… Read more about this item

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1936. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Brown cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 306pp. A tight, fine copy in the original dustwrapper, price-clipped and with an old clear-tape reinforcement along upper margin of verso (not visible from the printed side); still Very Good or better. A quite attractive copy of Horgan's uncommon fourth book, a… Read more about this item

New York: The Viking Press, 1939. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (20.75cm); beige cloth, with titling and pictorial elements stamped in reddish-brown on spine and lower covers; yellow topstain; dustjacket; [vi],619,[1]pp. Slight forward lean, faint foxing to text edges and endpapers, with a faint scuff at mid-spine; Very Good+. In the correct first printing dustjacket, retaining the $2.75 price… Read more about this item

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1938. First Edition. First Printing. Small quarto (24cm); oatmeal-colored buckram, with titling and rule stamped in black and blue on spine and covers; dustjacket; [188]pp; illus. Hint of sunning to upper board edges, upper right board corner gently tapped (though still sharp); a clean, Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is price-clipped, with modest wear,… Read more about this item