Search Results: Rare from Louise Aird

This is the second edition of this book; the first was in Russian. This is the first English edition. It's an interesting piece of post-WWII Soviet history.

It was published in 1947 by the The Foreign Languages Publishing House, a state-run publisher in the Soviet Union that published Russian literature,novels, propaganda, and books about the USSR in foreign languages, including works by Lenin and Stalin. It was disbanded in 1964.

The Story: I can't say what the story is about; there are no summaries available. The few online reviews say that it's "exciting and well-written", that it provides very good historical and culture insight, and that the illustrations are ethnographically correct.
Its context is that the Soviets had just abolished forced marriage and bride pricing, and made waged labour more attractive (between the war and Stalin's purges, the workforce had lost its enthusiasm). This novel was apparently intended to be, and succeeding in being, encouraging to workers… Read More

This is a lovely copy of The Arabian Nights, Their Best-Known Tales. It is a collection of the famed Arabic folk tales edited by the American authors (and sisters) Nora Archibald Smith (1859-1934) and Kate Douglas Wiggin (1956-1923), author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. It is beautifully illustrated by the American artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966).

Black & White is the ultimate resource for connoisseurs and collectors of black and white fine-art photography.
This is its 15th issue, published April 2001.
130 pages
Inside:
London Auctions
Australian Photographers
Herb Quick, Michelle Vignes, Mark Edward Harris, Doug Beasley, Bill Schwab
See Contents Scans for full editorial
Unread. Mint condition.

Bliss is the well-known 1918 short story that was used as the lead in this collection, Mansfield's second, first published in 1920. This collection was a best-seller, leading to many reprints; this is a copy from the 1927 reprint (the 11th).
It is dark red boards with a small gold design on the cover and bright gold lettering on the spine. The covers have a few marks here and there and there is some shelf-wear. The inside is pristine.

Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (1740-1795) was a Scottish lawyer. In 1762, he traveled to London for the second time—James Boswell's London Journal is the diary he kept. Along with many more of his private papers, it was found in the 1920s at Ireland's Malahide Castle, when it became the property of Yale University; McGraw Hill published it in 1950. In it, one of the most notable events is Boswell's meeting Samuel Johnson; this led to his writing Boswell's Life of Johnson, the greatest biography ever written.
This copy is a first edition. No dust jacket. The gold on the spine has worn off to about 60%. There is some loosening to the binding and some darkening of the paper. Otherwise pristine.


Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

This is a near-perfect copy of six collected novels by the great British military novelist C.S. Forester (1899-1966). This book is now approaching rare status. It includes The Ship, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, The Earthly Paradise, The General, The Captain From Connecticut, and the African Queen. These books cover both world wars, the War of 1812, the Napoleonic Wars, Christopher Columbus' voyage of 1497, and the African Queen, made famous by the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. They also introduce the reader to the famed Horatio Hornblower. This is a large book--861 pages. Minor wear to the edges of the dust jacket. The edges of the pages are darkening a little. One dogear. Otherwise pristine.

This is three books about the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway published by The Calgary Group of the British Railway Modellers of North America.
Each one is black and white, glossy, 11" x 8 1/2", soft cover.
1. Canadian Pacific's Bill Hill, by Floyd Yeats. Fourth printing 1995, 52 pages. Perfect condition except for a pencil mark on the cover and a price tag remnant on the back.
2. Canadian Pacific in the Rockies, Volume One, by D. M. Bain. Eighth printing 1986, 28 pages, Mint condition.
3. Canadian Pacific in the Rockies, Volume Five, by D. M. Bain. Second printing 1982, 28 pages. Perfect condition except for price tag remnant and a 2" crease on the cover.
PLUS
4. The Royal Hudson and the story of railroading in British Columbia, an undated B.C. government booklet full of photos. It fully tells the story of the Royal Hudson. 47 pages plus cover. There's a minor crease to the cover and someone wrote 'Glenbow Foundation' on the cover. Otherwise perfect.

This is a well-loved copy of The Cash Boy, by the American author Horatio Alger (1832-1899).It was originally published by A.L. Burt in 1887, as 'Frank Fowler, the Cash Boy'.The story follows the usual Alger line: I've found this summary:Through some conspiracy, the hero of the story when a baby, was taken from his relatives and given into the care of a kind woman. Not knowing his name, she gave him her husband's name, Frank Fowler. She had one little daughter, Grace, and showing no partiality in the treatment of her children, Frank never suspected that she was not his sister. However, at the death of Mrs. Fowler, all this was related to Frank.

The children were left alone in the world. It seemed as though they would have to go to the poorhouse but Frank could not become reconciled to that. A kind neighbor agreed to care for Grace, so Frank decided to start out in the world to make his way. He had many disappointments and hardships, but through his kindness to an old man, his own… Read More

This is a fascinating little book. It is one of the Cassell's Country Cookbooks, published through the 70s and hard to find today. This one is on Scottish food--it was published in 1975. It is a regional social history, from the perspective of food and eating, but there are recipes included throughout the text (see photos).It has never been used, but there are a few marks in it. It was a gift from a Scots woman and that it noted on the front endpaper. Also, the original owner wrote a recipe for Tangy Tomato Aspic on the back endpaper. And the paper is darkening, just from age.Otherwise perfect condition.

This is a leather-bound copy of Catriona, Robert Louis Stevenson's sequel to Kidnapped, which was originally published in 1893. It has also been published under the title David Balfour.
This copy it un-dated but was published by Collins Clear-Type Press, likely between 1910 and 1918. It contains several illustrations by the British artist Archibald Webb.
It is 4" x 6", 363 pages. Covered in very soft burgundy leather. There is wear to the outside edges of the covers and the spine. But the book itself shows no sign of being read. Inside, it is in pristine condition.

This is a mint-condition copy of the Christie's auction catalog for Important English Furniture, Including the Collection of Joseph and Laverne Schieszler. The auction took place in New York in October of 1999.It is a beautiful catalog. 294 pages of gorgeous photographs and loads of detail for each item. The realised prices are included.Aside from tiny bits of shelfwear at the corners, it's in mint condition.

This is Bennett's 14th novel, published in 1907.
"A thrilling suspense and romance tale with a fantasy city as a locale."
Includes two pages in four-colour
Original dust jacket, badly discoloured and with one small tear at spine.
Green Boards with Black Writing: Pristine
Inside Front Cover, someone has stamped 'Made in Great Britain' (very small)
Binding fully intact.
All other pages pristine; apparently never read.

Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

This book is in good condition. Edited, with a Glossary, by W.J. Craig, M.A., Trinity College, Dublin. Including the Glossary, it is 1264 pages.
It needs some TLC; the spine has loosened a little and there are some marks on the covers to be removed.
The cover is dark red with a nice stamped design on the front and back. On the front cover, the word 'Shakespeare' appears in gold. On the spine, it says, in gold, 'The Works of Shakespeare'. There is a small ink mark on the cover. On the back cover, there are 4 small white dots that look almost like bleach. The pages have darkened. There is shelf wear to the spine, and at the top of the spine, there is a 1/4" tear.On the inside front cover page, there is an inscription: 'To Bert, Wishing him many happy returns of the day. From John, 25/1/11'. There is a full-page black and white portrait of Shakespeare across from the title page.
Hidden under the paper covering the inside back cover was an envelope marked 'Derby 1957'. Inside that was a ticket to the… Read More

This is a copy of Constitution of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Revised and Amended at the Thirty-Second Convention Held in Columbus, Ohio, June and July, 1931.The brotherhood was a fraternal benefit society and trade union founded in Port Jervis NY in 1873; in 1969, it became part of the United Transportation Union.This is a paper pocketbook, glued and then stapled. 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" x 3/8".391 pagesThere is minor wear to the spine and someone glued a square of paper to the top right of the title page. The cover is perfect. And the original owner evidently didn't read it--the inside is in mint condition.

The Courtship of Prince Charming, by F Frankfort Moore
258 pages, on thick paper
Red Cloth Boards with Black Design & Printing on the spine
Frank Frankfort Moore (1855-1931) was an Irish dramatist, biographer, novelist and poet. Born in Limerick, Ireland, Moore worked as a journalist before gaining fame as an author of fiction.
I contacted the Local Studies Department at the Limerick City Library, and got this response:
"Congratulations on picking up a bit of a rarity there!Moore was a fairly prolific author over a period of more than 40 years.The book in question is titled The Courtship of Price Charming, in the British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books to 1955 and the first edition of it was in1920, published by W. Collins, Sons & Co., London."
I have the email if you want it.
Provenance
It bears the stamp of 'John Rigby, Dealer in Watches & Jewellery, Kirkham'. So, at some point, someone bought it in Lancashire.
It then became the property of Jean Coulthard, OC OBC; she was a prominent Canadian… Read More

This is what I believe is a first Hurst edition of Crown of Wild Olive, a collection of three lectures by the English critic and philosopher John Ruskin (1819-1900).
It is three of Ruskin's most famous lectures: Traffic (1864), which is about the conflict between taste and morality; Work (1865) which is about the conflict between those who produce and those who consume; and War (1865), which is about war and art. I don't know why he called the book Crown of Wild Olive, but it was a best-seller for decades.
Around 1905, Hurst & Company (New York) began publishing best-selling books with beautifully illustrated covers. This is one of those books. It is undated, but the original owner signed the front endpaper and dated it 1912. She also wrote little snippets of poems and sayings on four of the 16 back endpapers.
At page 209, the spine is pulling away a little.
There's a small ink mark on the back cover.
Other than that, this book is in perfect condition.

This book was published by T Nelson & Sons--it is the UK edition, published in 1889.
The boards are a nice dark cherry red, with the title and a design etched into the cover.
The text and design on the spine are bright gold.
There are a couple of minor marks on the covers, and some dark colouring on the spine. Inside, the spine is tight.
There is an unusual lack of shelf wear to the edges of the covers, as if it was stored in a drawer.
Pages 320-323 have a 2" tear from the bottom and will have to be restored.
The pages are darkened, as you would expect from a book of this age, but it is perfectly readable. A lovely old book.
The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path (1841) was the last of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales to be written. Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero Natty Bumppo. The novel's setting, on Otsego Lake in upstate New York, is the same as that of The Pioneers, the first of the Leatherstocking Tales to be… Read More

This is a 5-volume lot of DICKENS' WORKS, published in 1900 by Peter Fenelon Collier & Son New York.
The original set was 30 volumes. A limited edition was leather-bound; the rest were bound in burgundy cloth.
This is five of the volumes of that set.
All are plain, with bright gilt printing on the side panels. Each book is 6" x 8".
Volume XVIII
Christmas Books & Miscellaneous: The Haunted House in Two Chapters & The Ghost in Master B.'S Room.
with Full-Page Frontipsiece & 26 Illustrations
568 pages
This book does not appear to have been read. The back and side panels are perfect; the front has a couple of scratches.
Front endpaper signed W.J. Barrett-Lennard 1901.
Volume XIX
Sketches by Boz
with Full-Page Frontipsiece & 31 Illustrations
568 Pages
The corners are whitened, as if someone tried to clean them.
Spine has pulled away slightly in a couple of places, from drying.
Front endpaper signed W.J. Barrett-Lennard 1901.
Volume XXIV
Pictures from Italy, The Uncommercial Traveler
with Full-Page… Read More

The Clever Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. It is the most important work to come out of Spain, is considered the first 'modern novel', and is considered by some to be the greatest literary work ever written.
This is a near-perfect copy, designed by George Salter and published by Random House in 1941. It was originally sold in a box sleeve, which has been lost. It is plain green buckram covers with a red and gold design on the spine. The spine is perfect except for a bit of shelf wear at the bottom. The paper is beautiful.It is a large heavy book--nearly 3 lbs and 567 pages, illustrated with numerous wood engravings by the German-American artist Hans Alexander Mueller. It has two flaws. There is what looks like original glue traces on page 14; a production error perhaps. And something, likely water, was splashed on pages 266 and 267. Other than that, it is a perfect, lovely book. Because… Read More

This is an excellent copy of The English Country Chair, by the English furniture historian Ivan Sparkes. There are copies available in Europe; in North America, it's quite rare.It was first published in 1973. Sparkes revised and updated it and it was reprinted, in soft cover, in 1977. This is one of those revised copies.The back cover text reads "From the Chiltern beechwoods to the markets, and thus to the homes of the world, came the English Chair, designed, developed and built by a rare breed of craftsmen. This is their story, illustrated with many original photographs, describing the history of a living English craft." 6 1/4" x 8 1/2" soft cover.160 pages including loads of photographs.The original owner read it to page 19, put a little dogear on the page and did not read it further.The cover show shelfwear at the edges; the remains of the price tag are still on the front.The inside is perfect.