Search Results: Illinois & Midwest from Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

Decorah, IA: Lutheran Publishing House, 1901. Paperback. Small 8vo. Grey wrappers. 32pp. Good plus. Outer wrappers (only) a bit edgeworn, delicate and slightly soiled, with a few small edge tears (archivally closed on verso) and single chip to rear wrapper. Probable sole edition, tight and decent and entirely in Norwegian, of this commemorative essay whose subtitle loosely translates as "A Talk for Students of Luther College on Lincoln's Birthday on February 12th." Uncommon. Not in Monaghan, which intentionally excludes most foreign language publications. U.V. Koren (1826-1910) was a noted Lutheran pastor and scholar who helped acquire the land on which rests Luther College (founded 1861), a private liberal arts college in northeast Iowa.

New Brunswick: Scarecrow Press, 1955. Hardcover. 8vo. Grey cloth with gilt spine lettering. xii, 208pp. Frontispiece, illustrations, map. Near fine. A lovely copy in uncannily tight and pristine condition. This publisher does not indicate edition in any verifiable manner. Uncommon, especially in such choice condition. Coles county lies in east central Illinois, and Lincoln's father Thomas lived there from 1831 until his death in 1851.

Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1929. Hardcover. Small 4to. Original blue blind-embossed cloth, gilt. 90pp. Frontispiece. Near fine. First edition -- tight, handsome -- of this gathering of comments in honor of the Wisconsin senator (1855-1925), ranging from a poem by Edgar Lee Masters and mini-bio of sculptor Jo Davidson to speeches by politicos such as Wisconsin senator John J. Blaine.

Independence, MO: Independence Press, 1982. Paperback. Small 8vo. Stiff glazed pictorial wrappers. 378pp. Very good. First edition of the first volume only of this radio program compilation. Tight and attractive.

N.p. [probably Springfield]: N.p. [probably National Democratic State Central Committee], 1858. Paperback. 8vo. Self-cover. 8pp. Good only. Moderate foxing and age toning throughout, with many binding traces. Detailed report putting forth the background and platform of this party, a "review and vindication of the past action and present position of the National Democracy of this State." First edition -- uncommon. Despite flaws, quite "handleable." (Pencilled notation at bottom of last leaf indicates this was acquired from one of Wright Howes' famous lists in 1940.) Not in Byrd.

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1861. Paperback. Small 4to. Original tan printed wrappers. 92pp. Good plus. Almost, but not quite, rates a "Very good" -- just a mild bit of edgewear and couple of tiny chips at extremities. Many of Douglas' Illinois colleagues -- Isaac Arnold and Orville H. Browning among them -- contribute to this collection of eulogies. First edition -- a tight and handsome copy bearing a nice autograph addition: The top of the front wrapper bear a bold signature and inscription: "Clinton D. Sellew / from Thos. A. Doyle." Doyle (1827-86) was long-time mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 1852 off and on through his death. Sellew (whose pencilled ownership signature appears on the title page) was a local public official and later postmaster of Providence. This pamphlet is also found in a yellow wrapper, but no priority has been established. SABIN 20696.

Princeton: Privately printed, 1970. Hardcover. 8vo. Burgundy cloth. 78pp, (36pp). Illustrations. Near fine. First edition, limited to 1000 numbered copies (this #201), signed boldly by Andrus on the title page. Answers the burning question of whether or not Stevenson was a Unitarian.

New York: Harper & Row, 1967. Hardcover. 8vo. Green cloth, dust jacket. xiii, 338pp. Frontispiece. Near fine/very good. First edition of this career profile.

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952. Hardcover. 8vo. Black cloth spine and yellow paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. vii, 173pp. Illustrations. Very good/very good. First edition of this first biography of Stevenson.

N.p.: N.p., 1975. Hardcover. Small 4to. Blue decorated paper over boards. viii, 249pp. Illustrations. Near fine. Probable sole edition. Cryptic bibliographically, but a thorough history of the famed Iowa communistic colony.

Iowa City: Penfield Press, 1981. Paperback. 4to. Stiff blue pictorial wrappers. (Ca. 75pp). Numerous illustrations. Near fine. A tight and attractive third printing of this 1975 study of seven historic Iowa villages between 1900 and 1932.

Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1968. Paperback. 8vo. Stiff red pictorial wrappers. 80pp. Numerous illustrations, tables, line drawings. Very good. Faint sunning to spine, else tight, clean and handsome. Second printing of this 1958 survey, the ninth title in the "Story of Illinois Series." Rather uncommon.

New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 337pp. Near fine/very good. Jacket rather edgeworn, with a few small edge chips and lightly sunned spine. A tight, nice first edition. Name/address label on front pastedown of academic and literary critic Joseph J. Waldmeir (1923-2013). Historical fiction about Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld and the Haymarket Riot.

Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1958. Paperback. 8vo. Stiff red pictorial wrappers. 76pp. Numerous illustrations, tables, line drawings. Very good. Spine lightly sunned, else tight and internally fine. Attractive first edition of the ninth title in the "Story of Illinois Series." Though not so marked, from the collection of Adlai E. Stevenson III (b. 1930), former U.S. senator from Illinois.

Savanna, IL: Ferguson Printing, 1980. Hardcover. 4to. Burgundy cloth with gilt lettering. 267pp. Map frontispiece, illustrations. Fine. A tight and handsome probable sole printing of this genealogy of this Danish family, settled largely in northwest Illinois. Uncommon.

Des Moines: Iowa State Historical Department, 1978. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff glazed pictorial wrappers. Pp. 163-244. Illustrations. Very good. Small abrasion at upper right of front wrapper. Tight, nice copy of this scholarly quarterly, this issue with a Civil War Focus with lead articles "The Career of Henry M. Farr, Civil War Surgeon" by Philip D. Jordan, "from Letters from Vicksburg" by Gary Gildner and "Civil War Wife: The Letters of Harriet Jane Thompson" by Glenda Riley.

Des Moines: Iowa State Historical Department, 1969. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff yellow pictorial wrappers. Pp. 81-160. Illustrations. Very good. Tight and attractive copy of this scholarly quarterly. Articles include Edwin C. Bearss' "The Great Railroad Raid," Gerald Kennedy's "U.S. Army Hospital: Keokuk, 1862-1865," Katherine Buxbaum's "John R. Mott, World Citizen" and Catherine Grollman's "Edwin Thomas Meredith and the Farm Problem," among others.

Litchfield, IL: The Sunshine Press, 1950. Hardcover. Small 4to. Maroon leatherette spine and brown paper over boards. 94pp. Color frontispiece. Fine. "First Limited Edition" of this historical novel of the early French settlements by "Colonel Davis." Bookplate of Sunshine Press publisher Garth Henrichs on front flyleaf. KILPATRICK AND HOSHIKO 22.

Litchfield, IL: The Sunshine Press, 1950. Hardcover. Small 4to. Red cloth spine, brown paper over boards. 94pp. Color frontispiece. Very good. First, limited edition of this novel based on actual Illinois history. KILPATRICK & HOSHIKO 22.

Alexandria: Time-Life Books, 1984. Hardcover. 8vo. Black blind-embossed leather with gilt lettering. v, 233pp. All edges gilt. Frontispiece, marbled endpapers, sewn-in red silk page marker. Fine. Tight, handsome facsimile reprint of the 1894 J.M.W. Jones Stationery and Printing Co. first edition, a volume in the "Collector's Library of the Civil War" series. James I. Robertson Jr. critiques: "Written in diary form; the author's extensive travels during the war, plus his discursive comments on all that he saw, make this one of the better personal narratives by a Federal soldier." NEVINS I, 54.