Search Results: Bibliography & Books About Books from Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1977. Paperback. 8vo. Stiff green glazed pictorial wrappers. 165pp. Very good. Very slightest bit of minor edgewear. Reprint of this 1976 text, tight and attractive. A delightful period piece -- entertaining as all get-out to laugh at "the way it was." Poignant and humorous to read the changes that a mere quarter century has wrought.

Portland, ME: The Baxter Society, 2004. Hardcover. Preface by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. Small 4to. Blue cloth with gilt spine lettering and paper front board label. 74pp. Frontispiece, illustrations. Fine. Handsome first edition of this organization's 20th anniversary publication, limited to 230 copies. Review slip stapled to front flyleaf and 8pp printout of another Stoddard talk about Portland collectors laid in.

Portland, OR: Metropolitan Press, Publishers, 1935. Hardcover. 8vo. Brown cloth spine with paper label and green textured paper over boards. 366pp. Frontispiece, drawings, pictorial endpapers. Near fine. First edition, with colophon statement tipped to inner flyleaf noting limitation of 800 numbered copies (this #488) signed boldly in full by Skiff in brown ink. The pioneering Pacific Northwest collector's quest for antiques of all types -- Colonial furniture, inscribed first editions, Indian rugs -- will stir the blood of any collector.

Chicago: The Lakeside Press, n.y.. Paperback. Square 8vo. Stiff yellow decorative wrappers. 41pp. Illustrations. Very good. Handsome promotional booklet hawking R.R. Donnelley's bookbinding and restoration services, beautifully illustrated. A fine demonstration of how this noted firm puts Humpty Dumpty (a broken book) back together again.

Pelham, NY: Bridgman Publishers, 1927. Hardcover. 8vo. Tan decorative paper over boards, dust jacket. 64pp. Numerous illustrations. Very good/fair. Paper loss at head of jacket spine, and jacket also age toned, rubbed and edgeworn. A tight and decent second printing of this important typeface survey by the renowned and incredibly prolific typeface designer and bibliographer (1888-1944). From the personal library of noted sculptor and painter Carl Tolpo (1901-76), who pens "1928 or 9" on the front flyleaf. Laid in is a heavy stock 5½" X 3¼" card, n.p., n.y., on which Tolpo handsomely pens some text, apparently for an artwork on a subject with which he's closely associated -- Yellowstone Park. It read in black India ink: "Lower Great Falls / of the / Yellowstone River / GRAND CA[NYON]," and again this same text, as Tolpo experimented with different type styles. Presumably this was a draft for a caption, perhaps for one of his well-known Yellowstone… Read More

Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1920. Hardcover. 8vo. Tan cloth spine with paper label and brown paper over boards. xxi, 373pp. Top edge gilt. Color frontispiece, numerous illustrations. Very good. Binding mildly edgeworn and spine age toned. A tight, nice third edition. You can call it a bibliophilic classic, you can call it a mouldy oldie, but in either case it's just a plain old good read. Newton can be rather precious and rather pedantic, but it's still a must-read for anyone interested in English literature and how to collect it.

Metuchen, NJ: The American Book Collector, 1933. Paperback. (Vol. III, No. 1). Small 4to. Stiff blue wrappers. 64pp. Illustrations, advertisements. Good plus. Slight edgewear, and front wrapper evenly, moderately foxed. Tight, decent copy. Major articles include a John Howard Payne bibliography, "Virginia Silkworm Americana" by Harry Weiss, "My Christopher Morley's" by Wilbur Macey Stone and "Plimptoniana" by William Harper Davis.

Metuchen, NJ: The American Book Collector, 1933. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff blue wrappers. 64pp. llustrations, advertisements. Very good. Some edgewear, rubbing and age toning to outer wrappers (only). Tight, attractive copy of this well-known monthly. Major articles include William Harper Davis's "Plimptoniana or Some Notes on the Plimpton Collections," Harry B. Weiss's "Virginia Silkworm Americana," Wilbur Macey Stone's "My Christopher Morley's," Douglas C. McMurtrie's "The Royalist Printers at Shelburne, Nova Scotia" and Heartman and Weiss's John Howard Payne bibliography, among others.

Metuchen, NJ: The American Book Collector, 1933. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff blue wrappers. Pp. 129-192. Illustrations, advertisements. Very good. Minor edgewear and some age toning to outer wrappers (only), but internally bright and near fine. Tight, attractive copy of this well-known monthly. Major articles include Harry B. Weiss on "Bookworms," Oscar Wegelin on "William Gilmore Simms," C.F. Heartman and H.B. Weiss on "John Howard Payne" and George Hiram Brownell on "Mark Twainiana."

Bloomington: The Lilly Library, 1968. Paperback. 4to. Stiff brown pictorial wrappers. (Ca. 50pp). Numerous illustrations. Near fine. Tight and sharp first edition of this exhibition catalogue, a useful pictorial survey of important patriotic tunes from the late 18th century through the Civil War.

Metuchen, NJ: The American Book Collector, 1933. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff blue wrappers. Pp. 129-192. Illustrations, advertisements. Very good. Minor edgewear. Tight, attractive copy of this well-known monthly. Major articles include Harry B. Weiss on "Bookworms," Oscar Wegelin on "William Gilmore Simms," C.F. Heartman and H.B. Weiss on "John Howard Payne" and George Hiram Brownell on "Mark Twainiana."

New York: Burt Franklin, 1970. Hardcover. Small 4to. Burgundy cloth. vi, 86pp. Fine. A tight and handsome facsimile of the first (1934) edition of this study -- volum 168 in Franklin's "American Classics in History and Social Science" series and volume 635 in their "Research and Source Works Series."

Chicago: Kenneth Nebenzahl Inc, n.y.. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff pictorial wrappers. (Ca. 100pp). Illustrations. Very good. Mild bit of faint wear. Tight, attractive copy of Catalogue 23, undated but circa 1970, a catalogue featuring 206 fine antiquarian books and maps -- "accounts of these many voyages, undertaken by intrepid individuals, fur traders, missionaries, Indian captives, professional explorers, immigrants, and adventurers of every sort...." Tipped to the inside front wrapper is a fine archival, decorative-edge bookplate boldly signed by Nebenzahl in black ballpoint. A worthwhile, well-illustrated reference.

New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2003. Hardcover. 4to. Blue cloth. xxxiii, 331pp. Numerous illustrations. Fine. First edition of this first bibliography of Masonic magazines. Very useful and superbly illustrated.

Metuchen, NJ: The American Book Collector, 1933. Paperback. Four issues housed in tan cloth over boards portfolio with cloth ties. Small 4to. Stiff blue wrappers. Various paginations. Illustrations, advertisements. Overall very good. Minor edge and spine wear, occasional age toning; binder tight and attractive. Tight, decent mixed set consisting of three issues from Volume III, consisting of: No. 1 (January), No. 3 (March), No. 5-6 (May-June) and Volume IV, No. 2 (August). John Howard Payne and William Gilmore Simms bibliographies, a Christopher Morley checklist, articles by luminaries such as Harry B. Weiss, Douglas C. McMurtrie and others. Lovely to find in the nifty trifold wraparound binder, with "The American Book Collector / Volume III" embossed on front board. .

New York: The American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1935. Paperback. 12mo. Stiff green wrappers with blind-embossed circular paper "coin" on front cover. 31pp. Near fine. Tight, clean, handsome.

Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1974. Hardcover. Small 4to. Red cloth. xvi, 176pp. Near fine. Handsome first edition.

Chicago: Chicago Club of Printing House Craftsmen, 1941. Paperback. Small 4to. Stiff orange wrappers. 14pp (rectos only). Near fine. Douglas C. McMurtrie introduces this WPA-sponsored study. First edition, tight and handsome.

Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press, 1967. Hardcover. Foreword by Leslie Shepard. Small 4to. Red cloth. xv, 324pp. Very good. Almost, but not quite, rates a "Near fine," for it's a tight, clean and lovely copy. First of this facsimile reprint of the classic and now quite scarce 1924 University of North Carolina Press first edition. An indispensable reference to scholars of English music. From the collection of musicologist and conductor/director Paul Clinton Echols (1944-94).

N.p. [New York]: The Colophon, 1938. Hardcover. Small 4to. Blue and tan cloth with silver decoration. (Circa 250-300pp). Numerous illustrations. Very good. Tight, clean copy of the famed compilation -- a wealth of informative and entertaining articles on different presses, book design, etc., with contributors such as John T. Winterich.