Search Results: Manuscripts / Holograph / ALS / TLS Original from Singularity Rare & Fine

1950. Soft cover. Near Fine. Anais Nin, folding woodblock print social note card, probably circa 1950s. Unopened size is 4 1/4" x 2 3/4". Opened size, 8 1/2" x 2 3/4". Softly erotic woodblock print of the female form on the cover (closed format). Flirtatious note from Ms.Nin to a gentleman who had previously wanted to write a story about her, telling him that, now, the time may be right for that - and including her phone number. Date of this piece not known, but might be deduced from her phone number, by a Nin authority. Such an expert may also know who the gentleman in question is. And, for that matter, it may not even be a gentleman. Near fine condition, just a bit toned from the years, not much, and no other flaws. See scans. A neat and very "that's-so-HER" little piece of manuscript ephemera from the world of, and history of, literature - from a time when there were such things. Today, she would have just texted the guy. You can't collect that. L52

Carmel, CA, 1964. Original Manuscript . Soft cover. About Fine. 10.75" x 8.5. Carmel, California, 1964. Ansel Adams typed letter signed [TLS]. Two horizontal folds and one slight vertical fold to letter, else about fine. Photo is fine. Lengthy, warm, full-page letter from Ansel Adams - dated January 8, 1964, and on his letterhead - to "I.R." (Irving Robbins, a noted California collector). Not written to a stranger; in it, Adams apologizes for being ill at their last meeting and promises to be "full of beans" next time. Also referenced in the letter is another notable California photographer, aerial photographic artist and author William Garnett, about whom Adams says: "He is a GREAT photographer ! I am sure no one has approached him in creative work from the air." Signed, of course, at the close. The photograph, entitled Rocks and Limpets, Point Lobos, 1963, is on folding photographic card stock, with "Virginia & Ansel Adams" printed on the… Read More

Winter Park, FL: Self-published, 1940. Soft cover. Fine. Winter Park, FL: full-page autograph letter signed (ALS) by Irving Bacheller, written to his friend Richard Lloyd Jones, a conservative journalist and long-time editor of the Tulsa (OK) Tribune (Bacheller was himself a journalist as well as a novelist, and was the founder of the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States), and dated February 3rd, 1940. See scan: 8" x 6" letterhead stationery bearing Bacheller's address in Winter Park, Florida; the stationery is four-fold, but is written on only on the first of four sides. The condition of the letter is Fine, though of course it was folded for mailing, and is now tipped in to Jones' copy of one of Bacheller's most popular novels, "D'ri and I", which bears Jones' (presumed ownership) signature. Its condition is otherwise fine. The book is itself an unremarkable Grosset copy, and is ex-lib from the Tulsa Public Library, though in stout and… Read More

Christiansted, Saint Croix: Charles F. Blair, 1975. No Binding. Very Good. Very Good. See scans and description. Charles F. Blair TLS (Typed Letter Signed), Re: 1st Solo Flight Across Arctic Ocean and North Pole. On Antilles Air Boats, Inc. Letterhead, 2/12/1975, Three Years Before Fatal Crash. United States Air Force Aviation, Test Pilot Ephemera. Blair was a United States Air Force Brigadier General, United States Navy aviator Captain, a test pilot, an airline pilot, and airline owner - the latter, specifically, as founder of Antilles Air Boats, Inc., for which he was himself flying a Grumman Goose when he dies in a left-engine-failure induced crash, following a falsified maintenance release from a licensed mechanic. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Blair speaks, in this TLS, of his trans-polar flight from Norway to Alaska in a P-51 Mustang fighter - that being the first solo flight in history across the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole. He mentions an included photo in the TLS -… Read More

Willard, Charles [self], 1967. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Aviation: Charles Willard, 2 ALS & signed United Cigar Trading Card. 1) 2 ALS (Autograph Letters Signed, meaning handwritten letters) from the '60s, in which historically significant early aviator Charles Forster Willard briefly gives opinions about who invented what in the early years of aviation. But for folds, both letters better than Very Good. Dated in August of 1967 and May of 1968, about ten years before his death in 1977 at age 94. Written on the obverses of two letters of inquiry from a hobbyist / historian. Mentioned are Curtiss, Wright, Cayley, Stringfellow, Boulton, Brookings. Approximately 8.5" x 11". Please note that the full scans on these two ALS are intentionally low-resolution at this time. 2) United Cigar Stores Co. vintage trading card, signed at the top by Charles Willard, showing Willard seated in "The Golden Flyer", as so stated by… Read More

London: Duckworth, 1932. First Edition . Cloth. Near Fine/Good. Octavo. London: Duckworth, 1932. First edition, in jacket. ALS by the author, with an original poem to the recipient, laid in [see story, below]. Octavo, 88 pp. Bright blue cloth, gilt spine lettering. Spartan cream jacket (now toned). Near fine; paste foxing at endpapers, no othernotable flaws. Jacket is better than good, age-toned as noted and with a few smallish chips. See scans. This is the earlier Harry Clifton, namesake of the current Irish poet by that name. This one (the earlier Harry Clifton) became the inspiration for W.B. Yeats' famous 1938 poem, "Lapis Lazuli (For Harry Clifton)" after he (Clifton) gave Yeats a Lapis Lazuli carving. Clifton was particularly adroit at poems honoring - and marveling at - women, a talent to which the contents of "Dielma" will attest. There's more. Laid in is a letter from Clifton, on stationery of the Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco, to a Miss… Read More

Elgen Long, 1971. No Binding. Fine. Fine; see scans. Elgen Long signed and inscribed photograph, black and white, 10 1/8" x 8", dated by him on 12-3-1971. Inscribed to aviation collector Richard Calow, from whose collection this piece comes, at that time. No flaws. Long has a long list of aviation achievements and firsts, including the first flight around the world over both poles, in 1971 - just months before signing this. After his earlier achievements, Long researched, and wrote about, his theory explaining what happened on the last leg of Amelia Earhart's final flight. Ships in a new, sturdy, protective box - not a bag. LT19

Forrest Peterson, 1960. No Binding. Fine. Fine; see scans. Forrest Peterson signed and inscribed photograph, black and white, 10" x 8". Dated 2-7-1960. Taken in front of his North American X-15 Experimental plane. Inscribed to aviation collector Richard Calow, from whose collection this piece comes, at that time. No flaws. Peterson was a highly-decorated Navy pilot for his service in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was one of the initial three test pilots, with Joe Walker and Bob White, for the North American X-15 program. Ships in a new, sturdy, protective box - not a bag. LT19

New York, 1852. Original Manuscript . Soft cover. Near Fine. Autographed Letter Signed [ALS] from Edwin Forrest, dated May 8, 1852. 7"x4 1/2" pasted on 9 1/2" x 6 3/4" paper leaf. Written in New York: "Dear Sir, I intended to send you this note long before this time, but have been prevented from so doing by a vanity of affairs." Forrest [1806-1872], generally considered to be the first successful American-born actor in classic English language plays, was immensely popular in the U.S. and Europe and probably amassed a larger fortune through his acting career than any other actor anywhere in the 1800's. He was born in Philadelphia and made his debut as Douglas in Hone's play "Douglas" in that city. Forrest gave what was probably the earliest American "black-face" impersonation in 1823. His refined the better parts of his acting style by studying Edmund Kean, and played Othello in Nee York in 1826, that being his first notable… Read More

1984. Full-Leather. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Sacramento, 1984. Handwritten Manuscript Journal of B.L. Kennedy poems. Journal is a black leather-clad general-purpose notebook with "Scorpio" device and lettering in gilt on the cover, also metallic lavender imprinting, and is in about VG condition with bumped corners and spine ends and a hinge crack. Unpaginated, but contains 57 pages in ink, in Kennedy's somewhat floral hand. A collection of handwritten poems and notes by Sacramento counterculture poet and live arts events organizer B.L. "Bari" Kennedy, winner of a Sacramento Lifetime Achievement Award. Never one to shy from muckraking or pot-stirring of any sort, the energetic and charismatic Kennedy here penned thirty-three poems, all in January of 1984, including the handwritten form of the humorous and controversial "My Cock Goes To Hollywood", which outraged readers of the Sutterton News when it appeared there later… Read More

no location: Uncredited , 1993. Soft cover. Near Fine. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Fine printed manuscripts in Very Good covering clasp-binding. ' Heartstone' and 'Speak of the Devil' (printed manuscripts, unpublished), by an author identified only as Hagan, apparently unpublished. Foreword by Rev. John T. Collins the Catholic University of Americain Washington, DC. Something of a mystery; I have no records of from where or whom I received these. Two attempts in the early 2000s to find out more by contacting The Catholic University yielded only head-scratching there. Printed, based on the foreword letter, in 1993, though there is no publisher name or place. 'Heartstone' is 152 pp long, including an epilogue; 'Speak of the Devil' is presumably a shorter work, length unknown, with the first 10 pages (3 chapters) present. Both appear to be Good vs Evil fantasy fiction, aimed at the young adult market. Based on the dedication, certainly written by a very caring… Read More

New York, 1955. First Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. New York, no year, dated October 2nd. Autographed Letter Signed by Scottish/American counterculture poet Helen Adam (1909-1993). 8"x5", 2 pages, written in blue ink. Some folding wear, else Very Good or better. After moving to the U.S., Helen Adam was an important part of the "San Francisco Renaissance" in poetry, roughly a contemporaneous peer of the Beat Movement, but in fact Adam is seen as an immediately pre-Beat counterculture poet. In the letter, she thanks a Ms. Rowe for an article contribution to the New York Quarterly; also hopes her "auction for The New York Quarterly will be a great success". Top provenance. L28

Brooklyn, NY, 1853. Original Manuscript . Soft cover. About near Fine. 8.25" x 6.25. Henry War Beecher ALS [autographed letter signed]. Written Brooklyn, NY, February 15th, 1853. 8.25" x 6.25", mounted on 9.5" x 6.75" paper leaf. Vertical and horizontal creases to actual letter, light toning of mounting leaf, small divots on left side of mounting leaf from removal from a bound volume, else Near Fine. Nicely preserved early example of a handwritten and signed letter by the perhaps preeminent Protestant minister in American history (and an early social liberal), written in Brooklyn, NY, where he was by then giving sermons to crowds of more than 2,500 from his pulpit in the Plymouth Church (Congregational). The letter is a written as vouching for a student who had spent the evening at Beecher's home, and thus deserved a "credit mark". Born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1813, Beecher was schooled in Amherst (Mt. Pleasant Classical Insitution)and eventually… Read More

Nipomo, CA: Jeana Yeager, 1989. No Binding. Very Good. Very Good, close to Near Fine. See scans and description. Nipomo, CA: Jean Yeager TLS (Typed Letter Signed), August 9, 1989. Aerospace Pilot, Rutan Voyager. On Voyager Enterprises, Inc. letterhead. Aviation Ephemera. From the collection of Richard Calow. 8 1/2" x 11" letterhead. Very Good, approaching Near Fine. Midfold, several notable but light corner creases (see scan). Collector Richard Calow's surname is misspelled by the typist, as Calhoun. Yeager co-piloted, along with Dick Rutan, the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from December 14 to 23, 1986. Provenance information available to purchaser. LPR37

Nipomo, CA: Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, 1989. No Binding. Fine. Fine; flawless. See scans and description. Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan Signed Photo, undated but August 1989, in Front of the Rutan Voyager. Yeager and Rutan were co-piloted the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world from December 14 to December 23, 1986. Aerospace Pilot, Rutan Voyager. From the collection of Richard Calow. 8 x 10 glossy photograph, signed by both in black marker (see scan). Fine and pristine. Reverse of photograph notes in small blue print, "Copyright Voyager Aircraft", as well as the (blurred) year, which would have been a late 80s year. See both scans. Provenance information available to purchaser. LPR37

Dover, NJ: Self-published, 1992. Hardcover. Fine. Fine. Dover, NJ: Kravitz, Sidney [self-published by translator], 1992. Hard 3.25" diskette containing Sidney Kravitz' translation of The Mysterious Island, and labeled as such. Produced by the translator and given to me. Twelve files containing about 1.19 MB; fine condition. Files are not readable by this computer; they are probably Mac files. Sidney Kravitz' thoughtful and smoothly reading 1992 translation of Jules Verne's classic, with all three parts, translated by Kravitz as The Castaways From the Sky, The Abandoned, and The Secret of the Island. Kravitz' translation was recently published by the Wesleyan University Press [ISBN: 0819565598]. Lsmph2

Sacramento, CA: Evan Myquest, 2005. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Near Fine. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Near Fine. Sacramento, CA: self-produced by Evan Myquest, undated but circa 2005. Quarto, 4 pp for 2 Rms Castle Vu and 9 pp for Zombie Highway, loose in a manila folder within a glossy "Printplace" folder. See scans. Near Fine, no salient flaws. Poetry in the Sacramento style, modern and social with a counterculture salsa to it. Identified in handwriting, presumably by Myquest, as "Original Manuscript" on both folders, but the neat, clean printouts are neither redacted nor annotated. Poets. Received here from B.L. Kennedy - is B.L., himself, Evan Myquest ? Nice piece of artful history from the heart, soul, and breadbasket of California non-prose, Sacramento. Can you feel that heartbeat ? Please see scans. LPR5

Paris (11 Rue Theodore de Banville): Self-published (ALS), 1966. Soft cover. Near Fine. Near Fine. Paris (11 Rue Theodore de Banville), 24 Mars (March 24th), 1966. ALS (Autograph Letter signed) by World War I French Fighter Ace Robert Massenet-Royer de Marancour. 2 pages, ink on 8 3/16" x 5 1/4" paper, writing is about 1.3 pages in length. Near Fine With one horizontal mailing fold. Letter was written to a 1960s-era American collector of World War I autographs and manuscripts. The 86-year old ace (at the time) did quite well writing this ALS in English, something many WWI French aces did not do at the time. He died three years later in 1969. ALS mentions Richthofen and Guynemer. Anything pertaining to Massenet-Royer de Marancour is quite scarce - not just his signature. His air-combat units during the "Great War" was Escadrille 5 and Escadrille 69; he achieved the rank of Chef de Batallion (Major), and commanded Groupe de Combat 14. He scored 8 aerial victories, and was… Read More

Battersea and Cardiganshire, 1921. First Edition . Soft cover. Very Good Plus. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Battersea and Cardiganshire, Great Britain, 1921 and 1922. Standard letter folds, minor age discoloration and peripheral wear, else Very Good Plus. Three original ALS by Sabatini - author of such landmark masterpieces as Scaramouche, Captain Blood, The Sea-Hawk, Fortune Fool, Saint Martin's Summer and a lengthy list of other titles. Sabatini was just beginning earning to earn international renown for his lush, textured prose and swashbuckling, romantic plots when he wrote these letters. Two were written in 1921 - the year of publication of Scaramouche, considered by many to be his most brilliant work. The other was written in 1922, the year of publication of Captain Blood. Those two titles remain today the most valuable Sabatini first editions. That his life was becoming hectic in those years at the height of his genius is evidenced by these letters: hard to… Read More

New York, 1953. Soft cover. Very Good. 8 1/2 x 11. Etting, Emlen. The Song of Love and Death of Standard-Bearer Christoph Rilke [Cornet Christoph Rilke]. Translation of Emlen Etting, with his original illustrations. Typed manuscript, title page + 28 pp., dated 1953, with pencil ms. emendations and six original erotic ink and water-color illustrations by noted painter Emlen Etting, signed. The ms. is typed on standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper, while the water-color illustrations are on the verso of blank letterhead of the Philadelphia chapter of the Artists Equity Association [of which Etting was at the time Chairman], that paper being watermarked parchment stationery. An unpublished translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's prose poem (1899) of war, love, and sex, and the surreal but heroic death of Christoph Rilke in the seventeenth century, accompanied by what would have been its erotic illustrations. Slumbering nudes, mortally wounded heroes in the buff, and love-making couples appear to be… Read More