Search Results: Titles starting with A from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 1967. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Short passages, many from letters; most of the previously published entries come from less-common books and newsletters. 333 pages. 4-1/4 by 6-1/4 inches. First edition (states, "First printing 1967"). A very good copy in a good dust jacket with chips and tears at the edges; a number of small tissue-paper repairs on the back of the jacket. Prior owner's stamp on title page. A decent copy of an uncommon book.

Tokyo: Yihikaku Shobo Hatsubai, 1900. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. An economic survey of the United States, covering geography, the political system, transportation, banking, insurance, agriculture (including chapters on specific crops), manufacturing (with sections devoted to more than twenty separate industries), newspapers, and religion, plus an appendix on Canada. The book makes few references to Japanese already in the US and is aimed at investors and entrepreneurs in Japan. Mizutani (styled as Mizutany in the US) was the Chicago representative of the Japan Central Tea Traders Association in the 1890s, As a principal of Gottlieb, Mizutany & Co. and later T. Mizutany & Co., he imported tea from Japan for decades. 12, 14, 832 pages. OCLC: 38313444, 672477852. First edition. A very good copy; no publisher's slipcase or sleeve.

Osaka: Okashima Shoten, 1903. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A rare guide to coming to America published during the brief window during the first years of the 20th century when it was legal for Japanese citizens to emigrate to the United States, before the 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement made the process much more difficult. Still, this book reflects the tenor of the times. In the section on clearing immigration on arrival in the US, one of the role-play examples (in English) is "Q: Are you an anarchist or not? A. Not at all." (p. 98). "A guide to America for students which compliments [Seinen no to-Bei (America-bound Youth)] by the same author. Discusses passport procedures, the passage, arrival formalities and provides information on being a 'school boy', matriculation problems, and the American educational system"-A Buried Past, 132. The author of this book was the first ordained Japanese episcopal priest and the founder of the church's Japanese mission in San Francisco. Yoshimura was an… Read More

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1903. A guide to America which provides general information as well as specific facts on the American educational system, matriculation requirements, and curricula, especially of colleges and universities. The appendix consists of a list of selected American colleges and universities."-A Buried Past, 113. The author may be Rippo Eitaro Iijima, a 1904 Master's graduate of the University of Southern California, who co-founded Rafu Shimpo, the Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, the largest Japanese American newspaper. A USC student named Iijima definitely started the newspaper with two other students in April 1903. He first name is variously given as Rippo or Eitaro, depending on the source. The 1904 Circular of Information for USC gives his name as Rippo Eitaro Iijima. The book includes a one-page introduction in English; a fold-out outline map of the United States showing state borders, eight halftone plates of universities, and nine pages of publisher's ads. [10], 3, [1], [8… Read More

Tokyo: Burajiru ni Okeru Nihonjin Hattenshi Kanko Iinkai [Publication Committee for the History of Japanese Development in Brazil], 1942. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A two-volume history of the Japanese in Brazil by a one-time California resident who helped open Brazil for the Japanese. The first Japanese immigrants settled in Brazil in 1908, not coincidentally the year after the Gentleman's Agreement restricted immigration to the United States. The new arrivals mostly pursued coffee cultivation around Sao Paulo. The first volume covers the diplomatic agreements and legal framework for Japanese immigrants in Brazil. The second volume describes the various colonies established, successful businesses, and offers biographies of some pioneers. These volumes were published to coincide with the 2600th anniversary of Japan, a milestone used to stoke the flames of nationalism in the early 1940s. These books were reprinted in the 1950s, when Japanese immigration to Brazil boomed again, and then… Read More

Tokyo: Kaizosha, 1929. First Edition. Very good. A sequel to Tekisasu mushuku ta sanjuichi pen [Hoboing in Texas and Thirty-one Other Stories] modeled after The Decameron. Hasegawa "spins stories about people's lives in an urban space, although the time and place are no longer the medieval Rome of the Decameron but twentieth-century New York. The main characters are 'Merican-Japs ["meriken jappu"] whose background and reasons for immigration and migration vary, but what is common to them is that they live in a poor, dark neighborhood in Manhattan. Living like hobos, they work as gamblers, acrobats, bootleggers, owners of illegal bars, poets, or assistants to tipsters."-Kyoko Omori, Detecting Japanese Vernacular Modernism, p. 239. These stories are set amongst the immigrants of Third Avenue in New York: "It may be said they happily established a country - a country that exists even if it does not appear on a map of the world... A Bulgarian marries a Turk and has an American baby girl. The American… Read More

Tokyo: Rodo Shinbunsha, 1901. Trade paperback. Near fine. The third printing (same year as the first) of this very scarce guide to emigration to the United States. "A brief guide to America primarily for students and laborers. The author describes his own 13-year experience in America as a student and laborer from 1884 to 1896. Also reprints short notes from students studying in America. The appendix consists of basic English."-A Buried Past, 117. The appendix presents words in Japanese kanji, with the phonetic pronunciation in English using katakana characters. (NB: This is the same book as Tobei annai, the title listed in A Buried Past. See Tokyo Life, New York Dreams, chapter 6, footnote 56.) This guide was published by the socialist Labor Press and was a publication of Katayama's immigration company, the Association for the America-Bound (Tobei Kyokai). Among the courses of study Katayama recommends is medine, since "the anatomy of Americans, Japanese and Indians are all the same" (pp.… Read More

New York: Random House, 2006. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The second novel by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winner Olive Kitteridge. First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author with a reference to her alma mater, Bates College, and the title of the book: "For Dawn, Another Batsie abiding with me-Thank you! Elizabeth Strout.

Springfield, PA: Gauntlet Publications / EDGE Books, 2001. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. A tale, by Matheson, set long ago in Persia. Designed like an early 20th century adventure book, with eight color plates and many drawings printed in black by Stout. The covers are stamped in gilt with a color onlay illustration. This is one of 350 numbered copies signed by Matheson and Stout. First edition (first printing). A fine hardcover copy; no dust jacket, as issued. This is no. 292 of 350 signed by the author and illustrator.

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1881. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. viii, 512, 21 pages. 8 by 10-1/2 inches. Includes reports of the British expeditions of the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands (pp. 1 to 256); Egypt (pp. 257 to 346); Rodriguez Island (now Rodrigues; pp. 347 to 400); Kerguelen Island (Desolation Islands; pp. 401 to 480); and New Zealand (pp. 481 to 512). Illustrated with a few plates, but mostly filled with tables of data. Rbound in modern buckram. Some chipping and wear to preliminary pages, else very good.

Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 12012. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The 40th anniversary edition of this novel of murder and mayhem in Houston. This edition includes a short story featuring one of the characters in Act of Love as well as an interview with the author. This is one of 200 numbered copies, signed by Lansdale on a tipped in page. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. In the publisher's slipcase, which is also fine.

New York: W. W. Norton, 2020. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. This is the Powell's Indiespensable (no. 85) version, a signed first edition, in a special slipcase, with a small booklet printing an interview with Enright. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket and a fine slipcase. Signed by the author. With the booklet. Still SEALED, with a split to the shrinkwrap to insert the booklet into the slipcase.

London: Goldsboro Books / Gollancz, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The first book in the Memory of Flames (dragon) series. This is one of 150 numbered copies signed by Deas and housed in a slipcase. First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket and a very near fine slipcase with minor shelfwear. Signed by Deas on the limitation page. This is copy 132 of 150.

London: Gollancz, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The first book in the Memory of Flames (dragon) series. First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy (top of spine slightly bumped) in a fine dust jacket. Signed by Deas on the title page.

New York: Plenum Press, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 25 papers. 555 pages. Published in honor of Warren G. Kinzey. First edition (first printing). A fine hardcover copy (no jacket, probably as issued). Stamped "review copy" on front free endpaper.

[New York?]: Chapbooks.com, 2001. First Edition. Trade paperback. Near fine. 107 pages. A collection of poems limited to 20 copies. First edition (first printing). A near fine trade paperback. This is copy 13 of 20 copies, inscribed to Beef [Torrey] and signed Roger. Torrey is Jim Harrison's bibliographer.

Boston: David R. Godine, 1977. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A collection of short stories, two of which were adapted for the film "We Don't Live Here Anymore" directed by John Curran. 178 pages. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket but for a touch of wear at the top of the spine. Signed by the author and uncommon thus.

Framingham, MA: NESFA Press, 2002. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. An anthology of short pieces including articles from Gaiman's website, introductions and afterwords from books; and periodical appearances. Published in an edition of 2000 copies. 288 pages. First edition, first printing. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

Lexington, KY: Apex Publications, 2006. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 189 pages. Short stories. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Signed by the contributors on a tipped-in sheet.

New York: Atheneum, 1967. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Very good. Brennan (1904-1997) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990 (when he had the good sense to retire). Brennan was a key member of the liberal wing of the court and two of his early, still influential decisions, are included here: Baker v. Carr (1962), on the reapportionment of legislative districts, and New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), which set the standard of "actual malice" for libel suits brought by public figures. This collection, the only book Brennan published of his opinions, was selected and edited, with an introduction and notes, by Stephen J. Friedman. Arthur J. Goldberg wrote the foreword. xv, [1], 384, [1] pages. First edition (stated). A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket (with the original, rather expensive price of $10 preserved on the jacket flap). There is a short tear and snag along the top edge of the jacket, keeping this from being fine. This copy is Inscribed by Brennan,… Read More