Rare books from Kaaterskill Books, ABAA/ILAB

Paris: Firmin Didot Freres, 1877. First edition. Quarterbound red morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, raised bans with gilt rules, gilt titles,top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Spines and boards rubbed, extremities worn with loss of paper to the corners of two boards, some minor splits at the hinges, scattered foxing, bindings tight, leaves crisp, overall a very good set.. 332 pp.; viii, 350 pp.; xiv, 294 pp.; xi, 351 pp., plates (6). Illustrated with 32 copper-plate and 1212 wood engravings, some colored. Folio (36 cm). "Noveaux melanges d'archeologie, d'histoire, et de litterature sur le moyen-age" was preceded nearly two decades earlier by the equally valuable "Melanges d'archeologie" also containing four quarto volumes of illustrated dissertations on gold and silver church-plate, enameled ware, carved ivories, tapestries, bas-reliefs, and paintings belonging to the Carlovingian and Romanesque periods (ninth to twelfth century). Contains: 1: Curiosities mysterieuses 2: Ivoires, miniatures,… Read More

Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: Isaiah Thomas, 1788. First edition. Full calf. Boards quite tender, though holding, worn, circular stain to front board, chips to rear board, leather separating, spine label lacking, head and tail bands chipped, dampstain to free front endpaper, scattered foxing and toning, small worm hole to rear pastedown, impressions quite strong with only the odd crease. A good copy.. [8], 5-389 pp., [5]. 8vo (21 cm). p. 231 mis-numbered 431. Lacking only the final rear blank. The first true compilation of the complete laws of Massachusetts published the same year as the ratification of the Constitution. Called the "Baskerville of America" by Ben Franklin, Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831), founder of the American Antiquarian Society, was an anti-British radical and leading publisher as well as the author of History of Printing in America, with a Biography of Printers, and an Account of Newspapers (1810). Signed by C. H. Witt. Evans 21245. Sabin [45932]. ESTCW6813. Barlow 1592. Rich 348.

Philadelphia: Lewis R. Hamersly & Co., 1886. First edition. Three quarter dark blue morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, five compartments ruled in gilt, gilt titles, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. A very good or better set with the bookplate of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Illinois on front pastedowns, shelf sticker on foot of backstrip, accession numerals within, edges rubbed, a few volumes scuffed with some very minor tears, contents generally fine.. 8vo. A complete run of the initial series from Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1879) to Vol. 14 (Mar. 1886). A wealth of information on the military, missions, travels and explorations, battles, administration, organization, weapons, ships, and more. We also have the complete run of the new series and the third series.

Berlin [and] Paris: G. Reimer [and] J. Correard, 1847. First edition and first French edition. Three quarter calf over marbled boards, red morocco label, all edges marbled. A very good copy with the bookplate of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Illinois on front pastedown, shelf sticker on foot of backstrip, boards rubbed with some loss at one corner, short contemporary notation on rear pastedown.. 75 pp.; 68 pp. Illus. with 16 b/w drawings on 2 folding plates. 8vo. Wittich's original work on fortification and defense with Duparcq's French translation. Each version contains a copy of the single plate [51x45 cm (1840) and 60x48 cm (1847)]. Wittich was a Prussian Artillery Major. Deparcq was Chef de Bataillon of Engineers in the French Army, Professor of the Military Art in the Imperial School of St. Cyr, and considered one of the best military writers of his day. Either version is quite scarce. OCLC and European databases show only six locations… Read More

London: Published for the proprietors by George Virtue, 1838. First edition. Three quarter dark green morocco over marbled boards, boards ruled in gilt, five raised bands ruled in gilt, four compartments with floral gilt decorations, two with gilt titles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Very good, boards and extremities rubbed, owner's bookplate to free front end paper, small faint semicircular stain to fore edge of first two preliminary leaves, tissue guard and engraved title foxed and offset, faint dampstain to lower inner corner, marginal only, scattered foxing to plates, nearly all marginal or on blank backs, otherwise plates are crisp, text clean, binding sold. A very handsome copy.. 164 pp. + 81 lvs. Illus. with 81 steel engravings: port. frontis, title page vignette, 78 view plates, and 1 map. Sm. 4to. "This work had much influence in terms of increasing popular appreciation of its subject," (Blackmer Lib. p. 405). Atabey 922; CBEL (3rd) IV: 1378; Blackmer Coll. 1254; Blackmer Lib. 888.

Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional, 1854. First edition. Paper wrappers. An unopened (uncut) copy, spine worn, front wrapper remounted on later paper, nearly detached, with a number of chips affecting a few words, front blank chipped at lower fore corner, half-title soiled at lower fore corner, author's stamp on front wrapper and title page, his gift inscription on half-title, otherwise contents near fine.. 4 pp., l., [vii]-xxvi, 415, [2] pp. 8vo. Warmly inscribed to Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the Spanish politician and historian. Rodrigues 999. Foulche-Barrau 2110. Pinto de Mattos p. 267. Greelee 61. Bestermann 4979. Jones 1037a.

Paris: Chez Gide, 1839. First edition. Contemporary quarter morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers. A very good or better copy, boards and spine rubbed, scattered foxing mainly marginal and to verso of plates.. xii, 591 pp. Illus. with 18 engraved plates on India paper and 34 woodcut vignettes. 4to. "The most exhaustive work on this episode [the Pastry War] with illustrations, mainly by Blanchard, who, assisting also as interpreter, had additional opportunity for gaining information. He accompanied Baudin's representative to Mexico and other places, and used his pen freely in observations on the scenery, the people, and their institutions, all of which served to add variety and interest to the narrative, the attractive style of which owes much to the revision of Dauzats," (Bancroft, Hist. Mexico, p. 204). Raines, discussing Maissin's report, concludes that "Admiral Baudin's favorable report of Texas doubtless hastened the recognition of the… Read More

Londini [London]: Ex Officinâ Jacobi Tonson & Johannis Watts, 1729. First edition thus. Half brown morocco over marbled boards; heads, tails, and raised bands decorated in gilt, gilt volume numbers and titles to two compartments, blind tooled decorations to three compartments, all edges marbled, marbled endpapers. Spines scuffed, extremities rubbed, short splits to joints near heads on two volumes, tears to head of spines with some minor loss on three volumes, top edge trimmed, occasional browning or toning, but still overall a very good set.. Illus. with an engraved frontis (in Vol. I) by G[erard] van der Gucht after Thornhill, engraved portrait head pieces (from gems) also by van der Gucht, numerous woodcut head and tail pieces. Title page volume I in red and black; volumes 2-5 titles in. 4to. A much admired and respected edition of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Brunet called it "Belle edition qui represénte le texte de l'édition de Paris, 1624;" and Lowndes called it "An excellent edition."… Read More

Philadelphia: Abraham Small, 1819. First American edition. Rebacked in style with tan paper spine over original blue-gray paper covered boards. A very good copy, fore and bottom edges untrimmed, small marginal tear to map expertly repaired.. XX, [21]-482 pp. + adv. [2 pp]. Illus. with a map and color engraving (both folding). 8vo. "Illustrated by a Map of North and South America, and the West India Islands; and an Engraving, Representing the Comparative Altitudes of the Mountains of those Regions." Richard Henry Bonnycastle (1791-1847), an officer of the British army, "compiled his work with considerable care from the writings of Humboldt, and from the standard early Spanish books upon the American colonies. His volumes present a very useful summary of the condition of old Spanish America at the time when the several colonies began their career as independent states," (Larned, p. 443). This first American edition in one volume was preceded in 1818 by the English two volume edition. Sabin 6333. Palau… Read More

New York: Fawbush Editions and Solo Press, 1985. First edition. Loose folded sheets as issued with tissue-guards in stiff paper wrappers in blue linen clamshell box. Contents fine, very good clamshell box with minor edge wear, some rubbing and soiling, including two small stains on front cover of the case.. Illus. with 2 tipped-in color photographs and 9 lithographs, most hand-colored. Folio. Number XV of twenty roman numeral copies (from a total edition of 120 copies, the rest numbered 1-100). Some with hand coloring by Cinda Sparling; letterpress by Carol Bundy. Signed by the artist and author.

New York: Alco-Gravure, Inc., 1918. First edition. Tiny tear to upper margin else fine (A).. 84 3/4 x 56 cm. (33 x 22 inches). "Best known as an illustrator, Joseph Pennell [1857-1926] worked in a style of line drawing already familiar to many from the work of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, whose style captured the energy of light. Pennell creates a landscape of liberty endangered—almost destroyed... The need for freedom, so valued by the artists of the day, is articulated here in support of the Liberty Loan bond drive," (Therese Thau Heyman, Posters American Style). There are a number of variants of this iconic poster with some variation in both size and color. Paret, Persuasive Images 103. Heyman, American Style 61. Rawls p. 227. Darracott 35. Theofiles 161. Borkan 109.

Londres: Imprenta española de M. Calero, 1826. Reimpreso a Londres. Three quarter calf over marbled boards. A very good or better copy, extremities rubbed, corners slightly bumped, some minor foxing and small stain on the blank area of the portrait, else contents quite clean and about fine.. 80 pp., [3] leaves of plates. Illus. with 3 plates. 8vo. Poem to Bolivar's victory on the plains of Juin in Peru, 6 August 1824. José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780-1847), who would later go on to become President of Ecuador, sees the freedom fighters under Bolivar as heirs of the Incas. First published Guayaquil, Ecuador: Imprenta de la Ciudad, por M.I. Murillo, 1825 a year after the battle. The frontispiece portrait and the plate "Venganza y Gloria nos daran los cielos" are both engraved by Ackermann. There was a Paris edition the same year. Quite uncommon as it was published in a 'short run and never put on sale' according to Palau (IX, p. 377). Espinosa Pólit, in his "Poesías completas de....Olmedo," published… Read More

1930. Very good, folded, minor edge wear, tiny chip at top edge.. [1] pp. 8 x 10 inches. Dated May 31, 1930, and signed Philip F. La Follett, who was governor of Wisconsin (1931-33), brother of Robert M. La Follette, Jr. with whom he created the Wisconsin Progressive Party, and the son of Robert M. La Follette, leading Wisconsin statesman for many years, who ran for president on the Progressive Party ticket in 1924. This quote, signed by La Follett, was extracted from a speech he delivered at the "Unveiling of the Statue of Hon. Robert M. La Follette" in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capital on April 25, 1929 (See Congressional Record, 71st Cong., 1st Session, p. 3). "It would be unnecessary to point out to you that he had no narrow sense that he represented any single state or that his duty was confined to the people of Wisconsin. But throughout his long public life the greatest source of support to him was the sense of personal friendship and intimate association with the people of his state. He… Read More

[New London]: [Printed by Timothy Green], 1775. Top edge torn away thus lacking the state seal and title above it (about 10 cm.), lower title lacking a few words of title, folded, light soiling, a few small tears and chips.. 1 sheet. 24 [of 33] cm. "The Gentlemen, nominated by the votes of the Freemen, to stand for Election in May next, as sent in to the General Assembly, holden at New-Haven on the second Thursday of October, 1775, viz. The Honorable Jonathan Trumbull, Esq.; The Honorable Matthew Griswold, Esq.; Jabez Hamlin, Esq.; Elisha Sheldon, Esq.; Eliphalet Dyer, Esq.; Jabez Huntington, Esq.; William Pitkin, Esq.; Roger Sherman, Esq.; Roger Sherman, Esq.; Abraham Davenport, Esq.; William Samuel Johnson, Esq.; Joseph Spencer, Esq.; Oliver Wolcott, Esq.; Samuel Huntington, Esq.; Mr. Richard Law; Col. William Williams; Col. Erastus Wolcott; Col. Samuel Holden Parsons; Mr. Daniel Sherman; Mr. Silas Dean; Mr. Titus Hosmer." The seat of Governor was won by Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785), a friend… Read More

Centerport, Long Island, [NY], 1920. Very good, slightly browned edges, illustrations bright and clear.. 2 envelopes. Illus. with colored drawings. 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. The first illustration depicts a winter scene of a man digging his car out of the snow. The second is of a man shaking hands with a bag of money. The first was the earlier, perhaps a bit before 1920, the second about 1923. Hal Merritt was a famous Vaudeville illustrator; he provided the drawings for Will Cressy's 1914 book, "Continuous Vaudeville," was on the same bill with W.C. Fields, and was known as "the talking cartoonist." for his act "Chalk talks and monologue", where he accompanied his monologues with drawings on stage, The Philadelphia Keith-Albee Theater Manager's Report for June 27th, 1904 notes: "HAL MERRITT-15 mins. in one-Monologuist and mimic, with a little poster drawing. Well known on the circuit. Always makes good here, if not on too late. His poster work seems to go best. Good act." Brevoort Bristol Barr… Read More