Rare books from Tennyson Williams, Books and Fine Art

Colorado Springs, Colorado: Byron H. Gurnsey, 1875. Original stereoview: albumen prints mounted on printed card stock. A rare and highly sought-after western stereoview showing a group of Ute males in front of the photographer's studio on Pike's Peak Avenue in Colorado Springs circa 1875. Most of the men are holding weapons; one of them has both a Maynard Carbine (the first one with a folding sight) and a Colt Model 1860 army revolver. This stereoview is from the collection of Robert N. Dennis, who was one of the most important stereoview collectors in the U. S. The New York Public Library's "Robert N. Dennis Collection" includes more than 70,000 stereoviews from his collection, many of which can be viewed on the library's website. The albumen prints are clean and bright, with very good contrast. The mount is clean, with a hint of edgewear and another previous owner's name written neatly on the back. Also on the back of the mount someone has written the title, "Ute Indians" in pencil.. First… Read More

Washington, D. C.: Unpublished, 1969. Original TLS dated November 7, 1969 with the authentic signature of Hubert H. Humphrey, Minnesota's "Happy Warrior" who was U.S. Vice President under Lyndon Johnson. Provenance: from the collection of Lee Saegesser, Chief Archivist from 1967 until 1997 in the Washington, DC NASA Headquarters History Office. Certificate of Authenticity available if desired. The letter is clean and bright, with 3 folding creases.. SIGNED. First Edition. Paper. Collectible-Fine. 10 1/4" by 7 1/4". Manuscript.

Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1942. 223 pages. This scarce book includes the full text of five stories by Helen Bannerman: "Little Black Sambo," "Sambo and the Twins," "Quasha," "Bobtail," "The Teasing Monkey," and "Kettle-head"--all with Bannerman's original illustrations in full color. The book is clean and tight, with a very narrow band of fading along the top edge of the red cloth cover; pages are clean and illustrations are bright and unfaded; 2 pages have a 3/4" closed tear in the bottom margin; one page has one chipped corner. The rare dust jacket remains reasonably bright, with light soiling and toning and significant shallow chipping along the edges.. 3rd Printing. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good/Fair+. Illus. by Helen Bannerman. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.

Amsterdam: Chez Zacharie Chatelain, 1728. Complete in 5 parts (various paginations) with frontispiece and 242 half-page engravings by Henri Cause, many based on those of François Chauveau. There also are attractiveengraved tailpieces following many of the fables. The 5th part of the Fables is not included in many editions; so this more complete edition is quite desirable. Recently and sympathetically rebound in full leather with the original spine and front & rear panels laid down. Internally clean with only an occasional hint of foxing; small chips out of margins of 5 leaves, not affecting text or images. In all, a very nice example of this scarce book, an early, delightfully illustrated French-language presentation of La Fontaine's fables.. Early Printing. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good. Illus. by Henri Cause. 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. Book.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952. 28 pages + 1 (of 2) page of decals. First printing with capital "A" on last page of book. "A very special LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK with a page of real decals." On the copyright page, the publisher explains the rationale for including the page of stick-on decals produced by the Meyercord Company. Almost all copies of this book now on the market are missing the decal page. Our copy was bound with two pages of decals, only one of which has been roughly excised; so a full set of 6 decals remains in the book. The book is clean, bright, and tight. The decals are in perfect condition, but there is some rubbing and staining limited to the blank margins of the decal page.. First Edition. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good. Illus. by Corinne Malvern. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.

New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1937. Special Missouri Edition of the first edition that is SIGNED on the colophon page by Benton, the important American artist who was at the forefront of the Regionalist movement. Surrounding the signature and colophon is an original elaborate humorous drawing by Benton, signed twice--once as "Tom" and again as "Tom Collins" (in reference to the drink in his hand in the drawing). Benton inscribed the book and drawing to Roy Snyder, whose signature appears beneath his own image in the drawing. Laid in is a rough sketch of the Snyder farm on which Roy Snyder wrote "drawn by Tom Benton at our house, 1949." The book is in very good+ condition: clean and tight, with uniform faint toning of pages; on the rear free endpaper there is some tape residue where the rough sketch was attached. The unclipped dustjacket is clean and bright, with some fading along the spine; relatively minor chipping at head of spine and along the rear flap fold.. SIGNED. First Edition.… Read More

Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918. (10), 350, (6) pages and 8 halftone plates by J. Allen St. John.  First Edition, First Printing with 1918 on the title page (Zeuschner 598).  The fifth book in the Tarzan series.  Dark green cloth with gilt lettering on spine and front cover.  Original dust jacket with $1.35 on the spine and color illustration by St. John on the front panel. The book is clean and tight; well protected cloth covers are bright enough to appear as new, with no edgewear or rubbing; previous owner's signature on the front free endpaper; top edge of textblock is slightly dusty.  The unrestored dust jacket is generally clean and bright; light soiling of spine and rear panel; a few very short closed tears along edges; minor chipping at corners and spine extremities.  The jacket presents nicely its new Brodart mylar cover.. First Edition. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good/Very Good. Illus. by J. Allen St. John. 12mo - over 6¾" -… Read More

Philadelphia: Printed for B. Davies and T. Stephens, 1795. xxxvi, 377 pages. First American edition. The first printing of this translation of selections from the French edition. The title of the book continues: "and containing an account of the various methods of engraving on brass, copper and steel. Of the composition of metals. -- of varnishes. Of mastichs, cements, sealing wax. Of the glass manufactory. Various imitations of precious stones and French paste. Of colours and painting, useful for carriage painters. Of painting on paper. Of compositions for limners. Of transparent colours. Of colours to dye skins and gloves. To colour and varnish copper-plate prints. Of painting on glass. Of colours of all sorts, for oil, water and crayons. Of preparing the lapis lazuli. To make ultramarine. Of the art of guilding. The art of dying woods, bones, &c. The art of casting in moulds. Of making useful sort of ink. The art of making wines. -- Of making vinegars. Of liquors, essential oils, &c. Of… Read More

Dublin, Ireland: P. Wogan, P. Byrne, J. Moore, and W. Jones, 1793. Frontispiece, vi, (2), 303 pages. The first printing of the Dublin edition, preceded in the same year only by the 2-volume first London edition--both preceding the first U. S. edition published in 1794. The Dublin edition is significant not only for its apparent scarcity but also for the frontispiece, an unusual mezzotint portrait of a younger Benjamin Franklin that appears in no other edition and has seldom (if ever) been reproduced. ;The clean and tight book has been sympathetically rebacked, retaining the original red leather title patch. All edges of the textblock were stained a pale green, perhaps when the rebacking was done--the staining intrudes 1/16" onto the top and bottom margins of the frontispiece. Very light and faint foxing throughout; occasional smudges in the margins. Two large but light waterstains to the frontispiece but only minor and relatively unobtrusive intrusion into the image. Missing the front free… Read More

London: Richard Bentley and Jacob Tonson, 1691. 336, 66, 57 pages. Folio (12 1/2" by 7 7/8"). Fifth edition, and the second illustrated edition of PARADISE LOST. The title pages for both PARADISE REGAIN'D and SAMSON AGONISTES indicate that those 2 titles were printed in 1688 by Randal Taylor. Sympathetically rebound in full brown leather. Nine full page plates are present--the frontispiece and 3 other engraved plates are missing. Some soiling and waterstaining in margins of first and last few leaves--still about very good condition overall.. Fifth Edition. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good-. Illus. by John Baptist Medina. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. Book.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. xviii, 329 pages. On the verso of the frontispiece is an INK DRAWING OF A WOMAN BY HOWARD PYLE. Pyle inscribed the book (and the drawing) to Esther Harrison Rowland (1881-1919), a prominent young Radnor, Pennsylvania socialite. The book is in about very good condition: clean, tight, and bright, with some fraying of cloth at head of spine.. SIGNED. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Illus. by Howard Pyle. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.

London: Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., 1896. frontis, viii, 515, (2) pages. First edition: mixed state, with pages 1 and 2 numbered, but final pages in all chapters are unnumbered. Bound in original green cloth, with gilt decoration on front cover. The book is clean and tight, with some wear & tear at spine extremities, but no chipping. Pages are toning. One leaf roughly opened at fore-edge, leaving a long closed tear limited to the margin and not affecting text. Previous owner's bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown endpaper.. First Edition, Mixed State. Hardcover. Very Good. Illus. by H. Macbeth-Raeburn. Small 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall. Book.

New York: Mason Brothers, 1853. 192 pages. Illustrated with in-text wood engravings. Binding is embossed brown cloth, with gilt lettering on front cover. Hiram Mattison (1811-1868) was a prominent Methodist minister in New York, who, in addion to his opposition to fraudulent psychics, was an active proponent of temperance and abolition of slavery. In this book he debunks his era's fad of "spirit-rapping" and other practices by which mediums or spiritualists claim to communicate with the dead. As Mattison states in the preface, spirit-rapping "is the grand climax of soothsaying, astrology, witchcraft, phrenology, mesmerism, clairvoyance, Psychology, Fourierism, Millerism, Mormonism, and all other superstitions, delusions, and isms that have ever been, or probably ever will be." The book is in about very good condition: clean and tight, with some minor edgewear and shallow chipping of cloth at head and foot of spine. Pages are moderately foxed. Previous owner's name… Read More

New York: Fight Stories, Inc. / Fiction House, 1932. 128 pages. A single issue of the first single-sport pulp magazine, one focused on the sport of boxing. Fight Stories became the prototype for other sport magazines. The first issue of the pulp were almost entirely fiction, but by 1932 there was a combination of fiction and non-fiction. Contributors are Seaborn Brown / Paschal N. Strong / Art Moore / D. A. Harrison / C. S. Montanye / Merlin Moore Taylor / Jack Kofoed / Jimmy De Forest / Hype Igoe. The magazine is clean and tight, with a reasonably bright front cover featuring a colorful boxing scene by illustrator Allan Thomas. The covers have edgewear and a few short closed tears (the longest is less than 1 inch); a chip at the foot of the spine affects the last numeral in the date.. First Edition. Paperback. Good. Illus. by Allan Thomas. Small 4to - over 9¾" - 12" Tall. Magazine.

Munich, Germany: Jack M. Straus (printed by F. Bruckmann), 1945. (239) pages + foldout outline color map. A pictorial history of the World War II 331st Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Division of the United States Army from D-Day throgh V-E Day. Undated, but the use of a Munich printer suggests that the book was published in 1945. The book is in about good condition: still tightly bound, wth short splits along the joints at foot os f the spine. Internally it is reasonably clean, though there is some foxing and soiling of endpapers; most papers have water stains and minor rippling in the top margin.. First Edition. Hardcover. About Good/No Dust Jacket, as Issued. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Book.