Rare books from Chanticleer Books

San Francisco: Wallace W. Elliott & Co., 1881. First edition. Hardcover. Very good. Original black cloth stamped in gilt and blind, leather spine has been replaced with black straight-grain morocco in a perfect replica of the original, including spine lettering and ornaments; folio (14.75 x 11.75 inches). (220) pp., including 2 colored maps of California & Nevada and Humboldt & surrounding counties, 1 sepia-toned map of Wind Currents of the Pacific Coast. Lithograph frontispiece and 48 lithograph plates (4 are double-page). Many wood-engraved illustrations in the text. Covers are quite clean and unworn; endpapers and blank leaves a bit grubby, occasional short tears to margins of pages, 2 leaves have old cello tape mends in margins, overall very good. The first history of this Northern California county. Quite scarce in commerce; only 2 copies at auction in 30 years. Cowan II p. 296; Rocq 2037.

Madrid: I. Sancha, 1830. Corners of boards a bit rubbed, front board faded at top margin, the 2 plates (2 laminas) promised on the title page are not present, nor is there evidence that they were ever included, else fine.. Contemporary red morocco and marbled boards, gilt spine; 12 mo; viii, (9)-340 pp. A translation of a rare Gothic novel by "Mr. Singer" - The Mystic Castle, or, Orphan Heir, a Romance" was originally published in London in 1796. Two other works by the author are "The Wanderer of the Alps; or, Alphonso (1796) and "Edwin; or, the Heir of Aella" (1803).

Paris: Jouve, 1949. First edition. Paperback. Sunning to spine and edges, else fine. 132 pp., illustrated with 3 engraved plates, 1 photographic plate, 8vo, original printed wrappers with engraved grapevine ornament on front wrapper. A scientific study of the vine and wine by a doctor of pharmacy. 2-page errata list at front, extensive bibliography. Scarce.

New York: American Art Association, 1914. First edition. Paperback. Good. unpaginated (approx 200 pp); profusely illustrated with 3 color plates with tissue guards, 18 full page plates printed in blue, many more plates and text illustrations in halftone; original printed wrappers over plain card, 10.5 x 7 inches. Moderate wear and toning to wrappers, about 20 pages with price annotations in margin, else near very good. 1027 items described in full. This important sale was conducted by the American Art Association at the American Art Galleries over a period of 6 days in February and March, 1914. Collector Solomon Solis Carvalho (1856-1942), was the son of Solomon Nunes Carvalho, the artist who accompanied John C. Fremont on the 1853 expedition to the Rockies. A successful newpaperman and journalist, S. S. Calvelo's career included a long association with Joseph Pulitzer before leaving Pulitzer's "New York World" for William Randolph Hearst's "New York Journal" during the bitter circulation war… Read More

Boston: Alexander Moore. Lee & Shepard, 1872. Third edition, Revised and Enlarged. Hardcover. Wear to edges, especially at spine ends, corners repaired, occasional light foxing to text and photo mounts, photographs are fine. Original blue cloth with title and ornaments stamped in gilt, black, and blind, octavo (7 x 10.5 inches), pp xii, 13-98. 2 maps, 1 engraving in the text, and 10 mounted albumen photographic prints. All edges gilt. First printing of the third edition. Professor Kneeland's guide to Yosemite was first published in 1871 following his visit to the region in 1870. He traveled from Cambridge (he taught at MIT) to California on the "Pacific Railroad' and accounts the experience more stimulating and healthful (and cheaper) than a vacation in Niagara, Saratoga, or the other popular vacation spots of the East. The photographs, though small at 3.25 x 5.5 inches, are beautiful. This third edition was published following Kneeland's second visit to Yosemite and adds 19 pages of text (second… Read More

San Francisco: Overland Monthly Publishing Co., 1899. First edition. Covers and content quite clean and relatively unworn. Trimmed by the binder about 3/8" in height with some loss to wrapper upper or lower margins. 2 volumes, rebound in half morocco and brown cloth (Vol. 33) and half morocco and marbled boards (Vol. 34). Vol. 33 bound with original front wrappers from each issue but not rear wrapper or advertisements; Vol. 34 bound with front and rear wrappers and advertisements. These 2 volumes contain 8 of the 9 short stories collected in 1900 in London's first book: "The Son of the Wolf": To the Man on the Trail; The White Silence; The Son of the Wolf; The Men of Forty-Mile; In a Far Country; The Priestly Prerogative; The Wife of a King; The Wisdom of theTrail. The ninth story "An Odyssey of the North" was published first in the January 1900 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. It is increasingly difficult to collect Jack London in these first magazine appearances of his… Read More

London: Printed by J. Nichols for T. Cadell, 1780. First edition. Hardcover. Scuffing to boards, corners reconstructed, occassional spotting to maps and text, offsetting to pages adjacent to view plate, overall about very good. xxii, 344, [16] pp., 5 folding plates (large frontispiece "General Map of the Russian Empire", view of the Frontier Town of Miamatschin, 3 additional folding maps); quarto (267 mm) contemporary marbled boards, later rebacking with russet calf, maroon morocco lettering pieces. A well-researched account of Russian voyages of discovery. Coxe combed the libraries of St. Petersburg for the journals of Russian explorers Nevodsikoff, Serebranikoff, Trapesnikoff, Pushkareff, Drusinin, Kulkoff, Korovin, Glottoff, Solovioff, Otcheredin, Krenitizin, Levasheff, Synd, Bering, Chirikov, et al, and the text is largely his translation of extracts of these journals. Pp. xi-xii contain a bibliography of works used. Errata on p. xiv, including a pasted-on slip of additional "Omitted from… Read More

London: Printed for Alex Hogg, n.d (but 1786). hardcover. Rebacked as noted, covers show some scuffing, corners reinforced sometime in the distant past, 2 pages with mends to lower margins, otherwise text and plates very clean and quite free of foxing with scattered mostly minor offsetting from plates to text. Overall a very nice copy. Folio (40cm), original sheep rebacked retaining spine and lettering piece; iv, 42 pp. (introductory), the remaining text an unpaginated [520] pp + 247 plates, including 51 mostly full-page county and regional maps (some with 2 images on the plate), plans, and including a large folding plate at rear (a facsimile of the 1648 document indicting Charles II). 4-page subscriber list and 4-page index to the plates at rear. Plates (many with multiple images on the plate) include, besides castles and various antiquities, 3 each of English coins and seals. The work was issued in 100 parts, apparently in rather random sequence. Gatherings are unsigned throughout and in this… Read More

New York: William H. Colyer, 1845. First edition. Rebound and with map provided in facsimile, text quite clean and overall a very presentable copy. (128) pp., folding frontispiece map (in facsimile) octavo, later quarter morocco and marbled boards in matching slipcase. George Wilkes (1817-1885) was a crusading journalist and for several years publisher of the lurid tabloid National Police Gazette. The text is divided into 2 parts, the first presents a concise history of the Oregon territory and an impassioned argument for the United States to lay claim to the region. Part II of the text contains the first person narrative account of Peter H. Burnett (unnamed) of the 1843 emigration. Burnett later became the first civil governor of California. An Appendix on pp. 114-127 contains the diplomatic correspondence, letters, and treaties between Russia, Spain, Great Britain and the United States relevant to Part I.Graff 4657; Hill p. 326; Howes W418; Sabin 103997; Streeter sale 5: 3143; Wagner-Camp 119:1;… Read More

London: John Stockdale, 1798. First edition thus. Hardcover. Recently expertly rebacked retaining all original materials, some toning to text and plates but a very good copy. 2 volumes, contemporary full tan calf by H. Faulkner; [20], cxc, 290; viii, 442, 119 pp, 51 engraved plates in the 2 volumes, including 3 folding maps in first volume. Printed label at upper corner of verso of front free enpaper: "Bound by H. Faulkner, George Court, Adelphi." The British Book Trade Directory finds a Henry Faulkner, Sr., succeded by Henry Faulkner, Jr. at a George Court, Adelphi, from 1790 to 1825. Originally published in French in 1797 this is one of three English-language translations published in 1798-99. This edition being the second of the three, preceded earlier in the year by the Johnson edition (which had only 41 plates). "The narrative of the enterprising but ill-fated Pérouse, is full of interest in all portions, but his relations of the peculiarities he observed in the natives of the northwest coast… Read More

Truckee: Crowley & McGlashan, (1879). First edition, first printing. Hardcover. Volume rebacked preserving original cover materials, endpapers replaced, faint dampstain to text, overall presentable and near very good. 193 pp., octavo, original brown cloth embossed in gilt and blind. Custom slipcase. Iconic history of the ill-fated Donner Party of California-bound pioneers who became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-1847. 48 of 87 members of the party survived. C. F. McGlashan was a journalist and owner of the Truckee Republican newspaper. He interviewed and corresponded with survivors of the Party and much of his book is related as first-person narrative. "The History of the Donner Party" went through many editions and remains an important primary source. Cowna (II) p. 406; Graff 2620; Howes M102; Zamorano 80 #53

London: John Haberkorn, 1762. First edition. Hardcover. In original boards with recent morocco spine to style. Boards surfaces are worn but stable, occasional smudges to text and plate margins, a few leaves with short tears to margins, overall the volume has a pleasing, venerable appearance. Ex-libris Woodward's Gardens (a San Francisco amusement park with a museum art gallery, zoo, etc. operating from 1866 to1891) with their faint ink stamp to endpapers, dedication page, and versos of most plates. . Elephant folio, 57 x 38 cm (22.5 x 15 inches), 2 fl., x, 52 pp, 71 copperplate engravings, including 1 double-page view, 5 single-page views, and 65 measured drawings and details of architectural ornamnents (1 folding), many engraved head and tail pieces. Originally conceived around 1750, it took James Stuart (1713-1788) and Nicholas Revett (1720–1804) several years to garner enough financial support to undertake their nearly 3-year (1751-1754) expedition to explore, document, and carefully measure… Read More

Sacramento: James J. Ayers, Supt. State Printing, 1884. First edition. Neat repair to spine head, spotting at bottom of front board, else very good. Original embossed brown cloth with gilt spine title; octavo; 184, 67, 61, 62 pp. Many engraved illustrations in the text. Folding table. This voume contains both the second and third reports of the Chief Executive Viticultural Officer to the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners. The 3 appendices are bound together with the report, separately paged and with individual title pages: Appendix I. The Chaintre System of Pruning and Conducting the Vine. Appendix II. Practical Manual of Pruning as Practiced near Bordeaux. Appendix III. Different Methods of Grafting the Vine. An important document in the history of the wine industry in California with much about the phyloxera epidemic, an ampelography of California grape varieties, etc. Amerine & Borg 673; Gabler G12425.

New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, (1939). First edition. Hardcover. Fine in moderately worn jacket with chip to jacket spine head and at lower left corner of jacket rear panel. Quarto, original navy blue cloth with gilt titles, 158 pp., illustrated with black and white photos throughout, jacket. (Jacket rear panel with Voltaire quote). The compelling visual chronicle of America's great migrations of 1939: the exodus of Black day laborers and tenant farmers from the deep South and the flight of drought-stricken farming families from the mid-continental dust bowl.

Boston: S. Kneeland and T Green, 1732. Second edition. Hardcover. Boards bowing, covers with old and successively more recent mends (all are sympathetic), binding quite tight though text is accessible old notes and figuring to endpapers, text is clean, good. Narrow octavo, contemporary brown calf with old and recent mends and infilling; (2), iv, (2), 220 pp. Scarce Colonial American tradesmen's and travelers' pocket guidebook. First edition was published the previous year with same imprint and pagination. Evans 3958.