Letters and Holographic Documents

Faircopy/Broadside of the opening paragraphs of Mailer's first novel. 8.5 X 11 inch, aprx 30 lb stock. Signed by Mailer in ink. No publishing information; limitation unspecified but likely done up as a promotional item for distribution upon the publication of one of the anniversary editions of the novel, a Mailer birthday, etc. No statement of limitation. Fine condition.

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Blue cloth stamped in gold on the cover and the spine, top edge stained red. Mild soiling to cloth and light ripple to lower edges. A very good+ copy in tattered dustjacket with several creases, tears and old tape mends to the reverse. Comes with a holograph letter signed and dated May 12, 1933 by Villa (to whom this book is dedicated) and addressed to literary editor Harry Hansen. ; Octavo; Signed by One Author.

Washington, D.C., 1871. unbound. Three-page handwritten letter with outstanding content, 8 x 5 inches, Washington, D.C., June 22, 1871. Written to former Confederate Brigadier General Marcus J. Wright, commander of the District of Atlanta, in full: "Your note of June 1, awaited me here on my return from Texas. It is sharp that you even noticed in the newspaper of the day the fact that less than a year ago Capt. Buel of the Ordinance Department, the same who was on my staff at Atlanta, and who was taken prisoner the day before we entered that place, was murdered at the U.S. Arsenal Fort Leavenworth, by a discharged soldier. Buel had punished this man for some offense and was retiring from a party inside Leavenworth to his own house, just outside after entering his own yard, with his wife on his arm, was shot dead by a man concealed in a brush within a few feet. The man for a time escaped, but was hunted and at last caught, he was so badly wounded in capture that he started confessing the deed,… Read More

Sacramento, California , 1855. Two manuscript letters in ink, both on ruled paper with folding creases, the 1855 letter 8" x 12 1/2", with single spaced writing both sides, approx. 500 words. The 1856 letter 15" x 10", folded in half to make 4 pp., approx. 300 words, with small blindstamp top left corner depicting an eagle. The earlier letter is headed "September 18th 1855 Naperville Dupage County Illinois" and ends "Michael direct your letters Nevada County, Nevada post office, California". George writes to his brother Michael in Naperville that he has "seen a good dele sins i rote you they last letter", including a hundred "inshins" and some "Buffellow". He adds that "we had good luck all they way of may we left Council Bluff", and that he is not home sick yet. He then talks of the gold mines, river mining, what they are paying, and the cost of things such as board ("from five to ten dollars a week"),… Read More

1792. Very Good. Handwritten letter, dated Jan. 28, 1792, to James McCubbin Lingan, Collector at Georgetown, Md., acknowledging the receipt of a paid draft of the Treasurer for $400. Signed by Tench Coxe (1755-1824), who had been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 1789 when Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury. Coxe served in the Continental Congnress and was the author of numerous political pieces. James McCubbin Lingan (1751-1812) served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was appointed Collector of the Port of Georgetown by George Washington after the war. He was murdered by a mob while defending the freedom of the press during the War of 1812. In Very Good Condition: several old folds; starting to separate along one fold; otherwise, clean and solid.

New York: Brooklyn Fire Department, 1890. Hardcover. Very Good. 400 p.; 36 cm. Half calf with morocco-grain cloth over boards. The handwritten daily record book of Engine Co. No. 12 of the Brooklyn Fire Department. The list of members, with street addresses, attached to the front free endpaper names Stephen Allen as the foreman. Allen was born in 1853 and became a fireman in 1880, assistant foreman in 1887, and foreman in 1889. It provided a daily record of the activities of the fire engine company from Oct. 25, 1890, through June 8, 1891. A heavy book; for international shipping, it will have to be sent by priority international. In Very Good Condition: loss of leather from spine; edges rubbed; cocked; cover is soiled; front free endpaper is detached but present; some page corners creased; internally clean and solid.

BERLIOZ, HECTOR. (1803-1869). French composer; creator of Harold in Italy, Symphonie Fantastique, and other masterpieces. ALS. ("Hector Berlioz"). 2pp. 4to. Paris, October 9, 1834. To l'intendant general de la liste civile. In French with translation.
"I am planning to give three concerts over the course of next November. The Salle des Menus Plaisirs, which you have been kind enough to make available to me several times in the past, is really the only venue in Paris that lends itself to these kinds of musical events. So I request that you will grant me permission to hold mine there. These concerts, just like the ones I gave last years, would take place on Sundays at 2 in the afternoon. With all my respect, dear General Intendant, your humble servant…"
The 1830s were difficult for Berlioz. Bereft of the recognition he craved, and unable to earn a steady income from composing, he worked as a critic for several journals and newspapers and accepted the few commissions that came his way. Nevertheless, he… Read More

BOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS-ANTOINE. (1729-1811). French navigator who led the first French voyage around the world in 1766-1769, making significant geographical observations; the South American climbing plant Bougainvillea is named in his honor. ADS. ("De Bougainville"). ½p. Tall 4to. Versailles, September 5, 1764. To the French Minister of Foreign Affairs ÉTIENNE FRANÇOIS, DUC DE CHOISEUL (1719-1785). In French with translation.
"Memorandum

Mr de Bougainville begs Monseigneur the Duke de Choiseul to be good enough to grant Sir de Romainville an appointment of infantry lieutenant. This young man embarks with him and must be employed in the colony both for detachments and for the reconnaissance of the island. He's already participated to the campaigns of 1759 and 1760 and 1761 as volunteer in the chasseurs of Conflans and that of 1762 as aide-de-camp of Mr. Dennery chief of the Condé army general staff..."
A French army officer who worked in London's French embassy, Bougainville served as General… Read More

1897. Boston, April 10, 1897.. Boston, April 10, 1897. "Don't you Feel a Sort of Settled Intimacy as the Result of Time and our Writing and Every Thing?" [Manuscript]. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. [1841-1935]. [Castletown, Lady Clare (1853-1927)]. [Autograph Letter Signed "OWH" to Lady Clare Castletown, Boston (?), April 10, 1897]. 10" x 8" bifolium, content filling rectos and versos of both leaves. Light toning, vertical and horizontal fold lines, minor tears to folds in two places. $3,000. * This letter dates from the early years of Holmes's lengthy correspondence with Lady Clare Castletown, an aristocratic woman with whom Holmes had an intense flirtation. Holmes, then an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, offers interesting remarks about the statesman John Hay, the historian Henry Adams and the recently-published book Farthest North (1897) by the Norwegian Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. The letter reads, in part: "To answer your question about our Ambassador [Hay], I… Read More

1898. Near Fine. 1 handwritten letter on both sides of a piece of Naval and Military Club stationery with the club emblem and a black border, dated 13 July 1898. General Bindon Blood (1842-1940), a British Army commander who served in India, Southern Africa, and Afghanistan, is responding to an invitation. He was in London briefly in the summer of 1898 after being appointed major general and before returning, as he references here, to the Meerut district of India, "which is one of the very best commands in India." He was appointed in command of that district in September 1898. Although he spend part of 1901 fighting in the Second Boer War, he returned to India later that year. In 1907 he retired to London. Winston Churchill served under Blood in 1897 and dedicated The Story of the Malakand Field Force to him. In Near Fine Condition: small discoloration on the first side; otherwise, clean and crisp.

1823. Very Good +. 1 handwritten letter, dated 6 March 1823, from Lord Thomas Cochrane to Captain David Porter of the U.S. Navy expressing condolences over the death of Lt. Cocke, who was killed when the Spanish commander in San Juan fired to warn the American ships from entering the port. Lord Thomas Cochrane (1775-1860), later Admiral, had earned the nickname The Sea Wolf during the Napoleonic Wars before being dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 following a conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. In 1818 he went to Chile and became First Vice Admiral of its navy, leading it during the Chilean war of independence against Spain. In 1820 he was was active in achieving independence for Peru. He left the Chilean Navy on 29 Nov. 1822. Cochrane was apparently on his way to Brazil on 6 March 1823 when this letter was written. On 21 March 1823 he took command of the Brazilian Navy. He left Brazil in 1825, fought for Greece in 1827 and 1828, and was restroed to the Royal Navy in 1832 as a Rear… Read More

CHURCHILL "BUYS" BALFOUR A CAR!CHURCHILL, WINSTON S. "Confidential" typed letter signed by "Winston S. Churchill" as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the name of the recipient "Bran" and part of the date "13" handwritten by Churchill.One page with the blind-stamped stationery "Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, S.W.," dated August 13, 1928. 4to.The letter concerns funds that Churchill raised to purchase a car and cover living expenses for former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour: "The subscription list is the Balfour Testimonial Fund being now closed. I feel that you, who so kindly subscribed to that fund, will like to know how much was subscribed and to what purpose it has been put. The total amount received from members of both Houses of Parliament was £4,918.6.6. [~$450,000 in 2021] The car has been paid for and the balance has been handed to Lord Balfour to be used for his personal benefit in any way he may think fit. I may add that I have received from him a letter expressing his grateful thanks to the… Read More

, . 5 1/8" x 6 3/4" signed letter from Robert Dale Owen (1801-1877) dated May 5, 1865 at Cincinnati and addressed to publishers Mssrs. Tickner & Fields, acknowledging receipt of $50 as payment for his article on Hofwyl appearing in Atlantic Magazine that month, a fond history of his years at Hofwyl school, the independent self-governing private college in Switzerland to which Owen credited the molding of much of his character and philosophy. In addition to his notorious involvement with social reforms, Robert Dale Owen served in the Indiana legislature and the U.S. House Of Representatives (1843 to 1847), where he introduced and secured passage of the bill to establish the Smithsonian Institution, for which he was appointed to its first board of regents. Never without controversy, in the 1850 ‘s he turned to spiritualism, and while his book on the subject, "Footfalls On The Boundary Of Another World" was popular with the general public, it incurred ridicule from a number of his… Read More

New York: Basic Books, Inc, 1978. First edition. Octavo. Publisher's cloth in original dust jacket (not price-clipped); minor toning to dust jacket, with a small closed tear to rear top edge; faint bookseller price erasures. Ink inscription by Kristol on front free endpaper: "For Bill and Helene Safire, With love, Irving Kristol." Near-fine in near-fine dust jacket. Single-page letter, signed by Kristol, with mild toning to edges and neat fold across the middle, else fine.. Signed first edition of Irving Kristol's (1920-2009) insightful appraisal of capitalism's impact on American society. Kristol was a journalist, editor, and political commentator who is often considered a founding father of American neoconservatism, and is counted among the most consequential public intellectuals of the late twentieth century. Throughout his career Kristol edited for, contributed to, and founded several journalistic and scholarly publications. He wrote for Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952, and from 1953 to… Read More

Linda Blair will forever be remembered for her memorable and frightening performance as a girl possessed by a demon in the movie, "The Exorcist". In this photo she is a young woman, posing topless for the camera. Her autograph is mounted below the photo. The color photo measures 8 inches by 10 inches. Mounted and matted, the photo and autograph measure 12 inches by 16 inches.
The strategically placed Hershey's Kisses are an available option.
Due to the size of this item, shipping prices will be individually quoted.