Manuscripts & Original Documents

New Orleans: Parish of New Orleans, 1924. 1st Edition. New Orleans: Parish of New Orleans, 1924. 1st Edition. Signed. First Edition. Truman Capote's original Birth Certificate - issued in the parish of New Orleans & registered the 3rd day.....

First Edition. hardcover. Near Fine and quite exceptional. An undated early holograph version of Saul Bellow's only full-length play contained in a ledger-type notebook (8-1/4" x 11-3/8") with marbled paper boards and a black cloth spine. Bellow has subtitled this as "A Work in Progress." Acts I and II of this version are complete in 71 pages with 4 pages of preliminary material for an Act III, all handwritten by Bellow. The 1964 staged version was reduced to two acts. Bellow appears to have written out Acts I & II as a fair copy from previous versions and notes in preparation for completing the play with a new Act III. There are relatively few insertions and corrections in his text of the first two acts which take up about 75% of the notebook. The third act consists mostly of blank pages with 3 pages of rough notes and key speeches including what seem to be the climactic lines of his main character, the comedian Bummidge, who has been undergoing an obsessive self-analysis in the previous acts: "The… Read More

Hardcover. A unique look at human sexuality and literary Romantic love in the early part of the twentieth century during the colonial and modernist eras. As noted by the famous French philosopher Michel Foucault in his "repressive hypothesis," the age of Victorian repression clearly produced non-traditional expressions of lust. The epistolary consists of an original diary and correspondence between two lovers from 1912 to approximately 1916. It is written primarily in English with some excerpts in Italian. The primary diarist is presumed to be an Italian officer during the colonial era of the early 20th century involving Italy, Britain and the "Mad Mullah" in the Benadir region of East Africa. The other correspondent is probably a British lady living in Tuscany at the time. The epistolary includes more than one hundred original drawings of various sexual acts, most of which are in color and include detailed descriptions of the scenes depicted. Some images are watercolors, some pastels, and others are… Read More

When France's King Henry II died in 1559 and his sickly 15-year-old heir Francis II followed the next year, the throne went to 10-year-old Charles Maximilian, who became Charles IX; his mother, Catherine de' Medici, dominated his reign, which is noted for the Wars of Religion and for the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. Partial vellum DS, 1p, 11" X 8", n.p., n.y. [September 1570 lightly pencilled in another hand]. Very good. Folds and mild bit of wear evident, but overall handsome and boldly penned. Though penned in difficult early French (which is to modern French what Elizabethan English is to modern English) and not accompanied by a translation, this is a probate approval legal document. Below six lines of finely penned legalese, Charles signs at left with his usual enormous signature in a different and somewhat lighter ink. Below this appears another sentence in a large flamboyant hand (which appears to refer to Provence) and huge ornate signature of an official. This atmospheric… Read More

Arena. Published by Arrow books. London. 1983. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (7.6 x 5 inches). Paperback. Illustrated throughout with black and white drawings by Steve Maguire. A very good copy with some minor rubbing to the edges but generally bright and tight. ---- With; A folder containing five A4 typescript and partial manuscript leaves of poems by Clarke that feature in the book, all in an early form and different from the published version, some quite substantially so. Number 1. Spilt Beans. -- 47 line poem. 31 lines (4 stanzas) typescript and the final 16 lines manuscript in JCC's hand in green ink. This version is very different to the published text. --- Number 2. Salome (published as Salome Maloney). 40 Line poem in 10 typed stanzas. This version substantially different to the published version. --- Number 3. Readers Wives. 20 line poem. 16 lines (4 stanzas) typed and four lines in JCC hand in green ink. There is a line and arrow showing the manuscript verse belongs between the second and third typed… Read More

New York: Liebling-Wood, 1953. 21 leaves. Quarto. Clean carbon typescript, typed on rectos only. Bradbound in agency wrappers. About fine. A typescript of this short story from the dispersal of the duplicate files of Williams's long-time agent, Audrey Wood. The story saw first publication in any format in MADEMOISELLE (July 1954) and was collected in HARD CANDY and its variant later the same year. CRANDELL C119 & A13-I.a.

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1943. The author's original hand-corrected typescript for his most important work, "Journey in the Dark," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Donated by Flavin to the US Treasury Department "to help the war financing campaign," with a certificate from "The Books and Authors War Bond Committee" dated May, 1945. This typescript purchased by or for Seton Hill College in Greensburg, PA, as printed on the certificate. A note in the author's hand reads as follows: "This is the original MS of "Journey in The Dark," as I wrote it at the rate of about 500 words a day between April 1941 and July 1943. I compose on a typewriter, and though I may write a page a dozen times, when I finally leave it, it is finished. Indeed, long before this book was finished, it was going into galleys. I use loose leaf paper - keeping the work in binders as it progresses. Martin Flavin | May 15th 1944." Two cover sheets typed by the publisher with the title and list of other works by Flavin… Read More

Handwritten. As New. Hardcover. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. 118 PP, VERY FINE ARABIC TA'LIQ SCRIPT WITH GOLDEN DOTS BENEETH THE PROVERBS. FINE OTTOMAN STYLE HEADING ILLUMINATION IN BRIGHT GOLD AND NATURAL COLORS. ALL PAGES OUTRULED IN GOLD. CHAPTER AND CEGNIFICANT WORDS IN RED. MARGINAL NOTES IN FINE TA'LIQ SCRIPT. COLOPHON WITH SCRIBE NAME: MUHAMMAD B. AHMAD. OWNERSHIP ON THE FIRST PAGE AND SMALL TUGRA. THIS WORK WAS MAINLY WRITTEN FOR THE OTTOMAN SULTAN MURAD KHAN B. SELIM KHAN B. SULEYMAN KHAN. CONTEMPORARY OTTOMAN STYLE BINDING. 12th - 18th C. SCARCELY TO BE EXIST ON THIS SUBJECT. 0.

591 p. of Naskhi script by a Bosnian Ottoman calligrapher, Abdurrahman el Bosnawi (Bosnavi), in Cairo 1080 AH. (1670 AD.). Full page endowment (Waqf) by Prince (Emir) Eyyub Bey el Kabir, the follower of Muhammad Bey abu al Thahab, to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in the village of Abaza located in the castle of Sukhumi (now the capital of Abkhazia). All pages ruled in gold, illuminated openning two pages, Sura headings in red Thluth script, golden dots between verses (Aya).Replaced in Mamluk full leather binding with flap decorated and gilded. The script is fine Naskh developed from the style of Hamdullah Amasi school. The calligrapher was a Bosnian who known by his fine script according to Mustakim Zade in Tuhfe-i Hattatin (Calligrapher's masterpiece). 26 x 18 cm.

Vietnam, Thailand, and elsewhere in Asia as well as the United States, Europe, and the Middle East ca. 1964-1974: Compiled by Jacob Harris, an American who served as a Senior Police Advisor in Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War, 1964 - 1974., 1964 - 1974. First edition. A large and remarkable archive of images from Vietnam and Thailand, covering the decade from the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the beginning of the buildup of American forces in Vietnam to a year before the evacuation of the American embassy. Most notable are the many images showing the training of local security forces by American civil and military advisors. The collection was compiled by Jacob Harris, an employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Public Safety (OPS), whose task was to train Vietnamese and Thai police and counterinsurgency forces. Most of the images, in the form of photographs and photographic slides, were created by Harris, his wife, or his associates, and… Read More

April 5, 1787. Framed land grant to Lt. John Armstrong on vellum with affixed State of Pennsylvania seal: "The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To all to whom these presents shall come GREETING: KNOW YE, That in consideration of the services rendered by John Armstrong Lieutenant in the late army of the United States there is granted by the said commonwealth unto the said John Armstrong a certain tract or parcel of land lying in the county of Westmoreland in the third district of the donation Lands [this was acreage promised to Revolutionary War veterans who had promised to serve until the end of the war] Beginning at a maple tree the numbered Corner and running East by Lot N 623 Two hundred and twelve Perches to a maple, thence South by lot N 617. One hundred and sixty perches to a Maple, thence West by lot N 625. Two hundred and twelve perches to a White oak thence North by Lot N 643. One hundred and thirty perches to the place of Beginning Two hundred… Read More

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1904. First Edition. Signed. Hardcover. Octavo. 8.75 x 5.75 inches. 123 pp (unpaginated). Good-. No dust jacket as issued. Inscribed with original poem and signed by author on front free endpaper. Original publisher's olive-green cloth binding. Floral decorations stamped on front board and spine. Lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt. Foredge deckled. Sewn binding. Printed on heavy, coated paper. Illustrated with 67 black and white photographs by Leigh Richmond Miner of the Hampton Institute Camera Club. Each page bordered with art nouveau floral decorations in dusty peach by Margaret Armstrong. Case has edge, shelf, and corner rubbing. Corners bumped. Circular water stain in center of upper board. Bump to foot of text block fore edge. Case and endpapers separated from text block. Text block cracked and shaken. Stitching tender. Endpapers browned. Grubby finger soiling to many pages. All elements present. Inscription in Dunbar's hand (see photo) is a short seasonal poem not… Read More

s.l. (Londres, Paris, Toulon...), 1791. Fine. s.l. (Londres, Paris, Toulon...) 1791-1832, 12 000 feuillets de divers formats, en feuilles. - Exceptionnel ensemble des archives manuscrites inédites et complètes de Louis, Chevalier de Sade (1753-1832), auteur du Lexicon politique et cousin du Divin Marquis représentant environ 12 000 feuillets manuscrits dont plusieurs milliers inédits et écrits de sa main. Le Chevalier y expose un système de pensée de type «?holistique?», comprenant à la fois des réflexions historiques, politiques et scientifiques. Précieuses archives géopolitiques, historiques et scientifiques d'un aristocrate érudit, témoin privilégié de la fin de l'Ancien Régime, de la Révolution française, du Consulat, de l'Empire et de la Restauration. Fonds unique de recherches sur la mise en place d'une monarchie constitutionnelle. Si l'on regarde la Révolution Française comme la naissance de l'expérimentation de l'idéologie laïque et… Read More

Chapman & Hall Ltd. London. 1933. Manuscript copy of the book in a neat hand, with the writer's brief notes in the margins, in a ruled notebook. (10 x 8.1 inches). Calligraphic title page, the text written in black, red and green inks. Photo negative of the fold out 'Street of taste' pull-out and typed leaf of 'The growth of good taste' tree, both loosely inserted. The corresponding page numbers from the 1933 first edition are noted in the margins, and the text contains the unchanged poem on page 119, suggesting that this was copied from a first issue of the first edition. Half beige buckram binding with marbled paper on boards. Marbled endpapers. All edges speckled with red. A fine copy of this curious but attractive item.

Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan, Center for Research on Conflict Resolution, 1964. Preprint, first edition. Preprint, 218 mimeographed pages in metal-clipped folder binding. Title page has pulled free from the metal clips; chipping to paper title block on front folder panel. Near-fine.. The preprint of Thomas Hayden's (1939-2016) intellectual biography of C. Wright Mills, Radical Nomad: Essays on C. Wright Mills and His Times, published by Routledge in 2006. Hayden was an American social and political activist, author, and politician, perhaps best-known for his role in the radical social movements of the 1960s. After co-authoring the charter manifesto of new Left radicalism, the "Port Huron Statement," in 1962, Hayden would complete his biography of influential sociologist and elite theorist C. Wright Mills at the University of Michigan in 1964, exploring Mills's scholarship and activism and the ideas and thinkers that influenced him. Mills (1916-1962) was a professor of sociology at… Read More