Rare books from Tennyson Williams, Books and Fine Art

Washington, D. C.: Unpublished, 1972. A letter on White House letterhead from OMB Director Weinberger to NASA Chief Archivist Lee Saegesser, dated December 21, 1972 and boldly signed "Caspar W. Weinberger." The letter thanks Saegesser for a cartoon he had sent and wishes him "a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." The signature is bold and bright. The letter has three fold lines, and the paper has a hint of yellowing; otherwise, it is in excellent condition.. SIGNED. First Edition. Paper. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Manuscript.

Washington, D. C.: Unpublished, 1969.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.

Augusta, Maine: Unpublished, 1979. Original TLS dated July 26, 1979 with the authentic signature of Margaret Chase Smith, Senator from Maine (1949-1973). During her notable career, Smith was the first Senator to speak out against "McCarthyism", the first woman to have her name placed into nomination for the Presidency at a major political part convention, and a charter member of the Senate Aeronautical and Space Committee. In the letter addressed to Lee Saegesser, she warmly thanks him for his efforts in supplying requested research materials from the NASA Archives. The letter is accompanied by the original mailing envelope. 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 and the signature unfaded.. SIGNED. First Edition. Paper. Collectible-Fine. 7 3/8" by 5". Manuscript.

Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1978. Official NASA black and white photograph of the NASA astronaut Dan Brandenstein in civilian clothes. The photo was taken while he was still an astronaut candidate. Brandenstein flew on 4 shuttle missions: STS-8, STS-51G, STS-32, STS-49--he was commander on the last two. SIGNED, without inscription, "Dan Brandenstein". 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. Signed black and white internal NASA photos are much more scarce than the signed color lithos that normally are offered for sale. The photograph is clean, bright, and unwrinkled.. SIGNED. First Edition. Paper. Collectible-Fine. 10" by 8". Photo.

London: William S. Orr & Co., 1848. This is not a complete book--it is a single sheet containing an original antique hand-colored botanical print. Joseph Paxton was perhaps the most significant 19th century English botanist, the designer of the famed Crystal Palace, and the editor of Paxton's Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants. This print is from the 14th volume of that magazine, published in 1848. Drawn and lithographed by Samuel Holden, it is a superb brilliantly-colored example of the flowers in the magazine. The lithograph is accompanied by the original text pages explaining the origin, cultivation, and uses of the flower. The print is clean and bright, with a hint of toning of the background and the usual stab holes along the binding edge.. First Edition. Paper. Collectible-Fine. Illus. by Samuel Holden. 9" by 6 3/8". Fine Art Print.

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. Very Good/Fair+. Illus. by Helen Bannerman. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.

Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1978. Official NASA black and white photograph of the NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan in civilian clothes. The photo was taken while she was still an astronaut candidate. The first American woman to walk in space, Sullivan flew on 3 shuttle missions: STS-31, STS-41G, and STS-45. She is now the Acting Administrator of NOAA. SIGNED, without inscription, "Kathryn D. Sullivan". 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. Signed black and white internal NASA photos are much more scarce than the signed color lithos that normally are offered for sale. The photograph is clean, bright, and unwrinkled.. SIGNED. First Edition. Paper. Collectible-Fine. 10" by 8". Photo.

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: 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: William Morrow and Company, 1983. 200 pages. Signed, without inscription, by Vavra on the front pastedown endpaper. Photographer Robert Vavra is well-known as the world's leading photographer of horses. In this book his beautiful color photographs take a more fanciful turn. Does this mean that unicorns really do exist? The book is clean and tight, with minor bleedthrough from the glue under the book's hinges. The dust jacket is clean, bright and crisp.. SIGNED. 4th Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Illus. by Robert Vavra. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Book.

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 through 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, with short splits along the joints at foot of the spine. Internally it is reasonably clean, though there is some foxing and soiling of endpapers; most pages 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.

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Jan Christiaan Sepp, 1770. Original hand-colored engraving from the monumental Dutch bird book, Nederlandsche Vogelen: Volgens Hunne Huishouding, Aert, en Eigenschappen eschreeven, which was published in 5 volumes from 1770 to 1829. [See Sitwell, Fine Bird Books, p. 129.] The image of a small alpine bird is 12 inches by 9 7/8 inches on a sheet of laid paper that is 20 3/4 inches by 14 3/8 inches. Accompanying the engraving is the original text sheet, The engraving has original hand-coloring and is in superb condition.. First Edition. Single Sheet. Fine. Illus. by Chirstiaan Sepp and Jan Christiaan Sepp. Elephant Folio - over 15" - 23" tall. Fine Art Print.