Search Results: Authors starting with U from Auger Down Books

San Francisco, 1906. Thirty-one silver gelatin prints, measuring 4 x 3 inches, with four accompanying sheets measuring 8 x 5 ½ inches identifying the images. Also included is the original envelope to an illegible recipient, or possibly crediting the images. Fading to images else about fine, very good minus overall. Many photographers, amateur and professional alike, took to the streets of San Francisco to document devastation caused by the earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906. Collected here are thirty-one images taken by one such photographer - likely an amateur based on the image quality and perspectives. What is unusual about the collection here is that the photographer took meticulous notes on each image, and the images as found in a (rather illegible) envelope included several sheets explaining the location of each image. The photographer travelled through most of downtown, with varied locations represented. The title is likely misleading, as the fire raged for several days and the pictures… Read More

American, 1860. Tintype measuring 3 ½ x 2 ½ inches in oval case, lacking front panel. A fine example. Fine. A particularly striking portrait of two Union soldiers seated together. Their resemblance suggests that they might be brothers.

Charleston, 1866. Autograph letter, signed by a John (last name unknown,) addressed to R.W. Grange Esquire at Racine College in Racine Wisconsin. Some tears at folds, near fine. Appx. 1,000 words. Fine. A lengthy and atmospheric rumination on a holiday spent in South Carolina by an author known only as Bob, written to a friend in Wisconsin. The author relates in great detail a Fourth of July spent in Charleston, South Carolina in 1866, with several interesting details regarding an African-American parade and a fire department made up only of New Yorkers. At one point the author mentions Muncy, which suggests the possibility that he and the recipient were old friends from Pennsylvania. Describing his time in Charleston, he writes: "City remarkably quiet, scarcely anyone on the street, did not hear a dozen crackers, came back from breakfast, went to work. About 9.30 found out that all offices were to close at 10 a.m. & keep Sunday hours, was mity (telegraphers way of spellin mighty) glad of that. Ten… Read More

Topeka, 1930. Folded map measuring 28 x 17 inches. Some small tears at folds, very good. Very Good. A scarce depression-era map of Oklahoma, with graphic advertisements to the verso showing the range of automobile-centric establishments in the state at the time. The map shows all the automobile routes of the time, with text along the borders listing the towns and the telephone numbers of various services and lodging options. The instructions on the the top read "Put Out Your Fires / Leave a Clean Camp / Keep the Streams Pure / Don't Be a Road Hog." According to the single copy in OCLC, at the Denver Public Library, the map was printed in 1930, though we see no date on the map itself. The depression hit Oklahoma following the drought in 1930, which also coincided with the opening of the East Texas oil field. This map is a relic of the period just before the state's economic downturn, with the early automobile infrastructure still intact and vibrant.

Physical Culture City, 1905. First Edition. Physical Culture City, Spotswood, New Jersey, 1905 or later. Thirty-one images in total, varying sizes, most 3 x 5 inches or smaller. Fair to Good. Bernarr Macfadden was a proponent of Physical Culture, a movement combining exercise with nutrition and ascetic living that helped give rise to bodybuilding culture. The movement had origins in the mid nineteenth century in Germany, the United Kingdom and eventually America. Macfadden's system gained popularity largely through the exposure he gave it in his large publishing empire. He founded Physical Culture magazine in 1899, and eventually grew his publishing holdings to include several other publications including Liberty, True Detective, Photoplay and others. In 1905, McFadden purchased land in Spotswood, New Jersey with the intention of forming a community of Physical Culture proponents. He wrote, in Physical Culture, that he wanted to form a community where "physical culturists could live the kind of life… Read More