Rare books from Alcuin Books, ABAA-ILAB

Paris: Michel Bohbot, 1978. Limited Edition. 12mo. 15 leaves. A portfolio of prints; #47 of 60 copies, signed by the artist and author. Three color prints, each numbered and signed by Max Papart, with tissue guards. An exquisite production, all laid into a light green wrapper and housed within a cloth covered chemise and black cloth slipcase printed silver. A scarce item not in OCLC.

Osnabrueck; (1981): Munin-Verlag. First Edition. Octavo. 368p. 28 plates; maps on lining papers. Bibliographic references, appendices; and many detailed maps. German text. A very important study of the 6th SS Army Corps.Bound in green cloth lettered in silver, endpapers are maps. A fine copy in very good dust jacekt with a few tiny edge tears along upper edge of rear panel.

DC Comics, 1988. Original Wraps. Very Good. Although not as scarce as the Portfolio signed edition (our order for that edition is number is 12573), it is seldom seen with the illustrated slip case l(12x16) and three sets of folders complete: 12 folders from the American edition of Watchmen, 6 new covers for the French edition and 6 promotional folders all by Dave Gibbons.

Harrisburg, PA; (1954): Stackpole Co. First Edition. Octavo. Convened at Chicago, Illinios, 13 January 1879. xxx, 303 p. illus., port., maps (part fold.) Vital and revealing testimony of participants in the Battle of the ittle Big Horn. Battlefield map endpapers. Bound in gray cloth lettered in blue, spine lettering blue, in clipped dust jacket with some cipping to head and edge wear.

Boston: The Barta Press, 1908. Fine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. 141p. Plates (some colorded), diagrams. A pristine copy in original suede with front cover showing full title in gilt over brown leather label. Color representations of the playing cards with their symbolism, the swastika, the belted globe surmounted by the Patriarchial Cross, the Keystone and many other esoteric symbols.

Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State College Press, 1940. First Edition. Octavo. Inscribed by J. Frank Dobie to his brother as a birthday gift. lix, 285, lxxxi pp.illsutrated, bound in green cloth pictorially stamped in brown and yellow, spine lettering brown over yellow.

Toronto: The Champlain Society for the Hudson 's Bay Record Society, 1949. First Edition. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall/oblong. cv, 352, x. Three plates and 16 text illustrations, most printed in red and black. Appendices, Index. Original bright blue cloth, top edge gilt.

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1907. Octavo. In two volumes, 748pp., 786pp., portraits, handsomely bound in full brown morocco, raised bands, lettering gilt, morocco turn-in, all edges gilt. Small bump to last few leaves of volume one otherwise a fine bright set. From the library of a Wedgwood family member with gift inscription dated 1908. A very nice set.

Paris: Charpentier, Editeur, 1862. First Edition. Small Octavo. In two volumes, 519 and 563pp., bound in 1/2 red morocco over marbled paper covered boards, raised bands, compartments stamped in gilt with lettering gilt, marbled edges with matching endpapers, a few nicks to boards otherwise a very good set of this extensive biography of a man whose life could have been a story written by Dumas.

Paris: Michel Levy Freres, Editeurs, 1872. 12mo. Full page pen & ink drawing with water-color before title page signed Ulysse-Roy. Two other black and white illustrations; one is signed in the plate J[ean].Massard and the other is unidentified, both tipped in between the half-title and title page, with two more black & white illustrations by Massard tipped into the text. 256(1) with the 12 original engraved vignettes by Edmond Morin. The first six chapters of this volume are the result of the first two chapters of the volume entitled: (Madame et Monsieur Cardinal (Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal) published in 1872. OCLC records a limited edition of 25 copies of this work with the original 12 vignettes on Chine and tipped in as opposed to only printed above the text. An additional two copies of an unidentified illustrator with tipped in plates between half-title and tile page, although none are included in collation and does not make mention of a color illustration by Ulysse-Roy. Bound in 1/2 blue-gray morocco… Read More

Taibei Xian Zhonghe Shi: Zhang Hitin. Octavo. 560p. Chinese text. Subtitle on cover continues: silver, gold, nickel and aluminum=ying, jin, nie lü pian. A classic work expanded over its predecessors (includes advertisements p. 537-558). Hundreds of illustrations of the coins by a well-known expert. Bibliographic references. The last copy appeared at the Cheng Xuan Auction in Beijing in 2011. It sold for 4600 RMB. A fine copy bound in blue cloth, spine lettering gilt.

London: Printed By Ellerton and Henderson, 1821. Small Octavo. iv, 42 pages. This rare pamphlet gives an account in detail of the sexual practices on vessels both in port and in foreign countries. There were hundreds of prostitutes along with sailors wives (and children) were also inside the closed quarters with each bunk or hammock measuring 24" sexual activity began to take place. The Lords describe the various encounters in the narrow hammocks, the stench, the drunkeness, and the crude blasphemies and mockeries of the Lord's Prayer and Apostle's Creed. Of course, the problem of venereal disease was overwhelming and many of the ship's surgeons resigned if they had any other opportunity to avoid service on these ships. The outroar came when George Charles Smith whose ministry was on behalf of sailors and their families (see DNB) who wrote a series of pamphlets for the laymen in the seaports of England. Harvard University Library has many of his bound pamphlets under the title Prose and Poetry (not… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931. First Edition. Thick Quarto. First printing with (I-F) code. Grey consider the fishes of the South Seas to be the most fiercest in the world. He tells his stories of the tuna, sailfish, the wahoo and swordfish which would make any fisherman envious. Mr. Grey caught a 618 poind Silver Marlin, apparently a new species at the time and he tells of the fight of 1040 pound Striped Marlin and includes a photo of this incredibly huge fish along with 48 other photographs taken by the author. A fine bright opy bound in green coth lettered in gilt, spine lettering gilt, pictorial endpapers, in unclipped pictorial dust jacket with wear along the top edges, a piece torn away at head and small tear slong bottom of front panel. Internally fresh without foxing, no names or plates.

Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing Co., Ltd, 1936. Limited Edition. Octavo. Limited to 600 sets published for subscribers. A set of the memoirs of Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A. Thurston published by the Advertising Publishing Company. This set is numbered 187 with the limitation slip mounted on the lining papers of each volume. Originally written for joint serial publication with Lorrin A. Thurston's memoirs in the Honolulu Advertiser. Thurston's chapter begins with Jack London's arrival on his yacht Snark in 1907. Thurston provides interesting details about London's fixed writing routine, his despising of what today would be called "political correctness" on the racial issues inherent in Hawaii, followed by Thurston's defense. The set is comprised of: Vol. I, Writings of Lorrin A. Thurston, 166p. index; Vol. II. Lorrina A. Thurston, Memoirs of the Hawaiian Revolution, 664p.; Vol. III Sanford Dole, Memoirs of the Hawaiian Revolution, 188p. index. From the controversy of Queen Lili'uokalani's authorship… Read More

London/Philadelphia: Gibbings and Co./Lippincott Co, 1895. Limited Edition. Small Octavo. Limited to 1500 copies for England and America. In twelve volumes, illustrated by Frank Richards each with half-title, engraved frontispiece and pictorial title pages and other engravings with tissue guards present. This is a collection of Smollett's best works consisting of The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), along with The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves [1760] and The Adventures of Count Fathom [1753]. Binding designed by F.D. Bedford in 3/4 tan polished calf over marbled paper covered boards with matching endpapers, top edges gilt, two volumes with very tiny chips to head, internally fresh without foxing, names, or plates. A superb set.