Rare books from Bolerium Books Inc., ABAA/ILAB

Shanghai: Qing nian xie hui shu ju 青年協會書局, 1948. 4, 26, 294, 2 pages, very good paperback, Fifth edition. English title, "Life of Jesus," on publisher's colophon. Qing nian cong shu / Youth library, 22. Zhao spent several years in the United States, earning M.A. and B.D. degrees from Vanderbilt University before returning in 1917 to teach at the Methodist Dongwu University in Suzhou. He later taught at Yenching University in Beijing as a professor of Theology. In 1952 he was politically denounced by the revolutionary government and removed from his position there. Though credited as one of the most creative Chinese theologians to meld Christianity with Chinese culture, he is believed to have lost his faith in the years after he was forced into obscurity. He died in 1979.

Munich: M. Müller & Sohn, 1919. 9x12 inch broadside, paper evenly toned, couple of short, unobtrusive closed tears at right edge, very good. A lovely example of this proclamation issued under Toller's name on behalf of the Provisional Revolutionary Central Council of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. Undated, but the example illustrated in "Sammlung von Flugblättern betreffend die Münchener" has a penned date of April 13, 1919. Toller had replaced Ernst Niekisch as head of the Central Council on April 8. "To the working people of Bavaria! Bavaria is a Soviet Republic! Great rumors are circulated by those who seek to harm your interests. Everything is calm in Munich. No shots were fired...." Outlines problems with the pre-existing electoral system, promises a new regime of workers' councils. "The farmer has to stand by his plow, the blacksmith by his anvil... All mistrust is misunderstanding! Therefore be united in the Soviet Republic of Bavaria!

Amsterdam: Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front; Derde Front, 1942. Newsletter. Seventeen issues of the clandestine newsletter published by revolutionary socialists under Nazi occupation. On the first issue, the title is spelled Spartakus, after which it becomes Spartacus. After the third issue, the subtitle changes to "Orgaan van het Derde Front." The issues appear in a variety of formats, apparently depending on the materials available. Issue 1 consists of eight mimeographed pages, horizontally folded; issues 2-7 and 9 are in tabloid newspaper format, with some tears (no. 2 is rather chipped and torn at the right margin). Numbers 15-17 are printed (no. 17 with pagination error), no. 19 is mimeographed in larger format (rather worn and toned, but complete), with a return to printing for the relatively skimpy issues 21, 22, 22a, 23, and 24. Number 24 appears to have been the final issue. Also included is a seven-page pamphlet, Spartakus ontwaakt! Het Derde Front marcheert" by Baanbreker [Henk Sneevliet], with… Read More

Rome: Giustizia e Libertà, 1931. 108p., small staplebound booklet (2.6x4.1 inches) printed underground during the fascist period by a clandestine publisher, printed on thin paper, light handling wear, very good. Collezione Giustizia e libertà, 3. Translation of King's condemnation of the fascist government. Rear cover has a blurb explaining the mission of the press and calling on the reader to "Insorgere, risorgere" (Rebel, revive!). The publisher was not only a distributor of clandestine literature within Italy, but was part of an active anti-fascist organization, founded by Carlo Rosselli in 1929, that carried out sabotage missions.

Baltimore: Metropolitan Tract Society, 1844. 36p., pamphlet bound with thread, somewhat foxed, very good. Two versions of this pamphlet were published in 1844, the other a shorter tract published by M. Fithian; priority is not known to your humble cataloger. Some in Philadelphia's Protestant community, angered by the rise in Irish immigration to the city and by rumors that Catholics were attempting to remove Bibles from public schools, rioted in 1844, burning down Catholic churches and nearby homes. In this pamphlet, the author, who states that he is Protestant, chastises his fellow religionists for demonstrating bigotry and un-Christian temperament. "It is treason, rank foul treason, to our Religion; it is treason to the very spirit of our institutions, - the American is a traitor to his country, who talks about this being a Protestant land, in order to justify his religious intolerance and proscription of others...

n.p.: Peace and Freedom Party, 1969. Poster. 28.5x22.25 inch stiff card placard screenprinted with design in red and black; formerly stapled to a wooden stake for use as a protest sign, with staple holes at the center top and bottom, as well as a small hole near the middle where a piece has been torn away. Additional overall wear from use.

[San Francisco]: the artist, 1982. Poster. 16x20 inch screen print poster on rag paper. Limited edition of one 41, with number penciled at lower left, signed by the artist at lower right. A lovely, fine example, from the holdings of the poet herself.

Cape Cod, MA: the author, 1939. A quite elaborately laid out, four-panel brochure, just over 9 inches wide and a full four feet tall when completely unfolded, then opening to reveal the text of the Magna Carta and additional material. Some minor stains, generally very good. Not found in OCLC, though there are so many conceivable ways to catalog this document that it has possibly been missed. Includes a series of historical flags, followed by the new flags Davis has designed for the proposed unified nation of the UK and the USA. A diagram and several illustrations depict the World Peace Monument and its setting. Davis, a businessman and promoter of a national highway system, was always partial to grand schemes and elaborate plans. His list of titles and organizations is formidable. Davis' titles provided include "Honorary Grand Sachem of the Six Nations, 'Gowana Har-Lasa-lones La-ta-le-yos Iroquois Davy' meaning 'Great Peacemaker and Warrior-Iroquois Davy.' Mohawk Chief 'La-wa-ya-no-wa-na' meaning 'He… Read More

n.p., 1915. 39p., slender paperback volume, 6x9 inches. Covers toned, touch of rust at the bottom staple. Errata slip at the front has been toned from contact with cover, as has part of the first interior page; textblock otherwise clean. Five-act play in Italian.

n.pl: n.pub, 1944. 341-376pp., 6x9 inch wraps; staple somewhat rusted, wraps a tad foxed and soiled, else very good, inscribed on the front wrap, "With the author's compliments." Offprint from Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. IV, No. 3 (March 1944). The Polish American philosopher is regarded as one of the greatest logicians of the twentieth century; this is one of his most important papers.

Kyoto: Takehara Yoshibē, 1863. Folded map with external boards, 27x19.5 inches when unfolded, minor wear at the creases, very good. A woodblock-printed depiction of Kyoto at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Edo: Daikokuya Kinnosuke, 1864. Woodblock print. Map" printed on a series of four triptychs, for a total of 12 woodblock-printed sheets, mounted on a later scroll. Each print is about 9x13.5 inches, for a total length of nine feet of printed surface. Some scuffing and trimming to the prints. On this depiction of the famous Road, all sense of scale is tossed to the wind, in favor of highlighting a series of beautiful scenes along its course.

Detroit: The Artists' Workshop Press, 1966. [28p] 8.5x11 inches, introduction by Sinclair, 11 poems, very good mimeographed journal in side-stapled orange pictorial covers. Artists' Workshop Press booklist on rear cover. Title on front cover "Free Poems" handwritten in black marker as usual. Butler's song with the Impressions "For Your Precious Love" is transcribed by Sinclair & Charles Moore.

San Francisco: Ramparts. Magazine. 121 issues of the magazine, a complete run for the period from October 1964 to July 1975. Issues present are Vol. 3 No. 2 - Vol. 13 No. 9. Various pagination, stapled wraps, 8.25x10.75 inches, all with worn wraps and address labels on front wraps, many with pen notations on front wraps, a few issues with wraps detached but present, Vol. 7 No. 10 heavily dampstained, else generally good condition. Ramparts, which started as a Catholic literary magazine in 1962 and published its last issue in 1975, was one of the most influential magazines of the New Left. It published Che Guevara's diaries, Eldridge Cleaver's prison diaries (later published in book form as Soul on Ice), a photo spread of injured Vietnamese children that led Martin Luther King, Jr. to publicly oppose the war for the first time, and a series of exposés on CIA front groups that exposed the agency's illegal involvement in domestic affairs for the first time.

Denver: William L. Blessing, 1955. Newsletter. Thirty-seven issues of the weekly newsletter, slightly varying size but averaging around 8.5x11 inches, length ranging from 8 to 24 pages per issue. On many issues the original recipient has penciled comments such as "Native Fascist" in the corner of the front cover. Issues present are the following: Vol. 4 nos. 43, 46-48, 50, 51; vol. 5 nos. 1-13; vol. 6 nos. 44, 49; vol. 7 nos. 19 (volume erroneously given as 1), 21; later issues are whole numbers 343, 349, 350, 359-366, 383, 386, and 409. The fundamentalist preacher, a former Klansman born in 1900, founded the "House of Prayer for All People" in Denver, Colorado. These newsletters mix fevered anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and anti-Communism with alleged prophecies from the Bible about current events. Many of the sermons he delivered at the House of Prayer are included. Blessing became enamored with Hollow Earth theories, and some of his material included here about such topics as "The Earth's… Read More