Rare books from Haec City / Also Books

Paris: J. Boyveau, 1881. First edition. Near Fine. Presumed first edition, printed by Boyveau in Paris; Siegle in London. Only 1 copy in OCLC, dated 1881. 12mo, 125pp. A book of useful phrases for conducting business and travel, geared toward the native French speaker, with the bulk of the text printed simultaneously in English on facing pages. Contains trade-specific scenarios and vocabulary. Quarter leather with marbled boards, in Near Fine condition with minor shelfwear and a hint of foxing throughout. Previous owner signature (Bousquet) to pastedown and half-title page, else clean and unmarked.

... including Diagnosis of European Spongillidae by Prof. Franz Vejdovsky
Hardcover 8vo, in brown buckram with gilt leather spine label. iv, [157]-279pp+ 7 plates labeled Plate V-XII ("inclusive"), 1887. Bound with 5 offprints extracted from "The Microscope" originally collected in seafoam green wrappers titled "Fresh Water Sponges" and containing: (1.) –What They Are Not. (2.) What They Are [June 1890, with plate] (3.) What They Are [July 1890, with plate] (4.) How to Find and Gather Them [Sept 1890] (5.) The Determination of Species [with diagram].
Appears to be signed twice, with "from Edward Potts" annotated in Potts' hand beneath the ownership signature of Mr. S. R. [Sherwood Raymond] Roberts on the front blank of the monograph and the first page of the offprints pamphlet. Roberts was a colleague of Potts' and prominent member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, known for his work in conchology and collection of Cypraeidae that rivaled Potts' collection of fresh water sponges… Read More

Japan: Nakagawa Hume Kankou Gyo / Nakagawa Hume Pipe Industry Co., 1950s. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Album documenting a construction project ("underground canal fortification" for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, "upstream of Sakuragawa from Kasumigaura to the Shimosakata," ca. 1950s. Flexible boards with cord tie, 8.5 x 12 inches. 2 pages text + 10 pages of photographs showing stages of the project, group photos, workers on bicycles, cranes and construction equipment, ceremonies. Please note: Publication information ascertained via Google translate and may include some errors. In very good condition with minor soil and age toning. Contents bright and clean.

New York: Associated Press, 1966. Near Fine. New York: Associated Press, 1966 Near Fine Glossy black and white photo, 7 x 9 inches Near Fine with a touch of discoloration along the edge on the verso, where a folded press release is affixed "Nell Theobald, 22, a model from New York is helped away as handlers restrain lion About 150 persons watched as the lion, apparently confused by TV cameras and lights, turned on the model and bit her on the leg"

Springfield, Massachusetts: Milton Bradley Compay, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good -. Square 4to, [2], 30pp. Glossy coated paper, printed recto-only. A book designed for teachers with excerpts from popular rhymes and fairy tales with silhouette illustrations "for cuttings made as simply as possible... so that children between six and ten years old may illustrate some of the best stories that they read and tell in school." Cloth backed pictorial paper boards, Very Good- with rubbing and bumping at the corners and spine ends. Mild general soil, but overall clean and bright. Scarce.

Springfield, Massachusetts: Milton Bradley, 1910. Hardcover. Very good. Hardcover cloth backed boards, 8vo, 63pp. Comprised of Bradley's theoretical and technical guidance for using water colors in the kindergarten classroom to activate "the latent aesthetic feeling which dwells in most children." Illustrated with just a few engravings aiding in the material instructions and brief philosophizing on "the lamentable state of color language" and other pedagogical concerns. Scarce.

Paris: Chez J.-B. Ballière, 1843. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. ...Traduit de l'anglais par F. Roulin. Accompagné de 40 planches gravées et coloriées, et de 90 figures en bois intercalées dans le texte. First Edition, French language translation of Prichard's "Natural History of Man," published the same year as the English. 40 hand colored steel engravings and 90 woodcut illustrations throughout the text. Navy leather-backed with marbled boards with gilt stamped spines. 8vo, 416 + 406pp. Plates collated complete. Very good: rubbing and wear to joints and spine ends with tidy color restoration. Old catalog description affixed to vol. 1 pastedown and occasional offsetting, otherwise clean. Plates unblemished and still remarkably vivid, with tissue guards intact. "...a pre-Darwinian text that attempts to categorize all known races in the world in order to create an organized account based on the varying characteristics of the races. Prichard's work emphasizes the university of man as a… Read More

Payson & Clarke Ltd., 1929. Hardcover. Very good/good. The Perforated Game of that Noble Sport of Philosophers, Poets and Kings, 280 B.C.-1929 A.D." Blue cloth 8vo, 127pp. About Very Good with fading to the cloth, rubbing to the corners and spine ends. In a Good dust jacket, lacking the bottom inch of the spine and with general soil and edgewear. Housed in mylar wrapper. A workbook style of anagram prompts, with three perforated columns at the edge of each page for players to render their formulations, and blank lines to record the results. This copy is about 90-95% intact with only 3-5 written responses in the text. Detachable cards for sending anagrams to friends still present at rear. Marketed as an "absorbing" social activity with overt 18th amendment references on the DJ (example anagrams "Men meet gin, then death" / "End the gin; tame the men" / "Meaneth gin met the end.") A pleasing tactile production designed for defacement, but still nicely preserved.

Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1840. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. First thus, 1840 (first printed in 1600). Cloth 12mo, 400pp + 16p catalog at rear. Very Good with sunning to spine and abrasion to paper label. Several signatures uncut at the top edge. Stamp and nameplate to front pastedown, signature to t.p. "A religious discourse, moving every Christian man to enter into a serious remembrance of his ende. Wherein also is contained the meane and manner of disposing himselfe to God, before, and at the time of his departure. In the whole, somewhat happily may be observed, necessary to be thought upon, while we are alive, and when we are dying, to advise our selves and others."

France, ca. 1850. Very good. Explanation for constructing cylinder and helix forms, with four stunning illustrations. 2 leaves, each 8.25 x 6.25 inches, in acid-free mat and archival sleeves, 12 x 9 inches. The first leaf is matted single-side, the other with a double window to view the drawings on each side. Both mounted with mylar corners for easy removal and examination. Very Good condition with minor surface wear incurred by the original student while drafting. From a mid-19th century French student manuscript on architectural and mechanical drafting containing notes for computational and perspective drawing, studies on light and shade, reflection, etc.

Chicago, 1922. Hardcover. Very good. Hardcover double-ring binder, 10 x 8 inches. 26 pages of illustrations, often with multiple drawings on a page, plus 3 charts. Several pages of experiments and notes on food and diet interspersed. Complete, according to the handwritten index, and ca. 1922 based on the Typhoid "death by disease" chart, which ends in 1921. Bottom corner of the front board is worn off and many of the pages are torn at the hole punch and have sustained some edgewear from the haphazard placement, but the pages clean with no interruption to the drawings. Each drawing is stamped by the instructor, J. L. Neil. An incredible group of folk styled biological and anatomical drawings done in ink and colored pencil by Chicago high school student Dorothy Lipsich.

Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley Company, 1916. Good. A new and interesting means of industrial occupation embodied in the most pleasing pastime known to childhood. They teach the child how to make dresses in just the same manner as its own little dresses are made, and assist her to cultivate subconsciously a really educational discrimination in the selection of material, color schemes, and styles." Includes: instruction booklet, top panel of the box (7.5 x 10 inches, no sides), 3 dolls, 18 sheets of patterned paper (8 with pieces cut out), 5 intact sheets of paper patterns, 3 cut out "background" patterns, envelope with blue tissue cutouts, 10 drawn-on dresses, and 10 collaged dresses from the supplied paper (including a few with little buttons!) The large doll has a few small areas of abrasion and is creased at the ankles, abrasion to the box lid and booklet, minor discoloration and wear. A nice example with patterns created using multiple methods at different skill levels.

University of California, 1932. Paperback. Very good. 1932 University of California Botany Notebook by a student of Richard Holman, head of Botany at UC Berkeley and co-author of the influential 'Textbook of General Botany' (with Wilfred Robbins, 1924). 39 labeled plates: Plant Cell (5), Plant (2), Plant Tissues (6), Stem (4), Root (2), Leaf (4), Flower (7), Fruit (3), Seed (6). Approx. 20 sheets of notes on seed experiments, some with application to agricultural practices. Graphite drawings on thick card stock in UC branded cover, fastened with brads. A few grading marks on the written notes, drawings remain clean and crisp, very fine work. See: 'Botany at Berkeley: The First Hundred Years' by Lincoln Constance, 1978. https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/history/botanyatberkeley/

Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1889. First Edition. Paperback. Good. Softcover 8vo, 9 x 7 inches, 30pp. Printed wraps with ad for "The Modern Priscilla" on the rear panel. In Good condition; pages slightly creped from handling and wraps worn around the edges, including some splitting at the spine. Small chip to the bottom corner of the wrap and related closed tear to the pages behind it, faint tidemark in that corner. Delicate but intact. Remarkably intricate (and profuse!) diagrams of the traditional lace weaving technique, with emphasis placed on the care and patience required to realize the beauty of the art.. Later reissued by the Priscilla Publishing Co., this first issue by Prang is rare. 5 copies in OCLC.

Boston: James R. Osgood, 1872. First Edition. First edition, 1872. 8vo, 398pp + (4) ads, including for drawing books by Osgood and Prang’s drawing models. A Good copy with soil and foxing to the plates. One of the plates has a repaired tear and is reattached in place with Japanese paper. Fraying to the cloth with shallow loss at the spine ends, hinges starting. 1874 signature plate of William Shaw Bowen, doctor turned “yellow” journalist whose East Greenwich, RI mansion was featured on postcards, to the front pastedown. Contents unmarked. Collated complete. Walter Smith was a successful English sculptor who promoted a rigid system of linear drawing that could be taught by a generalist teacher, avoiding the need for specially trained art teachers. His aim was to improve the quality of draftsmanship in the labor force which had become an increasingly important aspect of manufacturing and industry. He did not believe in a fundamental difference between “light-headed art students, who frothily… Read More