Search Results: Washington from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Tacoma, WA: Washington State Historical Society, 1991. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 352 pages. First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

Tieton, WA: Marquand Editions, 2014. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. All ten volumes in the "spines" series, also called "a series of essays on aspects of books and publishing." Ed Marquand is a book artist based in Seattle and Tieton, Washington, who makes editions of books for artists and museums and, from time to time, produces his own work as Marquand Editions. The contributors to this series are mostly writers and artists working with museums and museum presses. Each author contributes a short essay on some aspect of their practice (number 7 in the series is a sequence of images, rather than words-a visual essay). The books are printed letterpress and are handbound in decorated paper over boards. The series, referred to as "Spines" in the introductory notes accompanying most of the books, takes its name from the first volume in the series, written by Marquand, "On Spines and Memories." In that essay he ruminates on the spines of books, which receive little attention from designers although… Read More

Seattle and Portland: Lindsay Publishing Company, 1910. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. This is a romance set in Seattle and on Puget Sound, with some scenes in San Francisco. The plot follows two friends, both doctors, whose families intermarry in 1909. The author seems to be the wife of Dr. A. A. Lindsay, a physician operating out the the Savoy Hotel in Seattle who published many tracts on health. 150 pages; frontispiece portrait of the author, and one page of ads for other Lindsay Publishing books. First edition (first printing). Very good in wrappers; many pages roughly opened with tears along the bottom edge.

Seattle (Shiatoru): Hokubei nihonjinkai shogyo kaigisho (North American-Japanese Chamber of Commerce), 1932. Third Edition. The third edition, after much shorter versions published in 1928 and 1929. This is a promotional publication printed at a Japanese-language press in Seattle, intended to encourage pan-Pacific trade through the port of Seattle. Chapters are devoted to manufacturing, commercial business, the current state of Seattle trade, trade with Japan, and Seattle's municipal administration, education, and media outlets. Notably, the English introduction from the Seattle mayor makes no mention of the local Japanese community, emphasizing only mutual trade between Seattle and Japan. The half-tone plates depict views of Seattle and accommodations for Japanese merchants. The supporting ads, mostly at the back, however, are from many Japanese-owned businesses in the region. [6], [2], 110, 2, [1], 2, [23] pages, plus 14 pages of half-tone photographic plates, including one folding plate and a… Read More

Tokyo: PMC Shuppan, 1984. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A reduced-size reprint in four books of Ito Kazuo's two-volume oral history of Japanese immigrants in the United States. "A recent volume on the history of the Japanese in the Pacific Northwest, including those in British Columbia and Alaska. Based upon interviews and personal accounts, it is essentially a social history of the Issei viewed through their own eyes. Organized topically, it has vivid Issei recollections of working in the railroads, lumber mills, mines, Alaskan fisheries and canneries, and other subjects. Includes sections on Japanese women, stowaways, and prostitutes"-A Buried Past, 283 (for the first edition of the first volume). "A collection of anecdotes, Issei reminiscences, and excerpts from diaries on the prewar immigrant lives in the Pacific Northwest as a sequel to no. 283"-A Buried Past II, no. 1557 (for the 1972 first edition of the second volume). Ito was a journalist for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo. In… Read More

London: The Bodley Head, 1983. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A memoir of Alfred Nobel by the executor of the industrialist's will, and the person widely credited with organizing the prize foundation. The book was published after Sohlman's death, in 1950, and first translated into English in 1983 to mark the 150th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's birth. 144 pages. First English-language edition. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. This copy belonged to Edmond Fischer, the co-winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Fischer has signed the book at the top of the front free endpaper. On the endpaper and pastedown, five of the six other winners that year have inscribed the book to Fischer: Rudolph Marcus (chemistry); Derek Walcott (literature); George Charpak (physics); Edwin Krebs (co-winner in medicine); and Gary Becker (economics). Only the Peace Prize winner, Rigoberto Menchu, did not sign. Fischer was a biochemist at the University of Washington, and he had this book signed… Read More

West Seattle, WA: F. F. Martin, 1907. Ephemera. Very good. Photograph of Asian and Anglo men apparently involved in fish processing in West Seattle, Washington. The photograph measures 8 by 6-1/4 inches on a larger (9 by 11 inches) dark gray mount with the photographer's ink stamp in the upper left corner, "F. F. Martin | West Seattle, Wash" followed by a date stamp, "Nov 25 1907." The image has good contrast and tonal range. There is a bit of silvering to the lower right corner. The mount has a surface chip at the upper left corner. A nice image, identified by location and date.

Bellingham, WA: (the author), 1925. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Fair. A classic tale of white pioneer settlement in Washington, by one of the founders of Lynden, Washington. The book was self published a few months before the author died, based on the journals she kept, starting during her overland crossing in 1853. The book remains in print today from the University of Nebraska's Bison Books imprint. Bison Books describes her memoir thusly: "Phoebe Judson's account of the journey west is based on daily diary entries detailing her fear, excitement, and exhaustion. At the end of the trail, the Judsons encountered hardships aplenty, causing them to abandon a farm and business in Olympia before their arrival in the Nooksack Valley. During the Indian Wars they holed up in a fort at Claquato. In time, Phoebe overcame her fear of the Indians, learned the Chinook language, and won their friendship. All this is told in vivid detail by a woman of great dignity and charm whom readers will long… Read More

[Washington, DC]: (n.p.), 1872. First Edition. Ephemera. Very good. A short reprinting of documents related to the decommissioning of Fort Steilacoom, in Washington Territory. 3 pages (a single sheet, folded to make 4 pages, the final one blank). 42d Congress, 2d Session, House of Representatives Ex. Doc. No. 202. First edition (first printing). Light discoloration to the first page, perhaps an old dampstain, else very good as issued (never bound).

Sydney: Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1881. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 77 pages; plus two plates showing equipment and a large fold-out plan of the Sydney Observatory. Includes reports on the calculation of the longitude of the observatory in Sydney and extensive tables of mean right ascensions and north polar distances of stars observed in 1877 and 1878. Russell, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, was a very active director of the Sydney Observatory, coordinating expeditions, creating a network of amateur weather observers and outfitting them with equipment of his own design, as well as publishing a series of astronomical observations. First edition (first printing). Cloth somewhat spotted; repaired tear to observatory plan; generally very good. This copy is inscribed by the author's second wife: "Ambrose James Russell, with aunt Emily's love. Sydney, N. S. Wales, March 1883." It seems likely that the recipient was a noted Tacoma, Washington, architect. Your… Read More

South Gate, CA: Interurbans Magazine, 1970. First Edition. Trade paperback. Near fine. Interurbans Special 54. 124 pages; extensively illustrated with halftone photographs. 8-1/2 by 10-7/8 inches. First edition. Near fine in wrappers (paperback).

Seattle, WA: (the author), 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A scarce navigation textbook written by a Seattle ship captain. Smith pursued a variety of business ventures in the early 20th century, including running a navigation school for which he wrote this book. It went through several editions with slightly different content. The first two editions are not dated (but the second is identified as the second edition), but the examples in the text are dated 1900 and 1902, giving a probable date range for the publication. This first edition, is particularly interesting for its two dozen ads for Seattle maritime businesses. The ads were dropped from subsequent editions. Approximately 154 pages (with a rather confusing pagination: 119 numbered pages, 27 pages of ads not included in the pagination, but included throughout the text, an inserted plate, plus unnumbered preliminaries and an index). Ads on endpapers as well. First edition (first printing). Very good in blue cloth stamped in black… Read More

Spokane, WA: C. A. Libby, 1910. Ephemera. Very good. An image of two tepees in a forested setting, presumably outside of Spokane, Washington. The tepees are assembled from wooden poles wrapped with a variety of blankets and other large pieces of cloth. This image probably depicts a camp of members of the Spokane tribe. Charles Libby opened a photography studio in Spokane in 1901 (he operated as Libby Art Studio with his sister for a few years before). His son joined the business in the 1920s and ran it until 1969. The Libbys specialized in studio and commercial work; outdoor scenes like this one are somewhat uncommon. Dating is very approximate. Gelatin silver print measuring 6-9/16 by 9 inches on very slightly larger paper. On a gray card mount. Titled and numbered (273) in the negative. Mount corners worn; two small areas of surface loss to the photo paper at the edges. Old ink stamps from a stock photography company on the back (verso).

Sapporo, Japan: Ikeda Eisaburo, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. A self-published Nisei memoir. The author was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1907. He moved to Japan as a boy, but came back to the US as a young man. He graduated from New York University in 1934 and returned to California soon after. He was interned at the beginning of the Second World War, but joined the military where he taught Japanese and worked in intelligence. After the war, he pursued accounting and real estate investing in Pasadena. This book was written when the author was in his eighties. The sixty years of the title refers not to his age, but to time he spent in the United States. [12], 173 pages. OCLC: 933302479 (University of Michigan only). First edition (first printing). A fine hardcover copy; no dust jacket as issued. In a fine printed cardboard sleeve.

Tokyo: Naigai Shuppan Kyokai, 1912. First Edition. An early comprehensive survey of the Japanese in North America. Includes chapters on American society; the historical background to immigration to North America; the Japanese communities of California, Washington, Oregon, and other states, as well as British Columbia, Alaska, and Hawaii; the types of employment in which the Japanese are engaged and the income derived therefrom; the monetary remissions to Japan and their relationship to trade between Japan and America; the political and social status of the Japanese; the exclusion movement; and the Japanese government's emigration policy. The 32-page appendices consist of the treaties, laws, and regulations pertinent to the Japanese in America."-A Buried Past, 274. With six leaves of halftone photographs, printed two per leaf. Most of the images are reproductions of US photo postcards. An important and very scarce book. [2], 10, 2, 2, 2,6, [6 leaves of plates], 366, 32, [16] pages. OCLC: 37260004… Read More

1907. Ephemera. Very Good. Real photo postcard (RPPC). Panoramic view of Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington. Note in pencil at the bottom edge, small spot above image. Postally used, postmarked Juen 16, 1907. A nice image.