Search Results: Authors starting with A from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Berkeley, CA: Blue Wind Press, 1979. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 166 pages. A wacky mystery set in a Paris transmuted into San Francisco, where F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway have a detective agency and Gertrude Stein is captured by Japanese terrorists. Published simultaneously in paperback, cloth, and this cloth issue, limited to 50 signed and numbered by Abbott. First edition (first printing). Fine in a fine dust jacket. This is copy 26 of 50 signed on the half-title page.

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1905. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A general treatment of the Japanese in America by a Waseda University professor and a Christian socialist. He views the exclusion movement as rooted in racial prejudice, looks for more emigration from Japan, and anticipates that the Pacific Coast will become the meeting ground for the East and West. The statistical data on Japanese agriculture and businesses are derived from the Nichibei Nenkan (Japanese American Yearbook), no. 1, 1905."-A Buried Past, 263. In the late 19th century, Abe attended Hartford Theological Seminary, in Connecticut. In 1905, he took an opportunity to return to America, traveling from Los Angeles to Seattle. Based on his observations and experiences, Abe wrote this philosophical and political overview of the growing Japanese society in California. He predicted that as many as 6 million Japanese could find new homes in the US (p. 119). He devotes one chapter to women immigrants, and seems to have absorbed… Read More

San Francisco: Abe Yuka, 1968. First Edition. Trade paperback. Fine. A collection from Abe Toyoji's (1880-1946) "Shadow of Time" newspaper column which was the most widely circulated Japanese column in the United States in the 1930s (see Shin Sekai Asahi Shinbun, January 24, 1937). He completed the manuscript for this book in early 1941 but its publication was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Abe edited the Portland newspaper Oshu Nippo for half a dozen years, beginning in 1909. He then moved to San Francisco to edit the Shin Sekai paper, where he remained until after Pearl Harbor, when he was arrested as a dangerous enemy alien and sent to a camp near Crystal City, Texas. He died there of a brain tumor in 1946. In 1968, his widow Abe Yuka returned to Japan for a visit and arranged for this private printing of Abe's manuscript. The book is rather scarce, with just two holdings in OCLC: 19404771 (UC Berkeley) and 673962195 (National Diet Library). 251 pages plus a frontispiece… Read More

Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2014. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The three stand-alone First Law epic fantasy series novels. Each limited to 500 signed and numbered copies. Fine copies in fine dust jackets. This is a matched set; all three are no. 8 of 500 signed by Abercrombie. Hard to find with a matching low number.

Dobbs Ferry, NY: Morgan & Morgan, 1974. First Edition. Trade paperback. Near fine. A collection of 53 photographs by Adams made with a Polaroid land camera. A paperback original. Text by Edwin Land, David H. McAlpin, Jon Holmes and Ansel Adams. A near fine copy (paperback, as issued) with a "personally autographed by the author" bellyband. The covers have some irregular fading to the covers due to the bellyband. A bit musty. Signed by Adams on the title page.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. First US edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Fine. A Dirk Gently novel. First edition (first printing with a numberline ending in 1). A near fine copy in a fine dust jacket. There is a hint of foxing to the top edge of the page block.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 5 by 7-1/4 inches. 63 pages. First edition (stated). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

[Washington, DC]: Office of Price Administration, 1943. Ephemera. Near fine. A homefront poster from the middle of the Second World War explaining the need for gasoline rationing on the East Coast. It reads (ellipses or ... in the original), "Last year... we used about 22,000,000 gallons of gasoline a day in the gasoline rationed Eastern States alone. This year... Because of the loss of tankers to carry gasoline, and the warload on all ships and railroads, only 11,000,000 gallons of gasoline a day can be brought into the Eastern States. That is why... Gasoline must be rationed... So that everybody can get enough for his necessary driving during the war." 10-1/4 by 14 inches. A fine example. One old fold. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction.

[Washington, DC]: United States Office of Price Administration, 1943. Ephemera. Very good. During the Second World War, posters like this one hung in most of the grocery stores in the United States, but few of them have survived. A key homefront concern of the federal government was runaway inflation, which had posed a significant economic problem during World War One. In addition to rationing, the federal government implemented price controls for projects in high demand and short supply. Stores were not supposed to charge more than the posted price and there was a corresponding campaign to convince shoppers not to pay more. This poster is likely from Richmond, Virginia (rather than the eponymous city in California). It covers meat, dairy products, and many name brands of groceries. 32 by 24 inches. A very good copy, with light chipping to the edges and some minor splits to the folds. SHIPS FOLDED. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction.

[Washington, DC]: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942. Ephemera. Near fine. A homefront poster of a woman holding an empty basket while contemplating full store shelves. During the Second World War, the US government encouraged stores and consumers to abide by price controls and ration limits. 20 by 14 inches. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction. A near fine copy. Never folded. Ships flat.

Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943. A homefront poster from the Second World War, issued as part of a government effort to eliminate the black market for gasoline. The poster, printed in red and blue on off-white paper, lists eight actions a gas station attendant must take to ensure that the customer's ration card is valid and used correctly. See the June 17, 1943, Chippewa Herald-Telegram for more details on the program. 14 by 20 inches. With old folds, as issued. Small split at center fold at the bottom of the poster. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction.

[Washington, DC?]: [U.S. Government Printing Office?], 1942. Ephemera. Fine. A poster announcing the beginning of rationing during the Second World War, accompanied by a notice that consumers will need to report how much canned and bottled goods they have in their pantries. The poster concludes with the admonition, "Do not buy more than you need." (The short-term shortages at the beginning of the Covid shutdown in 2020 suggest the potential for economic disruption during the war). Rationing and consumer price controls were key homefront efforts to manage the US economy. 14 by 20 inches. A fine example; never folded. Ships flat. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction.

[Neuilly, France]: Editions Al Manar, 2012. First Edition. Fine. A collection of poems in French translation, illustrated with an original pastel drawing of a tree as the frontispiece (one of 18 such copies). Adnan (1925-2021), a Lebanese American artist and poet, worked on her Série des Arbres, a group of drawings of trees, over many years. Many of the series are done in a single color of ink; this is an atypical example in colors. In recent years, the art world has "discovered" the work of women artists; Adnan is an early example of this trend. She first gained real recognition at Documenta13, in 2012, the year this book was published, when she was in her late eighties. Two years later, she contributed to the Whitney Biennial, and since then, her work has been exhibited around the world. In addition to painting, Adnan wrote poetry in three languages, Arabic, French, and English. The four long poems here were first written in English. This is one of 18 copies of the first edition with an… Read More

London: Orenda Books in Association with Goldsboro Books, 2020. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The Icelandic crime novelist's first book, translated by Victoria Cribb. This is one of 750 signed and numbered copies with blue-dyed edges. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. This is copy 52 of 750 signed by Aegisdottir.

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. An illustrated guide to sea animals with radial symmetry, written by Elizabeth Agassiz with illustrations by her step-son Alexander. Illustrated with lovely small reversed (white lines on black background) images. 155 pages. A near fine copy in the publisher's blue-green cloth binding.

New York: Michael di Capua Books / HarperCollins, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. An illustrated picture book about an astronaut and Lulu, the strange creature that returns with him from the moon. First edition (stated). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Agee, "To Ellen, John Agee, 1996" with a small sketch of Lulu.

San Antonio: Wings Press, 2001. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. One of 50 signed and numbered hardcover copies (there was also a paperback issue). A collection of prose and poetry imagining the details of the life of the poet's Jewish grandmother who fled Europe for Chile in 1939. Agosín writes in Spanish; an English translation by Brigid A. Milligan and Laura Rocha Nakazawa is provided on the facing pages. Agosín, a native of Baltimore, was raised in Chile and now teaches at Wellesley College. 188 pages. First edition (first printing). A fine hardcover copy in a fine unprinted acetate jacket. Numbered and signed by Agosín on the colophon.

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1881. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. viii, 512, 21 pages. 8 by 10-1/2 inches. Includes reports of the British expeditions of the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands (pp. 1 to 256); Egypt (pp. 257 to 346); Rodriguez Island (now Rodrigues; pp. 347 to 400); Kerguelen Island (Desolation Islands; pp. 401 to 480); and New Zealand (pp. 481 to 512). Illustrated with a few plates, but mostly filled with tables of data. Rbound in modern buckram. Some chipping and wear to preliminary pages, else very good.

Méjico [Mexico City]: Imprenta de J. Lara, 1846. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. This agricultural and industrial report covers many topics, including silk, paper, wax, ceramics, cacao, and other crops and natural resources. It also includes a relatively early mention of mezcal (mescal), which is described as an important product in many parts, especially in Jalisco and the Tequila region. José María Castaños's Hacienda de Pugo is identified as the best equipped sugar refinery in the country for both refined sugar and for aguardiente (rum) production. 77 pages plus six large, foldout broadside tables of statistics which are classic examples of mid-19th century Mexican typography, with intricate, decorated borders printed from lead type. Very good in original printed yellow wrappers, with a couple of inches of loss to the spine ends. The fold-out plates are generally very good; a few with tears at the point of attachment.

Paris: Soleil Productions, 2007. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Three volumes in the Belladone series of graphic novels in the publisher's slipcase. Text in French. Full color throughout. 9 by 12-3/4 inches and 48 pages each. First editions? Tome 3 (Louis) states "premiere edition" on the copyright page; the other two books do not have a first edition statement, but they also do not have any indications of later printings. Each volume has a print from the series, numbered and signed by Alary laid in.