Search Results: Authors starting with S from Mac Donnell Rare Books

Sassoon, Siegfried. SATIRICAL POEMS. London: William Heinemann, 1933. Second edition, with five new poems added. Original dark blue cloth, gilt, dust jacket. Very fine fresh copy in near fine jacket with a hint of aging and dust. The edition was just 875 copies. Keynes A26.c.

Shelley, Percy-Bysshe. QUEEN MAB. London: Printed for the Joint Stock Book Company, and Published by Richard Carlile, 1826. First 32mo edition, with the suppressed dedication appended at end of text. Original drab boards, paper label on front cover, uncut. A little chipping at spine, light rubbing, else tight clean copy in the rare original boards binding with a nice full label. The first edition was published in 1813 (in octavo), and pirated by Clark in 1821 (in duodecimo). Clark was sent to jail for his trouble, and the following year Richard Carlile reprinted the book (again in octavo) and had on hand for sale 180 copies of the… Read More

Twain, Mark [Clemens, S. L.] Shuck, Oscar, ed. THE CALIFORNIA SCRAP-BOOK: A REPOSITORY OF USEFUL INFORMATION AND SELECT READING. San Francisco: H. H. Bancroft, 1869. First edition. Original sheep, with original black label, gilt. Rebacked with original spine preserved. Text is very clean, crisp and tight. This title is invariably found in terrible condition or wholly rebound. A well-known anthology of newspaper articles, poems, fiction, sketches, essays, and miscellaneous works about California, including works by Bret Harte, John Ruskin(!), and Mark Twain (first printing of his description of the Azore Islands, later included in… Read More

[Sigourney, Lydia] THE ATLANTIC SOUVENIR; A CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S OFFERING... FOR 1829. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey [1828] First edition. Original pictorial green glazed boards, all edges gilt, in original slipcase, labels. Not quite a fine copy, and small bottom panel of slipcase missing, but a lovely copy in the rare original publisher's slipcase that matches the printed designs of the covers. Contains one piece by Willis, and a few by Sigourney, but nothing by Longfellow or Irving as in the previous volume. The edition was 9,500 copies. Kaser, pp. 275-84. Thompson, pp. 49-55, 110. Read More

[GIFT BOOK] THE RAINBOW. Albany & New York: A. L. Harrison, 1848. First edition, second issue. Original color-stamped cream calf, heavily gilt, stamped in red, brown, and green, all edges gilt, decorated glazed end papers, signed in gilt in the binding by Harrison "A. L. Harrison, Binders, Patent Stereographic Binding." An anthology of works by William Gilmore Simms, James T. Fields (the publisher), Sarah Helen Whitman (Poe's fiancee), and a host of female writers. One of the most striking American bindings of the nineteenth century. This book was published in 1847, but sales were slow and to sell unsold copies the next… Read More

[Melville, Herman] Smith, J. E. A. HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD. Springfield: C. W. Bryan & Co., 1876. First edition. Original black cloth, gilt. Very fine fresh tight copy, and quite scarce in such bright tight fresh condition. In fact, BAL had not seen a copy in original binding, and could only speculate that it was indeed cloth-bound. Melville is credited with supplying or editing the article about his uncle, Major Thomas Melville, and there is one direct quote by Melville. Not in the Carroll Wilson collection. Sabin 83327. BAL 13675.

[Melville, Herman] Smith, J. E. A. HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD. Springfield: C. W. Bryan & Co., 1876. First edition. Original black cloth, gilt. Some mild chafing at spine tips, but an unusually bright tight fresh copy of this book, seldom seen this nice due to its bulk. In fact, BAL had not seen a copy in original binding and could only speculate that it was indeed cloth-bound. Melville is credited with supplying or editing the article about his uncle, Major Thomas Melville, and there is one direct quote by Melville. Not in the Carroll Wilson collection. Sabin 83327. BAL 13675.

Smollett, Tobias. THE ADVENTURES OF FERDINAND COUNT FATHOM. London: T. Johnson, 1753. 2 vols. Pirated edition, published the same year as the first edition. Later marbled boards, leather labels, gilt. Fine set. The shortest of Smollett's novels, and written with little humor, it tells the story of numerous frauds and deceptions of an unrelenting villain. Smollett dedicated this novel to himself, perhaps the first author to do so, and wrote a psychologically facsinating preface to himself. The scoundrel in this work may have been inspired by Peter Gordon, a low-life deadbeat whom Smollett had rescued from jail, fed, and clothed.… Read More

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] Woolson Spice Co. [makers of Lion Coffee] SHADOW PICTURE OF MARK TWAIN. Toledo, Ohio: Woolson Spice Co., 1895. Advertising trade card consisting of a floral decorated card with instructions and pattern on back. When cut out, it creates a silhouette of Mark Twain. This card is uncut and in fine condition; these cards are often found cut out or removed from Victorian scrapbooks, and encrusted with glue residue. This series of shadow cards issued by Lion Coffee included at least twenty famous people of the nineteenth century including Bismarck, the Prince of Wales, Buffalo Bill,… Read More

Stein, Gertrude. HAVE THEY ATTACKED MARY. HE GIGGLED. West Chester, Pa.: Horace F. Temple [1917] First edition, one of 200 numbered copies. Original red printed wrappers, uncut. Light wear two small chips, and slight offsetting of wrapper dye to first and last leaves of text, but a well-preserved copy of this scarce and fragile pamphlet. The "poem," a sort of free verse conversation, was a caricature of the art critic, Henry McBride, although Stein called it a "genre picture" and claimed the caricature was more generalized. The frontispiece cartoon of Henry McBride speaks for itself. Wilson… Read More

Stevenson, Robert Louis. A STEVENSON MEDLEY. London: Chatto & Windus, 1899. First edition, one of 300 copies, signed by the publisher. Original half-morocco & blue cloth, gilt. With thirteen excellent facsimiles of his early toy books and pamphlets tipped in at back. Very good copy. Beinecke 661.

[WHITMAN, WALT] Swinton, William. RAMBLES AMONG WORDS: THEIR POETRY, HISTORY AND WISDOM. New York: Charles Scribner, 1859. First edition. Original sage cloth, gilt. "Swinton was assisted by Whitman in preparing this book." --Joel Myerson. Some general fading, spine gilt dulled but legible, and some chewing along fore-edge of rear cover, but a tight clean copy with no rubbing. This playful etymological work emphasizes the sensual and spiritual aspects of language, sounds, and semantics. This copy is inscribed by one George William Ranson in 1859 and has his well-informed critical pencil annotations throughout the text… Read More