Search Results: Authors starting with V from Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. First Edition. Near fine/Very good. Small 8vo., 7 1/4 x 5 1/4 (187 x 128 mm); pp. xi + 311 + 6 advertisements. Original black cloth, titles on spine and front board in red ink, endpapers with maps of "Inwood and the Stamm Estate"; old owner's signature on front blank page. Scribner's "A" on copyright page. Original dust jacket, original cover price of $2.00 intact, DJ in mylar cover with light edgeware and 1/4 inch chips at head and toe of spine, and 1/8 inch chips at corners. The Dragon Murder Case is the seventh novel featuring Van Dine's Philo Vance character. It was also adapted to a film version in 1934, starring Warren William as Vance. This is the only Philo Vance mystery with a pictorial dust jacket. S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright (1888 - 1939) an American art critic and author.

Toronto: Coop Clark, 1933. First Canadian Edition. Very Good. Small 8vo., 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 (185 x 124 mm); pp. 307. Original black cloth, titles on spine and front board in dark orange ink, bumped at head of spine. Original dust jacket with orange homicide case card (American Edition was dark pink), chipped especially on spine and corners and some small tears on edges, inside in fine condition. A rare and attractive book. The Kennel Murder Case is the novel 6th featuring Van Dine's Philo Vance character. It was adapted to a film version in 1933, directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., starring William Powell and Mary Astor and is considered one of the greatest screen adaptations of a Golden Age mystery novel. Warner Bros. remade it in 1940 as "Calling Philo Vance" with James Stephenson as Vance and William Clemens directing. S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright (October 15, 1888 - April 11, 1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was an… Read More

Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press, 1928. Near fine. 4 volumes, 4to; 10 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches (258 x 190 mm); pp. vol. 1, [4] xliv, 239 [1]; vol. 2, [10] 257 [5]; vol. 3, [10] 290 [4]; vol. 4, [4] xli [1] 284 [2], without the plates of houses, but with a frontispiece portrait of Vanburgh in vol. 4 Printed in monotype Caslon, with titles in Stephenson Blake Old face open. Quarter vellum binding with brown and white batik paper covered boards, deckled edges; title in gilt on spine. Interiors clean and bright, vellum spines lightly soiled. One of 110 copies (no. 86) on English hand-made paper, the remainder of the 1300 print run on machine made paper. [Dreyfus 49]. A complete collection of the plays and letters of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664 - 1726), "printed from the original quartos or octavos. the letters are for the first time gathered together... copied from the originals in the British Museum" [John Dreyfus. A History of The Nonesuch Press. London: 1981, p. 203]. Vanbrugh was an English architect,… Read More

1786. Etching and engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on laid paper with an E and R watermark. 8 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches (212 x 323 mm), full margins. Minor condition points include the plate number appearing attenuated in the lower right image area, a small graphite mark in the lower right corner on the recto (outside of the image area), and a long but narrow strip of non archival clear tape along the top sheet edge, recto, well outside of the image area. The work is in otherwise excellent condition with fresh color. It bears mention that the figure of the nursing woman in the lower right appears adorned in a bright lemon-colored robe, most commonly we see this figure appear in purple. A scarce representation of this lovely detail.

1930. Etching and drypoint on cream wove paper, 6 15/16 x 5 1/16 inches (175 x 128 mm), full margins. Signed, titled and numbered 72/80 in pencil, lower margin. Uniform age tone, minor surface soiling, and a small bow-shaped damp stain in each of the top corners (outside of image area). Inky fingerprint in the lower right margin, also well outside of image area. A rich and inky impression of a magical southern landscape with figure tilling soil under Spanish moss covered oaks. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, and educated under the tutelage of Thomas Anshutz at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, O'Neill Verner was a teacher, a mother, an artist, an ardent preservationist, and a skilled autodidact. Having previously focused on painting, in the early 1920s she found herself deeply moved by printmaking as a media, and especially so by the simple, peaceful themes and tableaus she discovered in Japanese art. She embarked on a effort to teach herself Japanese printmaking techniques, and in the… Read More

London: Society of Antiqauries London, 1744. Engraving on buff wove paper with a large heraldic watermark with Strasbourg lily with a crown and shied and the letters LVG, 9 1/2 x 14 1/8 inches (240 x 352 mm), full margins. In good condition with some minor age-related toning, and handing wear. One 1-inch vertical edge tear at the right sheet edge, outside of the image area. A plate from George Vertue's book, Views of St. Martin's Church, Etc., Society of Antiquarties, London, 1744. The floor plan of St. Martin's Church in the Fields, Westminster, before its demolition.

London, 1739. Etching with engraving on cream laid paper with a Garden of Holland or Maid of Dort Pro Patria watermark, 11 x 14 1/4 inches (278 x 361 mm), thread margins. Lettered with the title in a cartouche at the top-center sheet, continuing "a Latere Occidentali Prospeus AD MDCCXXXIX," with numbers over the image at right that correspond to a key 1 to 29, and with publication details: "Georgius Vertue Londini delineavit et Sculpsit anno MDCCXXXIX". Multiple expert repairs, notably a Y-shaped, expert paper tape repair on the verso. Handling creases, toning. All issues are consistent with age. An impression of this work may be viewed in the permanent collection of the British Museum, registration No. 1880,1113.3963. A bird's eye view of the college in Broad Street, London, showing the courtyard, adjoining stable yard to the right, and the buildings at the back. This work was included in Frederick Crace's 1878 tome A Catalogue of Maps, Plans and Views of London, Westminster and Southwark; XXV.29.

New York: E. P. Dutton & Co, 1946. First Edition, First Printing. Near fine/Very good +. 8vo, 8 x 5 1/2 in. (223 x142 mm); pp. 222 . Original black cloth, titles on spine and front board in bright blue ink, top edge black. Original dust jacket in very good condition, lightly rubbed at extremities, price clipped; back endpaper lightly tanned. INSCRIBED COPY, signed by the author on the title page to Harvey Donogan and signed again in blue ink on the dust jacket next to his author photo and printed signature, perhaps to illustrate that an E.P. Dutton employee probably supplied Vidal's signature when the jacket was being designed. WILLIWAW IS GORE VIDAL'S DEBUT NOVEL, written when he was 19, working as a first mate of a US Army supply ship in the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska. The story, set on such a ship in the Arctic waters during World War II and during hurricane season, builds tension as crew and passengers await the arrival of the 'williwaw', a violent wind common in the Aleutian… Read More

Paris: Edouard Pelletan, 1898. Limited Edition. Fine. Georges Bellenger. Quarto, 11 3/4 x 9 3/4 in (300 x 248 mm), 196 pp., red crushed morocco, boards framed with an embossed black fillet between gold fillets, same motif between the five raised bands on the spine, and gilt title; triple gold fillet on interior boards, with decorative gilt motifs on corners, marbled end papers; paper cover and spine bound at beginning and end, title page in brick and black lettering, edges gilt, slipcase with leather edges and red marbled paper to match book color: BINDING by CHARLES MEUNIER (stamp-signed in gilt on lower turn-in). Limited edition of 350 copies with 46 illustrations by Georges Bellenger (1847-1915), engraved on wood by Eugène Froment (1844-1926), of which 320 in Octavo format. This one of 30 special copies re-set and printed in Quarto format, and one of 15 among them printed on old hand-made Japon paper, uncut. This custom edition includes two EXTRA PRINTS of each plate, printed on Japon and on… Read More

Paris: Urbain Canel, Editeur, 1826. First Edition. Fine. 2 vols., 8vo.; 8 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches (213 x 130 mm), Vol. 1: [4], 4, 411, 1 [4]; Vol. 2: [4], 4, 494, 1, [4]. Binding signed LORTIC in gilt on turn-ins and small tag on f.e.p., elegant red morocco with dry-stamped fillets on covers and spine compartments, gilt fillets on edges, headbands, 5 raised bands, gilt titles, all edges brightly gilt ; turn-ins with elaborate decorative motifs, marbled endpapers. Spines somewhat sunned, a little rubbing to some bands, internally clean and bright throughout and firmly bound. Vol. 1 has red morocco and gilt library book plate of Henri Bordes pasted inside front cover; both volumes have armorial book plate of Soldati-Hubbard de-Veaux pasted inside front cover. [Carteret II, 452; Vicaire, VII, 1053; Rahir 672; BNF31577810]. First edition of the work that is considered the first French historical novel and declared "extremely rare" by the dean of French bibliographers, Léopold Carteret (Le trésor du… Read More

1750. Engraving on buff laid paper, 6 1/2 x 10 1/8 inches (164 x 267 mm), unevenly trimmed margins (approximately 1/8 inch). In good condition with scattered areas of light yellow discoloration on the verso. Marks are unobtrusive and are only slightly visible on the recto, especially in the area of the lower left sheet edge and corner.

Antwerp, 1660. Etching on cream laid paper, 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (190 x 140 mm), full margins. Trimmed at the plate mark. Scattered light caramel colored areas of discoloration in the sheet corners, light skinning on the verso at the sheet corners, perhaps from a former mount. Flattened diagonal crease throughout the image area, unobtrusive. All condition points are consistent with age. Despite having been well known for painting bawdy tavern scenes, and a preference for what has been described as a dissolute lifestyle, Brouwer was highly esteemed in the art community. This is evidenced by the fact that both Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens owned works by Brouwer at the time of his death. Rubens, who began collecting works by Brouwer before having sought him out to befriend him, owned 17 works by Brouwer at the time of his own death.

1670. Etching on handmade, cream laid paper. 5 13/16 x 7 5/8 inches (146 x 192 mm), thread margins. Scattered handling creases, light age tone, and minor paper inconsistoncies throughout. All consistent with age.

1758. Engraving on cream laid paper, 8 x 5 7/8 inches (202 x 149 mm), trimmed at the platemark. Adhered at each corner to a small sheet of archival laid paper. Horizontal edge loss at the top-center sheet edge, extending approximately 1/2-inch into the platemark, 1-inch in length. Inking is dark and clear and the sheet is otherwise in good condition. A reverse image copy of the work by Rembrandt, printed mid 18th century. The image shows the so-called Little Stink Mill, an actual windmill that once stood along the bulwark that extended down the west side of Amsterdam during the 17th century. The mill was owned and operated by the Leathermakers Guild, and its nickname stemmed from the odorous practice of softening tanned leather with cod liver oil. An impression of this work may be viewed in the permanent collection of Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum; Division of European Art, object number G3958.

Haarlem / New York: J. Enschedé en Zonen for the Bennett Libraries Inc, 1927. Limited Edition. Near fine. Clara Tice (1888 - 1973). 8vo, 9 x 5 3/4 inches (228 x 147 mm). 2 parts in 1 volume with continuous pagination: [10], 182 pp., (7) index, [10]; 10 etched plates by CLARA TICE, including hand-colored frontispiece, each with tissue guard with legends printed in red. Copy 541 of the limited edition of 1000 copies, set by hand in Didot type and printed on 'papier à la cuve', t.e.g., one page unopened. Etching at p.54 with loss in the lower corner, not affecting the image, paper somewhat toned at edges and occasional small tears to some sheets, but copy is in near fine condition, paper supple. Half cloth binding with marbled boards; gilt title on spine, slightly rubbed, some bumping and wear at corners and edges, 2-inch crack to top of front hinge, but binding tight and square. All for the Best. This edition, enriched by Clara Tice's racy and whimsical illustrations, is an "Exact reprint of the… Read More

Antwerp: Maarten van den Enden, 1633. Etching on cream laid paper with an indiscernible watermark, likely 17th century, 9 7/16 x 6 1/8 inches (240 x 155 mm), wide margins. In very good condition with some handling creases and cross-shaped light fold at the center of the sheet, some light skinning at the top center margin (outside of image area) on the verso, and scattered unobtrusive surface soiling. All condition issues are consistent with age. An impression of this work may be found in the permanent collection of the British Museum, Object No.1888,0612.19.

The Hague, 1799. Engraving with burin on cream laid paper, 7 7/8 x 13 inches (198 x 330 mm) full margins. Octavo fold with additional hard creases with an associated loss in the lower left margin, scattered foxing and scattered light areas of discoloration throughout. Adhesive residue along the left sheet edge.