Search Results: Titles starting with O from Michael Laird Rare Books LLC

Paris: The Author, 1867. Very good. Together 4 items: one pamphlet and three separate engravings (see below). Small collection of rare and curious double-image optical illusions made by the very eccentric Lampridio Giovanardi (1811-1878), an Italian ebonist, inventor, and erstwhile engraver. For the distraction and amusement of his family and friends he created, in very limited numbers, small pamphlets and engravings, all crudely executed and hastily printed, of curious optical illusions known as "quadri cangianti" (changing pictures). Only about 25 engravings by Giovanardi are known today, including the the sheet of anthropomorphic capital letters known as the "Alfabeto Figurator" (ca. 1860) of which there is a a copy at Princeton Graphic Arts and the Beinecke. Our pamphlet is entitled "Motti piacevoli dedicati al bel sesso" (Dedicated to the Fairer Sex) and was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867 includes various proverbs and sayings, along with 6 crudely executed woodcut… Read More

Philadelphia: G.B. Zieber, 1845. First American edition. Very good. Small 8vo. viii, [1], 14-236 pp. + 8 pp. (advertisements). Collates complete as per the Stanford copy. Forms Part VIII of "The Home & Travellers Library Semi-Monthly." Original cloth (spine chipped and partially defective, extremities rubbed), hinges perfectly sound. Small marginal stain on fore-edge of title-page and first 20 pages (not objectionable). First American edition, originally published in London in 1844 under the title: "History of the Oregon Territory." The author resided in the Oregon Territory for eight years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Despite that this American edition does not contain the linguistics section, there is extremely valuable documentation on the Pacific Northwest Indians, British Columbia, and the nascent Pacific Northwest states, much of which was unavailable to many American readers at the time. ¶ From the Dorothy Sloan Americana Collection. Howes D577. Field 467. Graff 1182 (citing… Read More

Washington DC: Richie & Heiss, Printers, 1845. Very good. 8vo. 5, [3] pp. (last 3 pages blank). Single sheet folded twice (splitting along folds), uncut. AN APPEAL TO CONGRESS BY RESIDENTS IN THE OREGON TERRITORY IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH A GOVERNMENT. The writers draw attention to the vast commercial opportunities, as well as the threat from the British ("a haughty government, on a foreign continent, [that] asserts her right to possess herself of Oregon"). The authors gloss over the impediment of the Rocky Mountains which -- we are informed -- ascend gradually and "present little more obstruction than a cornfield." These "memorialists" further request that the Wallamette valley be surveyed; mail routes established (to arrive and depart "monthly"); land officers appointed; navy yards built on the Columbia River; protection from the "numerous Indian tribes which surround us"; the purchase of territories they may wish to sell; agents with authority "to regulate intercourse between whites and Indians."… Read More

London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1844. First Edition. Very good. 8vo. 44 pp. Stitched as issued without wrappers. First and last pages a trifle dusty, p. 44 with blemishing (SEE IMAGES). AGAINST AMERICAN CONTROL OF THE OREGON TERRITORY, WHICH AT THAT TIME ENCOMPOSSED WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA AND WAS HELD JOINTLY BY BRITAIN AND AMERICA. "Thom was personally familiar with the country and here ably sets forth the British claims to it. An important work when studying the Pacific Northwest" (Jenkins). There is also a brief summary of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the region from 1543 to 1812. Sabin 95370. Howes T161. Eberstadt 497. Decker 516. Tremaine 5287.

New York: S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1867. Good. Large lithograph map (387 x 310 mm), colored, mounted on matte board which has been mounted onto thick board covered in heavy linen. Minor toning to outer edges of map; overall in good condition and suitable for framing. NOT a reproduction! THE EXCELLENT AUGUSTUS MITCHELL "COUNTY MAP OF TEXAS." This 1867 map precedes the formation of counties in Young Territory, Bexan Territory, Presidio, and El Paso. It was published in the 1868 edition of Mitchell's "New General Atlas," a work of considerable importance in American cartography. The map features relief in hachures; Greenwich prime meridian; rivers; railways; mountains; and ornamental border. The copyright date of the map (1867) appears outside of the border on the lower left edge. From the Dorothy Sloan Collection of Western Americana.

Cliveden, England, 1918. Very good. Original photograph, 205 x 150 mm (very good condition); affixed to embossed cardstock, 300 x 250 mm (corners worn and partially defective). Little-known (possibly unpublished) photograph of David Lloyd George as Prime Minister, taken at Clevedon Hospital, the temporary relief center for wounded soldiers that had been established by the Astors on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross. Lloyd George directs a confrontational glare at the camera, surely mindful that the War Office did not want to publicize the growing population of wounded men. It is possible that the photographer was G.M. (or S.M.) Fenwick, who in two instances wrote on the cardstock frame requesting that the photograph be returned to him/her at 501 W 121st Street, New York City: this was not a private residence, but in fact it was Columbia University housing. Therefore Fenwick was surely a student, and probably American, as Lloyd George is referred to as the "Premier of England" and not as Prime Minister.

New York: Richards Rosen Press (published version), 1964. First Edition. Very good. MANUSCRIPT: Somewhat worn notebook of black cloth (210 x 130 mm), title scratched onto the front cover. With typewritten "introduction" and 11 original pastel illustrations, each with typewritten captions, the remainder blank. ADDED: published version: 8vo. [96] pp., illustrated with photographs throughout. Original blue publisher's cloth (extremities worn and a little soiled, but the hinges are quite perfect). No ugly inscriptions or stamps; NOT ex-library! WEIRD AND WONDERFUL, HIGHLY CYNICAL BOOK ABOUT GENDER RELATIONS, HERE EXPRESSED THROUGH MEAN-SPIRITED HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS. WE OFFER THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DRAFT, WITH 11 PASTEL ILLUSTRATIONS AND TYPEWRITTEN TEXTS, ALONG WITH A COPY OF THE PUBLISHED VERSION. "Neurotic Inanimates" is an analysis of the psycho-pathology behind common objects that vex our lives. The present manuscript illustrates the development of the published book of the same name which in most… Read More

Berlin: Ad 1. Ad 2: Verlag Bruno Hessling, 1977. First Edition. Together 2 vols. Ad 1: xv, [5], 782, [2] pp. With 77 b/w illustrations in the text. Attractively (and very sturdily) bound in contemporary red quarter morocco over glazed red boards, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, all original wrappers bound in (sic!) -- Ad 2: 183 pp. With 43 illustrations in the text. Original publisher's orange cloth. Original edition. B.H. Breslauer copy of the justly famous catalogue of the vast collection of ornamental books and prints of the Kunstbibliothek Berlin, at one time the most comprehensive in existence in the field of decorative art and architecture. It comprised printed material from the late 15th to the early 19th century. The collection was based upon that of Hippolyte Destailleur, the great connoisseur, which was acquired in 1879, to which was added the extraordinary holdings of the Kunstgewerbemuseum and Kupferstichkabinett. The catalogue is a model of its kind, with complete descriptions and… Read More

Madrid, 1790. Peter Marin. Small 4to. 224 pp. Bound in contemporary horsehide (?) -- on covers a flower tool has been impressed in gold to form a cross, in the outer edges a rope-work roll, at the corners the same flower tool, four raised bands on spine, in the compartments impressions in gold of the same flower tool; two pair of original catches and clasps affixed by nails (one indistinguishable replacement), all edges gilt, around edges of the textblock are 11 impressions of a 6-pointed star. Minor wear to binding, text clean and crisp. Preserved in a cloth box. FEASTS AND FESTIVALS in Toledo. It was suggested to us that this book was bound in Columbia, South America, where it had been (beautifully) preserved located since Colonial times. Be that as it may, the front and back pastedowns consist of printed Spanish Revenue Stamped paper: "Quarenta Maravedis / Sello Quarto, Quarenta Maravedis, Ano de Mil y Ochocientos Siete" (1806). Such documents would have been valid for one year only in Spain,… Read More

Amsterdam: By de weduwe van Joannes van Someren, de erfgenaamen van Joannes van Dyk, Hendrik en de weduwe van Dirk Boom, 1690. Hardcover. Very good. Broadside, 305 x 470 (visible image size), professionally matted and framed. ¶ A huge and extraordinary 17th-century anatomical engraving, justly celebrated by anatomists and artists alike for over 330 years. For obvious reasons the Surrealists found it particularly fascinating. Our example is beautifully framed. ¶ "This stark dissection -- with ragged flesh fully displayed and hands bound with a cord -- signals a commitment to a higher level of realism. To our eyes, the picture may suggest a distressing indifference to, or even pleasure in, human suffering" (Dream Anatomy, National Library of Medicine, 2003). ¶ "Govard Bidloo was born in Amsterdam in 1649 and became professor of anatomy at The Hague from 1688 to 1694, when he took the same position at Leyden. He was later appointed the physician of William III of England, who was originally Dutch,… Read More

Detroit, MI, 1969. Very good. Original black and white photograph (6.75" x 9.25"), minor wear. ADDED: reproductions of photographs of Richard Austin and Coleman Alexander Young. AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICAL CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE IN RUINED DETROIT. Striking, anonymous photograph of an anonymous crumbling Detroit house, likely taken in 1969 or 1970. The only remaining function of this shell of a "home" was serving as a grotesque billboard advertising hope and change. Affixed to the ruined facade are campaign posters for three African American political candidates running in Detroit's current municipal elections. We have not been able to identify the photographer or if the photograph has been published elsewhere. To suggest that these candidates candidates faced "challenging" conditions would be a gross understatement. Indeed, voters' were justifiably enraged by Detroit's police brutality, widespread racism, extreme socioeconomic disparity, unemployment and underemployment, food deserts, and… Read More

S.l., 1860. Good. Small photograph (89 x 58 mm), irregularly trimmed; mounted on card (99 x 61 mm), likewise irregularly trimmed. Identified on card verso and recto in two different hands; on verso "Taken at the time UTC written." Print thumb-soiled; on subject's face a small portion of print flaked with loss. If indeed the subject of the present portrait is Harriet Beecher Stowe, then she was certainly a young woman here. Her hair uncharacteristically tied at the back, and her countenance free from the sorrow and woe that seems to eminate from all other known photographs of the author. For comparison purposes, images of a young Harriet Beecher Stowe have been almost impossible to procure. Unlike the two individuals who have identified the subject of the present photograph as Harriet Beecher Stowe, we are reluctant to make this claim, and thus differ to specialists.