Search Results: Titles starting with T from Mac Donnell Rare Books

Bell, Alexander Graham. TELEPHONE. ROBERTS' OPERA HOUSE, APRIL 27, 1877... [Hartford: Alexander Graham Bell, April, 1877] Broadside flyer or ticket, 3 x 4 1/2 inches, on dark green (teal) paper. Two corners chipped, and one crease, but a remarkable survival for such an ephemeral piece printed on such poor quality paper. This small flyer, which may also have served as a ticket of admission, invited potential customers to come to Bell's first public demonstration of a long distance telephone system (or "exchange"). This historic demonstration was held in Hartford and New Haven with transmissions made over a "borrowed" telegraph line and an "operator" in Middletown making the system (or "exchange") connections. Up until this time phones had been leased in pairs, and the customer had to string their own line (usually between office and home) to the second phone; if they wished to be able to call a third party, yet another line had to be strung directly between the original caller and the third party, but… Read More

Lowell, James Russell. THREE MEMORIAL POEMS. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877. First edition. Original terra cotta cloth, gilt, red edges. Mild rubbing to spine ends, but a nice bright copy. The author's own copy with his ownership inscription at front dated December 22, 1876, just one week after publication. Lowell also had copies in green and blue cloth which he identically inscribed. The blue cloth copy is in the Parkman Howe Library at University of Florida (JRL 205) and the green cloth copy is in a private collection in Cambridge. Lowell's library was given to Harvard shortly after his death, but others were retained… Read More

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] C. A. Transit Company. TICKET GOOD FOR STEAMSHIP AMERICA, SAN FRANCISCO TO NEW YORK, VIA NICARAGUA. San Francisco, Central American Transit Company, 1866. Oblong printed ticket blank with stub still attached (4 x 12 inches). Fine. On December 15, 1866, Twain boarded the "America" in San Francisco, steamed to Nicaragua, arriving on December 30, crossed the Isthmus, and boarded the `San Francisco' and steamed on to New York, arriving on January 12, where he soon published his first book and began in earnest his literary career. See Kaplan's MR. CLEMENS, MARK TWAIN (p.… Read More

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] TRAMP ART CARVING OF THE STEAMBOAT ST. LOUIS. [n.p., n.d., circa 1900-02] 11 x 14 inches, pine or cypress table top, carved to depict the St. Louis harbor steamboat `Port of St. Louis' which was rechristened the `Mark Twain' when Twain himself piloted her around the harbor during his visit in 1902, a few days after his famous visit to his boyhood home in Hannibal. Although there were several steamboats named in Twain's honor during his lifetime, this is the only one he was ever directly connected with in any way, and was in fact, the last steamboat he ever piloted. Unsure… Read More

James, Henry. TRANSATLANTIC SKETCHES. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875. First edition, first binding. Original terra cotta cloth, gilt. From the library of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1890-1906), Henry B. Brown, with his ink signature and date (1876) on title-page, and his bookplate. Spine ends slightly rubbed, a few minor stray marks, else a nice crisp copy of the author's second book, published just three months after his first. The edition was only 1,578 copies, not all of which were immediately bound up as was this copy. Edel & Laurence A2. BAL 10530.

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] Brownell, George Hiram, and Chester L. Davis, editors. THE TWAINIAN. 1939-1989. Vol. I-III (old series) and Vol. I, number 1 to vol. 48, number 4 (new series), both complete, an unbroken run, with 14 issues from 1942-44 in old photocopy, and one of the earlier issues inscribed and signed by George Hiram Brownell, the original editor. Original self-wrappers, stapled, as issued. A complete run through 1989. There was no issue for July/August, 1960 (19:4) and the Special Mark Twain Number of `The American Book Collector' (also present here) was sent out instead with a rubber-stamp notice on… Read More

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. TWICE-TOLD TALES. Boston: American Stationers, 1837. First edition, with 4pp. of ads at front and 12pp. at rear (copies are also found with 16pp. of ads at rear; no priority). Original faded old rose cloth, embossed with quatrefoil ornaments, gilt. Expertly rebacked preserving the original spine, else a very good tight copy with the usual foxing, and an 1839 ownership inscription. Neither BAL nor Clark record this combination of cloth color and embossed pattern. Hawthorne's first collection of short stories (including many of his best), and his first acknowledged book, printed in an edition… Read More