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

Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms, 2000. First Edition. Near Fine. Small 4to. 142 numbered photographs + texts. Original dark gray cloth, original dust-wrapper (MMA price sticker on back of jacket). NOT ex-library! PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO BERNARD ("BERND") BRESLAUER IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION. "With dedication and intensity, Thomas Walther, a visionary collector of photography, has been sorting through the seemingly superfluous vernacular photography of this century. Other Pictures is his selection of over 150 [recte: 142] unique images from his 'other' collection, his collection of found images. They are perfectly presented here, giving us the opportunity to appreciate and muse over these singular anonymous masterpieces, images as indelible as any created by the most democratic of tools-the camera." From the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, with bookplate loosely inserted along with several contemporary newpaper reviews.

Wyoming. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Tall narrow photo album containing 52 color photographs (all 3.5" x 5") inserted into an assemblage of 60 sleeves (numbered 2-61), all with typed captions (and thus 8 photos are no longer present), ca. 50% of the photos are aerial views. Curious 1980 photo album showing landscapes and topography of the Wind River Indian Reservation and environs, many being aerial views. Well documented are the rivers that run through and around the Reservation (Wind River, Little Wind River, Pope Agie River), the flatlands (Bighorn Flat), lakes (Bull Lake and Dam, Ocean Lake), creeks (Willow, Owl and Crow Creeks), irrigation canals, mountains, empty reservoir behind Anchor Dam, Arapahoe Ranch, Fort Washakie, and more. These photographs were taken by David Keith Todd (1923-2006), a renowned hydrologist. The album's original intent seems to have been as a record of potential water resources and possible development on the reservation, but the results are striking,… Read More

Tokyo: Yamatoya Kihee, 1872. Very good. 2 vols. 8vo. Original wrappers, stitched as issued in the Japanese style (a little stained; early ownership stamps on first pages; light stains to upper margins and colophons). Complete copy in good condition. A remarkable Japanese abridged edition of Joseph Harris's "Harris on the Pig: Breeding, Rearing, Management, and Improvement" (New York, 1870), with a preface by Genkan Sumida. There are six charming illustrations of pigs and wild boar on five leaves, here rendered in fairly crude woodcuts. The utility of Harris's text is attested by the fact that this abridgement appeared in Japanese very soon after it was published in New York. There are chapters on the care of pigs, the species of pigs, how to make them fatter and more healthy, how to make a pig's shelter, preparation of food, etc. Highly curious.

Turin, Italy: Stamperia Reale, 1744. Very good. Huge letterpress broadside (1070 x 360 mm), printed on 2 1/2 folio sheets, edges untrimmed. A few sections underlined and annotated in a contemporary hand in the left blank margin (worn; paper extensions mainly in the right margin; prominent horizontal central fold, other folds reinforced on verso with occasional lost of one or two letters). A remarkable survival, preserved in mylar L-sleeve backed with lig-free board. GIGANTIC, APPARENTLY UNRECORDED BROADSIDE ISSUED BY THE STATE MAGISTRATE WARNING AGAINST THE 1744 "CATTLE PLAGUE" EPIDEMIC IN NORTHERN ITALY, A FLIMSY ATTEMPT AT GOVERNMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND DISEASE CONTROL. The disease described herein was almost certainly RIDERPEST, a highly contagious viral infection which can produce a 100% death rate among herds (the colloquial term "cattle plague" is a misnomer because sheep and goats can also be afflicted by it). The 1744 outbreak had been observed in The Netherlands in the months before our… Read More

S.l., 1890. Very good. Twelve individual images executed on thick card, each approximately 145 x 220 mm, each done in pen, ink and watercolor, captioned below in manuscript, mounted on two tall panels (995 x 260 mm). Images generally bright, though with occasional minor spotting, each with pencil note on verso giving the month; mounted with later brown framing tape, the image for June with offprint on verso from another image (clearly a woman's dress, for which see below), the large mattes foxed, browned and stained in parts, extremities bumped and somewhat worn in places. A remarkable survival. CONTRASTING (MIS)FORTUNES OF YOUNG WOMEN IN LONDON AND ELSEWHERE DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA, FROM THE DESTITUTE TO THE EXALTED, BEING AN EVOCATIVE SERIES OF PEN-AND-INK DRAWINGS HEIGHTENED WITH WATERCOLOR, PRESENTING A WORDLESS (YET POWERFUL) SOCIAL COMMENTARY. While our drawings are unsigned, the facial features, settings, costumes, interiors and exteriors, and compositions are strongly reminiscent of… Read More

Harrisonburg, Virginia: Ananias Davisson, 1818. Second edition, Revised and Improved. Good. 12mo. vi, 5-240, [2] pp. (final endleaf excised). Contemporary full calf, brown leather label, gilt lettering. A little discoloration to the fore-edges of the text block; slightly worn; a little foxed throughout. ¶ CONTAINS STERN WARNINGS CONCERNING BORROWED BOOKS. ¶ "Take special care, I pray you, of a borrowed book.-I know that much use of a book, even in the most careful manner, must gradually wear it out. This is allowed for, of course. But a man of any taste hates to see his book soiled by dirty fingers, blank pages or margins scribbled by foolish hands, the leaves broken by being folded at the corners, or the binding shattered by negligent throws or fall. These are sore evils." Essays on literary, political, and moral subjects (including a firsthand account of witnessing "the Eloquence of Patrick Henry") from the Presbyterian minister and teacher Speece, first published in Isaac Collett's Staunton… Read More

Paris: Pierre Didot, l'aine, 1799. First Edition. 4to., 300 x 220 mm. 2 ff., 83 pp., COMPLETE with 9 folding engraved plates (one loose, another with short tear), and with the "Projet d'arrete du département de la Seine sur les sepultures" (pp. [73]-83) which is certainly not present in all copies. Original "temporary" drab boards; extremities worn, spine perished but boards quite intact (although quite foxed, text less so). Two sewing supports almost invisibly strengthened. Uncommon in commerce: ours appears to be the only copy on the market. VISIONARY FUNERARY LANDSCAPES AND MONUMENTS, a work now very little known; it preceded the establishment of Pere Lachaise (1804) which was the earliest of the spacious landscaped-style cemeteries. There are 9 folding engraved plates of which several recall the epic neo-classicism of Ledoux and Boullee, but more restrained: these designs were created for urban planners and politicians, not for the aggrandizement of the artist. Jacques Cambry (1749-1807) was… Read More

Japan, 1830. One large hanging scroll, signed and sealed "Jippensha Ikku" (unfurled: 1620 x 330 mm; 63" x 13"). Original thin Japanese paper backed and mounted on thicker paper in the maru-hyoso style. Browning and darkening, creases (one is significant, for which SEE IMAGES), light stains, original paper with losses, mostly in the blank margins (SEE IMAGES), some repairs. Housed in a plain wooden box tied with red ribbon (415 x 65 x 60 mm; 16.25" x 2.5" x 2.25"), small piece inside box lid missing. RARE AND FASCINATING PAINTED SCROLL OF TWO "GOZE" (VISUALLY-IMPAIRED JAPANESE WOMEN MUSICIANS). HIGHLY ORGANIZED AND STRICTLY REGULATED GOZE WORKERS' ASSOCATIONS EMERGED IN THE 17TH CENTURY AND SPREAD THROUGHOUT JAPAN. NOW LITTLE KNOWN (ESPECIALLY IN WESTERN CULTURES), THESE EXTREMELY EARLY "UNIONS" AFFORDED VISUALLY IMPAIRED WOMEN AN UNPRECEDENTED DEGREE OF INDEPENDENCE AND PROTECTION. Goze travelled from village to village, entertaining audiences by singing and playing a three-stringed instrument… Read More

Wolfenbüttel, Germany: Herzog August Bibliothek, 1979. Softcover. Very good. Narrow 8vo. 8vo. 11, [1] pp. Original printed wrappers. The opening lecture of an exhibition of Kurt Londenberg's bindings at the Herzog August Bibliothek. The lecture was given by Hans Halbey, Director of the Gutenberg-Museum in Mainz.