Rare books from Peter Austern & Co. Books & Ephemera / Brooklyn Books

New York: Pocketbooks, 1959. Book. Very Good. Mass Market Paperback. #GC-62 VG. Bookplate on inside front cover..

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980. Book. Illus. by with Photos. Fine. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 5"x7" signed portrait of Pope John Paul ll laid in; also an original 4x6 photo of Fr Dom Ferguson with Pope John Paul. The condition of the portrait is fine, with no visible flaws. Condition of the book also fine. .

Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California, 1978. Book. Illus. by L. Ron Hubbard , Photographer. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. Signed on the front free endpaper 'L. Ron Hubbard / Founder'. L. Ron Hubbard is perhaps best known for his book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (first published in 1950), and as the founder of the Church of Scientology. According to the church, his written teachings make up approximately 500,000 pages and 3,000 recorded lectures, totaling about 65 million words. Hubbard also produced a hundred films, and 500 short stories and novels in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, adventure fiction, aviation, travel, mystery, western and romance..

2001. Ephemera. Illus. by Illustated. Fine. No Binding. Signed by Author(s). July 26, 2001. Certificate of 'RECOGNITION'. SIGNED by FIDEL CASTRO. Large and graphic, this award (written in Spanish) was awarded to Danais Lima Gomez, for his 'excellent work' doing social work/public service in Havana's barrios and acknowledging the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution in 2001 -- 26 de Julio del 2001, Ciudad de La Habana and "Ano de la Revolucion Victoriosa en el Neuvo Milenio"-- a patriotic description of Cuba's Independence Day, July 26th, and the July Movement of the Cuban Revolution. Castro spearheaded the popular revolution that overthrew Cuban then dictator Fulgencio Batista. From 1959-2008, Castro served as Cuba's president and revolutionary leader. Signed by FIDEL CASTRO in bold, blue ink-- next to design-photograph of a large, carved statue of a strong worker holding a small, dependent child. Certificate: 16.75" x 11.5", full color printing and… Read More

New York: Rizzoli International, 1993. Book. Illus. by Willem de Kooning. Fine. Hardcover. Inscribed by Author(s). 1st Edition. 1st ed. Inscribed. de Kooning, title page. 1993 monograph from exhibit of work at the Hirschhorn Museum - has chapter on exchange of letters between de Kooning & his patrons, Joseph & Olga Hirschhorn. Willem de Kooning, a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, was a super-star in 20th century art. This monograph explores the inter-relationship between de Kooning's paintings & drawings and ways to understand the artist's creative processes. De Kooning's art is traced from his native Rotterdam, his experiences in 1930s NY through to his development of intensely expressionist abstractions & figurative work in the 1940s & '50s -- digging in to the long, great run of art-making Willem de Kooning had over 5+decades. In excellent condition. 10" x 12.25"..

New York: Collier Books, 1926. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 8vo - over 7¾. The Chinese Parrot (1926) is the second novel in the Charlie Chan series of mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the first in which Chan travels from Hawaii to mainland California, and involves a crime whose exposure is hastened by the death of a parrot. The story concerns a valuable string of pearls which is purchased by a wealthy and eccentric financier. The handsome young son of the jeweler is assigned to shepherd the transfer of the pearls to the financier's vacation home in a desert area of California. Because of his long association with the owner of the pearls- before joining the police force, he was her houseboy-Charlie Chan travels from Hawaii to California with the pearls. After two mysterious deaths, first of a Chinese-speaking parrot and then of the household's Chinese man-of-all-work, Charlie Chan masquerades as a pidgin-speaking cook named Ah Kim and works underground to… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1936. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 2nd Edition. 8vo - over 7¾. Murder in the Cathedral, poetic drama in two parts, with a prose sermon interlude, the most successful play by American English poet T.S. Eliot. The play was performed at Canterbury Cathedral in 1935 and published the same year. Set in December 1170, it is a modern miracle play on the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. The play's most striking feature is the use of a chorus in the Classical Greek manner. The poor women of Canterbury who make up the chorus nervously await Thomas's return from his seven-year exile, fretting over his volatile relationship with King Henry II. Thomas arrives and must resist four temptations: worldly pleasures, lasting power as chancellor, recognition as a leader of the barons against the king, and eternal glory as a martyr. After Thomas delivers his Christmas morning sermon, four knights in the service of the king accost him and… Read More

IL: Northwestern University The Charles Deering Library, 1938. Book. As New. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 16mo - over 5¾ - 6¾" tall. THE OLD-BOOK PEDDLER AND OTHER TALES FOR BIBLIOPHILES by Stefan Zweig. Evanston: The Charles Deering Library, 1938. Second printing signed by the author. Cloth Hardcover, 4 1/8" x 6 1/8". .

Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1994. Book. Illus. by Illustrated from Photographs. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed Nelson Mandela. 1st Edition. 8vo - over 7¾.

England: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1992. Book. Fair. Hardcover. inscribed by Mother Teresa. 1st Edition. 1992. 1st edition, 1st printing. -- 'MOTHER TERESA - A Life in Pictures'. INSCRIBED-- 'God bless you', M. Teresa, 19/4/93' -- on half-title page. Hardcover in dustjacket. A handsome book - 160 pages of b&w photographs and descriptions show Mother Teresa and her long life of service to humanity. Chapters include: Introduction/ The Early Years in Skopje/ The Long Awaited Arrival in India/ Home Away From Home; The Loreto Convent/ Loretto Entally, Calcutta; The Vocation Expands/ The Great famine And Direct Action Day/ The Call Within A Call/ The First True Home; Mother House/ Shishu Bhavan - Children's Home For The Blind, Dumb, Crippled And Abandoned/ Nirmal Hriday - The Place Of The Pure Heart, Home For The Dying Destitutes/ Calcutta/ Mother Teresa receives The World's Recognition For Her Work. In very good condition overall-- clean square, bright, and tight, with… Read More

NY: Lothrop Company, 1960. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. 1960, You Learn By Living by Eleanor Roosevelt, signed 1st edition, Harper & Brothers. Signed on the front endpaper by Eleanor Roosevelt. and later inscribed [as a Christmas gift] by Abba Schwartz, a close political associate of J FK, Robert F. Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt's trusted advisor. When Kennedy became President he named Schwartz Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs. One of the most admired people of the twentieth century, Eleanor Roosevelt remains a role model for a life well lived. At the age of seventy-six, just two years before her death, Roosevelt wrote this simple guide toward a more fulfilling life. Her commonsense ideas-and heartfelt ideals-presented in this volume are as relevant today as they ever were. Her keys to a life well lived? Learning to Learn Fear: The Great Enemy The Use of Time; The Difficult Art of Maturity Readjustment Is Endless… Read More

San Antonio, TX: Southern Literary Institute, 1935. Book. Good. Hardcover. Inscribed by Author(s). 1st Edition. 1st edition. Scarce- 1935 San Antonio, TX imprint. A rare book with a rare autograph and inscription of Carrie Rodgers. Mississippi is home to the blues, birthplace of Elvis Presley -first star of rock n' roll, and home to Jimmie Rodgers "The Father of Country Music." Rodgers had two other nicknames during his career, "The Singing Brakeman," which referred to his work on trains, and "America's Blue Yodeler," which described one of his distinctive contributions to country music. A partial dust jacket remains [front cover & flap]. The text block is uniformly edge-toned.The remains of damp stain and mildew are many decades old- mainly to the back cover, rear pastedown & last 3 pages. A scarce item of a precious icon of American music. .

London: Printed by John Murray, 1845. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 2nd Edition. RARE LIMITED EDITION of a CELEBRATED, IMPORTANT & UNCOMMON EARLY EDITION A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE in a FINE LEATHER BINDING JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES INTO THE NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY of the Countries Visited During THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. BEAGLE ROUND THE WORLD by CHARLES DARWIN Second Edition, Corrected, With Additions LONDON: Printed by John Murray. 1845, Albemarle Street (Published date 1845). Rare Second edition Corrected with Additions - stated on the title page. 8vo. 7" x 5" inches (LxB). Pp. viii, [2], 519, [1, ads] pages, with in-text wood engraved illustrations. Preface dated June 1845. A rare book bound in later Fine original 3/4 dark brown calf leather binding over marbled boards, attractive gilt decorated gilt ruled spine with 4 raised bands & a red gilt lettered morocco label in the second compartment, handsomely bound at a later date to style. Darwin added a fulsome dedication to Lyell and a considerable amount of… Read More

Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation For Economic Education, Inc., 1961. Book. Illus. by Priscilla C. Houle. Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). The title comes from Mises's description of the reality of central planning and socialism, whether of the national variety (Nazism) or the international variety (communism). Rather than creating an orderly society, attempts at central planning have precisely the opposite effect. By short-circuiting the price mechanism and forcing people into economic lives contrary to their own chosing, central planning destroys the capital base and creates economic randomness that eventually ends by killing prosperity. A nice copy of a scarce title. In good condition with some marginalia on some pages between 18-39. .

New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1961. Book. Good. Trade Paperback. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION TRADE PAPERBACK. 1961. --'MARX'S CONCEPT OF MAN'-- by ERICH FROMM. Signed, Inscribed by Author on front page-- 'To Robert Hagopian with best wishes, E. Fromm'. Includes translations of original and philosophical manuscripts of Karl Marx. Erich Fromm's analysis of Karl Marx's concepts of human nature and how Marx's psychological ideas informed his economic and political theories. Marx did not believe 'man' had only a physical nature (that at birth 'man' is a blank sheet upon which culture writes its script) but believed 'man' to be a recognizable and ascertainable entity-- who could be defined as 'man' through many perspectives-- biology, anatomy, physiology and psychology. Nice condition- interior is clean, unmarked.  Edge wear & light scuffing. Spine shows some soft creasing, but binding is good and… Read More