Rare books from Thomas A Goldwasser Rare Books

West Islip, NY: Universal Limited Art Editions, 1978. First edition. Rauschenberg, Robert. Portfolio with 36 lithographs by Rauschenberg and text by Robbe-Grillet. Printed on specially made Twinrocker paper, with the watermark of the artist's and author's signatures, it comprises 31 pages plus the title page and 4 colophon pages, printed from 37 stones and 27 aluminum plates, numbered [1],1-31, I-IV. 20-1/2 x 26 3/16 inches (52 x 69 cm.) folded. Copy 34 of a total edition of 36, plus 6 A.P. copies (the colophon calls for six, but they are numbered through 7). Signed and dated by Rauschenberg and signed and numbered by Robbe-Grillet on each of the 31 pages, each carries the embossed folio number and publisher's seal. Fine condition in original red cloth clamshell box, designed by the artist, as issued. With two of the original aluminum offset plates on which Robbe-Grillet wrote the text, a set of ten proof pages on Twinrocker paper for the text before illustrations, and a sheet which Robbe-Grillet… Read More

New York: McClure, Phillips, 1905. First edition. Original red cloth, a bright and fine copy in the rare dust jacket, slightly worn and darkened. First edition, second issue, with "Doubleday, Page & Co." at the foot of the spine. Cather's second book, and first collection of stories. Inscribed by Cather to the Cleveland bookseller H.V. Korner, "For H.V. Korner / Willa Cather [This book had a lonely life but it rose again. / W.S.C. October 31, 1925". The second issue came about after the dissolution of McClure, Phillips in 1906, when the remainder of the edition was acquired by Doubleday, who issued the original sheets in a new binding with their name on the spine. The dust jacket was unchanged and retains the McClure, Phillips name. From the Frederick B. Adams library, with bookplate. Crane A4.a.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1915. First edition, first issue. Original smooth blue cloth, gilt, a fine copy in a very good example of the rare pictorial dust jacket. Bookplate of Daniel G. Hastings. According to Rare Book Hub and ABPC, only one jacketed copy has been sold at auction for at least the last thirty years. Crane A8.a.i.

Printed by Lowe Bros, 1916. First edition. Original printed self-wrappers, stitched within a slate-grey paper wrapper (made from a Colnaghi catalogue cover), on which Waley has written in red the three Chinese characters "Ku Shih Chi". With some pencilled corrections of misprints in the author's hand. A fine copy, signed much later by Waley on the title page. Waley's rare first book, privately printed in an edition of about fifty copies, the existence of which was unknown to bibliography until 1962. There are, as far as we can tell, eleven extant copies, of which we can brag of having owned six. Johns A1.Waley's authentic and musical translations infused the stress-rhythms of Chinese poetic forms into English. His influence on later English poetry and scholarship was immense. But one must read this collection also as a product of its time and place,and the immediacy of the war and its effects. Rupert Brooke (who had died the previous year) had been a close friend of Waley's at Rugby and King's… Read More

London: Wishart & Company, 1934. First edition. First edition, extensively illustrated. The most important and encyclopedic compilation of African and African-American history and culture. Its compilation took Cunard more than three years of intense labor. 1000 copies were printed, but a considerable number were destroyed in a warehouse fire and few have survived in good condition. Small folio, original brown cloth stamped in red (first issue binding), not issued in dust jacket. Extremities a trifle rubbed, else a very good copy.

Highlights include: Seymour Benzer's revolutionary genetic mapping paper, "Fine Structure of a Genetic Region in Bacteriophage" (1955)'; Albert Claude, "Fractionation of Mammalian Liver Cells by Differential Centrifugation," (1949);' Max Delbrück's seminal talk, "A Physicist Looks at Biology," (1949); Alexander L. Dounce, "Duplicating Mechanism for Peptide Chain and Nucleic Acid Synthesis," (1952) important early theoretical work on genetic coding and protein synthesis; H. Fraenkel-Conrat and Robley C. Williams, "Reconstitution of Active Tobacco Mosaic Virus from its Inactive Protein and Nucleic Acid Components," (1955) - the first reconstitution of a virus; J.C. Kendrew, G. Bodo, H.M. Dintzis, R.G. Parrish, H. Wyckoff, and D.C. Phillips, "A Three-dimensional Model of the Myoglobin Molecule Obtained by X-ray Analysis" (1958) - the first structural description of a protein. 20 papers by H.G. Khorana, on nucleic acid synthesis and sequence analysis, establishing the basic techniques of nucleotide… Read More

Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1930. First edition. Evans, Walker. One of 50 copies on Japanese Vellum, signed by Crane. Quarto, original white printed wrappers, with original glassine cover and gilt paper covered slipcase (slipcase slightly rubbed, 1-inch piece missing from bottom edge). A beautiful copy of one of the rarest and most important books of twentieth century poetry, and the first book publication of Evans's work, it was illustrated with three gravures printed actual size from his 1-3/8 inch by 2- 1/2 inch photos.

Paris: F-L. Schmied, 1930. First edition. Schmied, Francois-Louis. One of a total edition of 177 copies, all on japon (this one of twenty for collaborators), signed by Schmied in the colophon. 13 x 10 inches, [32] leaves, (plus front and rear endpapers); 8 full-page color wood block illustrations, (including the cover) and 23 other designs. Original wrappers, fine condition, in publisher's blue cloth chemise and slipcase. In his book on Schmied, Mauro Nasti notes the incorporation in this volume of both Schmied's naturalistic style and abstract decorative motifs, and here the two styles seem to mesh in perfect harmony, producing the most beautiful of any of his work, and one of the most beautiful of any twentieth century book, with complex and integrated illustrations typography and decoration. The title page alone is "the most intricate of all Schmied's illustrations, requiring some forty-five different blocks to achieve the lacquer-like quality he wanted. And then it took almost two months to print… Read More

Paris: Albert Skira, 1949. Masson, André. Original wrappers, as issued, in chemise and slipcase. Folio, 15-1/2 x 11 inches. 223 pp., 33 aquatint etchings printed by Roger Lacourière. From a total edition of 165, this is one of the first 25 copies, which were printed on Marais paper and include an original wash drawing. This copy contains the drawing for the frontispiece, arguably the best in the book. There are two extra suites of the illustrations, one in color on Montval, the other in black on Ingres, from a total edition of 150 copies signed on the colophon by author, illustrator, and publisher. In addition four proofs on a variant paper are specially signed by Masson. From the collection of Lawrence Saphire, with a note laid in concerning the extra plates. Reva Castleman approvingly quotes Daniel Kahnweiler, who called this "among the most beautiful books of our times". Masson's aquatints "erupt throughout the text like the flickering of film that intermittently slides off its sprockets, a… Read More

London: Printed by H. Hughes for G. Nicol, and T. Cadell, 1785. The second quarto "Medallion"edition. Webber, John. Three volumes, quarto, plus atlas folio. Vol I: [x], xcvi, 422 pp., with 7 engraved charts and views (5 folding); Vol. II: [xiv], 548 pp., with 11 engraved charts and views (2 folding); Vol III: [xiv], 556 pp., with 6 engraved charts and views (2 folding); Atlas folio with 2 engraved charts and 61 plates. This second edition, with the type completely reset, and printed by H. Hughs rather than by W. and A. Strahan, is considered superior to the first in both its paper and typography. "That this was a contemporary opinion is borne out by a presentation inscription in a set ... addressed to Mrs. Cook's physician, " and quoted by Forbes. The title pages of volumes I and II contain engraved vignettes of the Royal Society Medal showing Cook, and volume III has a medallion portrait of Captain King. A magnificent set, entirely uncut in original boards, with paper spine labels intact. The text… Read More

London, 1790. 8vo, [4], [1]-53, [54] blank.197 mm x 140 mm. Engraved frontispiece (trimmed with loss from the caption (as often, says Forbes). (Part 1 only, Part 2, which was devoted to mineral specimens, was published after some years' interval.) Forbes 197. [Bound with] Portland, Margaret Cavendish Holles Harley, duchess of, 1714-1785. A Catalogue of the Portland Museum, lately the property of The Duchess Dowager of Portland, Deceased: Which will be Sold by Auction by Mr. Skinner and Co. On Monday the 24th of April, 1786 and the thirty-seven following days....London: Skinner and Co., 1786. First edition. 4to., 194 pp. Forbes 116 . Lacking the frontispiece view of the Museum and the print of the Portland Vase. Manuscript prices on pp. 138-139 ( May 28 sale: shells, corals, etc.). Modern half calf using old marbled paper over boards; old endpapers, front one detached. The front flyleaves carry four pages of contemporary manuscript notes about the collection and discussing a visit by the former… Read More

London: R.H. Porter, 1890. First edition. F.W. Frohock. Quarto, 320 mm. x 255 mm. Three-quarter green goatskin (faded to brown) signed "B.A." on front turn-in , spine tooled with a pattern of vines and leaves, sides faded and marked, the wrappers from the original parts are bound in at the end. [i-xxvi, ,[ii], 1-256 With 63 hand-colored lithographs of birds by F.W. Frohock, one partly colored plate of eggs, 3 lithographs of anatomical structures by G. Gladow, photogravures of nests, and a map. A little foxing mostly confined to the text pages; an excellent copy. "One of two great ornithological works on Hawaiian birds," Forbes 4238; Fine Bird Books, p. 115.

Philadelphia: Printed and sold by Robert Bell, 1783. First American edition. Two volumes bound in one, 8vo, pp. [i-ii].[9]]-30, [31]-96,99-12; [113]-229 [230-232], including 2 pages of advertisements at the end of the second volume. Contemporary sheep, rebacked with matching calf, preserving original leather label. Boards scuffed and rubbed. Corners of first and last few leaves neatly repaired. Some light soiling, lightly heavier to first and last few leaves. Very good. "The very rare first American edition of the John Rickman narrative of Cook's Third Voyage. This work has often confused bibliographers since the publisher used the title of the William Ellis narrative for this edition instead of the proper Rickman title," -Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 54. Rickman, who was a second lieutenant aboard the Discovery, despite Captain King's confiscation of all sailors' logs, journals, maps, and drawings, managed to retain a copy of his journal. It was first published, anonymously, to prevent… Read More

London: R. Randal, 1789. First edition. 8vo. 151 pp. Modern calf. A very rare, anonymously published narrative of the Portlock and Dixon voyage. The preface is signed "C.L." and its author states that he attended the captains on the voyage. W.H. Portlock's Collection of Voyages attributes the narrative to surgeon Colin Lauder, as does Lada-Mocarski. An important supplement to Portlock's and Dixon's accounts, Forbes remarks on Lauder's "considerable" observations on Hawaii, with comments on aspects of material culture that go well beyond what other writers describe. In 2017, a copy brought $87,500 at a Christie's auction. Forbes 172; Lada-Mocarski 44; Not in Hill [33022] $65,000.

London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1804. First edition. 4to, 270 x 205 mm. xx, 294 pp. Contemporary speckled calf, handsomely rebacked. With nine plates and maps; light browning, and faint water stains in a few corners, a very good, clean copy. Kennet of the Dene bookplate. Broughton sailed to the northwest coast of America, via Rio de Janeiro, Australia, Tahiti, and the Hawaiian Islands, and to Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. Failing to rendez-vous with Captain Vancouver he sailed down the coast to Monterey, across the Pacific to Hawaii, and on to Japan. Where in the succeeding four years he performed much important survey work. "This voyage was one of the most important ever made to the northwest coast of America. It is on this document that Great Britain based her claim to the Oregon Territory in 1846." Hill 191; Forbes 352.