The Paramount Book of Blues

Port Washington: The New York Recording Laboratories, 1927

First Edition. 16mo. Original Wrappers. 40p., 6.25x9.25 inches, 30 blues songs with musical transcriptions and lyrics, 6 photos of the artists with short biographical sketches. A fine copy in original stapled pictorial wraps.

$500

offered by

Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres

SECOND EDITION. "The best and last of the general rare book bibliographies... Brunet's annotations about the scholarly and commercial value of the books he listed are often still unsurpassed. There is hardly any other bibliography in which the wide range of its author's knowledge is more favorably displayed."–Grolier Club Octavo. Contemporary full-calf bindings in very good condition, spines with five raised bands and elaborate blind stamping, all edges marbled.

$1,000

Colonna Traiana, erreta del Senato, e Popolo Romano all'Imperatore

FIRST EDITION. COMPLETE WITH 128 engraved plates (including title and dedication). "The Column of Trajan was dedicated on May 18, AD 113, and commemorates a series of militray campaigns waged by the emperor in Dacia between AD 101 and 106... The column itself if composed of 17 separate drums of fine Luna marble, and the carved spiral frieze contains 155 different scenes featuring 2,600 carved figures... the fine details of the carvings... have proven to be of enormous use to historians and archaeologists in reconstructing the particulars of Roman military equipment and tactics, as well as the interactions of the Romans with barbarians."–Gregory S. Aldrete, Daily Life in the Roman CIty: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia Oblong folio. 128 engraved plates (incl. title & dedication); without the 9 leaves of text (as often). Uncut in 19th century half roan (some light wear to edges, short splits in lower joints, foxing to title & a few other plates, mainly in the margins).

$9,000

Veteres arcus Augustorum triumphis insignes

FIRST EDITION. A splendid work beautifully illustrated with 48 superb engravings (on 46 sheets) depicting bas-reliefs of triumphal arches in Rome. Folio. 18th-century calf, spine elaborately gilt with gilt-stamped spine label, marbled endpapers. Engraved portrait of dedicatee (Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni), 48 engraved plates. Binding lightly rubbed with moderate wear at spine head; clean throughout. A lovely wide margined copy.

$8,000

The Trembling of the Veil

SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION of Yeats's autobiographical work; one of only 1000 copies signed by Yeats. "Looking back from 1922, [Yeats] titled his autobiographical account of the decade of the 1890s The Trembling of the Veil. He recalled that Mallarme has said that 'his epoch was troubled by the trembling of the veil of the Temple,' and that 'as those words were still true, during the years of my life described in this book,' he had named it accordingly" (The Cambridge Companion to W.B. Yeats).Octavo, original half parchment over light green boards; original dust jacket. Dust jacket spine with light wear at the spine (slightly affecting label) and minor toning. An excellent copy.

$1,500

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

"I sometimes don't know how I feel about someone until I take his or her picture" –Nan Goldin FIRST EDITION. Oblong quarto. Original cloth, original photographic dust jacket.

$400

1939-1962 Photographs

FIRST EDTION, THE EXTREMELY RARE HARDCOVER ISSUE; one of an estimated fifty copies bound for presentation. “[T]his is an almost perfect monograph. It begins and ends with Sommer’s exquisite abstractions, and includes some of the best examples of Sommer’s work in portraiture, collage, landscape, and still life to date. Every two-page spread reveals something more about the images through their juxtaposition. And then there is the text. It is very unusual to have writing at this level, uninfected with either sentimentality or pomposity, from an American photographer, but what’s more unusual is to have an artist who makes images and text and can combine them in a way that deepens and extends the effects of each. This early enactment of Sommer’s ideas about the workings of linguistic and pictorial logic is a gem” (David Levi Strauss. The Book of 101 Books). Roth 101.Complete with 30 black and white photographs. New York: Aperture, 1962. Small folio (235x205mm), original white cloth with black lettering. Only a few spots of soiling to cloth. A magnificent copy.

$3,500

En attendant Godot [Waiting for Godot]

First edition SIGNED BY SAMUEL BECKETT. Octavo, original wrappers; custom half-leather box. Text in French. Some browning and rubbing to spine.

$20,000

Letters of T.E. Lawrence of Arabia

First edition, first state with "T.E.L." at p. 495 and "Baltic" at p. 182. With 16 photographs and illustrations including 4 maps of which two are folding.Octavo. Original fawn polished buckram in publishers original dust jacket. A very good copy; dust jacket bright and well preserved with light soiling at spine folds. A very attractive copy.

Death of a Salesman

FIRST EDITION of Arthur Miller's masterpiece. A very good copy in the original cloth and the original dust jacket. Jacket with light wear at spine, extremities. Overall a very attractive copy of this landmark work.

$1,450

Romanorum Imperatorum Effigies

1583 edition of Cavalieri's Romanorum Imperatorum Effigies, illustrated with 157 engraved plates. Octavo. Early vellum over boards, early leather spine label. Engraved title, two engraved emblems and 154 Engraved plates (complete totaling 157 including engraved title and emblembs) of all the Roman and Byzantine Emperors from Julius Caesar through the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. Each plate with a one-page biography by Thomas of Trent, at that time serving in the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Dampstain to first 11 leaves (including engraved title), title reinforced and mounted, significant repair to lower third of the page, otherwise a clean copy in an attractive early binding.

$4,000

T.E. Lawrence to His Biographers

FIRST EDITION, 1/500 COPIES SIGNED BY ROBERT GRAVES AND BASIL LIDDELL HART. WITH THE ORIGINAL DUSTJACKETS. Two volumes. Octavo. Original linen bindings, original dust jackets. Housed in publisher's slipcase. Spines and front panel of jacket for Hart volume somewhat toned; minor wear to slipcase. A handsome set.

$3,500

HERODIANI HISTOR[IARUM] LIB[RI] VIII

ESTIENNE'S SUPERB 1581 EDITION OF HERODIAN. The second part comprises the editio princeps of the Roman history by Zosimus, an early sixth century historian who wrote in Greek and is a key source for the period 395-410. Zosimus’ original Greek text is accompanied by Estienne’s own Latin version of Zosimus’ text. ‘For this edition of Herodian … Estienne has thoroughly revised, and made additions to, the popular Latin translation of Angelo Poliziano; he prints his corrections, additions, and textual comments in the margins.’ (Schreiber). Quarto. Elegant 18th-century smooth calf, triple gilt fillet, spine gilt, two red morocco spine lables lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Printer’s device on title. Clean throughout, a superb copy.

$3,900

JEFFERSON, BLIND LEMON, MA RAINEY, BLIND BLAKE, IDA COX, CHARLIE JACKSON, ELZADIE ROBINSON, ET AL