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re Columbus, Christopher Raccolta di Documenti E Studi pubblicati dalla R. Commissione Colombiana pel Quarto Centenario dalla Scoperta dell'America, Roma, Auspice il Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, 189- (various dates of publication of each volume). "Collection of Documents and studies published by the Columbian Commission for the fourth centenary from the discovery of America", [published] under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Rome, 189-. Rare, nineteenth century limited edition volumes on Cristoforo Colombo, his life, family, writings, discovery, etc. The text is in Italian. The size of each large volume is 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm). Covers are paper, text is heavy paper, deckle edged. Many if not all of the pages of these volumes are unopened. This massive work appears to have been published in at least five parts, each part having one or more volumes. I have five volumes, including a supplement. Since this is not a complete set, they are offered individually. Photo of volumes. Click here for a complete description, photos and pricing of the volumes.

Haley, Bill, and his Comets Rock Around the Clock sheet music with photo of Bill Haley and his Comets. Words and music by Max C. Freedman and Jimmy De Knight. Pub. Myers Music, c. 1953. Four page folder, 9 x 12 inches. Words and music inside and ad for other music on back. An early rock and roll classic, suitable for framing. Very good condition, light stain at top. photo #208H531 shelf.CBT $19.00

Harkness, Douglas W. The Psychometry of TUCKER CHINA, Philadelphia, 1823 - 1838. Softcover, 140 pages, 8-1/2 x 11 inches. Self-published by the (late) author in 1997. A very strange book for the porcelain collector, containing over 500 beautiful full color photographs of wall pockets, tea pots, dishes, saucers, cups, tea trays, shells, plates, basins, pitchers, etc. Harkness did his research on Tucker china with "psychometry" of the stored enery in the objects, or in photographs of the objects, whereby facts can be ascertained about the object by a sort of laying-on of hands. The resulting book, heavy on photographs, has minimal text (examples: "Barbeau pattern" "Needs psychometry" "English blanks" "Hard to find round creamer" etc). He includes a page (rear cover) on "the eight stages of Tucker china" which he uses to identify eras in production, and a page on psychometry. (The auctioning off of Harkness's collection, oddly enough containing almost no Tucker, was described in the July 2002 issue of the Maine Antique Digest, p. 42-C, and includes comments on this book.)
This book is either a wonderful "wish book" to browse through, or a puzzling trip through the author's mind. Although Michael Berthoud, the author of the two books mentioned on the back cover, considers Harkness's opinions mistaken, he and other collectors and researchers "are now studying the 'Tucker' book and reattributing many of the pots." Berthoud adds that while "Harkness may have drawn the wrong conclusions, ... this is a mere detail in comparison with the value of his work in assembling it."
As new condition. photo1 photo2 #2H971 $12.00 (add $4.00 s/h in the USA; $9.00 air GPM to the UK; elsewhere inquire).

Hood, Thomas The Choice Works of Thomas Hood. G.P. Putnam, NY, 1852. Dark brown cloth hardcover, four volumes, 212, 215, 239, and 173 pages, each about 5 x 7-1/4 inches. Blindstamped front and rear covers, gilt title on spine. Rare and early (first?) edition of this four-volume set from the private library of William Crowninshield Endicott.
Thomas Hood (1799 - 1845) was known during his life for his comedic writings (see Vol. II) and poems (Vol. III), but today is best known for his serious works, for example, "the Song of the Shirt", an attack on worker exploitation which was reprinted everywhere, and "I Remember, I Remember", a dark reflection on his childhood (these appear in Vol. I). The four volumes are:
-- I. Prose and Verse. Includes the Pugsley Papers, The Protrait, My Apology, Miss Killmansegg and her Precious Leg, Ruth, Boz in America, Life in the Sick Room, The Bridge of Sighs, and much more.
-- II. Whimsicalities, and Whims and Oddities in prose and verse. Includes the Schoolmistress Abroad, to my daughter on her birthday. a tale of terror, Mr Chubb a Piscatory Romance, a hard case, and more.
-- III. Poems (including sonnets, minor poems, etc), and Hood's Own Selected Papers (with comic illustrations). Includes the lee shore, the death bed, to a false friend, to the ocean, hero and leander, the workhouse clock... also Miss Norman, the Parish Revolution, our village, the careless nurse mayd (sic), life of Zimmerman, and much more.
-- IV. Up the Rhine, complete in two parts.
Bookplate inside each cover and each is signed and dated (1853) on the flyleaf by previous owner William Crowninshield Endicott (1827 - 1900), a direct descendant of ex- Massachusetts Governor John Endicott. WCE was a Harvard graduate, an attorney, a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court (1873 - 1883), and Secretary of War (1885 - 1889). The painter John Singer Sargent painted his widow's portrait in 1901, which hangs in the National Gallery of Art.
All volumes are complete and tight, the text is very good and unmarked. Exterior corners bumped and worn, all are worn at top and bottom of spine, I and IV are chipped at top of spine.
This would be an important addition to a Romantic Era and early Victorian collection. photo1 photo2 #2H521 $395.00

Leonard, Elmore THE LAW AT RANDADO pub. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1955 (first edition). Copyright 1954, LCCN 55-5214. Light red hardcover, sheriff's badge (star) design on cover, title on cover and spine. 240 pages, about 5-1/2 x 7-3/4 inches. No jacket (portions pasted in).
An American western, it has been described as the first of Leonard's police procedurals. This was made into the movie Border Shootout in 1990. This is the rare first edition (it was issued in paperback by Dell, #863, in 1956). This was Leonard's second novel, and is said to be much scarcer than his first (The Bounty Hunters), or any other.
It is missing the wrapper though a portion of the flap blurb is pasted on the front free endpaper with the rest of the blurb on the following flyleaf. DJ photo with bio pasted on back free endpaper. See photos.
Overall I would grade this as Good(+). It is complete and tight, text clean. Ex-library with bookplate inside front cover, pocket inside back, small blindstamp on title page and leaf 79/80, and ink number on the half-title (following title page). Slightly cocked. Small tear in surface of cover at lower left. Smaller scuff on spine below title. (See photos.) A rare find for the Elmore Leonard, Western, or police procedural collector. photo1 photo2 photo3 photo4 #L507CBT $199.00

Ward, John THE BOROUGH OF STOKE-UPON-TRENT (etc), pub. London, W. Lewis & Son, 1843 (first edition). Stoke On Trent (the modern name of the town) is famous as the location of the Josiah Wedgwood pottery works and the book is an important source of information on him and his work, as well as being collectible for its information on the borough itself. This copy is additionally collectible for its binding and provenance.
Complete: xv + [xvi] + 600 + lxvii + [lxviii] + 16. Collation: free endpaper; 2 flyleafs; xv includes title (blank verso), preface, contents; [xvi] list of engravings; 600 pages; lxvii appendix; [lxviii] errors (errata); 16 includes index etc; 2 flyleafs; free endpaper. Includes all 31 illustrations listed, and in addition others not listed which are or appear to be original to the book: on p. 300, seal (vignette); at p. 418, four page copy of letter from A. Pope to Rev'd Broome; facing p. 427, engraved portrait of Josiah Wedgwood; at p. 563, large fold-out family tree of Gresely and Bowyer. (There may be others, especially vignettes, I have overlooked.) Some of the illustrations appear to be facing the opposite page from that listed. In addition, this book contains: On verso of title page, newspaper clipping obituary of Prof. William B. Wedgwood (b. 1810, d. April 28 [1887] at Limerick Maine); at page 434, loose newspaper clipping (dated May 13 1930 stating that Josiah Wedgwood's copy of the Portland vase will be sent from Paris, when its Wedgwood bicentenary celebration is complete, to London for its celebration); facing p. 446, engraving of Wedgwood memorial (printing on verso indicates it is not original to the book).
THE BINDING: Custom bound in full leather by the firm of E. Walker & Sons, New York, as indicated by embossed logo on back free endpaper. Embossed designs on covers, gilt owner's name (William B. Wedgwood) on front cover, five raised bands and gilt title on spine, all edges heavy gilt. About 6-3/4 x 10 inches. According to information received from The American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, Mass.), E. Walker & Sons was founded in 1836 and continued under that name until at least 1868; the name had changed to E. Walker's Sons by 1879. So (considering the publication date of the book) the binding dates from 1843 to probably 1870, or perhaps a little later.
PROVENANCE: The name on the book, the obituary, and the time of binding all strongly suggest that this book was owned by and bound for (or possibly presented as a gift to) William B. Wedgwood, the prominent lawyer and law professor, born 1810 in Parsonfield, Maine (with the obituary subsequently inserted, of course). He graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1836, and was for many years the head of its law Department. Professor Wedgwood published several books between 1840-1883. According to the obituary clipping found in the book, he died at home in Limerick, Maine on April 28 [1887, according to an ink note on it]. The commonality of surnames on the book and in the obituary strongly suggests that Prof. Wedgwood was a descendant of Josiah Wedgwood. I have not been able to verify this.
Condition: I judge this to be Very Good(+) or perhaps, considering its age, Near Fine(-) subject to the following: The edges of the spine, and the corners of the cover, are rubbed; parts of pages 434 and 435 are browned from the inserted clipping.
photo1 photo2 photo3 binder's logo title page #W802BLH $1,495.00 (S/H=$8.00)

White, the late Rev. Gilbert The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. Edited, with notes, by Sir William Jardine. Pub. Nathaniel Cooke, London, 1853, "a new edition". Hardcover, half leather with marbled boards and endpapers. Engraved half-title. Frontis + xvii + 342 pages + 5 plates (four listed) + map. About 5 x 7-1/2 inches. "Completely illustrated with about seventy engravings."
The title continues: "with observations on various parts of nature, and the Naturalists Calendar." The engravings comprise "subjects from natural history, and views of Selborne, its vicinity and antiquities, sketched from nature expressly for this edition." The parish of Selborne "lies in the extreme eastern corner of the county of Hampshire, bordering on the county of Sussex, and not far from the county of Surrey; it is about fifty miles south-west of London..."
This is considered by many to be the only work on natural history which has attained the rank of an English classic. White (1720-1793) was a prince among observers, nearly always observing the right thing in the right way. This edition is considered a superior edition for its time, due to the excellence of the notes by Jardine and the insertion of a map of the district of Selborne. Because it includes observations on the antiquities, it is of interest to the historian as well as the naturalist.
Very good condition, corners worn, edges of spine rubbed, bookplate (John Mills Wilson). photo #208W531 $80.00