True first editions of Little Women and Little Men in the publisher's original cloth.“I plod away, through I don't enjoy this sort of thing. Never liked girls, or knew many, except my sisters, but our queer plays and experiences may prove interesting, though I doubt it... Sent twelve chapters to Mr. N [Thomas Niles, her editor at Roberts Brothers]. He thought it dull; so do I. But I work away and mean to try the experiment; for lively, simple books are very much needed for girls, and perhaps I can supply the need.” - Journals of Louisa May Alcott, 1868.Another...
An Illustrated Checklist of the Railroading and Western Americana Books of Lucius Beebe, Bon Vivant
The following are books on railroading and Western America by Lucius Beebe, or Lucius Beebe and his partner, Charles Clegg. Read Book Patrol's feature, Lucius Beebe: Bon Vivant Book Man.1. High Iron: A Book of Trains. (New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1938).2. Highliners: A Railroad Album (New York: Bonanza Books, 1940).3. Trains in Transition (New York: Bonanza Books, 1941).4. Highball: A Pageant of Trains ( New York: Bonanza Books, 1945)5. The Narrow Gauge Railroads of Colorado (Railway & Locomotive Historical Society BulletinNo. 671, August 1946).6. Mixed Train Daily: A Book of Short-Line Railroads. (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North, 1947).7. Virginia City &...
“Luscious” Lucius Beebe: Bon Vivant Book Man
“Lucius Beebe, who was larger than life, is dead. The famous author suffered a heart attack shortly after his ritual morning Turkish bath in his Hillsborough winter home yesterday” (obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 4, 1966)."If anything is worth doing it is worth doing in style, and on your own terms, and nobody's Goddamned else's!" - Lucius Beebe.“I admire most of all The Renaissance Man, and if it can be said without pretentiousness, I like to think of myself as one, at least in some small measure. Not a Michelangelo, mark you, but perhaps a poor man's Cellini...
Are Rare Books Too Good For the Rich?
I just came across a website, Stuff Rich People Love, which has published #80 - Rare Books. It begs for feedback.Here’s how blogger Chas Underwood III begins:“James Bryce, nineteenth century British politician, diplomat and historian, said ‘The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.”Excellent start. But then Mr. Underwood, whose full name suggests old money (lose the “III,” sir, it’s a bit airy), continues:“Bryce was referring to knowledge, ideas and imagination. These are all well and good if you are a card-carrying member of the public library but to the rich,...
Bloomsbury Rare Book Auction Lets the Market Decide (How Novel!)
Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635)Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois... Paris: Chez Jean Berjon, 1613.Estimate: $250,000 - $350,000. Realized $758,000Bloomsbury Auctions, which has been leading the auction world into no- and low-reserve sales, realized twice its estimate for the recent auction of the de Orbe Novo Collection of early books related to the New World 1492-1625, with complete sell-through of all eight-one lots for a total of $3,489,000, or $43,000 per lot.At a time when rare book auctions are typically selling only 70%-75% of lots offered, this is big news. Yet the sale has received zero coverage from the book...