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Gene W. Baade Books on the West
Gene W. Baade Books on the West
Membership(s): IOBA
MacAlister, Chas Old Pioneering Days in the Sunny South
$2,500.00
Goulburn (Australia): Chas. MacAlister Book Publication Committee, 1907. First Edition. Hardcover. Fair.
1st and only printing until facsimile reprint in 1977. Gilt-stamped red cloth. 396pp plus 9pp advertising in rear, plus ad on the rear paste down. Index. Ink signature of author’s friend, Charles Cowper, on front paste down and four other pages. Cowper is listed in the index, which cites three pages to which he, alongside the entry, adds in ink three more page citations. More on Cowper below. This is a book filled with vivid, highly detailed accounts of colonial New South Wales. Online information says it is “a vital first-hand record of early colonial life, transport, and lawlessness in southeastern New South Wales…” “The book is exceptionally famous among folklorists and historians for preserving the oldest surviving written version of the legendary ballad, ‘Jim Jones at Botany Bay.” MacAlister arrived in New South Wales in 1833 as a three-year old where his father initially managed the estate of a relative. MacAlister was a “carrier” (freighter) by his teen years, hauling wool and other goods to market between his rural home near Goulburn and Sydney. He soon became a cattle and horse trader and drover, and eventually a hotel owner and gold miner. This firsthand, original source history is packed with information, “including The Penal Period, Bushrangers, Gold Rushes, and Colonial Development.” MacAlister reports much on the prisoners that occupied and labored in this penal colony. He provides details on the growth of Goulburn and Argyle, the importance of the growing city of Sydney, He report extensively on fairs and horse races, floods and droughts, mail service, railroads, “diggers” (gold seekers), outlaws, ticket-of-leave men, judges, sheriffs, pioneers, the old drovers of bullock-pulled freight wagons, politicians and politics, clerics, sports heroes, and many others. MacAlister personally knew hundreds of people and in this book he names literally thousands of individuals along with associated places, dates, and events. MacAlister died before he could review the proofs of his book. His Son, George, edited the volume and brought it to final print. As to Charles Cowper (1834-1911), the original owner of this copy, his father was Premier of NSW five times between 1856 – 1879. Charles, the son whose signatures appear in this copy, was also active politically and was a member of parliament as well as at one time Sheriff of NSW. This copy in fair to good condition with a flaw described here, namely the cloth of the spine split down the middle and thus a candidate for professional restoration. The red cloth is reasonably bright except for some fading to the spine. There is light blotching on the front cover that does not remove or blot out the red color of the cloth, but reduces its brightness. See photo. Quite mild foxing in places. The gilt-stamping of the titles is very good. There is a tiny bit of fraying at the head and toe of the spine. There is short cut to the cloth on the lower spine near the rear board. In two locations signatures separating with webbing exposed. A fascinating book and hard to put down. We have located fourteen copies, all but one shelved in Australian national and university libraries and museums. While this book is not superlatively rare in terms of library access, as offered on the market in the last 100 plus years it is rare. Even the 1977 facsimile reprint is hard to find.
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Scarce 1944 Indian Edition Honoring Gandhi’s 75th
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [Mahatma]; Edited by D.G. Tendulkar; M. Chalapathi Rau; et al. A Word for the Readers by Mohandas Gandhi; Introduction by Jawaharlal Nehru Gandhiji: His Life and Work Published on His 75th Birthday, October 2, 1944
$1,250.00Bombay: Keshav Bhikaji Dhawale, 1944. Hardcover. 4to., 405 pp. Original publisher’s light brown coarse khaki cloth with dark brown leather spine, gilt lettering, patterned endpapers, illustrated with black and white photographs and tipped-in color plates, frontispiece.  First unabridged edition of this tribute to Gandhi, with introductions by Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and a biographical essay by Albert Einstein.  Published in 1944 to both commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s 75th birthday and support the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Fund.  Contains essays by various contemporaries examining Gandh’s political career, social reform efforts, and influence on Indian society as well as a curated selection of Gandhi’s own writings, including speeches and letters. Although Gandhi generally declined to participate in birthday commemorations, he wrote a preface for this volume, citing its charitable purpose. As a mid-career publication released during Gandhi’s lifetime, the book reflects the contemporary reception of his work and offers early interpretations of his role in the Indian independence movement.  Published in India in 1944 to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s seventy-fifth birthday, Gandhiji: His Life and Work stands as one of the earliest comprehensive tributes to the spiritual and political leader of India’s independence movement. Issued before independence and while Gandhi was still alive, this commemorative volume documents his philosophy of non-violence, his leadership during the freedom struggle, and the global recognition of his influence.  Copies of this edition are scarce, particularly in well-preserved condition, as many were printed under wartime paper constraints. A significant historical document from the final years of British India—offering both biographical insight and period authenticity.  Very Good, intact with some age toning, soiling, handling and wear. Institutional ownership stamp on title page. Item #726202511 Â
Offered for Sale by: 32.1 Rare Books + Ephemera -
Signed WW memoir by photographer Constantin Joffe
Joffe, Constantin LES ENTERRES VIVANTS DU STALAG XVII A The Buried Alive of Stalag XVII A
$175.00New York: Editions de la Maison Francaise, (1943). SIGNED first edition – A powerful memoir by this Russian-French-American photographer, a firsthand account of his experience as a prisoner of war during World War II, one which emphasizes the inhumanity of the conditions under which they were held – the title refers to the German prisoner-of-war camp located in Kaisersteinbruch, Austria, where he was held. Written while he was in exile in New York, after fleeing Vichy France, it was also published in English under the title “We Were Free” the same year. Joffe had been a fashion journalist in Paris before the war, and he went on to become a noted photographer for Vogue and Glamour and a photojournalist, with some of his photographs from India included in Steichen’s ‘Family of Man.’ Warmly INSCRIBED on the first page and SIGNED C. Joffe. Foreword by novelist Louis Bromfield. Text in French/en francais. 220 pp. Condition: Very good minus in printed wrappers – some toning and wear to the covers, contents clean and near fine.
Offered for Sale by: Bookfever.com -
A Nicely Preserved Copy
Howard, Sir Robert The History of the Reigns of Edward and Richard II. with Reflections and Characters of Their Cheif Ministers and Favourites. Written in the Year 1685.
$450.00[6], xli, [1], 183, [1] pages; original calf, re-backed with later calf; marbled pastedowns & endpapers. Title page with publishers ornament in red. The publication date on the title page has been neatly altered in pen to 1699. Leaves A2 & A4, correctly signed; page 144 wrongly numbered 441. Moderate wear to covers at corners; cracks to leather leading top front corner and rear edge. Bottom and leading edges of text block soiled, top edge stained black. Title page shows some tanning; text pages relatively clean throughout with toning at edges. Nicely preserved.Â
Offered for Sale by: G. F. Wilkinson Books -
RARE FIRST EDITION OF FUGITIVE SLAVE NARRATIVE
Ball, Charles. SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, a Black Man, Who lived forty years in Maryland, South Carolina and Georgia, as a Slave, under various masters, and was one year in the Navy, with Commodore Barney, during the late war.
$1,200.00Lewistown, PA: Printed and Published by John W. Shugert, 1836. First edition. The subtitle continues “Containing an account of the manners and usages of the Planters and Slaveholders of the South, a description of the condition and treatment of the Slaves, with observations upon the state of morals amongst the cotton planters, and the perils and sufferings of a fugitive slave, who twice escaped from the cotton country.” Rare first edition of this important slavery narrative by Ball, one which covers forty years of his life as a slave and his several escapes, an account reprinted many times through the 1850s under various titles. Born into slavery in Maryland around 1780, separated from his mother when he was four, he was owned by several different masters and lived in three states. Attempting escape on numerous occasions, he eventually succeeded and lived on a small farm until he was recaptured in 1830. However, he escaped again, and moved to Philadelphia, where he wrote this autobiography with the assistance of Isaac Fisher, a white lawyer. Fisher’s preface in which he acknowledges omitting or ‘carefully suppressing’ Ball’s opinions on slavery, cast some doubt upon the authenticity of this work, but the second edition, just one year later, included a statement from two prominent Pennsylvanians “that we know the black man whose narrative is given in this book, and have heard him relate the principal matters contained in the book concerning himself, long before the book was published.” Two page preface by Isaac Fisher. Errata list on verso of title page. 400 pp, Fair condition only in original boards, resewn and rebacked with dark brown goatskin, endpapers replaced. Significant rubbing and wear to the edges of the boards, tidemarks and foxing throughout. Â Loss of approximately half an inch to the bottom edge of the first leaf after the title (the preface).
Offered for Sale by: Bookfever.com
