Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2017 Issue

American Personal Narratives from Langdon Manor Books

Extraordinary history of the every day.

Langdon Manor Books has issued their Catalog 3 American Personal Narratives. They describe their collection as "The Extraordinary History of the Every Day," and that is precisely what makes these photo albums, diaries and the like so fascinating. These are not life stories of great people but of "ordinary" people, people like the rest of us, extraordinary in their own way. You will be able to relate to these people in ways you can't to George Washington and Winston Churchill. They are not unlike us. Here are a few selections from a catalogue of material I find some of the most interesting that comes across my desk.

 

Before we get to the extraordinary, I have to start with this one because it is as ordinary as it can be. Item 2 is the daily diary from L. Wood Johnson from 1941-1953. I kid you not on this one – Johnson was a farmer from Farmersville, Texas. He has filled all but 36 pages of a 500-page book with thousands of notes about his farm, where he grew corn, cotton, peas, oats, clover, grapes, apples, potatoes, onions, and more. Johnson also raised sheep, milk cows, turkeys and hogs. He had 128 acres, all but 15 of which he farmed. The diary describes his work, what he planted, trips to market, building improvements, livestock births and deaths, and the weather. Lest you think everything about Johnson was ordinary, he did develop his own strain of corn, Wood Johnson Yellow Dent corn, and was named a master farmer by the McKinney Weekly Democrat-Gazette. And as for Farmersville being a dull place, it was then known as "the onion capital of North Texas." Johnson was an older man at the time of this writing, dying three years after the last entry at the age of 87. Priced at $500.

 

Next up we have a World War I diary, mostly from France in 1918. The soldier who kept it was Eldrid Thomas Hunter of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Hunter was likely another "ordinary" man, but what he lived through, and somehow survived, was anything but. He describes the constant artillery fire and grenades as the enemies faced off, each from their trenches. Death was all around, and danger was unending. On August 14 he wrote, "...our post was shelled by artillery which destroyed it, and we narrowly escaped with our lives, only by seeking shelter in a dugout, it was an exciting night, we all expected a fight, hand to hand, but the Boche (derogatory term for a German soldier) failed to show up..." On September 26 he writes, "You have to go thru such a living hell to appreciate what an awful thing war is. To see your companions shot down on every side and to witness such butchery and then try to tell it as you saw it and felt is as I say impossible." Item 22. $850.

 

The young in America were also asked to join the cause during World War I, though their experiences were not nearly so terrifying as Hunter's. Instead, they were asked to join the United States School Garden Army. Schoolchildren aged 9-16 were encouraged to participate in gardening, providing food for their communities at a time when there were food scarcities due to the war. It was portrayed as patriotic, reportedly reaching membership of 6 million. However, it did not last long. Begun in 1917, the army was disbanded by 1919 after the end of the war. Item 1 is a scrapbook and photo album from the School Garden Army at the Mary Hemenway School in Boston. The children are shown sowing and reaping, along with tilling and other farming activities. Other pictures show them at exhibitions. Along with the photographs the scrap book includes various USSGA publications, a flyer by President Wilson, and typescript planting songs. $2,000.

 

War was not hell in Vietnam if all you have to go by is this photo album of U.S. soldiers in 1970. The photographs show soldiers clowning around. The lack of captions makes it hard to identify the pranksters, but among the pictures we see a couple of soldiers with an American flag with a peace symbol replacing the stars while they hold their hands up in peace symbols. There are also shots of local bands on stage with soldiers joining in and dancing women. Langdon Manor warns us that some of the dancers are nude and some shots were taken from a bit too close to the stage. More seriously, one of the pictures shows choppers landing along with internal views of the barracks. Item 21. $750.

 

Item 27 is a photo album of the U. S. Indian Service's traveling library and motion picture bus from 1937-1941. Thirty-two are black and white while 175 have been hand-colored. Pierre Alford, a Shawnee, operated the bus with his wife Dorothy. It appears it was Dorothy who took the pictures and did the coloring. They served various Native American communities around the American Southwest, primarily Arizona. Many of the photographs were taken at schools, either in front, in classrooms, or of children inside the bus. Some are from a fourth of July celebration, a girls' camp, or by people's homes. Other images display natural scenery such as mountains and cacti. Detailed captions are provided for most. There are also several shots of family friend Virgil Brown, including a party after his wedding. He served with the Bushmasters in World War II and he later appeared in newspaper photographs with a few of his fellows and General Douglas MacArthur. That is Brown you see on the cover standing next to his (presumably) new Plymouth. $8,000.

 

This next set of photographs captured one of the sadder moments in recent history. It consists of five photo album leaves containing ten original photographs and three commercial ones. They are of the spaceship Challenger disaster in 1986. They were taken by Dale and Frances Weick. They had received an Air Force pass to view the lift off from just 3 ½ miles away. They took pictures longer into the flight as they hoped to photograph the rocket stages separating. A note on one of the leaves reads, "Frances kept saying 'It was so beautiful & then it was gone.'" Item 31. $450.

 

Langdon Manor Books may be reached at 713-443-4697 or LangdonManorBooks@gmail.com. Their website is found at langdonmanorbooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions