Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2022 Issue

A Winter Farrago from Zephyr Used & Rare Books

Winter Farrago.

Zephyr Used & Rare Books has published a Winter Farrago - 2022. “Farrago” is not a word used in most people's everyday vocabulary but it refers to a mix of things, usually a confusing, not well organized mix. That could be said about this collection, but that does not make the material uninteresting or unappealing. Quite the contrary. It is filled with unusual things you won't find elsewhere. There are books, generally mysteries from the early to mid 19th century not well known, along with some science fiction. There are personal archives or photographs, salesman's material, personal travel accounts and photographs, even some moon landing photos. A farrago. These are a few samples.

 

We begin with Disney Animation. The Illusion of Life. That may sound like some deep philosophical title, but it's actually a book by Disney cartoonists Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. They did many animation drawings for characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bambi and Sno White, creating the illusion of life. The book contains 489 color plates and thousands of black and white illustrations. The cover features Disney's Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket. Published in 1981, this copy is signed by both authors and comes with an original 12-inch filmstrip of animated illustrations. Item 52. Priced at $400.

 

Next is an ordinary-looking brochure, salesman's catalogue, and 11 photographs for a product that revolutionized the way we fuel automobiles (the state of New Jersey and urban areas of Oregon excepted). The brochure is headed Go Self Service Now, and the material was created by the Tel-Gas Leasing Division of Tel-Gas Corporation in 1965-66. At that time, gas stations were still service stations, where an attendant pumped your gas and provided other services such as washing the windshield and checking the oil. Tel-Gas provided the equipment that enabled the pumps to be operated by the customer, resetting the pumps and collecting the fee inside. In 1973, they would introduce the equipment that enabled customers to use credit cards at the pump, so that even an inside attendant was no longer necessary. As the need for anyone familiar with automobiles disappeared, most gas stations evolved from providing repairs and other automotive services to becoming convenience stores. You'll have to wash the windshield and check the oil yourself, but now you can pick up a cup of coffee and a package of Twinkies to go. $300.

 

Antonio Scarfoglio didn't find any self-service pumps when he went on his long journey. I have no idea where he found gas at all, or even roads for that matter. The year was 1908 and he and his team were in a 'round the world road race. Roads were terrible in the U.S. It took his team 6 weeks to get from Buffalo to the west coast. Then they went through Alaska, Japan, China, Siberia, and on to Paris. The trip was 22,000 miles and only three teams finished. Scarfoglia finished second, 26 days behind the leader. They drove a Zust, a car you may not remember. It was an Italian car, manufactured from 1905-1917. Theirs was a 1906 model. The title of Scarfoglia's book is Round the World in a Motor-Car, published in 1909. Item 14. $550.

 

If you don't know how to read, you probably aren't reading this review, but just in case, here is your key to learning. It is a first edition of the Teacher's Edition of the Easy Growth in Reading series from 1940. This one is Our Picture Book, by Gertrude Hildreth and others from the Columbia Teachers College. You get to meet the lead characters, Nancy & Bob, their dog Mac and cat Muff. Does this sound distressingly like Dick & Jane? They were Dick and Jane's competition, and why anyone thought we need to sic another similarly insipid series on children to make them hate reading even more is beyond me. Dr. Seuss where are you? Corinne Waterall's illustrations even look similar to Dick & Jane except maybe the children's cheeks are a little rosier, like the Campbell's Soup kids. Not surprising. Waterall also drew posters for Campbell's Soup. Item 53. $200.

 

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was not a self-made man, but he was enormously wealthy anyway. That can happen when your father is the richest person in the world. He engaged in a lot of projects, some profitable, but many were of a charitable sort. This may have been a combination. He is best known as the lead family member in the building of Rockefeller Center, but he also built some cooperative apartments in New York, designed to be reasonably affordable. Jr. had already developed several other co-ops when he undertook the Van Tassel garden apartments with architect Andrew J. Thomas. These were located in Westchester County, north of the city. Item 107 is 26 time-lapse photographs of progress as it was made in building the apartments, starting with one just showing the framing in April 1929. They were spacious apartments, but later on, with the financial disruption of the Depression, they were divided into smaller, more affordable units. The apartments are still in use today. $950.

 

Zephyr Used & Rare Books may be reached at 360-695-7767 or zephyrbook@gmail.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
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    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
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    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.
  • 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
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    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
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    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

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