Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2008 Issue

Signed Items, First Editions and More from Waverly Books

Waverly152

The latest catalogue from Waverly Books, in time for the San Francisco Book Fair.


By Michael Stillman

We have just received List 152 from Waverly Books, published in time for the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair February 9 and 10. It covers 156 varied items, from literary firsts to film, music and art related, to numerous other subjects. Since it is hard to describe the collection, we will just give you a few samples.

Item, 82 is an important book for those who collect in the spy/mystery genre. It is the first American edition of John Le Carre's first work, Call For The Dead. This work introduced Le Carre's most famous character, British agent George Smiley. This 1962 book was adapted into the film "The Deadly Affair" in 1966, a year after Le Carre's third book, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," made him an enormously popular writer. Priced at $2,750.

Item 16 is an inscribed first edition by a man who will always be known as the second edition, so to speak. Buzz Aldrin was the almost first man to walk on the moon. He piloted the lunar landing module and stepped onto the moon before anyone else in the history of mankind, except Neil Armstrong. Armstrong, the commander, was chosen to take that first great leap for mankind. A few minutes later, Aldrin followed his commander down the steps, and the two sojourned the moon's surface for a couple hours. Aldrin's book (coauthored with Wayne Warga) is Return to Earth, published in 1973. Priced at $250.

If Aldrin's status is akin to a second edition, what about poor Michael Collins? Most readers are probably saying, "Michael who?" While Armstrong and Aldrin were wandering around the moon, gaining the glory, someone had to remain on board the Apollo 11 craft, to be sure it would be there waiting when they returned. That man was Michael Collins. His book, published in 1988, is Liftoff. The Story of America's Adventure in Space. This copy is inscribed. Item 17. $275.

As long as we're studying aeronautics, here is a very different sort: Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith. As their name implies, Aerosmith did a lot of high flying, but figuratively instead of literally. The band members dealt with years of drug problems, particularly in the years between their first successful career of the 1970s, and the second which began in the late 1980s. For five years, the band split up and its members dealt with numerous personal issues, but they managed to pull themselves away from the abyss to emerge more successful than ever. Item 123 is a 1997 first edition signed by all of the members of the band. $350.

Item 37 is a letter from one of America's most notable union organizers and a hero of the Latin American community to Buzz Aldrin's coauthor. Cesar Chavez organized the mainly Hispanic farm laborers of California as President of the United Farm Workers, winning for them greatly improved conditions. His most notable triumph came after a long-running national boycott of grapes he promoted forced the growers to sign a new contract with the workers. As to why Chavez was writing Aldrin's coauthor Wayne Warga, Warga was also a journalist who covered events such as Chavez's boycotts. Chavez evidently appreciated Warga's articles and was happy to meet up with him again at a tribute to Carey McWilliams, another journalist who had for many years championed the interests of the least fortunate among us. On January 31, 1979, Chavez wrote Warga, "Pleasure seeing you again after all these years at the Carey McWilliams tribute on January 28. Our Meeting brought back many old and good memories of times long since past." $575.

Waverly Books may be found online at www.waverlybooks.com, telephone 310-393-4593. You may visit them at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print and Paper Fair, February 9 and 10, booth 517.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b><center>Swann Auction Galleries<br>Printed & Manuscript African Americana:<br>March 30, 2023</b>
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Victor H. Green, <i>The Negro Motorist Green Book,</i> New York, 1949. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Papers of pianist-composer Lawrence Brown relating to Paul Robeson & more, various places, 1925-54. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Freedom Summer archive of civil rights activist Karen Haberman Trusty, Atlanta & elsewhere, 1963-64. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> E. Simms Campbell, <i>A Night-Club Map of Harlem,</i> New York, 1933. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Archive of letters from the sculptor Richmond Barthé to a close Jamaican friend, various places, 1966-85. $25,000 to $35,000.
  • <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> CASAS (BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS). <i>La Découverte des Indes occidentales par les Espagnols,</i> Paris, 1697. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> GARCILASO DE LA VEGA. <i>Primera parte de los commentarios reales, que tratan del orígen de los Yncas…,</i> Lisbonne, 1609 [1608 au colophon]. €8,000 to €10,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> GARCILASO DE LA VEGA. <i>Histoire des Yncas rois du Pérou. On a joint à cette édition l'Histoire de la conquête de la Floride,</i> Amsterdam, 1737. €800 to €1,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> LAET (JOHANNES DE). <i>L'Histoire du nouveau monde, ou description des Indes occidentales,</i> Leyde, 1640. €8,000 to €10,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> LAFITAU (JOSEPH-FRANÇOIS). <i>Mœurs des sauvages amériquains, comparées aux mœurs des premiers temps,</i> Paris, 1724. €1,200 to €1,500.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> ORRIO (FRANCISCO XAVIER ALEXO DE). <i>Solución del gran problema acerca de la población de las Americas,</i> Mexico, 1763. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> [ROCHEFORT (CHARLES DE)]. <i>Histoire naturelle et morale des Îles Antilles de l'Amérique,</i> Amsterdam, 1716. €800 to €1,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> TURGOT (ANNE-ROBERT-JACQUES). <i>Mémoire sur les colonies américaines, sur leurs relations politiques avec leurs métropoles…,</i> Paris, 1791. €1,000 to €1,200.
  • <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Speed (John). <i>The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine...</i> bound with <i>The Prospect of the most Famous parts of the World,</i> Thomas Bassett & Richard Chiswell, 1676. £20,000 to £30,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> China. De Jode (Cornelis), <i>China Regnum,</i> Antwerp [1593]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> World. Hondius (Henricus), <i>Nova totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.</i> Auct: Henr. Hondio. Amsterdam, circa 1630. £5,000 to £8,000.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> World. Blaeu (Willem Janszoon), <i>Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula</i> auct: Guilelmo Blaeuw, Amsterdam [1635 - 58]. £5,000 to £8,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Acosta (Emanuel). <i>Rerum a Societate Iesu in Oriente gestarum ad annum usque à Deipara Virgine…,</i> 1st edition, Dillingen: Sebald Mayer, 1571. £3,000 to £5,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Ruggieri (Francesco). <i>Scelta di Architetture Antiche e Moderne della Citta di Firenze…,</i> 4 volumes bound in two, Florence, Appresso l'Editore, 1755. £3,000 to £4,000.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Parry (William). <i>Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage,</i> 6 vols in 5, 1st editions, 1821-27. £2,000 to £3,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Hunter (John). <i>A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-Shot Wounds,</i> 1st edition, 1794. £1,000 to £1,500.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Furber (Robert). <i>The Flower-Garden Display'd, in above Four Hundred Curious Representations of the most Beautiful Flowers…,</i> 1st quarto edition, London, 1732. £1,000 to £1,500.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Friedman (Milton). <i>A Theory of the Consumption Function,</i> 1st edition, 1957. £500 to £800.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Clarkson (Thomas). <i>The history of the ... abolition of the African slave-trade,</i> 2 vols., 1808. £800 to £1,200.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Civil War Pamphlets. A sammelband of 19 pamphlets relating to events of the English Civil War, 1640-1661. £2,000 to £3,000.

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