Search Results: Titles starting with A from Howard S. Mott, Inc

AUSTRONESIAN DOUBLE-BODIED BOATS AND A EARLY MENTION OF STEAMBOATS
GOWER, R[ichard] H[all], of Ipswich, in the India Service, naval architect, inventor (fl. 1767-1833). AMsS "Opinion as to the value of Double-bodied vessels," comparing the hydrodynamics of a catamaran and a proa. Bifolium on laid paper watermarked "1813. 4to, pp. 2, [2] blank, addressed on verso of blank leaf to "Miss Applegath," folded for delivery. N.p., n.d., London? 1813?]. Gower (fl. 1767-1833), was a sea captain and naval architect. If indeed this was written the year the paper is watermarked, or even close to that year, it contains a very early mention of steamboats. Glasgow engineer Henry Bell launched Britain's first truly commercial steamboat, the Comet, which was built on the River Clyde in 1811-12. Here Gower writes about Pacific Austronesian proas, which usually have two unequal-length parallel hulls. He was an inventor of several optical… Read More

CARRYL, Charles E.
The Admiral's Caravan. With Illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. Large 8vo, original colored pictorial grey cloth stamped in gold, black, white, red and blue, frontispiece, pp. 140. New York: The Century Co., 1892.
First Edition of a classic juvenile. The illustrated front cover colorfully depicts the Admiral gazing at a stork with a spyglass, a red roofed building in the background, dogs, an elephant, a camel, and a horse, with all colors bright. Reginald Birch provided copious black-and-white illustrations throughout. With bookplate of Carolyn Wells, prolific author, early bibliographer of Walt Whitman. Little soiled, else fine. Peter Parley to Penrod, p. 96.

THE FIRST FLIGHT OVER A BODY OF WATER IN A HEAVIER-THAN-AIR CRAFT[BLÉRIOT, Louis]. [GALICE, Louis, French artist (1864-1935). Aèroplanes Blériot. Affiches Louis Galice. Large folio colored lithograph poster, 30 ¼ x 39 ½". Paris: G. Borel & Cie [1910].
Issued by C. Borel & Cie, 25, Rue Brunel, Paris. A striking colored lithograph by Louis Galice depicting Blériot's Type XI monoplane approaching Dover, England, July 25, 1909, at night having just flown over the English Channel. Blériot (1872-1936) approaches Dover, his searchlight illuminating the town below, as well as its famous White Cliffs. This famous thirty-six and a half minute crossing from Calais to Dover won the ₤1000 Daily Mail prize for the first flight over a body of water in a heavier-than-air craft when he crossed the Engllish Channel. The world had suddenly gotten smaller, and the British newspapers declared that Great Britain was no longer an island "guarded by the inviolable… Read More

SHANGHAI IMPRINT
BALLER, F[rederick] W[illiam]. An Analytical Vocabulary of the New Testament…Prepared for the use of junior members of the China Inland Mission. Sm. 4to, contemporary (original?) morocco backed blue cloth (rebacked; new leather label), pp. vi, 264 + errata-slip inserted between pp. 226-227. Shanghai: China Inland Mission, 1893.
First Edition. Baller (1852-1922) was a British missionary, educator and translator in China. He died and was buried in Shanghai, wehre he published a number of books, for which see, Biographical Dictioanry of Chinese Christianity. Prefase in English; final section entitled, "Brief Notes on solme common characters and idioms." China Inland Mission is an international Protestant Christian missionary societhy with an international center in Singapore. It was founded in Great Britain by Hudson Taylor 25 June 1865. Nearly fine.

ENDLICHER, Stephen.
Anfangsgründe der Chinesischen Grammatik. 8vo, contemporary cloth (original yellow printed wrappers bound in), pp. xxiv, 376. Vienna: Carl Gerold, 1845.
First Edition. "Foundations of Chinese Grammar" by a noted Austrian botanist. Born in Pressburg, Hungary, Endlicher formulated a major system of plant classification, was a noted linguist, a professor, and contributor to classical literarure. He died by suicide. According to the Catholic Ency. he turned his attention to languages in 1826. "Bound in the original wrappers: publication details in Chinese. Evidently Vienna had a Chinese font. Endlicher, a botanist thought that the scientific study of Chinese in Europe began when De Sacy got a chair in Paris. A grammar of Chinese."-Lust 1010. Endlicher (1804-1849) The rather grubby, rebacked protective cloth binding, which looks to be original as well, has done its job of protecting the original wrappers. Very good copy, despite… Read More

AN ARCHIVE OF LETTERS OF A CONSERVATIONIST, WOODSMAN, TRAPPER, TRAVELER & AUTHOR
SPEARS, Raymond Smiley (1876-1950). Award-winning author, woodsman, trapper, journalist, traveler, president of the American Trappers' Association. An archive of TLS's and retained copies of TLS's, mostly 4to, 114pp., comprising correspondence between Spears (his letters are lengthy) and his literary agent, William Gerard Chapman, International Press Bureau, Chicago, entirely about Spears' prolific literary endeavors, and wildlife conservation. Principally from Little Falls, New York and Inglewood, California, 1921-1941
A fascinating collection of letters by a fascinating man. Spears tells Chapman that "I've written, had published, millions of words in fiction, a million or two on regional and local political matters, and hundreds of articles on general and political and wildcrafting and touring-travel, strange region tripping and seeing and experiencing..." His eleven published books include an account of a trip on… Read More

A VERY EARLY AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL FAIR
[AGRICULTURAL FAIR, BROOKFIELD, MASS.]. At a Meeting of the Brookfield Agricultural Society, on the 25th day of January, A. D. 1813. Upon the Report of a Committee appointed at the last meeting, Voted that, to induce exertions for raising the best Cattle and Sheep, the following Premiums, to be paid out of the Funds of the Society, be offered---viz. First Lot...The time and place for the exhibition of said Sheep and cattle shall be on the first Monday in September, A. D. 1814, at the present dwelling house of Capt. Simeon Draper, in Brookfield, when and where the estimate shall be made and the premiums adjudged... 4to broadside, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2". [Brookfield, Mass.: Printed by E. Merriam & Co., 1813]..
We find no reference to the existence of this early American agricultural society, except by the only other copy known which is at AAS. The first… Read More

SWEDISH IRON INDUSTRY ATLASUHR, C[ar] D[avid] af. [Atlas volume]. Plancher till berättelsen puddling-forsöken och engelska jerntillverkningen. Oblong folio, original plain gray wrappers, title-leaf + 9 leaves of engraved plates by C. A. Broling. [Stockholm: Nordström?] 1825.
First Edition. The atlas volume to Uhr's work on iron puddling, Berättelse om de páBruks societetens bekostnad åren 1819-1822 vid Skebo bruk verkställda puddlings...i England (Stockholm: 1825). Developed in England by Henry Cort in 1783-4, puddling enabled the production of high grade bar iron (malleable wrought iron) from pig iron produced in a blast furnace. Sweden attempted to respond to advances in British coal technology. "A more sustained attempt to adapt puddling to Swedish conditions was made at Schebo bruk between 1817 and 1824 under the supervision of the Jenkontoret official Carl David af Uhr (1770-1849), but once more without success."-Chris Evans and Göran Rydén, Baltic Iron in the Atlantic World in… Read More

[SCOTLAND]. [KERR], William, 1st Earl of Lothian (1605?-1675). Scottish nobleman, soldier, and politician. MANUSCRIPT: "Attested Coppie Contract of alienation and Disposition betwixt William Earl of Lothian and William Elliott of Stobs. 10th & 16th Augt. 1648. of the Lands and Barony of Fewelrule [Fewrule], reg. Septm 8th 1648." [cover title]. 35pp., folio, with marginal notes in another hand., stitched, uncut. [Edinburgh & Jedburgh, 1648].
Coincidentally, this sale was concluded the day before Cromwell's victory over the Royalists and Scots at the Battle of Preston (17-19 August, 1648). The 1st Earl of Lothian sells several properties in the parish to William Elliott of Stob[b]s and his eldest son Gilbert Elliott; significant lands in the ancient feudal barony of Fewrule (Roxburgh), a name with various spellings. The sale included a… Read More

SLADEN, Douglas.
Australian Lyrics &c. 8vo, original cloth backed printed wrappers (soiled), pp. 68. Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide: George Robertson, 1883. First Edition of Sladen's second book. Two poems are concerned with the death of Longfellow. Sladen (1856-1933) was a celebrated and prolific writer of poetry, fiction and biographies. With tipped-in between pp. viii & [9] is an errata, and a bifolium prospectus with two printed pages of ads for one of the author's books. Also tipped-in are several contemporary reviews of the book, presumably by Julia Winstanley whose ownership signature is on title, and who was possibly related to the Australian novelist Elizabeth Winstanley. In morocco backed cloth folding case. Miller, Australian Literature 1810-1938 I, p. 258. NCBEL III, p. 648. A bit grubby with dusty wrappers and light occasional foxing. There are no copies listed online at this writing (3/2/21), and… Read More

102 AUTHORS, 128 LETTERS, 138 PAGES, ALL ON THE SUBJECT OF THE "PHILOSOPHY OF SPORT." "IT'S LIKE OEDIPUS CHEATED AT CRAPS"
[AUTHORS' LETTERS]. A collection of 128 unpublished autograph and typewritten letters by American and British authors, with a couple of politicians thrown in. Represented are novelists of all sorts, poets and playwrights as well.. They range from Joy Adamson to Thornton Wilder; Issac Asimov to Richard Wilbur; John Barth to Robert Graves; John Ciardi; J. Edgar Hoover to John Glenn; Rockwell Kent to Alan Paton; Archibald MacLeish to Geoffrey Household, Mary Renault to Mary Stewart, and include Ray Bradbury, Pearl Buck, John Cheever, John Fowles, Earl Stanley Gardner, Charles Schulz (twice), Marianne Moore, Iris Murdoch, George Plimpton, Pamela Travers, et al. The letters are all on one theme: philosophy of sport. Almost all were written in 1968, with a few dated 1969. Many have their original mailing envelopes.
Most of… Read More

PRESENTATION COPY OF THE DE LUXE "SPECIAL EDITION"
FRITZ, John. Autobiography of John Fritz. [Illustrated]. 8vo, original gilt lettered dark green full Persian morocco (minor rubbing at top of spine), front cover stamped in gold, spine in 5 compartments, lettered in gold, inner gilt dentelles, marbled end papers, photogravure frontispiece of the author, p. xvi, 326, t.e.g., uncut. New York: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1912. First Edition, de luxe issue of 200 copies issued simultaneously with the trade edition published by Wiley and Sons. The full-page prospectus, which is laid-in, states that the book will be "ready for distribution December 20, 1911, and that this de luxe "Special Edition issued by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers through the courtesy of the Author and concurrent with the edition published by John Wiley and Sons" is limited to… Read More

MANUSCRIPT POEM WRITTEN IN CHINA
BENSON, Stella (1892-1933). English novelist, feminist, author of The Man Who Missed the Bus; Tobit Transplanted (published in the US as The Far-Away Bride),and others. AMsS poem, Wild Trees in February. To Spring.
1p., 8vo, 18 lines on lined paper + original stamped and postmarked mailing envelope addressed to Henry W. Winslow, R.R.Y.M.C.A. [Young Mens Christian Association], Island Pond, Vermont, tipped to verso. Mengtsz, Yunnan, China [December, 1922].
Written in China after Benson returned there with her husband who was in the Customs service. She died young in the Chinese province of Tongking, now part of Vietnam. She first settled in Mengtsz (1922-1925), then Shanghai, followed by Lung Ching Tsun, Nanking, Hong Kong, and Pakhoi. She wrote Winslow a poem in two 9-line verses: "In a panic forlorn/ I am haunting my corner./ I am dead without mourners,/ I am dead yet unborn./ You will come to me later,/ You will come… Read More

CLEMENS, S[amuel] L[anghorne]. ALS to close childhood friend John Garth, Hannibal, Missouri, signed "S. L. Clemens", with a two-line P. S., signed "SLC". 2 pp. (rectos only), 8vo, with added MS note by Helen Kercheval Garth & added MS note by Albert Bigelow Paine. Hartford, May 1, 1890.
A rare autograph letter to a childhood friend. The Berkeley,
Mark Twain Project Online records only one other letter from Clemens to Garth, that one written in 1882. The online Project records a transcript of our letter as having appeared in the Southern Literary Journal, 11 November 1937. Written to John H. Garth (1837-1899), of Hannibal, Missouri, one of Clemens's closest childhood friends and one of the models for the character "Joe Harper" in "Tom Sawyer", and "Jack Stillson" in his unfinished "The Mysterious Stranger." Garth, his wife, Helen Kercheval Garth (m. 1860), and Clemens remained close friends the rest of their respective lives. They were students together at Mrs. Elizabeth… Read More

"AUTHORSHIP WITH ME, HAS BEEN MORE A RECREATION THAN PURSUIT"
SMITH, R[ichard] Penn (1799-1854). American author and editor. ALs to Lewis J. Cist, Cincinnati autograph collector, banker, and author. 1 full-page, with integral address-leaf. Philadelphia, Oct. 25, 1837.
An early addition to what must have the nascent autograph collection of 19-year-old Lewis J. Cist (1818-1885), one of the leading American autograph collectors; his collection being excelled only by the great William E. Sprague collection. Cist, the eldest son of the Cincinnati publisher Charles Cist, became a banker, and also wrote considerable verse. Smith provides a full-page answer to Cist's second request for Smith's autograph. "I have just received a second letter from you requesting my autograph. Your first should have been promptly answered, but really I misunderstood the spirit in which it was written-believing it to be the practical joke of some good natured friend." He says, "Authorship with me, has been… Read More

BERLIOZ, Hector (1803-1869), French composer. An 11-line ALS to "Monsieur," signed "H. Berlioz." 1 full p., 8vo. N. p. [Paris] 30 December 1857.


Berlioz writes to an unnamed correspondent about what he wrote as music critic for the Journal des Débats, 17 November, in reply to M. [Benoît] Jouvin's comments in Figaro. According to the Hector Berlioz website Berlioz had written about the first production of Margot, a comic opera in three acts, at the Théâtre Lyrique 5 November 1857, by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Adolphe de Leuven, music by Antoine-Louis Clapisson, and also wrote there about "Inauguration de la salle Beethoven. CONCERT D'OUVERTURE." Berlioz writes about a response from Jouvin, the publisher of Figaro, a man about whom it has been said always left the theater irritated. Berlioz writes: "It is in the Journal des Debats of November 17th that I have replied to… Read More

YELLOW FEVER IN FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, 1822
ROBINSON, Dr. Benjamin (Old Ben) West (1775-1857). ALS to William Haswell, Esq., Post Master Bennington, Vermont, marked "Free." 1 ½ pp., folio + integral address-leaf. Fayetteville, North Carolina, November 9, 1822.
Dr. West Robinson moved to Fayetteville from Vermont, and built the family home, Monticello. According to his obituary in the Fayette Observer, "Dr. Robinson was formerly Mayor of this town; and Marshal of the U. S. for Florida, by appointment of President Monroe, which office he resigned. In 1825 he was appointed by Mr. Adams one of three commissioners to treat with the Southern Indians. In early life he enjoyed the acquaintance of Mr. Jefferson, for whose memory he ever cherished in sincerest regard. He enjoiyed fully the confidence of all classes and parties."
Robinson writes that he has been incapable to attend to any business "in consequence of an destinate Bilious intermittent Fever-for a few days past I have been… Read More