Rare Books

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Below are images of
some of the first editions
that have left our shelves
over the past few years:















THE RARE BOOK ROOM
What is a rare book?

Many booksellers define a rare book as one they may have encountered only once or twice in their entire career. We have a few of those upstairs in Walden Pond Books' Rare Book Room, but the majority of books we collect there are better defined as "scarce", or "uncommon", or "unusual", or just plain... "interesting".

Some are first editions of works by famous (and not yet famous) authors, and some are signed by those authors. Some are noteworthy for their age, or for their beautiful bindings, or for their unique illustrations. And some are just books that need care and protection. We value them all, and we hope you'll find a book or two in the Rare Book Room that you'll value enough to take home with you. Stop by and browse or call 510-832-4438 for an appointment.

Be sure to browse through our current offering of books on eBay. We take pride in our status as a Top Rated Plus Seller with 100% customer satisfaction! We add books weekly so check back often!



A few examples of what we're currently offering on eBay:

MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK
written and edited by Charles Dickens
Illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne (better known as "Phiz")
Chapman & Hall, London, 1840-1841
FIRST EDITION
(Includes the first appearance in print of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge)
Three-volume set: 306, 306 & 417 pp.

Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly periodical featuring short stories and two novels edited and written entirely by Charles Dickens and published from April 4, 1840 to December 4, 1841. The serial publication in this set of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge represent the first time these two Dickens novels came into print and are thus the true first editions of these works. The short stories and the novels published by Chapman & Hall in these three bound volumes under the title Master Humphrey's Clock retain the full and correct ordering of texts as they originally appeared.

Three volumes with marbled boards half-bound in calf-skin with gilt titles over red and green panels and raised bands to spine. Boards show mild rubbing to extremities with moderate scuffs to marbled surfaces, though exterior is free of any stains. Save for some gentle mottling and occasional chafing, the leather is lovely and supple with still vivid color to bands. Gilt appointments remain bright and clean, and blind-stamped borders deep. Front joints are beginning to show signs of separation near crowns, but have not begun to loosen and remain sound and tight. Pages show varying degrees of moderate foxing with a former seller's price penciled to vol. I flyleaf, but are otherwise free of any further writing or soils with no tears or abrasions. Vol. II shows a split to title page gutter, but bindings are otherwise secure across the set. A beautiful, solid first edition set.

CONDITION: VERY GOOD
PRICE: US$ 299.99


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE


THE SOUND OF WAVES
by Yukio Mishima
Translated by Meredith Weatherby | Illustrated by Yoshinori Kinoshita
Charles E. Tuttle | Tokyo | 1956
12mo | pp. 183 | First Japanese Printing in English

Paperback with original pictorial dust jacket wrapped around card covers. Exterior shows minimal wear - headcap bumped/chipped on corner, faint pen mark on page ends, and minuscule wrinkle to top edge of front cover. Spine is gently creased, although binding remains tight and hinges are taut. Save for two very faint stains to title page (see photos), interior is immaculate. Pages are unmarred by markings, tears, foxing, or folds. Volume now housed in a plastic sleeve. A lovely copy overall, stated first Japanese printing of this special English edition originally made for sale only in Japan and Korea.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD+
PRICE: US$ 300.00


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE


RAJVARA
"The Dwelling Place of Princes"
A Play of Ancient India

The Twenty-Second Grove Play of The Bohemian Club
Written by Roy Neily | Music by Wheeler Beckett
The Bohemian Club | San Francisco | 1924 | 92 pp.

Light brown staple bound softcover with dark brown titles, adornments, and the club seal and motto ("Weaving spiders, come not here") printed on cover. Exterior shows some wear with tears and creases to toned edges, however binding remains tight and firm. Spine is sunned and has "24" marked twice in pencil. Interior is immaculate - pages are bright and crisp with no stains, markings, or tears. An extremely scarce copy of the playscript for the famed Bohemian Club's twenty-second stage production in 1924.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD
PRICE: US$ 995.00


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

Here are a few of our past favorites - already sold and typical of others currently shelved in the Rare Book Room:

THE NAKED LUNCH
by William Burroughs
Olympia Press, Paris, 1959
First Printing, First Edition
226 pp.
    A VERY SCARCE first printing of the "Travellers Companion" first edition that was banned by obscenity laws in the U.S. and the U.K.
    Olive green paperback with original dust jacket and all first edition points:
  • green decorative border on title page
  • "Francs: 1,500" and "Not to be sold in the U.S.A. or U.K." on both the back cover and the rear flap of the dust jacket.
A slight inward bow to spine, although binding remains tight with no loose or torn pages. A bit of shelf-wear to head-cap and tail-cap, otherwise exterior is pristine. Miniscule stains to the edges of a few pages, else interior is immaculate - bright pages unmarred by markings, creases, or foxing. The extremely rare dust jacket is worn and fragile, but is unclipped with the cover illustration remaining clear and vibrant. DJ is now housed in a protective archival sleeve which holds it together quite nicely. A true first edition with its original dust jacket - one of only 5,000 copies of the first printing.
VOLUME CONDITION: VERY GOOD
DUST JACKET CONDITION: GOOD-
PRICE: US$ 850.00


SOLD!


MOBY DICK or THE WHALE
by Herman Melville
Illustrated by Rockwell Kent
The Lakeside Press, Chicago, 1930
Limited edition of 1000 copies
Three-volume set: 279, 284 & 282 pp. ~ Dimensions: 8" x 12"

This set is regarded as the definitive illustrated edition of Moby Dick and hailed as a masterpiece of 20th century book illustration. Only 1000 copies were ever printed.

A three-volume set of hardcovers in black cloth with silver abstract decorations to cover and vignette and titles to spine. Black stained top edges and deckled fore edges. Volumes show negligible rubbing to covers. Silver decorations remain bright and unmarred. Corners slightly bumped. Some slight wear and fading to head cap and tail. Top edge of front cover of Vol. I is slightly frayed. Volume interiors are pristine, with light toning to end papers. Several leaves are unopened. No writing or tears noted. Pages are clean, crisp and bright. No aluminum slipcase. Ink-and-wash illustrations by Rockwell Kent throughout.

Limited run of 1,000 copies. One of four books, including Edgar Allan Poe's Tales, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast, produced for R. R. Donnelley and Sons' Lakeside Press "Four American Books" campaign. Moby Dick was the only one illustrated by Rockwell Kent and proved to be by far the most popular of the series. The artist noted that his illustrations were meant to evoke the "midnight darkness enveloping human existence, the darkness of the human soul, the abyss - such is the mood of Moby Dick."
CONDITION: VERY GOOD+ to NEAR FINE
PRICE: US$ 2,950.00


SOLD!


BABE RUTH'S OWN BOOK OF BASEBALL
by George Herman Ruth
G.P. Putnam's Sons, (Knickerbocker Press), New York/London, 1928
First Edition (so stated)
301 pp. ~ Dimensions: 5 & 1/2" x 8"

AN INDISPENSABLE BASEBALL MEMOIR - SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION
A handsome copy of the scarce stated first edition of Babe Ruth's autobiographical book of baseball strategy and tactics.

The gilt titles and crossed bats decoration on the front board are bright and unrubbed. The spine is slightly rippled and sunned yet its titles are clearly legible. The royal blue cloth covers are clean and bright with just a bit of rubbing to the corner tips. The binding is very firm and tight with no endpaper gutter cracks or splits. All is intact and complete with all 31 photographs present. The interior is fresh and crisp though with a slight crease to the bottom inner edge of some pages. There are no tears or dogears, no previous owner's name, no bookplate, no writing or marking whatsoever. The rear affixed endpaper bears a tiny label from the original bookseller (J.W. Robinson Co. of Los Angeles) with the original price ($2.50) still attached.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD
PRICE: US$ 950.00


SOLD!


TWO IN VAGABONDIA ~ An Interlude
by Mary Lyle McClure and Mary Louise Sims
Inscribed and signed by Mary Lyle McClure on the front free endpaper
Illustrated with full-page photographic plates
Meador Publishing Co., Boston, 1932
FIRST PRINTING, FIRST EDITION
198 pp. ~ Dimensions: 5 & 3/4" x 8 & 1/8"

A scarce and sought-after travelogue/memoir - rarely found in this excellent condition, signed by Mary Lyle McClure, and with an unclipped dust jacket.
The remarkable experiences of two American girls travelling through Germany in the first decade of the 20th century. Even more remarkable a century later is the experience of reading of a world now forever gone - of characters, institutions, buildings, and beliefs which the ravages of two World Wars would destroy. The charm and innocence of this book (and of its authors) has only been enhanced - heartbreakingly so - by history.
VOLUME CONDITION: NEAR-FINE
DUST JACKET CONDITION: VERY GOOD
PRICE: US$ 350.00


SOLD!


VATHEK
by William Beckford
Illustrated by Mahlon Blaine
The John Day Company, New York, 1928
First printing, First Edition thus
229 pp. ~ Dimensions: 6 & 1/4" x 9 & 1/2"

VATHEK - A gothic feast of decadent luxury, grotesque evil, and arcane wisdom
  • Written in 1782 by the legendary hedonist William Beckford, Vathek was the first Oriental-Gothic horror novel in English literature. It tells the story of Vathek, the debauched and pleasure-seeking ninth Caliph of the Abassides. Vathek is a classic tale of greed and lust for power containing magic, trickery, and betrayal all culminating in an age-old showdown between good and evil.
  • William Beckford (1760-1844), the "Fool of Fonthill," was the son of a Lord Mayor of London, fluent in seven languages and schooled in philosophy and law. He is perhaps best remembered as the builder of the Gothic monstrosity Fonthill Abbey and also for his involvement in a number of sexual scandals around Europe.


  • MAHLON BLAINE - The enigmatic fantasy artist who purposefully veiled his life in mystery
  • Like Aubrey Beardsley, to whom he is sometimes compared, Mahlon Blaine gravitated to the edges of "respectable" literature. Blaine illustrated over eighty major books, winning the Grolier award for his artwork in Beckford's Vathek.

  • CONDITION: NEAR-FINE
    PRICE: US$ 50.00


    SOLD!


    LOLA BLANCA Y AZULEJO DE PUEBLA
    Texto, fotografias y dibujos de Enrique A. Cervantes
    (Text, photographs, and drawings by Enrique A. Cervantes)
    IN TWO VOLUMES:
  • Tomo Primero (Volume I): Pre-colonial to 16th century history, overview of techniques, makers' marks, ceramic composition, etc.
  • Tomo Segundo (Volume II): 17th to 20th century history, architecture, design, techniques, etc.

  • Privately printed in Spanish in a limited and numbered edition
    Mexico, 1939 ~ First edition, First printing
    Dos mil ejemplares numerados - 629 (2000 numbered copies - this copy is 629)
    Vol. I: 303 pp. + index and prelim. / Volume II: 332 pp. + index
    Dimensions of each volume: 8 & 5/8" x 11 & 1/4"

    Enrique A. Cervantes' work is the most comprehensive and detailed study of over four centuries of Mexican earthenware and ceramics ever written.
  • Almost never found outside libraries and private collections, these volumes in the Walden Pond Rare Book Room are perhaps the last available copies in pristine condition and in their original glassine jackets as first issued.
  • Hundreds of drawings and photographs of tile design, architectural exteriors and interiors, etc. Scores of full-page tipped-in plates - most in bright color - of statuary, ceramic vases, pitchers, plates and tiles.
  • The ceramic ware examined by Cervantes is known in Mexico today as "talavera poblana", named after the colonial ceramic center of Puebla de los Angeles (commonly known as Puebla).

  • CONDITION: FINE
    PRICE: US$ 400.00


    SOLD!