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The Accidental Bookseller
Specializing in Uncommon Copies of Interesting Books
Membership(s): IOBA, FABA
A Letter from William Blake
$500.00
(Baskin, Leonard) Blake, William
Northampton (MA): Gehenna Press, 1964. Limited edition 500 copies.
This copy unnumbered but is the artist’s copy, so marked in pencil by Baskin, inscribed by Baskin for Paul (Bitter), Baskin’s nephew (son of Baskin’s then wife Esther’s sister, Fannie).
16 unnumbered pages. With 6 wood-engravings, 4 printed on Japan tissue, all being versions of Blake’s face. Baskin has additionally signed 5 of the engravings, including all the ones on Japan tissue.
Original marbled wrappers, printed label on upper cover. Light edgewear as is common to this title, Bitter’s name label, which establishes provenance but is otherwise less than attractive, on front flap. A very good copy.
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Signed by HOF Sports Writer and Star Tigers Player
The Detroit Tigers
$400.00G. P. Putnam’s Sons: New York (1946). Presumed first edition (no other printings indicated). Part of the “Putnam Sports Series”. Signed by the author, a Hall of Fame sportswriter inducted into Cooperstown in 1973. Also signed by Charles (“Chas”) Gehringer, Hall of Fame Tigers second baseman from 1924 – 1942. A lifetime .320 hitter with over 2,800 hits, Gehringer was one of the best fielding second baseman in the history of the game. At the time of his retirement, he owned the MLB record for double plays turned by a second baseman and remains among the all-time MLB leaders in assists and putouts. Lieb spent nearly 70 years as a sportswriter and is credited with coining the term “The House that Ruth Built,” referring to the New York Yankees’ brand new stadium. Over his career, he covered every World Series game from 1911 to 1958, 30 All-Star games, and over 8,000 major-league baseball games. Newsprint offset front pastedown and free end paper, little toning to rear free end paper, unobtrusive mark to front board, otherwise a bright, fresh and nearly fine copy in very good dust wrapper, corners clipped, slightly chipped at spine ends, rubbed along sides spine.
Offered for Sale by: The Accidental Bookseller -
Exhibition Program with Artist's Scarce Signature
A Retrospective Exhibition 1954
$400.00Art Galleries, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA): 1954. Foreword by William Carlos Williams. Signed boldly by Sheeler and scarce thus, as Sheeler’s signature is quite uncommon. Few creases, wear to spine, some loss of color. Overall, very good in wrappers. Sheeler was a leading exponent of the innovative modernist style that arose after World War I in the United States and came to be known as Precisionism. Artists associated with the movement fused a planar geometry developed from European Cubism with an interest in uniquely American subjects, often celebrating industry and a Machine Age aesthetic. Sheeler worked across artistic mediums and developed a versatile, complex practice in which his vision was expressed with equal artistic command and intellectual rigor, masterfully devising compositions of modern, geometric form from America’s burgeoning urban and industrial landscapes. (source: The Whitney Museum).
Offered for Sale by: The Accidental Bookseller -
Scarce Beats Item, Inscribed to "Allen (Ginsberg?
Unto Caesar
$450.00(San Francisco): (Dave Haselwood), (1965). A non-commercial publication, with most copies given away to friends of the author and printer. Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 24 pages, circa 60 copies. The first publication from Dave Haselwood after he left Auerhahn Press in the hands of his partner, Andrew Hoyem. This copy inscribed “For Allen”, signed “Michael”, and dated Halloween, 1965. Additionally, McClure has added a self-portrait drawing. Although not definitively established, it seems likely that the recipient is Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg and McClure both lived in San Francisco at the time, and the famous photograph of them with Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson in the alley behind City Lights Books was taken shortly after the date of the inscription. A very good copy, front wrap unevenly and lightly tanned, rear wrap with one light crease, spine a little rubbed, some interior pages don’t quite align to wraps (potentially as issued).
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Diane di Prima's Copy with Orig. Drawing by Dunca
A Selection of 65 Drawings from one drawing book 1952-1956
$400.00Black Sparrow Press: Los Angeles, 1970. 65 loose prints, not bound (as issued). A signed presentation copy from Duncan to Diane di Prima and her second husband Grant (Fisher), with a full page original drawing on card stock, measuring 6″ X 9″, in the style of drawings from the book. The Black Sparrow Press item appeared with a publisher’s chemise and signed colophon page — these are not present here and presumably weren’t included in the author’s copies of the book. A few minor age spots to card stock, otherwise fine. When speaking of the impact of Duncan’s teachings, di Prima cited the lesson that poetry intensifies life. In an interview with fellow Beat poet David Meltzer, she recalled, “Robert was probably one of the closest, most intimate lovers I ever had, even though we never had a physical relationship. I learned a lot of different kinds of things from him. One of the things I learned—in a way no teacher of Buddhism ever showed me—was how precious my life was. How precious the whole ambience of the time. A real sense of appreciating every minute.” di Prima recalled their personal relationship in an August 2001 interview with poet David Hadbawnik: “Robert used to come and hang for days, he’d move into my house in Marshall in the ’70s, and bring his French mysteries that he was teaching himself idiomatic French from, and his notebook, and he’d stay for days. And he always came to Christmases with the kids, because Jess doesn’t like holidays, and so I’d have to say mid-’70s, through ’75 on, he was there many weekends, many mornings…. Eating fried herring from the bay for breakfast.”
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