SPEAKING OF BOOKS...

The Joslin Hall Rare Books Newsletter
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September 19th, 2006

We had the big 6th Annual Library Sale/Vintage Auto/Antique Tractor Show & Volunteer Fire Dept Barbecue this weekend in Hatfield, and the Book Elves were beside themselves, wolfing down burgers and hot dogs, along with glasses of cider from the old cider press they were operating at the Farm Museum. There was that one regrettable incident involving the Mayor's vintage T-Bird and what the police are blindly insisting on calling "auto theft" and "joy-riding", but before three of the Book Elves were seen driving off down Main Street on a 1948 John Deere tractor, completely nude and blitzed on hard cider, singing "We Are Family" at the top of their lungs, they finished our new catalog-

 

Catalog #284 - RECENT ACQUISITIONS FOR SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2006 is now available in printed format, or on our website. If you would like a printed copy of the catalog, please email us, and remember to include your mailing address. Or you can browse it on our website!

HIGHLIGHTS include -

*The earliest printed book on American silver collections.

*The scarce 1917 Memorial Exhibition catalog of paintings by John J. Enneking.

*Howard's 1838 study of color as used by artists, a very early example of the use of chromolithography in book illustration.

*A 1935 Maggs Brothers catalog completely devoted to books about Royalty, issued to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee.

*A beautiful leatherbound copy of the catalog to the 1963 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of American furniture & other arts, limited to 445 copies.

*James Jackson Jarves' influential 1867 study of Japanese arts.

*An important and influential 1846 book on fresco painting techniques.

*An unusual pamphlet promoting of a scheme to fix up Independence Square for the 1876 Centennial.

*A very interesting 1881 study of the development of the Christian altar and its fittings.

*A very scarce 1915 Worcester County exhibition catalog of American silver.

*The first book on American gems, published in 1838.

*An enlightening 1894 study of the evolution of the electric light bulb.

*A scarce 1867 book on the laws of color as used in interior decoration.

*An important and comprehensive 1895 report on worker housing around the world.

*Noted antiquarian Charles Dorman's copy of Harrington's 1939 book on Delaware silversmiths, limited to 300 copies, and with extensive handwritten notes by Dorman.

*An interesting 1845 book about collecting paintings.

*A complete 1890s guide to Victorian construction and decorating work methods and tools.

...and many more books on silver, ceramics, glass, furniture, folk art, metals, textiles and other arts, and related topics

 

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RECENT PUBLISHER'S OVERSTOCKS-

Barnard, Toby. MAKING THE GRAND FIGURE. LIVES AND POSSESSIONS IN IRELAND, 1641-1770. New Haven; Yale University Press: 2004. "In this pioneering study of the material culture of Stuart and Hanoverian Ireland, Toby Barnard reveals a hitherto unsuspected richness and diversity of lifestyle, habitat and mentality. The compass of the book is impressively wide, from the governing elite of Dublin Castle to provincial towns and the countryside beyond. Looking yet further, it follows the Irish overseas to Britain and the continent of Europe. Through such everyday articles as linen shirts, wigs, silver teaspoons, pottery plates and engravings, Barnard evokes a striking variety of lives and attitudes. Possessions, he shows, highlighted and widened divisions, not only between the rich and poor, women and men, but also between Irish Catholics and the Protestant settlers." There are chapters focusing on the house, interiors, goods, pictures, the park & garden, sport, dress, Dublin, going abroad, and Society. Hardcover. 8"x9.5", xxii + 497 pages, b/w and some color illustrations, dj. New. [95045]

Published at $50.00.
Available for a limited time for- $25.00

 

Dubin, Lois Sherr. NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN JEWELRY AND ADORNMENT. FROM PREHISTORY TO THE PRESENT. New York; Harry N. Abrams: 1999. Ten years in the making, this lavish, photo-filled book starts by exploring the jewelry of the ancient Americans and works its way, eventually, up to the 20th century. Separate chapters discuss and illustrate the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Woodlands, the Plains, the Great Basin, the Plateau, the Northwest Coast, California, and the Southwest. This book is packed with color photos and information, and if you are at all interested in any facet of the subject is well worth a place on your bookshelf. Hardcover. 10"x11.5", 608 pages, 820 color and 380 b/w illustrations, dj. New. [95043]

Published at $75.00.
Available for a limited time for- $40.00

 

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MORE RECENT PUBLISHER'S OVERSTOCKS-

Friedman, Florence Dunn (ed.). GIFTS OF THE NILE. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FAIENCE. Thames & Hudson: 1998. "This catalog, from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design's international traveling exhibition, is an in-depth study of ancient Egyptian faience-figures, jewelry, and objects made from a non-clay ceramic material with a bright blue or polychrome glazed surface. More than 200 pieces spanning 3,000 years are displayed here in 224 color plates, with an additional 250 black and white photos and drawings, depicting a variety of small domestic items: lidded jars and pots; a portable, partitioned inkwell with a rotating top; a royal cosmetic jar; inlay tiles; goblets; scarabs; and amulets. Illustrated essays explore the meaning of faience within Egyptian culture, discussing its uses, symbolism, and technology." Hardcover. 9.5"x12", 288 pages, color and b/w illustrations. New. [95046]

Published at $75.00.
Available for a limited time for- $40.00

 

Loring, John. TIFFANY FLORA / TIFFANY FAUNA. New York; Harry N. Abrams: 2003. A colorful, sumptuous survey of the best and most dramatic in Tiffany jewelry in two volumes, one focusing on animals, the other on flowers. "a striking visual survey of the unparalleled craftsmanship of Tiffany & Co. The effect is like peering into an ark of fantastic, bejeweled creatures-winged dragons with fiery eyes clutching beautiful gems; a golden parrot in a jaunty diamond cap and blue enameled pantaloons; an extravagant wreath of diamond and platinum leaves and flowers; a blushingly suggestive enameled orchid; and a Tiffany lamp in blues and greens evoking an illuminated wisteria." The pieces illustrated and described range from the 19th century to the present day. A must-have set for the Tiffany & Co. enthusiast. Hardcover. 2 vols. 7.5"x8.5", 128 + 128 pages, color and b/w illustrations, dj. New. Slipcased. [95051]

Published at $100.00.
Available for a limited time for- $40.00

 

Loewer, Peter. JEFFERSON'S GARDEN. Mechanicsburg; Stackpole Books: 2004. "Peter Loewer, vice president of the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, North Carolina, and the author of The Winter Garden and Thoreau's Garden, profiles Thomas Jefferson as gardener and landscape architect. Loewer offers essays on the annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, and vines that Jefferson grew, with entries from his journal. Here too is a survey of the importance of seeds in America-crediting the First Gardener with a significant contribution to the country's seed heritage-and a portrait of Monticello from various historic viewpoints, followed by an account of its restoration by the Garden Club of Virginia. The book is handsomely presented, with naturalist ink drawings of the plants as chapter headings." Hardcover. 6"x8.5", 260 pages, line illustrations, dj. New. [95052]

Published at $21.95.
Available for a limited time for- $10.00

 

Mondlin, Marvin & Roy Meador. BOOK ROW. AN ANECDOTAL AND PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE ANTIQUARIAN BOOK TRADE. New York; Carroll & Graf: 2004. 2nd prtg. The story of New York's famous Fourth Avenue- Book Row from the 1890s to the 1960s. From the Strand Bookstore which began as a bookstall on 8th, to the legendary George D. Smith, poker and horse player, and dozens of other colorful, irascible, eccentric, dedicated and unforgettable characters, the story of antiquarian and used bookselling in America was epitomized on Fourth Avenue over a period of some seven decades. Book Row is gone now- a victim of rising rents, chain stores and redevelopment, but its story lives on in the pages of this book. Hardcover. 6.5"x9", 405 pages, b/w illustrations, dj. New. [95050]

Published at $28.00.
Available for a limited time for- $15.00

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