Countries & Travel Books | Used, Rare & Antiquarian

Softcover. NY, Viking Penguin, reprint, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, deluxe edition. Deckled pages, 782 pages Massive collection of the main Icelandic sagas. 66 page introduction by Robert Kellogg with good contextual information. Preface by Jane Smiley. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Hobart Company, 1st, 1904, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth stamped in orange and black. Three introductory pages of text; balance of book consists entirely of 77 black and white photographs with descriptive captions. Plates showing temples, traditional Japanese residences and businesses, Japanese people at work and at play, a karuma carriage, Yokohama Bay, etc. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. London, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 403 pages, 2 maps. In the belief that intensive study of selected local areas is an important development in scholarship on Africa, the author presents a micropolitical study of an important region of one of East Africa's Rew nations. Sukumaland, an area of Tanzania which contains one tenth of the country's population and its largest tribe, was chosen for the study. Before independence it exhibited the most organized nationalist political activity of any part of the country and developed the largest African-owned co-operative movement in all of Africa. In the final decade of the colonial era Sukumaland was the British administration's principal experimental area for attempts at radical transformation of indigenous political institutions and traditional agricultural techniques. After independence it became a critical testing ground for President Julius Nyerere's concepts of African socialism. Owner's signature on the front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. London, Phoenix House , 1st, 1964, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, lightly chipped dust jacket, 148 pages. Color frontispiece; twenty-four pages of photographs; two maps; and a statistical Appendix. A personal travel journal: "a well-substantiated account of a continent that is now emerging as a major political, economic, and cultural force."

Softcover. Boston, Beacon Press, reprint, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 289 pages. For centuries, the story of the Atlantic slave trade has been filtered through the eyes and records of white Europeans. In this watershed book, historian Anne C. Bailey focuses on memories of the trade from the African perspective. African chiefs and other elders in an area of southeastern Ghana-once famously called 'the Old Slave Coast'-share stories that reveal that Africans were traders as well as victims of the trade. Bailey argues that, like victims of trauma, many African societies now experience a fragmented view of their past that partially explains the blanket of silence and shame around the slave trade. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Urbana IL, University of Illinois Press, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 162 pages, b&w illustrations. In the wake of Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, Sigmund Tobias and his parents fled their home in Germany and relocated to one of the few cities in the world that offered shelter without requiring a visa: the notorious pleasure capital, Shanghai. Seventeen thousand Jewish refugees flocked to Hongkew, a section of Shanghai ruled by the Japanese, and they created an active community that continued to exist through the end of the war. Tobias's coming-of-age story unfolds within his descriptions of Jewish life in the exotic sanctuary of Shanghai. Depleted by disease and hunger, constantly struggling with primitive and crowded conditions, the refugees faced shortages of food, clothing, and medicine. Tobias also observes the underlife of Shanghai: the prostitution and black market profiteering, the brutal lives of the Chinese workers, the tensions between Chinese and Japanese during the war, and the paralyzing inflation and the approach of the communist "liberators" afterward.Richly detailed, Strange Haven opens a little-documented chapter of the Holocaust and provides a fascinating glimpse of life for these foreigners in a foreign land. An epilogue describes the changes Tobias observed when he returned to Shanghai forty years later as a visiting professor.

Softcover. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1st pbk, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 393 pages. Reaching beyond sensational headlines, Land of the Unconquerable at last offers a three-dimensional portrait of Afghan women. In a series of wide-ranging, deeply reflective essays, accomplished scholars, humanitarian workers, politicians, and journalists-most with extended experience inside Afghanistan-examine the realities of life for women in both urban and rural settings. They address topics including food security, sex work, health, marriage, education, poetry, politics, prisoners, and community development. Eschewing stereotypes about the burqa, the contributors focus instead on women's empowerment and agency, and their struggles for peace and justice in the face of a brutal ongoing war. A fuller picture of Afghanistan's women past and present emerges, leading to social policy suggestions and pragmatic solutions for a peaceful future. Review copy stamp on top edge otherwise like new.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt and Company, 1st, 1899, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 411 pages. Hardcover. Previous owners name on inside front cover. Green cloth with gilt title and decoration. Front and rear hinges cracked. Missing front endpaper. Heavy foxing to preliminary pages up to contents page, and last 5 pages at end of book; including map. Front fold-out map at title page and rear most map both badly damaged. Foxing to edges. Moderate wear to covers. Clean, unmarked text.

Hardcover. NY, Saturday Review Press, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a chipped, worn dust jacket, 252 pages. An account of the glitzy New York charity ball that attracts over 1000 debutantes, society dowagers, European aristocrats, oil-rich Texans and other assorted social climbers - all for a good cause. Clean copy, large chip from rear dj panel.

Softcover. London, IB Tauris, 1st pbk, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 314 pages, color and b&w illustrations. In this first biography of Alexander Griboyedov in English, Laurence Kelly paints a vivid picture of a man of remarkable literary talent and diplomatic gifts that were nevertheless overshadowed by ill-fortune. Involved in the 1825 Decembrist plot to overthrow the Tsarist state and the mission to further Russia's expansionist agenda in the Caucasus, the famous writer was eventually murdered by zealous mobs in Tehran. This book makes an invaluable contribution to the diplomatic history of Russia, the Caucasus and Iran at the same time illuminating the life and works of a writer who was among nineteenth-century Russia's most respected and prominent writers. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 240 pages, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR HENG on front fly leaf. The authors (husband and wife) return to China after the Cultural Revolution, interviewing hundreds of Chinese and observing the signs of a surprising new China in the making. Among those interviewed are Peng Ming, now a composer and television executive; Chen Yizhi, head of the planners; and Wu Tianming, one of China's best-known filmmakers. 1986. Minor dust jacket edge wear and fade, otherwise, very clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket, 496 + maps. Chunk of dj gone from rear panel at top. A clean, tight copy.

Softcover. NY, Feral House, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. 224 pages. The book Horizontal Collaboration encompasses the Jazz Age, Depression, World War and Occupation, and Liberation. It concludes with the shuttering of the licensed brothels in 1946, which some Parisian intellectuals thought was the final "destruction of French civilization". The term "Horizontal Collaboration" refers to the sexual liaisons between French civilians and German occupiers from 1940 to 1944. These were extremely widespread and included both individual wartime relationships in addition to prostitution. As Allied armies swept across the French countryside, thousands of young women?and some men?were savagely punished by the authorities or by vigilante crowds, becoming a source of deep national shame. Author Gordon redefines the pejorative term to mean something much broader: French men and women "horizontally collaborated" to overcome all social obstacles, divisions, and regulations. These obstacles include married and unmarried couples, straights and homosexuals, foreigners and locals, gun-toting soldiers and their vanquished subjects. The natural yearning for sexual pleasure equally corrupted all cohabitating partners. Clean copy in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. NY, Pegasus Books, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Chronicling two-hundred years of glamour, intrigue, and hedonism, this rich and vivid history of the French Riviera features a vast cast of characters, from Pablo Picasso and Coco Chanel to Andre Matisse and James Baldwin. In 1835, Lord Brougham founded Cannes, introducing bathing and the manicured lawn to the wilds of the Mediterranean coast. Today, much of that shore has become a concrete mass from which escape is an exclusive dream. In the 185 years between, the stretch of seaboard from the red mountains of the Esterel to the Italian border hosted a cultural phenomenon well in excess of its tiny size. A mere handful of towns and resorts created by foreign visitors - notably English, Russian and American - attracted the talented, rich and famous as well as those who wanted to be. For nearly two centuries of creativity, luxury, excess, scandal, war and corruption, the dark and sparkling world of the Riviera was a temptation for everybody who was anybody. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Viking Press, 1st US, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn dust jacket, 398 pages, b&w illustrations, maps. About the Boer War and the rescue of the garrison at Ladysmith, Natal, under siege by 5,000 Boer farmers. One map with bottom corner torn, affecting several words on caption, otherwise very good, clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Macmillan Company, 1st US, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 461 pages. Laval began his career as a socialist, but over time drifted far to the right. Following France's defeat and armistice with Germany in 1940, he served in prominent roles in Philippe Petain's Vichy Regime, first as the vice-president of the Council of Ministers from 11 July 1940 to 13 December 1940, and later as the head of government from 18 April 1942 to 20 August 1944. After the liberation of France in 1944, Laval was arrested by the French government under General Charles de Gaulle. In what was widely regarded as a flawed trial, Laval was found guilty of plotting against the security of the State and collaboration with the enemy, and after a thwarted suicide attempt, he was executed by firing squad. His manifold political activities left a complicated and controversial legacy, resulting in more than a dozen conflicting biographies of him. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. Stanford CA, Stanford University Press, reprint, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, beige cloth covers, black lettering to spine, 288 pages. About 1307 a remarkable woman in Japan sat down to complete the story of her life. The result was an autobiographical narrative, a tale of thirty-six years (1271-1306) in the life of Lady Nijo, starting when she became the concubine of a retired emperor in Kyoto at the age of fourteen and ending, several love affairs later, with an account of her new life as a wandering Buddhist nun. Through the vagaries of history, however, the glory of Lady Nijo's story has taken six and half centuries to arrive. The Confessions of Lady Nijo or Towazugatari in Japanese, was not widely circulated after it was written, perhaps because of the dynastic quarrel that soon split the imperial family, or perhaps because of Lady Nijo's intimate portrait of a very human emperor. Whatever the cause, the book was neglected, then forgotten completely, and only a single manuscript survived. This was finally discovered in 1940, but would not be published until after World War II in 1950. This translation and its annotations draw on multiple Japanese editions, but borrow most heavily from the interpretations offered by Tsugita Kasumi. No dust jacket. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Columbia University, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, lightly worn dust jacket, 300 pages. Book from 1980, being one of the most influential works of Japanese history and political theory. With its glorification of Japan's system of imperial succession, the author's 14th century tract became the catechism of loyalty to the throne for generations of Japanese. Beginning with recounting of Japan's divine origins, it tells of the early deities who ruled before heaven and earth were separated. Then the lives of the human sovereigns are chronicled who ruled over Japan in the 21 centuries following the founding of the empire in the year 606 BC. This first complete English translation of this landmark work gives an extensive introduction placing the chronicle in the context of 14th century Japan and exploring its powerful legacy of Japan before the Tokugawa period. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Softcover. NY, Vintage Books, reprint, 1969, Book: Very Good, Softcover, 434 pages plus index. Remainder lines to bottom edge. Otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, The Century Co., 1st, 1925, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 365 pages plus index. This entertaining look at life in Spain written by an Englishwoman was the result of a three year stay during the 1920's. This book covers the major Spanish towns, with b&w photos, history and information on facilities, and transportation in each from the 1920s period for the traveler. Some foxing to top edge otherwise clean in the scarce jacket.

Hardcover. Milwaukee WI, Marquette University, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with a chip to the top front corner, 248 pages. This book explores the crisis of the German Socialist movement and its growth in intensity from the time of the open split of the Social Democratic Party during World War 1 until its climax in the bloody fighting between the radical left and the socialists during the so-called Spartacist Uprising of January 1919. Clean copy.

Softcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 2nd pr., 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 414 pages, b&w illustrations. Scholars exploring the history of science under the Nazis have generally concentrated on the Nazi destruction of science or the corruption of intellectual and liberal values. Racial Hygiene focuses on how scientists themselves participated in the construction of Nazi racial policy. Robert Proctor demonstrates that the common picture of a passive scientific community coerced into cooperation with the Nazis fails to grasp the reality of what actually happened-namely, that many of the political initiatives of the Nazis arose from within the scientific community, and that medical scientists actively designed and administered key elements of National Socialist policy. The book presents the most comprehensive account to date of German medical involvement in the sterilization and castration laws, the laws banning marriage between Jews and non-Jews, and the massive program to destroy "lives not worth living." The study traces attempts on the part of doctors to conceive of the "Jewish problem" as a "medical problem," and how medical journals openly discussed the need to find a "final solution" to Germany's Jewish and gypsy "problems." Clean, bright copy.

Softcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, reprint, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 448 pages. Tells the story of an early modern nation struggling to deal with diversity and multiculturalism while torn by the fanaticism of the Counter-Reformation on one side and the threat of Ottoman expansion on the other. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Pantheon Books, 1st US, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 301 pages. The classic study of the life of the nobility at the royal court of France, especially under Louis XIV. Paper tanning slightly, clean copy.

Softcover. Bloomington IN, Indiana University Press, 2nd Ed., 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 418 pages. Like the other republics floating free after the demise of the Soviet empire, the independent republic of Georgia is reinventing its past, recovering what had been forgotten or distorted during the long years of Russian and Soviet rule. Whether Georgia can successfully be transformed from a society rent by conflict into a pluralistic democratic nation will depend on Georgians rethinking their history. This is the first comprehensive treatment of Georgian history, from the ethnogenesis of the Georgians in the first millennium B.C., through the period of Russian and Soviet rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the emergence of an independent republic in 1991, the ethnic and civil warfare that has ensued, and perspectives for Georgia's future.

Hardcover. NY, Library Press, 2nd pr., 1971, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 335 pages. Described by Melvin Lasky as "one of the great journalists of our time," Luigi Barzini was also one of the great cultural historians of modern Italy. From Caesar to the Mafia brings together his finest essays, roughly half of them never before published in the English language. Whether discussing the deep Italian roots of Julius Caesar, Casanova's contribution to the art of living big, or Camillo Cavour's contribution to a democratic as well as integrated nation, Barzini makes Italian culture come alive. Whether he is dealing with heroes or villains, he never loses sight of how Italy became a distinct nation. From Caesar to the Mafia is not only about people, but also focuses on places and problems. When Barzini discusses the Sicilians, the Isle of Capri, or his birthplace of Milan, he has the distinct capacity to capture what is universal as well as what is intimate in each place. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Thames and Hudson, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 413 pages, illustrated with 450 plates, 50 in color. In a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Errata slip laid in.

Hardcover. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1st, 1869, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, faded blue pebbled cloth, 456 pages, gilt title on spine. The work of an American Protestant missionary, with much material on missionaries in China. Many b&w engravings, fold-out map.

Softcover. UK, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 316 pages. How have women's lives changed in the republics of the former Soviet Union since the fall of the USSR? This is the first book systematically to examine changes and continuities across these states, focusing on women and work, social roles and women in politics. Drawing on interviews with women in factories, on farms and with women street-sellers, politicians and activists, the book questions whether women are "victims" or "agents" of change, and describes various strategies of coping and adaptation to new economic and social instabilities. Clean copy.

Softcover. Periplus Editions, reprint, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 362 pages. Presents graded courses in Bahasa Indonesia. It is used by universities all over the world and is accessible to those who wish to master the language through self-study at the intermediate and advanced levels. Most comprehensive approach to the Indonesian language and culture. Not a phrase book for travelers. Be prepared for university level curriculum. Logical in approach to all aspects of the language. Book One only. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Berlin, Brasch & Rothenstein, 1st, 1892, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 206 pages. Hardcover. Includes 2 of 3 fold-out maps. Note: Rear fold-out map is missing. Previous owners name in pencil at top of title page. Light wear. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 261 pages, hardcover with dust jacket. Insightful train travel portrait of Italy. Rough cut fore edge. Minor shelf wear/rubbing to dust jacket. Unmarked. Bright and clean; a tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1st Edition, 1920, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 580 pages. Hardcover. 24 b/w illustrations throughout including frontispiece with tissue guard and 6 maps (fold out). Blue cover boards, gilt title on spine (slightly faded) and front cover, some moisture damage to front cover, bump to bottom right corner of board. Tanning to pages and edges, pages otherwise unmarked.

Hardcover. Boston, Richard B. Badger, 1st, 1912, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 292 pages. Octavo in original gilt lettered red cloth and gilt top edge with b&w plates (including frontispiece) from photos and maps on endpaper. "The author spent several seasons in (the) .Labrador interior, 1903-10, and records here his knowledge of the country, the trails, hunting & fishing among the Montagnais Indians." Previous owner's bookplate otherwise clean.

Hardcover. London, Andrew Dakers Limited, 1st, 1954, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth covers with uneven sun-fade, 221 pages. Endpaper maps & 60 photographic illustrations. Travels in the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi with excellent illustrations of the people, activities, artifacts, and description of the tribes, animals and natural resources.

Hardcover. Sydney AU, George Allen & Unwin, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Centenary history of the Sydney-based business Burns, Philip & Co. The company was firmly established as a merchant in Australia and throughout the South Pacific. The book is unique in relating this big mercantile firm to its customers, regardless of their culture. A rich and varied story of a truly Australian company and a major contribution to Australian business history. 392 pages, 24 b&w plates, endpapers map. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 379 pages. The origin and contents of the Magna Carta, its meaning in history and relevance today. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 321pages, b&w illustrations. The Sharpeville Six were six South African protesters convicted of the murder of Deputy Mayor of Sharpeville, Kuzwayo Jacob Dlamini, and sentenced to death. On September 3, 1984, a protest march in Sharpeville turned violent (some of the crowd threw stones at Dlamimi's house, he responded by firing a gun and a riot ensued and the Deputy Mayor was murdered. Mojalefa Sefatsa, Theresa Ramashamola, Reid Mokoena, Oupa Diniso, Duma Khumalo and Francis Don Mokhesi were arrested in the following months, found guilty of murder under the "Common purpose" doctrine and sentenced to death by hanging on December 12, 1985. Christian Mokubung and Gideon Mokone were also sentenced to eight years in prison. All were represented by lawyer Prakash Diar, the author of this book.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 1916, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gray cloth stamped with black lettering. 314 pages, frontis, plates from photos. A description of a stay of over a decade in Gaboon (French Congo), at various mail stations, with much on the missionary activities, schools, and the native peoples in the area including the Njem tribe in the Lomie district, about 400 miles inland from the coastal town of Kribi. This copy from a YMCA library with a stamp and an envelope on the front endpapers, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, G. P. Putnam's Sons , 1st, 1929, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with faded gilt lettering, 281 pages, illustrated with 63 full page photographs by the author and clean fold-out map at rear of book. Stated First Edition on copyright page. Inscription o first blank page, otherwise clean. Bump to cover fore-edge.

Hardcover. Cambridge , Oelgeschlager Gunn & Hain , 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark brown cloth with gilt lettering on spine, 362 pages. An extremely informative and useful study of Thai politics . especially valuable for its description and analysis but also for hard-to-find data on leaders and organizations, which will be of lasting value to scholars and journalists who follow events and history of Thailand. Clean copy.

Softcover. London, Bloomsbury, reprint, 2008, Book: Very Good, Softcover, 692 pages. Coursing through Austerity Britain is an astonishing variety of voices - vivid, unselfconscious, and unaware of what the future holds. A Chingford housewife endures the tribulations of rationing; a retired schoolteacher observes during a royal visit how well-fed the Queen looks; a pernickety civil servant in Bristol is oblivious to anyone's troubles but his own. An array of working-class witnesses describe how life in post-war Britain is, with little regard for liberal niceties or the feelings of their 'betters'. Many of these voices will stay with the reader in future volumes, jostling alongside well-known figures like John Arlott (here making his first radio broadcast, still in police uniform), Glenda Jackson (taking the 11+) and Doris Lessing, newly arrived from Africa, struck by the levelling poverty of postwar Britain. David Kynaston weaves a sophisticated narrative of how the victorious 1945 Labour government shaped the political, economic and social landscape for the next three decades.Deeply researched, often amusing and always intensely entertaining and readable, the first volume of David Kynaston's ambitious history offers an entirely fresh perspective on Britain during those six momentous years. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in an unclipped dust jacket. 297 pages, b&w photos, red spine faded, otherwise clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 294 pages. Emily Johnson has translated and edited a fascinating collection of letters written by Arsenii Formakov, a Latvian Russian poet, novelist, and journalist, during two terms in Soviet labor camps, 1940 to 1947 in Kraslag and 1949 to 1955 in Kamyshlag and Ozerlag. This correspondence, which Formakov mailed home to his family in Riga, provides readers with a firsthand account of the workings of the Soviet penal system and testifies to the hardships of daily life for Latvian prisoners in the Gulag. Clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Blackie & Son Limited, reprint, nd, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, maroon leather stamped with an ornate gilt design. Two titles from the publisher's "Beautiful England" series, here rebound in a single volume. Each 64 pages with 12 color plates by E.W. Haslehurst. Decorative endpapers. ribbon marker. Bookplate on a blank prelim page, spine leather faded to brown, but gilt decorations and lettering are bright. Two related photographic cards laid in.

Softcover. Oxford UK, Oneworld, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 152 pages. Renowned expert William Chittick covers the life and works of this legendary Sufi writer. The importance of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) for Islamic mysticism lies in the fact that he was a speculative thinker of the highest order, albeit diffuse and difficult to understand. His central doctrine is the unity of all existence. In this text, William Chittick explores how, through the work of Ibn Al-Arabi, Sufism moves away from anguished and ascetic searchings of the heart also conscience and becomes a matter of speculative philosophy and theosophy. Ex-lib with stamping and stickers on front endpapers, cover, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Norman OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 348 pages, b&w illustrations. This handsomely illustrated book offers a panoramic view of ancient Mexico, beginning more than thirty thousand years ago and ending with European occupation in the sixteenth century. Drawing on archaeological and ethnohistorical sources, the book is one of the first to offer a unified vision of Mexico's precolonial past. Typical histories of Mexico focus on the prosperity and accomplishments of Mesoamerica, located in the southern half of Mexico, due to the wealth of records about the glorious past of this region. Mesoamerica was only one of three cultural superareas of ancient Mexico, however, all interlinked by complex economic and social relationships. Tracing the large social transformations that took place from the earliest hunter-gatherer times to the Postclassic states, the authors describe the ties between the three superareas of ancient Mexico, which stretched from present-day Costa Rica to what is now the southwestern United States. According to the authors, these superareas-Mesoamerica, Aridamerica, and Oasisamerica - cannot be viewed as independent entities. Instead, they must be considered as a whole to understand the complex reality of Mexico's past.

Hardcover. London, Robert Hale, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 342 pages, ribbon bookmark present. Map crisp and undamaged in front pocket. To which is added a Union-Castle East African Atlas with 12 pages of color maps followed by dozens of local business ads. Dust jacket spine with loss to top and bottom. Otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Softcover. UK, Penguin Books, reprint, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 317 pages. The roots of apartheid. The book relates the history of a small people, the Afrikaners, and their attempts to remake their particular world according to a rational plan from the radical Right. First published in 1975. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt Brace, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. The painter, writer, and political activist returns to his native South Africa, where he was once imprisoned for working for the African National Congress, and reflects on the decline of apartheid and his own attachment to the Boer state. He describes the travail of his country riven by racial conflict. He recounts his seven-year imprisonment for treason and shares the passionate love of an exile--he resides in Paris--for his native land. In the recent period of "stability laced with blood" as De Klerk and Mandela's forces struggle to maintain a precarious political equilibrium, Breytenbach has been allowed to return for visits with his Vietnamese wife. Part travelogue and part memoir, this account offers frequent political discussions about the rivalry between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party. A careful observer of people, their surroundings, fauna and flora, Breytenbach weaves richly colored narrative history, local lore and personal allusions. Clean copy.