Hardcover. Boston, Godine, 1st, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 210 pages. Hilary Masters' memoir Last Stands exhibits uniqueness in writing with a universal appeal. Whether it be upper class zeal, lower class pride, war stories, grandparents, grandchildren, health, humor, abuse, neglect, tolerance, strength, or even food, there is something in it for everyone. Overall, Last Stands is a patchwork piece--a memoir and indirect autobiography glittered with several familial biographies. Masters constantly switches scenes and elements of focus, but he overlaps his storyline, keeping the reader grounded, despite a sequence of simultaneous events. Thus, history is tied together in a busy but logical manner. Although Masters reveals disturbing events, he adds tidbits of humor to lighten the mood. In addition, he compares and contrasts fictitious characters, such as Odysseus, to events in his own life--a technique that grants him boundless points-of-view. Furthermore, his ingenuity unfolds with his use of secondary sources: letters, poems, epitaphs, and invitations. Finally, his use of dialogue carries the story where it might otherwise seem bland.
Hardcover. London, England, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 2nd Edition, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 479 pages plus maps and fold-out family tree/timeline. Hardcover. Paste down presentation label on front flyleaf. Previous owner's signature on front flyleaf. Blue cloth cover boards, gilt title on spine (slightly faded). A touch of tanning to pages. In very good condition.
Hardcover. Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 240 pages. Artist Lee Bontecou (b. 1931) became widely known in the 1960s and 1970s for her welded steel sculptures and plastic and epoxy molded assemblages, powerful constructions that evoked natural phenomena and organic biological life as well as machines and instruments of war. This critically acclaimed book re-evaluates the career of this highly influential artist and focuses not only upon the impact of her early work but also on the import she has exerted on a generation of younger artists. Featuring some 50 sculptures and more than 100 drawings from the late 1950s to 2003, the book presents four essays that reposition Bontecou's work within the history of recent art, examine its shifting critical reception, discuss the artistic context in which her work was made, and analyze how science underpinned some of her earliest explorations. Related ephemera laid in. Clean copy. This is a heavy and oversized book and will require extra shipping. International customers please ask for a shipping quote before purchasing.
NY, Basic Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 793 pages. In this exceptionally innovative work, Walter McDougall projects on a large screen four hundred years of exciting voyages of discovery, pioneering feats, engineering marvels, political plots and business chicanery, racial clashes and brutal wars. It is a chronicle complete with little-known facts and turning points, but always focused on the remarkable people at the center of events, among them the America-loving Japanese ambassador to Washington on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Russian builder of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and a Hawaiian queen during the first period of Western competition for the islands.Let the Sea Make a Noise . . . is a gripping account of the rise and fall of the empires in the last, vast, unexplored corner of the habitable earth -- an area occupying one-sixth of the globe. Clean copy.
Hardcover. New York, Naval History Society, 1st, 1915, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: None, 240 pages, b&w illustration. White vellum spine and corners with blue-gray boards, gilt lettering on spine, top edge gilt. Limited to 600 copies, this is #582. Beautiful bright copy.
Hardcover. New York, Naval History Society, 1st, 1915, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: None, 240 pages, b&w illustration. White vellum spine and corners with blue-gray boards, gilt lettering on spine, top edge gilt. Limited to 600 copies, this is #590. Beautiful bright copy.
Hardcover. NY, Brentano's , reprint, 1904, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, cloth spine with printed paper label; gray printed paper over cardboard boards. In 1669, a Parisian bookseller published a slim volume called Portuguese Letters, which unveiled a love affair between a young Portuguese nun and a French officer that had occurred a few years earlier during a war-torn period in Portugal. The book contained 12 passionate love letters from the nun when the officer was forced to return to France. The letters took Paris by storm. They spoke of love in a manner so direct, so precise, and so raw, they sent shivers of recognition through the sophisticated stratums of polite society. Equally remarkable was the mystery that surrounds the letters: the author was unknown, and most people assumed they were the fictional product of a French aristocrat. Copy of the 1817 London edition including a frontispiece portrait of the nun writing a letter. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Rhode Island Library, Brown University, 1st, 1927, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 72 pages. B/w illustrations throughout. Pages untrimmed. Covered in navy blue fabric with gilt title on spine. Some very light fraying at top and bottom of spine, as well as corners of front and back boards. Pages lightly yellowed with age. Original correspondence of Abraham Lincoln, includes copied samples of actual letters.
Hardcover. Boston, Charles E. Goodspeed, 1st, 1902, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 88 pages, hardcover. Edited by Charles Knowles Bolton. Correspondence during the American revolutionary war. Mild fading to spine and top edge. Mild rubbing and edgewear to boards as well. Rough cut top edge. Minor bumping to corners. Frontispiece intact. Unmarked. A bright and tight copy.
Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Volume XII in The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. 445 pages, illustrated with maps (one fold-out) and b&w photos. Gilt on spine with light fading, light paper residue to front covers, lacks dust jacket, dj flaps pasted onto front endpapers, otherwise clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. Cincinnati OH, George Conclin, 6th Ed., 1841, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 288 pages, 9 b&w woodcut illustrations. Sixth edition, first published in 1838. Tan cloth, paper label on spine, label is chipped, worn in areas. Covers with light soil. Still, internally a tight, clean copy with light foxing.
Hardcover. NY, Time Life, reprint, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 456 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Dark blue leather bound with gilt titles to front cover and spine. Embossed decoration on front cover. Gilt text block edges, red ribbon marker. Clean, tight copy. In 1861 William Watson, a native Scot who had established himself as a Louisiana businessman, enlisted in the Confederate forces although still a British subject. In 1887 he penned his memoirs "to give", he said, "a simple narrative of my experience in a war campaign". Far from simple, Watson's work clearly and forcefully describes his experiences with the 3rd Louisiana infantry in battles at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge while depicting the mundane aspects of camp life and providing delightful and colorful character sketches of fellow soldiers and officers, including the legendary General Ben McCulloch. But Watson offers much more than the story of a soldier's life. He also provides an excellent depiction of southern society undergoing the crisis of secession and the tumultuous early years of the Civil War.
Hardcover. Chicago, The Lakeside Press, 1st, 1916, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark green cloth stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, 137 pages. Tight, attractive copy of this early "Lakeside Classic," the annual keepsake presented by this printer/publisher to friends and clients starting in 1903. Illustrated with tissue-protected frontispiece portrait of Black Hawk from a portrait painted by Robert M. Sully at Fort Monroe in 1833. This book was originally published in 1833 (dictated by Chief Black Hawk to his translator, Antoine Leclair) and was an immediate best seller. A no holds barred and unflinching narrative of the great Sauk leader. It includes an account of the cause and general history of the Black Hawk War. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. Hartford CT, F.A. Brown, 1st, 1856, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gray cloth, covers embossed with floral designs in blind-stamp. Gilt medallion front cover, gilt lettering and Hale Monument on spine, 230 pages, errata page at conclusion. Gutter crack at page 60, but not bad, binding solid. Eight b&w plates with tissue guards. Previous owner's signature (dated 1856) on blank pelim page. A biography of the soldier in the Continental Army and member of Knowlton's Rangers, the first organized intelligence service organization of the United States of America. Hale spied on the British, and was captured and executed during a mission in New York City. His service earned him the title of state hero of Connecticut.
Softcover. NY, Ballantine Books, reprint, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 242 pages, b&w illustrations. Describes the causes and background of the Zulu War, recounts the experiences of British and Zulu survivors, and looks at the strategies and tactics of the war. Clean copy.
Hardcover. London, Jonathan Cape, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 773 pages, b&w illustrations. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.
Hardcover. Athens, Ga., Hill Street Press, LLC, 1st, January 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 155 pages. B&w illustrations throughout. Light spotting to top edge. Rubbing and light soiling to dust jacket. Else a nice, clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 723 pages. During his long reign (1953-1999), King Hussein of Jordan was one of the most dominant figures in Middle Eastern politics and a consistent proponent of peace with Israel. This is the first major account of his life, written with access to his official documents and with the cooperation (but not approval) of his family and staff, and also extensive interviews with international policy makers. For more than forty years, Hussein walked a tightrope between the Palestinians and Arab radicals on the one hand and Israel on the other. Avi Shlaim reveals that, for the sake of dynastic and national survival, Hussein initiated a secret dialogue with Israel in 1963 that encompassed more than one thousand hours with Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, and countless others. Shlaim reconstructs this dialogue across battle lines from previously untapped Israeli records and the firsthand accounts of key participants, and makes clear that it was Israeli intransigence that was largely responsible for the failure to achieve a peaceful settlement between 1967 and 1994. Clean copy.
Hardcover. US, Combined Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 312 pages, b&w illustrations. Light shelf-wear to dust jacket, else a clean, tight copy. The destruction of George Armstrong Custer's command at Little Bighorn by the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne on 25 June, 1876 has been etched in the national memory and has remained one of America's longest lingering controversies. The Little Bighorn Campaign penetrates the mysteries of Custer's disaster as well as the broader context of the 1876 campaign against the Sioux.
Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 511 pages, b&w illustrations. When Hitler unleashed a fierce barrage of weapons on the defiant capital of England, London's resilient citizens were undaunted. With colorful detail and rich insight, historian Maureen Waller takes readers through London in the last year of war. She reveals the magnificence of human spirit that carried a besieged people through agonizing travails and the long, giddy transformation the metropolis made as it passed through battle, to celebration, and back to life as usual. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press , 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 311 pages, b&w illustrations. In the 1930s and 1940s, English fashion houses, spurred by economic and wartime crises, put London on the map as a major fashion city. In this book, Michelle Jones examines the creation of a London-based couture industry during these years, exploring how designer collaboration and the construction of specific networks and narratives supported and shaped the English fashion economy. Haute couture-the practice of creative made-to-measure womenswear-was widely regarded as inherently French. Jones shows how an English version emerged during a period of economic turbulence, when a group of designers banded together in a collective effort to shift power within the international fashion system. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 1971, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 378 pages. From dust jacket notes: "For most Americans, the Second World War started on December 7, 1941, and much of the fighting took place in strange, faraway places. For the British, the war started on September 3, 1939, and much of the action took place in the skies over England. In the spring of 1940, after months of uneasy calm, Germany invaded the Lowlands and conquered France within a few days, leaving England without her only meaningful ally on the Continent. A year would pass before the Soviet Union was drawn into the war, and eighteen months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The United Kingdom, with a land area about the size of Wyoming, was alone, all alone, with only the Straits of Dover separating the island from Hitler's war machine. For six years Mollie Panter-Downes covered the war for The New Yorker magazine from her native England. Even at the height of the air war over London, when 'all that is best in the good life of civilized effort appears to be slowly and painfully keeling over,' she continued to file her fortnightly reports in an understated but dramatic fashion that reflected the fortitude of her fellow countrymen: 'The announcements of the first air-raid deaths are beginning to appear in the obituary columns of the morning papers. No mention is made of the cause of death, but the conventional phrase "very suddenly" is always used.' William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker, has assembled Miss Panter-Downes' 'Letter from London' columns into a consecutive, on-the-spot chronicle of the war in England."
Hardcover. NY, Norton, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 304 pages, illustrated with photographs, plans and drawings. A survey of the work on seventy pre-war Long Island country houses by six landscape architects and designers: Beatrix Farrand, Maertha Hutcheson, Marian Coffin, Ellen Shipman, Ruth Dean, and Annette Flanders, as well as later work by Rose Standish Nichols, Marjorie Cautley, and ten others.
Hardcover. Netherlands, Dordrecht/Republic of Letters, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, illustrated glossy boards, 281 pages. For the first four decades of the twentieth century Philip Kerr, the Eleventh Marquess of Lothian, hovered on the fringes of power in Britain. As a commentator on public affairs, private secretary to Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George, secretary to the Rhodes Trust, Liberal peer, and ambassador to the United States at the beginning of World War II, Lothian's greatest interest was in preserving and strengthening the British Empire and building close bonds with the United States. This international collection of essays by seven scholars explores Lothian's impact on Anglo-American relations and his role, behind the scenes and as a government official, in forging what would eventually become known as the "special relationship." Clean copy.