BARNUM, P. T

Autobiography of Barnum or the Opening of the Oyster

Danbury, CT, 1889. First Edition. Wraps. Scarce miniature book (1-3/4" x 2-1/4") in printed and stapled light blue wraps with an illustration on the rear cover; 16 pages plus covers. Illustrated with several cartoonish vignettes. About Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 021458

Catalogue: Miniature Books

Keywords: Miniature Books, Americana, Circus, Literature: American, 19th Century American Literature, Autobiography Miniature Books Circus P. T. Barnum Autobiography

BARNUM, P. T

Autograph Letter Signed (Als)

Louisville, KY, 3 February 1870. Letter. A 2-page letter on the front and verso of a 5-1/8" x 8" sheet of blindstamped Galt House letterhead addressed to Mr. Grinnell and SIGNED as "P. T. Barnum." In full: "I enclose a letter from Congressman Kellogg according to my agreement with you. You know I much wanted to have my son in law D. W. Thompson promoted to Weigher and that you promised he should at least be re-instated to Inspector during the month of January. My wife writes me that he is much disheartened to be so long unemployed. I stop at Washington next week & could bring you letters from half the U.S. Senators, but as Senator Ferry has already asked it as a personal favor & Senator Fenton has asked it & far above all, as you have promised it, no further steps can be necessary on my part. I shall be home next week and for heaven's sake don't let me appear before you any longer in the character of a mendicant, but let me come as your Grateful & much obliged Friend." In a postscript initialed "P.T.B." he provides David W. Thompson's address along with a further testimonial to his abilities. An integral blank leaf, now detached, bears an affixed PSA/DNA label. Normal creases from folding; some bleedthrough of ink. Near Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 020256

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Americana, Signatures, Circus, American Politics, Literature: American, 19th Century American Literature Signed Autograph Letter P. T. Barnum Autographs

BARNUM, P. T

Autograph Letter Signed (Als)

Bridgeport, CT, 29 August 1890. Letter. A 2-page letter on two 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" sheets of Barnum's Marina letterhead addressed to Mrs. [Alice Graham] Lanigan and SIGNED as "P. T. Barnum." Barnum discusses a sketch being written by Mrs. Barnum and an unnamed neighbor (who might possibly be fictitious). In part: "I have thought you had better look over the article.. This lady in quiet conversation with Mrs. Barnum drew out the account of her training at school, & it seems a pity to strike it out-- Most of the description of Waldemere [Barnum's estate] might be omitted & then it must be left to your discretion to cut out what you feel you must do. I must see the proof & submit it to our neighbor .. before it goes to press. Mrs Barnum is a splendid writer. I have tried long to get her to write over her own name with but little success-- but she gives considerable for charity & might I think be induced to write for pay-- all of which she would conscientiously add to her charitable fund. But this is all entre nous. Normal creases from folding; some bleedthrough of ink. Near Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 020838

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Americana, Signatures, Circus, American Politics, Literature: American, 19th Century American Literature Signed Autograph Letter P. T. Barnum Autographs

BARNUM, P. T

Autograph Letter Signed (Als)

Bridgeport, CT, 30 January 1877. Letter. A two-page letter on the front and verso of a 5-1/8" x 8" sheet with a blue ink stamp of Barnum addressed to an unknown recipient regarding employment and SIGNED as "P. T. Barnum." In part: "You are declining the American tour-. My respected father-in-law is I fear rather too timid. My son-in-law - filled the position of traveling Treasurer 4 or 5 years without inquiry, and hundreds are doing the same every year. We think it is a most healthy calling. It is lively, busy & exciting, but not sickening nor killing. My partners would only have allowed $25 per week & I should have paid the other $15 from my own pocket for the sake of having you see if the business would suit you, and also see if an opening could be made for you whereby you could gain an independence. The disappointment to me is not at all serious on my account—more so on yours. But it is all for the best no doubt. I still think I shall have a permanent place of amusement in New York City, where you can have a situation & a chance to own an interest which will be sure to be valuable. We will talk it up when we meet.”. Scattered toning and soiling, small tear to top, a couple partial fold separations. Very Good .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 021566

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Americana, Signatures, Circus, Literature: American, 19th Century American Literature, Show Business Signed Circus Show Business Autographs

BARNUM, P. T

Struggles and Triumphs; or, Sixty Years' Recollections

Buffalo, Courier Company, 1878. Hardcover. Original cloth; 324 pages. Illustrated with engravings. One of several editions of one of the most famous American autobiographies by one of the world's most sensational entrepreneurs. This edition has a new introduction and preface by Barnum. A compliments slip with Barnum's printed signature is tipped to the title page. This copy is INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author "To my friend/Doctor W B Hurd/with kind regards/P. T. Barnum/Waldemere July 28th 1881/Bridgeport Conn. Minor fraying to spine tips and corners. Very Good .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 009810

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Inscribed, Phineas T. Barnum, P. T. Barnum, 19th Century Literature Signed Illustrated Books Literature: American Circus

BARNUM, P. T

Struggles and Triumphs; or, Forty Years' Recollections of P.T. Barnum. Written by Himself

Buffalo, NY, Warren, Johnson & Co, 1874. Author's Edition. Hardcover. One of several editions of one of the most famous American autobiographies by one of the world's most sensational entrepreneurs. This copy bound in contemporary half leather with matching corners and marbled boards with a gilt-lettered morocco spine label; vii, [2], 14-772. 837-864 pages. Complete despite the pagination. Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and full-page engravings. This copy is INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper: "To P. L. Schenck M. D./with author's compliments/P. T. Barnum/Bridgeport Feb 16th 1877. Contents clean; minor rubbing and wear to binding. Very Good .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 021755

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Autobiography, Signed, Inscribed, Circus, Entertainment, 19th Century Literature, Illustrated Books, P. T. Barnum Signed Literature: American Illustrated Books Circus

BARRAX, Gerald; BROWN, Larry; EDGERTON, Clyde; GIBBONS, Kay; GREEN, Jaki Shelton; NAUMOFF, Lawrence; PRICE, Reynolds; and SIMPSON, Bland

Southern Nights: Epigraphs; from Joe; Cold Black Peas; Birth of a Baby, So Lovely; Swiss Time; from Thurberama; Lost Homes; and Sugarhouse

Chapel Hill, NC, The Mud Puppy Press, (1988). First Edition. Wraps. Complete set of eight limited edition chapbooks in printed color wraps, with original printed paper wraparound band. Of a total edition of 126, these are one of 26 lettered copies. Each chapbook is lettered "E" and SIGNED by its author. While individual numbered copies of these are readily available, an entire lettered set is quite scarce. Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 015484

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Larry Brown, Modern Firsts Modern First Editions Limited Southern Literature Literature: American

BARRINGTON, Daines

Miscellanies

London, J. Nichols, 1781. First Edition. Hardcover. Quarto (8-1/4" x 10-3/4") in contemporary polished calf (rebacked, preserving original spine and labels). A curious and compelling collection illustrated with 2 maps, 2 portraits, and 5 tables. Includes "Journal of a Voyage in 1775 to Explore the Coast of America, Northward of California," with map, which, according to LADA-MOCARSKI 34, is the first and only contemporary account in English of the first Spanish voyage into Alaskan waters: "The Spaniards (and not they alone) were particularly secretive about any discoveries made by them in North America, and did not, of course, publish the journal herein described. Daines Barrington, however, secured a copy of the original manuscript of this journal and translated it into English, with certain omissions.. [This Journal] is the only contemporary account in English of this Spanish sea voyage." Also included are the important essay on "The Possibility of Approaching the North Pole," first published separately in 1775-76 and not published again until 1818, and one of the earliest accounts in English, reprinted from a 1770 volume of Philosophical Transactions, of the young Mozart complete with an engraving of the musician at the age of seven, the first published portrait of the prodigy. Other essays include a treatise on whether the turkey was known before the discovery of America as well as essays on the reindeer, the bat, the cuckoo, and botanical subjects. It is believed that through Barrington's encouragement, Gilbert White was induced to write the NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. HILL P. 15; HOWES B-177; NEW HOWES B-173 "DD"; SABIN 3628; STREETER 2445. Owner name of John W. Robertson dated 1926 on contents leaf; Arctic collector's large bookplate on the front pastedown. Occasional foxing, heavy to a handful of pages; a few pencil notes to text. Near Fine .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 021369

Catalogue: Polar Exploration

Keywords: Natural History, Mozart, Classical Music, Travel, Exploration, Arctic, Alaska, Polar Exploration, Western Americana, Illustrated Books Polar Exploration Mozart Illustrated Books Western Americana

BARTH, John

Chimera

New York, Random House, (1972). First Edition. Hardcover. Copy #244 of 300 numbered and SIGNED copies of this winner of the National Book Award. Walter Shirley's copy with his bookplate tipped to a front blank. Fine in acetate dustwrapper and slipcase, as issued .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 008203

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, National Book Award, Modern Firsts, Modern First Editions, Limited Modern First Editions National Book Award Literature: American Signed

[BARTLETT, W. H.] WILLIS, N. P

Canadian Scenery Illustrated

London, George Virtue, 1842. First Edition. Hardcover. Two quarto (8-1/4" x 10-1/2") volumes bound in publisher's full heavily gilt-decorated dark brown morocco leather. Complete with a map, a portrait, 2 engraved title pages, and 116 steel-engraved views, all with tissue guards, by W. H. Bartlett. Ill.: W. H. Bartlett. Light to heavy foxing throughout, mostly marginal, with some plates completely clean and others heavily foxed, most with just a spot or two of marginal foxing. The front cover of the first volume is detached with much of the spine lacking; the second volume's binding is fine. Overall a Good, solid set .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 019806

Catalogue: Illustrated Books

Keywords: Canada, W. H. Bartlett, Illustrated Books, Views, Fine Bindings W. H. Bartlett Canada Illustrated Books Steel Engravings Views

BARTLETT, Hazel

Catalogue of Early Books on Music (Before 1800) Supplement (Books Acquired by the Library 1913-1942) with a List of Books on Music in Chinese and Japanese

Washington DC, (United States Government Printing Office), 1944. First Edition. Hardcover. Red cloth; iv, 143 pages. Includes the catalogue, index to authors of works issued anonymously, books on East Asiatic music (Chinese and Japanese), and a list of books from the Dayton C. Miller Collection. Owner name on front endpaper. Near Fine, issued without dustwrapper .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 019900

Catalogue: Bibliography

Keywords: Bibliography, Early Music, Books on Books, Book Collecting, Japanese Music Bibliography Books on Books Western Americana Cowboys

BARTLETT, John

Familiar Quotations: Being an Attempt to Trace to Their Source Passages and Phrases in Common Use

Boston, Little, Brown & Company, 1878. Seventh Edition. Hardcover. Original cloth. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front blank to a noted abolitionist: "Mrs. Maria W. Chapman/with the respects of/John Bartlett/1878." With Chapman's early pencil signature using her maiden name above Bartlett's inscription. Armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. Front endpaper detached; hinges cracked. Slight fraying to the spine head. Good Maria Weston Chapman was an American abolitionist who was the principal lieutenant of the radical antislavery leader William Lloyd Garrison. She edited THE LIBERATOR, a widely-circulated abolitionist publication.

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 019038

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Association Copy, Inscribed, Quotations Inscribed Quotations Abolitionism Association Copy

BARTON, Clara

Autograph Letter Signed (Als)

Glen Echo, MD, 4 February 1906. Letter. A four-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED on both sides of a 10-5/8" x 6-3/4" sheet of light blue paper from the 85year-old founder of the American Red Cross to her friend and supporter Roscoe [Green Wells], who held various positions in the National First Aid Association of America, the organization Barton founded after retiring from the Red Cross in 1904. In part: "I believe I am the earliest and most persistent to shout on the danger line -- Too much work for you both -- I see it and have foreseen it for months, and then the financial worry is worse.. It is not saying but doing that is needed. No one knows that better than I. But enough moralizing!!" Barton talks about overcoming troubles and looks forward to seeing him again. "The little Greetings have certainly been very efficient, so many persons have gotten hold of the idea of 'First Aid' through them, who would scarcely have gotten it in any other way. Faint creases from mailing. Fine with excellent content Barton established the American Red Cross in 1881, but she was also a suffragist, appearing onstage during suffrage events with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe, and Lucy Stone.

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 019656

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Rare, Women's Rights, Signature, Clara Barton, Medicine, Women's Suffrage, Feminism, Red Cross, Nursing Signed Autographs Red Cross Nursing

BASS, Rick

The Book of Yaak

Boston & New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. A homage to this wilderness area in northwestern Montana. SIGNED and dated in 1996 on the half-title page. Fine in a Fine dustwrapper .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 008821

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Modern Firsts, Americana, Modern First Editions, Natural History, Montana Modern First Editions Natural History Signed Literature: American

BASS, Rick

The Ninemile Wolves

(Livingston, MT), (Clark City Press), (1992). First Edition. Hardcover. Rick Bass has written an inspired essay advocating wolf reintroduction and recolonization, in the context of one small pack's fate." Attractively printed and illustrated with photographs and drawings. SIGNED by the author on the half-title page. Laid in is a photocopy of a 3-page letter by Bass with a list of elected officials to contact. Fine in a Fine dustwrapper .

Charles AgventProfessional seller

Book number: 017131

Catalogue: Signed

Keywords: Signed, Modern Firsts, Americana, Wolves, Modern First Editions, Natural History, Montana Modern First Editions Natural History Signed Literature: American