[Rarebooks] Several items greatly discounted

[Stephen Johnson]

The below items are for sale at a substantially reduced price today
and tomorrow subject to the terms set forth below.

Weatherly, F. E. [Editor, Introduction]; Nister, Ernest [designer of the
automatic pop-ups] Knowles, Horace J. [Line cuts and vignettes]
PEEPS INTO FAIRYLAND: A PANORAMA PICTURE BOOK OF FAIRY STORIES; Peeps into
Fairy Land

London and New York [Printed in Bavaria]: Ernest Nister (London); E. P.
Dutton & Co. (America), [1895]. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. A
Very Good copy of the first edition, first printing, undated, but with a
date-confirming presentation to the front free endpaper dated Christmas,
1895. The volume, which has been recased (using original red spine) shows
external wear and some staining as well as a crack to the rear board and
within shows a couple of gutters reinforced with archival tape. The front
free endpaper is complete (with some crease lines) and the rear free
endpaper is only partially present. The text pages are somewhat toned and
are well-illustrated in half-tone vignettes and line cuts. The volume
contains six beautiful colour pop-up illustrations designed by Ernest
Nister, all of which are bright and attractive, complete and without loss,
with each showing two illustrated levels above its respective illustrated
base page. [It is not known how much of his own drawing Nister contributed
to this volume or to the the books he printed as after he began his work as
a publisher in 1888, Nister did not engage in much creative work and it is,
we think, unlikely that Nister did any illustrations for this book as at
that point in his career he focused on organizing and directing the
workers, managing his business and supervising the printing process -- with
the exception of wood engraving which was supervised by a co-worker named
C. Priess.] The full opening of the book at each pop-up lifts the top and
middle levels of the pop-up illustration. The middle level of each is
designed to be supported by a short piece of material which is missing at
four of the illustrations. [With or without this short piece of material,
the opening of the book raises the middle portion of the illustration above
the base level (but only slightly where the short piece is missing or is
present but not functioning properly), all as shown on our Allington Books
site which contains more illustrations than can be hosted by either ABE or
Biblio.] The book's Editor and author of its Introduction, Frederic Edward
Weatherly, gained fame through his collaboration with Beatrix Potter, whose
pictures appeared with Weatherly’s poems (“Bunny, Bunny Postman” and
“Benjamin Bunny”) in A Happy Pair (1890). Advertised on the title page as
“a panorama picture book of fairy stories,” this collection of six fairy
tales said to have been told by “King Cole” -- who told his audience of
children whose parents were too busy to talk to them after their Papa
returned from work in the evening -- that he saw "Peeps into Fairy-Land, my
dears! Peeps into the land of story-books" and then began to tell them the
stories set forth in this book. The stories include "Naughty Noel", "The
Fairy Fir-cones", "The Fly-away Flock", “Jack and the Beanstalk”, "The Blue
Bird" and “The Babes in the Wood”, each of which contains a corresponding
full-page pop-ups designed by German publisher and engineer Ernest Nister.
Born in Germany and later having an office in London Ernest Nister
(1841–1906) published and printed movable books for children as well as
paper ephemera such as greeting cards, post cards, and calendars. Nister
refined the techniques used in the design of "magic windows," "dissolving
picture," and pop-up books, publishing them from his firm based in
Nuremberg, a toy-making center of the nineteenth century. One of Nister’s
major contributions to the development of movable books is the technique of
displaying multilayered, three-dimensional scenes. While this type of scene
already had been developed by Dean and then Tuck, their constructions had
to be lifted up or pulled down manually in order for them to “pop up.”
Nister’s constructions, however, did not require manipulation, since each
scene was attached by a tab or tabs to the facing page, so when the page
was turned, the multiple layers automatically opened out as described
above, bringing a more rapid enjoyment to the reader. In short, while
Nister was not the first to invent pop-up books, he was the first to invent
automatic pop-up books, making this copy of such an early automatic pop-up
book an important part of book history. Furthermore, as Nister typically
did not date his books, this copy is of added importance as it dates the
book's publication to 1895. This copy is an uncommon survivor of this early
pop-up book engineered by Nister and is uncommon in any condition. An about
Very Good copy. SCARCE INDEED. Almost Very Good. Item #2927

Price: $575.00  TEMPORARILY AVAILABLE FOR $225
Cather, Willa
My Antonia

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. First Edition. Hardcover.
A Very Good copy of the first edition, first printing, second state with
the illustrations printed on text paper. [The first state of the first
printing has the illustrations on glossy coated paper. As Willa Cather
objected to the glossy paper, the balance of the first printing was printed
on the same paper used on the text pages. It is thought that 2,500 copies
were printed on coated paper and that only 1,000 copies were printed on the
same paper as was used for the text.] This copy is somewhat askew and shows
rubbing to the spine ends and board corners as well as mild damage to the
spine panel, a few margin tears (not affecting the text), prior owner's
notation in pencil to the half title, and a couple of stray marks to the
rear free endpaper's verso. As the first printing was not substantial,
copies of the first edition, first printing in either state are QUITE
UNCOMMON TO SCARCE. A Very Good copy. QUITE UNCOMMON TO SCARCE. Very good.
Item #2877

Price: $525.00   TEMPORARILY AVAILABLE FOR $165


James, Henry
A Small Boy and Others

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913. A Very Good copy of the First
Edition, Second Issue (some small spots to the front board, sunning to the
spine tail, binding mildly askew, closed page block's top edge in gilt) in
a less than Very Good example of the RARE dust jacket (some chipping and
toning, large chip to the spine panel's upper portion, tear with loss to
the rear flap fold); a Memoir of the author's early years wherein he notes
the intellectual heights reached by his father and siblings, his own sense
of inadequacy, and the experiences that led him to become an author. Copies
in the dust jacket in any condition are EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE TO RARE. Very
good / very good -. Item #2851

Price: $500.00   TEMPORARILY AVAILABLE FOR $115


Johnson, Denis
Jesus' Son

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992. First Edition, First
Printing. Hardcover.
A Fine copy of the first edition, first printing (with the usual foxing to
the closed page block's top edge), in a Fine dust jacket of Denis Johnson's
collection of eleven linked short stories centered around the exploits of
several addicts living in rural America -- being Johnson's DEBUT COLLECTION
of short stories. The book's title comes from a lyric in the song "Heroin"
by the Velvet Underground (founded by Lou Reed and others), and within the
song appears the lyric: "When I'm rushing on my run / And I feel just like
Jesus' son". The book provided the basis for the 1999 movie of the same
name starring Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Denis Leary, Jack Black,
Dennis Hopper and Holly Hunter -- a rare feat for a collection of short
stories. A Fine copy of the first edition, first printing of this notable
debut and rather uncommon as such. Fine / fine. Item #2937

Price: $325.00    TEMPORARILY AVAILABLE FOR $85

Multiple images of each item can be found at www.allingtonbooks.com


*Immediate payment is required*.  To purchase at the above discounted
prices, please email us and we will send the Buyer a PayPal invoice.
All items are returnable (in the same condition as delivered to Buyer)
within 15 days of delivery (or attempted delivery, if earlier) of the item
to Buyer's mailing address.
Media Mail shipping to destinations in the continental USA is $5.00.
All items are subject to prior sale.

With Thanks for your consideration of the above and
Best Wishes,
Stephen
Allington Antiquarian Books



Stephen Johnson
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC
Rare and Collectible Books, both Antiquarian and Modern
www.allingtonbooks.com
336-414-0435