Why War?. Paris: International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, League of Nations, 1933

First edition in English, one of 2000 numbered copies. Translated from the German by Stuart Gilbert.

$1,600

Lionel Lincoln; or, The Leaguer of Boston. New York: Charles Wiley, 1825

First American edition, fine and untrimmed in original boards, of Cooper’s historical novel of the American Revolution. Cooper conceived of Lionel Lincoln as the first in a series of thirteen historical novels—the “Legends of the Thirteen Republics,” as the often-lacking half-titles style it.

$1,500

The Indo-Iranian borderlands: their prehistory in the light of geography and of recent explorations. The Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1934. London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1934

First separate edition. This is Stein’s lecture delivered on the occasion of being awarded the Society’s Huxley Medal.

$1,500

The Fight Against War. New York: John Day, (c.1933)

FIRST EDITION.

This scarce collection of Einstein’s writings on war and peace was published in 1933, the year the Nazis took power in Germany and the year Einstein left Germany for the United States. In his prefatory note, Einstein writes, “Mr. Lief [the editor, Alfred Lief] has taken great trouble in collecting utterances of mine having pacifistic content and he presents them with my authorization. … I consider it my duty to confess my pacific conviction publicly. May the seriousness of my purpose be transferred to you, my readers! A. Einstein.”

$1,500

The Penn Club requests the honour of your company at a reception to be given to Mr. Walt Whitman …. Philadelphia, March 27, [1880]

This is a rare invitation to an event held in Whitman’s honor at the prestigious private Penn Club in Philadelphia. Whitman, who wore a shabby coat festooned with dozens of pins, did not disappoint the curious.

$1,500

Leaves of Grass. Boston: Osgood, 1881-82

First printing of the 7th edition of Leaves of Grass

$1,500

Good-Bye My Fancy. 2d Annex to Leaves of Grass. Good-Bye My Fancy. 2d Annex to Leaves of Grass, 1891

FIRST EDITION. This form of Good-Bye My Fancy is not in Myerson.

$1,200

Autograph Letter Signed With Initials to John Sullivan Dwight. Elmwood, 16 July 1845

$1,200

The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1852

John Greenleaf Whittier’s copy of the first edition, with his ownership signature and bookplate. A fine association between two important figures in 19th-century American literature. The Quaker poet and abolitionist would later be best-remembered for his 1866 work Snow-Bound.

$1,200

Chinese Sketches. London: Trubner, 1876

FIRST EDITION. Sinologist Herbert A. Giles began his distinguished career was a British diplomat in China. There he wrote these literary and historical sketches to show that, contrary to prevailing Western views, “the Chinese are a hardworking, sober, and happy people, occupying an intermediate place between the wealth and culture, the vice and misery of the West.” Giles later became professor of Chinese at Cambridge for thirty-five years.

$1,200