Recent Acquisitions
November 19th, 2024
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. [Africa.] The Anya-Nya struggle. Background and objectives. London: South Sudan Resistance Movement, 1971.
$450
First edition, 8vo, pp. [16]; 2 color folding maps laid in, as issued; the text a bit toned, else very good in original pictorial wrappers.
The Anya-Nya were a guerrilla organization formed by Southern Sudanese politicians, ex-mutineers, and defected soldiers. The name "Anya-Nya" comes from the Madi language word for "snake venom." They sought more regional autonomy and representation for Southern Sudan. They believed that violent resistance was the only way to force the government to find a solution that was acceptable to the South. In 1971, the Anya-Nya's political wing, the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM), engaged in dialogue with the Sudanese government. The talks resulted in the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement on February 27, 1972. The agreement ended the 17-year conflict between the Anya Nya and the Sudanese army and ushered in autonomy for the southern region. The region’s affairs would be controlled by a separate legislature and executive body, and the soldiers of the Anya Nya would be integrated into the Sudanese army and police.
Fifteen in OCLC but only Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, Harvard and Wisconsin in the U.S.
2. The terror of Tibet. Powerful story of Ferrers Locke, detective. [London: The Amalgamated Press, 1930].
$50
7" x 5½", pp. 64; text in double column; original pictorial wrappers; near fine. Issued as no. 254 in the publisher's The Boys' Friend Library series.
"From the China Sea to the mountains of Tibet, throughout the whole length of the mighty river Yangtse, the name of Kan-tse-wen strikes terror into the hearts of his enemies. And it's this ruthless and bloodthirsty pirate who joins forces with Ferrers Locke and Jack Drake when the famous detective and his boy assistant are on the most perilous mission of their lives!"
"The Boys' Friend Library was published by the Amalgamated Press, being founded by WH ('Willy') Back, in September 1906 and lasted until wartime paper shortages ended its run in June 1940. It was initially conceived as a vehicle for the hugely popular Jack, Sam & Pete stories, written by S. Clarke Hook, with the first two titles being dubbed the Jack, Sam & Pete Library. However, Back quickly recognised that a wider range of authors would have a broader appeal, and the Boys' Friend Library was born. In all, there were 1,440 issues in 2 series. The stories were largely reprints of stories that had appeared in the large stable of Amalgamated Press storypapers, and included adventures, school stories, sporting tales, historical fiction, crime and science fiction by many of the most notable and famous authors of the day, including Leslie Charteris (creator of the Saint), WE Johns (Biggles), Jules Verne, Charles Hamilton (of Billy Bunter Fame), and many more. The stories were a perennial favourite with schoolboys of all ages, being conveniently pocket-sized, with beautifully illustrated covers" (friardale.com).
3. A body of correspondence between the author and marine architect Howard 'Chap' Chapelle, and Frederic 'Fritz' Fenger, a fellow yacht designer, author, and sailor. Ipswich, Mass, Cambridge, Maryland and Norwell, Mass.: 1938-1952.
$600
Consisting of 15 letters from Chapelle on 29 pages, all but one typed and single-spaced, all 11" x 8½; and 14 letters in reply from Fenger on 30 typed pages, plus a full-page drawing of a figurehead; some toning to some of the paper, but on the whole these are in very good to fine condition, and chock-a-block full of interesting tidbits regarding many aspects of yacht design and marine architecture, including their respective commissions, rigs and the efficiencies thereof, the aerodynamics of certain types of sails, ballasts, propellers, auxiliaries, marine inspections, boat shows, performance of yachts in different conditions, discussion on articles in Yachting and Rudder magazines (including their own), an extensive critique of the 72-foot Ptarmagan, a Sparkman & Stephens yawl recently launched, nautical terminology, a summary of Chapelle's time in the Navy where he had charge of all the Army boat and vessel building and the rerigging of Perry's flagship on Lake Erie, book publishing, publishers, etc., and mentioning numerous others in the field (both favorably and not-so-favorably) including Lincoln Colcord, Uffa Fox, Herbert Stone, L. Francis Herreshoff, Bill Luders, Clinton Crane, and others. In all, a fascinating correspondence between two premier naval architects of the 20th century.
Mystic Seaport notes that Fenger (1882-1970) was a yacht designer, sailor, and author. His main contribution to yacht design are his use of the dhow-form hull, the wishbone rig, and the main trysail rig. Fenger was an inventive designer, and while some of his innovations never became popular, they did enjoy a following, and the wishbone rig has recently had a revival of interest in commercially produce yachts. Fenger was particularly interested in rigs which would be manageable when sailing short handed.
Chapelle (1901-1975) was the author of many books on maritime history and naval architecture, and was curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution.
4. Diccionario y gramática de la lengua de la Isla de Pascua: pascuense-castellano, castellano-pascuense. [Parallel title]: Dictionary and grammar of the Easter Island language: Pascuense-English, English-Pascuense. [Santiago de Chile]: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1960.
$250
First edition, 8vo, pp. [3]-1082; fine copy in original brown cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine, and retaining a torn dust jacket with 2 big chips out, but retaining the glaring error in the titling of the book on both the spine and upper panel of the jacket where it states "Dictionary and Grammar of the Eastern Island," instead of Easter Island. Punta Arenas bookseller's ticket on front free endpaper.
Three brief vocabularies precede this, but Fuentes's effort is the first comprehensive dictionary and grammar of Pascuan, the language spoken on Easter Island.
5. A year in the Middle East: expeditions in Iran and Afghanistan with travels in Europe and North Africa. February 4, 1954 to December 22, 1954 (Bahman 25, 1332 to Dey 1, 1333). [Bethesda: National Institutes of Health, December 1990; revised February, 1991].
$250
4to, pp. [2], xiv, 483, [1]; printed from typescript; map plus 141 full-page illustrations from photographs; fine in green cloth lettered in gilt on upper cover and spine.
Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (1923-2008) was an American physician and medical researcher "who was the co-recipient (with Baruch S. Blumberg) of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1976 for work on the transmissibility of kuru, implying the existence of an infectious agent, which he named an "unconventional virus." In 1954, after his military discharge, he traveled for a year in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. His journals, correspondence, and photographs were published in 1991 by the National Institutes of Health. "In 1996, Gajdusek was charged with child molestation and, after being convicted, spent 12 months in prison before entering a self-imposed exile in Europe, where he died a decade later" (Wikipedia).
6. The tigers of Baluchistan. A woman's five years with the Bugti tribe. London: Arthur Barker Limited, [1967].
$375
First edition, 8vo, pp. [10], 213, [1]; 16 pages of illustrations after photographs from the author, including the first photographs of Bugti women; publisher's black cloth, gilt title on spine; fine in near fine, unclipped dust jacket with a touch of sunning to spine.
Matheson was a British born traveler, archaeologist, and photographer. She spent the war years in the intelligence department, and after moved to South Asia, where she worked with Jean Marie Casal in Afghanistan and then spent nine years working with the Bughtis, becoming friendly with the leadership and obtaining access that had until then been denied Europeans. She would later move to Iran and write Persia: An Archaeological Guide, which remains an authority on the subject.
7. བོད་སྐད་དང་ལེགས་སྦྱར་གྱི་ཚིག་མཛོད་ཆེན་མོ། / Tibetan-Sanskrit dictionary. Varanasi: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993-2005.
$1,000
First edition, large 8vo, 16 vols., text in double column, publisher's green cloth, green dust jackets; some scuffing and edgewear to jackets, else fine.
A twenty-year project, containing about 40,000 Tibetan terms and more than 150,000 Sanskrit synonyms, sourced from 86 texts, eleven dictionaries, and ten kosas. The primary goal of the Dictionary was to provide a resource for scholars who were working to reconstruct original Sanskrit texts from the extant Tibetan translations.
8. A journey to Katmandu (the capital of Nepaul), with the camp of Jung Bahadoor; including a sketch of the Nepaulese ambassador at home. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1852.
$400
12mo, pp. 242, 6 (ads); frontispiece map of Nepal; contemporary brown cloth backed in calf, marbled endpapers and edges; edges rubbed, ex-Ohio School Library, with their name gilt on spine and bookplate on pastedown; text foxed throughout, largely at the edges, good.
Laurence Oliphant was born in Cape Town and grew up in Columbo, where his father was Chief Justice. In 1851 he accompanied the then Nepalese ambassador, Jung Bahandar, from Ceylon to Nepal as part of a return trip from England. Jung Bahandar would go on to become a powerful and influential Prime Minister of Nepal. Oliphant had a remarkable career oscillating between positions in the British Parliament, to laborer in an American Utopian Colony, to journalist and early Zionist.
Yakushi O43, citing the London edition of the same year.
9. Whaling ways of Hobart town. Hobart, Tasmania: J. Walch & Sons, [1936].
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. 95, [1]; 11 full-page illustrations plus a diagram of the sperm whale; original pictorial boards a little soiled, else very good, sound, and clean. A Kendall Whaling Museum duplicate, with bookplate.
10. Kumiss ceremonies and horse races: three Mongolian texts. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1974.
$75
Issued as no. 37 in the publisher's Asiatische Forschungen series; 8vo, pp. [6], 124; fine in original printed wrappers.
11. [Shipboard Printing.] Instructions for hand semaphore signals. South Atlantic Squadron: Flagship Brooklyn, September 23, 1904.
$500
Small printed broadside giving instructions for signaling (approx. 7½" x 5") tipped to a larger sheet (10½" x 7½") which shows 30 rectangles, each with a hand-colored seaman displaying code flags for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet, plus four others. On the back of the larger sheet are instructions for flag protocol in pencil, and in what is likely a sailor's hand.
The USS Brooklyn was the flagship of Commodore Winfield S. Schley during the Spanish-American War, but by 1904 the command had been turned over to Rear Admiral F. E. Chadwick. At the time (September 23, 1904) the Brooklyn had left St. Helena and was cruising toward Brazil.
12. [Tibet.] Décoration tibétaine. Préface de Jacques Bacot. Paris: Librairie des arts décoratifs, n.d., [1927].
$400
Portfolio, approx. 13½" tall, pp. [12] plus 42 plates, 6 colored; loose, as issued, in string-tied portfolio of printed brown paper-covered boards backed in red cloth; very good.
Includes masks, screens, jewelry, sculptures, bookbindings, embroideries, paintings, etc.
13. Prehistoric Sīstān. 1. Rome: IsMEO [Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente], 1983.
$325
Folio, pp. [iii]-xxi, [1], 355, [1];10 folding maps in rear cover pocket, 121 plates, illustrations in the text (8 folding); very good, sound, and clean in original printed tan wrappers.
Sistān is a historical region in present-day south-western Afghanistan, south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of south-western Pakistan.
At head of title: Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Centro studi e scavi archeologici in Asia; Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli, Seminario de studi asiatici. Part 2 was not published until 2019.