New York: John S. Taylor, 1836. The major work - originally published in 2 volumes in 1808 - by this dedicated abolitionist, who along with William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp, was instrumental in convincing both the British public and the Parliament of the moral necessity of ending the slave trade - in 1807 Parliament finally passed the act abolishing the slave trade. This book is a lively account not only of the dangers he faced as he traveled to ports in England to obtain evidence to support abolition, including being attacked and nearly killed in Liverpool, but also full of first hand descriptions from sailors, surgeons and others involved in the trade (he is credited with interviewing over 20,000 sailors during his researches). This edition was published in 3 volumes, but only Volume One which includes and events through 1790 is being offered for sale here. Tipped in between p 236-237 of this volume is a large fold-out of the iconic diagram of the lower hold of the slave ship Brooks, with rows upon rows of nearly 300 enslaved Africans for transport to America, perhaps the best known and most influential image of the abolitionist movement. Also illustrated with a plate showing shackles and other instruments of the trade. 298 pp plus 8 pp publisher's ads.

London: Hodder & Stoughton, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - Suspense novel set in post-cold war Europe. "Tim Cramner and Larry Pettifer, double agents and childhood chums, have been left with unfulfilled agendas at the end of the Cold War: Tim's is to live in elegant, self-satisfied retirement with his young lover, Emma, and Larry's is to find a better cause worth dying for. Their mutual quests for self-identity comprise the heart of this artful psychological thriller." Ribbon place marker bound in. True first edition with a number line ending in 1 (reportedly only about 1000 copies were issued, primarily for the export market and for sale in airports, before they were pulled due to Le Carre's dislike of the design of the plain gray dust jacket. 347 pp. Map endpapers. ISBN: 0-24064026x.

New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, (1934, 1935) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first two books in Traver's series of eight books featuring the Banks children and their plain, no-nonsense nanny with magical powers. Basis for the Oscar award-winning Disney film featuring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, although Travers disliked both the film and the depiction of Mary Poppins, feeling that the harsher aspects were diluted (the movie was primarily based on the first book, but it incorporated some elements from the second in the series). Author Jerry Griswold commented that Mary Poppins is "a modernized collection of ancient fables and teaching stories. That's what makes it an extraordinary children's book" - and not just a children's book. Illustrated throughout with drawings by Mary Shepard. Illustrated endpapers. 206 pp. and 268 pp. respectively.

Boston: Galileo Magazine, 1976. SIGNED first edition - The first issue of a new science fiction quarterly "designed to pick up where John W. Campbell left off ", a magazine committed to showing that science fiction is the "most important literature of our time. . [it] offers a vision of mankind's future through the eyes of the poet and the scientist." (p1) In addition to the article by Bradbury, this includes Arthur C. Clarke on the second century of the telephone (events have moved even faster than he predicted) and an essay by Peter Weston on robots in science fiction and stories by Karl Hansen, Robert Chilson, Walter Pilcher, Michael Stall, Kevin O'Donnell Jr, Ruth Berman, and Damien Broderick . SIGNED by Ray Bradbury at his interview. Illustrated by John King, Douglas Smith, Wendy Pini, and John McIntosh. Cover art by Tom Barber. Large format (8 1/2 by 11 inches) 96 pp.

Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company (1962) dj. Hardcover first edition - Black author's only novel, a semi-autobiographical story written while he was on Death Row for a robbery-murder he committed in his early twenties, though that sentence was commuted to 199 years (just before this book was published) and he was released on parole in 1993. "Guy Morgan is every kid who ever came out of any slum anywhere in the world. Unloved, misunderstood, a product of Chicago's racial prejudice, he sees his dreams turn to ashes, his loves turn to hate." Dust jacket quote from James Baldwin: "Paul Crump is one of the few people alive - repeat: alive - for whom I have what can only be called an uncompromising respect. And he is a real writer. He has understoook what he has endured, and, like a great blues singer, tells us of his sorrow and at the same time, stands outside it." Frontispiece drawing. 391 pp.

San Francisco: City Lights Books, (1990). SIGNED first edition - Solnit's rather hard to find first book - one which "chronicles a vital California art movement, focusing on six artists - Wallace Berman, Jess, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, George Herms - who broke new ground with provocative work in the 1950's." This is the story not only of these artists, but of "their close associates, Beat generation poets, experimental filmmakers, musicians, told against the backdrop of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, postwar growth, and the rise of a vigorous counterculture." SIGNED by Solnit on the title page and scarce thus. Includes an 8 page glossy full color illustrated section, more then a hundred small black and white illustrations plus 4 full page black and white illustrations inside the covers. Index, bibliography, notes, slightly oversized. 145 pp. ISBN: 0-872862542.

North Platte, NE: Little Red Tree Publishing, (2017). SIGNED first edition - A "fully revised" edition, with 12 new poems, of this seminal books by this prolific poet, a native of San Francisco who became part of the San Francisco Beat movement, as well as the founder and publisher of Second Coming Press. Includes an autobiographical prologue by Winans. An irresistible pleasure for anyone who loves or loved the City. David Melzer commented "A. D. Winans is the poet heart of San Francisco. He tells it like it was and is. This splendid collection of his nomadic movements through the city through the decades is like no other. His eye, sense of the observed detail, his empathy for the ruin and resurrection, is unique. The melancholia of the old days contend with sharp updated quick shots of the city on the move. A rich offering." and Neeli Cherkovski says it is a book written with "all the passion of a true elder in the art of poetry. Here are the sounds and sites of a city of poets, wonderfully knit. A reader will find the deep humors of San Francisco alive and well in the hands of a master." An association copy INSCRIBED by Winans on the title page to fellow poet, Charles Pymel who wrote the introduction to this collection. Index of titles and first lines. 192 pp. ISBN: 978-1935656159.

New York: International Publishers, Inc. (1948) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The son of slaves, Haywood became a leading member of the Communist Party USA and a pioneering theoretician on the Afro-American struggle, who wrote first-hand accounts of the Chicago race riot of 1919, the Scottsboro Boys' defense, the Spanish Civil War and more. This book has been described as the first comprehensive volume on the Negro question in the US by a leading Negro Marxist, one in which he argued the root of the oppression of Blacks was the unsolved agrarian question in the South - that the betrayal of Reconstruction by Hayes-Tilden Compromise of 1877 and the rise of white supremacy and Jim Crow laws left Blacks frozen as "landless, semi-slaves in the South." INSCRIBED by Haywood on the front endpaper and dated in the year of publication. Map frontispiece Reference notes, appendix, index. 245 pp.

New York & Boston: Bulfinch Press Book/Little, Brown and Company, (2000) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A unique copy of this beautiful book, one published to co-incide with the HBO documentary on his life and work, one in which Parks (at age 87) "turns his skills as a photographer, poet, and composer to the universally appealing theme of love.[It] combines exquisite female nudes with still lifes, poetry, and original music. The female nudes are both sensuous and reverential: the rich colors are complimented by the still lifes of flowers and mysterious abstracts. The eighteen previously unpublished poems trace the arc of love- from infatuation through loss and, finally, fulfillment." This copy is INSCRIBED by Parks on the half title page and dated in 2002. In addition, tipped onto this page are two small snapshots, one of Stephanie Parker (one of the models in this book), with Parks, and the other of Parks, Stephanie Parker, award-winning producer Lucia Kaiser and former NYC Mayor, David Dinkins, both with short hand-written notes on verso by Stephanie Parker. A CD of 'A Star for Noon Suite' written by Gordon Parks, and with him on the piano, is affixed to the rear pastedown. Large square format. Blue cloth boards and spine with pictorial endpapers. 108 pp 4to. ISBN: 0-821226851.

New York: Hyperion, (1995) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A collection of poems selected to appeal to older children, which includes poems on women's basketball, the thrill of a fast break, tributes to Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and others by such varied writers as Jerry Spinelli, Jack Prelutsky, Walter Dean Myers,Richard Peck, Eloise Greenfield, Myra Cohn Livingston and more. Illustrated with pencil and pastel drawings by Bill James. Warmly INSCRIBED by Morrison on the front endpaper with the comment "My latest in the sport field" dated in the year of publication, and SIGNED as Lillian. Includes notes on the players. Morrison had a long career as a poet, anthologist and librarian. She is quoted as saying "I love rhythms, the body movement implicit in poetry, explicit in sports - I am drawn to athletes, dancers, drummers, jazz musicians, who transcend misery and frustration and symbolize for us something joyous, ordered, and possible in life." She is credited with being the first to publish a book of sports poems. Books signed by her are quite uncommon. 63 pp. ISBN: 0-786800542.

New York: Simon & Schuster, (1997) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Autobiography of a woman born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in the 1940s, and who "came of age as the civil rights movement was changing the lives of black Mississippians. Dirt poor, she dropped out of high school and became a prostitute when she was barely into her teens. By the time she was 18 years old, Holland had served two terms in the county workhouse for theft and for assault. A chance encounter led her to become involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and she became an activist and organizer, taking a new path that eventually led her to the University of Minnesota, where she earned a doctorate and became a college professor. . . a gritty, inspiring memoir." An award winning playwright, Brown's play "From the Mississippi Delta" was nominated for the 1988 Pulitzer. An interesting association copy INSCRIBED on the title page to Hermione K. Brown, a pioneering woman attorney who worked in entertainment law for more than 50 years. Dated in the year of publication. Laid in is a sheet from the dean of the USC School of Theater announcing that this book was a gift in "celebration of the season and recognition of one of our faculty." Illustrated with photographs. 318 pp. ISBN: 0-684810115.

New York: Dodd, Mead, 1948. dj. Hardcover first edition - Classic mystery (the US edition preceded the UK) Times Literary Supplement, called this "A very neat version of the sealed room mystery [which] provides [Miss Brand] with excellent opportunities to indulge her sense of character and her pleasantly malicious wit, as well as her gift for posing an ingenious problem." At Elysian Hall, a grand exhibition space in post-War London, a cast has been assembled for a medieval-themed pageant show replete with knights in coloured armour, real horses and a damsel in a rickety tower on high. With death threats discovered by members of the troupe before the show, the worst comes to pass when the leading lady is thrown from the tower before the eyes of the audience by an unknown assailant with all doors backstage also under observation. Author Martin Edwards commented that it "is still regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the classic mystery genre for its fiendishly constructed puzzle, memorable setting, dumbfounding acts of misdirection and thrilling denouement." 214 pp. ISBN: 978-1728278568.

New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1939. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A book depicting the day to day life - including working in the corn fields, riding over the prairies, making bricks, bringing water from the well, attending church and going to a fiesta -of two children Nina, Pedro and their dog Perrito, who live in the little Mexican village Chiquito. Illustrated throughout with both black and white drawings and wonderful full color, full page (some double page) lithographs by Barbara Latham. INSCRIBED on the title page by Barbara Latham (1896-1989). In 1925 Latham went to Taos, and, after a period of traveling, in 1938, she and her husband settled near there and she is known for her works depicting the life of the Taos Pueblo Indians as well as her illustrations of children's books . Large format, unpaginated.

New York: Harper & Brothers, (1952, 1960.) dj. Hardcover first edition - A very appealing copy of this charming book for young children, with definitions inspired by children ("dogs are to kiss people, hands are to hold") written by Ruth Krauss (wife of Crockett Johnson) and illustrated by Maurice Sendak with black and white drawings on every page. Printed in brown type, small format, unpaginated, and bound in illustrated boards with blue-green cloth spine and blue-green illustrated endpapers. PLUS Another book of useful things to know by the collaborators on "A Hole is to Dig" - with whimsical text by Krauss - "a good thing to know is what kind of face to make when you say please" to "everyone should be quiet near a little stream and listen" -illustrated by Sendak's exuberant small children with black and white drawings on every page. Printed in brown type, small format, unpaginated, and bound in illustrated boards with a black cloth spine and illustrated endpapers.

New York: TOR / Tom Doherty Associates, (2014) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The first English language edition of this bestselling Chinese science fiction novel, winner in translation of the 2015 Hugo Award and very highly praised. To cite just a couple of examples, Kim Stanley Robinson stated: "It is wonderful to read this state-of-the-art example of Chinese science fiction, which sweeps from the historical trauma of the Cultural Revolution to the cosmic trauma of alien contact with an immense narrative energy. Ken Liu's excellent translation combines fluid clarity with a continuous view into Chinese worldviews, adding to the fun and making this the best kind of science fiction, familiar but strange all at the same time." and Mike Resnick said "The Three-Body Problem deserves all of its plaudits. It's an exceptional novel, and Ken Liu's translation is both smooth and unintrusive." SIGNED and dated on the title page by Ken Liu, the translator (and an award winning science fiction author, himself) Translator's postscript. 399 pp. ISBN: 978-0765377067.

London & New York: J.M. Dent and Sons / E. P. Dutton, 1928. dj. Hardcover first edition - First US edition issued simultaneous with the UK edition, but with Dutton on the spine of the book and the dustjacket. The dust jacket flap describes this as "An anthology of ballads, chronicles, songs, stories, poems, carols, recipes and anecdotes but (in a tongue in cheek aside) omitting Charles Dickens, Washington Irving, Good King Wencelas . . and all manifestations of the coloured Christmas supplement." The table of contents lists the items in chronological order, ranging from many early medieval works, some anonymous, to Dean Swift, Ben Johnson and Shakespeare and moving into the more modern era with Hilaire Belloc, Alice Meynell, G.K. Chesterton, Edith Sitwell, and others. With in-text illustrations and music transcriptions by A.C. Harradine, as well as a full color frontispiece. Index of authors and sources. xix; 320 pp. Wraparound dust jacket illustrated by Aubrey Hammond.

West Chester, PA: Schiffer Craft, (1986) dj. Hardcover first edition - A beautiful and comprehensive book written for fiber artists on how to use and control color. "The first section presents essential terminology, ideas, and definitions about light and color as preparation for the problems, projects and ideas which follow. The second section describes how light, dye and pigment work with fibers because individual fibers, yarns and fabrics differ in their responses to light and color. The third section presents the practical applications for this information, including color mixing and special effects such as iridescence and opalescence, and it examines projects that artists or classes can do to understand color's part in determining spatial effects, emotional impact and color systems." Illustrated throughout with both full-color and black and white photographs. Glossary, bibliography, index. A heavy large format book, 255 pp. ISBN: 0-887400655.

New London, CT: Little Red Tree Publishing, (2011). SIGNED first edition - One of the seminal books by this prolific poet, a native of San Francisco who became part of the San Francisco Beat movement, as well as the founder and publisher of Second Coming Press. An irresistible pleasure for anyone who loves or loved the City. David Melzer commented "A. D. Winans is the poet heart of San Francisco. He tells it like it was and is. This splendid collection of his nomadic movements through the city through the decades is like no other. His eye, sense of the observed detail, his empathy for the ruin and resurrection, is unique. The melancholia of the old days contend with sharp updated quick shots of the city on the move. A rich offering." and Neeli Cherkovski says it is a book written with "all the passion of a true elder in the art of poetry. Here are the sounds and sites of a city of poets, wonderfully knit. A reader will find the deep humors of San Francisco alive and well in the hands of a master." SIGNED by Winans on the title page and uncommon thus. Introduction by Charles Plymel. Index of titles and first lines. 172 pp. ISBN: 978-1935656159.

West Plains, MO: Russ Cochran, (1980). Hardcover first edition - A hardcover reprint in black and white (with the covers in full color) of the complete anthology war comics published bi-monthly by EC Comics in the early 1950s. "The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor of Two-Fisted Tales, and with the dawn of the Korean War, he soon narrowed the focus to war stories .Artists who contributed included Kurtzman and other EC regulars such as John Severin, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, George Evans, Will Elder, Reed Crandall and Bernard Krigstein. Non-EC regulars that contributed to the comic included Alex Toth, Ric Estrada, Gene Colan, Joe Kubert and Dave Berg." (wikipedia) This 4 oversized 4 volume boxed set includes all of the issues from #18, December 1950 (the first one) through #41 in February 1955. In addition to being historically accurate, the stories Kurtzman wrote for this title often displayed an anti-war attitude. Canadian journalist Mitchell Brown wrote about the impact and influence of Kurtzman's approach: "Unlike other magazines of the day, no one could accuse Two-Fisted Tales of being wartime propaganda. On the contrary, the magazine was a brutally honest look at battles and wars throughout history. Kurtzman, who had been drafted in 1942, knew warfare firsthand, and he was outraged by the gung-ho war comics that made war look like a glorious thing. In his stories, there were no heroesÑjust soldiers trapped in situations beyond their control. Often, his stories weren't about soldiers at all, focusing instead on the lives of innocent people scarred by war." (wikipedia). In addition to reprinting all of the original material on high-quality paper, these volumes contain notes and comments (inside the covers) by John Benson and E. B. Boatner, two experts on EC Comics, who interviewed Kurtzman for this project. Unpaginated.Set consists of four large format books in illustrated boards, in an illustrated slipcase. Published as part of the complete EC Library.

London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1966. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A stand-alone novel by Innes - the dust jacket calls it "his thriller." Out of work actor George Gadberry "receives a mysterious invitation and a proposition that could lead to enormous riches. Wealthy imbiber Nicholas Comberford wants George to impersonate him in order to secure a place in the will of fabulously affluent Great-Aunt Prudence, who lives in a Cistercian monastery and won't allow a single drop of liquor in the place. Gadberry's luck seems to have changed - but at what cost?" SIGNED on the title page by Michael Innes and very uncommon thus. (J.I.M. Stewart was an Oxford academic who wrote his literate and witty mysteries under the Innes pen name) pp. ISBN: 0-575023643.

Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, (1991). First edition - "The White-Inyo Range, rising sharply from the eastern edge of Owens Valley, is one of the most extraordinary landscapes in the world. High, dry, and amazingly diverse, it boasts an expansive alpine tundra and features the oldest living species on earth - the 4,000-year-old Bristlecone Pines." A colorful and authoritative book with nearly two dozen contributors to the volume - leading experts on the flora and fauna, the geology, geomorphology, meteorology, anthropology, and archaeology of the area. Includes descriptions of more than 650 kinds of living organisms, reptile, amphibian, bird and plant species, including hundreds of flowering plants. An 8-color geologic map in a pocket inside the rear cover. Also includes a chapter on the Native Americans who moved up and down the mountain slopes in response to seasonal changes. Illustrated with photographs in full color, maps and drawings. Glossary index. xvii, 536 pp. ISBN: 0-520068963.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Ecco Press, (2012) dj. Hardcover first edition - A collected edition of eleven books of poems by this award-winning poet - including, over the course of her career, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Bollingen Prize for Poetry, and the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, and in 2020 the Nobel Prize for literature. Her "career-spanning Poems 1962-2012 is a major event in this country's literature, perhaps this year's most major . . . Put together, these compact volumes have a great novel's cohesiveness and raking moral intensity. They display a supple and prosecutorial mind interrogating not merely her own life but also the sensual and political nature of the world that spins around it. Why love what you will lose?' she asks. She answers her own question: There is nothing else to love.' (Dwight Garner, The New York Times) Index. 634 pp. ISBN: 978-0374126087.

New York: Lothrup, Lee & Shepherd, (1980) dj. Hardcover first edition - The story of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and its aftermath told from the viewpoint of a seven-year old girl who fled their burning home with her mother and injured father. Since the end of World War II, the author and her husband have campaigned for nuclear disarmament and world peace. In her comments at the end of the book, Maruki commented how difficult it was to create this book - "to tell young people about something very bad that happened in the hope that their knowing will help keep it from happening again." Awarded the annual Ehon Nippon Prize as the best illustrated book of Japan, the Jane Adams Peace award, a Horn Book Honor award and more. Large square format,unpaginated, illustrated in full color throughout. ISBN: 0-688012973.

New York: Century, (1924.). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Classic work on New Mexico by this Illinois-born author, who migrated to California where she lived first in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and later in the Carmel area (where the writers Jack London and George Sterling also lived and wrote,) and who finally moved to Santa Fe as a result of her work on this book. A brief typed letter dated in the year of publication and SIGNED by Mary Austin has been tipped onto the front endpaper (while the note is polite, their is an underlying sense of 'why are you asking me' Your librarian will be able to help.) A lovely book illustrated with full page and smaller en texte drawings and chapter headpieces by John Edwin Jackson. Quotations, glossary. ix, 459 pp.

New York: Grand Central Publishing, (2017). SIGNED first edition - A book which surpasses his fiction in adventure and suspense. "In 2012, Preston joined a team of explorers searching for Ciudad Blanca ('The White City'), a legendary ruin hidden in the dense jungle of eastern Honduras. The city also known as 'the Lost City of the Monkey God' - was literally a legend; while various hucksters and hoaxers had claimed to have discovered the abandoned metropolis, no credible evidence had ever been presented. In addition to the objective hazards of tropical disease, wild boars, and the deadly fer-de-lance viper, locals stoked the mystique, describing various curses awaiting would-be discoverers. But this team had an advantage that previous searchers had lacked: LIDAR, an advanced laser-imaging technology able to penetrate the dense jungle canopy - just enough - and return detailed elevation profiles from which subtle, man-made anomalies could be identified. Almost immediately, two major sites emerged, their scale and architecture indicating a civilization to rival another local, more famous power, the Maya." But the dangers were real- and Preston and several other contracted a horrifying disease in the jungle. SIGNED on the title page. Sources and bibliography. viii, 316 pp. ISBN: 978-1455540006.

New York: Dey St./William Morrow, (2016) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Autobiography of a woman who is a fierce advocate of women's rights. "At age thirty-five Wambach would become the highest goal scorer - male or female - in the history of soccer, capturing the nation's heart with her team's 2015 World Cup Championship. . . As she reveals in this searching memoir, her professional success often masked her inner struggle to reconcile the various parts of herself: ferocious competitor, daughter, leader, wife. . .Far more than a sports memoir, 'Forward' is gripping tale of resilience and redemption, and a reminder that heroism is, above all, about embracing life's challenges with fearlessness and heart." SIGNED by Wambach on a preliminary page noting that this edition has been specially bound by the publisher. Illustrated with full color photographs. viii, 230 pp. ISBN: 978-0062466983.

Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, (1999) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - An account by an award-winning writer of conversations that took place between 1980 through October 1997, just days before Michener's death. "The two discussed topics of both a personal and professional nature and touched on subjects Michener avoided in his own memoir. In this book, Michener explores sex, love, pornography, politics abortion, AIDS, plagiarism, sports, the current state of publishing, and the status of the artist in society. To Grobel, he reveals many personal milestones and struggles - his dialysis; the death of his wife Mari; his service in the war; his travels to the Antarctica and to Pearl Harbor on the 50th anniversary of the bombing; and his philanthropy totaling $120 million. . . he tells how he wrote such sweeping novels, why he chose some subjects and avoided others, and how he might write a historical novel about California. He analyzes each of his books, chooses his favorites, and discusses his strengths and weaknesses as a writer." SIGNED by Grobel opposite the title page, and uncommon thus. Includes a list of Michener's books, index. 269 pp. ISBN: 1-578061393.

Tucson: Loujon Press, 1969. dj. SIGNED first edition - The final issue of this unique and impressive journal - "handset, mostly, and hand bound at Loujon's Desert Printery in Arizona" (included on the table of contents is a small note that the editors sold their house and workshop to get this issue out and at the end is the editor's bit & obit, which details their troubles.) This double issue is dedicated to Kenneth Patchen and features a 46- page homage to him with contributions from Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, Harold Norse, David Meltzer, Henry Miller and many others. The frontispiece is poem painting by Patchen and the cover of the dust jacket is a photograph of Patchen in his last illness. SIGNED by Richard Shelton at his poem "the crossing." Also includes contributions by Allan Kaprow, Charles Plymell, Russell Edson, Simon Perchik, Clarence Major, Larry Eigner, Charles Bukowski, Diane Di Prima, Denise Levertov, John Haines, Robert Kelly, Ted Enslin, Keith Wilson, Gene Frumkin, d. a. levy, Thomas Merton, Robert Bly, Dick Higgins, David Antin, Anselm Hollo, Ruth Krauss, Lenore Kandel, Alison Knowles, Margaret Randall, Jay Wright, Douglas Blazek, Emmett Williams, Jackson Mac Low, Ray Johnson, Al Hansen, and more. Illustrated with photographs, art and a section of comics by Kelsie Harder. 191 pp.

Franklin, TN: Hillsboro Press, (1997) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - After serving overseas during World War II, returning Black soldiers chafed at the restriction of segregation. "On February 25, 1946, in Columbia, Tennessee, a minor incident between a while clerk and a black Navy veteran and his mother escalated into the first race riot in the United States after World War II. The riot prompted the involvement of individuals and organizations such as Thurgood Marshall, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Communist Party, the NAACP, and the Department of Justice. Legal resolution of the Columbia riot at Mink Slide resulted in death, destruction, and surprising trial verdicts." Illustrated with photographs. SIGNED by the author (who grew up in the town of Columbia) on the half title page. Review copy with publisher's letter laid in. Extensive notes, bibliography, index. 180 pp. Map endpapers. ISBN: 1-577360311.

NSW, Australia: Craftsman House, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - A beautiful book which describes and illustrates aspects of the Tiwi culture that had virtually disappeared at the time of publication, by a controversial author who was known as an indigenous rights advocate/activist. "The story of how man became mortal unfolds in the beautiful and dramatic story of the Tiwi Pukamani ceremony. It is illustrated with the magnificent sculptures, grave posts and bark paintings that in the absence of a written language preserved and perpetuated the ancient customs and religion of the Tiwi people of Melville Island." The author was an anthropological researcher whose concern for the plight of tribal people has guided her life - she traveled for years in the outback of Western Australia, recording messages between scattered families whose children had been taken from them so they could be "assimilated" and as a documentary filmmaker attempted to enable their voices to be heard. Illustrated throughout with both full color and black and white photographs. Glossary, index. Large square format, 152 pp. ISBN: 9-766410232.

New York: Ecco Press, (2020) dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's disturbing third novel - the title ostensibly refers to a comment in an airbnb rental on Long Island, but of course it also refers to facing a post-apocalyptic world - with some insights into racial attitudes, class and family life thrown in along the way. Whole lives are encapsulated in single sentences. Basis for the very good 2023 film starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, and Mahershala Ali, but far more subtle and thought-provoking. Finalist for the National Book Award - the judges' citation called it "elegant, sensuous, thrilling, taut. It is an incisive examination of race and class, an absorbing story about what the beginning of the end of the world might look like. This novel is a towering achievement. Rumaan Alams prose is precise, pointed, gorgeous. The characters he brings to life and their humanity are so finely observed. Leave the World Behind will want you to do anything but that." 341 pp. ISBN: 97-0062667632.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. dj. Hardcover first edition - Uncommon first edition of the only book published during Christopher's lifetime, but through his teaching, mentorship, and friendships, he had a lasting impact on writers Harry Crews, Gordon Lish, and Chuck Palahniuk among others. The NY Times called this book "a double heart attack of vitality and violence, of American poverty and male wretchedness, of broken beauty and hope against hope" and Harry Crews commented "Here is a vision and voice that your heart and blood will never forget. It is about the forgotten, the hurt, and the helpless, but Peter ChristopherÕs magic makes these people whole again. I am grateful for finding this book." The last story in this book ends "My father's bigness of arms hugs me into the darkness that is the father's smell that is Mama's wash and him. My father hugs me safe." 146 pp. ISBN: 0-394571223.

New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1939. SIGNED hardcover - The last novel by this educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author, one who strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong education and who was named by Eleanor Roosevelt as one of the ten most influential women in the United States. This is the story of a Vermont school in desperate need of funds, but when they receive a bequest, the codicils are troubling - and so the school and the town become engaged in a "struggle between the 'old' virtues of tolerance, integrity, and civic responsibility and '"modern' attitudes of expediency, exclusionism, and outside control." A book which has been described as "remarkably prescient in its defense of human rights and the ramifications of their denial." Affixed to the front endpaper is a small card INSCRIBED and SIGNED by Canfield Fisher "With thanks to Mr Tullos for his sympathy with work for refugee children." Color frontispiece by Paul Honore. On reading this book, Willa Cather sent the following note to Fishter "I read Seasoned Wood up on the Island this summer, and I was more than glad to have a thoughtful book in a place where I had time to think. I particularly enjoyed Aunt Lavinia, and Miss Peck! You will laugh at me, but I to me it is thrilling to see a person some so completely brought across with so little introduction. I say person, not not a character. She set me thinking how different persons and characters are. She isn't made or fashioned at allÑshe simply is. And how strongly one feels her! Her actual presence, I mean. And I love her laconic inscriptions." 485 pp.

Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1943. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's powerful first novel, one which looks at Black life in wartime America - in fact, the back cover of the dust jacket expands on this theme, as it is promoting "Buy war bonds," Bucklin notes "that the Negro should be fighting in such a war may seem to some ironic since he has know precious little of freedom since he was first landed on these shores by slave trader. . Now again, the Negro is fighting, he was on Bataan, he is now in Africa... " One of the major crusaders of the left, Bucklin Moon was also one of the leading American liberals in race relations in the 1940s, although his literary career and his position as an editor at Doubleday came to an end when he was named as a Communist symphathizer by McCarthy's infamous HUAC. 246 pp.

New York: Oak Publications, (1965) dj. Hardcover first edition - An account by this singer, songwriter, pianist and vaudeville and minstrel performer who has been credited with forever changing the sound of American popular music by convincing Okeh Records to release the first Blues record in 1920 with Mamie Smith singing two of his songs - 'That Thing Called Love' and 'You CanÕt Keep a Good Man Down.' The next record released by Okeh - 'Crazy Blues', and 'ItÕ s Right Here for You' - was promoted as an African-American singer and band, and reportedly sold more than a million copies. Some other record labels began to jump on the bandwagon. While this is described as an autobiography, and includes many entertaining stories from Bradford's life, it is primarily an attempt to set the record straight and to give recognition to many forgotten or overlooked early Black musicians, including Bradford himself. Contains the sheet music for 11 of his songs, including those in the first two Okeh recordings and illustrated with many photographs. Foreword by Noble Sissle. Index. Slightly oversized format. 175 pp plus final drawing.