[Auburn Hills, Michigan:] DaimlerChrysler [1999]. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Published for an exhibit held in Auburn Hills, Michigan in October 1999 - the first comprehensive exhibition of the work of this automobile designer turned artist. His striking photorealistic paintings form an intriguing mix of images capturing people, machines and nature. An association copy INSCRIBED on the verso of the front endpaper to noted Los Angeles attorney and art collector Fred Nicholas - he includes the comment "One day we will have a major exhibition out in California & I trust you will be there - " Among other things, Nicholas was the chair of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and he oversaw the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. As attorney he handled the complicated affairs of artist Sam Francis after his death. Reproduces 31 works in full color. Large square format. Laid in is a single glossy sheet on one of Maier's works, Madison Avenue at Speed.

Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1879. Hardcover - The autobiography of one of the most remarkable women of the 19th century, edited and with a volume of Memorials by her long-time friend, the abolitionist, Maria Weston Chapman. In 1855, Martineau was diagnosed with a fatal disease and she wrote the first two volumes of this autobiography in 3 months, and had it printed up for immediate release upon her death - an event which came 21 years later. Originally published in 3 volumes, this American edition is complete in 2 volumes. Despite a life-long struggle with her health, and gradually increasing deafness beginning in childhood, Martineau's output and her influence was prodigious - the author of approximately 100 books and 1500 to 2000 editorials and articles, she was known for popularizing the ideas of James Mill, Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Jeremy Bentley and others. Gayle Graham Yates describes her as a protogenitor of the feminist movement: "thirty years before the beginning of an organized women's rights campaign in England, Harriet Martineau was a wide-ranging, progressive, and thorough-going feminist in nearly every sense in which that word is used today. Embracing practically every cause clearly in favor of woman's advancement in her lifetime [such as education, work, and marriage] and taking up certain issues that were not so definitely identified as parts of the feminist fabric until the 1960s and 1970s. Martineau was a giant among early feminists. . . . She was the first Englishwoman to make the analogy between the American woman's lot and the slave's." Illustrated with several plates. Volume 1: x, 594 pp; Volume 2: vi, 596 pp. This copy is an interesting association copy, it bears the name and annotations of G. R. Wieland, the noted paleobotanist, whose papers at Yale University include the manuscript of an article entitled 'Harriet Martineau's American Visit' - an indication of his serious interest in her life.

Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, Inc. (1930.). SIGNED hardcover first edition - The first collection of stage works written by African Americans ("not in dialect") and selected primarily for use in schools - included are Thelma Duncan's 'Sacrifice', two plays by May Miller, three by Richardson, Ti-Yette by John Mattheus and more. In his introduction Richardson gives credit for editing and ensuring the historical accuracy of the pageants to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Striking cover illustration, frontispiece and eight full page illustrations by James Lesesne Wells (plates signed with his initials, although otherwise unaccredited) plus several smaller pictures and vignettes. Interesting association copy INSCRIBED on the front paper by John Frederick Matheus, the author of 'Ti-Yette' in this volume, "To Helen Armstead Johnson, in token of appreciation for her interest and friendship" and dated June 19. 1971. Helen Armstead-Johnson (1920-2006) was, among other things, an educator and the founder/director of the Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research, whose purpose was to collect, preserve, document and exhibit African-American contributions to the American stage 373 pp.

Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1955. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Collects five essays based on papers presented at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association in December 1952. These essays offer a preliminary history of the art of literary criticism as developed in the United States. The authors include Harry H. Clark, Richard H. Fogle, Robert P. Falk, John H. Raleigh and C. Hugh Holman. An association copy INSCRIBED on the front endpaper by Holman to Marshall W. Brown "with the admiration, gratitude and affection of Hugh Holman." Brown was the President of Presbyterian College in South Carolina, where Holman graduated from and where he began his career. In addition to his work in literary criticism, Holman wrote six detective novels in the 1930s and 1940s, two which were set on the Presbyterian College campus. Includes a selected reading list, index. ix, 262 pp.

Philadelphia: H. D. Shaiffer, (1902). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Interesting association copy of this novel - INSCRIBED on the front endpaper "Presented to Ella Wheeler Wilcox with Compliments of H.D. Shaiffer, Publisher, 1614 Diamond St, Phila PA" Although this purports to be a factual account, it is a rather strange novel dedicated to "all those gentlemen of the Afro-American race who have labored diligently for the elevation of their brethren." Gilbert straddles two worlds: as the son of a free mother, he was also freeborn, but his father was a slave and it was a slave owner who took him in. During the War Between the States he assisted both the Federal and Confederate soldiers at various times, and was treated as a friend by almost all whom he encountered both black and white. For a while after the war, he became a prosperous businessman, until he was fleeced by unscrupulous white men. Then destitute, he encountered a man whose life he had saved many years ago, and who wrote this book as a way to raise money for his needs. It ends with the comment that he "ceaselessly prays that a sympathetic public may pity him in his unfortunate old age to the extent of the price of a copy of this work." It is probable that the publisher in this case is also the author: neither produced another book, and the fact that the publisher is known to have inscribed many copies (while I have never encountered a copy signed by the author) tends to indicate that he was more involved in it than simply as "publisher" Illustrated with six glossy plates. 309 pp.

Murfreesboro, TN: Southern Heritage Press, (1992) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Confederate Nation Series Vol. 1. A previously unpublished diary, which had even been lost to the family. Ward enlisted as a private in the 7th Tennessee Infantry and served in Virginia under Stonewall Jackson. After a medical furlough, he joined Morgan's Cavalry where he quickly rose to Colonel commanding the 9th Tennessee Cavalry, one of Morgan's finest regiments. This diary covers 13 months, beginning in 1864 when as a prisoner-of-war, Ward was moved to a prison in Delaware, where his experiences were surprisingly positive. Includes a long prologue by Rosenburg and a foreword by Ward's great-grandson, Ward Sykes Allen. An interesting association copy INSCRIBED on the front endpaper "To Delbert, with admiration from Jane Allen Gregory, great-granddaughter of William Walker Ward." [Delbert Mann was the television and movie director best known for his Oscar winning film "Marty." Gregory is also one of the dedicatees of this book.] Illustrated with a frontispiece and en texte photographs. Appendix containing several letters of Ward. Selected bibliography, index. 164 pp. ISBN: 0-963196332.