New York: Viking, (2011) dj. Hardcover first edition - Biography of a man who was "brilliant, audacious, volatile, paranoid, narcissistic, ruthless and (in the end) deeply unhappy. Born in Genoa, bred to the sea, Columbus won Spanish royal support for an exploratory voyage in hopes of finding a western passage to Asia. On Oct. 12, 1492, he landed on the Bahamian island of San Salvador, and then took his three ships south to trace the northern coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola. Persuaded that he had found outlying territories of East Asia, Columbus returned in triumph to Spain, where the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella named him Admiral of the Ocean Sea and granted him sweeping powers over the territories he had claimed. Columbus led three more voyages across the Atlantic, in 1493-96, 1498-1500 and 1502-4. Along the way, he alternately befriended and did battle with the native peoples he called Indians, was twice shipwrecked and contended with a rogues gallery of Spanish rebels and mutineers." Illustrations, extensive notes, selected bibliography, index. xvii, 423 pp. ISBN: 978-0670023011.

New York: Arcade Publishing, (2015) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - "Humanity has been repeatedly transformed by certain key technologies, each of which has triggered a profound metamorphosis. . . The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, and the technologies of clothing and shelter transformed the human body, enabling us to walk upright, shed our body hair, and migrate out of tropical Africa into temperate climates. Symbolic communication changed human evolution from a slow biological process into a fast cultural process. Food production transformed the relationship between humanity and the environment, and with technologies of interaction led to the birth of civilization. Precision machinery, developed to build accurate clocks, spawned the industrial revolution and the rise of nation-states; and in the next metamorphosis, the rise of digital technologies may well lead to the birth of a global civilization." INSCRIBED on the title page and dated in the year of publication, Photographs,notes, bibliography, index. xx, 376 pp.

New York: Harper Collins, (2009). SIGNED first edition - SIGNED on the title page with a small drawing. "Gonick illuminates with the Enlightenment, then goes deep into the French Revolution, followed by Napoleon's conquests. He covers everything from the Opium Wars to the post-Napoleonic world, industrialisation and the working class, early 20th-century revolutionaries, World Wars I and II, the Cold War era, religious fundamentalism, and the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. After illustrating three centuries of major events and movements around the globe, Gonick finally brings readers to the eve of a new world order, with a semi-united Europe and rising powers in China and India, and in the end reflects on the ongoing challenge of a sustainable future." Bibliography, index. 260 pp plus publisher's ads. Slightly oversized square format. ISBN: 9780060760083.

Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut, (1991.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Includes "a rich collection of Arabic and Islamic studies contributed by an international body of scholars. In memory of the late Malcolm H. Kerr [who was President of the American University at the time of his death] The essays reflect his abiding interests and contain studies of contemporary Middle Eastern politics, the history of Lebanon, and the Muslim legacy in art, philosophy, and science." Perhaps even more timely now than was it was first published. Includes a foreword by Peter Dodd, an essay on Kerr by Samir M. Seikaly and a Malcolm Kerr bibliography. Among the contributors and topics are Kamil Salibi on Mount Lebanon under the Malmuks, Rashid Khalidi on External Intervention in Lebanon, William B. Quandt on the Camp David negotiations, Lawrence I. Conrad on the archeology of early Islam, Henry J. MacAdam on 19th century Orientalist and diplomat William Henry Waddington and much more. This copy is an interesting association copy SIGNED with the words "towards understanding Moslem' by author S. A. Maududi (who has written several books on the Holy Qur'an and on Islam) and also SIGNED in purple ink by Gary Zukav under the words "Dancing Wooly Masters" and above "glorious Quran" (Zukav is the author of 'The Dancing Wu Li Masters' among other books). Presumably Zukav's personal copy with some underlining and marginal notations in several essays in the same purple ink (also in green and blue ink). Photographs, notes, index. xli, 326 pp

London: Faber & Faber, (1949) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first biography of this 16th century Portuguese adventurer and explorer who left Portugal in 1537 as a common soldier but whose travels were intended to help him establish himself as a merchant. Pinto traveled to the coast of India, Japan, China, and Malaya and more - was thrown into prison by the Chinese, introduced firearms to Japan, and succeeded in becoming wealthy but after meeting Saint Francis Xavier, he joined the newly formed Jesuit Society and headed a mission to Japan, only to recognize its futility. His autobiography - Peregrinacao or Pilgrimage - was published posthumously in 1614. While some of the claims in this work might have been inaccurate, Collis considers them compatible with historical events and Pinto's work as the most complete European account of 16th century Asian history. Includes 13 illustrations, bibliography, index. 313 pp

New York: Simon & Schuster, (2010) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - An account of a military operation that changed the world. On June 26, 1948, Harry S. Truman began recalling the airmen of World War II to active duty to try to save the people of the western sectors of Berlin. "Stalin had ordered a blockade of the city. . . He was gambling that he could drive out the small detachments of American, British, and French occupation troops, because their only option was to stay and watch Berliners starveor retaliate by starting World War III. . . . [Truman's] answer: 'We stay in Berlin. Period.' That was when the phones started ringing and local police began banging on doors to deliver telegrams to the vets. Drawing on service records and hundreds of interviews in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, Reeves tells the stories of these civilian airmen. . . [who] did the impossible, living in barns and muddy tents, flying over Soviet-occupied territory day and night." INSCRIBED on the left hand title page "To -- a daring young man." Map, illustrated with contemporary cartoons at the head of each chapter. Notes, bibliography, index. xvii, 316 pp. ISBN: 978-1416541196.

New York: George Braziller, (1966) dj. Hardcover first edition - A book which recounts the mostly ignored role of the women of France in the Revolution - or, as the dustjacket describes it: "The Fantastic Story Of The Women Of The Paris Commune Who Took Up Arms In The Fight For Liberty And Equality. . During the bloody days of the Commune in the spring of 1871, after the Prussians had lifted their siege of Paris, women of the laboring class, and even of the lower middle class, began to demand the rights of their male counterparts, make common cause with the proletariat in general, join political committees, and fight behind the barricades in a desperate attempt to throw off the yoke of economic exploitation, domestic servitude, and the resultant squalid misery that had been their lot since before the Industrial Revolution." Translated from the French by James and Starr Atkinson. Appendix. notes. manuscript sources. newspapers consulted. bibliography. index. xiv, 274 pp.