[front hinge cracked, otherwise a solid copy with minimal shelfwear, some fading to cloth at top edge and base of spine, offsetting to endpapers in gutters, one-time owner's name and date of original purchase at top of ffep; jacket has a small ragged tear at top rear hinge, light edgewear and a couple of tiny nicks here and there]. "This is an amazing novel of the thrilling and little-known first act in Napoleon's marvelous career -- seen exclusively through the eyes of the 26-year-old Bonaparte, with almost the vividness of actual presence." Set during his first Italian campaign, th... View More...
(price-clipped) [nice clean solid copy, with just a bit of shelfwear to the bottom edge, attractive private-library bookplate on front pastedown; jacket is edgeworn, with tiny tears and minor paper loss at several corners, a little creasing, 2-inch tape-repaired closed tear and associated creasing at bottom of front panel, vertical creasing to front flap, a few nicks to edges of rear panel]. Two of the land campaigns of the War of 1812 furnish the setting for this novel. "It is chiefly the story of the Ohio country and Michigan Territory, and the campaigns of the Western Army against the B... View More...
(no dust jacket) [solid enough book with binding intact, but should be considered a reading copy only due to external wear and bumping, an unsightly beverage-ring scar on the front cover (see scan), and internal tape repait to a page that had been ripped in half]. Uncommon novel, originally published in France in 1921. It's "historical fiction" in a sense, but as the New York Times described it in 1922, "it is not a history of Salt Lake City as occupied by the Mormons so much as the story of the mental and physical anguish of a young widow who is unsuspectingly drawn into marriage... View More...
[nice clean copy with only minimal shelfwear, vintage bookplate affixed to verso of ffep with yellowing scotch tape; jacket is bright and attractive despite some edgewear, a one-inch missing piece at top of spine (partially affecting first word in title) and several old tape-repairs along bottom hinges and at top and bottom edges of rear panel]. (line drawings) Historical fiction for juvenile readers, "a lively story of courage and patriotism" about a 16-year-old boy who "took a part in keeping Tennessee for the United States in an undeclared but bitter fight with the Spaniards.... View More...
[minor wear at spine ends, light dust-soiling to top edge, one-time owner's signature on ffep; jacket worn and wrinkled along top and bottom edges, various small tears and shallow chipping, unobtrusive tape-repair to base of spine]. "Maris, the chief character in the novel, is playmate and then lady-in-waiting to the Princess Mary Tudor, and the action takes place partly in the reign of Henry VIII, then of Edward VI, of Mary Tudor, and the first year of Queen Elizabeth." A sequel to the author's earlier novel "White Hawthorn" (1935). View More...
[light shelfwear, very slight fraying to bottom front corner; jacket slightly chipped at top of spine, minor soiling to rear panel, a couple of short closed edge-tears]. Novel set in Mexico during the period prior to the Mexican Revolution, concerning the impact on a small mountain village in Mexico when the gringos arrive, in particular on the ultimately exploitative relationship between an American mine owner and the locals who work in his mine: "Finally came the day of revolution, the glorious, long-looked-for revolution that was to give them back their land." It's noted in the ja... View More...
[minimal shelfwear, mild tanning of pages, two previous owners' signatures on ffep (plus an annotation from one about when and where he bought the book); jacket mildly soiled, a couple of small closed tears, chipping with a little paper loss at both ends of spine]. Vanity-press novel about the exploits of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys during the American Revolution. The author (shown examining his horse's teeth in the rear jacket photo) is described as once having been the "star of his own television program, 'Dusty Boyd, the Happy Cowboy' [and] a comic book with the same title.&... View More...
[solid copy, some wear to the lower extremities (slight fraying at bottom corners and base of spine), light dust-soiling to top edge; jacket has minor tears at a couple of corners, small nick at fore-edge of front panel, slight paper loss around top of spine (no text affected), moderate soiling]. Historical romance set against the backdrop of the American war with Tripoli (1801-1805). "The infant American Republic had no navy with which to fight pirates at the beginning of the nineteenth century -- and that is how the young American physician, who is the hero of [this book], came to be c... View More...
[nice clean book, minor age-toning to top page edges, but no significant wear; jacket slightly faded at spine, with minor wear along top and bottom edges, a few itsy-bitsy tears, light browning at edges of jacket flaps]. The author's second historical novel (in what would later be known as "The Tarn Trilogy"), set in 13th-century France. This book re-encounters "Wolf of Foix, the searching young idealist," who is obsessed with avenging the death of his patron -- "an obsession that takes him from brutal warfare to the quiet endurance of the Cathar believers; from the frivol... View More...
(purple cloth, no dust jacket) [clean and tight, top 3/4" of spine cloth faded, tiny brown spot on bottom edge]. (color frontispiece, halftone illustrations) "In Vindication of the Memory of the Much-Maligned Katharine Howard." In addition to the color frontispiece, there are four half-tone illustrations in the text, and both endpapers are a half-tone of Hampton Court. View More...
[solid, good-looking copy, light browning/soiling to page edges; jacket a bit edgeworn but still very attractive, marred only by some paper loss at top of spine (losing about one-third of "Son") extending to the top corner of the rear panel]. "Lije Smith is the illegitimate son of Nancy Smith, who comes to the river town of Delta City some time after the Civil War. Her lover has deserted her in New Orleans, and she gives herself up to the task of making a man of her son." View More...
[top corners slightly bumped; jacket a bit rubbed, a little corner wear, no tears or chips]. "...a story of a young man brought up in a tumultuous era. ... At twenty- three, Western intelligence recuits him for a vital mission to Mt. Kwanmo, near the Russian border. While preparations are underway, he vanishes over Korea below the 38 parallel. In his disappearance, a chain of incredible, chilling events flare up across the continents of the Red world. Six months later, the night after Stalin is assassinated, he re-appears in Bulgaria as a top Soviet officer. He is now General Irlich and Stal... View More...
(no dust jacket) [general overall wear, soiling to yellow cloth, spine a little turned, agency sticker on front pastedown, two previous owners' addresses (in pencil) on ffep]. View More...
(decorated cloth; no dust jacket) [light external soiling, bumped at all corners, slight exposure of board at lower front corner, some wear to spine ends, vintage bookseller's rubber-stamped name (Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books, Long Beach, Calif.) on front pastedown; gilt/maroon decoration on front cover and spine still reasonably bright and attractive]. (B&W plates (photos and drawings)) Historical/religious fiction set in 17th-century England and America, backgrounded by the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the rise and rule of Oliver Cromwell, and so on. To escape all this... View More...
(no dust jacket) [moderately shelfworn, light bumping and minor wear evident at corners and spine ends, front hinge starting, vintage bookseller's rubber-stamped name (Bertrand Smith Acres of Books, Long Beach, Calif.) on front pastedown]. (endpaper maps) INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the 2nd ffep: "For A. George Volck / With Sincere Personal Regards / Kenneth Wallis / 1941." Historical novel tracing five generations of the Elys clan of Great Yarmouth, England, through the 13th and 14th centuries, climaxing with the Battle of Crécy (1346), one of the most important battles of... View More...
[no significant wear to book, but some fading to cloth at spine and around edges of covers (apparently the gray-background jacket didn't keep out the sun); jacket has a one-inch closed tear and associated minor creasing at bottom of front panel, a bit of wear along top edge and rubbing and tiny tears at several upper corners and at top of spine]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the half-title page. Historical thriller centering around the assassinations of the King and Queen of Serbia in 1903. Signed books by this Hungarian-born author are exceedingly uncommon; the wife of playwright ... View More...
[nice copy, light shelfwear to bottom edge and minor bumping to bottom corners; jacket shows light wear at extremities, minor soiling to rear panel]. Historical romance set in Celtic Ireland; the author's first novel. Nice photo of the then-19-year-old author on the rear panel, the caption of which informs us that "she plans to study history at the university and is already at work on her second novel." View More...
[very nice copy, tight and clean, slight bumping to base of spine; jacket shows light wear at extremities, one tiny closed tear at bottom corner of front panel]. "A novel of life in eleventh-century England as it really was." "To Vikings of the eleventh century, the prospect of English plunder seemed preferable to the Spartan life of their homeland. And so in the year 1002 two young men, Arnvid and Gunnar, set forth from Iceland to seek their fortunes in the weak and divided cluster of petty kingdoms and Danish colonies that was England a half century before the Norman conquest.... View More...
[light dust-soiling and minor spotting to top edge of text block, a touch of wear at extremities; jacket a little browned at spine and along edges of rear flap, tiny bit of paper loss at corners of front panel]. Historical adventure novel set in 1,000 B.C., when "the city of Troy was the last remaining cultural center of the Hittite Empire, and the several states of Hellas, or Greece, were becoming restless." (Uh-oh, restless Greeks.) The author "has drawn a magnificent epic of the first Hellenic invasion of Troy, characterized by the great valor and bravery of the Trojan people,... View More...
[quite a decent copy, light soiling to page edges, a couple of very minor dents at top of front cover, slight bumping to a couple of corners, attractive vintage bookplate (with a sort of Lady Godiva motif, if you catch my meaning), original date of purchase written at upper corner of front pastedown; jacket worn and soiled, various small tears and chips, some paper loss at spine ends (affecting first word of title), but with the front panel largely intact]. "The life and loves of a beautiful Spanish girl in old New Mexico. This romance of old Taos and Santa Fe revolves about the famous charact... View More...