(1/4-bound, teal and rust cloth, gilt decoration on front cover; no dust jacket, probably as issued) [gift inscription on ffep from "Anne & George," the latter possibly George Conklin, although this is unconfirmed]. (B&W photographs, facsimiles) Privately- (and posthumously-) published memoir of Iola Schmidlapp Conklin (1872-1955) -- or, more properly, a partial memoir, since it covers only her early life and ends in 1891, following her courtship by (and proposal of marriage from) a young German banker -- which (per her son's Afterword, which briefly sketches the remaining 64 years of... View More...
[very nice copy with no significant wear, would rate as Fine except for remainder spray to bottom edge; jacket shows light edgewear, minor soiling, a little scuffing near bottom of spine, unobtrusive one-inch closed tear at top front hinge]. (B&W photographs) Scarce memoir by the late Mrs. Astor (her second), recounting "her disastrous first marriage [to politician John Dryden Kuser]; her second [to Charles "Buddy" Marshall], a fairy-tale romance cut short by the early death of her husband; and her third, to Vincent Astor, one of the richest men in America." Thanks in large measure to outliv... View More...
[book corners a little bumped, mild browning to page edges; jacket rubbed, surface-scratching, mild edgewear, one small tear at lower rear corner]. (B&W photographs) "What Dominic Behan has set out to do in this haunting and often hilarious account of [Milligan] is to write neither a formal biography, nor a criticial appraisal of the man and his work, but to present Milligan's story and his evolving personality as they emerge from a series of wide-ranging conversations he had with Spike Milligan over a period of several months during his seventieth year." View More...
(no dust jacket) [soiling to top edge, but otherwise a good solid copy, slight fraying to cloth at spine ends]. Of several autobiographical works turned out by this critic-journalist-social activist, this comes the closest to a traditional memoir -- and is also the most explicit about how he, "the third son of an English gentleman," managed to somehow acquire a social conscience despite a privileged upbringing. He "tells, in terms of his personal life and in a rich satiric vein, how he finally made good his freedom from the samurai snobberies of his class, from the inequalities o... View More...
(price-clipped) [moderate wear to spine end and book's corners, discoloration to ffep, one-time owner's signature on front and rear pastedowns; jacket heavily edgeworn, a few nicks and tiny chips, a bit of paper loss at spine extremities and several corners]. Hoo-boy, how to even begin to summarize the convoluted saga of Elizabeth Bentley, who spied for the Soviets from roughly 1935 to 1945, then turned on them and began spilling her guts to the FBI, ratting out dozens of her former comrades. The Soviets got onto her game pretty quickly, though, and when it became apparent that her prospects ... View More...
[nice clean copy with no discernible wear; jacket shows a teensy bit of handling wear, effectively rendered invisible by new mylar jacket protector (included)]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the title page: "For _________ / A. Scott Berg / 1999." Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of "The Lone Eagle," "one of the most legendary, controversial, and enigmatic figures in American history." Signed by Author View More...
[moderate wear at spine ends, top page edges somewhat dust-darkened, bookplate on front pastedown and one-time owner's name on half-title page (see notes); jacket darkened at spine, minor paper loss at spine ends, shallow chipping and slight crinkling at top of rear panel]. (Romantic Lives) Series (20 mounted plates in color and B&W) One of this publisher's "Romantic Lives" series, five volumes of popular biography about "beautiful and famous women and chivalrous men" (although apparently Bonnie Prince Charlie was the only one of the latter to make the cut; the others included... View More...
[brand-new copy, no discernible wear to either book or jacket]. SIGNED by the author (no inscription) on the title page. In her "memoir of upheaval and revolution in China," the author writes movingly of her family's travails over the course of Chinese history from the 1930s to the 1990s. "Having fled persecution in Chunking during the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945), the Chens settled briefly in Peking, then escaped to the U.S. during the intensifying civil war," living for a time in Berkeley, California. They were repatriated in the early 1950s to a very different China, following the Commu... View More...
[sharp-looking copy, virtually as-new but for the teensiest bumping of the top corners; jacket similarly nice, with just a touch of crinkling at the spine ends]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED ("To Mom + Dad / congratulations on your 54th") and SIGNED by both authors on the title page (the inscription itself and Ossie's signature in black ink; Ruby's signature and an added date (10/28/98) in green ink). Joint memoir of the two great African-American actors and activists, who married in 1948 and frequently performed together until Davis's death in 2005. The book is structured as a kind of dual ... View More...
[a little wear to covers at top and bottom edges, one small dent in bottom edge of each cover; jacket has a couple of small chips at top edge of rear panel, a little browning to spine and rear panel]. The author "treats Napoleon as a mythological figure; like a boy in a fairy tale who carries in his heart a dream that is at once his supreme genius and his nemesis." The French title was "Il Etait Une Fois Napolon"; the translator has apparently preserved the original text's "earthy and unique [style], one running with sap and crackling with colorful verbal explosions." You might want to wear ... View More...
[minimal wear to book, spine very slightly turned; jacket has small tears and slight paper loss at all corners of spine, two short closed tears and associated horizontal crease at bottom of front panel, moderate wear at edges and corners]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the ffep: "For my dear old friends / ______ and ______ / With love and deep / affection for many years of / laughs -- and friendship -- / Irving / 5/2/76." "A warm and intimate portrait of the quintessential humorist of an age [by his] personal manager, and with an introduction by George B... View More...
[light shelfwear, tiny stain on bottom edge of text block, one-time owner's name printed at top of front endpaper (see notes); the jacket is edgeworn and lightly soiled, with a couple of small internal tape-repairs, heavy wrinkling/creasing to lower one inch of the spine panel]. A "deliciously candid [or, if you prefer, 'gay and impudent'] memoir" by the youngest of the Gabor sisters, published fairly early in her career (she was just 35), and especially so considering that her greatest fame, as co-star of the great TV sitcom "Green Acres," was more than a decade in the future. Two notes: (1... View More...
(no dust jacket) [good sound copy, light shelfwear, minor dust-stain to bottom of text block, slight fading to spine cloth, rubber-stamped bookseller's name on front pastedown (Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books, Long Beach, Calif.), vintage bookplate on ffep]. The titular "crisis" was basically the author's family life and business during a five-year period from 1895 to 1900, during which his father, following a run of bad luck and failed ventures in Chicago, tried to make a go of a commercial laundry establishment in Dayton, Ohio, enlisting his wife and three sons in the effort to keep it aflo... View More...
[immaculate copy, no discernible wear to either book or jacket]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the title page (all over it, actually), and dated in the year of publication. Memoir by the late, great comedy writer. Signed by Author View More...
[nice-looking book, with very slight bumping to bottom corners, faint dust-soiling to top edge; jacket shows a bit of surface wear, with a couple of tiny tears and associated creasing at top of rear panel]. (B&W photographs) Biography of the country-western singer who had a successful career from the late 1940s onward (he toured with Elvis Presley in the mid-1950s), but who only became a household name (and a bit of a joke) in mainstream America when his "greatest hits" albums began to be packaged and sold via late-night TV commercials in the 1970s. Known for his smooth falsetto and ... View More...
[minor bumping/scuffing to bottom of book, but in all other respects a fresh, apparently unread copy; jacket similarly nice, with only some slight wrinkling to the spine]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED ("To _____ - Keep on rocking the cradle!") and SIGNED by the author on the ffep in the year of publication. "The first full-scale life-and-times biography of one of America's leading composers of the twentieth centur, the man who, according to Aaron Copland, made indigenous American opera possible. Along with Copland and Virgil Thomson, Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) attempted in the twenties to fo... View More...
[nice clean copy, minor shelfwear; jacket similarly nice, with just a single closed tear at top of rear panel]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the ffep: "For / Ed Reingold, / the 'new reporter in / town,' who gave me / the 'lead' for / this literary endeavor, / Best Wishes, / Larry Gustin / May 23, 1975." "Except for car buffs -- who may recall the Durant automobile -- and business historians, few people today would recognize the name of William Crapo Durant. But of all those colorful and inventive men who led this country into the age of the automobile, Durant was p... View More...
(price-clipped) [book is slightly faded at spine, otherwise solid and clean with light age-toning to page edges; jacket has a somewhat jagged rip in spine (with a bit of paper loss, not affecting any text), and is split about halfway down the front fold, with several associated diagonal creases in the top right section of the front panel] Hahn's fourth book and second novel, drawing on her experiences living with a pygmy tribe in the Belgian Congo for two years in the early 1930s. She had previously published "Congo Solo," a nonfiction account of her time there, but here she spins the tale o... View More...
[nice clean copy, no discernible wear to book; jacket has a couple of tiny scuffed spots on front panel (very unobtrusive), light wear at spine extremities]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED generically ("My best wishes") and SIGNED by the author (Hearst) on the half-title page. In this book, the authors "not only respond to the image created [of the senior Hearst] by [Orson] Welles [in CITIZEN KANE], but also tell the extraordinary story of an American family from the gold-diggings of California to the present Hearst media empire. The remarkable career of the junior Hearst -- to this point overs... View More...
(price-clipped) [a good solid copy, with a little deterioration to cloth at spine ends and a bit of wear to the lower extremities; jacket is modestly edgeworn, with a shallow chip at the top of the spine]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED to N.Y. newspaper columnist Leonard Lyons and his wife Sylvia, and SIGNED by the author on the ffep, who adds "Oceanside Exile" beneath his signature, which is also dated June 8, 1954, just two weeks after the book's publication date. Autobiography of the screenwriter-playwright-novelist-journalist who was responsible for some of the Twentieth Century's finest w... View More...
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