Ray Boas, Bookseller

Seldom seen, I have available some single issues of Tom Raworth’s INFOLIO, and also a complete run of the first forty issues (see below).

From the on-line site jacket2: Few magazines have exploded the periodical format like Tom Raworth’s remarkable Infolio. The magazine was published in Cambridge, UK, at three distinct intervals (daily, weekly, and biweekly) across 116 issues from the summer of 1986 until the fall of 1991. In each issue, the cover features a work of art while the interior features a spread of poetry. For both cover and interior, Raworth reproduced submissions of original manuscripts. In this way, from a media archeological perspective, the magazine records the writing tools of each of its contributors — or, as Raworth notes, “strange now to think there was a time when one could recognize a friend’s typewriting.” The covers contain editorial notes, bibliographic information, collages, and colorful cork-stamps by Raworth.

TOM RAWORTH — INFOLIO 16 — TUESDAY JULY 22nd 1986

In this issue: Front: Allan Graham – Inside: Edward Dorn — “Infolio welcomes Mr. Dorn and his family to London this morning…”  One card sheet, 8 1/4 inches by about 5 7/8 inches, then folded in half.

Price – $30 (order number 69630)

TOM RAWORTH — INFOLIO 73 — FRIDAY MAY 15th 1987

In this issue: “Front: Maurice Scully – Inside: Edward Dorn”  One card sheet, 8 1/4 inches by about 5 7/8 inches, then folded in half.

Price – $30 (order number 69631)

TOM RAWORTH — INFOLIO THIRD SERIES (Two Issues) – October 1st, 1990, and October 15th 1990

In these issues: October 1st: Front: Harry Gilonis – Inside: Steve Nelson-Raney — October 15th: Front: Jean-Luc Guerin – Inside: Rosaline Belben” – One card sheet, 8 1/4 inches by about 5 7/8 inches, then folded in half.

Price – $55 for these two issues — and, below:

INFOLIO 1 Through INFOLIO 40
July 1st, 1986 To August 25, 1986
FIRST 40 [FORTY] ISSUES COMPLETE

Uncommon Raworth item. He printed this “unique magazine” from 1986-1991. Offered here as a lot are the first forty issues. These issues are opened flat currently, but folded (as meant) measure about 4 by 5 3/4 inches.

Price – $800 (order number 70268)

How to Order – ORDERING INFORMATION

SEMI-COLON – TIBOR DE NAGY GALLERY – JOHN BERNARD MYERS – FIVE (5) ISSUES – 1953-56
A poets’ newsletter emphasizing brief prose and verse

Edited by John Bernard Myers, and published at the Tibor De Nagy Gallery, 206 East 53rd Street, New York, NY, from about 1953 to about 1956. Printed on a single sheet folded once to make four pages 8 1/2 by 11 inches. Myers (1920–1987) directed the Tibor De Nagy Gallery from its opening in about 1950 until 1970. It was established for New York School’s second generation of painters. Semi-Colon was Myers little-known poetry broadside (or “newspaper” as he called it). Ten issues were published with pieces from his “house” poets including: John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch and James Schuyler. In some issues there were contributions from Saul Bellow, James Ingram Merrill, Wallace Stevens and others.

Offered here as a lot I have five issues:

SEMI-COLON: VOL. I, NO. 1 – 1953

SEMI-COLON: VOL. I, NO. 2 – c1954

SEMI-COLON: VOL. II, NO. 2 – c1955

SEMI-COLON: VOL. II, NO. 3 – c1955

SEMI-COLON: VOL. II, NO. 4 – 1956

Currently I have these for sale individually in my shop, but have put them here as a lot at a reduced price – about 20 percent. Once one sells in the shop I will delete this offer. Below are the front covers. Each exhibits wear, some folds/bumps, and rubbing.

Price – $950
Ordering Information – Mention Semi-Colon Lot

BAKER CHOCOLATE BOOKENDS – THE BEAUTIFUL CHOCOLATE GIRL – 1743

Iconic pair of brass bookends measuring about 5 3/4 inches high. Dr. James Baker began his chocolate company in 1765 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Walter Baker took over for his grandfather in 1820, and after the Civil War he acquired the rights to use Jean-Etienne Liotard’s 1743 painting THE BEAUTIFUL CHOCOLATE GIRL on his packages and advertisements. I bought this pair of bookends in the late 1990s in a shop in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, but I just cannot kept everything, and time for them to find a new home. Lots of images for you, keep scrolling down.

and, below is the original painting of the chambermaid serving the artist his breakfast drink.

Price – $180
Shipping –  $12 in US
Ordering Information

1932 – THE “POP-UP” JACK THE GIANT KILLER ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAROLD LENTZ – Including:
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK – LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD – SLEEPING BEAUTY

THE “POP-UP” JACK THE GIANT KILLER – with “Pop-Up” Illustrations in Color by Harold Lentz – Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., New York, (1932) – 96 pages on boards with B&W illustrations, with four full-color pop-up illustrations – A nice copy, but some light foxing on a few boards. A tight copy that I had a binder internally repair over twenty years ago. The cover colors are slightly faded.

I have had this book in my own collection for well over 20 years, and now it should go to the next collection.

below is the other side of the Little Red Riding Hood pop-up. As I mentioned before, the binding is tight, thus I did not want to open the pop-ups too far, but the fox is there in the bed ready to get our heroine.

PRICE – $135 – Order Number 72965
Ordering Information

1928 – CHILD LIFE MAGAZINE – TWO (2) ISSUES The Children’s Own Magazine

I purchased a large collection of CHILD LIFE in the early 1990s for the cover art. I had display windows in my Haddonfield, New Jersey, bookshop, and each month changed my displays, and often used one of these magazines with the appropriate holiday theme. Moving my shop in 1995 from there to New Preston, Connecticut, in 2002, I had no shop windows, and my collection of these magazines went into storage – UNTIL NOW.

I have issues from three years, not complete runs. It would be nice to keep these lots together, but if not selling as lots at lower prices, I may catalogue these in my shop from $15 to $25 each depending upon the cover artist, and the great color ads on the rear pages. And, then there are the contents to enjoy.

For 1928 I have only two months – January and February. The magazines measure about 9 inches by 12 inches.

Price for two 1928 issues – $20  –  SOLD

1936 – CHILD LIFE MAGAZINE – NINE (9) ISSUES The Children’s Own Magazine

For 1936 I have nine months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, November and December. The magazines measure about 9 inches by 12 inches.

Price for nine 1936 issues – $85   SOLD

1937 – CHILD LIFE MAGAZINE – SIX (6) ISSUES The Children’s Own Magazine

For 1937 I have the first six months of the year: January, February, March, April, May and June, as shown below. The magazines measure about 9 inches by 12 inches.

Price for six 1937 issues – $50  SOLD

Ordering Information

1835 – RHEINISCHER SAGEN-KREIS. EIN CICLUS VON ROMANZEN, BALLADEN UND LEGENDEN DES RHEINS, NACH HISTORISCHEN QUELLEN BEARBEITET – by Adelheid Stolterfoth

Translates to: Rhenish legend circle. A ciclus of romances, ballads and legends of the Rhine, edited according to historical sources. 

Hardcover with decorated cloth (see images below), measuring about 8 7/8 inches by 10 1/2 inches. 65 pages and with 21 plates (all present) after drawings by A. Rethel of Dusseldorf (his first book contribution), and lithographed by Dielmann. Published by Frankfurt Karl Jügel. Text in German.

Overall good with some foxing. NOTE sometime in history the title page and following dedication page to “His Royal Highness…” were torn, and have been repaired (see image). UNCOMMON.

below showing the tape repairs on two pages (on the reverse side)

some sample two page spreads – text one side – illustration of legend or ballad opposite

another illustration

the covers – back at an angle then front

Price – $125 — Order Number 73050
Ordering Information

1928 THE TRUE STORY OF MARY, WIFE OF LINCOLN – ABRAHAM LINCOLN FAMILY SIGNED

THE TRUE STORY OF MARY, WIFE OF LINCOLN – Containing the Recollections of Mary Lincoln’s Sister Emilie (Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm), Extracts from Her War-Time Diary, Numerous Letters and Other Documents now First Published. By Her Niece, Katherine Helm.

Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1928 first edition, 309 pages, good+, maroon cloth (hardcover), lacks its original dustjacket. This copy at one time owned by the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago with the shop’s small book tag on rear pastedown.

Warm inscription by the author, and counter signed by Emily Todd Helm. Dated November 10, 1928, in Lexington, Kentucky.

Putting the lineage to President’s Lincoln’s wife, Mary.
1 – Robert Todd had 16 children with two wives
2 – Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1862) was born of Robert’s first wife
3 – Emilie Todd Helm (1836-1930) was born from Robert’s second marriage (thus Mary Todd’s half-sister). Emilie Todd married Ben Hardin Helm, a Confederate General, who died at the Battle of Chickamauga.
4 – Emilie was three years old when her half-sister left their Kentucky home. Mary went to live with her sister in Illinois, where she met her future husband, Abraham Lincoln.
5 – Katherine Helm (1857-1937) was the daughter of Emilie Todd Helm and Ben Hardin Helm. Thus, Katherine was Mary Todd Lincoln’s niece.
6 – Emilie and her daughter Katherine stayed with the Lincolns at the White House following the death of General Ben Hardin Helm.

Thus a unique Abraham Lincoln association signed piece.

besides this trade edition, this book was published in a limited edition of 175 copies There is an inset on the front cover with a panel of original damask drapery from the Robert Todd home in Lexington, Kentucky that hung there when Mary Todd Lincoln was a child. Usually the limited edition includes a printed letter, signed by Helm in type, attesting to the damask panel.  drapery panel that hung in the Robert Todd home in Lexington when Mary Todd Lincoln was a child. The Limited Edition is currently valued at $2,500.

SORRY — SOLD

THE SNOW BABY – IN SCARCE DUSTJACKET – By Josephine Diebitsch Peary – 1901 – 14th Printing
A TRUE STORY WITH TRUE PICTURES

In my now almost 40 years of bookselling, I have owned maybe a dozen copies of this title, BUT, never have I owned or seen a copy in DUSTJACKET.

Very good, with chipped dustjacket, bump to lower corner of front and rear boards. Frederick A. Stokes Company, Publishers, NY, 1901, 14th printing, 84 pages, B&W illustrations.

front board which is bright and sharp having been protected by the dustjacket all these years.

the rear cover of the dustjacket below

the complete dustjacket opened up – it is now in a dustjacket protector for protection

and, this illustration to show you the bump to the lower corners of the boards only, not impacting on the book block

Price – $200 – SORRY SOLD
Ordering Information

1953 – TURANDOT AND OTHER POEMS BY JOHN ASHBERY
with four drawings by Jane Freilicher
Editions of the
Tibor De Nagy Gallery
New York – 1953

A scarce booklet, measuring about 6 inches by 9 1/4 inches, in sewn wraps published in an edition of 300 copies. THIS PIECE IS NOTED FOR ITS OVERSIZE AND FRAGILE COVER, accounting for the limited number remaining. The few copies for sale currently range from $1500 to $2500. Three of the four copies for sale have had the covers strengthened, rebacked or rebound. Here is an untouched, unrepaired copy that you can have professionally repaired if you wish. AGAIN, the paper used on the cover, and its oversize from the book block is what has caused the problems with this publication

I am showing two of the four black and white illustrations in the sample spreads below.

Price – $1150 – (Order Number 70197)
Ordering Information

“THE PRINTER’S HELPER” – 47 ISSUES – 1964-1973 – KELSEY PRINTING PRESS COMPANY
THE KELSEY COMPANY, MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT

“PRINT YOUR OWN” – PRINTING PRESS – LETTERPRESS

Oh, the “good old days.” Different businesses had small printing presses for their own needs, and boys were encouraged to start a printing business. I was hooked by the Popular Mechanic’s ads, and did get my first 3×5 Kelsey Press in 1957 at age 11. The Kelsey Co. was the leader with presses, supplies, all paper needs (wish I could find a similar source today) and publications, including its house organ THE PRINTER’S HELPER. This four page publication contained tips, lessons, business hints, and of course some ads. I still have my own issues from 1956 and 1957 that came with my press, and then were mailed to me. I just purchased a print shop and included were these 47 issues of THE PRINTER’S HELPER. I cannot keep everything, and know some new hobby printer, or artist, will enjoy and cherish these. Full list of issues included follows below.

At this time I also have two Kelsey Press outfits for sale. A 3×5 and a 5×8 – email me. And, I have made a PDF of THE PRINTER’S GUIDE BOOK, Published by The Kelsey Company, Meriden, Conn. 8th Edition. This PDF is from my own copy that I obtained in 1957. Forty pages (32 plus 8 supplemental), and everything you need to know to operate your letterpress shop. Happy to send you the PDF for $5.95. Email me, and I will send you a PayPal invoice. thank you, RAY

“WHAT TO PRINT AND HOW TO PRINT IT”

“FOR THOSE WHO PRINT FOR OTHERS OR FOR THEMSELVES”

INCLUDED ARE – Years and Numbers

1964 — 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380
1965 — 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 388, 389
1966 — 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398
1967 — 399, 400, 403
1968 — 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410
1969 — 411, 412, 413, 416
1970 — 417, 418, 419, 420
1971 — 422
1973 — 431, 432

Some issues have binder three-ring binder holes. Below are three same covers

SORRY – SOLD TO A MAJOR MUSEUM