Bulletin Six
A LOW DISHONEST DECADE

Cultural Trends from the Stock Market Crash to Pearl Harbor

W. H. Auden famously described the 1930s as a low, dishonest decade. This list is a comment on and a partial rejoinder to that judgment. A number of the items listed, especially the Federal Theatre ephemera, were accumulated over time with the goal of producing a companion to our "Forward March" list. But others fell naturally into a broader picture of what the thirties were like, a period of great innovation, terrific artistic invention and, to give Auden his due, miserableness of all kinds, political, economic, and social. The danger is in throwing in the kitchen sink, so we have stuck to our parameters, excluding books for the most part and emphasizing the kind of ephemera that gives the feel of an era. If this selection proves anything, it is that people in that era sometimes managed to have fun, whatever their means.

Sections not in alphabetical order are arranged chronologically.

Martin Janal and Eve Hochwald  • www.alexanderplatzbooks.com

email: alexanderplatzbooks@gmail.com • telephone: 212-473-6723

Terms:

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are net. New York State sales are subject to 8.875% sales tax. Institutions can request post-payment with provision of a purchase order. Customers wishing to pay by credit card can do so through PayPal. We do not process credit cards. Customers in the United Kingdom and the European Union can pay in their own currencies; please inquire for details. Payment can otherwise be made by certified check, bank draft, or money order. Customs charges are the responsibility of the buyer.

This list was first issued in September, 2019. It was brought up to date in March, 2023.

All items are in good antiquarian condition unless otherwise noted. Minor flaws and marks of ownership have not been exhaustively described. For further information, please inquire.

 

PROLOGUE

K1. The Library of Jerome Kern New York City. New York, The Anderson Galleries, 1929. Two volumes, original wrappers. Very good condition, name G. Grant and "Personal" written on cover of both volumes. Prices and purchaser noted for only a few authors in vol. I (A-J), vol. II (J-Z) is more thoroughly annotated . In January of 1929, as the Roaring Twenties reached their conclusion, the composer Jerome Kern sold his collection of rare books at auction. Over a period of four days, prices realized set record after record at a considerable profit to Kern over what he had paid for the books. The Kern sale epitomized the wider feeling that the party would never end, but this feeling did not last long. In March, 1929, a hint of what was to come sent the market down, and in October of that same year, the Stock Market Crash (in capitals) sent global capitalism into a tailspin. Book prices likewise declined, and those who had bought at the Kern sale now looked at a depreciated commodity. $100

 

EXPOSITIONS AND PAGEANTS

E1. Chambers, David Laurance. Indiana. A Hoosier history based on the mural paintings of Thomas Hart Benton. Indianapolis, Bobbs Merrill, (1933). Large 4to, wrappers. 48 pp. Cover illustration in color, other reproductions in black-and-white. Guide to accompany the murals painted by Benton for the Indiana building at the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago in 1933. Rear inside cover contains a statement by Benton, "A Dream Fulfilled." About very good copy, front wrapper somewhat wrinkled. SOLD

E2. The Romance of a People. A musical and dramatic spectacle. Portraying the highlights of four thousand years of Jewish history. Convention Hall. Philadelphia. For the settlement of German Jewish refugees in Palestine. Wrappers. 4to. Very good copy, short tear in right-hand edge of front wrapper. This pageant premiered at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 and was thereafter presented in several other cities. The supporting cast, presumably recruited locally from city to city, numbered in the many hundreds. The contents of this program are particular to the Philadelphia show. Numerous ads from local businesses and supporters. There are no listings in WorldCat of this staging. $225

E3. Slavic-American Festival. March 1941. Chicago. Civic Opera House. In Unity There is Strength. Wrappers, 4to, unpaginated, 36 pp. Very good condition. Photographs of principals and many ads from local businesses and politicians. Prefaced by statements from George Kolombatovich, former Royal Consul General of  Yugoslavia, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Martin P. Sasko, the chairman, and others. The festival was the brainchild of Vasili Avramenko, who produced it, and what better place than Chicago, with its heavy admixture of Slavic nationalities. Margarita Agreneva-Slaviansky, doyenne of the Agrenev-Slaviansky Choir, was the musical chairman. Avramenko was, unfortunately, a producer in the cut of Max Bialystok of Mel Brooks' The Producers. Although much cooperation was evidently given by all the Slavic ethnic groups, including monetary support, the festival was not a financial success and produced bitter feelings against Avramenko and indeed against Ukrainians; it has been almost entirely forgotten. Rare. No copies in WorldCat. The festival poster is available from our colleague Lorne Bair. $200

 

1939 New York World's Fair

The residue left by the 1939 fair is in a class by itself, a virtual Himalaya, Alps, Andes and Rockies combined of souvenirs, guides, and images. We can only stray into the foothills here. Although commonly referred to as the 1939 New York World's Fair, its run in an altered form was extended to 1940, by which time its utopian vision was sullied by global war. Some of the material in this section came from a single-owner collection, evidently someone who was involved in the building phase.

F1. The Flushing Meadow Improvement. Vol. 1, No. 1, October, 1936. "Official publication of the City and State officials in charge of basic improvements at Flushing Meadow Park to provide a site for the World's Fair of 1939."  Wrappers. / The Flushing Meadow Improvement. Vol. 3, No. 8, May 15, 1939. "Final Publication." Wrappers, numerous plans loosely laid in. The first and last issues of this publication, issued not by the World's Fair Corporation, but by government, working in tandem with the fair for long-range planning of the site.  $60

F2. The following group are all headed New York World's Fair Bulletin or sometimes New York World's Fair Bulletin 1939. These appeared during the construction and pre-opening phase of the fair. Total of nine (of eleven) issues. Vol. 1, No. 2. Theme Edition. Chip at bottom corner of rear cover. /  Vol. 1, No. 4, January, 1937. / Vol. 1, No. 5, April, 1937. "Participation issue." / Vol. 1, No 6, June, 1937. / Vol. 1, No. 7, October, 1937. "Construction Edition." / Vol. 1, No. 8, December, 1937. "International Issue." / Vol. 2, no. 1. Very large format. Giant foldout with map of fair grounds. Cover with name of litho company written in upper right corner, cover chipped in upper right corner and issue bumped in same place. / Vol. 2, no. 2. Comb binding. Folding covers with before and after panoramic pictures of site and buildings on rectos and versos.  / Vol. 2, No. 3, oblong format. $675

F3. [Opening day program. Without title.] Foreword by Grover A. Whalen. Cover adorned solely with Trylon and Perisphere. Utilitarian presentation. Notably, Albert Einstein was to give a lecture on Cosmic Rays as part of the Initial Illumination Ceremonies. Good condition, once folded down middle, probably by an attendee on the very day. $75

F4. Wells, H. G. and others. The New York Times. March 5, 1939. Section 8. New York World's Fair. Commemorating the 150th anniversary of Washington's inauguration. Folio. Original wrappers (separated), contents good. Paper tanned, but quality better than newsprint. Sunday magazine section devoted to the World's Fair with a roster of important contributors. Sections on "The Fair and Its Theme," "This Machine Age," "World, Nation, State, City," "Life and Living," and "The March of the Arts." The lead article in the first section is by H. G. Wells, "World of Tomorrow." Contributions in the various sections by household names and luminaries of the time, among others Henry Ford, Arthur H. Compton, Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, David Sarnoff,  William Allan White, Robert Moses, Dorothy Canfield, Brooks Atkinson, and Serge Koussevitzky. $25

F5. New York World's Fair 1939, Incorporated. Fair Site Directory. Information Service. Office Manager's Department. New York, World's Fair, 1939. Wrappers. 12mo. Very good copy with acid-free tape repair securing small piece of lower right corner of front wrapper. Scarce internal publication.    $45 

F6. Bell Telephone Exhibit. Hearing Test Using Musical Tones. Single narrow 8vo sheet folded once to four pages. Test taken on May 25, 1939, filled in and dated in pencil. Results were compiled for a statistical survey and described in a fair brochure issued in 1940, A Nation Tests Its Hearing, which we would dearly like to find. SOLD

F7. (Brazil) Ten gatefold brochures for natural products from Brazil. Represented are Marble and Other Freestones, Babassu, Brazil-Nuts, Lead, Lumber, Manioc, Caroa' Fiber, Copper, Cotton, and Medicinal Plants and Herbs. 12mo size, each is printed on both sides of a single sheet that opens to four panels, with terrific front covers worthy of posters. Each back cover in addition to the legend New York World's Fair 1939 and "Official Publication" has a map of Brazil indicating where the particular product occurs or is cultivated. $60

F8. (Hall of Pharmacy - Oscar Stonorov) Postcard of the Ex-Lax display at the Hall of Pharmacy. A Dali-esque design by German-born modernist architect Oscar Stonorov, which brings to mind the punchline to an old Jewish joke: "So what would you put in the window?" (Inquire if you want to know the rest of the joke.) This example was sent to an RFD address in West Virginia. The message on the back written by the sender explains that the company stamped and mailed the card for free, an offer no doubt hard to resist. $20

F9. (National Pavilions) Iceland. Wrappers. Square 8vo, 28 pp., about half of which are given over to commercial ads by Icelandic firms. Very good condition. "Some of our 'severest critics and best friends' have asked why we have a pavilion at the New York World's Fair. We are such a small country that we are probably spending more per capita on our exhibit than any other country." The answer: commercial and cultural promotion. $25

F10. (1940 season) Our Fair. Handbook of instructions and information for employees of the World's Fair of 1940 in New York. Wrappers, 32 pp. 16mo. Scarce internal publication. $45

F11. (Robotics at Westinghouse) Illustrated "handwritten" pseudo-letter with recipient and sender left blank. Headed "New York World's Fair / 1940." Single sheet folded to 4 pp. A tour of some corporate exhibits the supposed writer found most interesting and sketched, especially at the Westinghouse Building, where Elektro and his dog Sparko, a primitive robotic pair, put on a show. The building also housed the Student Science Laboratory, and the letter closes with a recommendation to write to the American Institute for advice on forming science clubs. Probably produced by the Institute with the cooperation of Westinghouse. We add to this an unused postcard of the Singing Cascades at the Westinghouse Building. A video exists of this light display, which even today impresses. $40

F12. Wilde, Cornel. One Fair Day. Unpublished. Reproduction of typescript in script-bureau covers with sticker of the Rialto Service Bureau on front cover. Covers separated from contents, good. Probably the only existing copy of this script, whose action is set around the 1939 World's Fair. Cornel Wilde was born Kornel Lajos Weisz in 1912 to Jewish parents in the then Kingdom of Hungary. He was a CCNY graduate and an Olympics-level fencer. By the late 1930s Wilde has started a theatrical career. We know of no realization of the script on stage or in film. Hedda Hopper in her October 12, 1941 column referred to "Cornel Wilde (One Fair Day)" as if it were a well known work connected to him; by then, the script would have passed out of topicality. $500

F13. (Union Workers) Testimonial Entertainment and Dance Tendered to Officials of Amusement Clerks and Concessionaires Employees Union 1445C .  . . To be held at Manhattan Center, 34th Street and 8th Avenue, N. Y. / Wednesday Evening February 20th, 1940 . . . Admission $1.25. Numbered ticket on card stock. The fair became a focus of labor strife in the construction phase and during the first season. In 1940 a Department of Labor Relations was established and "a period of 'labor peace' was declared for the second season" (Jessica Weiglin et al., New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York World's Fair 1939 and 1940, Incorporated Records). $25 

F14. A large manila mailing envelope with an address label bearing the legend New York World's Fair 1940 and the trylon and perisphere logo, sent to a Mr. Richard W. Grove, One Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. Possibly he was the single owner referred to above.

F15. (Year Book) Exchequer Club. NYWF. Pro Pace et Libertate. [Variant title: Exchequer Club 1940.] [New York], Bowling Green Printing Company, 1940. 4to, photographic boards. Color map endpapers of the fair grounds, front and back make a total map. Very good copy, top of spine bumped, in partial original glassine wrapper. Profiles of executives and stories and sketches by the workers involved in handling money at the fair, a farewell tribute done at the dissolution of the fair. We gather from the contents that the Exchequer Club was a social organization and did not have its own club building. The image on the cover shows the United States Federal Building at an unusual side angle. Rare. One copy in WorldCat (Smithsonian). SOLD

F16. Original 8 X 10 vintage photographic print of the second cast of Paul Manship's Celestial Sphere. The original stood in Geneva at the League of Nations; a replica was created for the Fair, and installed in the plaza in front of the Court of [US] States. Four states formed a semicircle at the apex of the court; the pillars of the semicircle seen in the background situate the photograph. This image is similar but not identical to others on the Internet. $25

 

PERFORMING ARTS

PA1. (Federal Arts Projects) Free Guided Tours. Federal Arts Projects City of New York. 1938-1939. Self-wrappers, 8 pp. Tours were offered of the Art Project, Music Project, Writers' Project, Theatre Project, Theatre Radio Division, and the Historical Records Survey. Rare. $60

 

Dance

PD1. (Flamenco) Vicente Escudero. [appearing at] Brooklyn Academy of Music, Tuesday evening, February 23, 1932. Self-wrappers. Program. Good condition, covers separating at ends, small bit torn off lower right corner of second page. Escudero, assisted by "Carmita [Garcia, his lifelong companion] and Carmela" performed a program to music by Romero, Albeniz, and de Falla, as well as "gypsy" and popular dances. Escudero appeared in stagings of de Falla's El Amor Brujo and in his Paris years was closely allied to the avant-garde. $40

PD2. The Proceedings of the First National Dance Congress and Festival. New York, The Joint Committee of the National Dance Congress and Festival, 1936. Original wrappers, 8vo, 104 pp. Very good condition, pages slightly browned. This Congress was the dance world’s equivalent of the Writers and American Artists congresses, which took place around the same time. Zora Hurston is listed as one of the signers of the call for the convention. Papers were presented on dance in the Soviet Union, Mexico, France, and Sweden, Negro dance, Negro jazz as folk material for modern dance, etc. Scarce. SOLD

PD3. Lisa Parnova. Assisted by Igor Milleradoff and Theodor Haig at the Piano. Dance Recital. Sunday Evening, March 3, 1939. Labor Stage Theatre, 105 West 39th Street. Handbill with photographic portrait of Parnova. She began her career in Germany in the 1920s. Her papers are held at the New York Public Library. $20

PD4. (Martha Graham) 10 Students' Dance Recitals. Saturday Evenings at 8:30 Municipal Auditorium. Martha Graham and Dance Group. Saturday Evening February 1, 1941. Washington Irving High School. Dance program. Long broadside, ca. 12 1/2" by 8 1/2", on glossy paper. Folded horizontally into thirds, probably as distributed. Four numbers were staged: “Sarabande”; “Deep Song” (created in 1937 in response to the Spanish Civil War); “El Penitente”; and “Every Soul Is a Circus.” Principal dancers were Graham, Erick Hawkins, and Merce Cunningham. Attractively designed and printed. SOLD

PD5. (Mexican American) Lucero-White, Aurora  (compiled and edited by). Folk-Dances of the Spanish-Colonials of New Mexico.  Music transcribed by Eunice Hauskins. Patterns and descriptions of dances by Helene Mareau. n.pl., n.publ., n.d. [Santa Fe, Examiner Publishing Corp., ca. 1940]. Heavy wrappers. 8vo, 48 pp. Laid in is a four-page music sheet (last page blank) with a crude cover illustration for the dance "La Varsoviana" arranged by Leo Gonzalez. The sheet music bears a printed inscription on the front page "To Mrs. De Huff [Elizabeth Willis De Huff, art educator, author, and supporter of Native American cultures] from Leo Gonzalez." Very good, lightly creased down middle. Old owner's name "Frances Barry" in booklet. $75

 

Music

PM1. (Jewish Choruses) Gezang un Kampf. No. 4 [to] No. 8. New York, Jewish Workers Musical Alliance, 1934-1940. Five numbers, 1936-1940, issued annually. In addition, present in this lot is an extra copy of No. 8, without wrappers, and an incomplete copy of No. 3 (number surmised based on the 1935 copyright), missing the wrappers and pp. 1-6. Subtitle and editor varies: No. 4, Songs for Voice and Piano, edited and compiled by Jacob Schaefer; no. 5, Songs for Voice and Piano, uncredited; no. 6, Repertoire for Chorus, edited (and hereafter) by Max Helfman; nos. 7 and 8, A Book of Contemporary Choruses. All in original wrappers, some detached. Words to songs are in Yiddish in Latin letters. Some pencil notes here and there,  made by former owners Richard Neumann and Jack Gottlieb. Lead song in no. 3 is a Yiddish translation by "Z. G." of A Leib Der Unlegaler Arbeit  by Brecht and Eisler. The original, Lob der illegalen Arbeit (Praise of Illegal Work) is from their Die Massnahme. Laid into that issue is a printed sheet with the Yiddish song text and some English instructions. $375

PM2. Workers Song Book 2. New York, Workers' Music League, 1935. Wrappers. Chip in lower right corner of front wrapper and bottom inside corner of back wrapper. Songs by Lan Adomian, Aaron Copland, Earl Robinson, Hanns Eisler, Stefan Volpe, L. E. Swift, Carl Sands, and others.  Selection includes two Negro songs of protest, Russian, Mongolian, and Chinese songs, and songs dedicated to individuals, including John Reed. The first number of this songbook was one of the most sought after items in our "Forward March" list. Inside front cover with foreword, back inside and outside cover with "Graded Index of Workers' Choral Repertoire." $150

PM3. (Federal Music Project) Mammoth Symphony Concert. Erno Rappe Conducting 275 Musicians of the W. P. A. Federal Music Project. Soloist Bruna Castagna Leading Contralto Metropolitan Opera. Handbill on tinted paper. Fine condition. Event took place at Madison Square Garden, Wednesday, July 29 [1936]. Date determined with the use of a perpetual calendar. $40

PM4. (Folk Music) Program. Fourth Annual National Folk Festival. May 22-28, 1937. Orchestra Hall Chicago. Auspices Adult Education Council of Chicago. Self-wrappers, 16 pp. Fine. Indian (Native American) music and dance, Mexican folk drama, German choirs, Norwegian lumberjack songs, anthracite miners' songs, Negro folk songs, and much, much more. Performers came from all points of the US. Material concerning the early years of the National Folk Festival is extremely scarce. The first three festivals were held in Southern states. SOLD

PM5. (Orchestral Music) The Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. Carnegie Hall. Wednesday Evening, April 20, 1936. . . Farewell Concert. Arturo Toscanini. Wrappers. 8 pp. Facsimile signature of Toscanini on cover. Newspaper column by Dorothy Thompson pasted onto inside of front wrapper. A Beethoven-Wagner program was performed. Yasha Heifetz was assisting artist. $25

PM6. (Radio) The National Broadcasting Company Presents Arturo Toscanini Conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Saturday, April 20, 1940, 10 to 11:30 P.M., EST [!!], in NBC Studio 8-H, Radio City. Stiff card printed on both sides. Works by Elgar, Mozart, Dvorak and Moussorgsky. Obverse has program for the following Saturday, with music by Grieg, Sibelius, Franck and Ravel. $25

PM7. (Latin America) A festival of Brazilian music arranged by Burle Marx in association with Hugh Ross. October 16 through October 20, 1940. Held as a complement to an exhibition of the work of the Brazilian painter Portinari, in the auditorium of the Museum of Modern Art 11 W. 53rd Street, New York City. Wrappers, 16 pp. Correction sheet loosely laid in at rear. Very good condition. Uncommon. $45

PM8. (New York City WPA Music Project) Symphony Concerts. Feb. 9, 16, 23, 1941. 12 pp. (last page blank), stapled on left side. "These concerts are presented by Mayor LaGuardia and the New York City W.P.A. Music Project in cooperation with Carnegie Hall." The New York Symphony performed under the direction of Dr. Frieder Weissmann. Good condition, somewhat wrinkled and used. $20

 

Theatre

PT1. Flanagan, Hallie. Arena. New York, Duell, Sloane and Pearce, 1940. First edition (stated). Very good copy with ownership inscription on half-title. Dust jacket very good with a few tiny chips to upper edge of front panel. $275

PT2. (African-American) Lyric Theatre. Robert Rockmore Presents "Run, Little Chillun." A Negro folk drama in four scenes by Hall Johnson. . .. Incidental music composed and arranged by the author. Beginning Monday, March 20, 1933. 16 pp. "Playbill" type format with ads, articles, and profiles of cast members, published by the New York Theatre Program, Inc. Exceptionally, a point is made of including Johnson in the "Who's Who in the Cast", explaining that although he did not appear on stage, he was Director of the Hall Johnson Choir that appeared in the play. Action takes place in a small Southern town. Photographic portrait of Johnson on front page. SOLD

PT3. (African-American) Negro Playwrights Company, Inc. Presents "Big White Fog" by Theodore Ward. . . . October 22, 1940. Broadside program on tinted paper. Good condition with fold mark across middle. This play was first produced by the Negro unit of the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago in 1938. No venue is given in the broadside, but according to Wikipedia the play was staged at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem. Following the close of the show the Negro Playwrights Company went under.  SOLD

PT4. Blitzstein, Marc. The Cradle Will Rock. A play in music. New York, Random House, 1938. Cloth with dust jacket. Very good copy in very good dust jacket. Signed by Blitzstein on the front free endpaper. Rarely seen thus. SOLD

PT5. Blitzstein, Marc. The Cradle Will Rock. An opera. Libretto. New York, Program Publishing Company, (1938). Wrappers. Very good, covers unevenly tanned. Very scarce, more so than the clothbound edition. $100 

PT6. Blitzstein, Marc. The Cradle Will Rock. A play in music. Words and music by Marc Blitzstein. Produced by Mercury Theatre under the direction of Orson Welles. Five pieces of sheet music with identical cover text as just given. 1) Croon Spoon. 2) Gus and Sadie Love Song. 3) Doctor and Ella. 4) Honolulu. 5) The Rich. New York, Chappell & Co., 1938. Overall good to about very good condition, some corner creasing and surface rubbing, "The Rich" with a short tear in the left margin.  A total of eleven songs from the show were published. SOLD

PT7. (Pins and Needles) Rome, Harold. Pins and Needles. With ILGWU Players. Words and music by Harold J. Rome. Directed by Charles Friedman. Three pieces of sheet music with identical cover text as just given. 1) One Big Union for Two. 2) Chain Store Daisy. 3) Not Cricket to Picket. Overall good to about very good condition, some corner creasing and surface rubbing. New York, Mills Music, 1938.  Uniform cartoon cover by Soglow showing a seamstress dominating a boss. A total of seven songs from the show were published. SOLD

PT8. (Pins and Needles) Labor Stage Inc. Presents I.L.G.W.U. Players in a Musical Revue Pins and Needles. March, 1939. [The Veteran "Pins and Needles."] Program for the second year. Very good, mild vertical crease. $30

PT9. (Theatre Union - The Civic Repertory Theatre) Six programs. Two identical sets are available. The following four are in "The Playbill": 1) Sailors of Cattaro. By Friedrich Wolf. Translated by Keene Wallis. Adapted by Michael Blankfort. Beginning February 4, 1934. Handbill laid in for a Sunday afternoon, February 10, performance of "Waiting for Lefty" with a "full program" of original sketches and improvisations" by eleven performers, among them, Elia Kazan, Clifford Odets, and Lee Strasberg. Good condition, light fold down center vertically. 2) Bitter Stream. By Victor Wolfson. Based on the novel Fontamara by Ignazio Silone. Beginning March 20, 1936. Cover by Don Freeman. 3) Leon Janney in Mulatto. A new drama by Langston Hughes and Martin Jones. Beginning April 6, 1936. Poem by Hughes on program title page. 4) Black Pit. By Albert Maltz. Beginning May 20, 1935. Cover illustration, a drawing, by "Sternberg" (Harry Sternberg) of a coal mining community.  Two further are in the relatively plain covers of the Civic Repertory Theatre only: 5) Stevedore. By Paul Peters and George Sklar. Staged by Michael Blankfort. 6) Peace on Earth. By George Sklar and Albert Maltz. Staged by Robert B. Sinclair. January 22, 1934. Note by Henri Barbusse in program. Each group of six: ONE SET STILL AVAILABLE $125

PT10. (Mercury Theater) a) The Mercury Theatre Presents Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. Staged by Orson Welles. Settings by John Koenig. Beginning Monday Evening May 2, 1938. Program. Self-wrappers. Lead players were Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brenda Forbes, and Welles as Captain Shotover. About very good, light vertical fold mark down middle. Two copies, one SOLD. $20 b) The Mercury Theatre Presents Danton's Death by Georg Büchner (1813-1837). Staged by Orson Welles. Songs by Marc Blitzstein. Beginning Wednesday, November 2, 1938. Program. Self-wrappers. Good copy with some signs of use. One minor performer's name is underlined on the cast list, and her first name is written on the cover. This production had a very short run of 21 performances. SOLD

PT11. (Theatre Arts Committee) TAC Magazine. Three issues: 1) February, 1939. WPA Theatre Issue on cover. Contributors included Marc Connelly, Lilian Hellman, Joris Ivens (on Spain). Many photographs. 2) April, 1939. Cover illustration of an actor in "Babes in the Wood," a London political pantomime. Lead article about Marion Anderson, "Because she is a Negro" by Eve Gauthier. Other contributions by John Wexley, Duke Ellington, and Jay Leyda. 3) December, 1939. Cover features "From Spirituals to Swing" by Carlton Moss, the famous Carnegie Hall Christmas concert of that year. Other contributions by Artie Shaw, Norman Corwin, Martin Berkeley, Herbert Biberman (pitching the noninterventionist line of the CP), Elliot Paul, Robert Sherwood, and others. Lower free corner torn off rear cover. SOLD

PT12. (Federal Theatre) Federal Theatre Plays: 1. Triple-a Plowed Under by the Staff of the Living Newspaper, 2. Power: A Living Newspaper by Arthur Arent, 3. Spirochete: A History by Arnold Sundgaard. New York, Random House, (1938). Introduction by Hallie Flanagan. Plays edited for this volume by Pierre de Rohan. Very good copy in original black cloth. Lacks dust jacket. SOLD

PT13. (Federal Theatre) Programs for the Federal Theatre. Single sheet folded to four or six pages with cover design of blue or black printing on white; undated for unrestricted use. 1) "It Can't Happen Here" [quotation marks as in original]. A play by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis. From the novel by Sinclair Lewis. Stain on front, fold marks. 2) Haiti by William Du Bois. Staged by Maurice Clark. Described on rear page as "A drama of the Black Napoleon." Performed at Daly's Theatre, 63rd St. east of Broadway. 3) Life and Death of an American. A dramatic biography in two parts by George Sklar. Gatefold, 6 pp. 4) Prologue to Glory by E. P. Conkle. Gatefold, 6 pp. Drama about Abraham Lincoln. Audience survey questionnaire from the Federal Theatre, National Play Bureau laid in. 5) The Manhattan and Bronx Unit Presents the African Drama "Bassa Moona" (The Land I Love). Written and directed by Momodu Johnson and Norman Coker. Synopsis on a folded sheet of orange-yellow paper, also quoting a couple of reviews, laid in. 6) Sing for Your Supper. A musical revue. Gatefold, 6 pp. The group: SOLD

 

FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT

This section is organized by state.

WP1. (Florida) Federal Writers Project. Miami and Dade County, Including Miami Beach and Coral Gables. Planning Your Vacation in Florida. American Guide Series. Compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Florida. Sponsored by the Florida State Planning Board. Northport, New York, Bacon, Percy & Daggett, (1941). Cloth with dust jacket. Very near fine in very near fine dust jacket, a lovely copy. Jacket signed in the design by (Irving) Politzer.  Foreword by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Stoneman Douglas later wrote the Everglades title for the Rivers of America series, dubbing it "the river of grass." The name caught on and her advocacy was instrumental in saving the Everglades from complete destruction. Sadly, the name of Marjory Stoneman Douglas will now forever be associated with the infamous school shooting in 2018. $250

WP2. (Illinois) Cavalcade of the American Negro. Compiled by the workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration in the State of Illinois. Frontispiece by Adrian Troy of the Illinois Art Project. Chicago, Diamond Jubilee Exposition Authority, 1940. Wrappers. Spine worn with several small chips, front wrapper with chip at upper left corner that extends onto the top of the spine. As usual with WPA Writers Project products, contributions were anonymous; the Encyclopedia of Chicago states that Arna Bontemps was the editor. The Illinois Program was particularly rich in notable African-American writers: besides Bontemps, Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, Katherine Dunham, Fenton Johnson, Frank Yerby, and the lesser known Richard Durham also participated. SOLD

WP3. (Massachusetts) Federal Writers Project. The Armenians of Massachusetts. Boston, Armenian Historical Society, 1937. Pebbled cloth, fine in fine dust jacket. An excellent copy. The first of the Project's forays into nationalities of the US.  $125

WP4. (New York) Federal Writers' Project. The Italians Of New York: A Survey. New York, Random House, 1938. About fine in slightly worn dust jacket. $200

WP5. New York Panorama. A comprehensive view of the metropolis, presented in a series of articles prepared by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration in New York City. New York, Random House, (1938). About fine in very good dust jacket with a few small chips at top of spine panel and top of back panel. $175

WP6.  Almanac for New Yorkers. 1938. Accommodated to the five boroughs but may without sensible error serve for the entire metropolitan area and even more distant points. New York, Modern Age Books, 1937. Wrappers. Very good. $40

WP7. Almanac for New Yorkers. 1939. Setting forth events of moment which will occur within this metropolitan year, together with a thoughtful analysis of this city's world's fair; also extraordinary disclosures gathered from all points and corners of the metropolitan area. New York, Modern Age Books, 1938. Wrappers. Very good. Much scarcer than the 1938 Almanac, in our experience. $50

WP8. (Nebraska) 1939 Almanac for Nebraskans. Lincoln, Woodruff Printing Company, 1938. Wrappers. Very good copy. Subtitled on cover "A Day to Day Guide to Cornhusker Doings." The introduction states that the success of the first Almanac for New Yorkers gave the impetus for other such efforts by the Project. $100

WP9. (Pennsylvania) Federal Writers Project, Philadelphia Unit. 3 Hikes thru the Wissahickon. n. pl., n. publ., n. d. [1936]. Wrappers. Very good. First issue of text, without the erratum concerning the photograph on p. 3. The first or second publication, depending on source, of the Federal Writers Project. In any scarce, scarce and a key item for FWP collectors. $250

WP10. Federal Writers Project, Philadelphia Unit. The Horse-Shoe Trail in Pennsylvania. Valley Forge to Manada Gap. [Philadelphia], William Penn Association of Philadelphia, 1942. Fourth edition (stated), first published 1938. "Sponsored by Henry N. Woolman, President, Horse-Shoe Trail Club, Inc."' Wrappers. Folding map bound in at rear. Very good. Scarce. $100

WP11. (Washington, DC) Washington, City and Capital. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1937. Very thick, squat 8vo. Original cloth. Very good copy. Legendary for his heft, and one can imagine it would not have been so large had it been in the hands of a commercial publisher, as nearly all the guides were. So far as we know, issued without a dust jacket. $100

 

LITERATURE

L1. The New Republic. Wednesday, April 18, 1934. Spring Literary Number. Vol. 88, No. 1011. Original self-wrappers. Cover of issue browned and a bit stiff, chip in upper right corner secured with acid-free tape, overall in good condition. Principal feature of the issue was "Books that Almost Nobody Read." Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, Conrad Aiken, Edmund Wilson, T. S. Matthews, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Horace Gregory are mentioned on the cover, others contributing included Isidor Schneider and Thornton Wilder. Dos Passos' selections leaned heavily toward proletarian novels. It is mentioned that Fitzgerald had just completed Tender is the Night. $100

L2. (Proletarian Literature) Lambert, Harold and Nathan B. Levin (Eds.). Scope. A magazine of proletarian literature. Vol. 1, No. 1. Bayonne, New Jersey, Scope, 1934. Wrappers. About fine copy of a rare magazine, slight bump in upper left corner. The only issue published. Faint name stamp in upper right corner of front wrapper. Well designed and produced. Top billing goes to a story by Ben Hecht.  Linocut illustrations. Ads for related publications like Blast and The Dispossessed by Jack Conroy. $150

L3. (American Writers Congress) Partisan Review. Volume II, No. 7, April-May, 1935. American Writers Congress Discussion Issue. Wrappers. Very good copy, oversized edges of wrappers nicked. $35

L4. (Social Novel) Kelly, Judith. It Won't Be Flowers. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1936. First edition. Very good copy in just fair dust jacket. A very scarce title. The dedication copy, with the added inscription "from his wife" (the author) below the printed dedication "To W. D. E." (William D. English, Kelly's husband). The plot concerns the relationship between an upper-class young woman and a Communist. The jacket has blurbs by Clifton Fadiman and Nancy Hale, and Harper further promoted the book on the back inside flap of the dust jacket of George Orwell's A Clergyman's Daughter. Her apolitical second and last novel, Marriage is a Private Affair, was filmed in 1944 with Lana Turner in the lead role. $150

L5. (Farm Workers) Steinbeck, John. Their Blood is Strong. San Francisco, Simon Lubin, 1938. First edition, first printing, with "Printed August, 1938" statement on title page. Very good to near fine copy. Iconic Dorothea Lange photograph on cover. $2500

L6. (League of American Writers) White Mountain Writers Conference. Jefferson, New Hampshire August 18th to September 2nd, 1941. Wrappers. 12 pp. on glossy paper, center-stapled. Very good copy. "Bulletin" prospectus for a series of courses under the auspices of the League of American Writers. Courses were taught by Alfred Kreymborg, Benjamin Appel, Millen Brand, Leopold Atlas (playwriting), and Wellington Rae (nonfiction). Visiting lecturers included Art Young, Eda Lou Walton, Albert Maltz, Richard Wright, Marc Blitzstein, Ida B. Scudder, Irwin Shaw, and Rockwell Kent. Capsule biographies and photograph portraits of all the faculty. Rare.  $150

 

ARTS AND CRAFTS

AC1. (Kansas Emergency Relief Committee). Weaving Manual. Woman's Section. Engineering Department. Topeka, Kansas Emergency Relief Committee, 1935. Wrappers, contents edge-stapled into wrappers. Two prefaces pointing out the importance of reviving what was becoming a "lost art" and learning a practical skill. Diagrams are similar to those of the 1936 manual listed herein. Some pages are printed on rectos only. Glossary of weaving terms. Two color plates of border designs and suggested color combinations. 25 numbered pages, additional pages out of pagination, two page errata. $60

AC2. (Resettlement Administration) Weaving Manual. n.pl., Resettlement Administration, Special Skills Division, 1936. 36 numbered pages, interspersed with ten full-page photographic reproductions of weaving patterns not in the pagination but in the figure numbering; patterns are trills, herringbonee, and others. "This manual is for those who take pleasure in designing and weaving things according to their taste and for their own use." Pages are bound in a clip binder (Accopress Binder, no. BG 2507) made of a somewhat brittle plastic material; lower corners of front and back covers chipped. Title page of manual mounted on front cover.  $60

AC3. (Comics) Ferargil Galleries. Exhibition of Comic Art. February 24 to March 7, 1936. 8 pp., printed on glossy paper. Introductory essay "Comic Art" by Gilbert Seldes. Artists in the exhibition included TAD, Chic Young (Blondie), George Herriman (Krazy Kat), Alec Raymond (Flash Gordon), Otto Soglow,  Billy Debeck (Barney Google), Lee Falk (Mandrake the Magician), George McManus (Bringing Up Father), among others. Most of the brief artist profiles are accompanied by photographic portraits of the cartoonists, stalwarts of the "funnies." Very rare, and the first show of its kind. WorldCat lists one copy only (Frick). SOLD

AC4. (Julien Levy Gallery- Benefit Events)  a) Twenty-five years of Russian ballet from the collection of Serge Lifar. Paintings drawings designs models. Bakst, Braque, . . . Roualt, Sert, Tchelitchew. New York, Julien Levy Gallery. n.d. [ca. 1938]. A benefit for the Architects Emergency Committee, whose aim was to find work for architects and allied professions during the Depression. SOLD b) Auction and Bazaar. For the Benefit of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners. Thursday Evening May 6th at 9 o'clock. New York, Julien Levy Gallery, n.d. [1937]. Single sheet folded twice to make 4 pp. The Committee was founded in 1931 under strong Communist Party influence (per Wikipedia) and was involved in the infamous case of the Scottsboro Boys. This exhibition was likely timed to augment the defense of Angelo Herndon. Very good copy with slight signs of handling. Participating artists included . . . nearly everyone. $200 c)  Paintings by Gracie Allen. September 20th to October 4th. Admission Twenty-Five Cents. For the Benefit of Medical Aid to China. n.d. [1938]. Yes, that Gracie Allen. Brief introductory text with quotes by Allen ("Really, I was terribly surprised though when I discovered the paintings were surrealistic") on p. [2], list of eight paintings with titles such as "Man with mike fright moons over manicurist," "Dogs gather on street corner to watch men fight," and (they get progressively weirder) "Behind the before yet under the vast above the world is in tears and tomorrow is Tuesday." Single sheet on pink paper, folded twice to make 4 pp. Very good. The American Bureau for Medical Aid to China was founded in 1937. $225 

AC5. Le Corbusier (i.e., Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). Logis et Loisirs. 5me Congrès du CIAM. Boulogne-sur-Seine, Editions de l'Architecture d'aujourd'hui, 1938. Wrappers. Good copy. Subscription form for L'Architecture du Aujourd'hui laid in. In the series "Collection de l'equipement de la civilisation machiniste." Presentation copy, inscribed by Le Corbusier to Nelson Rockefeller on the first page "À M. Nelson Rockefeller, de la part du groupe CIAM - France. Le President Le Corbusier." The conferences of the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) applied the ideas of the modern movement to various aspects of humanistic urban planning. SOLD

AC6. (Murals) Pictures on Exhibit. A review of the art shows. Vol. 1, no. 8, June, 1938. Wrappers, 32 pp. Covers bit soiled, good. Two-page article on the Federal Art Project murals with illustration of a mural by Anton Refregier. Also letter from Paris by Klaus Perls, mulberry prints by Stanley Wilson, gallery news, and so on. SOLD:

AC7. (Museum of Modern Art) Early Modern Architecture. Chicago 1870-1910. Wrappers, taped spine over staples. 26 pp., typescript, printed on rectos. "Catalog of an exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York from January 18 to February 23, 1933. Second edition, revised, March, 1940." Exhibition was based on photographs. A plainly produced, unillustrated catalog. Scarce. $50

AC8. (Antiwar) David Smith. Medals for Dishonor. New York, Willard Gallery, 1940. Text by William Blake and Christina Stead. Wrappers. Fine. A brilliant concept and a powerful antiwar statement, far above the hack work of much political art of the era. $350

AC9. (Folk Art) Graham, John M. Popular Art in America. Woodcarvings and Lawn Sculpture. Decorative Pictures. Weather Vanes. Toys. Firebacks and Stoves. Ceramics and Chalkware. Valentines, Advertising, Prints. Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, 1940. Wrappers. Small 8vo, 40 pp. Photographic illustrations. Very good copy. Graham was an important artist in his own right. A pioneering exhibit. $25

AC10. (Index of American Design) Emblems of Unity and Freedom: The Index of American Design. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d., ca. 1940. Oversized clothlike wrappers. Unpaginated (32 pp.). Four-page introduction by Holger Cahill. Very good condition, wrappers bit dusty. "The illustrations in this book are reproductions of drawings from the Index of American Design compiled by State Art Projects of the Works Progress Administration." $25

AC11. (Illinois Art Project) Dedication. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. South Side Community Art Center. May 7, 1941. Wrappers with silkscreen cover illustration. 8vo, 16 pp., of which six are given to a list of members in various categories, a valuable source of names of middle-class Black Chicagoans. Elsewhere the names of artist members and a schedule of exhibitions and events at the center are given. Also present is a program of the same size, a single card printed on both sides. Order of program on face with invocation by Reverend A. Wayman Ward and greetings by Mayor Edward J. Kelly, Mrs. Roosevelt and Peter Pollack, Director of the Center. Among the after-dinner speakers were Alain Locke and Holger Cahill. The program opened with "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson, called in the program the National Negro Anthem. A direction asks that "Audience will please stand for the singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and remain standing for the invocation." The reverse side is a list of names of greeting committee members. Very good condition, small stain in lower right tip of booklet and program. SOLD

 

VARIA

V1. (American Near East Industries) Gay Peasant Embroideries For Sale. . . Sponsored by the Near East Foundation. Large trade card. n.d., 1930s. A lovely trade card, printed in colors and with gold ink. The goods sold by the shop provided employment for hundreds of refugee women in the aftermath of the expulsion of the Asia Minor Greeks. The American Near East Industries was a program of the Near East Foundation, which originated to help victims of the Armenian and Assyrian genocides. The shop closed in 1940 due to war conditions. SOLD

V2. (Antifascism) Gorman, Francis J., Alfons Goldschmidt, and Gaetano Salvemini. The Fate of Trade Unions under Fascism. New York, Anti-Fascist Literature Committee, 1937. Foreword by Isabel de Palencia, Ambassador of Spain to Sweden. Green wrappers. 12mo, 48 pp. Very good, clean copy, faint crease in upper right corner of front cover. Striking sans-serif typography on cover. $25

V3. (Antisemitism) Hamilton, William. Salute the Jew! One hundred and eight illustrations. Chicago, Published by the author, for private circulation only. Wrappers. Spine repaired with tape, good within. The libraries of antisemites resemble those of people with other fixations; they have not one or a few but very many publications with the same sort of contents that reinforce their view, and it is depressing to come across such a collection and see how much of this kind of stuff was published. This work, from such a trove, is however particularly interesting (and insane) for its iconographic approach, as if the Elders of Zion had a design committee insidiously planting Jewish symbols everywhere. Why they would put hidden messages in beer labels and US Post Office prepaid stamps - well, if you have to ask . . .  $60

V4. (Aviation) Air Youth of America. Wrappers. Large 4to, 20 pp. Promotional and informational brochure for this organization, incorporated in 1940. Art Deco sculpture by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney pictured on front cover. Illustrated with photographs. Pinned to the rear cover of the brochure are a leaflet "How to Build Air Youth Model Planes," a brochure "Youth and Aviation Today," a four-page leaflet "The Air Youth Scholarships for Training in Aviation," a one-page flier "Model Airplane Contests," and one issue (vol. 1, no. 12, December, 1940) of their magazine "Air Youth Horizons." With the entry of the US into the war pilot training became the purview of the military and the organization went out of existence. $40

V5. (Basketball) Holman, Nat [with unacknowledged assistance from Meyer Liben] Winning Basketball. New York, Scribner's, 1934. Very good copy in very good dust jacket with a little rust staining along the edge of the back inside flap. Later (1934) printing (lacks "A" on copyright page, copyright date is 1932). As a long-serving coach at the City College of New York (CCNY) Holman did much to take basketball to national prominence. When we purchased Meyer Liben's library one of his daughters mentioned in passing that he ghost-wrote this book. Indeed, his New York Times obituary mentions that at CCNY he served as an editor and sports reporter, so this is entirely plausible. This is the first time this information has been made public. This copy is not from the Liben collection. $75

V6. (Bibliophily) Colophon Dinner April 20, 1932. Large sheet with fold marks. Seating chart, giving the names of those seated at the facetiously named tables.  Some names, including John Carter's, have been lightly ticked in pencil. Inscribed on the lower right corner: "a memorable 'first night' JB." The Colophon was conceived as a printers' showcase and first appeared in 1930; subscriptions took a  hit as the Depression wore on. SOLD

V7. (Book Collecting) Edward Morrill & Son. American Literature 1693-1900. A collection of 1000 books by American authors showing the literary and cultural development of the United States. Including The Bay Psalm Book 1729 -- Jonathan Edward's Treatise, 1746 -- Pickering's Vocabulary, 1816 -- Poe's Raven in original wrappers, 1845 -- Booney's Banditti of the Prairie, 1850 -- The First Beadle Dime Novel, 1860 -- Huck Finn, 1885 -- Wizard of Oz, 1900 -- 160 titles in American Fiction before 1851 -- Poetry -- Drama -- Essays. Boston, Edward Morrill & Son, 1940.The first catalog from this firm. Wrappers. Only printing. Stapled binding. One-page foreword by Maurice K. Humphreys. Two plates illustrating The Wizard of Oz, Banditti of the Prairie, The Raven, and Malaeska by Mrs. Anne H. Stephens (the first Beadle dime novel). Very good condition. A time capsule of what American books were considered peak collector's items in 1940. $25

V8. (Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho) Big July 4th Celebration and Rodeo in the "Sticks" at VO Dude Ranch - Clark Cox, Johnson Creek [major heading]. . . . Featured a "Big Ball Game - Meadow Creek Miners vs. Conservation Corps Men." Broadside on tinted paper, 15" X 10 1/2 ", folded once horizontally and then once vertically. The CCC had a camp at Yellow Pine, Valley County, Idaho, where Johnson Creek is located, in 1935. Very good condition. $450

V9. (Cuisine) Charpentier, Henri and Boyden Sparkes. Life à la Henri. Being the memoirs of Henri Charpentier. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1934. First edition. Very good copy in very good dust jacket. Publisher's file copy. Laid in are two small original photographs of Charpentier in chef's toque, taken during the time he operated a restaurant on Long Island, annotated on versos. In one he is part of a group posed on a Stutz Bearcat automobile, the quintessential symbol of the era's "fast crowd." Also laid in is a newspaper advertisement for the book. Accompanied by the installments (lacking one installment) of the magazine appearance in the Saturday Evening Post in the same year. Charpentier rode the perhaps fabulous story of his invention of crepes Suzette to international fame. This book appeared at the high point of his career, before business reverses caught up with him. His Radio City restaurant was evicted in 1935 and the Long Island location that made him famous closed its doors in 1938. $200

V10. (Cuisine) The Wine and Food Society Inc. Normandy Dinner. Hotel Ritz-Carlton New York. Monday Evening, March the Fifteenth, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-Seven. Self-wrappers, 8 pp. Preface, Cooking in Normandy, by Ridgway B. Knight, followed by the evening's menu, recipes, and description of wines. Good condition, little dog-eared, separating at top of fold. $25

V11. (Daredevils) Mary Wiggins. America's foremost stunt girl and her incomparable Hollywood Dare Devils. America's foremost thrill show. Official program - 10 cents. Paterson, NJ, Alexander Hamilton Printing Company, n.d. [ca. 1937]. Single sheet folded into three panels, printed on both sides. Face with text given above and photograph of a motorcycle daredevil act. Other two outer panels are a biography of Mary Wiggins with her accomplishments on one and on the other two announcements, for motorcycle races in Paterson, NJ and a day at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway, Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. Inside panels printed in panorama with three photographs and description of fifteen acts. Signed on the face in pencil "Sincerely / Mary Wiggins / Hollywood." An amazing survival and a great item for those interested in the history of stunt performers. Wiggins committed suicide at age 36 in 1945; she was 27 when this program appeared. Near very good copy, somewhat unevenly folded, some brownish stains in an area of a couple of square inches on the right side of the front panel, not affecting the signature. $150

V12. (Eight Cylinder Engines) The De Soto Eight. Chrysler Motors Product. Oblong 12mo format. n.d., ca. 1930. Brochure in high art-deco style, beautifully printed. De Soto introduced the eight-cylinder models at the beginning of the 1930s. A distinguishing feature was, as displayed on the cover, moving the company name plate to the middle of a crossbar. Bodies remained flat-fronted and boxy, without streamlining. $50

V13. (Fascism) Ten Years of Italian Progress. [Rome], Ente Nazionale Industrie Turistiche, n.d. [1932]. Wrappers. Small squarish 8vo. Cover design, the same front and back, by C. V. [Carlo Vittorio] Testi, who produced many stunning graphics for the fascist regime. $100

V14. (Fashion) Harper's Bazaar. April, 1934. The Paris Openings. Wrappers, large 4to. Very good condition. Perhaps it's simply a difference in standards, but many of the clothes appear to be worn by clientele rather than professional models; in any case, the sylph look of today is hardly present. Scads of photographs by "Baron" de Meyer and others. Chanel, Lelong, Lanvin and so on. Literary contributions by Stefan Zweig, Louis Golding, Vincent Sheean, and Frank Sullivan. Several pages of small ads for summer camps, boarding schools, and art training. And ads, ads, ads. Neat, rather geometric cover by Erté. $100

V15. (Hindenburg Disaster) Für Ihre Spende mit der Sie Ihre Anteilnahme . . . gebracht haben, sage Ich Ihnen meinen besten Dank. Certificate of thanks for contributing to a fund for the victims of the Hindenburg disaster of May, 1937. Fine condition. In German. Signed in facsimile by Hermann Goering. $45

V16. (Jewish Community in Palestine) Margolies, Rabbi J. M., with the participation of the Literary Committee. Year Book of the Federation of Palestine Jews in America. Fifth Annual Convention. December 21-22 [December 22-23 on the Hebrew title page], 1934. New York City. Brooklyn, Shulsinger Bros., 1934. Wrappers, 8vo, 182 pp. plus a couple of plate-like inserts. Contents in Hebrew and Yiddish. Numerous pages of ads from supporters in Yiddish, Hebrew and English, e.g., Grossinger's Hotel, various steamship lines such as Cunard, and many small businesses. This organization was, so far as we can determine from scant references, devoted to the interests of the religious community in Palestine. $50

V17. (Marxist) International Review. April, 1937. Vol. 2, No. 3. Self-wrappers. Good condition, lower free tip of entire issue very shallowly chipped. Lead article "Spain Turns. Complete statement by Roberto." Also Dictatorship over Proletariat by [Julius] Martov, review of a John Strachey book by Paul Mattick, and Two Moscow "Secrets" by "Yvon" about the show trials. Rare. Founded and staffed by Marxist exiles who were anti-Bolshevik, with no exception made for Trotsky. Given his analysis of the situation in Spain and his name or pseudonym, Roberto was from Spain or Latin America.  Given his political position he was painting a target on his back and staying anonymous was probably a good idea. $45

V18. (Modern Design - Metal Furniture) The GF News. January, 1931. Youngstown, General Fireproofing Company, 1931. Self-wrappers, 8vo, 16 pp. "The Making of an Aluminum Chair" by the editor, R. S. Gildart is the lead article and featured on the cover. Other articles on progressive standardization and use of the company's products. An important development in manufacturing that became a taken-for-granted look; chances are you have sat in one of their chairs and used their four-drawer metal filing cabinets. $60

V19. (Native Americans) Nash, Jay B., Oliver LaFarge and W. Carson Ryan. The New Day for the Indians. A survey of the working of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. New York, Academy Press, 1938. Self-wrappers, 48 pp. Illustrated with photographs and charts. Fair-good condition, printed on low-quality paper. Front and rear pages separating. SOLD

V20. (Nazism in America) Memorial Service in Honor of Reichspresident General Field Marshall Paul von Benecksdorff und von Hindenburg . . . Trauerfeier für Reichspräsident Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Benecksdorff und von Hindenburg . . . [etc.] Two-sided broadside, English on one side, German on the other, black-bordered. Held under the auspices of the American League "Friends of the New Germany" in cooperation with the German-American Conference. Event was held at the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Astoria, Long Island.  Hindenburg died on August 4, 1934, this event was to be held on August 7! Supposedly, a torchlight parade by "1000 members of the Ordnungsdienst" was to take place. The membership bar for that "elite" group must have been low, as the organization had 5000-10000 members at its peak. $100

V21. (Newstands) The American News Trade Journal. Vol. 23. January 1941. Wrappers. Good copy, covers worn, ink note on front cover. Principal article with centerfold spread on Sam's Corner in Lynn, Massachusetts, with a wonderful centerfold double-page photograph of the magazine display of the store. Unfortunately, a laid-in clipping partially browned the image. Laid in is the typescript for the article and three newspaper clippings about the store. Newsstands were - as  now - an entry-level occupation for immigrants. Besides newspapers and magazines, Sam's sold cigars and no doubt other tobacco products. Contents include news about the magazine industry and many advertisements for current books. $30

V22. (Nightlife) Tai Yat Low Restaurant. Delicious Chinese Dishes. 22 Mott St. New York .  . . Open all night. [Cover title.] Menu. 12 pp. plus four typewritten pages of special dinner combinations stapled at top and laid in. Also kept with the menu were a tag for floral delivery to a C. Donkowski at a Brooklyn address, and a pink oversized card for the Howdy Revue on W. 3rd St. (a "queer" club, "one of the few locations meant specifically for a lesbian audience, although straight couples and gay men were allowed to attend as guests" according to Odd Voices NYC). Finally, newspaper clippings from the Daily News, dated May 26, 1941, for the Tommy Dorsey at the Hotel Astor in Times Square. A whirl of an evening. SOLD

V23. (Ocean Liners) Resolute Ballyhoo. May 10th, 1934. Single sheet folded to four pages. Elaborately printed program of  a "ballyhoo." Skits in German and English, a sound effects act, Mental Telepathy by "Abdul Achet Mahomet," musical numbers by the ship's orchestra. Translations from German credited to Baron Albrecht von Schroeder. The S/S Resolute was build in 1914 for the Hamburg America line, acquired that name while under American ownership, and kept it after it was returned to the line in 1926. In 1935 it was sold for scrap but then was used by Italy as a troop ship in the Abyssinian War. SOLD

V24. (Photojournalism) Friday. Vol. 1, No. 10, May 17, 1940. Self-wrappers. About very good condition. Unusual format, appears folded conventionally but flips open sideways to a vertical format. Friday aspired to be a left-wing Life Magazine heavy on politics and photography (see Mike Weaver, 1997, History of Photography, vol. 21, issue 2, p. 171).  Lead article on "General Oil," another article on Ghost Towns in Steel, German exiles interned in France, D. W. Griffith, racy article on corsets. Photograph of a "glamour girl" on front page. Comic strips too! Very scarce.  $125

V25. (Photography) Applied Photography. A magazine of noteworthy examples of photography as applied to the major problems of industrial management and market development. Rochester, New York, Eastman Kodak Company, 1931-1936. Complete set of fourteen numbers, housed in the original open-sided folding case. Ownership marks, stamped or handwritten, on most numbers of the Clarence White School of Photography, the first such teaching institution (White himself died in 1926). Each issue has a list of art directors and others who supplied photographs on behalf of their companies, but the individual photographers are not credited. Each issue has a different topic, viz., Picturing Performance, Interpreting Quality, Picturing Products, Economizing Attention, Creating Interest, and so forth. The tenth issue is devoted to photography at the Chicago World's Fair. Many of the photographs fall within the aesthetic of the Neue Sachlichkeit. The individual numbers are in good condition overall, the spine of the case is broken and in poor condition.  $225

V26. (Photography) Catalog of the Third International Leica Exhibit at Radio City New York Tuesday October 20th to Monday Nov. 2nd 1936. New York, E. Leitz, 1936. Wrappers. 12mo. 710 listings, with a large section of amateur photographers. Carl Van Vechten exhibited 12 photographs in the Professional Photographers section, and Alfred Knopf showed a series of author photographs in the amateur section. Notable also is the inclusion of Alfred Eisenstaedt, who had left Germany and emigrated to the US the year before. SOLD

V27. (Political) No Third Term! Democrats for Willkie. Ink-blotter-size card with Uncle Sam giving a thumbs down. Fine condition. Wendell Willkie went on to serve Roosevelt when the US entered the war. His book One World, documenting his war-related travels, was published in 1944 by the Limited Editions Club. Apparently literacy was at one time a prerequisite for running for the office of President . . . . $25

V28. (Popular Song) Porter, Cole. Miss Otis Regrets She's Unable to Lunch Today. New York, Harms, 1934. Sheet music. The "Frankie and Johnny" of the idle rich, taking the crust off the upper crust. Very good copy. $20

V29. (Public Works Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority) Whitman, Willson. God's Valley. People and power along the Tennessee River. New York, Viking Press, (1939). First edition. Review copy with slip laid in. Original cloth, very good copy in very good dust jacket shallowly chipped across the top of the spine panel. A few initial pages with a small stain at the bottom edge. Illustrated with photographs credited to Charles Edward Krutch and (in one instance) to Lewis Hine. Krutch joined the TVA as a photographer in 1934 and for twenty years documented the projects of the authority and their impact on the region. Four of his photographs were included in the landmark Museum of Modern Art 1937 exhibition on photography. $45

V30. (Public Works Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority) TVA Program. Text and pictures from The Architectural Forum. n.pl. [Knoxville], Tennessee Valley Authority, n.d. [1939]. Wrappers. Small folio. Very good copy. Extremely scarce. Contents were originally published in The Architectural Forum in its August, 1939 issue. $150

V31. (Refugees) Two benefit auctions. Often what is contributed to such events are shelf cleaners, but these offered real treasures. a)  g – o – i – n - g, G – O – I – N – G, GONE! Rare Book Auction. Hotel Plaza, New York. December 8, 1938. [Cover title.] Book Auction Dinner. Joint Distribution Committee and Committee for Christian German Refugees. New York, 1938. Wrappers. The Chairman was A. S. W. Rosenbach, while Thomas Mann and Albert Einstein  were Honorary Chairmen. Short preface by Thomas Mann, who contributed a manuscript, and foreword by Albert Einstein. John Fleming prepared the catalog. Cover illustration by Rockwell Kent. This copy has been partially annotated with the prices realized and names of purchasers and donors of some lots. b) Benefit Auction of Manuscripts, Letters, Books, Original Drawings, and Librettos under the Auspices of the League of American Writers, Inc. In Cooperation with the Bookseller’s Guild of America. For the benefit of Exiled Writers. To be held at the Hotel Pierre, Fifth Avenue at 61st Street, New York City. Sunday Night, January 14th, 1940, at 8:00 (Admittance by ticket only). New York, 1940. Wrappers. Signed by one contributor, Henry Seidel Canby, on a facsimile page of a manuscript he donated. Canby had been warning of the dangers of Nazism since the early 1930s. Preface by Albert Einstein, who also contributed a manuscript. Cover illustration by Rockwell Kent. The two: $375

V32. (Socialism) Laski, Harold J. Karl Marx. An essay. With The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. With introduction by Norman Thomas. New York, League for Industrial Democracy, (1933). Wrappers. Very good copy. $25

V33. (Spanish Civil War) Spain & Culture. Royal Albert Hall (Manager C. R. Cochran). June 24th 1937. Large card. Face of card has in addition to above text a paste-on drawing by Picasso, "dedicated to the mothers and children of Spain." Back of card headed "Grand International Meeting . . . in Aid of the Basque refugee children." Among the featured speakers were Picasso and Heinrich Mann. Paul Robeson attended via broadcast from Moscow. The listed sponsors are a broad section of the left intelligentsia, including H. G. Wells, Rebecca West, W. H. Auden, and Bloomsbury figures Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant. $750 

V34. (Spanish Civil War) Robles, Antonio, writing as "antoniorobles". Llevan a la Luna un dia. Hasta la Comisaria. Cuentos. n. pl. [Barcelona], Estrella, Editorial para la Juventud, n.d. [1937?].  Wrappers separated, otherwise in good condition. Antonio Robles, who used the pseudonym "antoniorobles," was a pioneer of the modern children's book in Spain. While Russian children's books of this era are familiar, such books from Spain published during the Civil War period are practically never seen. WorldCat lists three copies, all in Spanish libraries, with the comment (in Catalan) "Edició de guerra, en paper de baixa qualitat." After the fall of the Republic not only Robles but also the publisher, Estrella, went into exile and reestablished in Mexico. $200

V35. (Southern Textile Mills - Photography) This is a Picture Book about Blankets. New York, Chatham Manufacturing Company, n.d. [ca. 1941]. Self-wrappers, square 8vo, [32] pp. Very good condition. Devoted to photographs of the factory and office workers of the Chatham Manufacturing Company of Elkin, North Carolina, and the manufacturing process from start to finish. Many workers are identified by name and job, and the photographs treat the subjects and their work with dignity. Includes a full-page photograph of "Uncle" Jesse Barker, age 87, who "walks five miles to work every day" and remembered the arrival of Union soldiers in Elkin in 1865. Chatham was known for its high-quality products. A relic of the era of paternalism and single-employer milltowns, the company was undone by a predatory and financially fraudulent takeover in 1988. $50

V36. (Synthetics) A Brooklyn Museum Handbook Compiled for the Industrial Arts Exhibition of Rayon and Synthetic Yarns. Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, 1936. Wrappers. Smooth fabric covers, possibly rayon, with title word printed in orange-red on blue. Very good condition, leading edge of front wrapper little worn. First and only edition. Illustrated with photographs. 8vo, 84 pp. (last page blank). Introduction by M. D. C. Crawford. Twelve other substantial contributions by a panel of authors on the scope of rayon, texture of rayon fabrics, fashion significance of rayon, and so on. Photographic illustrations are credited to organizations and companies and are in the style of industrial photography. SOLD

V37. (WPA Project) The Railroads of Florida. Published . . . as a result of research material furnished by personnel of Works Project Administration Official Project Number 665-35-3-68. Tallahassee, Florida Railroad Commission, 1939. Card covers, taped spine with side stapling through covers, as issued. Compiled by Ralph G. Hill and James H. Fledger. "Every railroad which has ever been incorporated or chartered is listed." Folding charts at rear. $60

V38. (Yiddish Union Printers) Frank, Herman.אידישע טיפאגראפיע און בוך־אױסארבעטונג קונסט.  Idishe ṭipografye un bukh-oysarbeṭung ḳunsṭ. Hebrew Typography and Bookmaking Art. New York, Hebrew-American Typographical Union Local no. 83, I.T.U., 1938. 8vo, purple cloth. In Yiddish with extra title page in English. Illustrated. Fine copy. $60

V39. (Zionism) Weill, Kurt and Darius Milhaud. Folk Songs of the New Palestine. First Series. 3. The Builders. Bring the Bricks. Havu L'venim. Arranged by Kurt Weill. Day after Day. Gam Hayom. Arranged by Darius Milhaud. n. pl. New York, Nigun, 1938. Wrappers. 4to, 4 pp. Good condition. Edited and annotated by Dr. Hans Nathan. English translation by Harry H. Fein. Published by Hechalutz Organization of America and Masada, Youth Zionist Organization of America.  Hebrew words and English translation on front inside cover, notes on the two songs on the inside back cover.  Back cover lists the titles of the first and second series. $100

 

CURTAIN

C1. Christmas in Hawaii. Battery "L." 64th Coast Artillery (AA). Fort Shafter, T. H. Christmas Dinner Menu - 1937. Single large sheet of heavy paper folded to four pages. Menu and roster of personnel on inside pages with posed picture of members of the battery across the top of the pages. Battery L alone had more than 100 men. Map on back page of the Hawaiian Islands with the legend "The Army in Hawaii" listing the various installations in the then territory. Good condition, extraneous paper adhering to bottom of back page. $45

C2. Zaret, Hy, Bernie Wayne, and Nat Gardner. The Yanks Are Not Coming. New York, Trio Music Co., 1940. Sheet music, small format, single sheet folded to 4 pp. Good condition, signs of old tape reinforcement around edges of p. [2]. This piece, mentioned in John Bush Jones' The Songs that Fought the War: Popular Music and the Home Front, 1939-1945, conforms for better or worse with the attitude of the Communist movement, which, ironically, was in agreement with isolationists like Charles Lindbergh. After the Soviet Union was invaded CPUSA stalwarts immediately changed their tune and clamored for intervention. All three co-composers, but especially the first two, had considerable success in the popular music field. $50

C3. Herlin, Emil (maps) and Varian Fry (text). War Maps. New York, The Foreign Policy Association, 1940. Wrappers, 96 pp. Very good copy, slight fading to wrappers near spine, very small spot on rear cover.  45 detailed maps show the developing conflict of what became World War II. Order form for Headline Books, in which series this was published, strapped under text block front and back. Fry later became known for his efforts in Vichy France saving endangered intellectuals, artists and writers.  $45

C4. McCloy, John J. America's Present Military Strength. No Basis for Defeatism. An address delivered at annual meeting of the Society of the Alumni, Amherst College, June 14, 1941. New York, Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, [and] New York, The Fight for Freedom Committee, n.d. [1941]. Self-wrappers, 12 pp. About very good condition. Shortly before McCloy had been appointed Assistant Secretary of War. $30

C5. (Hawaii) Navy Blues. Screen play by Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay. Music by Arthur Schwartz. Lyrics by Al Dubin. Director Lloyd Bacon. (as per title page, the lyrics of the title song "Navy Blues" are credited to Johnny Mercer within). Shooting script. Private binding of quarter-leather, with movie title and name "Eddie Blatt" on spine. Blatt received a credit as dialogue director. Mixture of white and blue paper, showing successive revisions. Embellished with photographs of same size as pages, frontispiece of principal cast - Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Martha Raye, and Jack Haley - relaxing in folding director chairs, five other photographs with action shots. A Warner Brothers musical, shot in San Diego pretending to be Hawaii, and released in September, 1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was soon to create a far different set of associations for the Navy and Hawaii, and the year ended with the US at war on two fronts. $650