Catalogues

RBMS 2021 (Virtual Edition)

RBMS 2021 (Virtual Edition)

For this year’s RBMS Showcase (Virtual Edition), we have compiled a representative sampling of our inventory comprised of sixty items, ranging from Mexican cook books to oil maps to Cuban slavery items to murder broadsides.  Highlights include a large collection of cook books by Josefina Velazquez Leon, the first celebrity chef of Mexico; an archive of letters by famed Boston soprano Mrs. J.H. Long; a 1980s vernacular manuscript on tarot; Sanborn fire insurance maps of Santa Fe; the scrapbook photo album of a Texas border patrolman in the 1940s; an archival photo album documenting the work of airforce engineers in Japan during World War II; and many other fascinating and unusual archives and imprints.  Enjoy!

List #29 - Photography

List #29 - Photography

The present list is comprised of twenty-five photographic items -- both professional and vernacular -- covering a wide array of topics and places.  Highlights include a wonderful photograph album assembled by a couple on their honeymoon in Costa Rica in the early 20th century (see cover); a photo album kept by a young Japanese man interned at Poston Internment Camp; images of African-American soldiers; several pieces relating to Alaska, including vernacular stereoviews of Nome; an album kept by a young Mexican-American woman in Texas; large albumen prints from Michigan’s northern reaches; and more.  Enjoy!

Western States Virtual Fair

Western States Virtual Fair

This catalogue is comprised of twenty-one unique, archival items for the Western States Virtual Book Fair. Highlights include an incredible archive of an Oregon pioneer during the Civil War; an entire lifetime’s worth of diaries kept by a Brooklyn socialite who traveled abroad and to the American West; a wonderful unpublished World War II unit history with a maquette containing original photos; vernacular photography, scrapbooks, business letters, and more. Enjoy!

List #28 - Recent Acquisitions

List #28 - Recent Acquisitions

We are pleased to offer our latest list of thirty items, all recently acquired and freshly catalogued.  It includes a wide variety of material from across the continent -- an early treatise on cattle; a Japanese American directory from the mid-1950s; a rare California history; an unusual Native American language item; rare and unusual imprints from Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, and Idaho; some German Texas fiction; and a souvenir of the “Hello Girls” from the Great War, among others.  Enjoy!

List #27 - Maps & Views

List #27 - Maps & Views

Antiquarian maps and views provide wonderful records of a past life of a place, and capture the irrevocably changed landscapes and geographies of a particular space and time.  Our latest list contains thirty maps and views from across the continent of North America.  There are mining maps from the American West; real estate maps and auto maps; maps produced as promotional products; a manuscript plan of a small town in Mexico; rare letter sheets from Texas and California; and several bird’s eye views, including a large and splendid view of Havana from 1851.  Enjoy!

California International Antiquarian Book Fair 2021

California International Antiquarian Book Fair 2021

Despite the disappointment of missing our annual pilgrimage to California, we’ve compiled a wonderful list of material on California, the West, and Latin America, as well as other interesting topics. Highlights include a lengthy manuscript from the 19th-century Philippines; a Buddhist Church directory produced in the Manzanar internment camp; many rare pieces of Californiana; a stunning set of Indian portraits by a Montana photographer; several archives, both photographic and manuscript; and much more. Enjoy!

List #26 - Cookery

List #26 - Cookery

We have assembled for your delectation a group of twenty modestly-priced cook books -- many of them unrecorded -- representing a wide variety of states and appetites.  There are recipes from small towns in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado; scarce works from Mexico; two community cook books from Illinois; a wonderful piece from Wisconsin; and several works of Mexican-American California interest.  Enjoy!

List #25 - Cuba

List #25 - Cuba

Our latest cataogue is devoted to works from and about Cuba, primarily from the 19th century.  It includes unusual and rare imprints -- many of them unrecorded -- not only from Havana, but also Guanabacoa, Cienfuegos, Puerto-Principe, and Matanzas, as well as manuscript material and photography.  Highlights include a rare Cuban cook book illustrated with plates; a rare bilingual guidebook published in Havana in 1899, with a handsome map; an archive of mining photographs featuring local people and scenery; the archive of a Cuban planter from the early 19th-century; a photographically illustrated work on the Cuban Revolution published in 1872; a rare annual guide to Cuba from 1809 located in one other copy; and many more interesting pieces. Enjoy!