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Browse Category | - 3127 items found in your search |
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"Company School" Metamorphic Costume Cards, Watercolors/Gouache on Mica, depicting various Indian characters -- tradespeople and servants
NA Good
N.d. Circa 1830 to 1850. Eleven cards, ten of which are overlay cards, deliberately leaving out a face, and one, the base card, this one featuring two heads, one to apply to the standing figures, the other, to the kneeling/seated ones, regardless of the figure's gender. The cards all measure 11 by 7.5 cm. Scarce genre. One comes upon Company School mica painted figures with some regularity, and metamorphic costume overlay cards, the same, but the two genres combined are encountered far far less. These Indian paintings on mica from the early to mid-19th Century have become known as "Company School" paintings because they were typically produced for employees of the East India Company as souvenirs. The genre was supposedly emulating the painting on glass which was the rage in Europe at the time. The nature of mica dictated the size of these paintings. While mica has the wonderful ability to be shaved off into thin slices or sheets, these sheets are also brittle and easily fracture, making a larger format impractical. The subject matter of these cards include a seated street vendor with scales, a seated woman spinning thread on a spindle whorl, a seated pot mender, a man armed with a scimitar and shield, a kneeling man with a bottle and cup, a man with a hound and whip, a dancing girl, etc. Condition: typical edge chips, cracks or fracturing. Still, the painted work remains bright, fresh, and essentially well-preserved.
Price:
1750.00 USD
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2 |
"Santiago de Cuba"
Box Very Good
Extraordinary group of ten original "postcards" with mixed media artwork depicting the sights of Santiago de Cuba. N.d., 1950s. With each folk art-y depiction of a monument, building or the like there is a combination of wafer thin pieces of wood pasted down and watercolors and pen and ink applied directly to the card. On to the wood is applied inkwork as well. The sights include the Jose Marti monument, the Abel Santa Maria monument, the cathedral, the Moncada, the Pdre Pico stairs, the Castello del Morro, the Diego Velazquez balcony, the Plaza de la Revolucion Antoni Maceo, the Granjita Siboney, and the City Hall. Homemade box, with faux wood panels -- the faux finish is carried over to the interior of the box as well -- alligator trim and card label made to look like sign nailed down. We would guess that the cards and box were made by a local artist for sale to a visitor, but we can't say for sure that they were not made by an enthusiastic, talented tourist. Either way, does it really matter? Somehow, to the whole production, something of the improvisational, original and quirky spirit of Cuba itself is captured! The box measures 14 by 12 by 2 cm. The cards are 13.5 by 10 cm.
Price:
1000.00 USD
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4 |
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" Produced for the First Time in Great Britain on Monday Evening August 14th, 1922 at the Palace Theatre, London Souvenir of Publicity August 5th to August 20th 1922
London 1922 Quarter Morocco, Cloth boards Very Good
Unusual scrapbook prepared for movie mogul of the silent era. Folio, 37 by 27 cm. 33 leaves with content (66 pp), with a few blank leaves. The scrapbook consists of photographs and many newspaper clippings all relating to the London roll-out of the Rudolph Valentino movie, "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", which was the top money-making movie of 1921. The movie, based on the Vincente Blasco Ibanez novel, would be remade in 1962. The first version catapulted Valentino to major stardom and turned him into the screen's foremost Latin Lover. It also greatly popularized the tango outside of Argentina. Also starring in the movie were Wallace Beery and Alice Terry. The scrapbook or album was prepared on behalf of Marcus Loew, the theater chain magnate and a founder of MGM, which was formed through merger three years later, who admitted to not caring for the movie, before the money started rolling in. As a document, the scrapbook captures in a concentrated manner the nature of movie publicity in the early twenties, at a time that the movie industry was taking the form of an actual industry. Leaves are of heavy card. A gilt printed title page, with a modern outer binding. Some photos with corner creases and minor edge loss.
Price:
1250.00 USD
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5 |
"Violets." A Calendar 1898
Boston L. Prang & Co. 1897 First Edition Wraps Near Fine
Oblong, 9.5 by 17.5 cm. Five cards bound with ribbon from above. Three months per card below title card. Varied violet ornamentation on each card. Light soiling of top, title card, and on back of bottom card.
Price:
75.00 USD
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6 |
"Company School" Metamorphic Costume Cards, Watercolors/Gouache on Mica, depicting a variety of Indian Musicians and Dancers
NA Good
N.d. Circa 1830 to 1850. Nine cards, eight of which are overlay cards made of mica, deliberately leaving out a face, and one, the base card, made of card, featuring one head and a background of sky and plantings. The idea is to lay the mica card atop the base card to create a full portrait, and one which is quite different from the other possibilities. Five of the figures created are male musicians, and three are female dancers. The cards all measure 10.5 by 7 cm. Scarce genre. One comes upon Company School mica painted figures with some regularity, and metamorphic costume overlay cards, the same, but the two genres combined are encountered far far less. These Indian paintings on mica from the early to mid-19th Century have become known as "Company School" paintings because they were typically produced for employees of the East India Company as souvenirs. The genre was supposedly emulating the painting on glass which was the rage in Europe at the time. The nature of mica dictated the size of these paintings. While mica has the wonderful ability to be shaved off into thin slices or sheets, these sheets are also brittle and easily fracture, making a larger format impractical. With what we believe was the original protective paper in which these would have been wrapped at the time of sale. Condition: typical edge chips, cracks or fracturing. Still, the painted work remains bright, fresh, and essentially well-preserved.
Price:
1250.00 USD
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7 |
"Littera Scripta Manet" Folio
Wood Fine
N.d., circa 1900. A woodcarved oak folio, or letter or writing portfolio. The woodcarving work and floral motives are folk art-ish. The relief work has a depth to it, and the front panel has a solidity to it, as befits an oak piece. The interior has a brownish-orange felt pad. Two ribbon ties on the side seal the folio shut. The folio measures 11.75 by 8.5 inches, or 30 by 22 cm.
Price:
300.00 USD
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9 |
"Presentation Notebook" or "Folio" Bearing the Coat-of-Arms of the United Kingdom
Paris 1855 First Edition Vellum Fine
This "Presentation Notebook" or "Folio", for want of a more specific name for it, is an exquisite example of French decorative binding, bearing on the front board the coat-of-arms of the United Kingdom, with its two mottos, "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" (or "Shame to whoever thinks ill" or "Evil to he who thinks evil", etc.) and "Dieu et Mon Droit" (or "God and my right", and more loosely, "God is behind me"). The emblem is blindstamped and richly hand-colored, and further spectacular ornamental work frames it as well as the golden crown on the rear board. This unique folder was allegedly a gift by Louis Napoleon to a member of the Royal party during the state visit of the Queen in 1855 in conjunction with the Exposition Universelle, or the first major world's fair, held in Paris, after the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851. Inside the endpapers are a silk moire and then the leaves are held in place by a silk ribbon. There are four sheets of fine paper, making 16 pages or sides, and a pink outer sheet. On four of the pages in the top corner are tinted images of four Paris monuments: Palais des Tuileries (the Louvre), Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. The Notebook measures 8.5 by 5.5 inches, or 21 by 13 cm. Fine
Price:
4500.00 USD
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10 |
"Spider Web" Valentine of Soldier Courting Woman in Bonnet
Very Good
N.d., circa 1830. One pulls a string in the center of the courting scene reveals the couple blissfully reading together. The outer scene is hand-colored, while the underlying scene is not colored. Underneath are eight lines of sentimental verse. The card measures 25 by 20 cm. Moderate soiling to the card, which now also has crease lines where it was once folded.
Price:
450.00 USD
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11 |
"Spider Web" Valentine With Tab Pull, to Hugh O'Brien
Very Good
N.d., circa 1850. Usually the cobweb is pulled with a string, but here one uses a decorative tab instead. Underneath is a handsome courting couple in a bucolic setting. The card is semi-homemade, with an gilt angel and three small gilt rings pasted on and the words, "You are the one for me", among other things, added. The border has elaborate relief lacework decoration. The card is of modest dimensions, measuring 18 by 12 cm. It has minor soiling. Most importantly, the intricate cobweb is in pristine condition.
Price:
450.00 USD
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12 |
"The Vanderbilt System" for Shippers and Travellers between the Atlantic Seaboard and the West, Northwest and Southwest. 1887
New York F. B. Miller 1887 First Edition Thus Decorated Cloth Very Good
Oblong, 22 by 30 cm. [3], 112, [2], 21 pp. Eight photographic plates, including two of the original Grand Central Station, completed in 1871, and the remainder of Niagara Falls, which the New York Central promoted successfully as a tourist destination to augment ticket sales. Many other illustrations of tourist points of interest along the various railroad routes, plus ads with illustrations of hotel accommodations and the like. One folding map of New York State and its railroad lines. The emphasis of the book is on the New York Central, its trunk line and subsidiary lines between New York and Chicago, but the last section of the book is devoted to the Boston & Albany Railroad Department, which was a major route then. The contents, besides the extensive tourist information, includes information about the businesses themselves, their history, their leadership and corporate organization, and many advertisements for hotels, financial services, railroad cars, miscellaneous furnishings and dry goods. One ad features a touch of color printing. This publication is something of a hybrid, intended to function as both a promotion and a reference. Given its ephemeral nature, it is an uncommon title. Hinges repaired. Soiling and wear to the green cloth binding.
Price:
400.00 USD
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13 |
100 Best Posters 1949
Chicago Outdoor Advertising Asociation of America, Inc. 1949 Card. Spiral. Near Fine
Folio, 23.5 by 25 cm. 50 pp. Full of period advertising poster art, three examples per page generally, with a few pages in the rear presenting ten ads per page. The winning ad, awarded to a Ford ad, is shown in color, as are the second and third place awards; the remainder are rendered in black and white. In this edition of this annual, the posters are presented by industry category: automobile, food products, beers, wines and liquors, gasoline and oil, etc., with first, second and third awards in each category -- a mark of the growing maturity, or bloat, of the advertising industry. Nine pages of text about the competition, the exhibit and a discussion of poster layout. Overall, a handsome record of advertising art from the late forties. A clean and fresh copy, with signs of only light use.
Price:
175.00 USD
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15 |
1870's Autograph Album with Several Sketches
Cloth Very Good
Mostly a typical autograph album, neater than many others, with two amateur sketches, one of a black man with racist overtones, and one page with a touch of decorative ink work. The oblong album measures 3 by 5 inches, 8 by 13 cm. Most entries are dated 1877 or 1878. Soiling to the green gilt-stamped boards. Slightly loose text block.
Price:
32.00 USD
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16 |
1890s Autograph Album Signed by Many Theatrical and Musical Celebrities, Including Anna Held, Johanna Gadski, Maurice Barrymore, Julia Marlowe, Chauncey Olcott, Anthony Hope, etc.
1897-1899, 1925 Cloth Very Good
Most entries are from 1897 or 1898, with only one at the much later date of 1925. John Hare (1844-1921) was a prominent English actor manager who ran the Garrick Theatre in London for a number of years. He was closely associated with Pinero, both producing some of his works as well as acting in them (not the same works). His fame was as great in America as in England. Kathryn Kidder (1868-1939) was a successful American stage actress. Howard Gould was the son of financier Jay Gould. Maurice Barrymore (1849-1905) was the patriarch of the legendary theatrical family. Father of Lionel, Ethel and John, he was a top leading man of his day. Johanna Gadski Tauscher (1872-1932) was a German soprano (and eventually naturalized American) and a star at the Metropolitan Opera best known for Wagnerian roles. Julia Marlowe (1865-1950) was an English born American actress celebrated for her portrayal of Shakespearean heroines. Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933) was a Russian born piano virtuoso best known for his interpretations of Chopin. Eugene Cowles was a composer who wrote for the voice. Carl Zerrahn (1826-1909) was a German born, American flautist and conductor. Anna Held (1872-1918) was Florenz Ziegfeld's first celebrated stage discovery and his first wife, portrayed in the movie "The Great Ziegfeld" by Luise Rainer, who won her first Oscar for the role. Chauncey Olcott (1858-1932) was an American actor, singer and songwriter who composed the song "My Wild Irish Rose" and the words to the song, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". Finally, Anthony Hope (1863-1933) was the English novelist and playwright who wrote "The Prisoner of Zenda". Probably some, if not all, of the author autographs are of once prominent performers, or the signatures are not sufficiently legible to make out. Still, quite a collection of well-known people in one smallish album.
Price:
350.00 USD
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17 |
1892 Price List and Illustrated Catalogue of Grocers' Store Fixtures, Embracing Tea, Coffee and Spice Canisters, Coffee Mills, Scales, Refrigerators, Desks, Show Cases, Oil Tanks, Counters and Shelving. Manufactured by Empire Hardware Co.
New York 1892 Wraps Very Good Minus
8vo. 23 by 15 cm. iv, 107 pp. Many elaborate tea and coffee canisters which today are highly sought after tin antiques. The store cabinetry is also of particular interest. Chips to corners of wraps. Rebacked. Interior clean. A very attractive trade catalogue of grocery store fixtures.
Price:
450.00 USD
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18 |
1912 . . . 1937 Paramount's Silver Jubilee
1937 Card stock wraps. Plastic spiral Very Good Minus
An unrecorded studio campaign book. No copies found on OCLC First Search, nor in the Academy library's online catalogue. 4to. 31 by 23 cm. Unpaginated, 24 pages, profusely illustrated with photos, both b/w and red and white, the latter in keeping with the red color scheme running through the brochure. Also, to mark the silver anniversary of the studio, there is ample metallic silver background and highlighting in the brochure. The brochure is part a hagiography of Adolph Zukor, a founder of the studio, part a light historical retrospective of the studio and Famous Players, and a campaign book for the studio's slate of new movies for the upcoming 1937 season. Historic highlights include the making of a movie with Sarah Bernhardt ('Queen Elizabeth" in 1912), the featuring of leading stage actors of the early twentieth century such as James O'Neil, J.K. Hackett and Lily Langtry), the recruitment of Mary Pickford to the studio, followed by others such as John Barrymore, Cecil B. DeMille's early silent productions, and on and on. Uncharacteristically for a campaign book, virtually all the films in the line-up presented actually were produced with the talent listed. Condition: cover has film of light smudgy soiling. Rear shows vestiges of paste markings. Interior is clean.
Price:
500.00 USD
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19 |
53 Gezigten van Steden, Kerken, Gebouwen, &c. in de Vereen: Nederlanden: In't Koper gesneden door J.C. Philips. Naar de Teekeningen van C. Pronk, J. de Beyer, A. de Haen, &c.
Amsterdam Is. Firion 1730-1756 Small hardcover folio. Very Good Minus
8vo. 21 by 15.5 cm. Virtually all the 53 copper engraved plates are folding, most about 25 cm wide but some as much as 48 cm wide (two folds versus four folds, with just a few that are smaller than the former). The city and church views are of Amsterdam, Middelburg, Utrecht, Arnhem, Haarlem, Graerenhagen, Rotterdam, Zierikzee, and many other Dutch towns. All together the folio makes for a glorious snapshot of how the thriving Dutch Republic looked in the mid-18th century. The collection also has an element of manuscript, with a handwritten, in ink, title page and table of contents. The plates were engraved printings, but the collection was assembled as a one off. From the handwriting, the collection was surely assembled by the mid-19th century, and the folio has kept the collection intact and heightened its appeal. There is sometimes heavy foxing in the margins. The images themselves remain vivid and mostly unaffected by the foxing. The plates are bound with a 19th century marbled paper. Its spine is shot. The outer folio has the same marbled paper on the boards, with a more recent cloth on the spine. The spine is utilitarian and neither adds nor subtracts from the appearance. Pasted within the front board is a bookplate. The "book" itself has a small label on the rear cover from a book dealer in Antwerp from 1957.
Price:
1200.00 USD
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20 |
58th Fete Federale de Gymnastique 17-21 Juillet 1925 Geneve Album Souvenir
Geneve. Le Comite D'Organisation. La Rotogravure S. A. 1925 First Edition Wraps Very Good
4to., 28 by 22 cm. 96 pp. Richly illustrated with photos of all the gymnastic events, the parades and other celebratory events, including theatrical productions, and group photos of the officialdom. A fascinating document celebrating physical cutlure of the period. Soiling to the wraps. Tight and clean otherwise.
Price:
125.00 USD
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