Fine (Book) Gifts

Courtesy of Quill & Brush.

Voulez-vous un Rendezvous?

Oui? Well then here’s a signed, first edition of Ronald Reagan’s Rendezvous with Destiny (Salt Lake City, 1981). This book collects several addresses and speeches, including “A Time for Choosing,” the 1964 nationally televised speech that launched Reagan’s political career. There is no record of a signed copy of this book appearing at auction in the last thirty-five years. While it’s not dated, solid provenance indicates that the book was signed while he was president. $6,000

www.qbbooks.com

Courtesy of Books Tell You Why.

In the Holiday Spirit

What sounds more magical than The Fairies’ Christmas? Issued by Heavenly Monkey as its Christmas 2001 book, it tells the story of a boy’s Christmas spent with his grandfather and their encounter with a gathering of fairies. This elegant first edition with French flaps features eight hand-sewn pages with four tipped-in illustrations, and is bound in green stiff paper wrappers. Printed letterpress by David Clifford at Black Stone Press, with editorial assistance by Rollin Milroy and typography by Robert R. Reid. It’s a scarce title, rarely seen signed, as this one is on the title page by illustrator “Charles Noel van Sandwyk.” $1,200

www.bookstellyouwhy.com

Courtesy of Ken Lopez Bookseller.

High Spot of Twentieth-century Photography

A presentation copy of the limited edition of Roll, Jordan, Roll (NY: Robert O. Ballou, 1933), with text by Julia Peterkin and photographs by Doris Ulmann. According to the colophon, 350 copies were numbered and signed, of which 327 were for sale, but this is one of the twenty-three “hors commerce” copies, inscribed “For H. L. B.” where the limitation number would have been, and signed by Peterkin and Ulmann. Showing ninety full-page stunningly produced copperplate hand-pulled photogravure plates and bound in brown textured paper over boards with white cloth spine and tips. This bookseller has never seen one of the hors commerce copies offered for sale, and none appear in the auction records. A scarce issue of a twentieth-century photography classic, listed in Roth’s The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century. $35,000

www.lopezbooks.com

Courtesy of Ralph Sipper Books.

The Finest Ulysses

A collector’s copy of the most influential novel of the twentieth century, James Joyce’s Ulysses (Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922). This first edition, one of 750 copies on handmade paper, is unrestored—and easily the finest of this fragile volume that the Santa Barbara-based booksellers have ever encountered, merely showing the most niggling of wear at the heel of the spine. The blue wrappers that Joyce insisted perfectly match the hue of the Greek flag are otherwise in fine condition. Plus, laid into this copy is the original prospectus for the book. Housed in a custom-made clamshell box. $135,000

www.ralphsipperbooks.com