List 367 – The Chair by the Corner Window

Long ago, in my brick-and-mortar days, when there were never enough customers, and money was always short, I’d collapse in despair following the Christmas retail season – which was always a disappointment because not many people bought used books as gifts, despite my incessant promotional agonies. The first weeks of the New Year would inevitably be cold and dark and still, and I’d be exhausted and depressed, wondering where I’d find the energy and courage to keep fighting this losing battle. Then, at the deepest depth in my slough of despond, everything would stop. Time and space would open to infinitude, and suddenly there’d be nothing to worry about, and all the time in the world to not worry about it.

It was time to sit in my chair by the corner widow and read for hours, immersed as deeply in that activity as a bear might be immersed in hibernation, the text my winter dream. After a couple of decades, I wised up and shut the last of my bookstores down, but the habit of hibernation stayed with me. Even now, and for the next few weeks, I’ll be sitting in my chair and reading away, gazing occasionally out the corner window to see how much snow has piled up. By the time the California book fairs roll around I’ll be good to go another season.

This list was inspired by that memory. It consists almost entirely of books that I’ve read or would have enjoyed reading in the depths of winter, hibernating in my chair by the corner window. I might even read a few myself if you don’t buy them. I’ve always been interested in Dahlberg…

NB: To order from this list please send an email to tenpound@tenpound.com state author, title and number of the book(s) you wish to purchase.

#1:
Balzac (Honoré de ).
Les Contes Drôlatiques. Colligez ez abbayes de Touraine et mis en lumière par le sieur de Balzac pour l’esbattement des pantagruelistes et non aultres. Cinquiesme édition.
Bureau de la Societe Generale de Librarie, ( 1855), Paris
20.5 cm. xxxi, (3), 614, (2) pp. b/w illustrations and plates throughout
Item #:50146
Price: $35
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#2:
Banning, Kendall and Gustave Baumann (illustrator).
Pirates! Or, the Cruise of the Black Revenge.
Laurence C. Woodworth, ( 1918), Chicago
18.5 cm. Unpaginated - title, 15 folded sheets, endsheet. b/w woodcuts.
Item #:50175
Price: $50
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#3:
Baring-Gould, S. and C. A. Bampfylde.
A History of Sarawak Under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908.
Henry Sotheran, ( 1909), London
22.5 cm. xxiii, 464 pp. b/w ills. and plates, folding color map.
Item #:50144
Price: $50
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#4:
Beckett, S. B.
Guide Book of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence, and St. Lawrence and Atlantic Rail Roads…
Foster, Gerrish & Co., ( 1853), Portland, ME
19 cm. vi, (2), (7)-180 pp. b/w plates, folding map
Item #:50173
Price: $250
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#5:
Blake, William.
Poems of William Blake Edited by W.B. Yeats.
Harvard University Press, ( (1969)), Cambridge, MA

Item #:50159
Price: $20
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#6:
Bowen, E.G.
The Settlements of the Celtic Saints in Wales.
University of Wales Press, ( 1956), Cardiff
21.5 cm. xi, 175 pp. b/w maps and halftone photo frontispiece.
Item #:50188
Price: $35
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#7:
Bridge, Horatio.
Journal of an African Cruiser.
George P. Putnam & Co., ( 1853), New York
17.5 cm. viii, 179 pp.
Item #:50174
Price: $250
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#8:
Carter, John & Graham Pollard.
An Enquiry Into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets.
Constable & Co., ( 1934), London
22.5 cm. xii, (2)-400 pp. b/w plates.
Item #:50171
Price: $85
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#9:
Chapelle, Howard I.
The History of American Sailing Ships.
W.W. Norton & Company, ( 1935), New York
18.5 x 25.5 cm. xvii, 400 pp. b/w line ills. and color plates, signed etching.
Item #:50122
Price: $200
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#10:
Chapman, Guy.
The Travel-Diaries of William Beckford of Fonthill.
Constable, ( 1925; 1928), Cambridge
Two volumes, 23 cm. lxii, 347 pp; xvii, 374 pp. b/w frontispieces
Item #:50128
Price: $75
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#11:
Church, Albert Cook.
Whale Ships and Whaling.
W.W. Norton & Co., ( (1938)), New York
18.5 x 25.5 cm. 179 pp. Photographic print, b/w halftone photo plates, line ills.
Item #:50119
Price: $300
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#12:
(Cleveland, Richard J.).
Voyages and Commercial Enterprises, of the Sons of New England.
Leavitt & Allen, ( 1855), New York
19 cm. 407 pp. b/w engraved frontispiece
Item #:50133
Price: $50
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#13:
Cobb, Elijah.
Elijah Cobb. 1768-1848. A Cape Cod Skipper.
Yale University Press, ( 1925), New Haven
21 cm.(4), 111 pp. b/w frontispiece, plate, facsimiles
Item #:50135
Price: $25
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#14:
Conrad, Joseph.
The Shadow Line.
J. M. Dent and Sons, ( 1917), London
18.5 cm. 227 pp
Item #:50172
Price: $65
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#15:
Conrad, Joseph.
Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories.
William Blackwood and Sons, ( 1902), Edinburgh and London
19 cm. 375 pp. plus 32 pp publisher's catalog
Item #:50132
Price: $250
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#16:
(Cooper, James Fenimore.)
The Water Witch; or, The Skimmer of the Seas. A Tale.
Carey & Lea, ( 1831), Philadelphia
Two volumes, 17 cm. vi, 256; 251 pp.
Item #:50134
Price: $300
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#17:
Corbett, Julian. (Editor)
Signals and Instructions. 1776-1794.
Conway Maritime Press, ( 1971), London
xv, 403 pp.
Item #:50140
Price: $50
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#18:
Dahlberg, Edward.
Because I Was Flesh.
New Directions, ( 1963), Norfolk, Connecticut
20 cm. 234 pp.
Item #:50195
Price: $20
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#19:
Davis, Charles G.
How to Build a Launch from Plans.
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, ( (1903)), New York
19 cm. viii, 159 pp. b/w ills and folding plans.
Item #:50138
Price: $50
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#20:
Dinesen, Isak.
Seven Gothic Tales.
Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, ( 1934), New York
21 cm. x, (4), 420 pp.
Item #:50152
Price: $25
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