Bibliophagist

45 items the Bromers plan to bring to San Francisco, with much in the way of fine press and deluxe items — a smattering of Golden Cockerel, Kelmscott, and Gogmagog Press; an 18th century French miniature binding in 18-carat gold ($12,000); a jewelled snakeskin binding from Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

But such pearls tend to be lost when cast before this swine of an Americanist, alas. I did sit up at the description of H.L. Mencken’s copy of Babbitt (the second issue, and with the dust jacket, here priced $25,000). It’s a presentation copy from Lewis, with an inscription — which Mencken later passed along:

Laid into this copy is a TLs from Mencken, dated Dec. 29, 1938. In this short note . . . Mencken writes, ‘I’ve had this long enough — maybe it will be of use to you. Besides, I need the room on my shelves for more bottles.’

Bromer Booksellers, 607 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. 02116. (617) 247-2818.

bromer.com

244 items, an assortment of material on Agriculture, Beverages, Cookery, Domestic Economy, Horticulture, & Women. The usual range of interesting stuff, including what is billed as the first commercially published soul food cook book, Inez Yergan Kaiser’s Soul Food Cookery (Kansas City, Mo., 1968); Mr. Finer notes of this modest spiral-bound item, “this self-published First Edition is virtually unobtainable in the marketplace. Some in the book trade have even doubted its existence.” This ontological lesson in vernacular cuisine is free; the book itself is priced $250.

Also includes an archive of family papers from the Huey family, including an unpublished account of a 1906 bicycle tour in Europe (the lot, $2,500), a couple of items from Catharine Sedgwick, and the first volume of Lydia Maria Child’s The History and Condition of Women, in Various Ages and Nations (Boston, 1835).

Steve Finer - Rare Books, P.O. Box 758, Greenfield MA 01302. (413) 773-5811. email: finerbks@verizon.net

205 items in the characteristic Bookworm & Silverfish fold-out broadsheet format, a heterogenous mix of Americana, Southern material, sheet music, literature and miscellanea. Includes a fugitive Pittsbugh novel, Samuel Young’s Tom Hanson, the Avenger, a Tale of the Backwoods (Pittsburgh, 1847), “Wrps (rubbed, edges frayed, age soil) preserved in later scuffed leather”:

By 1950 Pittsburg columnist George Sweetnam reported no copies located of any of the three [Sam'l Young titles]. Over half a century later OCLC still locates no copy (nor of the other two, for that matter!). . . . $2500.

(I cannot mention a novel of this sort without putting in a plug for David Reynolds’ Beneath the American Renaissance, a lively study of sensational American literature of this period and something of a touchstone for the Bibliophagist bookselling concern.)

Contact Bookworm & Silverfish (Mr. Jim Presgraves, prop.), PO Box 639, Wytheville, VA 24382. (276) 686-5813.

bookwormandsilverfish.com

A weblog on aspects of buying and selling antiquarian books and ephemera. We pledge to minimize our use of the word “tome.”