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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop Heritage catalogue with Twain photo on the cover. By Michael Stillman The Heritage Book Shop of Los Angeles published a catalogue for the recent California International Book Fair in San Francisco. Book Fair catalogues tend to differ from most others in that they are generally not themed. Instead, they represent what the bookseller thinks will most appeal to a wide spectrum of collectors. This is definitely true of the Heritage catalogue. It offers everything from a 15th century illuminated manuscript to 20th century mysteries. Along the way, it seems to touch on just about everything in between. Here are a few samples. Edgar Allan Poe's first book of short stories is one of the more important pieces of American literature. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was originally published in 1840 in an edition of just 750 copies. The book contains "The Fall of the House of Usher" and many more Poe tales. Poe's brief life would come to an end before the decade was over, but this was probably one of the brighter periods in his troubled life. This two-volume set is priced at $35,000. Item 213. Is there any more famous piece of music than Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? Don't answer. That's a rhetorical question. Item 14 is an 1826 first edition of Cinquieme sinfonie en ut mineur. The Fifth did not shoot up the charts when it was first performed. However, a year and a half later, it was propelled towards its current iconic status behind a glowing review. The reviewer explains how the music destroys "all within us except the pain of endless longing...Only through this pain, which, while consuming but not destroying love, hope, and joy, tries to burst our breasts with a full-voiced general cry from all the passions, do we live on and are captivated beholders of the spirits." Wow. It sounds like this reviewer was beholding a few too many spirits, perhaps a fifth of something other than Beethoven's music. $12,500. Last year the earth experienced a rare transit of Venus. A transit of Venus occurs when that planet crosses in front of the sun (technically speaking, crosses between the earth and the sun). It is so rare that no one alive had ever seen one before (though another will occur in 2012). You may remember it; you may not. It was no big deal. This wasn't always the case. In a more primitive world without today's scientific instruments, the transit was used as a tool to measure the size of the solar system and even the universe. Ships were sent out across the globe to observe the transit from different locations. Captain Cook is remembered for discovering such things as Australia and Hawaii, but few are aware that the primary reason for his first voyage was to observe a transit of Venus from the South Seas.
Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop none Another captain sent to observe the transit of 1769 was Jean Chappe D'Auteroche, sent by France. The French sent out two observatory expeditions, one to the Philippines and the Chappe D'Auteroche expedition to the coast of California. The book is Voyage to California to Observe the Transit of Venus, this being the first English edition published in 1778. This book retells the ship's race against time, trying to reach Baja California in time for the transit. Chappe D'Autertoche made it just in time, but tragically, two days after the transit, the ship was hit with a fever called the "Black Vomit." Chappe D'Auteroche was one of the crewmen who became sick and died. Item 39. $2,500. Heritage offers 11 Mark Twain items in this catalogue, including some wonderful first editions. Item 286, however, is a photograph. It's a rather formal image of this man who could find humor in anything. The photo comes with an inscription from Twain to his daughter, Jean Clemens, including the description, "This starchy but justifiable & very commendable exaggeration of her Papa's aspect...." This photo can be seen on the image of the catalogue's cover which accompanies this review. $15,000. Item 309 was the first book published in America about flying in heavier than air vehicles. First published in England in 1810 (the American edition is from 1814), Thomas Walker used his years of studying birds to design his machine. Walker was no Wilbur or Orville Wright. He was at best something of a theoretical amateur. A contemporary account indicates he did finally build something beyond the paper airplanes he started working with, a contraption that was unable to lift off of the ground. Walker believed that two things were critical to building an airplane: wings large enough to support it, and a source of power sufficient to overcome man's insufficient arm strength. Therein lies the problem. Walker imagined an airplane which flapped its wings. This notion would have to be put aside before an airplane would be designed which could actually fly. The book is A Treatise on the Art of Flying, by Mechanical Means with a full explanation of the natural principles by which birds are enabled to fly: likewise instructions and plans for making a flying car with wings....$12,500. If you've ever dreamed of having a first edition of Freud's major work, here is your chance. Item 112 is Die Traumdeutung, or the Interpretation of Dreams. Only 600 copies of this book, which opened the door to psychoanalysis, were printed. Here is one of them. $40,000.
Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop none Item 29 may not be considered one of the greatest books ever written, but it certainly turned out to be a great investment for those who bought it new. The book is Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and this first edition, first state was published in 1914. It comes complete with the rare original color dust jacket. For those who have forgotten, Tarzan was the scion of British nobility, lost in the jungles of darkest Africa, raised by apes. In time, he is found and forced to confront the choice between "civilized" society and the ape world. Neither choice is particularly appealing. This is not a true story. It is not history. This is fiction, and not of the particularly believable sort. However, this odd story has managed to appeal to numerous generations, and recently hit the big screen again with the backing of the Disney Company. Tarzan endures. This copy comes with two letters, one a 1948 thank you note from Burroughs, the other a 1949 typed note signed on Burroughs behalf by his secretary. Both came from Tarzana, California, and yes, Tarzana was named after the one and only King of the Apes. Californians are different. $55,000. I'm not aware of any cities being named after Pinocchio. Perhaps somewhere in Italy. Nonetheless, Pinocchio can put even Tarzan to shame. Item 47 is an 1883 first edition of Le Avventure di Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi. For the record, this one too is a piece of fiction. Perhaps it's a bit wooden, but it still retains its youthful charm. And the value of this book exceeds even Tarzan. $75,000. The Heritage Book Shop can be located online at www.heritagebookshop.com or reached by phone at 310-659-3674.

Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop

Heritage catalogue with Twain photo on the cover.

By Michael Stillman

The Heritage Book Shop of Los Angeles published a catalogue for the recent California International Book Fair in San Francisco. Book Fair catalogues tend to differ from most others in that they are generally not themed. Instead, they represent what the bookseller thinks will most appeal to a wide spectrum of collectors. This is definitely true of the Heritage catalogue. It offers everything from a 15th century illuminated manuscript to 20th century mysteries. Along the way, it seems to touch on just about everything in between. Here are a few samples.

Edgar Allan Poe's first book of short stories is one of the more important pieces of American literature. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was originally published in 1840 in an edition of just 750 copies. The book contains "The Fall of the House of Usher" and many more Poe tales. Poe's brief life would come to an end before the decade was over, but this was probably one of the brighter periods in his troubled life. This two-volume set is priced at $35,000. Item 213.

Is there any more famous piece of music than Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? Don't answer. That's a rhetorical question. Item 14 is an 1826 first edition of Cinquieme sinfonie en ut mineur. The Fifth did not shoot up the charts when it was first performed. However, a year and a half later, it was propelled towards its current iconic status behind a glowing review. The reviewer explains how the music destroys "all within us except the pain of endless longing...Only through this pain, which, while consuming but not destroying love, hope, and joy, tries to burst our breasts with a full-voiced general cry from all the passions, do we live on and are captivated beholders of the spirits." Wow. It sounds like this reviewer was beholding a few too many spirits, perhaps a fifth of something other than Beethoven's music. $12,500.

Last year the earth experienced a rare transit of Venus. A transit of Venus occurs when that planet crosses in front of the sun (technically speaking, crosses between the earth and the sun). It is so rare that no one alive had ever seen one before (though another will occur in 2012). You may remember it; you may not. It was no big deal. This wasn't always the case. In a more primitive world without today's scientific instruments, the transit was used as a tool to measure the size of the solar system and even the universe. Ships were sent out across the globe to observe the transit from different locations. Captain Cook is remembered for discovering such things as Australia and Hawaii, but few are aware that the primary reason for his first voyage was to observe a transit of Venus from the South Seas.

Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop

none

Another captain sent to observe the transit of 1769 was Jean Chappe D'Auteroche, sent by France. The French sent out two observatory expeditions, one to the Philippines and the Chappe D'Auteroche expedition to the coast of California. The book is Voyage to California to Observe the Transit of Venus, this being the first English edition published in 1778. This book retells the ship's race against time, trying to reach Baja California in time for the transit. Chappe D'Autertoche made it just in time, but tragically, two days after the transit, the ship was hit with a fever called the "Black Vomit." Chappe D'Auteroche was one of the crewmen who became sick and died. Item 39. $2,500.

Heritage offers 11 Mark Twain items in this catalogue, including some wonderful first editions. Item 286, however, is a photograph. It's a rather formal image of this man who could find humor in anything. The photo comes with an inscription from Twain to his daughter, Jean Clemens, including the description, "This starchy but justifiable & very commendable exaggeration of her Papa's aspect...." This photo can be seen on the image of the catalogue's cover which accompanies this review. $15,000.

Item 309 was the first book published in America about flying in heavier than air vehicles. First published in England in 1810 (the American edition is from 1814), Thomas Walker used his years of studying birds to design his machine. Walker was no Wilbur or Orville Wright. He was at best something of a theoretical amateur. A contemporary account indicates he did finally build something beyond the paper airplanes he started working with, a contraption that was unable to lift off of the ground. Walker believed that two things were critical to building an airplane: wings large enough to support it, and a source of power sufficient to overcome man's insufficient arm strength. Therein lies the problem. Walker imagined an airplane which flapped its wings. This notion would have to be put aside before an airplane would be designed which could actually fly. The book is A Treatise on the Art of Flying, by Mechanical Means with a full explanation of the natural principles by which birds are enabled to fly: likewise instructions and plans for making a flying car with wings....$12,500.

If you've ever dreamed of having a first edition of Freud's major work, here is your chance. Item 112 is Die Traumdeutung, or the Interpretation of Dreams. Only 600 copies of this book, which opened the door to psychoanalysis, were printed. Here is one of them. $40,000.

Twain, Tarzan, and Everything Else from The Heritage Book Shop

none

Item 29 may not be considered one of the greatest books ever written, but it certainly turned out to be a great investment for those who bought it new. The book is Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and this first edition, first state was published in 1914. It comes complete with the rare original color dust jacket. For those who have forgotten, Tarzan was the scion of British nobility, lost in the jungles of darkest Africa, raised by apes. In time, he is found and forced to confront the choice between "civilized" society and the ape world. Neither choice is particularly appealing. This is not a true story. It is not history. This is fiction, and not of the particularly believable sort. However, this odd story has managed to appeal to numerous generations, and recently hit the big screen again with the backing of the Disney Company. Tarzan endures. This copy comes with two letters, one a 1948 thank you note from Burroughs, the other a 1949 typed note signed on Burroughs behalf by his secretary. Both came from Tarzana, California, and yes, Tarzana was named after the one and only King of the Apes. Californians are different. $55,000.

I'm not aware of any cities being named after Pinocchio. Perhaps somewhere in Italy. Nonetheless, Pinocchio can put even Tarzan to shame. Item 47 is an 1883 first edition of Le Avventure di Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi. For the record, this one too is a piece of fiction. Perhaps it's a bit wooden, but it still retains its youthful charm. And the value of this book exceeds even Tarzan. $75,000.

The Heritage Book Shop can be located online at www.heritagebookshop.com or reached by phone at 310-659-3674.