Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2008 Issue
Books About Books and Bibliography from Oak Knoll
James and his supersized peach.
Next we have an item that is both a work of the book arts, and a near impossible to find Mark Twain obscurity: The Quaker City Holy Land Excursion, an Unfinished Play by Mark Twain. 1867. This book was published by The Buttonmaker Press in 1986 and features wood engravings by John DePol. It was printed in a limited edition of 150 numbered copies. This Twain work was published only once before, a 200-copy edition from the 1920s of which most copies were destroyed. This play was based on Twain's trip the Holy Land, which led to the completed and well-known book Innocents Abroad. This copy is signed by DePol. $150.
Item 93 is another book of obscure writings by a famous person: Curious and Facetious Letters of Benjamin Franklin. Hitherto Unpublished. This is from a limited run of 200 copies published in 1898, one of only ten in a vellum binding. $400.
Oak Knoll Books may be contacted at 800-996-2556. Their website is www.oakknoll.com.
