Fainting Couch Books

LETTER OF PERMISSION TO REPRINT

[TLS]. Philip Barry to Samuel French dated October 14, 1936.

One sheet one side, 8 1/2” x 11”. Granting permission to the company Samuel French to reprint “no more than seven (7) pages” from his play “Hotel Universe” (1930). This is most likely in response to a request to include his work in their upcoming “Scenes for Student Actors: Dramatic Selections from New Plays Volume III” (1937). Philip Barry is perhaps best known as the author of "The Philadelphia Story" (1939).

Page is lightly toned; light edge wear. Overall excellent condition of a brief letter with a clear signature. $50

Back in print!

SHADOW AND SHINE by ETHEL ARCHER

A retrospective collection of poems by Ethel Archer, suggested by her original outline. Perhaps best known for her contributions to journals, such as Aleister Crowley's "Equinox," "The English Review," and "The Occult Review," Archer was a prolific poet, essayist, novelist, and translator. With the exception of three non-extant poems and the inclusion of her unpublished essay "Recollections," Shadow And Shine gathers together Ethel Archer's own selection of poems both published and unpublished into a volume which has waited decades to be assembled. With an Introduction by Phil Jensen.

Shadow and Shine A retrospective collection of poems by Ethel Archer, suggested by her original outline. Perhaps best known for her contributions to journals, such as Aleister Crowley's "Equinox," "The English Review," and "The Occult Review," Archer was a prolific poet, essayist, novelist, and translator. With the....

“RAILROADS & INSULATORS” SCRAPBOOK

A variety of railway related materials (mostly from the 1970s) housed in a 10” x 11.5” three ring binder.

Thirteen double sided pages. Eight pages of which are in protective sleeves and five pages are simple 8 1/2” x 11” lined sheets. All with three hole punches. Most items mounted on pages in scrapbook fashion.

Includes:

One glossy B&W photo (8”x10”) of a group of train cars with five engineers and three ladies holding up a sign that reads: “7 Carloads” Wearever Pressure Cookers for Los Angeles. The date 1948 written in ink on the lower border. Ink stamp on verso: A Wear-Ever Print/ No. 20,082. Top white border trimmed. Light edge wear, small edge tears and some bends in lower right corner. Loose in protective sleeve.

Trimmed (6 1/2” x 9 1/4”) SCOTT ARDEN double sided TLS (hinged to the recto of a lined sheet with three staples) to a Mr. Lusk with silhouette railcar device in lower left corner. Scott Arden was a well known and much respected railroad artifacts dealer. Mostly likely from reading Arden’s monthly "Railroad Dispatch" lists, which featured detailed descriptions of items for sale, Lusk must have reached out to him for his expertise regarding RR keys. Arden writes: “Enclosed are 3 sketches of such keys, about actual size.” A pencil sketch (5 1/2” x 8 1/2”) of the keys mentioned is also mounted on the same page. Letter with creases and fold wear. Verso of same page mounted newspaper announcement of the retirement of Pennsylvania railway man Alfred A. Latini.

Ephemera such as a Union Railroad Company Switch List from 1976 with ink manuscript entries and a printed “Bad Order” slip with a punch tear in its center. Both loose in protective sleeve.

Three mounted photocopies of nail heads, one of which has a manuscript note (also in photocopy): “This is a page from a destroyed book. I found some of these in Altoona yards in an overgrown abandoned section…”

Clipped railway system codes mounted on paper in a protective sleeve from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts (repaired tear-no loss), Vermont, Maine, California, Montana, Alabama, Louisiana, Washington, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi, and South Dakota.

A variety of newspaper clippings mounted on lined paper with titles such as “The Legend of Chessie”, “How to Find Data on a Town That Vanished”, “Peanut Whistles Survive When Engines Scrapped”, and “Brookfield No. 64 O’Brien Insulator”.

Pages with edge wear and a few minor tears, some unobtrusive ink marks and notes (circling an ad, etc…). Some offset from newspapers.

Overall, an interesting scrapbook. $50

“HOWARD, HAS SPRING COME DOWN THE COLLEGE YARD
PAST SIXTY-SIX TO SWAN POINT NOW?"

[H.P. Lovecraft]. AUGUST DERLETH. ELEGY:. [N.p.], August Derleth Society, 2007.

Limited edition of 50 hand numbered copies, of which “This is copy 9”. Signed by the printer, “Dan Boulden”, on the colophon at the end of the booklet.

String bound booklet [5 3/4” x 9”]. 24 unnumbered pages. Includes the elegies for Zona Gale, Matilda Marie Kitch, Sinclair Lewis, and H.P. Lovecraft. Each elegy ranging from two to four printed pages. All four elegy titles printed in red and black. Various printed decorations through out. Letterpress handmade paper cover with title on the front in gold and author in black. Comes with original unsealed envelope. Booklet in very good condition, envelope with light wear.

From the short one page essay (on the final recto) by Kay Price about this collection:

“August Derleth wrote these four mournful plaintives both to lament the loss of, and to praise, his dead mentors. In doing so, he told us much about his teachers and about himself.”

$75

TWO VISITS WITH RENOWNED BIBLIOGRAPHER
WILLIAM B. TODD (1919-2011)

WILLIAM B. TODD. THE WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPTS: An Inquiry into Repetitive Typing, Cancellations, and Other Bibliographic Phenomena. Austin: Texas. Printed for Private Circulation, [Composed and Printed by The Anthoensen Press, Portland, Maine],1974.

“This is a preprint, in a limited issue, of an article which will appear in the third number 1974 of the Papers of The Bibliographical Society of America.”

Presentation Copy to Canadian Pre-Raphaelite scholar William E. Fredeman [“Dick”] (1928-1999) and his wife [“Jane”]:

“For Dick and Jane, from Bill/ This analysis completed 17 June 1974 (2nd anniversary of Watergate),/ xerox copies of typescript distributed to several persons the following day,/ this preprint issued 30 July.”

Staple bound in blue gray paper wraps. 30 pages. Includes illustrations of comparative typefaces. Spine sun faded, few small corner bumps and creases. Otherwise, a very good example.

Todd’s bibliographic analysis of Richard Nixon’s The Submission of Recorded Presidential Conversations to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. An in-depth inquiry into what the author demonstrates to be the questionable and purposefully obfuscating transcription of the Nixon tapes.

INCLUDES A SINGLE SIDED MANUSCRIPT LETTER laid in from Todd to Fredeman on small format University of Texas at Austin, Department of English letterhead, dated “5 August 1975” . A friendly letter written after a visit between him and his wife [Ann], and the Fredemans. Todd humorously mentions a passage from the Wealth of Nations [a photocopy of said passage is included] in reference to an “odious visit” Fredeman told him of earlier that day [re: hearth-taxes]. Very light vertical folds.

WILLIAM B. TODD. MANUSCRIPT LETTER TO MR. AND MRS. JOHN SYMONDS. December 3rd,1966.

The author John Symonds (1914-2006) was occultist Aleister Crowley’s literary executor and early, if not harsh, biographer. William Todd, working at UT Austin, was a champion for the purchase of Symonds manuscripts by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in the early 60’s.

Short single sided manuscript letter from William B. Todd on small format Atlantic Hotel (London) letterhead dated “Saturday, 12.iii.1966”.

“Dear Friends,/ Please allow me to convey my thanks for a most delightful evening last Monday and to express again my appreciation of John’s culinary art.”

As Crowley was known for his spicy curries, it would be interesting to know what Symonds’ culinary art entailed…

Mentions being happy for the opportunity to have met Kathleen Raine [known for her work on William Blake] and Peter Fryer, whose work on "Mrs. Grundy" Todd said he was already reading!

Letter folded in quarters. Includes its original postmarked envelope, upon which John Symonds has written:

“from William B Todd/ Chief Librarian, Texas/ University, a learned man,/ pleasant too!”

Envelope opened roughly at the top with tears and minor paper loss.

$100

CABINET CARD PHOTOGRAPH

Cardinal John Henry Newman by [Herbert Rose] Barraud. 263
Oxford St. W., London. n.d. [circa 1885].

Approximately 4.25 x 6 inches. Light edge wear, some minor
surface wear. Lower left corner off (1 inch rounded tear), loosely
reattached with archival tape on verso. $40

CARTE DE VISITE PHOTOGRAPH

John Everett Millais by Elliot & Fry. 55 Baker Street, Portman Square. W., London. n.d. [circa 1865].

Aproximately 2.5 x 4 inches. Light edge wear and minor surface scuffs. Ink “Millais” in lower left corner. On verso: photographer’s information and small pencil “Millais, R.A.”. Very good. $50

CARTE DE VISITE PHOTOGRAPH

William Holman Hunt by W. Jeffrey. Bloomsbury, London. n.d. [circa 1860].

Approximately 2.5 x 4 inches. Light edge and surface wear, small indent above his head in the background. On verso: photographer’s ink credit stamp along with small pencil “Holman Hunt” and numbers. Very good. $50

LIMITED EDITION #5/100

Elizabeth Siddal. He & She & Angels Three. London: Eric and Joan Stevens, 1979.

“This edition, set and printed by hand on a Farley proofing press in Perpetua type, is limited to 100 copies. This is copy number 5.”

Small hand-sewn pamphlet. Approximate 6.5 x 9 inches. [3] pages. Three one page poems by Siddal: “He & She & Angels Three”, “A Silent Wood” and “Early Death”. Illustrated paper wrappers. Small corner bumps. Very good. $30