Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. Poems for Our Children: Designed for Families, Sabbath Schools, and Infant Schools. Written to Inculcate Moral Truths and Virtuous Sentiments. Part First. Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, 1830 (Boston: Waitt & Dow print).

Newest

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Sarah J. Hale—poet, editor, women’s rights advocate, and abolitionist—is now best remembered for her children’s poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb." This volume includes the first printing of this American classic, under the title "Mary’s Lamb."

G.R.

Twain, Mark. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1867.

The Jumping Frog

This is the first English edition of Twain’s famous Jumping Frog. The National Union Catalog locates only one copy, that in the British Museum, deposited for purposes of copyright. The Jumping Frog had been one of only two English first editions of Mark Twain’s works missing from the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature.

G.R.

Joyce, James. Finnegan’s Wake. London: Faber & Faber, 1939. First edition.

Finnegan’s Wake

This is number 70 of 425 copies on large paper signed by the author. The author began working on this in 1922. Throughout seventeen years of preparation, it was known as Work in Progress, and sections were published separately as they were completed.

G.R.

Hughes, Langston. Famous American Negroes. New York: Dodd & Mead, 1954.

Famous African-Americans

This illustrated work is a biography of prominent African-Americans written specifically for juvenile readers. Profiles include Marian Anderson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman.

F.J.

Dove, Rita. Ten Poems. Lisbon, Iowa: Penumbra Press, 1977.

Rita Dove’s First Book

Rita Dove’s first book, limited to 200 copies and illustrated with a hand-colored title-page. Dove, an accomplished educator, poet, and writer, has received several awards for her work. She was the youngest person and the first African-American to be the United States Poet Laureate, 1993-1995. Other notable works include Yellow House on the Corner (1980) and The Darker Face of the Earth (1994).

F.J.

Ringgold, Faith Seven Passages to a Flight. San Diego: Brighton Press, 1995.

Seven Passages

Seven Passages to a Flight, an autobiographical account of artist Faith Ringgold’s life from early childhood to the present, was printed on linen and stenciled by hand. The text was set in Perpetua and printed letterpress. Seven Passages to a Flight is a limited edition of sixty copies. This copy is number eight and is signed by the author.

G.R.

Levertov, Denise. Batterers. West Burke, Vt.: Janus Press, 1996.

Batterers

The combination of art and poetry is used in this piece to create a striking edition. Several options for display are available with this item. On one side is a painting by Kathryn Lipke Vigesaa, who made clay-paper pieces for a cover frame that can be hung on the wall on two nails. The other side folds out to display the text of this emotional poem about a battered woman. The paper for the text and image was dipped with a shaped deckle. Pigmented pulps were added to the paper to create the striking image. When the paper is unfolded, the text flows from underneath the textured pages. The cradle can be stood up on edge, the legs and head pulled open, with the text appearing as pools of blood upon a flat surface.

One of one hundred copies printed; signed by the author.

F.J.