Carter a cecil editor (2 Ergebnisse)

Hardcover. Schutzumschlag. XI; 280 S., geb., Oktav, Schutzumschlag, schwarzweiß Tafelabb., nahezu neuwertig.

Paperback. First Edition. Small 8vo. Stiff red glossy pictorial wrappers. xi, 280pp. Tissue-guarded frontispiece, numerous full-page plates. Very good. White text block remains tight and bright, the outer wrappers are slightly edgeworn and the spine (with chips at head/tail) is rather rough; spine faintly shellacked (an unfortunate but common late 19th century practice), with hand-lettered shelf label near foot. Decent first edition of this p.r. piece for Thailand -- Siam -- bearing an intriguing if unidentified presentation inscription boldly penned in black ink on front flyleaf: "With the Compliments of / the Siamese Minister." As one would expect from any country's informational book distributed at the St. Louis World's Fair, the Siam book contains 19 chapters covering every facet of that land: "The Royal Family," "The Government," "A General Description of Siam," "Naval and Military Forces," "Siam from an Historical Standpoint," "Language of Siam," "Religion of Siam," "The Capital," "Finance," "Currency and Banking," "Agriculture," etc. Given the book's subtitle and that the list of Siamese commission officials on page iii, the H.E. Chow Phya Devesra Wongse Vivadhna listed as Minister of Agriculture seems the most likely. From the collection of William B. Allison (1829-1908), the powerful Iowa Republican who, as U.S. senator from that state (1873-1908), was one of the "big four" who controlled the Senate; as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for most of those years, he championed tariff legislation and co-authored the Bland-Allison Act of 1878; as member of the Senate Finance Committee he was often courted by U.S. presidents to hold cabinet positions. Early 20th century bookplate on front pastedown notes "This book is part of Allison Memorial Collection Gift of Mrs. Jennie A. Brayton" and until deaccessioned was part of Allison's non-circulating collection at his hometown public library across the street from his Dubuque residence. According to Leland L. Sage in his 1956 biography "William Boyd Allison: A Study in Practical Politics," Allison owned "hundreds of books on government, economics, history, banking, finance, and the tariff [as well as] volumes of American and English literature. An omnivorous reader, Allison doubtless read most of these volumes, if only for relaxation from the strain that accompanied his efforts to solve the many problems facing the Nation." A most unusual copy of this scarce title, of which modern facsimile editions exist but 1904 copies rarely surface. Signed.…