Bay Leaf Used & Rare Books
Books for the whole family...
While Bay Leaf Books focuses on affordable fiction and non-fiction for reading, we have a nice variety of rare and collectible items as well. Below are a few of the interesting items we have to offer, some of which are also available in our Amazon store. Additional photos can be emailed on request. As time allows I will be adding more to this page, so please check back…
Autobiography of John Ball: 1794-1884 Compiled by his daughters Kate Ball Powers, Flora Ball Hopkins and Lucy Ball. First edition, first state. The Dean-Hicks Co. (Grand Rapids, MI), 1925. SIGNED by Flora Ball Hopkins. $150.00
The Independent (New York) November 8, 1894 ~ Contains Robert Frost’s first professionally published poem, My Butterfly: An Elegy. After publishing his first poem in his high school’s magazine, Frost’s first professionally published poem, for which he was paid $15, appeared in The Independent while Frost was at Dartmouth. Issue is complete with spine tear at covers, a closed tear on the las page, and an unfortunate tear through middle of Frost’s poem on page one (cover). $85.00
TWO LARGE PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHY MANUSCRIPTS
TWO EXCELLENT MANUSCRIPTS, both have gold leaf sections, both are hand colored along the outer edges., totally hand done, no printed sections. Persian calligraphy of the Shekasteh style and based on the Nastiliq style. Persian which is now Iran, the craddle of civilization. The Persian style of calligraphy has always been the most desired of the written arts. It is believed to be the most eye catching manifestations of the Persian culture. These two examples are from the 16th Century, ca. 1563. Each leaf measures about 8 x 13.5", written on both sides.
$90.00
Crocodile and Cassowary: Religious Art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st Vice President of the United States, the 49th governor of New York, a philanthropist, and a businessman. A leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party, he was Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, where he launched many construction and modernization projects. A member of two of the world's richest families, he failed repeatedly in his attempts to become president, but he was appointed Vice President in 1974. He served from 1974 to 1977, but did not join the 1976 GOP national ticket with President Gerald Ford. He retired from politics when his term as Vice President was over. Rockefeller had a strong interest in art and his visits to Mexico kindled a collecting interest in pre-Columbian and contemporary Mexican art, to which he added works of traditional African and Pacific Island art. In 1954 the Museum of Primitive Art was established out of his personal collection; the museum opened to the public in 1957 in a townhouse on West 54th Street in New York City. In 1969 he transferred the museum's collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Douglas Newton
The Museum of Primitive Art, New York (1971)
~ This copy includes an original lithograph bookplate by Pablo Picasso for Nelson A. Rockefeller (1970) on the inside of the front cover.
$145.00
Die Methoden der Organischen Chemie, Volumes 1 and 2.
Author & Year: Prof Dr. J. Houben, Verlag Georg Thieme (
Format: 7 ½” by 10 ½” hardcovers, no jackets as issued, 1340 and 1431 pages.
Condition: Both volumes are in good condition with tight spines and all pages intact. Both books have cover scuffing and edge and corner wear, in some spots through the leather to the boards. Interiors are clean and bright with yellowing. Volume one has a 1” tear on the bastard title page. Volume two has a name in pen on the FFEP.
Contents: Volume one and two of what eventually became a four-volume set. A rather in-depth survey of organic chemistry well-illustrated with photographs, charts, and drawings. Text is in German.
$150.00
The Mindwarpers.
Author & Year: Frank Russell, Lancer Books (
Format: Softcover, 158 pages plus ads.
Condition: Book is in good condition with a tight spine and all pages intact. Pages are yellowed, small chip at head of spine (no material missing), tiny star in red ink in upper corner inside the front cover, four tiny pin-prick type marks on upper right-hand corner of back cover, minor edge wear.
$36.00
Psychodiagnostics
An early set of “Tables,” or Rorschach Test cards, in slipcase, c.1949. Imported by Grune & Stratton, Inc. Medical Publishers (New York).
$40.00
Doctrina Christiana: The First Book Printed in the Philippines, Manila, 1953
Library of Congress reprint, 1947, limited edition of 2,500 copies.
$60.00
Lightning Ju-Jitsu
Harry Lord, illustrations by Alton Pickens.
New Power Publications (New York), 1943.
Scarce first edition/first printing of this early English-language martial arts guide with the first state Nazi soldier cover graphic.
$45.00
Best American Poetry, 1992 by Charles Simic (Author), David Lehman (Editor) Very RARE multiple SIGNED copy. Signed by Charles Simic (15th Poet Laureate of the United States, poetry co-editor of the Paris Review, Wallace Stevens Award winner, etc.). Signed by David Lehman (Guggenheim and NEA Fellowship winner, American Academy of Arts & Letters award winner, etc.). Signed by Billy Collins (2 terms Poet Laureate of the United States, New York Public Library Literary Lion, Mark Twain Prize, etc.). Signed by Charles Bernstein (David Gray Prof. of Poetry & Letters at the University of Buffalo, Donald T. Regan Prof. of English at the University of Pennsylvania, etc.). Signed by Edward Hirsch (National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, etc.). 1st edition/1st printing. Hardcover book and dust jacket are like new with only the faintest signs of shelf wear. No names, no writing, NOT ex-library. $200.00
Sketchbook. This is an extremely rare "Sketchbook" made by the metalwork artist David Huang. Mr. Huang is nationally known for his hand-hammered "Vessels" and other metalcraft and has had numerous exhibitions. Please visit www.davidhuang.org for more information on the artist. This book is similar to the handmade sketchbooks that Mr. Huang makes and uses for his sketches. The front and rear covers are made of wood and bound with brass hinges. There is an ornate metal tree branch design framed into the front cover. Open the front cover fully and a hidden door reveals a pencil box built into the spine. Within the covers are 400 pages of fine, blank paper. Signed by the artist on the wood inside of the back cover. In excellent condition with some smudges on the first page and and some undone glue on one side of the spine. Two small, slight scratches on the back cover. Measures approx. 9" tall by 7 1/2" wide by 4 1/2" thick. Weighs a hefty 5 pounds 10 ounces. A beautiful, rare piece by a very talented artist.
$300.00 The Seven Deadly Sins William S. Burroughs 1991, Lococo/Mulder (New York) 1st Trade Edition (issued simultaneously with a leather bound, numbered edition). Documents a traveling show of Burroughs’ artwork featuring seven multicolor images created by Burroughs using a shotgun and a portrait of Burroughs shooting by Robert Mapplethorpe. Black cloth with a unique shot pellet-riddled piece of board mounted to front cover that was painted and shot by Burroughs. Contains texts by Burroughs. SIGNED photograph of the author/artist tipped-in on the front pastedown. $470.00 - SOLD - William S. Burroughs at Gagosian - Art Exhibition, NY, New York Art in America, Oct. 1993 Meyer Raphael Rubinstein Let's not pretend that these works claim our attention because of any intrinsic visual interest. It is Burroughs's achievement as a writer that arouses our curiosity about his paintings, prints and drawings. That said, there's nothing wrong with a writer turning to a visual medium. Among those who have done so with distinction are Victor Hugo, Antonin Artaud, Henri Michaux and Henry Miller. One thing that Burroughs had going for him when he started making paintings a few years ago was that his chosen process--shooting at the canvas with various kinds of guns--was consistent with his long-standing and notorious obsession with firearms. Not that he was the first to turn target practice into the basis of art making; Niki de Saint Phalle did so years earlier, as did Chris Burden. Andre Breton's pronouncement that the only true Surrealist act is to go out into the street and begin shooting at random might even be seen as the rounding statement of the genre. This exhibition, however, was not limited to Burroughs's trademark bullet- and buckshot-hole works. Instead it presented a group of much more conventional pieces, including various works on paper, mostly in acrylic, and a suite of thematic prints, The Seven Deadly Sins. A few of the works on paper do contain hints of gunplay. A small drawing, The Sheriff vs. W.S. Burroughs, evidences some buckshot holes, and The Wheel of Fortune, evoked in vigorous swirls of orange and green paint, has coilaged to it a rifle target with a few well-placed bullet holes.
This site was last updated on 1 July 2010.
