About this Item
Stitched pamphlet (30 x 19.5 cm.). Burnt Sienna paper covers with decorative, floral paper label affixed to front panel and housed in matching large flap envelope, which shows a few small creases and catches, along right seam. Privately printed for pioneer Los Angeles bookseller Ernest Dawson by John Henry Nash. On fine paper. A sort of paean to Dawson's important role in the procurement and provisioning to serious readers and collectors, rare books which "migrate" from one owner to the next, and sometime come "home" to roost. Full preliminary page bears two handwritten dedications, the first of five lines from Ernest Dawson to a Miss Adrienne Leonard ("It is a joy to have a little brochure to represent the artistic spirit of the [illegiblle: shop?] with the printed page -- even as your window illegible: work [?] so wondrously represents us to the public."). (Signed) "Ernest Dawson." Miss Leonard was an employee whom, one might surmise, designed and assembled creative window displays in Ernest Dawson's Los Angeles book shop. The second dedication, from writer M. Irving Way (also) to Adrienne. "My Dear Adrienne,/You indeed are always the first to greet me as I enter Dawson's. May you remain long at the front. With all good wishes and greetings, which should have reached you about Christmas time 1924. Sincerely (signed, and dated "2:10:'25) M. Irving Way". Below this is John Henry Nash's signature, dated February 14, 1925. "Ernest Dawson founded Dawson's Book Shop in Los Angeles, California, in 1905 at 713 South Broadway; Dawson began the store with a purchase of 2,250 books from the Salvation Army at 1 cent apiece, and immediately resold one of them, a book on Indian basketry, for $ 2.50; issued first rare book catalog in 1907, and with its success, Dawson began to specialize in rare books.," (Online Archive of California) W. Irving Way was a publisher and bookseller who began his career in 1892. in 1895, along with Chauncey Williams,founded a firm dedicated to ".producing finely printed books in limited editions. It was short-lived partnership and the following year (1896) Way returned to his solo enterprise (W. Irving Way, Publisher and Seller of Books) the following year. Although the partnership -- in name -- lasted only three years, from 1895 to 1898.many of its 66 titles are visually impressive and represent the work of some of the major artists and book designers of the period. .many prominent authors saw their books come to life with a Way and Williams imprint. The firm published both well-known and relatively obscure authors, many of them from the Chicago literary scene. Among the better-known writers represented by the firm were Kate Chopin, Charles Fletcher Lummis, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Allen White, Octave Thanet (Alice French), Edgar Lee Masters, and L. Frank Baum; and their works were often shown to advantage by the artistic input of Bruce Rogers, Maxfield Parrish, Will Bradley, and Frank Hazenplug." (Wikipedia). Near Fine in Very Good Envelope. Seller Inventory # 87901
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Bibliographic Details
Title: MIGRATORY BOOKS THEIR HAUNTS AND HABITS (...
Publisher: Privately Printed (One in an edition ofFive Hundred) by John Henry Nash of San Francisco for Ernest Dawson of Los Angeles), Los Angeles, CA
Publication Date: 1924
Binding: Stitched Pamphlet
