Wesley, Dorothy Porter & Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso. NORTH AMERICAN NEGRO POETS: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CHECKLIST OF THEIR WRITINGS, 1760-1944. $45.00
Cloth. Oversized Octavo. pp. 90. The Book Farm: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1945.In 1916, Arthur Schomburg, well known collector and curator, published the first considerable bibliography of American Negro Poetry. The present bibliography, originally published in 1945, is an expansion of the Schomburg checklist.
The list includes books and pamphlets by individual poets, and anthologies edited by African-American authors and a few printed broadsides. The bibliography primarily contains works by African-American authors born in the United States and a few works by West Indian writers who have lived in the U.S.
Authors described include Dunbar, Cullen, Hughes, McKay, Wheatley and nearly one hundred other others. In all, 750 titles are described. To our knowledge, this title has never been reprinted. Besterman 4902.

West, George Arbor. TOBACCO, PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

$195.00

  Large Octavo. English.  Two volumes bound in one.  Book 2 v. (994 p.) : ill., maps ; Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A. : Published by order of the Board of Trustees,  1934

            Tobacco and its utilization not only represent an outstanding trait of human culture but furnish a striking example of the spread of an element through diffusion. Nevertheless, the story of tobacco has not been accorded the attention which it merits; and aside from McGuirels early treatise and such brief studies as those of Laufer, Linton, Mason and some others, little has been published up to the present.

            Volume I is comprised of the text matter, while Volume II is given over entirely to maps and illustrations. The text discusses the historic discovery of tobacco and its spread over the world; the botany of the plant, with a map indicating aboriginal use of the several species; and a discussion of usage by the American Indian. This is followed by the author's exhaustive classification of smoking tubes and pipes, comprising some thirty distinctive types; and a consideration of pipe materials and methods of manufacture, based on personal experimentation. In addition to the usual index, the author has provided finding lists based on localities, collectors, and collections.

            The illustrations are numerous and acceptably good, as are the maps, particularly those indicating distribution of tubes, pipes and other smoking devices. Students of the material evidences of the use of tobacco in America will have noted therein apparent evolution, from south to north, of aboriginal smoking methods: in the extreme south, tobacco leaves merely rolled together, cigar-like; proceeding northward, the cigarette, with wrapper of maize, palm, or material other than tobacco; cane or reed cigarette tubes; stone smoking tubes, straight and curved; and, lastly, the conventional tobacco pipe, in its many types.

            The author's lifelong interest and pursuit of his subject at the expense of considerable time and money are widely known and generally applauded.

Westwood & Satchell.   BIBLIOTHECA PISCATORIA: A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS ON ANGLING, THE FISHERIES AND FISH CULTURE.   $65. Octavo. pp.xxiv.398 + 22 page supplement.London: W.  Satchell, 1883, plus 1901 supplement.  This important bibliography describes about 4,000 books on the subject. Westwood & Satchell provide full title, some collation, place of publication and frequent annotation. We also reprint R.B. Marston’s supplement to Bibliotheca Piscatoria.  Published in 1901, this supplement adds some 1250 books not in the original 1883 edition. Besterman 2206. Not in Sheehy.

Wetzel, Charles M. AMERICAN FISHING BOOKS: A BIBLIOGRAPHY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES UP TO 1948 TOGETHER WITH A HISTORY OF ANGLING AND ANGLING LITERATURE IN AMERICA.   $55. Cloth, 8vo. 235 pp. Newark, Delaware: Privately Printed, 1950. ISBN 1-57898-059-3. According to Wetzel, this important bibliography contains over 2,000 titles pertaining to American fish and fishing. (Besterman cites it as having only 1,250 titles). American Fishing Books is arranged into three parts.

Wheat, Carl I.   MAPS OF THE CALIFORNIA GOLD REGION 1848-1857: A BIBLIO-CARTOGRAPY OF AN IMPORTANT DECADE.    $125. 4vo. 195 pp. 26 maps. San Francisco, 1942. ISBN 1-888262-01-X. One of the most important works on the cartography of California, and the definitive scholarly study of the maps of the Gold Rush. Here are described some 323 early California maps arranged chronologically for that important gold rush decade. This facsimile of the original 1942 edition contains a new introduction by Gary F. Kurutz, scholar and bibliographer, written especially for this edition. Also included will be a new addenda by Warren Heckrotte which adds twenty-seven Gold Rush maps to the 323 described by Wheat. Also reproduced is the Gibbes’ Map which was originally printed only in the special limited edition of 22 copies.

Wheat, Carl I. MAPPING THE TRANSMISSISSIPPI WEST, 1540-1861. $350.00Oversized Quarto. Five Volumes bound in three. 1302 maps described. 376 maps illustrated. Wheat, the well-known California historian, has undertaken in this work nothing less than to trace the opening of the American West by studying the succession of maps which, beginning in the 1540's, accurately trace the paths of the explorers and the record of the resulting growth of knowledge.
Mr. Wheat has sought out every map, manuscript or printed, relating to the Transmississippi West before 1861, and has selected the most interesting and important. These maps cover the story of Spanish, French and English exploration. Five volumes bound in three carry the story of American cartography and exploration through the Civil War. He discusses each map, showing its origins and weighing its significance and accuracy.
Mr. Wheat has long studied the topography of the West and has searched patiently through map collections in all parts of the country. Scholars, collectors and dealers of Western Americana should find this work an essential tool for Mr. Wheat has produced a work of scholarship that to this day remains without rival in its field.

In all 1302 maps are fully described, with many illustrated in full page. A chronological calendar of maps, a full index, and a system of marginal
reference make these volumes easier to use than any other comparable work.
Please note that our edition is in reduced format, making it both more practical to handle and more affordable. All illustrations have been reproduced, as has all the text. Reductions in the size of the illustrations have been made.

Wheat, Carl I. MAPPING THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST. [out of stock] Cloth. 4to. Five Vol. in six. 1302 maps fully annotated, 376 maps illustrated.  San Francisco, 1957-1963. Reprint 1995. ISBN 1-57898-002-X. Scholars, collectors and dealers of Western Americana, as well as those interested in cartography, should find this work an essential tool.  In all 1,302 maps are fully described, 376 of these are illustrated, many of them fall page and foldout.

Whitehouse, Jack E. A POLICE BIBLIOGRAPHY: PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED SOURCES THROUGH 1976 WITH AN ADDENDUM. $20. Quarto, 525pp. Hardbound. New York:  AMS Press, 1980.     This work includes thousands of listings for every dimension of the literature of law enforcement.  Originally published at $90.

Whitman, Malcolm D. & Robert W. Henderson. Tennis:Origins & Mysteries. With an Historical Bibliography. $65.Cloth. Oversized Octavo. pp.258. New York: Derrydale Press, 1932. The game of Tennis originated in France sometime in the 12th century and was referred to in ecclesiastical manuscripts as "jes de paume," the game of the palm, played with the bare hand. As early as the 12th century, a glove was used to protect the hand. Starting in the 16th century and continuing until the middle of the 18th century, rackets of varying shapes and sizes were used. Around 1750, the present configuration of lopsided head, thick gut, and longer handle were used. The shape of the racket enabled the player to scoop balls out of the corners (walls and floor were considered in-bounds) and also to put 'cut' or 'spin' on the ball. Royalty and the very wealthy mainly played. [Taken from the book entitled Tennis Antiques & Collectibles].
There are surprisingly few bibliographies on tennis. Besterman lists only two. Henderson's bibliography is by far the most comprehensive, listing 1500 items. The bibliography follows Whitman's history, and is arranged chronologically. There are two main divisions, lawn tennis and court tennis. Though once reprinted, no edition is currently available. The original sells for $750. Besterman 6061.

Whittel, Herbert Massey.  THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS: A HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.  $100. 8vo. XI, 116, 788pp. Cloth. Illustrated.  Perth 1954. Reprint 1994. ISBN 1-888262-68-0. This is a painstaking work of tremendous importance to ornithologistsand bibliographers. It contains both a history and a bibliography of Australian ornithology, and includes biographies of authors and collectors.

Williams, Sidney Herbert. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITINGS OF LEWIS CARROLL. $60. Cloth.  Octavo. pp.xiii.142.  London:  Bookman’s Journal, 1924. Carroll is the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, English logician, mathematician, photographer, and novelist, especially remembered for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). The first edition of Alice was withdrawn because of bad printing, and only about 21 copies survive.  The book was a slow but steadily increasing success, and by the following year Dodgson was already considering a sequel.  By the time of Dodgson’s death Alice and its sequel had become the most popular children’s book in England: by the time of his centenary in 1932 it was one of the most popular and perhaps the most famous children’s book in the world. William’s bibliography of Carroll’s work is still a standard work in the field. The 200 works described cover all the printed books, as well as contributions to periodicals and short articles.  Books about Carroll are also included.  Full collations are provided, and the annotations are very thorough and useful.  There is also an addendum of later illustrated editions of Alice in Wonderland, and an index.  Besterman 1150-1151.

Williams, George Washington. A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 1861-1865. $65.  Hardbound. Cloth. Octavo. XVII. 353pp. New York. Williams was a prominent American historian, clergyman, politician, lawyer and soldier who was the first person to write an objective and scientifically researched history of black people in the United States. Williams’ research for A History of Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion (1888) involved the gathering of oral histories from black Civil War veterans and the culling of newspaper accounts, both techniques that subsequently became basic resouces in American Historiography. Williams was also a Colonel and Judge Advocate in the Grand Army of the Republic. This book is a military history of the Black Troops in the War of the Rebellion. The author writes only of the military services of the Black Troops. This work remains to this day a basic reference on the military history of Black Americans.