Argonaut Book Shop

Hello Everyone, Yes, it's happening again. Another Virtual Book Fair! We invite you to visit our booth at Marvin Getman's Bibliographic Holiday Gift Fair. The fair opens tomorrow, December 4, at 9:00 a.m., Pacific Time. The fair ends on Monday, December 7, at 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time.... To attend the fair, use this link: https://getmansvirtual.com/ We are particularly fond of the Getman shows - well done and very easy to navigate! As usual with the Getman fairs, there will be a few surprise additions to all the "booths" on the last day. The Argonaut Book Shop will offer some interesting items including a spectacular copy of Bayard Taylor's Eldorado (1850); a vintage photograph of Half Dome, inscribed and signed by Ansel Adams; a lovely copy of one of the rarest Zane Grey books on deep sea fishing; a rare work on mountaineering on the Himalaya; a lovely edition in English of Fontaine's Fables; a very rare set of the first sixteen volumes of The Children's Friend; and a few more intriguing items. Thanks for taking a look! Bob and Angela

Have you seen something from any of our previous catalogues that you keep thinking about? This is not a Black Friday sale. But, it is a Cyber Monday sale. And it starts right now! From now until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, on Monday, Nov. 30, the Argonaut Book Shop is offering a 20% Discount on any available item in any of our previous catalogues.... What you need to do: Go to http://www.argonautbookshop.com and click on the "Browse Our Catalogs" button on the left which will open a listing of our last twenty catalogues. Click on any of the twenty listings to open the catalogue. A few rules of the road: for your own safety :-) 1. You must call or email with any order. We do not offer a shopping cart experience. Phone 415 474-9067. Email [email protected]. 2. Remember, some items have been previously sold. We will confirm all requests. 3. First come, first served. We will review any calls or emails by date received. 4. We will respond as quickly as possible. 5. This 20% discount sale will end precisely at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday. Thanks to all. We wish and hope that everyone is having a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. Take care and stay safe. Bob and Angela

Just in time for your holiday shopping... Join us tomorrow at the (virtual) IOBA Book Fair! Friday, November 20 through Sunday November 22, 2020.... The Fair opens on Friday at 12pm EST https://www.iobabookfair.com/

Hello Everyone, Please take a look at our latest catalogue, a miscellany of very recent acquisitions and selections from our shelves. Take a look at the catalog as a pdf. https://drive.google.com//1waKg9wEh1sNJMpT-PVQFd6iWP/view... We have also begun to illustrate our lists, please let us know what you think. If you would like to see any of the images from the list in greater detail, you can find them in a corresponding Google Photo Album. https://photos.app.goo.gl/wiZSZL3rzzRJAvMM7 The holidays are approaching. Many of us are still not getting out much, and for good reason. The recent election got us all in a tizzy. The virtual book fairs are ok, but not quite the same as the real thing. Not much seems to be as it was. But it will all get better! Take a deep breath, sit down in your favorite chair, take a look through this catalogue, and remember "There is always the sun and stars back of the clouds" - Ina Coolbrith (see item #20)

Happy Halloween! October 31st seemed like the perfect day to take a look at the second volume of The Gentlemen's Magazine from 1732... which includes the first English-language mention of vampires! The Gentleman's Magazine was a monthly magazine that began in London in January, 1731, and ran for nearly 200 years. It was, in fact, the first time that the term 'Magazine' (meaning 'storehouse') was ever used for a periodical. The publisher's innovative idea was to create a month...ly digest of a sort of hodgepodge mix of news and commentary on any topic that the educated public might be interested in. This could be anything from commodity prices to Latin poetry. It carried original content from a group of regular contributors, as well as extensive quotes and extracts from books and other periodicals. Offered here is the complete second year of the Gentleman's Magazine. It consists of all twelve monthly issues for the year 1732, bound together in the publisher’s three-quarter brown calf with marbled boards. This early and important volume provides the first reference in English to Vampires, (blood sucking, stake through the heart; the whole scenario). It also covers topics like Fortune Tellers, an Eclipse, murders, duels, death sentences for crimes, and ghosts! Spooky! Happy Halloween! #gentlemansmagazine #london #1732 #vampires #ghosts #spirits #fortuneteller #murders #halloween #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

7 more hours to browse the booths at the Virtual Brooklyn Book Fair! It closes today at 5pm Pacific time. www.brooklynbookfair.com7 more hours to browse the booths at the Virtual Brooklyn Book Fair! It closes today at 5pm Pacific time. www.brooklynbookfair.com

Since crowds at book fairs won't be allowed (or safe!) for quite some time, the book fairs are going virtual! Join us next week at the (Virtual) Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair, the largest virtual antiquarian book fair in the world! There will be 215 virtual booths to browse. ... Free webinars/seminars and interviews all weekend long! SEPTEMBER 11th - 13th, 2020 Weekend after Labor Day Opening at 12:00pm EDT Friday September 11th and continuing around the clock through Sunday September 13th at 6:00pm EDT FREE ADMISSION TO THE BOOK FAIR AND WEBINARS REGISTRATION REQUIRED Register now to attend for free! We hope to "see" you there! https://www.brooklynbookfair.com/home

Louis Bromfield (1896-1956) was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize (for Early Autumn) and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts. During his career Bromfield wrote 30 books, all of which were best-sellers; some were made into successful motion pictures. Bromfield married in 1921 to socialite Mary Appleton Wood and was friends with some of the most celebrated personalities of his era- Gertrude Stein..., Alice B. Toklas, Dolly Wilde, Douglas Fairbanks, Sir Francis Rose, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, just to name a few. In 1945 Bromfield hosted Humphrey Bogart's wedding to Lauren Bacall, and served as best man. In the late 1930's Bromfield bought 600 acres of farmland in his native state of Ohio and reinvented himself as a farmer. Bromfield played an important role in the early environmental movement as one of the earliest proponents of sustainable and organic agriculture in the United States at Malabar Farm (now a state park). Offered here is "Daughters of Mars" an original manuscript, written by Bromfield, housed in a folding leather case, lettered in gilt on the front cover. It consists of 42 leaves, very closely written in Bromfield's customary minuscule handwriting on legal-size lined note paper. No place or date mentioned, but circa 1950. Presentation inscription, signed by Bromfield on first leaf, "For Marian and John with special love - but no truck with Libby who can't even park her ass on my manure pile - Louis." It's also signed by Bromfield's wife, "Love from Mary" (Mary died in 1952). This original Bromfield manuscript, entitled "Daughters of Mars", dealing with sisters during World War II in German occupied France, was adapted for television by Zoe Akins and produced by Lee Savin. The television play was shown in 1956 (year of Bromfield's death) on the Ethel Barrymore Television Theater, hosted by Ethel Barrymore. Very scarce! Only two copies of the original television script are known. #louisbromfield #daughtersofmars #manuscript #television #bestsellingauthor #pulitzerprizewinner #socialite #farmer #organicagriculture #ohio #malabar #bogart #bogieandbacall

Wishing everyone a wonderful Independence Day! Stay healthy, stay safe, be kind to one another! #independenceday #4thofjuly #postcard #vintagepostcard #vintagepostcards #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

Wishing every mother out there a wonderful and happy Mother's Day. Even if you are unable to be with your mom today, I hope you have a chance to tell her that you love her. And I hope everyone celebrating at the Cliff House 51 years ago had enough cash on hand... since the use of charge cards was discontinued! What meal would you have ordered? Don't forget the Sanka with dessert!... #mothersday #loveyoumom #cliffhouse #sanfranciscocliffhouse #sanfrancisco #menu #vintagemenu #haveacupofsanka #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

Perhaps it's a good thing that we are closed to the public right now... we have so many boxes everywhere that you can't get to the books on the shelves behind them! We just got in a huge new collection of amazing books (following proper social distancing practices while packing up the boxes, of course) 87 boxes! The majority of the boxes are filled with San Francisco items- books, trade cards, old guidebooks, viewbooks. Keep an eye out for some fun things as we dig into thes...e boxes and find some treasures! We are following city and state Covid-19 mandates, and our shop is currently closed to the public. We are still offering mail order, and will ship books anywhere. So please take a look at our past catalogs on our website, or feel free to email us or give us a call if there is anything you are looking for. Stay healthy! #lotsofboxes #newcollection #sanfrancisco #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

A couple of librarians came up with this. It's brilliant! I hope everyone is healthy, safe, and not too stir-crazy!

Hello everyone, We hope that you all are staying healthy and finding ways to entertain yourselves during this turbulent time. We recommend purchasing a book or two for your collection. You can actually read it if you want, but, as a dear friend always tells us, "You don't sell reading copies, you sell collectibles." Well, ok! :) To that end we are offering many of our most collectible books at 30% off the marked price. We felt this discount would distract and excite you.... While we are both coming into the shop each day, we are not, by order of our Governor, allowing any walk-in trade. We are here to answer calls, fill on-line orders, and generally catch up on the never-ending day-to-day chores. But no fears- we are both healthy and are washing our hands often! Should you not be able to find anything on this list, remember that previous catalogues are accessible on our web site (we may offer a similar discount from other lists. Just ask!). For this Special Sale List, simply click on the link below to access the pdf file. Thanks for taking a look! https://drive.google.com//1UOtEeP31gHvPFA8xWhyjD9Eqs/view

With everything going on in the world right now, it might be easy to forget that today is Saint Patrick's Day! I hope you are wearing green, even if safe social distancing practices keep anyone from seeing it! Please stay healthy and safe. Remember to be kind to yourself, and to other. #stpatrick #saintpatrick #weargreen #borninengland? #grabhornpress #pressbook #finepress #mallettedean #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

We are still open!

San Francisco is excited to welcome 5 new young bison to the herd in Golden Gate Park. Did you know that Golden Gate Park had a herd of bison living in it? It does! The first bison were brought into the Park way back in 1891, when hunting had endangered the species so drastically, that only 1000 were estimated to still roam in the American West. The first bison in Golden Gate Park, named Ben Harrison, was purchased by Park Superintendent John McClaren on February 26, 1891. He... was soon joined by a female by the name of Sarah Bernhardt. The five new additions bring the total of the current herd to 10. The five older bison that have been living in the Park are actually descendants from a group that was given to then-mayor Dianne Feinstein by her husband as a birthday gift in 1984. The bison in Golden Gate Park are cared for by staff from the San Francisco Zoo, the Zoological Society, and Recreation & Parks Department specialists. Two separate advocacy groups are dedicated solely to their well-being. #bison #buffalo #GoldenGatePark #SanFrancisco #bisonpaddock #Feinstein #americanbuffalo #americanbison #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop

Take a glimpse into the world of of antiquarian books! It's the world I live in!

It's the last day of this year's @cabookfair ! Come on down! And make sure to stop by and see us in booth #413! #bookfair #pasadena #votesforwomen #book #books #oldbook #oldbooks #rarebook #rarebooks #collectible #collectiblebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #antiques #booksforsale #bibliophiles #bookworms #bookstagram #argonautbookshop @ Pasadena Convention Center