Cultured Oyster Books

22. [Crane, Hart] FIRST DAY COVER honoring the launching of the Liberty ship S. S.
Hart Crane, named for the poet. A 7-1/2 x 3-7/8 inch stamped envelope, postmarked
Long Beach, Calif. Dec 22 ’43, with a five-line heading typed vertically at the left:
“First Day Cover – Launching of / S. S. HART CRANE”, / California Shipbuilding
Corporation, / Terminal Island, California, / Wednesday, December 22, 1943. In
addition, it bears the signature, Pauline Conyes, above a device, stamped in red, reading
“Help Speed National Defense.” The S. S. Hart Crane, Liberty ship number 2551, was
sold for private use in 1947, after the war, and finally scrapped in 1966. These transport
ships were each assembled in just weeks and named for prominent (deceased) Americans.
Groups that raised $2 million dollars by selling War Bonds could propose a name for a
Liberty ship. However we have not determined how the name Hart Crane was selected
or the connection of Pauline Conyes to the launching. An interesting ephemeral item
nonetheless and not without its ironies. $65.00
23. Crane, Hart. O MY LAND, MY FRIENDS THE SELECTED LETTERS. Foreword
by Paul Bowles. Edited by Langdon Hammer and Brom Weber. Introduction and
Commentary by Langdon Hammer. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1997. Over
one hundred of Crane’s letters are printed here for the first time. An uncorrected proof
copy, very good in light green printed wrappers. $50.00
24. Del Rio, Martin Antonio. DISQUISITIONUM
MAGICARUM LIBRI SEX, IN TRES TOMOS.
Mainz: Johann Albin, 1603. One of the earliest folio
editions of the complete text of Del Rio’s late 16 th -
century encyclopedic treatise on magic in a notably
well-preserved binding, very appropriate to the book, of
contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards
with the original brass catches and clasps intact. The
spine has the original hand-written title, author and
library number and the front panel has the circular gilt
ownership stamp of the ALTENBURG BIBLIOTH.
SCHOL. The engraved
title has an historiated
border showing 11
scenes from Exodus,
with two excised
portions in the upper
and lower blank
margins. Occasional
heavy browning occurs throughout the text. Each of
the three parts is separately paginated and the folding
plate in part two at p. 91 is present. Martin Del Rio
(1551-1608) was a scholarly Jesuit living in the
Netherlands but born in Spain, whose writings were
well respected and widely published throughout Europe
beginning with an edition of Seneca at age nineteen.
This work was completed and published in Louvain in
1599 and the present edition may be the first with all of
the six books to be published outside of the