7 vols.

Two 1890s “American Series” paperbacks bound together (without orig. wraps) in one volume by George F. Moritz of St. Louis (with his printed ticket affixed to front endpaper), namely: Jerome K. Jerome, THE IDLE THOUGHTS OF AN IDLE FELLOW (NY: M. J. Ivers & co., Publishers, 86 Nassau Street, n.d.) and J. A. Froude, THE TWO CHIEFS OF DUNBOY; OR, AN IRISH ROMANCE OF THE LAST CENTURY (NY: George Munroe, Publisher, 17 to 27 Vandewater Street, n.d.). Duodecimo, 3/4 black leather over black cloth, W. K. Bixby’s (first?) relatively rudimentary un-signed black-ink OCTOPUS bookplate (book no. 844 added in manuscript) affixed to front pastedown endpaper, offset to facing endpaper. Both novels printed on acidic paper, binding poor (spine surface destroyed), internally good, bookplate good to very good.

Kipling, Rudyard. France at War. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1915. Duodecimo, orig. cream-colored wraps printed in red and blue. Very good copy inside and out, with wraps protected by blue cloth jacket with gilt-stamped front cover label made to order for Bixby, with his more famous 1906 greenish-gray-ink OCTOPUS bookplate finely engraved by E. D. French affixed inside front wrapper.

Stevens, Walter B. Eleven Roads to Success Charted by St. Louisans who Have Traveled Them. St. Louis, 1914. Small octavo, orig. gilt-stamped cloth. Includes a sketch of W. K. Bixby, with his life advice to young men. Bixby’s 1906 OCTOPUS bookplate finely engraved by E. D. French (this exemplar printed with black ink) affixed to front pastedown endpaper, offset on facing endpaper, which W. K. Bixby had autographed and inscribed with his book number 9784.

Possons, Charles. Possons’s Guide to LAKE GEORGE, LAKE CHAMPLAIN, and ADIRONDACKS. Maps and illustrations. Glenns Falls, NY: Chas. H. Possons, 1890. 8th edition. Duodecimo, 264 pp., two folding maps, orig. embossed orange-paper wraps printed in black. Part of spine gone, front cover almost detached. First advertising page inscribed in ink “From Samson Sale 1918 W K Bixby”. No bookplate.

Riley, James Whitcomb. Memorial Edition. The Complete Works. New York: Harper & Brothers, (1916). Volumes 4 and 7 ONLY, orig. gilt-stamped crimson cloth, top edges gilt. Both front pastedown endpapers signed “W K Bixby” in his large fast sweeping hand. No bookplate. 2 vols.

Rich, Helen Hinsdale. Madame de Stael, The Rival of Napoleon. Chicago: Printed (at the Lakeside Press) for the Author, under the direction of Stone & Kimball, 1895. Duodecimo, 26 pp. plus colophon leaf, orig. printed wrappers. Wrappers split and slightly soiled, but carrying at top of front wrap the neatly inscribed ink W. K. Bixby inventory number 13267. No bookplate.