By Tim Persyn
The Villa Montalvo Book Fair, scheduled for March 24, will feature rare books and specialist book dealers.
Included in the fair will be a first edition ofLife on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, a souvenir pamphlet of the first Ferris wheel, written for the Columbian Exposition in 1893, a first edition of Mother Goose Prose, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, and a two-volume National Socialist German Worker's Party presentation copy of Mein Kampf.
"The Mein Kampf is incredible because it is Hitler's copy, taken from his office," said Susan Klein, a San Jose book dealer and chairwoman of the event. Hitler's link to the book can be documented, Klein said.
Also on view will be an 1873 two-volume folio edition of the Dore Bible in gilt-decorated dark-blue morocco leather with 450 engravings.
"The Dore Bible is in very fine condition," Klein said. "It's rare to see a book this size and age in this condition."
In addition, the fair will include a copy of Ranier Maria Rilke's Elegies From the Castle of Duino, translated from the German by V. Sackville-West and Edward Sackville-West and printed in 1931 by the Cranach Press on handmade Maillol-Kessler paper for the Hogarth Press in London. The decorations are by Eric Gill.
This copy belonged to Tennessee Williams, with his ownership signature and the address of his residence in Rome on the front endpaper.
"This is an incredibly rare book," Klein said.
The fair will feature dealers who are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, the only organization of antiquarian booksellers in the country that is recognized internationally. These dealers include Klein, Argus Books & Graphics from Sacramento and Tavistock Books from Alameda.
Klein specializes in 20th century literature, Tavistock in Charles Dickens and Argus in Americana.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 20, 1996.
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