Tschanz Rare Books

List 18

WPA – American Guide Series

Usual terms (we’re a reasonable lot – what do you need?)

Call: 801-641-2874

Or email: kent@tschanzrarebooks.com

to confirm availability.

(it’s all the same to us)

Domestic shipping: $10

International and overnight shipping billed at cost

Grabhorn Press

1- Northern California Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration. Festivals in San Francisco.

Stanford University: James Ladd Delkin, 1939. First Edition. 67pp. Octavo [27 cm] 1/4 tan cloth over

orange boards. paper label on the backstrip. Four-color illustration on the front board. Very good.

Printed by the Grabhorn Press in a limitation of 1000 copies. Warmly inscribed by the publisher, with a

Christmas Card from same laid in.

"Possibly the most handsome of all productions in the American Guide Series. The text provides

descriptions of 41 festivals held in the city by various ethnic groups - Japanese, Peruvian, Mexican,

Italian, Scotch, Irish, Jewish, Swedish, etc." - Scharf/Schoyer 67. Powell 80.

$100

San Francisco

2- Workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in The City of San

Francisco. Almanac for Thirty-Niners. Stanford University: James Ladd Delkin, 1938. first Edition. 127pp.

Duodecimo [19 cm] Tan wrappers with the title and an illustration on the cover in orange and black.

Very good. Sunning to backstrip. Name in ink on the cover. Contemporary news article on the The

Golden Gate International Exposition. attached to the verso of the cover and the front free endsheet,

with corresponding toning.

"Any plodder can write a consecutive history of a city. But it takes more cooks to turn out a good civic

stew. Many of the San Francisco staff of the Federal writers' Project have been gathering, for some time,

material for a comprehensive guide to the Bay Area, presently to be issued. As they wormed through

texts, letters, memoirs, documents, newspapers, scandals, and plain guff, they unearthed many

unearthly items. These were tossed faithfully into the hat - and here they are." - from the foreword.

Scharf/Schoyer 60. Powell 72.

$30

San Francisco Guide

3- Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in Northern California. San

Francisco: The Bay and Its Cities. New York: Hastings House, 1940. First Edition. 531pp. Octavo [21 cm]

Light blue cloth with the title stamped in blue on the front board and the backstrip. Very good/Very

good. Minor toning to extremities of boards. Jacket shows rubbing to extremities with a few small chips

at the corners. Bookplate on the recto of the front free endsheet.

Illustrated throughout. This work has the same feel of many of the AGS state volumes, and includes

historical essays, contemporary notes and descriptive tours of the area. Scharf/Schoyer 83. Powell 99.

$75

The Oregon Trail

4- Federal Writers' Project of the WPA. The Oregon Trail: The Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. New

York: Hastings House, 1939. First Edition. 244pp. Octavo [21 cm] Tan cloth with a wagon train scene

stamped in brown on the front board and backstrip. Near fine/Near fine. Offsetting from jacket's flaps to

pastedowns and endsheets. Illustrated with 26 photographs. Fold-out colored map present at the rear

pastedown. Second state title page and spine lacking the US 30 shield.

American Guide Series title that is primarily a guide book, but also offers a history of the Oregon Trail

from Independence Missouri across the Continental Divide at South Pass and on to Astoria, Oregon.

Uncommon in this nice condition. Scharf/Schoyer 717. Powell 1766. Adams Herd 52. Adams Six Gun 41.

$100

Montana in Photographs

5- Compiled by Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of

Montana. Montana: A Profile in Pictures. New York: American Pictorial Guide Series, 1941. First Edition.

[58pp] Square sextodecimo [18 cm x 16 cm] Rust cloth. Pictorial endsheets. Very good. Lacks the dust

jacket.

Profusely illustrated with black and white images throughout. This was the first volume to be published

in the 'American Pictorial Guide Series.' Scharf/Schoyer 334. Powell 894.

$25

Morgan’s Ogden

6- [Morgan, Dale]. History of Ogden. Ogden: Ogden City Commission, October, 1940. First Edition. 77pp.

Octavo [23 cm] Tan wrappers with an illustration of the Weber County Building. Near fine. Second state

with the text block and covers trimmed square.

Pre-print of the Proposed Inventory of Municipal Archives of Utah. Prepared by the Utah Historical

Records Survey Project Division of Professional and Service Projects Work Projects Administration.

Illustrated with three black and white photographs.

"This was called a 'preprint' of the proposed Inventory of the Municipal Archives of Utah (for Ogden City).

As far as is known the inventory was never published" - Richard Saunders. Saunders 9. Powell 1506.

$85

Morgan’s Provo

7- [Morgan, Dale & Grace Winkleman]. Provo: Pioneer Mormon City. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort,

1942. First Edition. 223pp. Octavo [20 cm] Gray pebbled cloth with title stamped in blue on the front

board and backstrip. Near fine/Near fine.

The introduction to this work was Morgan’s last contribution to a WPA publication. The majority of this

book was penned by Morgan’s successor as WP director, Grace Winkleman.

“Like most of the WPA-produced guides this book focused on recounting the history of the area, gave

geographic information, and described the town in fair detail at the date of publication” – Richard

Saunders. Saunders 15. Powell 1524.

100

Pictorial Utah

8- [Thornley, John D.]. Utah's Story. Salt Lake City: Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects

Administration for the State of Utah, 1942. First Edition. 90pp. Duodecimo [19.5 cm] Gray illustrated

wrappers. Fine.

Sponsored by the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts Co-Sponsored by the Utah State Road Commission

Cooperation of Utah State Department of Publicity and Industrial Development. A brief pictorial history

of Utah in uncommonly nice condition. Powell 1527.

$50

Nauvoo Guide

9- [WPA]. Nauvoo Guide. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1939. First Edition. 49pp. Octavo [22 cm]

Marbled yellow wrappers with an illustration of Brigham Young's home on the cover. Near fine. Small

discrete stamp on the title page. Nauvoo map on the recto of the final leaf.

Illustrated throughout with black and white photos of historical buildings in Nauvoo and black & white

portraits of early LDS leaders and historic scenes. Three related ephemera items laid in ('Nauvoo' - RLDS /

'Nauvoo City Beautiful' - Nauvoo Unity Club / 'Nauvoo: The Newest City to be Served by Union Electric

Has a Colorful Past and a Bright Future' - U.E. Quarterly, Fall 1949). Powell 339.

$80

New York City Almanac

10- [Shay, Frank]. Almanac for New Yorkers 1938. Accommodated to the Five Boroughs but May

Without Sensible Error Serve for the Entire Metropolitan District and Even More Distant Points. New

York: Modern Age Books, 1937. First Edition. 118pp. Duodecimo [20 cm] Illustrated wrappers. Near

fine/Near fine. Jacket artwork matched the wrappers. Publisher's book mark laid in. Black and white

illustrations throughout.

First and only printing. Second in a series of three Almanacs for New Yorkers; others were issued for 1937

and 1939. Scharf/Schoyer 421. Powell 1143.

$100

Vermont in Photographs

11- Vermont Writer's Project Work Projects Administration. Vermont: A Profile of the Green Mountain

State. New York: Fleming Publishing Company, 1941. First Edition. [58pp.] Square duodecimo [18.5 cm x

16 cm] Red Cloth with titles in blue on the front board and backstrip. Very good/Near fine. Gentle

rubbing to the extremities of the jacket with minor nicking at the corners. Verso of jacket contains a

pictorial map of Vermont.

This work in the American Pictorial Guide Series was sponsored by the University of Vermont. A brief

pictorial history of Vermont. Scharf/Schoyer 618. Powell 1531.

$40

Touring New England

12- Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in the New England States. Here's

New England! A Guide to Vacationland. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939. First Edition. 122pp.

Octavo [21 cm] Orange cloth with title in black on the front board and on the backstrip. Very good/Very

good. A few small chips to the jacket with small losses. Backstrip is faded.

Forty black and white photographs precede the title page. The text is illustrated with twenty-two maps.

Large folding colored map in rear pocket. This work offers descriptive tours of the New England area.

Scharf/Schoyer 695. Powell 1763.

$50

Cape Cod Guide

13- Digges, Jeremiah. Cape Cod Pilot. Provincetown, MA: Modern Pilgrim Press, 1937. First Edition.

403pp. Octavo [22 cm] Yellow cloth with the titles stamped in brown on the front board and backstrip.

Very good/Very good. A few small nicks to the corners of the jacket. Minor discoloring to the extremities

of the boards. Map endsheets and pastedowns.

An American Guide Series title by Josef Berger (alias Jeremiah Digges) who composed this work in his off

time as a writer for the Massachusetts FWP. This has been one of the more popular books in this series,

that was described in the 1937 FWP catalog as "Short on statues, tall on tales, this volume is an informal,

leisurely, personal guide to Cape Cod." Scharf/Schoyer 271. Powell 608

$135

Skiing the East

14- Members of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in New York City.

Skiing in the East: The Best Trails and How to Get There. New York: M. Barrows & Company, 1939. First

Edition. 334pp. Sextodecimo [15.5 cm] Dark blue cloth with the title in white on the backstrip. Near fine.

Lacks the jacket. Twenty maps illustrate the text.

This work begins with an introduction, 'Something About Skiing', which is followed by seven chapters

that offers descriptions of skiing in Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts. Scharf/Schoyer 718. Powell 1136.

$65

Touring the East Coast

15- Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. U.S. One: Maine to Florida. New

York: Modern Age Books, 1938. First Edition. 334pp. Octavo [20 cm] Tan cloth with an illustrated front

board and the title on the backstrip. Very good/Near fine. Gentle fading to the jacket's spine with some

minor nicking to the head of the rear panel and the spine.

Small folding map present at the rear pastedown. Text illustrated with 30 black and white photographs.

Travel guide for U.S. One beginning in Maine and heading south with many side tours and trips. This

work begins with a fun introduction to local foods and delicacies titled: 'Special Foods from Maine to

Florida'. Scharf/Schoyer 724. Powell 1769.

$100