Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Derby, George Horatio and John Vance Cheney. Phoenixiana Two Volume Set. Caxton Club, Chicago, 1897.
Price: US$55.00 + shipping
Description: in a slipcase missing the rear, spines moderately faded
Seller: Robert S. Brooks, Bookseller, Bristol, WI, U.S.A.
Derby,Capt.George Horatio. Phoenixiana 2 volume set. The Caxton Club, Chicago, 1897.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 12mo. 2 volume set. Limited to 165 copies. Gilt lettering. Some sunfading to cover of Volume one.
Seller: Midway Book Store (ABAA), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 12mo. Pp. xxxiii, 123; 119, [15 plates]. Vol I. Frontis. gravure portrait with tissue guard, Vol. 2 frontis. Squibob engraved portrait and signature. Preface by editor Cheney. Vol. 2 concludes with a section of Derby illustrations, facsimiles and color plates reproducing watercolors. Title pages printed red and black. Green cloth, Caxton device stamped in gilt on the cover, titles and diapering stamped in gilt between four raised bands on the spine, gilt tops, others untrimmed. Printed at the Lakeside Press, Chicago. Edition limited to 165 on handmade American paper. Spines and head edges sunned, minimal age-toning to leaf edges. Reputed to be the first humorist published on the West Coast, West Point graduate Derby (1823-1861) was a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers sent to San Diego in 1853 who supplemented his income by selling these parodies to San Francisco and San Diego newspapers, first under the pseudonym Squibob, then John Phoenix. The tenth publication of the Club just two years after its founding. The editor made minor changes to the text of the 1855 D. Appleton edition, then in its 35th printing. .
Seller: Long Brothers Fine & Rare Books, ABAA, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Derby, Capt. George Horatio. Phoenixiana. The Caxton Club, 1897.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 2 volumes. Publisher's cloth binding with gilt lettering and decoration, sunning along edges and spine. Noticeable scratches of Volume 2 front cover. From colophon, "The Publication Committee of The Caxton Club certifies that this copy of Derby's Phoenixiana, two volumes, is one of an edition consisting of one hundred and sixty-five copies on American handmade paper . printed from type, and completed in the month of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven." This copy belonged to Irving Stone (1903-1989), best-selling author of biographical fiction, and has his signature on the front fly leaf of both volumes. George Horation Derby (1823-1861) was an Army officer and humorist who wrote under the pseudonyms "Squibob" and "John Phoenix". He is considered California's first published humorist. This is a collection of his satirical articles about high society written from the viewpoint of "John Phoenix".
Seller: Barry Cassidy Rare Books, Sacramento, CA, U.S.A.
Derby, George Horatio. Phoenixiana (2 Voumes.-complete). The Caxton Club, Chicago, 1897.
Price: US$80.67 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: LIMITED TO 165 COPIES. Deaccessioned from The Newberry Library, with a scarcely visible embossed stamp on corner of t.p., no other markings.
Seller: Bibliodisia Books, IOBA, MWABA, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Derby, George Horatio. PHOENIXIANA. Chicago, 1897.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: Two volumes. Cloth. Fine. The Caxton Club edition, limited to 165 copies, of this classic of western humor, composed by an army officer who served in California, Arizona, and the Great Basin.
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Limited Edition. Publisher's full green silk, spines in five compartments separated by raised bands, gilt lettering or decoration in each compartment, gilt Caxton Club medallions on each front and rear cover, t.e.g., fore and bottom edges deckle. Illustrated with frontispieces in each volume and numerous color and B&W plates of military figures, including one fold-out plate, all by the author. First published by D. Appleton in 1856 (as Phoenixiana, or Sketches and Burlesques by John Phoenix), this limited edition was published by the Caxton Club in 1897: "The Publication Committee of The Caxton Club certifies that this copy of Derby's Phoenixiana, two volumes, is one of an edition consisting of one hundred and sixty-five copies on American handmade paper and three copies on Japanese vellum, printed from type, and completed in the month of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven." George Horatio Derby (1823-1861) was an early California humorist. He attended West Point with Ulysses S. Grant. Derby served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Topographic Corps and was sent to the West in 1849 to conduct the first reconnaissance of the Colorado River. He remained on the Pacific Coast until 1856, becoming involved in the building of numerous dams and roads. He supplemented his low military pay by contributing humorous articles to the San Francisco Herald, California Pioneer magazine, and the fledgling local newspaper, the San Diego Herald. He wrote articles that poked fun at the figures and pretenses of high society. These articles were written to appear as if a running narrative from John Phoenix and were the state's first published humor. Derby used the pseudonyms "John P. Squibob" and its variants, "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." This collection of his work was a best seller and went through eleven printings within a year (1856). These articles constitute the lighter side of the Gold Rush, by 'the father of the native American school of humor.' Derby also wrote The Squibob Papers and prepared several notable early maps of California areas." He became disabled in 1857, moved to New York in 1859, and died as a Captain shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. . Spines mildly sunned, otherwise unmarked, tight, square, and clean. NEAR FINE. . Color and B&W Drawings. 12mo 7" - 7½" tall
Seller: Round Table Books, LLC, Palatine, IL, U.S.A.