Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Derby, George. Phoenixiana; or, sketches and Burlesques. Grabhorn Press, 1937.
Price: US$10.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Edited by Francis Farquhar. Edges a tich rubbed
Seller: James Cummings, Bookseller, Signal Mountain, TN, U.S.A.
Price: US$20.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Reprint, hardcover, limited printing of 550 copies, has a very slight lean to the binding, small bumps to spine ends and cover corners with a touch of chipping to the paper at cover corners, some shelfwear to cover edges, slight sunning to the spine, and a couple areas of very light soiling and peeling to the front pastedown where a previous owner's plate may have been glued, otherwise a solid, tight VG copy in a clear plastic dust jacket.
Seller: Fahrenheit's Books, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
GEORGE H. DERBY. PHOENIXIANA. THE GRABHORN PRESS, 1937.
Price: US$24.75 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: SAN FRANCISCO, THE GRABHORN PRESS, 1937, 240 PAGES, FRONTISPIECE, TAN CLOTH BACKED SPINE, BLUE PICTORIAL BOARDS, LIMITED EDITION OF 550 COPIES, INTRODUCTION BY FRANCIS FARQUHAR, IN THE 1850'S DERBY MADE MANY IMPORTANT SURVEYS WORKING WITH THE U.S. ARMY, ALSO MUCH ON SAN DIEGO AND HIS ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA, SOME OF THIS WAS PUBLISHED IN CALIF. NEWSPAPERS AT THE TIME. FIRST PUB. IN 1855. NO NAMES, STAMPS, OR MARKS. VG, Not a foreign reprint. PRESCOTT, AZ.
Seller: Five Quail Books, Prescott, AZ, U.S.A.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: frontis, xiii, (1), 240p. Original cloth-backed boards. 24 cm. Edges of spine label and cover corners rubbed. No jacket. Edited by Francis P. Farquhar. Third Series of Rare Americana, Number 5. Edition limited to 550 copies.
Seller: McBlain Books, ABAA, Hamden, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Limited to 550cc. Deckle edges. Covers shelfworn.
Seller: Moe's Books, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$39.99 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Original cloth-backed pictorial boards, spine label. Spine slightly foxed, slight corner wear, spine label has a microtear. Tight and square. Limited to 550 copies. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 240 pages
Seller: curtis paul books, inc., Northridge, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 24 x 16 cm., [xiv], 240 pp., frontispiece and title page in red and black with humorous decorations, other illustrations some on different paper, blue highlights. The Grabhorn Press, San Francisco, 1937. One of 550 copies. Part of the Third series of Rare Americana, No. 5. Bound in quarter tan buckram over turquoise & brown illustrated boards, printed paper spine label, original plain brown paper dust jacket with tears at spine. Edited and with an introduction by Francis P. Farquhar. Illustrations, facsimile sketches, etc. Humorous sketches of California by John Phoenix or John Squibob, the pen names of U.S. Lieutenant George H. Derby. Derby who was an army officer ( Ilist several of his short reports of his explorations in California at the time of the Gold Rush) who established a reputation as a wit and practical joker even while at West Point. Phoenixiana; or, Sketches and Burlesques was first published in 1856 (I have a copy for sale). The work offered here draws upon original sources for its material and contains many hitherto uncollected nuggets of humor as well as familiar favorites. The sequence of "hunting scenes" is here published for the first time. [Grabhorn: 277; One of the fifty books of the year; Heller and Magee, Bibliography of the Grabhorn Press, No. 277.
Seller: T. W. Palmer Books, Eugene, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 240pp.; HB lt.brwn.w/blue&blk.spine; blue w/brwn.-pic.cover; slight rub w/tan endpapers; clean,tight pgs. clear plastic wrap. "Third Series of Rare Americana Number 5 Printed in an edition of 550 copies by the Grabhorn Prfess of San Francisco November 1937"
Seller: Xochi's Bookstore & Gallery, truth or consequences, NM, U.S.A.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Description: Prospectus laid in. G.B. #279. Number 5 of the Third Series or Rare Americana Very good with lightly rubbed edges and a couple corners lightly bumped
Seller: Weller Book Works, A.B.A.A., Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
Price: US$47.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "Third Series of Rare Americana, Number 5". Edition of 550 copies printed. xiv, 240 pages; illustrations; illustrated boards with tan cloth spine, paper label. George Derby (1823-1861) was an early California humorist, and served in the US Army Topographic Corps at San Diego from 1853 to 1857. To supplement his low military pay he wrote humorous articles for the San Francisco Herald, California Pioneer and the San Diego Herald. First as Squibob and later John Phoenix. In 1857 he had a brain tumor which prevented him from reading and writing. Based on the 1856 first edition with an added introduction. Very good clean copy of this fine press work.
Seller: Barry Cassidy Rare Books, Sacramento, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: One 550 copies. 240 pp.; 8vo; bound in blue and brown pictorial boards with tan cloth back; blue label lettered and decorated in black on back; title printed in black & sepia; cut on title page and 33 colored headpieces reproduced from contemporary type specimen book; colored drawing of Squibob himself used as frontis; three sets of facsimile sketches by Squibob, two on blue paper, one on brown paper; facsimile newspaper; numerous small sketches. In plain brown paper jacket. Publisher's announcement about the book being the last of Rare American series laid in causing slight offset to front endpaper. Derby was a Massachusetts-born army officer who established a wit and practical joker even while at West Point. After service in the Mexican War he was assigned to California (1852-56) as a lieutenant charged with making explorations and reports on the gold mining country, the San Joaquin Valley and the Colorado River area. His humorous sketches appeared in San Francisco monthly The Pioneer. (Hart, Companion to Calif). One of the Fifty Books of the Year. Third series of Rare Americana no. 5.
Seller: G.F. Wilkinson Books, member IOBA, GRASS VALLEY, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Description: One of 550 copies of this last book published by the Grabhorns in their Rare Americana Series. Octavo. Illustrated. Publisher's tan cloth over decorative boards, printed paper spine labe, plaind dust jacket. An Excellent copy.Laid in are two copies of the prospectus (one in orange and one in black), two copies of "A Souvenir of Lieut. George H. Derby" (printed by the Grabhorns in 1933 for presentation to the Roxburghe Club) and two copies of the "To our Subscribers" printed by the Grabhorns and stating that the Series has come to an end.
Seller: Nat DesMarais Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$56.65 + shipping
Description: Octavo. Limited to 550 copies with the prospectus laid in. This is the third and last series of "rare Americana series" by the Grabhorn Press. Bound in 1/4 light brown cloth over pictorial paper covered boards, paper spine label lettered in black, light wear to corners. A very nice clean copy.
Seller: Alcuin Books, ABAA/ILAB, Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Description: Limited to 550 copies. Edited and with an introduction by Francis P. Farquhar. 240pp. Illustrations, facsimile sketches, etc. Cloth-backed pictorial boards, paper spine label. Corners slightly jammed; 2 just showing, paper spine label a bit ragged. A near fine copy. Humorous sketches of California by John Phoenix or John Squibob, the pen names of U.S. Lieutenant George H. Derby. Draws upon original sources for its material and contains many hitherto uncollected nuggets of humor as well as familiar favorites. The sequence of "hunting scenes" is here published for the first time. [Grabhorn: 277].
Seller: Argonaut Book Shop, ABAA, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition. Small 4to. Edited by Francis P. Farquhar. Numerous illustrations; 3 facsimiles. Original tan cloth over blue patterned boards, paper spine label. Plain tan dust jacket. Fine. One of 550 unnumbered copies, printed at the Grabhorn Press. Publisher's porspectus laid in loose. GB 277. Wheate 63. Cowboy bookplate of J.R. Brehm designed by Poli.
Seller: Houle Rare Books/Autographs/ABAA/PADA, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: 240pp. Illus. Cloth backed pictorial boards, printed paper spine label. Fine copy in original plain dust jacket. Letterpress Christmas note to subscribers laid in. From an edition of 550 copies. The last work in the third series of Rare Americana done by the Grabhorn Press, with an introduction by Francis Farquhar. Derby was stationed in southern California in the early 1850s and made several important surveys as a U.S. Army officer. This extra-curricular fun, which was first published in 1855, proved to be popular at the time. He devotes much of the work to descriptions of people and scenes in San Diego, "Fourth of July Celebration at San Diego," writing for newspapers there, especially the San Diego Herald, and other adventures in California.
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$117.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 1937 First Edition Hardcover Near Fine/No Dust Jacket edited by Francis P Farquhar; San Francisco, CA, 1937, 1st edition, limited to an edition of 550 copies, Grabhorn Press, near fine condition, bound in half cloth with paper label and decorative paper over boards, light rubbing to bottom 2 corners, else
Seller: Transmutation Publishing, Corning, CA, U.S.A.
DERBY, George H.. Phoenixiana. A Collection of the Burlesques and Sketches of John. , 1937.
Price: US$137.50 + shipping
Description: DERBY, George H. Phoenixiana. A Collection of the Burlesques and Sketches of John Phoenix, Alias John P. Squibob, Who Was, in Fact, Lieutenant George H. Derby, U.S.A. Edited by Francis P. Farquhar. San Francisco, 1937. Tall 8vo. Illus. xvi, 240pp. Cloth-backed boards. A fine copy. Library marks. Limited to 550 copies printed at the Grabhorn Press.
Seller: G.S. MacManus Co., ABAA, Bryn Mawr, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Description: One of 550 copies. Part of the Third series of Rare Americana, No. 5. 1 vols. 8vo. Bound in quarter tan buckram over turquoise & brown illustrated boards, printed paper spine label. Fine One of 550 copies. Part of the Third series of Rare Americana, No. 5.
Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.