Second Story Books is proud to present the Wedgwood Family Collection. Primarily known for their fine china and porcelain, the Wedgwood Family were early advocates for the abolition of slavery, universal human rights, and freedom of speech. Built over the course of eight generations, the collection consists of fine and decorative art, antiques, rare books, autographs, and historical correspondence. The core of the collection was brought to the United States from London by Josiah Wedgwood VI in 1942. Josiah was forced to flee Britain due to fear of an impending German invasion, and likely retaliation for his outspoken Zionist views and protection of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. Subsequent generations have added significantly to the collection, particularly in the areas of jurisprudence and political philosophy. It will be presented in a series of catalogues, each themed.
Literature and Miscellanea: Released!
Abolitionism and Slavery Pamphlets: Released!
American Revolution and Early Republic: Fine and Rare Books: Released! (Or access the original PDF, subject to prior sale)
Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy: Fine and Rare Books: Released! (Or access the original PDF, subject to prior sale)
Autographs and Pamphlets: Released! (Or access the original PDF, subject to prior sale)
Fine Art (Online Auction on May 21, 2022)
Second Story Books is proud to present the Robert Hunter Comics and Graphic Novels Collection. Rare and collectible items from this collection of over 25,000 titles can be found at our EBay Store, with some listed individually on our website, split into either Golden Age, Indie Publishers, or Graphic Novels. All other books and comics can be found in our new Comic and Graphic Novels Room, opening this Saturday, April 2nd, at our Rockville warehouse. The room features thousands of comics from the Golden Age to the Modern Age, and from small independent publishers to Marvel and Dark Horse. It also includes an impressive selection of graphic novels, and titles from such prominent artists as:
- Simon Hanselmann
- Fort Thunder artists Mat Brinkman and Brian Chippendale
- Carl Barks
- Fred Harman
- Robert Kirkman
- Barry Windsor-Smith
- Alan Moore
- Neil Gaiman
- Moebius
- Adam Hughes
- Masamune Shirow
- Hayao Miyazaki
- David Petersen
- Jeremy Bastian
- Paul Pope
- Gilbert Shelton
- Gary Panter
The room is located off of Room X on the first floor of our Rockville Warehouse. New material added regularly!
New York: late 1940’s to 1971. A collection of approximately 2,000 photographs and negatives, taken by amateur African-American photographer Malcolm Downes Thomas (c. 1900 - c. 1972) from the late 1940’s to 1971. Thomas photographed various aspects of New York City street and family scenes in both Manhattan and Harlem, Eastern Long Island landscapes and wildlife and a variety of images taken on various Caribbean islands. The collection also includes over a hundred original photographs and negatives of Bettie Page in a private session taken in 1952.
Purchase of this collection includes all related rights.
Second Story Books is pleased to present photographs taken by JERRY ARONSON between 1967 and 1996. Most of these photographs have never before been published. All are signed by Jerry and are part of limited edition runs of only six prints. Second Story Books and Jerry Aronson guarantee that no further copies of these photos at these sizes will be issued once these editions are sold.
Jerry started taking still photos in 1960 when, at the age of 15, he photographed President Eisenhower and Governor George Romney in Detroit, Michigan. In high school, he was the top winner of the National Kodak Scholastic Magazine awards. Later he studied under Aaron Siskind and Wynn Bullock at the Institute of Design in Chicago, where he received an MFA.
He began teaching photography at South Shore High School in Chicago in 1970 and by 1972 his students were also top winners of the same National Kodak Scholastic awards. He also began freelancing as a photographer for various concert promoters in Chicago. He subsequently moved to Colorado and established the Cherry Creek High School photo department, while continuing to freelance, now for Denver concert promoters. He also became the head photographer for the Rocky Mountain Musical Express. His still photographs cover a broad range of subjects in music and politics.
In the period following, he concentrated on filmmaking. His many works include the 1978 Academy Award-nominated film The Divided Trail, which is now part of the collection at the Library of Congress. He then directed the documentary series America's Music: The Roots of Country, released in 1996 for TBS. More recently, Jerry produced the documentary Chasing Ice, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and won a national Emmy for Best Nature Programming in 2014.
Jerry’s documentary The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg had its world premiere at Sundance in 1993. The feature-length documentary had a US theatrical run and has since been exhibited at over 100 international film festivals and has also had a world-wide television and DVD release. The Ginsberg film won the prestigious International Documentary Association Award of Excellence in 1994. Jerry then edited a one-hour version for the PBS series “American Masters” which aired in 1997. The project was revised again after Ginsberg’s passing and the final cut was completed for the tribute DVD, which was released in 2007.
Jerry has taught in Chicago at Columbia College and at the University of Illinois. In 1973, he was instrumental in creating the highly respected film production program as part of Film Studies at the University of Colorado. In 2006, he won the University of Colorado Award for Teaching, and he retired from the University in 2008.
The Christopher Coffey Collection of Spanish History from 1543-1929 was assembled over the last five years. The collection was purposely assembled to be a chronological representation of important aspects of Spanish domestic and global history and on Spain’s colonial control of Cuba and the Cuban Independence movement 1840’s-1898.
The Coffey Collection is being offered only in its entirety, and would be a highlight of any institutional collection. A full inventory list, including images, is available upon request.