Manuscripts, Documents, Ephemera

A first edition copy of the book that changed baseball — Bill James's second Baseball Annual, one of just 250 copies.<ul><li>Bill James (American).</li><li>1978 Baseball Abstract: The 2nd Annual Edition of Baseball's Most Informative and Imaginative Review.</li><li>Lawrence, KS:&nbsp;Bill James,&nbsp;1978.</li><li>115 pages.</li><li>Bound in original stab-stapled printed green wrappers, xerographically reproduced throughout.</li></ul> In 1977 when James published the first installment in his long-running series of abstracts, he would have seemed an unlikely candidate to change the very game he was writing about. A worker at a pork and beans factory, James photocopied a small edition of (the cover proclaimed) "Statistical Information That You Just Can't Find Anywhere Else." He offered them for sale via the classified ads of The Sporting News, and sold only about 75 copies. Of this seemingly inauspicious beginning, Michael Lewis would later write: "[H]ad he left off writing in 1977, James would have been dismissed as just another crank [...] It didn't occur to him to be disappointed by the sale of seventy-five copies; he was encouraged [...] In 1978, James came out with a second book [...] Word had spread this time: 250 people bought a copy [...] James's pen was now an unstoppable force." And though it took more than a decade, the force of James's writing and his sheer statistical might slowly gathered a group of adherents both inside and out of professional baseball. Outside pro ball, James's approach helped launch the fantasy sports era with the popularity of Rotisserie Baseball, a game almost impossible to imagine without James. More importantly, within baseball a small number of coaches, scouts, managers and executives began experimenting with James's almost pure reliance on statistics (and not baseball's more traditionally semi-superstitious ways). This embrace of his strategy culminated most famously in the Oakland A's GM Billy Beane's remarkable run utilizing James "sabermetric" methods—leading the team to the postseason for four consecutive years (2000 through 2003) on one of baseball's lowest total salaries—a story made famous by Michael Lewis's bestselling book Moneyball (and its subsequent film adaptation starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman). James's approach would go on to have a huge impact even beyond the world of sports, with "moneyball" eventually entering the broader lexicon for any deeply statistical and evidenced-based approach that also runs counter to prevailing wisdom. As the new century progressed, a wide range of fields and figures—from those betting against the housing market (topic of another Michael Lewis book), to the political polling of figures like Nate Silver and the GTO strategies of professional poker, as well as a seemingly infinite number of Silicon Valley startups looking to "moneyball [fill in the blank]"—would evidence James's telltale fingerprints. He and Baseball Abstract have gone on to influence economists, physicists, mathematicians and other bestselling books like Freakonomics, which appeared just two years after Moneyball. As the Abstract became more popular in subsequent years, James did reprints of this and the 1977 edition (both with the word "REPRINT" prominently displayed on the covers). However, original printings of the first two installments remain truly rare. Indeed, the rarity of these early abstracts can be measured by the fact that not only does OCLC not show any holdings for either the 1977 or 1978 editions (including the reprints), but none for the 1979 or 1980 editions as well. It is not until the 1981 installment (the last James published himself before its acquisition by Ballantine) that we find a record in OCLC—a single copy at The Strong National Museum of Play.

1978 Baseball Abstract

A single leaf from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's work The Gilded Age.<ul><li>Single manuscript leaf, taken from a set.</li><li>Written in Mark Twain's hand.</li><li>This page is from chapter 34.</li><li>Removed from binding.</li><li>Embossed stamp at top left.</li></ul> Written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age was hatched over the dinner table when Clemens and Warner were challenged by their wives to write a work that would be better than those they were busy complaining about. Clemens wrote the first eleven chapters, based on members of his family including his father and mother, while Warner wrote the next twelve chapters, purely fictionally. The remaining chapters were generally written by one or the other, while the resolution was written in tandem.

The Gilded Age Manuscript Leaf

Collection of Black Panther handbills from 1969 and 1970.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 3.</li><li>New York/Philadelphia: 1969/1970.&nbsp;</li></ul> Mimeographed light yellow handbill issued in New York on December 8, 1969.<ul><li>New York: 1969.</li><li>Two-page handbill on one sheet.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>The recto is headlined “Stop the Persecution of the Black Panther Party” and addresses the death of Hampton.</li><li>The bottom announces an anti-Nixon demonstration at the Waldorf.</li><li>The verso advertises the fundraising efforts of the Defense Committee for the Wilmington 8.</li></ul> Mimeographed beige handbill printed April 1969.<ul><li>New York: 1969.</li><li>1 page.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Announcing a demonstration at the bail hearing for the Panther 21.</li></ul> Mimeographed white handbill printed by the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party.<ul><li>Philadelphia: 1970.</li><li>Two-page handbill on single sheet.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Headlined “Cisco-Kidd Pig Rizzo Oinks Again!”</li></ul>

Black Panther Handbills 

Pamphlet collection of documents regarding the Eleventh Amendment of the United States.<ul><li>Message from the President of the United States, Accompanying A Report from the Secretary of State, and Copies of Acts of the Legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, Ratifying the Amendment Proposed by Congress, Concerning the Suability of States, in Pursuance of A Resolution of the Two Houses, of the Second of March Last.</li><li>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;U.S. House of Representatives,&nbsp;1798.</li><li>12 pages.</li><li>Duodecimo.</li><li>Side-sewn pamphlet.</li></ul>

Regarding the Eleventh Amendment of the United States

Second-edition copy of The White House: A Historic Guide inscribed by JFK and Jackie Kennedy.<ul><li>Mrs. John N. Pearce (American).</li><li>Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association, 1962.</li><li>Limited numbered edition of 75, this being number 62.</li><li>Inscribed by John and Jackie Kennedy on the limitation page, "For Chris with the affectionate regards of his friends John Kennedy and love from Jackie. Christmas 1962."</li><li>Bound in the original full red morocco, title gilt to spine, covers double ruled in gilt, with marbled pastedowns and endpapers.</li></ul> The publication of this book was overseen by Jackie Kennedy as part of her restoration and preservation of the White House.&nbsp;These were earmarked by the Kennedys to be given away as Christmas gifts to each member of the Kennedy administration and very close friends.&nbsp;This edition was from their last Christmas together.

The White House: A Historic Guide

A photo postcard showing Twain smoking a pipe in a windowsill at Stormfield, flanked by his business advisor, Ralph Ashcroft, and his secretary, Isabel Lyon.<ul><li>Mark Twain [S.L.&nbsp;Clemens] (American).</li><li>[Stormfield, Redding, Connecticut], N.p: "Xmas Day", 1908.</li><li>Inscription reads: "Dear Mr. Coe: I am smoking your health in your noble cigars. I wish you &amp; Mrs. Mai were here to assist. In the picture it is family worship. I am trying to do the Beatitudes, &amp; Ashcroft is prompting. With love to you both – SLC".</li><li>The photo was taken by William Ireland Starr just a few weeks earlier, and Twain had several postcards printed up using the image.</li></ul> William Robertson Coe (1869-1955) was a famous rare book collector (Coe Collection at Yale), insurance and railroad executive and American Studies pioneer. His wife, Mai Rogers Coe (1875-1924), knew Twain through his friendship with her parents, the wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abbie Palmer Rogers. Rogers was Twain's greatest friend towards the end of his life, and was at times believed to be the richest man in America, outdoing his partner John D. Rockefeller.

Mark Twain Autographed Postcard

First edition copy with original dust jacket and a typewritten letter by the author.<ul><li>Margaret Mitchell (American).</li><li>First edition, with “Published May, 1936” on the copyright page.&nbsp;</li><li>New York:&nbsp;Macmillan,&nbsp;1936.</li><li>1037 pp. 1 vols.</li><li>8vo.</li><li>Original gray cloth lettered in blue.</li><li>Unclipped, with “$3.00” cost and with the “Spring Novels” advertisement on the lower panel, showing this work as the second title in the right-hand column.</li><li>Half green morocco slipcase and cloth chemise.</li></ul> Laid in is a one-page typed letter, signed (“Margaret Mitchell Marsh”), from Mitchell to bookseller Robert Wilson, then a student at Johns Hopkins University, on a sheet of personal stationery headed “Margaret Mitchell,” dated Atlanta, Georgia May 21, 1941 and reading in full, “My dear Mr. Wilson, … I have read the letter which my secretary wrote to you and I find I have little to add to it. As she wrote to you, I am no speaker and have never made any lectures of any type, so I regret that I must refuse your invitation. I do feel so flattered that The Johns Hopkins University wanted me to make this talk, and I thank you so much for asking me. Cordially, [signed in ink] Margaret Mitchell Marsh. Mrs. John R. Marsh.”

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