Travel & Exploration

Includes exploration, tourism, outdoorsmanship, fantasy, travel writing, and modes of transport.

Ambrose, Stephen, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West (Simon & Schuster, 1st ed, 1st printing, 1996). LOC 0-684-81107-3. Octavo, 507 pp. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, fine condition. HBB price: $150.

Ambrose, Stephen, Lewis & Clark: Voyage of Discovery (National Geographic Society, 1st. ed, 1998; Bicentennial Edition, 2006).  ISBN 0-7922-6473-8.  Stunning recounting of the 1804-1806 expedition, with photographs by Sam Abell from the film version. Hardcover, 11” x 10” folio. Out of print. Unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $30.

Bantock, Nick, The Venetian’s Wife (Chronicle Books, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1996). ISBN 0-8118-1140-9. A mysterious art connoisseur, communicating only by email, hires a museum curator for an equally mysterious task. Hardcover, dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $29.95.

Bantock, Nick, The Forgetting Room (Byzantium Books/HarperCollins, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1997). ISBN 0-00-225176-0. Another of Bantock’s mysterious tales interweaving text and illustration, this one involving a man who inherits a house in Spain from his grandfather. Hardcover, dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $49.95.

Bantock, Nick, The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy (Chronicle Books,

Vol. 1, Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence, (1991, 1st ed., 6th printing); Vol. 2, Sabine’s Notebook, (1992, 1st ed., 2nd printing); Vol. 3, The Golden Mean (1993, 1st ed., 1st printing). The first set of Bantock’s two Griffin & Sabine trilogies, in which- he says-  he presents “a new genre in publishing, a marriage of word and image embedded within a mysterious alchemical love story of postcards and letters.” Lavishly illustrated, these books were a publishing sensation. Hardcover dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $60.

Crimmins, G. Garfield, The Republic of Dreams: A Reverie (W.W. Norton, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1998). ISBN 0-393-046433-8. A dazzling book, filled- literally- with zeppelin tickets, maps, telegrams, and even a Poetic License from the author’s dream visits to the utopian island of Reves. It brings to mind, somehow, a cross between Nick Bantock and the 1940 Robert Arthur short story, “Postpaid to Paradise,” about the Federated States of Eldorado and their fabulous stamps. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, fine condition. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, fine condition, 95 pp. Rare. HBB price: $39.95.

Caxton, William, The Description of Britain: A modern rendering by Marie Collins (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1st Am. ed., 1st printing, 1988). ISBN 1-55584-300-X. An exceptionally attractive and informative work.  Caxton excerpted portions of a larger work of the time, Higham’s Polychronicon, and produced it as a guide to the British kingdom. Collins updated the language of the 1480 text and added scores of remarkable illustrations of places mentioned. With a useful historical timeline and introduction. As much an art book as one of history. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. Quarto, 176 pp. HBB price: $40.

DeVoto, Bernard, The Course of Empire (Houghton Mifflin, 1st ed. 1952). LOC 52-5261. The settlement of America, from the Spanish to Lewis & Clark, by one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the mid-20th century. Hardcover, price clipped dust jacket, a bit chapped in spots, otherwise very good condition. HBB price: $25.

Gann, Ernest K, Ernest K. Gann’s Flying Circus (Macmillan, 1st ed, 1st printing, 1974). ISBN 0-02-542-400-9. A collection of the author’s short pieces on the history of aviation. Highly entertaining. Hardcover unclipped dust jacket, good condition. HBB price: $10.

Hawke, Myke, Hawke’s Green Beret Survival Manual (Running Press, 1st ed, first printing, 2009). ISBN 978-0-7624-3358-2. An astonishingly comprehensive guide to making do when you’re forced to do without. Hawke’s view- he is a former Special Forces captain and Tv adventure show host)  is that survival skills come into play when you’ve lost everything you brought with you; otherwise, you are just camping. And we’re talking real survival: the author includes tips on unexpected products from which you can extract water, and which parts of a colleague are most toothsome if cannibalism is called for. 630 pp, hardcover, no dust jacket, slight wear. Attractive design; worth reading just for the first aid tips that litter the well-designed and laid-out text. HBB price: $39.95.

Kane, Harnett T., Queen New Orleans: City By The River (William Morrow, 1st ed., 1949). “The Poet Laureate of Louisiana” pens a raucous, affectionate portrait of The Big Easy. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, Brodart cover, very good condition, inscribed to Charlotte NC arts maven Gladys Lavitan. HBB price: $60.

Kuralt, Charles, On the Road With Charles Kuralt (G.P. Putnam’s, 1985, 1st ed., 20th printing, 1985). ISBN 0-399-13087-X. 92 of Kuralt’s travel pieces from 1967 onward. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, good condition, autographed. HBB price: $25.

Michener, James A., Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections (Random House, 1st ed. 1968). LOC 67-22623. Michener’s conception of “a 19th century English-style travel book with much personal observation, much reflection and much affection”, and with photographs by Robert Vavra.Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $99.95.

Morgan, Max, Pilot’s Journal (Chronicle Books, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1997). ISBN 0-8118-1755-5. The 1946-49 flight journal of Max Morgan, former Royal Canadian Air Force flyer and owner of the legendary Paris jazz club, Aerobleu. Long thought lost; rediscovered in 1997, some four decades after Morgan disappeared during the chaos of the Cuban Revolution. Hardcover, 5.75” x 11” in the original, stainless steel slipcase. For more about Morgan and the Aerobleu era, see Stuart Elliott, “The Media Business: Advertising,” The New York Times, October 15, 1997. Exceedingly rare;  highly collectible. HBB price: $395.

Sherwood, Shirley, Venice-Simplon Orient Express: The Return of the World’s Most Celebrated Train (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1st ed. 1983). ISBN 0-297-78261-4. How the luxury train line was salvaged and restored as a high-end tourism experience. Lavishly illustrated. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket showing some wear; slight creasing to the last few pages. 10” x 9”, 160 pp. HBB price: $19.95.