Rare Books

Invisible cities

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Description: In Kublai Khan's garden, at sunset, the young Marco Polo diverts the aged emperor from his obsession with the impending end of his empire with tales of countless cities past, present, and future.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: 1978
Call number: 660897
Creator: Calvino, Italo(Opens in new tab)
ISBN: 0156453800; 9780156453806
Provenance: Purchased from Kim Stanley Robinson, August 2025. From the Kim Stanley Robinson Library. With presentation inscription, dated Dec/98.
Dimensions: 21 cm.
Associated people: Weaver, William,; Calvino, Italo.

Twilight in the Forbidden City

Rare Books

Reginald Fleming Johnston was a British colonial officer, scholar and a writer with a passion for China and Chinese culture. From 1919 to 1924 he was tutor and adviser to the last emperor of China. The emperor P'u-i had abdicated his throne in 1912. However, in order to ensure a rapid and peaceful transfer of authority, he was allowed to retain his title and was permitted to remain in residence. Johnston was able to observe and chronicle the last years of the Ch'ing dynasty.

654422

A congratulatory poem on His R.H's entertainment in the city

Rare Books

ESTC R27274 ; Verse - "Illustrious prince, heroical and great," ; His R.H. = the future James II, King of England

135976

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Open city no. 92

Rare Books

Publisher: Open City (Los Angeles, Calif.) Related Content: "Notes of a dirty old man: three men had to lift the mass of rubber and place it into the machine and the machine chopped it up into the various things it was meant to be" ; "Bukowski on Bukowski" (p. 6, short story, review) Note: This story was released under the title "The stupid christs" in Tales of ordinary madness. Second item is a review by Bukowski of his book Notes of a dirty old man. "D142" written in ms. in upper left corner of p. [1]. Related Content Author: Charles Bukowski

602815

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Laurentine Hamilton collection

Manuscripts

The collection consists of 551 manuscripts and 4 pieces of correspondence, which are arranged in chronological order by type. The majority of the manuscripts consist of sermons written by Laurentine Hamilton between 1858 and 1882. The sermons are ordered by the date they were first given, but Hamilton often reused his sermons. These dates are usually written on the manuscript or on the bindings that Hamilton used to hold together the loose pages of many of his sermons. One sermon which illustrates Hamilton's arguments for posthumous salvation was given on May 16, 1869 and is titled, "The Judgment." Hamilton also gave sermons incorporating the theories of Darwinian Evolution into Christianity beginning in 1878. There is also a seven- page biography of his life, which was read at Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley on December 17, 1956. It is unclear who wrote the speech. It may have been the donor, Clark Edward. The speech itself is a brief overview of Hamilton's life and then a short analysis of the events triggered by his controversial sermons regarding posthumous salvation. The ephemera, consisting of 25 items, are arranged by type. The ephemera consists of issues of the Oakland Daily News with Hamilton's printed sermons, from 1874 to 1875, issues of the Oakland Daily Evening Tribune with an article by Hamilton and his obituary, and an issue of the Sunday Chronicle from 1882 with Hamilton's obituary. Also included are three lists of Hamilton's sermons, a copy of one of Hamilton's sermons, his academic diplomas and certificates, notes by an unknown author, and a tract by Hamilton, titled The Future State and Free Discussion; Four Sermons Preached in the First Presbyterian Church dated 1869. Subjects in the collection include: Assassination of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia; Asylum for the Insane of the State of California; Bank of California; J. Ross (John Ross) Browne; Influence of the Count Camillo Benso Cavour; Central Pacific Railroad Company; Christianity; Compulsory Education in United States; Evolution; First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California; Octavius Brooks Frothingham; Chicago Great Fire of 1871;Laurentine Hamilton; Judgment Day Sermons; Church history of San Jose, California; American Sermons in California American Presbyterian Sermons; Stockton State Hospital in California; and Religion and Science.

mssHamilton

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Mildred E. Baker Travel Scrapbook Collection

Visual Materials

This collection contains thirteen scrapbooks chiefly containing narratives, snapshots, and clippings documenting summer canyoneering, camping, and tourism trips to the American Southwest, the Colorado River, the Canadian Rockies, and Wyoming by Mildred E. Baker in the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as volumes related to Baker's activities and interest in bookbinding, poetry, and the Woodcraft League of America in Upstate New York with bookbinder John F. Grabau in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Most of these volumes reflect the participation of two Baker's friends from Buffalo: Florence A. Huck and Katherine Crisp, who frequently traveled with Baker and were also involved in bookbinding activities. Baker's scrapbooks follow a general pattern: they include typescript narratives describing her trips illustrated with her own snapshots and handwritten captions, as well as clippings from magazines and newspapers, occasional bits of poetry, and printed ephemera. Most of the travel volumes include lists of identified flowers, shrubs, trees, ferns, and birds seen on the trip, reflecting Baker's interests in botany and ornithology. Many of the volumes also have additional printed items laid in, with some dating through the early 1970s. All of the volumes are bound in decorative bindings stamped "Grabau," and most have marbled paper over the pasteboards. Volumes 1-2 and 4-5 reflect Baker's experiences chiefly at Sunset Hill, the summer home and artist's retreat of bookbinder John F. Grabau, near Buffalo, New York, presumably as part of the "Ojenta tribe" of the Woodcraft League of America. These volumes include poetry and photographs of the landscape, camping and other outdoor outings and group events, and bookbinding, including images of binding specimens by both Grabau and Baker. Many of the volumes document Baker's trips to the American Southwest, including her experience as one of the first women to raft the full-length of the Colorado River as part of the 1940 "Nevills Expedition" led by Norman D. Nevills. Her scrapbook of this trip (volume 11) includes photographs of Nevills and his wife, Doris Nevills, and fellow participants including mining engineer John S. Southworth of Glendale, California, botanist Hugh C. Cutler of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and future Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Regular themes among the photographs include depictions of the natural landscape including rock formations, mountains, rivers, and lakes; Native Americans; trading posts; cliff dwellings; petroglyphs; lodgings; and means of transportation including by train, automobile, airplane, horse, and burro. The volumes consist of: Volume 1: [Sunset Hill "Christmas" scrapbook album]. 1927-1928 Locations referenced: Sunset Hill estate, Upstate New York Volume 2: Sunset Hill and Algonquin Park "birthday" scrapbook album]. 1927-1933 Locations referenced: Sunset Hill estate, Upstate New York, and Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada Volume 3: Navajo Mountain, 1931 Locations referenced: Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico Volume 4: Anthology of Sunset Hill (Its Trails and Poets' Glen). 1934-approximately 1938 Locations referenced: Upstate New York Volume 5: Some poems of Sunset Hill by Mildred E. Baker, Wm. P. Alexander and others. Christmas 1936 Locations referenced: Upstate New York Volume 6: Memorable Days on Teton Trails. 1934 Locations referenced: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Volume 7: A Glimpse of the Old West. August 16th-September 2nd, 1935 Locations referenced: New Mexico Volume 8: Wilderness Wanderings in Jasper and Mt. Robson Parks. July 3rd to 23rd 1936 Locations referenced: Alberta, Canadian Rockies Volume 9: Trail Riding in the Canadian Rockies. July 23 to Aug. 8, 1937 Locations referenced: Alberta, Canadian Rockies Volume 10: Peace of Rainbow and Canyon. July 2nd to 25th, 1938 Locations referenced: Arizona, Utah Volume 11: Rough Water. Down the Green and Colorado Rivers from Green River, Wyoming, to Boulder Dam, Nevada. June 20th-August 22nd, 1940 Locations referenced: Wyoming, Utah, Nevada Volume 12: [Scrapbook of newspaper clippings related to the Nevills expedition]. 1940-1941 Locations referenced: Wyoming, Utah, Nevada Volume 13: Turquoise Skies and Copper Canyon. 1942 Locations referenced: Arizona, Utah

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Plat showing the main underground workings of the Quinn Mine, Silver City Mining District, Lyon County, Nevada and map of Silver City Locations [mining claims] (1880)

Visual Materials

A collection of photographs and maps compiled by American geologist and petroleum engineer Ralph Arnold (1875-1961), documenting his pioneering work in oil and mineral exploration, chiefly in the Western United States, Mexico and Venezuela, from 1900 to 1954. The collection centers on 64 photograph albums that span 50 years of Arnold's life and work. Photographs are accompanied by Arnold's typed captions identifying geological features; oil and mining activities; technical data; and dates and locations, i.e. often an oil or mining "district" or "field," such as "Sunset Field" (California). Subject matter includes geological and topographical features such as rock formations, faults and schisms, mountain structure, geothermal activity, and open land with potential drilling or mining spots. Earthquake faults are seen and described in many of Arnold's California investigations. There are also views of small and large-scale oil operations (by individuals and by organized companies); details of oil flow and reservoirs; asphalt; drilling equipment; workers and fields of oil wells. Arnold's work took him all over the Western United States, particularly California oil fields, but also Texas, Wyoming, Arizona, Alaska and other states. From 1911-1916 he was primarily in South America, and in the 1920s-1940s, mostly in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Mining operations are the focus of some albums, showing investigations for tin, gold and other minerals; mines and ore processing, all with detailed descriptions. Arnold also often photographed people: colleagues and business associates, oil lease owners on their properties; workers (particularly Black and Asian workers in Venezuela); and friends and family. Personal photographs are throughout the album, such as of his wife, Winninette, and their two daughters; Stokes family members (Winninette's family) in South Pasadena; and alumni of Pasadena High School and Stanford University. Arnold was an avid gardener and the albums contain detail views of cactus and tropical plants, and scenes of Arnold collecting wild orchids in Trinidad, Venezuela and Mexico. The maps date from 1880-1948 and include U.S.G.S. and geological maps, California oil fields and well locations; layouts of mines, and various tract maps showing oil company-owned land.

photCL 311

Invisible cities

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Twilight in the Forbidden City

A congratulatory poem on His R.H's entertainment in the city

Open city no. 92

Laurentine Hamilton collection

Mildred E. Baker Travel Scrapbook Collection

Plat showing the main underground workings of the Quinn Mine, Silver City Mining District, Lyon County, Nevada and map of Silver City Locations [mining claims] (1880)