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James M. Dourgarian, Bookman
New address/phone
2341 Hickory Drive
Concord, CA 94520
925-349-4400
Established1980 - Member ABAA
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Click on the shopping basket by a item to create an email for us to contact you about ordering that item. You may also call 1 (925) 349-4400 to talk to Jim and place a phone order with Visa, Mastercard, or Discover. You may also arrange to pay by check. Click on the link below to email a general inquiry.
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James M.Dourgarian, Bookman, was established in 1980. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). Like all ABAA members, we answer to a higher authority and follow a higher standard of ethics that guarantees a successful transaction for all our customers.
We buy and sell old books, vintage books, collectible books, rare books, first edition books, and related ephemera. We maintain several specialties. Among them are American fiction first editions from c.1900 to the present. Within that general field, we have heavy emphasis in John Steinbeck and Steinbeckiana. Thus, we buy and sell Steinbeck primary first editions in dust jackets, signed/limited editions, his appearances in anthologies, his periodical appearances, books and periodicals about Steinbeck, film and theatre memorabilia, bibliographies, and miscellaneous items.
We also specialize in these same categories for these authors -- Jack London, Wallace Stegner, and Stephen King. Other specialties include Western Americana, books on California and the West, Photography books, books on Japan, China, and the Orient, and Armed Services Editions. The latter are vintage paperbacks issued to American GIs from 1943 to 1947. They are comprised of mysteries, Westerns, science fiction and fantasy, mainstream fiction, historical novels, science, poetry, adventure stories, and more.
Within our field of modern first editions, we also sell related film memorabilia Thus, we sell film posters, lobby card sets, pressbooks, stills, scripts, etc. for films made from the works of authors we carry such as John Steinbeck, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, Zane Grey, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Stephen King, Edward Abbey, Anne Rice, and many others.
| [Steinbeckiana] Hosmer, Helen et al. Typed Letter Signed. San Francisco, Simon J. Lubin Society, April 18, 1939, first edition. A typed letter Signed by Hosmer, executive director of the Simon J. Lubin Society which published John Steinbeck's Their Blood is Strong, Hosmer notes that three copies of the book were mailed to Porter S. Welch, manager of the Old Book Shop, The Burrows Company, in Cleveland, OH, for the grand sum of $9, "Although these were not in mint condition, and although you stated that the premium seemed high, the fact of the matter is that we now have an offer of $5.00 a piece, from a Steinbeck collector at Stanford. You might tell that to your collectors if they seem sad about the price," she goes on to write that they have $400 due them "on both Steinbeck and Associated Farmer pamphlets, with the creditors hounding us," adding "With our organization, crises are periodic and to be expected; this one threatens to be a real one," typed on the Society's letterhead which lists Carey McWilliams, Congressman H. Jerry Voorhis, and Sam Yorty (then an Assembly member) who went on to become Mayor of Los Angeles, as sponsors, among others, together with the September-October, 1938 issue of "The Rural Observer," published by the Society, edited by Hosmer who writes at the top "For your information/and interest./H.H.," laid in loosely are two newspaper clipping about Steinbeck's play, Of Mice and Men in its true (San Francisco) first performance; together with a typed letter signed to Welch dated April 25, 1939 from Herbert Cerwin, on his Carmel Valley letterhead, he authored Goldstone & Payne B3, Famous Recipes by Famous People, the Hotel Del Monte wrappered version, and G&P B11, the Lane hardcover, Welch had inquired about obtaining copies, but Cerwin reports that both versions are out of print, "Because I prepared the booklet, I happen to have three copies of the first edition," but he reports that he isn't keen on parting with them, "However, if you or anyone else wants them for $3.00 a copy you can have them. This is really more than the book is worth, but you still may be interested"; together with another typed letter signed from Cerwin to Welch, dated May 2, 1939, also on his letterhead, informing him that he is sending the three copies at $3 each, he adds "I'm also sending you a leather bound copy of the same book," reporting that he has two such copies and that he wants $5 for one copy, wanting to retain the other, he asks for it to be returned if no one will pay the $5, ending with "It originally became a collector's item because of the recipe by Jeffers. Later it was Steinbeck's contribution which really has made it valuable," that leather bound copy is unrecorded, all the letters have been folded for mailing and are housed in their original envelopes. Very good. JD 36896 |  $1,500.00 |
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