“She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

BLANK VERSO BOOKS has a hand selected collection of rare and unusual books and ephemera in many fields. We specialize in the odd, curious, weird, provocative, undiscovered and overlooked. 

Our owners: Steven Hill has bought and sold collectible books for many years, as a collector, former owner of a San Francisco bookstore (Ant Hill Books on Church St.), and as COO of an online book listing site, Bibliocity, that was a competitor of ABE until it was purchased by Alibris. Mara Fath is a ceramic artist who has been buying and selling unusual books and ephemera since the fifth grade when she discovered a beautiful 1884 copy of Poe’s The Raven illustrated by Doré at her local library book sale, and has been finding unique material ever since. Both Mara and Steven are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).

Please return often to view our newest acquisitions.

DOMESTIC SHIPPING is $6.50 by USPS Media Mail; or $18.50 by Priority Mail.  INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING costs are shown during checkout. Oversize, heavy books and sets may require additional postage.

All items are returnable for 14 days from receipt, for any reason.

We are located in Mill Valley, California. We are open by appointment.

We are always interested in purchasing uncommon books and ephemera, from single items to libraries and archives. We offer appraisal services as well.

Thanks for Looking and Enjoy!

A Sampling:

• 
  Jan Blaeu [Cartographer]

  ENGRAVED 1664 HAND COLORED FOLIO MAP OF ITALY CALABRIA ULTRA Olim Altera Magnæ Græciæ Pars. Original 17th century hand colored leaf from Jan Blaeu's Grooten Atlas, Dutch edition of the iconic ATLAS MAIOR
• 
  Mary H. Atcherly

  1930 FIRST HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE HIGH SCHOOL TEXTBOOK Mary H. Atcherly FIRST EDITION
• 
  Waleter Baumer

  MASERATI 300S - ILLUSTRATED PRODUCTION & RACING HISTORY - 100s of Photographs
• 
  Kappa

  TOKYO BARTENDER'S GUIDE TO THE BEST MIXED DRINKS w/ JAPANESE HANDWRITTEN NOTES
• 
  John Pine, Alexander Cozens [Engraving] [Black Engraver]

  EAST VIEW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ETON Scarce 1742 Engraving of Eton College by Noted BLACK ENGRAVER
• 
  1957 ATLAS of ST. PETERSBURG & LENINGRAD with 27 LARGE HISTORIC RUSSIAN MAPS & PLANS
• 
  Christopher Pettie [Petty]

  MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT OF MAN WHO LOST HIS FORTUNE DUE TO ADDICTION 1691
• 
  [Japanese Internment] [WWII] [Racism] [Nisei]

  JAPANESE INTERNMENT 1945 West Coast Nisei Resettlement SCARCE Original Pamphlets
• 
  Jo Bookkeeper, Editor

  SECRET Lesbian Utopian Underground Society INNERVIEWS Vol. 4 Issue 1 / LOVE and MONEY Women's Two Dilemmas / February 1980
• 
  John R.M. Taylor

  THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION AGAINST THE UNITED STATES: A Compilation of Documents and Notes - Five Volume Set - First Edition
• 
  1858-1859 THE SPIRITUAL AGE - 68 ISSUES - SEANCES MEDIUMS SPIRITS REBIRTH
• 
  Robert Ornstein

  1971 BIG SUR RECORDINGS Reel-to-Reel Tape ROBERT ORNSTEIN "PSYCHOLOGY OF MEDITATION" Recorded at the Esalen Institute
• 
  [Counterculture]

  Radical Politics 1970 RACE & POLITICAL POLEMICS Extremists Right And Left
• 
  [Photograph]

  CURIOUS GOTHIC TAXIDERMY Atmospheric Original 1915 Photograph SPOOKY
• 
  Enrique Heinrich Gutmann [Photography] [Mexico] [Revolutionary Art]

  MEXICAN Photography Book DESPERTAR LAGUNERO Scarce REVOLUTIONARY Latin American MODERNISM 1937 1st/1st
• 
  [Sample Book] [Advertising] [Home Furnishing]

  Memphis Era DESIGNER SWEDISH FLOORING SAMPLE PORTFOLIO with BOLON Textile Samples
• 
  Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, et al

  1967 CHE GUEVARA - TRIBUTES TO & SPEECHES BY the MURDERED REVOLUTIONARY - Published in Cuba Shortly After Che's Execution by the Bolivian Army
• 
  [Bob Seidemann] [BLIND FAITH BAND, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker]

  BOB SEIDEMANN - BLIND FAITH PHOTOGRAPH - ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 20TH CENTURY - SIGNED, DATED and NUMBERED
• 
  Bob Seidemann [Photographer] [Signed]

  THREE RARE SIGNED AIRPLANE AS ART Posters ACID ROCK Photographer BOB SEIDEMANN
• 
  Prologue by Nicolas and Elena Calas

  JOAN MIRO LITHOGRAPHS IV 1969-1972 w/ SIX ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHS Barcelona 1981
• 
  Maurice Sendak

  MAURICE SENDAK **SIGNED** POSTER of MADAME BUTTERFLY at the HOUSTON GRAND OPERA During Its 43rd SEASON 1997-1998
• 
  Ada Clark Merrell

  LARGE GENEALOGY ARCHIVE of ADA CLARK MERRELL of WISCONSIN and RELATED FAMILIES
• 
  ILLUSTRATIONS for BOXES of FRENCH CHOCOLATES - CATALOG with 29 MOUNTED SAMPLES
• 
  Abram Hunt Family of Rodman, New York

  39 DIARIES 1864-1918 FARMING & BEEKEEPING - ABRAM HUNT FAMILY FARM & APIARY (200 Hives), UPSTATE NEW YORK
• 
  Stinehour / Meriden Press

  TWO STINEHOUR - MERIDEN PRESS POSTERS Designed by LANCE HIDY 1983 - Fine Printing, Book Arts
• 
  1914 PHOTO ALBUM FRENCH HOSPITAL WOUNDED SOLDIERS "YVETOT HOPITAL DE L'ALLIANCE" - JOSEPH BROSSARD, 7th ZOUAVE BATAILLON
• 
  Alexander Harkavy, translator

  1926 YIDDISH The CITIZEN A GUIDE to NATURALIZATION & the U.S. CONSTITUTION for Jewish Immigrant Yiddish Speakers
• 
  OCTAVE UZANNE

  1898 BOOK DESIGN & DECORATION / L'ART DANS LA DÉCORATION EXTÉRIEURE DES LIVRES - SIGNED & INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY Fine-Binding Limited Edition
• 
  [Radio][Broadcasting][Advertising]

  RADIO Station 1946 San Francisco KSFO 560 AM Scarce WWII Era BROADCASTING PROMOTIONAL Viewbook Universal Broadcasting Company
• 
  Margaret Keane [Cards] [Art]

  VINTAGE Margaret Keane 12 BIG EYES NOTE CARDS w/ ENVELOPES Sisters of Seville
• 
  [Radical Movements]

  PACK RAT Radical Berkeley Student Black Panthers Newspaper 1969 Volume 1 Number 1
• 
  DR. JEAN CHARCOT and Dr. Jacques Liouville

  1913 FRENCH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION *SIGNED & INSCRIBED* CETACEANS WHALES 15 PLATES Antarctica
• 
  Diane di Prima

  SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Diane di Prima REVOLUTIONARY LETTERS ETC 1966-1978
• 
  [Original Photograph]

  Antique Photograph NAPA VALLEY TEN MULE JERK LINE STAGECOACH WAGON Wine Related Cakebread Vineyards Collection c. 1890 Cabinet Card
• 
  [Military & War] [Original Matchbook]

  DOOMSDAY Atomic Age MATCHBOOK Nuclear Bomb Explosion 1958 COLD WAR Secret Military Project ~ Rare Book of Matches
• 
  Otis Hill

  1880 Two Vintage Mounted PHOTOGRAPHS of OTIS HILL and CHILD in HAYWARD, California
• 
  1911 Letter BLACK BEAR GOLD MINING CO., SAWYERS BAR, SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, WHITING FAMILY, WHITING HILL MINE
• 
  Lew Welch [Beat Poetry] [Broadside]

  BEAT POETRY Rarity LEW WELCH 1965 BROADSIDE Words & Music SUPERMARKET "Everything Is Wrapped In Plastic"
• 
  [African American] [Poster]

  DYING FOR A MENTHOL? Rare Original Award Winning Poster DEAD BLACK SMOKERS IN A PACK OF CIGARETTES African American Anti Smoking Campaign Poster
• 
  Congressional Black Caucus [African American] [Activism]

  Congressional BLACK CAUCUS 1993 Staff Directory, 103rd Congress, Members, Committees, Contacts AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTIVISM Scarce
• 
  [Urban Planning] [San Francisco][Marin County]

  San Francisco Bay 1967 OFFICIAL UNREALIZED TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS ILLUSTRATED REPORT Golden Gate Bridge Bottom Deck UNDERWATER TUBES Plans For New Bridges et al SAN FRANCISCO MARIN CROSSING
• 
  Johann Georg Walch

  1726 GERMAN PHILOSOPHICAL LEXICON First Edition SIGNED by J. F. CLASSEN Important Association Copy in Vellum Covers
• 
  Reed Research

  1950s HI-TECH R&D COMPANY Product Presentation Album with 28 8x10 ORIGINAL GLOSSY PHOTOGRAPHS with Captions REED RESARCH INC.
• 
  Paul Mariah [LGBTQ] [Broadside]

  PAUL MARIAH [Signed Poetry Broadside] For The Vietnamese Buddhist #31 of 50 VIETNAM WAR PROTEST
• 
  1922 NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, CITY DIRECTORY w/ Every RESIDENT & BUSINESS
• 
  Jedidiah Morse

  1795 THE HISTORY OF AMERICA in TWO BOOKS (bound in ONE, as issued) with 2 FOLDING MAPS Philadelphia: Dobson
• 
  Roger Shimomura

  ROGER SHIMOMURA - JAPANESE INTERNMENT ART "Memories of Childhood" w/ 10 ORIGINAL HAND PAINTED LITHOGRAPHS - SIGNED ARTIST'S BOOK Copy #4 of 30
• 
  Maps Drawn by John Groves Hales

  MAPS OF THE STREETS OF BOSTON Made For The Selectmen in 1819 & 1820 with 140 MAPS - A Facsimile published by Boston City Register in 1894
• 
  GUILLELMO DONDINI

  1671 First Edition GUILLELMO DONDINI - HISTORIA de REBUS in GALLIA GESTIS ab ALEXANDRO FARNESIO - with ALL 5 PLATES
• 
  Paul Williams [African American] [Architecture]

  NEW HOMES FOR TODAY Remodeling, Interiors, Duplexes, Ranch Houses
• 
  Ingmar Bergman, Lena Olin, Erland Josephson

  FOUR PHOTOS of INGMAR BERGMAN Directing LENA OLIN in AFTER THE REHEARSAL
• 
  JEROME à COSTA pseudonm of RICHARD SIMON

  1684 HISTORY of ECCLESIASTICAL REVENUES & CHURCH FINANCES / HISTOIRE de l'ORIGINE & du PROGRÈS des REVENUS ECCLÉSIASTIQUES
• 
  JANNIS YANEZ PALADORII / JUAN YANEZ PALADORIO

  1734 Vellum JUDICIAL WORKS / LEGAL WRITINGS of Joannis Yanez Parladorii in LATIN
• 
  Claes Oldenburg

  CLAES OLDENBURG **SIGNED & INSCRIBED** NOTES IN HAND - MINIATURES OF MY NOTEBOOK PAGES Illustrated w/ 50 COLOR PLATES
• 
  SPEAK MAGAZINE Issue 02 DAVID CARSON **SIGNED & DATED** Spring 1996
• 
  Sylvia Dee

  SYLVIA DEE - IMPORTANT EARLY FEMALE LYRICIST who also WROTE THIS NOVEL - SIGNED & INSCRIBED
• 
  Lucido Sparapani

  1669-1680s ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNTS BOOK LUCIDO SPARAPANI et al TRENTO, ITALY
• 
  S.M.S. / SHIT MUST STOP #6 Claes Oldenburg, John Giorno, Dieter Rot +++ in Original Mailing Box 1968
• 
  Edited by H. C. Hanson

  FLORIST AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL 2 Bound Volumes ILLUSTRATED with HAND-COLORED PLATES of PLANTS & FLOWERS Published in Philadelphia 1852 & 1854
• 
  LEWIS HAYDEN EX-SLAVE in Rare 1873 MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PHOTOBOOK
• 
  PHOTOGRAPH of 14 COLLEGE GIRLS - 8 NAMED on the BACKSIDE New England c. 1890
• 
  Detroit Aircraft Corporation

  METAL-CLAD BLIMP ZMC-2 Album w/ 34 PHOTOS of its PRODUCTION + SAMPLE of its HULL
• 
  TWO POSTERS for "CAT THE MANDARIN JET OF THE ORIENT" - AIRLINE AS A FRONT FOR COVERT CIA OPERATIONS IN ASIA
• 
  Coosje van Bruggen / John Baldessari

  JOHN BALDESSARI ART MONOGRAPH by Coosje Van Bruggen - SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Both BALDESSARI and van BRUGGEN - First Printing
• 
  C. S. Cousins / Searcher of Records for Contra Costa County; et al

  1859-1920 TITLE ABSTRACT THREE VOLUMES - RANCHO MONTE DEL DIABLO / THE PACHECO GRANT / Mount Diablo, Contra Costa County, California
• 
  ALEXANDRE ORION

  BRAZILIAN GRAFFITI STREET ARTIST ALEXANDRE ORION - METABIOTICA **SIGNED** 2006
• 
  Roxanne Klein, Charlie Trotter

  RAW Cookbook SIGNED and INSCRIBED by VEGAN Queen ROXANNE KLEIN Pioneering Vegetarian Chef Owner of ROXANNE'S Iconic Larkspur Restaurant
• 
  HIERONYMUS VAN SLINGELANDT

  1777 MANUSCRIPT LATIN SPEECH - HIERONIMUS VAN SLINGELANDT, Son of Baron Aelbrecht van Slingelandt and His Wife Helena - THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
• 
  Henry Evans [Artist]

  Henry Evans JAPANESE PERSIMMONS Original 1965 SIGNED Linocut EXCELLENT MIDCENTURY BOTANICAL PRINT
• 
  C. ALICE BAKER, EMMA L. COLEMAN, and SUSAN M. LANE

  Collection of SIGNED, INSCRIBED and ANNOTATED BOOKS by THREE IMPORTANT NEW ENGLAND WOMEN HISTORIANS & AUTHORS LIVING TOGETHER in a "BOSTON MARRIAGE" -DEERFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS - FRARY HOUSE
• 
  Tributes to Matisse by Various Artists, Colleagues and Friends

  Hommage à HENRI MATISSE - including ORIGINAL LINOCUT - Numéro Spécial de XXe Siècle
• 
  MID-CENTURY SWISS GRAPHIC ART & DESIGN : F. GYGI + CO BERN / INSERATE UND NEUJAHRSKARTEN 1942-1954
• 
  Johann Joachim Muller

  1710 SPANISH ROYALTY LINEAGE through MARRIAGE with FRENCH PRETENSIONS to the THRONE / KÖNIGLICH-SPANISCHER Vermählungs-Saal / ILLUSTRATED with 20 Engraved Plates (16 Fold-Open)
• 
  Louise Fairbanks Williams [Original Artwork]

  COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ANATOMICAL DRAWINGS Handmade 1950 ANATOMY Artists BOOK by Female ART STUDENT Oakland California
• 
  JOHN PENN, THOMAS PENN, RICHARD PENN

  1703 JOHN PENN, THOMAS PENN, RICHARD PENN - ORIGINAL PENNSYLVANIA VELLUM INDENTURE of the FOUNDING PENN FAMILY
• 
  CARTER G. WOODSON

  1916 CARTER G. WOODSON - JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY Volume I & II ***SIGNED & INSCRIBED by WOODSON to MARY E. CROMWELL, a Founder of the National Association of University Women, activist, mathematician, daughter of JOHN WESLEY CROMWELL
• 
  [Halloween] [Cabinet Card Photograph] Photographer, Joseph M. Appleton

  Antique HALLOWEEN 1895 Cabinet Card Photograph VICTORIAN WITCH COSTUMES Pagan Women
• 
  1875 CHRONICLE of SHAOYANG COUNTY, CHINA - SIX VOLUMES Shaoyang Xian Zhi
• 
  ANGELO DE SOUSA

  ANGELO DE SOUSA - PORTUGUESE ARTIST & SCULPTOR Exhibition Catalog of SILVER SCULPTURE 2007
• 
  Karen Eliot, Editor

  RARE UNDERGROUND ANARCHO-PUNK ZINE FOR SQUATTERS 1988 Philadelphia Anarchist Scene LIFE IS FREE
• 
  1890 HANDWRITTEN CHEMIST'S FORMULAS for TREATING BEAUTY "DEFECTS" with 550+ MANUSCRIPT PRODUCT FORMULATIONS
• 
  Victor A. Vasiliev, Editor in Chief, Tatiana A. Barsukova, Editor

  THE MODERN WOMAN Scarce RUSSIAN WOMEN'S Magazine SHANGHAI CHINA 1937
• 
  Laura Riding Jackson

  1980 LAURA RIDING JACKSON - POETRY BROADSIDE Her First POEM in 40 Years Limited Edition "Presentation Copy"
• 
  Rick Griffin

  RICK GRIFFIN HAND SIGNED and INSCRIBED POSTER ART BOOK
• 
  Bob Kaufman, Allen Ginsberg, David Meltzer, Ruth Weiss, et al

  BEATITUDE #8 Bob Kaufman Jail Poems, + Ginsberg, Meltzer, Weiss, Ferlinghetti, et al BREAD & WINE MISSION S.F. 1959
• 
  [Racism] [Advertising] [African American]

  Scarce Unrecorded 1876 Patent Wood Box Blacking Songster with Racist Reconstruction and Quackery Advertising
• 
  1919 AUTOGRAPH BOOK of WOMAN in BRITISH ARMY WOMEN'S CORP Q.M.A.A.C. Curragh Ireland
• 
  [ Photography] [Independent Living Movement]

  The Helpers Home and Workshop for the Mentally Retarded THREE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS circa 1963
• 
  [Black Panther Party] [Counterculture][African American]

  BLACK PANTHER PARTY 1968 Pinback BUTTON Stay In The Streets FREE THE PANTHERS
• 
  Charles Morton, John Murdock

  BULLET REMOVED FROM THE BODY OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY High-Magnification Forensic Photo CONSPIRACY EVIDENCE Provenance of Noted CRIMINOLOGISTS
• 
  Olin Wheeler

  WONDERLAND '98 - Rare Issue w/ BARE-BREASTED ART-DECO FERTILITY GODDESS COVER - NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY PROMOTIONAL PUBLICATION - Yosemite, Mount Rainier, the Klondike, 1898
• 
  Benjamin ELBEL

  1744-1751 Fr. Benjamin Elbel THEOLOGIAE MORALIS DECALOGALIS **10 VOLUME SET** Ex MOUNT ST. ALPHONSUS SEMINARY
• 
  James Carver (Raymond Carver)

  MY BROTHER, RAYMOND CARVER James Carver SIGNED BOXED LIMITED EDITION this being Copy #3 of only 12 produced
• 
  John Meares

  1796 CAPTAIN JOHN MEARES - VIAGGI DALLA CHINA ALLA COSTA NORD-OVEST D'AMERICA FATTI NEGLI ANNI 1788 e 1789 / TRAVELS FROM CHINA to the NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA in 1788 and 1789 - 3 VOLUMES w/ 17 PLATES
• 
  BEAUTIFUL CERAMIC TEA CEREMONY TEACUPS by JAPANESE POTTER Art Monograph 1985
• 
  Michael Schacht [Designer]

  Scarce Design Ephemera TYPOGRAPHIC Alphabet LETTERFORM Jigsaw PUZZLE 1974 ALPHABET PUZZLE. A Special Edition for the Museum of Modern Art, New York
• 
  [Ford, Henry] [Antisemitic Literature] [Anti-Semitism]

  THE JEWISH QUESTION A Selection of the Articles (1920-22) Published by Mr. Henry Ford's Paper 'The Dearborn Independent' and Reprinted Later Under the General Title of The International Jew
• 
  JOHN BALDESSARI, edited by Patrick Pardo and Robert Dean

  JOHN BALDESSARI SIGNED CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ - SIX VOLUME SET - INSCRIBED to MARGO LEAVIN (Margo Leavin Gallery) plus 3 SIGNED & NUMBERED COLOPHON/LIMITATION LABELS for SMOKE, TREE, SHADOW & PERSON Prints
• 
  Warer & Beers

  1876 ATLAS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS w/ 119 LITHOGRAPHED COLOR MAPS + MANY PLATES
• 
  Leo Tolstoy

  Pioneering FEMALE TRANSLATOR Constance GARNETT Tolstoy's WAR and PEACE in 3 VOLUMES