R&R Vintage Books

06/07/2026

“The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” from the third edition, translation by Edward Fitzgerald, with illustrations by Jerome Laudermilk. Regan Publishing Corporation, 1925. Softcover, 22pp. 7¾”x4¼”. Tan, orange, and black cardstock wraps with black title to front and publisher’s logo to lower right corner of rear. Six b/w illustrations including frontispiece.

A very rare edition of this poetry classic, the quatrains attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia,” as translated from Persian to English in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald.

Laudermilk (1893-1956) was a Missouri-born chemist who took up art after moving to California in 1921, and worked as an artist from 1923 to 1934; after recovering his health, he was a research associate in geochemistry at Pomona College. His Art Deco-inspired illustrations are a rarity among various editions of the Rubaiyat.

In very good condition - wraps are clean with some bumping to corners and top and bottom of spine, and a bit of sun-toning to rear. Binding is tight and pages are clean, bright, and unmarked. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details. https://www.etsy.com/listing/4518073302/the-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-vintage

05/29/2026

Two vintage 1950s pictorial books on German churches and castles!

“Deutsche Dome des Mitetelalters” (German Churches of the Middle Ages) by Wilhelm Pinder. Königstein im Taunus: Karl Robert Langewiesche, 1955. Softcover, 112pp. 10⅜”x7½”. Black wraps inside blue dust jacket with white titles and b/w photo on front. B/w photos throughout.
A German-language pictorial review of Germany's grandest Gothic churches, inside and out. Introduction by Pinder, followed by outstanding full-page black and white photos.
In excellent condition - wraps are clean and unworn, binding is tight, and pages are clean, bright and unmarked but for former owner’s name in ink at top right corner of title page, dated 1957. Dust jacket is clean and unworn.

AND

“Deutsche Burgen und Fest Schlosser” (German Castles and Fortresses) by Wilhelm Pinder. Königstein im Taunus: Karl Robert Langewiesche, 1957. Softcover, 112pp. 10⅜”x7½”. Black wraps inside blue dust jacket with white titles and b/w photo on front. B/w photos throughout.
A German-language pictorial review of Germany's castles and fortresses, inside and out. Introduction by Pinder, followed by outstanding full-page black and white photos.
In excellent condition - wraps are clean and unworn, binding is tight, and pages are clean, bright and unmarked. Dust jacket shows light wear to top edges.

This Art & Photography Books item by RandRVintageBooks has 2 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Feb 28, 2026

02/23/2026

“Gardens in Color” by Richard Pratt, full color photographs by Edward Steichen. Garden City Publishing Co. Inc., 1944. Hardcover, 143pp. 10½”x 8¼”. Red boards with gilt titles to spine. Color photographs throughout. Dust jacket in protective cover.

Handsome vintage gardening guide illustrated by one of the world’s most famous photographers of his day. “The lovely gardens in this book are not ‘show places.’ They were grown especially for you. They were grown to be photographed in color and to reveal the glories of pigment and design which any intelligent gardener may achieve. Edward Steichen’s camera and Richard Pratt’s expert gardening knowledge have combined to produce the gardens, the pictures, and the text of this beautiful book. Here are some of the gardens the reader may reproduce on his own land: wire gardens, jungle gardens, spring gardens, gardens without flowers, annuals on parade, four season window gardens, picasso gardens, indoor gardens.”

Pratt (1892-1973) was architectural and garden editor for The Ladies Home Journal for 26 years, from 1936 until his retirement in 1962.

Steichen (1879-1973) was a Luxembourgish-American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 were the first modern fashion photographs to be published. From 1923 to 1938, Steichen served as chief photographer for the Condé Nast magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair, while also working for many advertising agencies; during these years, Steichen was regarded as the most popular and highest-paid photographer in the world. During World War II Steichen was invited by the United States Navy to serve as Director of the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit; in 1944, he directed the war documentary “The Fighting Lady,” which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 17th Academy Awards.

In excellent condition – boards are clean and unworn with spine gilt still brilliant and only a bit of bumping to the top and bottom of the spine. Binding is tight and pages are clean, bright, and unmarked. Price-clipped dust jacket shows wear to corners and edges but has no tears or losses.

This Guides & How Tos item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Feb 5, 2026

02/06/2026

“The Cream of Europe for the Motorist” by Charles L. Freeston. The Automobile Association and Cassell and Company Ltd., 1928. Hardcover, 216pp. 8½”x5”. Green-gray boards with black titles to front and spine. 24 b/w illustrations including frontispiece, plus 11 b/w maps and sketches including endpapers. Dust jacket in protective cover.

Very rarely found with a dust jacket, a vintage member copy for members of the U.K.’s Automobile Association. “This guide – issued under the auspices of the Automobile Association – is for the motorist touring Europe. It selects the best in the various countries of the Continent and deals in lucid detail with every interest. Thus is placed at the disposal of the motorist, the amenities of a wide range of touring grounds, their scenic beauties, their historical associations and local colour. There is, too, every information to assure ease of progress in these strange but charming areas. On the practical side it explains how to see things, how to conveniently get from place to place, routes, distances, and every useful information possible; as well as providing maps, regional plans, and a full index, further to promote the success of any tour.”

Charles Lincoln Freeston (1865-1942) was a British travel writer, journalist, and magazine editor; a member of the Royal Geographic Society, he wrote several books about touring various parts of Europe.

In excellent condition – boards are clean and unworn, binding is tight, and pages are clean, bright, and unmarked. Dust jacket shows some wear to edges, particularly at corners and top of bottom of spine, but is completely intact. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This Guides & How Tos item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Jan 2, 2026

01/24/2026

“The World in Your Garden” by Wendell H. Camp, Victor R. Boswell, and John R. Magness, with a foreword by Melville Bell Grosvenor. Paintings by Else Bostelmann. From the National Geographic Natural Science Library. National Geographic Society, 1957 (stated 1st edition). Hardcover, 232pp. 10¼”x7¼”. Beige and green boards with red rose decoration to front and gilt titles to front and spine. Color world map endpapers. Color paintings and b/w photographs throughout. Dust jacket in protective cover.

Handsome rare first edition of this richly illustrated volume on the origins of your garden plants. “Gardening takes on a new dimension in this unusual book. Its colorful pages will move your horizons out beyond the garden border to leap the seas and centuries and reveal the exotic origins of our gardens and orchards. Never again will you see just pretty flowers, fruits, and vegetables in your yard, at florist or supermarket. Eighty pages of delightful paintings by Else Bostelmann portray them in their faraway birthplaces. The text - by experts - tells of their journeys, entwined with man’s saga of exploration and adventure, to take root in our soil.”

Camp was head of the University of Connecticut’s Botany Department; Boswell was head of vegetable crops research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Magness was head of fruit and nut crops research at the USDA; and Grosvenor was president and editor of the National Geographic Society.

Else Winkler von Röder Bostelmann (1882–1961) was a German-born American artist best known for joining the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) in 1929 to paint marine life during William Beebe's bathysphere oceanographic expeditions at Bermuda's Island (1930–1934).

In excellent condition - boards are clean and unworn with gilt still brilliant; binding is tight; and pages are clean, bright and unmarked as if unread. Unclipped dust jacket (original price: $6.50) shows a faint price-tag-removal abrasion to upper right of front and slight wear to edges. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This Reference Books item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Oct 18, 2025

01/16/2026

“Chinese Houses and Gardens” by Henry Inn, edited by Shao Chang Lee. Bonanza Books, 1950 (revised edition). Hardcover, 148pp. 12¼”x9¼”. Red paper over red cloth boards with black chinese characters to front and black English title to spine. B/w pictorial endpapers. 260 b/w illustrations (147 photographs and 113 line drawings) throughout. Dust jacket in protective cover.

Lovely vintage midcentury volume on Chinese architecture and landscaping. “Henry Inn of Honolulu, art collector, designer, and photographer, has here produced a collection of Chinese architectural pictures that is extraordinary. Probably it is the only record of its kind. Though photographed as recently as 1936, many of these houses and gardens are no more, for they have been bombed out of existence by Japanese invaders. Even more distinctive is the range of subject matter, for as a veteran traveler to his ancestral homeland, Mr. Inn was fortunate in an extraordinarily wide acquaintance, which gave him an entree into many of the best and most representative private homes throughout China. The combination of artistic skill with unusual opportunity has brought us a record of the architectural forms and traditions which are the cultural expression of the modern Chinese family. Supplementing the illustrative material are several fine treatises on Chinese philosophy and culture and their influence on the form of the Chinese dwelling.”

Henry Chow Inn (1898-1994) and his father ran a Chinese antique shop in Honolulu, and his photographs appeared in several books and magazines.

Professor Shao Chang Lee (1891-1977) was head of the Michigan State University Department of Foreign Studies from 1943 to 1960; earlier, he worked as a professor of Chinese Languages and Literature at the University of Hawaii from 1922 to 1943.

In excellent condition – boards are clean and unworn, binding is tight, and pages are clean, bright and unmarked. Price-clipped dust jacket shows some wear to edges and corners and slight sun-fading to spine. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This History Books item by RandRVintageBooks has 2 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Jan 2, 2026

01/09/2026

“Memorial Edition: Sinking of the Titanic - Thrilling Stories Told by Survivors” by Jay Henry Mowbray. The Minter Company, 1912. Hardcover, 66pp plus ad and blank order pages. 9¼”x6¾”. Blue cloth with gilt titles, black edgework, and b/w pastedown photo to front; gilt titles and black decoration to rear. Some b/w photos throughout.

For the most discerning collector of Titanic memorabilia, this is an extremely rare “teaser” salesman sample edition rushed into print to drum up interest for a later full edition. “This prospectus shows SAMPLE PAGES of the Text and some of the illustrations with which the work is embellished… with graphic descriptions of hundreds swept to eternity beneath the waves; panic stricken multitude facing sure death, with thrilling stories of this most overwhelming catastrophe. TO WHICH IS ADDED VIVID ACCOUNTS OF HEARTRENDING SCENES WHEN HUNDREDS WERE DOOMED TO WATERY GRAVES. Compiled from soul-stirring stories told by eye-witnesses of this terrible horror of the briny deep… Profusely illustrated with a great many photographs of thrilling scenes of this fearful calamity.”

In excellent condition - boards show a bit of bumping to corners and top and bottom of spine, gilt is still intact, and the pastedown shows a few faint stains. Binding is solid and pages are clean, bright, and unmarked. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This History Books item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Jan 2, 2026

12/26/2025

“Dance – and Be Charming” by Roni Dengel, photographs by Martha Swope. The Four Winds Press, 1964 (stated 1st printing). Hardcover, 127pp. 9¼”x8”. Tan boards with color photo pastedown to front and red titles to spine. B/w photographs throughout. No dust jacket.

Very rarely found in this hardcover format, a cool midcentury guide to making an impression in the ballroom, on the dance floor, and elsewhere. “Would you like to become more graceful, more poised, more lovely looking? Have a trimmer figure? Know you look more attractive, whether you’re working, playing tennis, or whirling around a dance floor? Do you yearn to be more popular – just a little more special – and have more fun being You? In other words, do you want to become your best and most charming self? Then, dance can be your key to success!”

With chapter titles including “Points for Pretty Feet,” “Jumps for Limber Legs,” “Kick Out the Kinks,” “Full Swing to Lovely Legs,” “Ways to a New Figure,” “Waltz and Be Graceful,” and many more.

Roni Dengel (b.1942) is an actress and writer, known for The Dain Curse (1978), All My Children (1970) and The Doctors (1963); she began studying modern interpretive dance at age six, and later studied at the School of American Ballet and at Ballet Arts in New York, was a full-time student at the Royal Ballet School in London, and took classes at La Scala, at the Rome Opera, and in Paris.

In excellent condition – boards are unworn with only a bit of bumping to corners and faint staining to rear; binding is tight; and pages are clean, bright, and unmarked as if new. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This Guides & How Tos item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Oct 26, 2025

12/05/2025

“All About the Baby” by Robert N. Tooker. Rand, McNally & Co., 1896 (1st edition). Hardcover, 331pp. 8½”x6¼”. Green boards with gilt titles and decorations to front and spine. Green floral-patterned endpapers. Publisher’s gilt to top of textblock. A few simple illustrations throughout.

Amazing 19th-century guide for expectant mothers. “All About the Baby and preparations for its advent, together with the homeopathic treatment of its ordinary ailments - a book for mothers.”

Robert N. Tooker, M.D. (1841-1902) was professor of diseases of children in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College and consulting physician to the Chicago Half Orphan Asylum; he also authored “Diseases of Children,” a medical textbook.

In good condition - boards show only moderate wear and bumping to corners, with gilt still bright. Front and back hinges are broken but no pages have come loose. Pages are clean, bright, and unmarked but for a gift inscription in cursive ink on the front flyleaf: “Mabel A. Geary, Dec. 25, 1904, From Brother Charles.” As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This Guides & How Tos item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Nov 30, 2025

12/01/2025

“The ABC of Cocktails” with decorations by Ruth McCrea. Peter Pauper Press, 1962. Hardcover, 61pp. 7½”x4½” Red, gold, black and white illustrated boards, simple illustrations in those colors throughout. Dust jacket in protective cover.

An increasingly rare collection of midcentury cocktail recipes, decorated with clever verse and illustrations. Also includes helpful tips on glassware and measures, sweetening, ingredients, and cocktail hints. “The recipes given hereafter are on the strong side for experienced drinkers. You will want to make modifications to suit your guests, your times, or your own personal tastes.”

Ruth McCrea (1921-2016) was a writer and illustrator who had worked for all the major New York publishing house; among her work were dozens of covers and illustrations for Peter Pauper Press cookbooks. The recipes for this book are believed to have been collected by Edna Beilenson, the partner and wife of Peter Pauper Press founder Peter Beilenson.

In excellent condition - boards are clean and unmarked, binding is tight, and pages are clean, bright and unmarked as if new. Price-clipped dust jacket has some sun-fading to spine and top of front, with only slight wear to edges and a ½” closed tear at top of rear. As always, feel free to message us if you want more details or photos.

This Cookbooks item is sold by RandRVintageBooks. Ships from San Leandro, CA. Listed on Nov 30, 2025