A page spread from Times Square Tintypes: Being Typewriter Caricatures of Those Who Made Their Names Along the Not So Straight and Very Narrow Path of Broadway (1930, Ives Washburn). With illustrations by Gard (of Sardi’s fame), Sidney Skolsky’s highly impressionistic biographies of Broadway’s high and low denizens. Skolsky was a gossip columnist for New York papers and these have the rat-a-tat-tat cadence of his fellow deadline writers: Walter Winchell and Damon Runyon. 291 pages. $40. For further info, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
The cover of Reminiscences of the Old Fire Laddies and Volunteer Fire Departments of New York and Brooklyn: Together with a Complete History of the Paid Departments of Both Cities (1885, M. Crane). Biased but colorful recollections of fire fighting in the 19th century, written before Brooklyn was incorporated into New York City. Notable fires (like the Brooklyn Theater fire 1876) are discussed in detail, as well as biographies of the firemen (including African-American volunteers). In excellent condition it is 897 pages with illustrations. $400. For more info, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
Detail from a reproduction map folded into the Manual of the Common Council of New-York (1857, D.T. Valentine). A rare pre-Civil War guide-or really almanac-to New York that lists everything from the value of wharves to the location of pawn brokers. 571 pages with multiple maps (some torn, but overall in good shape). $300. For more info, contact info@freebirdbooks.com.
Detail from the inside of Moses King’s Notable New Yorkers of 1896-1899 (1899, Bartlett & Company). A companion to King’s Handbook of New York City, it is a cross between a Who’s Who and a high school yearbook, featuring Big Apple elite from industrialists to publishers (the above Funk and Wagnalls) to innovators (Edison and Tesla are listed as electricians) and entertainers. Loose boards make this a bit of a bargain. 616 pages. $25. For further info, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
A map from inside a 1928 edition of the Bronx Zoo’s (technically the New York Zoological Park’s) official guide. The binding is in poor condition, but chockfull of images of your favorite captive beasts, from Abyssinian wild asses to musk-ox calves. $10. For further info, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
Detail from endpaper map in Key to New York: Empire City (1964, Fountainhead Publishers). A comprehensive guide to the city for the World’s Fair traveler, with an overview of the restaurant and shopping scene in the Mad Men era. Probably not referenced by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. 626 pages. $8. For further information, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
Front and back of the tourist brochure, New York: The Wonder City from the mid-1940s. About 50 pages of black and white photos of chief attractions around town. The kind of guide Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly’s bright-eyed characters in On the Town would have used in their dance around the five boroughs. $20. For further info, e-mail info@freebirdbooks.com.
Local Author Jim Mason
In April 2011, Freebird Books republished this collection of short stories by local author, Jim Mason. Inspired by Jim’s own experience around and about Brooklyn’s waterfront and watering holes, Positively No Dancing conjures up-as the Los Angeles Times noted in their review-Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, “involving, as it does, a protagonist who is hapless, self-destructive, but not without a certain charm. The language, too, is Johnson-esque: stripped down and largely without affect, as if emotion has been bleached from the very words.”
We couldn’t agree more and think Jim is the best Brooklyn writer we stock at the shop. Check out this great interview in Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York with Jim about the book, our neighborhood, and his opinions on poultry abattoirs here.
Positively No Dancing - $10
