USA

The author, Alan Brock, dedicated this book to his brother, Frank Arthur Brock, who was killed in World War I. The brothers were from a famous family of fireworks makers; the family staged the celebrated Crystal Palace fireworks shows and used their factory to help provide special government war requirements during WWI. This book contains numerous illustrations of types of fireworks, firework displays, and the construction of fireworks. Several of the illustrations are colored, and there are many black and white photographs of significant fireworks displays over time.

A first edition and first issue in English of this classic early work on the Americas includes one of the first views of New York City. The author, John Ogilby (1600-1676), was described as a "miscellaneous writer" of a good family. He translated, edited, and published many books, including several illustrated geographical works. These included America and others on China, Japan, Africa, Asia, and Britain. In 1671, Ogilby published America, translated from Arnold Montanus' original Dutch text.

Beautiful Gardens in America (both the 1915 and 1924 editions) is Louise Shelton’s most important work and a noted work of twentieth century American gardening and cultural history. This 1924 edition includes 11 color and 274 half-tone photos (a large increase from the 1915 edition) of notable American gardens of the time. Both photos and gardens were carefully selected by the author and cover many regions of the country and varying climatic conditions.