Welcome to our new website. We are located in Westhampton, New York, open by appointment only and with sales via the internet. We are full-time dealers in antiquarian books, maps, photographs, prints, paper ephemera and works of art, specializing in historical manuscript collections, business archives, and with a sub-specialty in Long Island historical material.

There are thousands of items presently catalogued in the Certain Books website, many of which are one-of-a-kind. Please enjoy browsing our site or use the advanced search feature when looking for a specific item.

George Krzyminski, Proprietor of Certain Books, ABAA

Featured Items

Group of engravings of all 29 Presidents, from Washington to Coolidge inclusive; also with an engraving of the White House (south view) and an engraving of Martha Washington; each presidential portrait approx. 2 1/4" x 3" size, the engraving made on heavy white cardstock 6" x 8", each mounted via corner-holders to a larger sheet for preservation; (the White House image slightly larger); each with a small rubber stamp on the back "This portrait is sold by the U.S. Government..."; not dated, circa mid-20th century or so - the price was 10 cents (the U.S. Bureau of Printing & Engraving now only offers only the current president & there are no other identifiers on these); the presidents complete in consecutive order, no gaps; The engravings are of the finest banknote-quality in representation and artwork and are identified at base of each engraving; no engravers are noted; fine delineation of form and shadowing, near photographic in quality; the portraits and mount pages are clean and are in very good condition; fine representations of these U.S. presidents.

Collection of Fine Portrait Engravings of the United States Presidents, from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge By the U.S. Bureau of Engraving
(U.S. Presidents)
Washington, D.C.: United States Bureau of Engraving, 1933. Group of engravings of all 29 Presidents, from Washington to Coolidge inclusive; also with an engraving of the White House.. more
Price: $450.00

4 letters, whose running theme is one of wry amusement at his location and predicament; 11 pages overall; the writer is Sergeant George R. Ellis of the 10th Weather Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Force and from California, writing to a Miss Mae Wood of Bridgeport, Connecticut; the first letter, of 10 August 1945 is single-space typewritten, (the others are handwritten) 1 1/2 pgs, "...All kinds or rumors floating around about Japan being on the verge of surrendering. My suggestion is that in the future no war ought to be allowed to last over three years. That is long enough for the generals to practice up on their profession and for the historians to have some good material for new books. Of course with the new atomic bomb, maybe none of us will be on earth long enough to have to worry about such things..." with a great description of India travel of the time - he is stationed near Kharagpur - "...to get to Cal(cutta) it usually necessary to take the train. A second class ticket costs five rupees, or about a dollar and half. The train ride is not too bad, and one gets to see some rather pretty country, full of jungle and palm groves and green rice fields. The train pulls into Howrah Station, right across the river from Calcutta, and I am often reminded of the B & O approach to New York from the South, where you get off the train at Jersey City and take a bus over the ferry. However here there is a big bridge...I found ordinarily the best way is to take the tram which is faster than a rickshaw and costs only six pice, or about three cents. However, during rush hours these street cars are so unbelievably crowded that a New York subway would be solitude in comparison..."; on August 31, "...three of us are leaving tomorrow for rest camp. ...we travel third class. Although the distance is only about 1000 miles, the trip takes three days...next time I write I will be up in the Himalayas at Ranikhet..."; On 14 September, "...We were in Calcutta five days waiting for our train...the day after I arrived I came down with a fever...This is a British hospital...there are only three men in the ward, a British sailor and a British soldier who got malaria fighting the Japs in Burma. The sanitation and the food are not up to American standards. We are in a nice room, though, with a fireplace at one end where we have a fire in the evenings. The orderlies are Italian prisoners and the ward boys are soldiers in the Indian army. The nurses are English. For some reason, they are called "sisters." Some of them I wouldn't want for my sister...We had quite a trip up here...At Beirelly we changed to a little narrow-gauge train with a shiny little brass engine. After waiting for about an hour after the time it was supposed to leave we asked the conductor what the trouble was. "We'll start just as soon as it stops raining," he said, as if we had asked a foolish question. Later he leaned out of his caboose window and asked us if we wanted him to stop the train while we had tea...a British lance-corporal met us and guided us to the station restaurant which had three doors, one labeled "Moslems," the second, "Hindus" and the third " Non-orthodox Hindus." only the Moslem section was open, so we all went in and had eggs and chips served by two ancient bearded gentlemen who must have wondered if we were true followers of the prophet..."; in the final letter, dated 27 September 1945, still located in Ranikhet, and hiking into the mountains, "...For lunch we brought along in our pockets three cans of beer, two cans of c rations and a can of cheese. We cooled the beer in a mountain stream and shared the cheese with two dogs which insisted on following us all the way..." and remarking that he should be discharged soon, being told that "...the trip from Calcutta to the east coast took about 25 days..." and resignedly expecting that his correspondent will soon be finding a boyfriend given that all the troops would be returning stateside; looking forward to going back to his home state of California and beginning life again, with a possible trip to the Baja planned; letters in very good condition, with all four of the original mailing envelopes, all free postage with cancellations from the Army post office; size varies from 8 " x 10 1/2" to 5" x 8"; an interesting group, especially coming from an American in the Indian war theatre.

1945 4 Letters from a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Force 10th Weather Squadron Stationed in India
(World War Two)
Indiana: Not Published, 1945. 4 letters, whose running theme is one of wry amusement at his location and predicament; 11 pages overall; the writer.. more
Price: $125.00

(16) pages; brightly-colored tropical-theme lithograph cover; text printed in aqua and black; illustrated throughout in black and white with selected depictions of the elaborately-costumed entertainment, including Los Vianor Spanish dancers & singers, risque showgirls and men, Monique and The Zerbys, Roland the Great, Frederick and Frederika, Yarira and others; the art deco style club provided Venice-style gondolas with singing gondoliers to propel you along the club's flower-lined waterways, and "...Our Garden Bar, surrounded by thousands of flowers, illuminated by 15,000 bulbs, is a most colorful sight to behold..."; the 'Villa,' (in small print - Formerly the [more-famous] Latin Quarter); provided entertainment in a lavish Florida nightclub setting on exclusive Palm Island; "Papa Bouche Originator of the Theatre-Restaurant in America..." the entire production created by him, with costumes designed by Mme. Bouche - three shows nightly; the cover with a "Compliments Bouche Villa Venice Betty Smith (?- perhaps a member of management) and date of 3/18/50..." and another notation of attendees; approx. 8 1/2" x 10 1/4" size; covers with some wear and soiling, the inking of the litho illustration with bleed-through on back, not marring interior text of following page; paper splitting along the stapled spine; in good condition and an interesting piece of Miami and nightclub entertainment ephemera from mid-20th century; the owners also take the opportunity of advertising their similarly-named club found near Chicago, Illinois.

Bouche Villa Venice America's Smartest Theatre Restaurant
(Bouche Villa Venice Restaurant)
Palm Island Miami Beach Florid: Bouche Villa Venice Restaurant, 1950. (16) pages; brightly-colored tropical-theme lithograph cover; text printed in aqua and black; illustrated throughout in black and white with selected.. more
Price: $65.00

xlvi + 458 pages; with a useful index; frontispiece of the site of Old Fort Pierre, facsimile of the original title-page of the journal, portrait of Tehon-su-mons-ka; the Historical Introduction states that Fort Clark "...was one of the three principal posts of the American Fur Company on the upper Missouri..."; with the first-hand relations & business enterprises of this fur-trading outpost in the American West; more than half the text taken up with extensive notes and references, appendixes - including Alexander Kennedy's journal, various extracts from St. Louis Enquirer, the Will of Daniel Lamont, Reports on Fur Trade Conditions, Selected Letters from Fort Union Letter Book, Reports on Primeau and Deschamps Massacres, small-pox and more; laid-in is a copy of an article found in Plains Talk Vol. 10 # 2 Spring 1979 by Erik Holland, Site Supervisor at Ft. Clark, which questions how much information was edited from the entries in the original journal; bound in the original sturdy red buckram cloth, spine titles gilt (bit dulled); light wear to spine ends & tips of the cloth; very good condition, interesting primary-source material on the fur trade in the American West.

Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark 1834-1839: Descriptive of Life on the Upper Missouri; of a Fur Trader's Experiences Among the Mandans, Gros Ventres, and Their Neighbors; of the Ravages of The Smallpox Epidemic of 1837
Abel, Annie Heloise (editor)
Pierre, South Dakota: Department of History, State of South Dakota, 1932. xlvi + 458 pages; with a useful index; frontispiece of the site of Old Fort Pierre, facsimile of the original.. more
Price: $65.00

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