Buzz Bookstore, Silver Spring, MD (2026)

05/19/2026

You’ve heard of Atlantis, but have you heard of this other lost island civilization?

CERVÉ, W. S. Lemuria: The Lost Continent of the Pacific.

San Jose, California: Rosicrucian Press, 1935. Second edition. 7.75” x 5.5”, 288pp. Publisher’s orange cloth lettered in gilt to spine and front board with Rosicrucian emblem stamped in gilt on upper cover. Illustrated throughout with maps. Contemporary ownership inscription and 1935 Cleveland bookseller stamp to front free endpaper. Spine ends and corners lightly rubbed with a few small marks to cloth; text block clean with mild toning to endpapers. Lacking dusts jacket. Very Good+.

An appealing Rosicrucian-era exploration of the mythical lost continent of Lemuria, a hypothetical submerged landmass once proposed by nineteenth-century zoologists to explain similarities between species found in Madagascar and India before the development of plate tectonic theory. By the early twentieth century, the concept had been absorbed into occult and esoteric traditions, especially Theosophy and Rosicrucianism, where Lemuria evolved into a spiritually advanced prehistoric civilization comparable to Atlantis.

05/19/2026

“Well, we all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.“
- LM Montgomery, “Anne of Avonlea”

Some new “Anne” just landed, including a first “Avonlea” and an 11th printing “Green Gables”. Enjoy.

05/19/2026

True story: My wife and I looked at EVERY bouquiniste along the Seine to find a set like this - she found it for me at the very last stall! I ran across a bridge to Île Saint-Louis to find an ATM before anyone else could snap it up.

That set is still in my own library but I finally managed to track down another set for this shop, a full 9 years later.

05/18/2026

Victorian ghosts 👻

BROWN, J. H. Spectropia; or, Surprising Spectral Illusions. Showing Ghosts Everywhere, and of Any Colour.

London: Griffith & Farran, successor to Newbery and Harris, Corner of St. Paul’s Churchyard; H. & C. Treacher, Brighton, 1865. Fourth edition. 9.75” x 7.75”, xvi + 11pp with sixteen illustrations, of which thirteen are hand-colored. Original blue pictorial boards printed in black and gilt with the striking specter design to front cover, publisher’s advertisements to rear board, red cloth spine. Boards rubbed with some edgewear and corner wear, two small losses to rear panel as issued in auction description, title page with a small closed tear professionally repaired with archival tape, a few light creases to boards, and general handling wear. Internally clean and bright with the hand-colored plates unusually vivid and highly displayable. A Very Good- copy of a notoriously fragile Victorian novelty book.

One of the great Victorian optical curiosity books, Spectropia was designed as both entertainment and demonstration: by staring at the brightly colored plates and then shifting one’s gaze to a blank surface, the viewer would produce vivid “ghosts” and spectral after-images. Brown uses the popular fascination with séances and spirit photography to debunk spiritualist claims, showing that many apparitions could be explained through ordinary visual effects rather than the supernatural. The result is an unusually successful blend of popular science, parlor amusement, and gothic visual theater, made all the more memorable by its spectacular title and pictorial binding. Copies are heavily sought by collectors of occult material, Victorian popular science, optical illusion books, and striking publisher’s bindings.

05/15/2026

❤️💛💀 The most beautiful edition of this book I’ve ever held. And with Masonic provenance!!

BUDGE, E. A. Wallis. The Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani. A Reproduction in Facsimile Edited, with Hieroglyphic Transcript, Translation and Introduction.

London / New York: The Medici Society, Ltd. / G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1913. Complete in two volumes. First edition thus. 10.25” x 7”, complete in publisher’s red cloth gilt with striking Egyptian decorative stamping to upper boards and spines, including gilt vignette panels and standing Egyptian figures in relief. Vol. I: Introduction, translation, and hieroglyphic transcript; Vol. II: facsimile plates and accompanying text. Illustrated throughout with hieroglyphic text, translations, and full-page reproductions from the celebrated Papyrus of Ani. Both volumes bear contemporary ownership inscriptions to the front pastedowns and the circular ownership stamp of Herakles Masonic Lodge No. 418, a noteworthy institutional provenance that suits the work’s longstanding appeal to esoteric, symbolic, and initiatory traditions beyond formal Egyptology. Front hinge of Volume I starting but holding firmly; bindings remain sound overall with minor rubbing at extremities, a few small bumps to corners, and light foxing and toning throughout, heaviest to preliminaries. No dust jackets, as issued. A handsome and substantial set with strong shelf presence. Very Good.

A visually impressive early 20th-century edition of one of the foundational texts of Egyptian funerary religion, presenting the famed British Museum Papyrus of Ani in accessible scholarly form. Often regarded by collectors as one of the great ancient spiritual grimoires, the Book of the Dead shaped popular Western understanding of Egyptian religion for generations through Budge’s influential translation and commentary. Copies with appealing decorative bindings and interesting institutional provenance remain especially desirable.

05/14/2026

💚 Green books for a Spring afternoon 💚

All newly listed within the last hour.

05/14/2026

💀 The photo illustrations can be a bit rough, so heads up before you swipe…

SPRIGGS, A. O. Champion Textbook on Embalming

Springfield, Ohio: The Champion Company, 1933. First edition. 8” x 5.75”, ix + 261pp. Illustrated throughout with photographic and diagrammatic instructional figures demonstrating arterial injection points, incision methods, and embalming procedures. Original navy cloth lettered in gilt with publisher’s Champion device to front board and spine. A clean, tight copy with sharp gilt, sound hinges, and only light shelfwear to extremities. Internally clean apart from minor pencil markings. Very Good+.

A substantial Depression-era professional embalming manual issued by one of the major American funeral supply companies, intended for working embalmers and mortuary students. Practical and highly visual, it documents contemporary embalming technique at a moment when the profession was becoming increasingly standardized and technical. Scarcer in such clean condition than its utilitarian purpose would suggest.

05/13/2026

🪐✨🌗

CLERKE, Agnes M. The System of the Stars

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890. First edition. 8.75” x 5.5”, xix + 424pp with 6 illustrated plates and 50 woodcuts. Finely bound in contemporary full dark green prize calf for the Convent of Notre Dame, Northampton, with elaborate gilt spine decoration, red morocco spine label, marbled edges and endpapers, and the school’s gilt armorial device stamped prominently to upper board. Multiple ex libris markings to the half title. Light rubbing at joints and extremities, some wear at spine ends and corners, occasional mild foxing, but internally clean and sound, the folding frontispiece crisp and complete. A handsome and well-preserved prize binding. Very Good.

Agnes Mary Clerke’s major work of popular astronomy, issued the same year as her celebrated History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century, surveying stellar classification, variable and temporary stars, nebulae, star clusters, and the emerging astrophysical understanding of the universe at the close of the nineteenth century. Clerke was among the most important scientific writers of her generation and one of the foremost interpreters of modern astronomy for the educated public. In this elegant institutional prize binding, the book remains both a substantial scientific first edition and a striking example of late Victorian academic presentation binding.

05/13/2026

The science of snowflakes + poetry + illustrations + super scarce ❄️❄️❄️❄️

[CHICKERING, Frances Elizabeth]. Cloud Crystals: A Snow-Flake Album. Collected and Edited by A Lady. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1864.

First edition. 10” x 7.5”, 158pp with 28 illustrated plates including title, featuring striking snow crystal forms printed in white against dark grounds, with accompanying descriptive and poetic text, such as selections from Emerson, Tennyson, Burns, Longfellow, and Shakespeare. Publisher’s original embossed brown morocco, gilt-lettered upper board and spine, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Leather rubbed along extremities and joints with some surface loss at corners and spine ends, but binding remains sound and unrestored, hinges secure, internally notably clean with plates bright and attractive. A handsome Very Good copy.

A visually distinctive Victorian gift book devoted to the geometry and symbolism of snow crystals, blending natural science, devotional reflection, and decorative design. Scarce in the trade, particularly in original morocco and sound condition, the work helped popularize the aesthetic and scientific fascination with snowflakes in mid-nineteenth-century America and remains one of the most recognizable illustrated winter books of the period.

05/12/2026

Let the ✨ be your guide

HEINDEL, Max. Simplified Scientific Astrology: A Complete Textbook on the Art of Erecting a Horoscope

Mt. Ecclesia, Oceanside, California: The Rosicrucian Fellowship, 1928. Eleventh edition. 7.25” x 5.25”, 198pp + 8 ads. Hardcover in original green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt, black, and red, with distinctive occult-inspired Art Nouveau design to the front board. Includes the “Philosophic Encyclopedia” and tables of planetary hours, with numerous astrological diagrams, charts, and horoscope examples throughout. Contemporary bookseller ticket of The Gateway, New York to front pastedown, with later ownership stamp and institutional property label to endpapers. A bright, unusually well-preserved copy with sharp gilt, clean text, and only the lightest shelfwear. Near Fine.

A handsome early Rosicrucian Fellowship printing of one of Heindel’s most accessible practical manuals, intended as a working guide for casting horoscopes and understanding planetary influences. The decorative binding and extensive instructional diagrams make it particularly appealing both as an occult reference and as a visually strong early twentieth-century astrology title.

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