Foreword

The genesis of this collection occurred about a dozen years ago. Since our entry into the book world we seem to have an ongoing interest in the road less travelled. In 1978 our catalogue five, Famous Films in First Edition, had opened and developed a new field of book collecting. The following year catalogue eight The Race for Gold, based in large part through John Jenkins of that portion of his stunning acquisition of the great Eberstadt collection of Americana, pioneered another first.
We were the first bookseller to catalogue a collection of bibliomysteries (a wonderful word which we did not coin) and in the early 1990’s we issued a trio of innovative major catalogues devoted entirely to Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad and the American illustrator N.C. Wyeth.
In casting about at that juncture for another under developed field of book collecting, a recently hired young assistant, an ardent feminist named Elizabeth Marshall, started giving me after hours tennis lessons along with some fresh perspectives.
When the collection began there was no clear cut goal in mind. The basic idea, frameworked with first editions in the best condition possible, was to form a representative collection covering a broad spectrum of works by and about American women, or women who made a mark in America.
As it grew like Topsy, it seemed that 400 entries would be a nice round sum. Later, 600 sounded reasonable. As what follows will attest, 1,000 only presented a barrier to be broken.
Now, at the far end, it has to be cited and cited in gilt that this collection would still be just that - sans typing, sans format, sans everything without the assitance of another young lady, Pia Oliver. Pia and I first worked together at the renowned firm of John Howell-Books in San Francisco many years ago ... or was it only yesterday?
It’s been a fun run.

Ron Randall