SUPPORT :: Emperor Norton Library Offering
SORRY, NO LONGER AVAILABLE
Get a Book About Emperor Norton & A Complimentary Emissary of the Empire Membership (Shipping’s Free!)
We have extra copies — one each — of three long-out-of-print books about Emperor Norton. We’re making these available to the first of those who request them below by donating to support the work of The Emperor Norton Trust at the specified gift levels.
Each book comes with a complimentary 2021 Emissary of the Empire card — normally available only by purchasing an Emissary membership for $35/year.
And, shipping is included!
The books and their gift levels are:
Emperor Norton of San Francisco (1974), by William M. Kramer — gift of $60
Emperor Norton: Mad Monarch of America (1939), by Allen Stanley Lane — gift of $30
San Francisco’s Emperor Norton (1939), by David Warren Ryder — gift of $30
Scroll down to learn more about each book and donate to request it — or…
Scroll to the bottom where you can request all three together for the “discounted” donation of $100. Shipping and a complimentary 2021 Emissary card is included for the 3-pack, too!
These copies are not being marketed via AbeBooks, Alibris, Biblio, eBay, Amazon or any other website where rare or antiquarian books are sold. They are available only through The Emperor Norton Trust.
Prefer to donate by check? Scroll to the bottom of the page for details and for other fine print.
Emperor Norton of San Francisco: A Look at the Life and Death and Strange Burials of the Most Famous Eccentric of Gold Rush California (Norton B. Stern, 1974). By William M. Kramer.
The late Rabbi Kramer’s scholarly little book is a fascinating exploration of the Emperor's Jewishness and of the Jewish community's ambivalence about that.
Published in a limited edition of only 300. Six illustrations.
This book was published without a dust jacket, in a purple linen cloth binding with gilt title on the binding.
This near fine copy is clean, tight and unmarked except for a few library markings on the the title page and front endpapers and a small 1½” x ½” patch of light tape residue along the top edge of the back cover. Rare in this condition.
Comes with a 2021 Emissary of the Empire card and one-year Emissary membership in The Emperor Norton Trust.
Shipping included. There is a “checkout” option to add $8 to offset the cost of sending via USPS Priority Mail. Of course, we’d be grateful for the assist — but, this is not required.
$60.
Emperor Norton: Mad Monarch of America (The Caxton Printers, 1939). By Allen Stanley Lane. 29 illustrations.
There have been only two book-length biographies of the Emperor. This was the first — and, it was the classic text for nearly 50 years, until the publication of William Drury’s Norton I: Emperor of the United States in 1986.
This is not what we would call a collector’s copy — although one could argue that any copy of Lane that comes on the market is a collector’s copy, when there rarely are more than 10 copies at any one time and even rough-looking copies typically go for $80 to $200.
Like most available copies now, this one does not have its original dust jacket. But, it is in its original patterned, illustrated and gilt binding. The original illustrated endpapers are mostly intact. And, there is a complete cutting of the original inside front dust jacket pasted onto the back endpaper.
All pages and endpapers are intact. And, the pages are unmarked, except for some library markings on the title page and front endpapers and occasional pencilled checkmarks by a previous reader.
The binding is bumped on the corners, and the graphic elements are scuffed. But, the binding itself is fairly tight and uncracked.
Comes with a 2021 Emissary of the Empire card and one-year Emissary membership in The Emperor Norton Trust.
Shipping included. There is a “checkout” option to add $8 to offset the cost of sending via USPS Priority Mail. Of course, we’d be grateful for the assist — but, this is not required.
$30.
San Francisco’s Emperor Norton: The Story of Norton I, Emperor of America and Protector of Mexico (self-published, 1939). By David Warren Ryder. 14 illustrations by Pierre Vittier.
This 56-page booklet has had an outsized influence. It appears to be the font of several of the unsubstantiated stories about Emperor Norton that have worked their way in to the modern myth of the Emperor, including the undocumented claims that Emperor Norton (1) penned an anti-”Frisco” proclamation; (2) quelled an anti-Chinese riot by reciting the Lord’s Prayer; and (3) commanded that a Christmas tree be raised in San Francisco’s Union Square.
Printed on heavy paper, with 14 charming storybook-style illustrations by Pierre Vittier.
This book was published without a dust jacket. The copy here is in very good condition, tightly bound, with all pages and end papers clean, crisp and unmarked except for a few small library markings on the title page (a date stamp and tiny strip of bar code tape) and one of the front end papers (a tiny stamp of the word “Central”). The card stock binding shows signs of minor shelf wear. The bottom of the spine has a taped-down library label that appears impossible to remove without damaging the cover. And there is another tiny strip of bar code tape along the top edge of the back cover.
Comes with a 2021 Emissary of the Empire card and one-year Emissary membership in The Emperor Norton Trust.
Shipping included. There is a “checkout” option to add $8 to offset the cost of sending via USPS Priority Mail. Of course, we’d be grateful for the assist — but, this is not required.
$30.
Emperor Norton Library 3-Pack
You could make three separate donations and get all three books detailed above for $120 — $60 + $30 + $30.
Here’s some better math. You can get all three of the books for $100 — a $20 “discount”!
Comes with a 2021 Emissary of the Empire card and one-year Emissary membership in The Emperor Norton Trust.
Shipping included. There is a “checkout” option to add $15 to offset the cost of sending via USPS Priority Mail. Of course, we’d be grateful for the assist — but, this is not required.
$100.
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The Emperor Norton Trust is organized as a “sole proprietorship in the public interest.” Nonprofit in spirit and in practice, the Trust is led by John Lumea and supported by a select group of Advisors. The Emperor Norton Trust is the evolutionary “next phase” of the larger enterprise that began with — and was expressed as — The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign from August 2013 to December 2019. Financial contributions are not tax-deductible.
1 Please send checks to: The Emperor Norton Trust, 250 Poplar Street, #3, Boston, MA 02131.
2 We respect privacy. The Emperor Norton Trust will never share or sell personal information that you provide to us.