In their broadest sense, the book arts are at the core of our inventory. To be sure, the category encompasses the specialties that you see on our homepage, such as Fine Printing, Fine Binding, and Illustrated Books. However, it also includes such things as writing books and calligraphy, fore-edge paintings, books on papermaking, and leaf books.
Read more about one of the book arts, Fore-edge Painting
San Francisco, CA: Pacific Editions, 2004. Two volumes: oblong octavo and oblong 48mo. (8); (24)ff. One of 54 copies, signed by the printer/designer/artist, Charles Hobson, on the colophon page. Interleaved among the larger volume's pages of Wilbur's poem are sheets of vellum containing hand-painted patterns printed as digital pigments, and..... More
Milan: Edizioni Culturali Della Rivista, 1954. Small octavo. (46)pp. One of 650 copies. A history and manual of Japanese papermaking, with illustrations throughout featuring Japanese people at various tasks both related and unrelated to paper production. Text printed in Italian. Bound in pale paper wrappers with black illustration and title..... More
(Indochina: c. 1930). Oblong 16mo. (10)ff. A book of ten samples of marbled paper, originating from French Indochina. Although it lacks publication information, the style of the samples and the format of the book align it with 20th-century colonial southeast Asia. Bound in plain wrappers with strip of marbled paper..... More
(N.p. c. 1930). Oblong octavo. (24)ff. bearing 241 specimens of decorated papers, which are mounted into preprinted grids. The header of each page bears a Sorte number and the name of the particular paper style. The forty-eight different styles sport a variety of colors and patterns, ranging from highly textured..... More
NY: Lasher & Lathrop, (1903). Octavo. Unpaginated. A substantial collection of papers, each presented both printed and plain and in varying weights. Some are offered in colors, and some bear illustrations, including a full page, full color image of a ship, an Art Nouveau nymph, and extracts of title pages..... More
NY: Keller-Dorian Paper Co., Inc., 1939. A sample catalog of foils, with forty-eight embossed examples tipped-in. These are grouped by style, displaying patterns of checks, leaves, florals, and waves, and ranging in color from customary silver and gold metallics to pinks, greens, and blues. Each section overlaid with black paper..... More
Buren, The Netherlands: Frits Knuf, 1985. Oblong quarto. (22)ff. One of 100 copies, signed by the author. Containing two black & white photographs of Karli Frigge at work and thirty-four total tipped-in samples of intricate marbled papers in a rainbow of hues. After apprenticing with a Dutch binder, Karli Frigge..... More
Batenburg & Joppe, Netherlands: Karli Frigge, 1984-1992. Frigge's periodical sample books, with prices, for samples #1 through #73 and #126 through #225, with #150-152 presented twice, but with one different paper and in an alternate format. A remarkable and near-comprehensive collection of Frigge's papers, exhibiting her unique technical mastery and..... More
(N.p. n.d.). Forty distinct samples, detailing a variety of patterns and colors, with particular attention to variations of the snail pattern. All but one cut down from larger sheets into strips; the other is wrapped around them. Some rubbing to edges, else a near fine collection, housed in an envelope..... More
NY: Pynson Printers, 1939. Quarto. 134pp. One of 370 copies, signed by Hunter and by Elmer Adler, the printer. Contains 85 photogravure illustrations, many from photographs taken by Hunter, and twenty-seven paper samples tipped-in. In this companion to his "Papermaking Pilgrimage to Japan, Korea and China," Dard Hunter highlights the..... More
Andoversford, Gloucestershire: Whittington Press, 1987. Quarto. xii, 105pp. From an edition of 335 copies, this is one of 85 deluxe, alternatively bound and with five additional full sheets of pattern paper. This publication was inspired by the discovery of a cache of Curwen Pattern Papers. It contains a history of..... More
Andoversford: Whittington Press, (1989). Folio. (xi), 18pp., (8)ff. From an edition of 120 copies, this is one of forty deluxe copies signed by Bawden and McKitterick. Contains sheets or half-sheets of seven original wallpapers and whole sheets of the "Riviera" and "Facade" papers which are housed in the accompanying portfolio..... More
Santa Cruz: Peter & Donna Thomas, 1993. Quarto. (120)pp. One of 195 copies. With an introduction by Peter Thomas. The book highlights a variety of visual and textural qualities found in today’s handmade papers, and includes thirty-two folio-size samples, each of which has a statement from the papermakers printed on..... More
Santa Cruz: Peter & Donna Thomas, 1999. Quarto. 20ff., + 30 specimen sheets. One of 150 copies. Illustrated with line drawings by Donna Thomas. Published as a companion volume to the Thomases’ A Collection of Paper Samples from Hand Papermills in the United States of America (1993), this work contains..... More
Rutland, VT and Tokyo: Tuttle, 1952. Four small folio volumes. No limitation indicated; Schlosser (No. 63) notes that 250 copies were planned, "but there is no indication as to the final size of the edition." This is one of the finest studies of Japanese papermaking, brimming with specimens, including old..... More
(N.p. J.R. van Oostrum, 1992). Quarto. This is a unique copy bound to display ten folded sheets of van Oostrum’s marbled papers in a simple and portable fashion. The papers exemplify a range of color schemes and techniques, including rippling, Spanish marbling, and peacocks. The star of the volume is..... More
(N.p.): Richard J. Wolfe, 1981. Octavo. (xiv), 145pp. One of 500 copies, of which 450 were for sale. This copy signed by Wolfe on the title page. Four textual illustrations and eight color plates that reproduce the Mann family's decorative papers. Bound in marbled paper boards backed with black cloth..... More
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1987. Octavo. 108pp. One of 310 copies, of which 275 copies were for sale. With an introduction and thirteen original marbled samples by Richard J. Wolfe. Printed in red and black on the sumptuous Italian handmade "Umbria" paper. Bound in paper marbled by Wolfe, backed..... More
Oxford: Plough Press, 1985. Octavo. 79pp., + 39ff. of marbled paper samples. The first edition of this work was printed in 1853; this is a reprint of the larger, more concise second edition of 1881 printed in London at George Bell and Sons. Foreword by Geoffrey Wakeman. The nearly 60..... More
Windsor, VT: 1899. (2)ff., on rectos only. In this revealing two-page letter, Maxfield Parrish bemoans last-minute controversies and deadlines related to The Bodley Head's 1899 publication of Kenneth Grahame's The Golden Age. Primarily his complaints stem from the poor quality of the reproductions of his illustrations—Parrish provided nineteen full-page images..... More
Chicago: Le Petit Oiseau Press, 1963. 32pp. One of 150 copies. The Christmas story as told by St. Luke. The last book in a series of small, charming miniatures printed by Doris V. Welsh from her private Le Petit Oiseau Press. Bound in green cloth-backed paper boards. (Bradbury 3198). (1..... More
(Risbury, Herefordshire: Whittington Press, 2011). Small quarto. (vi) (12) pp. + 24 plates. From an edition of 240, this is one of forty copies printed on Batchelor's Otter paper, bound in full vellum, and with an accompanying portfolio of proof engravings and one additional color engraving. These engravings by Lucien..... More
Platen Press, 1945. 48mo. (12)pp. An ephemeral keepsake for the new year, showing monthly calendars printed in red and black above the text for "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Faintest instances of fading, else near fine in wrappers. More
Berlin: Einhorn-Presse, 1927. Tall quarto. (24)pp. From an edition of 600 copies, this is one of only five printed on vellum and with text calligraphed by Melchior Lechter. In addition to writing the text, Lechter also designed the book, including initial letters of gold backed with green leather and onlaid..... More
Harper Woods: Adagio Press, 1969. Folio. 54pp. With a Preface by Strouse and a Note by the Printer, Leonard F. Bahr. From an edition of 329, this is one of seventy-five copies with a Bible leaf on handmade paper and a quarto leaf on vellum. In this copy, the paper..... More
