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
(N.p. c. 1940). Oblong small quarto. (9)ff., illustrated on rectos only. A handmade children's counting book featuring animals in parent-child relationships. Each family group increases in number as the reader pages through the book, starting with one mother and one baby turtle and ending with a mother otter and her..... More
London: Dean & Co., (c. 1960). Three 12mo rag books, + two sets of original artwork. Artwork heavily annotated and in full color. The three published books are My Train Set, Our Nursery, and My Dolls; the artwork, rendered directly on boards, applies to the latter two. The pencil notes..... More
England: (c. 1957). Folio. (44)ff. An astonishing manuscript, featuring fourteen original drawings and gouache paintings mounted on heavy gray paper. They depict a range of toys and their contexts, from the familiar teddy bear to baubles from as far afield as Javanese shadow puppets and Hopi Indian dolls. The text..... More
Stamford, CT: Overbrook Press, (1936). Folio. One of twenty copies. Six color engravings illustrating Oscar Wilde's text, each signed by the artist and mounted on a 13 by 10-inch off-white matte. This suite of prints comprises the full set of the engravings that appeared in the edition of the book..... More
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
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
(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
Tübingen: Jäckle-Sönmez, (1987). Square octavo. 107pp. One of 230 copies signed by the artists, Nedim Sonmez and Yvonne Jackle-Sonmez, with an additional sheet of ebru paper, signed and dated by Sonmez, bound in. A catalog with thirty-eight color reproductions of marbled pictures, nine photos in black and white on the..... More
(N.p.): Tideline Press, 1983. Quarto. 17pp., + (10)ff. One of 70 copies, signed by the papermaker, Delight Rushmore Lewis. Printed on Fabriano paper and illustrated with seventeen tipped-in samples of the original paste papers used on Golden Hind Press publications from the 1920s and '30s. Foxing to linen binding, shelf-toning..... 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
Woodside, CA: Heyeck Press, 1986. Quarto. 65pp. One of 150 copies, signed by Robin Heyeck. With twenty-eight mounted specimens, thirteen of which are large sheets measuring 6 3/4 by 4 7/8 inches. With a bibliography of marbling projects by the Press. Bound in quarter gray morocco with patterned paper covers..... 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. This publication was inspired by the discovery of a cache of Curwen Pattern Papers. It contains a history of the papers with 32 large samples by fifteen prominent artists, such as Eric Ravilious, Enid Marx, Thomas Lowinsky, and Paul Nash. Quarto. xii, 105pp. From an..... 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
(North Hills): Bird & Bull Press, 1963. Octavo. 59pp. One of 169 copies. A collection of five essays on hand papermaking, with contributions by Dard Hunter, J. Barcham Green, John Mason, Henry Morris, and Norman H. Strouse. Six wood engravings and many amusing drawings illustrate the process of hand papermaking..... More
Oldham: Incline Press, 1997. Quarto. vi, 120pp. One of 300 copies. Contains seven essays on the subject of patterned paper by Paul Nash, Phyllis Barron, Sebastian Carter and others. With numerous samples of paper tipped in. Bound in yellow and red patterned paper backed in yellow cloth. Housed in a...... 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
North Hills: Bird & Bull Press, 1980. Small quarto. 78pp., + 14ff. One of 300 copies. Translated from the German with an Introduction and fourteen original marbled specimens by Richard J. Wolfe. Illustrated with numerous black & white photographs showing Weisse at work. The large marbled samples by Wolfe are..... More
