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: Lawton Kennedy, 1958. Small quarto pamphlet. (6)ff. One of 175 copies. A tongue-in-cheek guide to the lexicon of the rare book trade. For example, the entry for "Fore-Edge Painting" states "These are always 'exquisitely executed' even when done by someone's Aunt Esmerelda on a wet Sunday afternoon." Fine..... More
Los Angeles: UCLA, 1985. Octavo. x, 182pp. One of 350 copies printed by Patrick Reagh. Inscribed by Ruth E. Fine, one of the contributors. Fold-out map of Los Angeles opposite half-title. A very fine copy in cloth-backed boards. More
(Wakefield, Yorkshire): Fleece Press, (1986). Large quarto. (10)pp., + (19)ff. From an edition of 200 copies, this is one of twelve bound by James Brockman. Illustrated with twenty wood engravings printed on handmade paper from the original blocks that were cut by Underwood in the 1920s and ‘30s. Underwood’s Brook..... More
Boston, MA: Bromer Booksellers, (c. 1991). Small quarto. (56)pp. With photographic reproductions throughout in black & white. Catalogue number 66 issued by Anne and David Bromer of Bromer Booksellers. This catalogue, released in conjunction with a lecture delivered by Anne Bromer and an exhibition, celebrates "the fine art of calligraphy..... More
Bromer Booksellers. (96) pp. Our most ambitious catalogue to date, featuring fifty exemplary works in literature, illustration, miniature and children's books, fine printing and artistic bindings. Includes many rare, unique, and autographed items from the 16th century to the present. More
Watertown, MA: Bromer, Anne & David, 1978. 30pp. One of 150 copies printed at the Bird & Bull Press and signed by Henry Morris. This was the first—and last—miniature to be printed at the Bird & Bull Press, and the first Bird & Bull checklist to appear in print. Fne..... More
Boston: Bromer, Anne & David, 1984. Quarto. 38pp. First edition. One of 225 copies printed in three colors by Richard Bigus at the Stinehour Press. Illustrated with two wood engravings by Greg Dearth and a specimen sheet printed in three colors on parchment. Hand-bound by Claudia Cohen in quarter-vellum and..... More
Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 2009. Two volumes: one folio, one oblong quarto. (vi), 141; 231pp. A brightly printed history of Alunno, with frontispiece and examples in the first volume, the second being a facsimile of his Cartoni. Both bound in blue cloth with blind stamping to upper cover and..... More
Henley-on-Thames, UK: 1957. Small octavo. (i), (9)pp. Calligraphic manuscript on paper written in green and black ink with first line and small text initials in gold. Text opens with a large illuminated initial "O" with the watercolor figure of an owl; the text closes with another watercolor owl, this one..... More
Darmstadt: (N.P.), 1775. Oblong quarto. 31pp. First edition. An instructional book for calligraphy, with an ornate engraved title page followed by thirty plates of calligraphic examples by Johann Menzzer. The plates demonstrate a variety of hands using quotations, biblical passages, and alphabets in Latin, French, and German, and include elaborate..... More
(San Francisco: 2010). Quarto. 10ff. Original calligraphic manuscript by Ingmire of the text from a section of Paz’s poem “Blanco.” This poem, which was published in 1967, has been linked to Paz’s time in India, and it can be read as a figurative exploration of Indian religious philosophy. “The spirit..... More
Providence, RI: Skillman Avenue Press, 2016. Oblong 16mo. (27)pp. One of 150 copies. Signed by the author. Portraits of women appear on semi-translucent sheets laid over Cane's poems, which are structured as letters. Bound in pale blue paper with a cutout on the upper cover through which another portrait appears..... More
Cisco, IL: CHEC-Chess Enterprises, 1982. Broadside measuring 24 by 18 inches. Printed in green and red on ochre-colored paper, this piece offers humorous commentary on every square of a chessboard, from g6 ("Gee, Dad, it's a dragon!") to h2 ("An insignificant square which deserves no consideration"). Of d1, the starting..... More
NY: Random House, 1931. Octavo. 116pp. One of 500 copies, inscribed by the bibliography's compiler, Louis Henry Cohn. Illustrated with a frontispiece facsimile note from Hemingway to the bibliography's author. With a presentation card from Cohn's wife and a 1961 Playboy Magazine article with Hemingway quotations laid in. Some rubbing..... More
Boston: L. Prang, 1876. Octavo. xxxiii, 274pp., + thirteen plates. American edition, revised and enlarged by the author. With an introduction by Edward C. Pickering, a professor of Physics at MIT. Illustrated throughout with many woodcuts, as well as the thirteen chromolithographed plates. The first plate depicts the spectra of..... More
(France / China: c. 1900). Octavo. (22)pp. Album of Chinese landscapes in original watercolors, facing depictions of women's antique costumes painted on silk, interleaved with tissue. "Chinoiserie" refers to European art characterized by imagery of a romanticized China, a notion that similarly underpins the genre of costume books, which presented..... More
Andoversford, Gloucestershire: Whittington Press, 1987. Quarto. xii, 105pp. One of 335 copies. This edition 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..... More
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Small quarto. (iv), 361pp. Morison's thorough treatise on the sociopolitical evolutions of script styles, specially bound by Garth While in full vellum. While's clever take on Morison's text sets the title and a short description over a fragmented manuscript design, all painted, with the fragments shaded..... More
Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1911. Octavo. 12pp. Second edition. One of 350 copies. Included are descriptions of all books printed to that date, the introduction by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson from the first edition of 1908, and his additional comments for this edition. Expected toning to extremities, else a fine copy in..... 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 ten copies made up of leftover sheets from the original printing. It contains three leaves: and octavo sheet from Tasso..... More
(N.p.): Paul Hayden Duensing, (1969). One of 300 copies. Broadside measuring 31 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches (800x317mm), printed by offset. A selection of typefaces offered by the Typefoundry, including borders, ornaments, Hieroglyphics, and Greek, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, and Cherokee alphabets. One faint spot, else fine. More
N.P. n.d. Black & white photograph measuring 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches. A posed portrait showing a younger William Addison Dwiggins, likely in his early 40s, standing in front of a garden holding a hoe. The photographer is credited on the verso as C. H. Marble. Very fine. More
NY: Typophiles, 1960. Two 12mo. volumes. xiii, 271pp. One of 1050 copies. Published as Typophile Chap Books nos. 35 and 36. These volumes contain a collection of essays edited by Paul A. Bennett, contributed by Dorothy Abbe, Mabel Dwiggins, Rudolph Ruzicka, and others, with a selective checklist compiled by Dorothy..... More
(Hingham, MA): c. 1930s. A black & white photograph of a marionette made by W. A. Dwiggins, measuring 10 by 10 1/2 inches. The marionette is a likeness of F. Morton Smith, a Boston lawyer who was married to Margaret Coatsworth, the sister of the children's book author and illustrator..... More
(Istanbul: Ebristan, 2004). Marbled paper with calligraphy measuring 23 3/4 by 32 inches. Ebru, or marbling, is one of the oldest arts in Turkey. In addition to being used in book binding and design, it was often used as a background for calligraphy and is considered high art. In this..... More
