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
Market Drayton: Tern Press, 1987. Folio. (60)pp. One of 90 copies signed by Nicholas and Mary Parry, the printers. Clare's delightful verses "...mark the nests of many sorts/ & which in building most excells/ the number of their eggs to note/ & curious colour of the shells," was written in..... 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
Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harvard College, 1968. Square 16mo. (8)ff. One of 500 copies, signed by the artist. Marie Angel, who also contributed illustrations to A. Colish's 1974 edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, here adorns Dickinson's two poems with a diverse array of butterflies set softly..... 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
Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1909. Octavo. 159, 23pp. One of 250 copies, printed in red and black. The text of the play was taken from the Second Quarto edition, with punctuation updates and spelling corrections by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. The famous flourished opening initial "W" calligraphed by Edward Johnston in green..... 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
(Istanbul): Ebristan, 2008. Original marbled paper art by Turkey's premier paper marbler, Hikmet Barutçugil, with dusky swirls of pale peach, green, blue, and mauve. Signed and dated by the artist. Emerging from the center of the marbling is a small, detailed drawing in brown ink of the entrance archway to..... More
(Istanbul: Ebristan, c. 2003). Original marbled paper by the premier marbling artist in Turkey, Hikmet Barutçugil. Signed by the artist. Barutçugil has developed his own technique for creating flowers within his marbled patterns, inspired by his wife, Füsun Hanim. In this delicate example, two carnations grow from the same root..... More
(Istanbul): Ebristan Yayinlari, 2003. Original marbled paper by the premier marbling artist in Turkey, Hikmet Barutçugil. Signed and dated by the artist. 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..... More
(Istanbul: Ebristan, 2008). Marbled paper measuring 23 3/4 by 32 inches, with elegant marbled calligraphy in Arabic. The script translates to say "One who conducts business in a Halal fashion is the beloved servant of Allah." This superb example of Ebru, the ancient Turkish art of paper marbling, has a...... More
NY: Elston Press, 1901. Small quarto. (xv), 68pp. One of 485 copies on Holland hand-made paper, in boards with vellum spine. Unopened. Decorated with initials by H. M. O'Kane, floral devices, and a printer's device on the title page. The text is a 1345 treatise on book collecting written by..... More
Peking, China: Lotus Court, 1943. Quarto. (xvi), 46pp. Illustrated with forty-six tipped-in woodblock reproductions of traditional Chinese embroidery patterns, printed in red on handmade paper, tipped in. Frontispiece is a real tissue embroidery pattern backed with red paper for support. A fascinating reference book on Chinese symbolism. The Foreword lists..... More
San Francisco: Cartoon Art Museum, 1993. Square octavo. (8)pp. Signed by Gorey. A catalog of Gorey's works shown at the Cartoon Art Museum from April to September of 1993, along with a brief biography and summation of his books and art. Fine in gray printed wrappers with price sticker on..... More
Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1985. Quarto. (2)ff. + (1)ff. insert. Signed by Gorey. Upper cover illustrated with a woman reading in bed. A selection of Gorey's books and drawings. The insert provides the "Gorey Details" of the themes and patterns of the exhibit. Slight bumps at corners else near..... More
New Paltz, NY: 1978,1979, 1981, 1988. Four brochures, each promoting a special event held at the resort: "The Dead of Winter", "The Teacup Caper", "Mystery Weekends", and "The Ides of Mohonk". All signed by Gorey. Each lushly and hauntingly illustrated, with a summary of the event and all but one..... More
1860. Single leaf measuring 5 by 7 3/4 inches. A drawing of a young man and woman glancing shyly at each other, with their noses drawn in an angular fashion so as to point at each other. Below the figures is penned words “i cant [sic] stop long this time.”..... More
NY: St. Martin's Press, 1977. 16mo. Single-folded card inviting the recipient to a celebration of the publication of Allegra Kent's Water Beauty Book at a club at One Lincoln Plaza. Illustrated by Gorey with a woman and a frog floating along, with the frog also on the upper cover supporting..... More
