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
Paris: Officina Bodoni for the Pegasus Press, 1929. Quarto. 30pp., (51)ff. One of 175 copies printed at the Officina Bodoni. With an Introduction by Henry Thomas and descriptive notes by Stanley Morison. Following these are forty-nine facsimile leaves in collotype reproducing the surviving text and plates of Brun's two writing..... More
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (1901). 876pp. With 28 line illustrations. A later issue of the first complete miniature Bible, which was originally published in 1896, and issued with various imprints. Between the Old and New Testaments are the Shakespeare Family records, by W. S. Brassington, a rare feature of..... More
(London: 1942-1946). Three oblong quarto volumes; 25; 27; 21ff. Two are Whatman series A30 sketch books, originally containing 30 leaves, and have been titled "Girls in Undress" and "Figures" by Buckland Wright; the third is a Reeves branded book which also formerly contained 30 leaves. All are bound in the..... More
(N.p. 1989). Small quarto. 10ff. A one-of-a-kind manuscript, completely hand-bound, lettered, painted, and signed by the artist Nancy Leavitt. Leavitt's superlative skill as a calligrapher is clear in this illustration of Suzanne Vega's song of loss and unrequited love, "Calypso." Vega retells the beginning of the Odyssey from the perspective..... More
(Portland, OR: Chamberlain Press, 1980-85). A collection of 105 engravings, all signed and numbered in pencil by Sarah Chamberlain. These hail from her major publications printed in the early 1980s via the Chamberlain Press: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1979), A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go (1981), Beasts from Belloc..... More
(Solihull, UK: Cherub Press, 1996). (10)pp., + 6 samples of Japanese papers. One of 95 copies. The paper specimens exemplify some of the major styles of Japanese papers, including Chiyogami, Suminagashi, lace-paper, and Kimburi Tairei paper. Butcher's text is a concise and accessible outline of the various methods employed in..... 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
(Havana): 1893. Broadside dinner menu printed on yellow silk with hand-embroidery at head. Mounted at top to larger, folded piece of red silk, hand-embroidered with "Mr. R. A. C. Smith." The menu begins with a statement announcing the dinner's honoree: "The Phoenix Tourists, / - to - / Mr. R...... More
Portage, IN, and Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1981. (32)ff. A checklist of publications compiled by Mary Helen and Glen Dawson as a revision to their Miniature Books List Number 102. Very fine in full brown leather with title stamped in gilt on spine. (2 15/16 by 2 3/4; 75x70mm)..... More
Maple Shade, NJ: Pickering Press, 1985. Octavo. (28)pp., frenchfold. One of 100 copies printed in black and brown. "A warm, witty, wry collection of observations by famous (& infamous) writers who 'draw the line in such a way as to define themselves.'" (Prospectus). This charming little book is printed in..... More
Tuscaloosa: Legacy Press, 2000. Octavo. x, 154pp., + 5 specimens. One of 130 copies, signed by both Baker and DePol at the colophon. Replete with reproductions of DePol's many pattern designs, both for his papers and from engravings. Baker's accompanying text, which includes a biographical sketch, provides necessary context, both..... More
NY: Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1989. Folio. (32)pp. One of fifty copies, signed by the artist, Susan Weil. Throughout the text are scattered collages, cut papers, and etchings that work together to create an interactive, multimedia experience for the reader, who thus physically engages with the work in a manner..... More
Paris: Chez F.-L. Schmied, (1929). Quarto. (126)pp. One of 150 copies, signed by Schmied. Illustrated throughout with color wood engravings, executed in tones of brown, orange, and blue, including twelve full-page illustrations, each one signed by Schmied. This is a work that Ward Ritchie called "ingenious in its design, one..... More
Coaraze: Les Editions Coaraze, 1955. 16mo. 30, (2)pp., + 3 inserted plates. From an edition of twenty-four copies, this is one of twelve printed on Alfa Ivoire paper and labeled for a month of the year. Signed by Arman, the illustrator, on the colophon page. Arman's contributed plates offer a...... More
(Hammersmith): Doves Press, 1891. Octavo. 8pp. One of 300 copies. Presented to subscribers of the Doves Press, the present text reprises Cobden-Sanderson's speech given to the Art Workers Guild, in which he expounds upon the contemporary artistic tastes of the general population, and thus nods at the social function of..... 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
(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
