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
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. Fine..... More
Boston: Bromer Booksellers, Inc., 1985. (6)ff. Signed by the author to the front cover, beneath her printed name. A miniature book-sized pamphlet containing an article written by Anne Bromer for the Autumn 1985 issue of AB Bookman's Weekly, exploring the merits of miniature books. Printed by Colonial Printers for Bromer..... More
(Portland, OR: Vela Noche, 2010). Folio. (17)ff. One of thirty copies, this one being out of series. Fourteen of Lauren Henkin's photographs make up the majority of the book, with Kirsten Rian's poem, "Fieldnotes," appearing on the penultimate page. The poem, from which the book's title derives, meditates with equal..... More
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
(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
Ogdensburg, NY: Caliban Press, 2010 (but 2022). 16mo. (7)pp., accordionfold. One of fifty copies, completed in conjunction with Floating World Press. Signed by the printer, Mark Murray. Caliban Press's ever-resourceful paperwork here represents the topography of a mountain range spread of the long landscape of the accordion. Printed along the..... 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
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; Hammersmith Publishing Society, 1900; 1902. Two octavo volumes. (iv) 10pp.; (40)pp. The Ideal Book is one of 300 copies and is George Parker Winship's copy, with his bookplate to the front paste-down. Only the second title to have been issued by the Doves Press, the essay by..... 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
