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
London: Oxford University Press, (1925). Octavo. (ix), 1456, (iv), (130)pp. Later printing. With a large fore-edge painting by Miss C. B. Currie, which, according to the signed statement on the front endleaf, depicts "(a) view of the entrance to the avenue from Clare Hall Piece, Cambridge." It is identified as..... More
London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1842. Small quarto. xlviii, 320pp. Enriched throughout with engravings that bring both pastoral and romantic themes to bear on Thomson's celebrated poetic cycle. Completed by some of the most eminent illustrators and artists of the era, including John Bell, Thomas Crewsick, and Thomas Webster..... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1987. Octavo. 63pp. One of 500 copies. With a preface by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and an Introduction by the Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin. Printed in the very readable Deepdene type designed by Frederic Goudy, handset on handmade Twinrocker paper. The initial letters..... More
Santa Cruz, CA: William James Association, 1976. Elephant folio. 15ff., loose. One of 200 copies. To commemorate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States, seventeen printers contributed broadsides in their own styles, illustrating in image and type statements from various founding fathers. The participating printers included William Everson..... More
(Dallas: Ondine Press, 1977). Octavo. 19pp. One of 145 copies. Highlights an address given by Franklin at Perkins Chapel to mark the acquisition of the Sir Emery Walker copy of the Doves Press Bible printed on vellum by the Bridwell Library. Few marks to rear board, else fine in cream..... More
NY: 2006. Square octavo. Four-fold enclosure. Unique. Acrylic on textured boards with added wires, pompoms, and button snap closure. The folds reveal a gray-white woodland scene, blue at the edges, with a line from Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" painted on the bottom panel: "The woods..... More
Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1950. Quarto. 237pp., + 48 plates, nine of which are in color. One of 700 copies. This authoritative text and bibliography on the French “Game of the Goose” and its derivatives is illustrated throughout with images relating to the game, including many whimsical geese. The plates are..... More
(Northampton: Gehenna Press, 1969). Octavo. 25ff., housed in paper wrapper. One of 250 copies. With 21 woodblock illustrations of creatures fantastic and familiar printed in a variety of colors on nine different oriental papers, each print signed by the artist, Wang Hui-Ming. Box shows some rubbing, but sheets all pristine..... More
Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1972. Quarto. (14)ff. One of thirty-five copies. Signed by Baskin at the colophon. Eight etchings, each signed and numbered in pencil, all depicting figures formed after the fashion of Roman boundary markers. These stele, with the exception of the bird marker, preserve perhaps the most human..... More
Bob Ziering, 2009. Pastel on paper. Signed and dated by the artist, Bob Ziering. Exploratory artwork for the gay 2010 American short film Curious Thing directed by Alain Hain. This bold, emotional piece is Ziering at his most authentic; a celebrated commercial illustrator, it was only after more than forty..... More
1924. On paper measuring 6 1/4 by 5 3/8 inches (159x137mm), mounted to a bifolium sheet. One of six copies signed by Gill in graphite at the lower corner. This is one of eight of Gill's delicate white line engravings that is featured in Enid Clay's Sonnets and Verses, published..... More
1903. Single sheet of long, narrow paper measuring 52 by 16 inches, bearing the graphite rubbing of the words of the eighth Commandment. This inscriptional work by Eric Gill was commissioned by Graily Hewitt on behalf of the Seventh Earl Beauchampt for the library door at Madresfield Court near Malvern..... More
Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1991. Two octavo volumes. 184pp; (26)ff. From an edition of 1650 copies, this is one of three special copies printed for the authors, signed by Morris Cox and with a second volume of twenty-six specimen leaves. Inscribed by Colin Franklin. Contains a selection of the writings..... More
Berkeley, CA: Pacific Film Archive, 1973. Broadside measuring 24 by 18 1/4 inches. One of 500 copies. Designed by California artist David Lance Goines and printed in 10 colors, this advertisement for a film series at the Pacific Film Archive features an image of Veronica, daughter of Solome, who took..... More
Oakland, CA: Karl Kardel Co., 1974. Broadside measuring 24 by 18 1/4 inches. One of 1,850 copies. Designed by California artist David Lance Goines and printed in 8 colors, this advertisement for Karl Kardel Co. features a bumblebee over an ochre background. The design was inspired by an unknown philosopher's..... More
(Minneapolis): Gonfalon Press, 1996. Quarto. Accordionfold, dos-à-dos. One of forty copies, signed by the printer, Michael Fallon. Doris Adams's traditional tale is adorned with glittering illustrations of the story's heroic rabbit, Cufe, while Kate Taluga's essay is dotted with images of corn, shells, and wildflowers. Compiled and printed by Michael..... More
1980. Original artwork. Pen, ink, watercolor, graphite, and wash on stiff card. The bereaved gather around the deceased's coffin as the undertaker pulls back a veil to reveal a will, taped as a video message. The mourners are a typically Gorey-esque cast of characters, including a shrouded widow, a man..... More
c. 1970. Pen-and-ink on three leaves measuring 8 1/2 by 11 inches. The first sheet, on pale yellow stock folded into fourths, contains a panel of six roughed-out storyboards, a more detailed drawing of what became the cover of the published work, and in the upper left, a series of..... More
Boston: Bromer Booksellers, 1996. Small quarto. 26 pp. From an edition of 2,000 copies, this is one of 200 copies signed and numbered by Edward Gorey. Bromer special holiday catalog with previously unpublished, full-color cover design by Gorey, who created the artwork originally for a Nieman Marcus holiday catalogue. When..... More
NY: Abrams, 1996. First edition. Contains an interview with Gorey, analysis by art critic Karen Wilkin, and 200 illustrations. Very fine in illustrated dust wrapper. More
San Francisco: Word Play Publications, 1996. First edition. One of 226 copies, signed by Gorey and by the authors. This illustrated reference work includes ephemera and collectibles, dramatic productions, a list of pseudonyms, and more. The first true Gorey bibliography. Bound in cloth-covered boards. Fine in near fine dust wrapper..... More
San Francisco: Word Play Publications, 1996. First edition. From an edition of 226, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by Gorey and by the authors. This illustrated reference work includes ephemera and collectibles, dramatic productions, a list of pseudonyms, and more. The first true Gorey bibliography. Bound in..... More
(N.p.): Press of the Woolly Whale, 1934. 32mo. 18pp. Signed and dated by the author. A short treatise on the essentials of book design. Bound in blue paper over boards with title stamped in black. Some toning to spine, else near fine. More
1971. An original illustration capturing a moment of protest by the black community, showing a young Black man raising his fist in a timeless and insistent gesture of power and belief. Jarring in its continued relevancy, the illustration is finely executed in mixed media, including tempera, watercolor, conté crayon, pen..... More
![Das Antlitz der Stadte [The Face of the Cities]. Armin T. Wegner](/pictures/thumb/30175.jpg?v=1630529992)
Berlin: Tyslander Pres, 1989. Octavo. (60)pp. One of forty deluxe copies issued with a separate color woodblock print, signed by the artist, Felix M. Furtwangler, both on the colophon and on the print. Furtwangler's disturbing woodcuts, brash in their direct confrontation with violence and raw in their emotion, underscore the..... More
