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
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
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 Bromer special holiday catalog with previously unpublished, full-color cover design by Gorey, who created the artwork originally for a Nieman Marcus holiday catalogue.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
c. 1964. Four sheets, three of which measure 8 1/2 by 11 inches; the single sheet of text is smaller, measuring 8 by 6 inches, and is on blue paper. The pages reveal the unfolding of Gorey's creative process in developing the story and preliminary illustrations for his book, The..... 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
(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
San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1959-1965. Folio. Four volumes: "Figure Prints of Old Japan." 1959. (110)ff., + 52 plates. One of 400 copies. "Landscape Prints of Old Japan." 1960. (110)ff., + 50 plates. One of 450 copies. "Ukiyo-e: The Floating World." 1962. (92)ff., + 28 plates. One of 400..... More
(Newtown): Gregynog Press, 1929. Quarto. 189pp. One of 225 copies. Ornamented throughout with initial capitals, calligraphed by Horace Bray, printed in red and blue. Four of the psalms, as well as the title-page, show extra decoration by Bray, with wood-engraved flowering vines printed in red and black. Bound in half-morocco..... More
NY: Harrison of Paris, 1932. Octavo. 43pp. One of 595 copies. A collection of literary and philosophical quotations, poems, and short essays, presented using creative typography. This was the eleventh publication of Harrison of Paris, designed by Monroe Wheeler. Some fading to spline and trace edgewear, else near fine. 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
Woodside: Heyeck Press, 1992. Octavo. 45pp. One of 150 trade copies. Woodcut engravings of the tools and techniques of papermaking by Olson. Translated by Kyoko Muecke. A handy guide to Japanese marbling. Bound in gray paper wrappers with example of suminagashi paper to upper cover. Shelf-toning, else near fine. More
Rijswijk, Netherlands: Gentenaar & Torley, 1998. Oblong small quarto. 255pp. Together with a smaller "child" book containing seventeen artistic paper samples, measuring 2 3/4 inches square, nested within the center of the "parent" book. Published on the occasion of the second Holland Paper Biennial in the Rijswijk Museum in 1998..... More
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2006. Octavo. x, 80pp., + (5)ff. of paper specimens. One of 300 copies. Also illustrated with reproductions of photographs of Seymour and company activities, as well as various examples of correspondence. Printed at the Manoutios Press in Athens. Quarter bound by Vassilis Kypreos in..... More
(Northampton and Cambridge, MA): Catawba and Kat Ran Press, 2011. Small octavo. 24ff. One of 300 copies. With an Introduction by David Bourbeau, to whom this work is a tribute. Noting its fertile ground for book artists, Bourbeau attributes much of the fecundity of the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts to..... More
Letchworth, Hertfordshire: G. W. Russell and Son, (n.d.). 16mo. 16pp. An introductory pamphlet to the process of marbling paper, with four line drawings of a young marbler at work, and two samples by William Chapman of Douglas Cockerell and Son. Number five in a series of pamphlets about the art..... More
Los Angeles: Plantin Press, 1983. Quarto. 190pp. One of 850 numbered copies printed by the Plantin Press for Dawson's Book Shop. Signed and dated by the author, Phoebe Jane Easton. Illustrated with six tipped-in specimens of marbled paper, mounted color frontispiece, and color plates. Some foxing to upper cover and..... More
Seattle: Bras Galley Press, 1988. Oblong octavo. 19pp. Drawings of a marbler at work throughout the text. Specimen tipped in to title page. A concise and useful guide to suminagashi marbling, with troubleshooting, a bibliography, and a list of suppliers. Light toning to pale gray wrappers, else near fine. More
Cambridge, MA: Houghton Library, Harvard College, 1942-2007. Octavo. xciii, (14), 171, (84)pp. One of 250 copies. Eight plates of pre-1800 decorative papers, and twenty-five samples of marbled, pattern, and paste papers from a range of eras. Bound in quarter-cloth with paste paper covers. Slight rubbing to edges, else fine in..... More
Boston: Club of Odd Volumes, 1933. Octavo. 22pp., + (16)ff. One of 149 copies. Illustrated with five mounted samples of paste papers and seven samples of marbled papers by Rosamond B. Loring, showing the progression of steps to achieve combed-marbled paper. Loring was a maker, collector, and historian of decorated..... More
Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University, 2008. Folio. 79pp. One of 250 printed in softback at Northend Creative Print in Sheffield. Vibrantly illustrated with various papers from the collection from a variety of locations and eras. Preface by Colin Harris and Foreword by Mirjam Foot. Covers replicate marbled paper from Tirzah (Garwood)..... More
Leicestershire: Plough Press, (1977-80?). Quarto. 27pp., + (27)ff. of marble samples. One of 112 copies. Begins with the onset of paper marbling in England in the seventeenth century, and continues with other sources documenting the practice through the 1950s. Specimens include the work of Douglas Cockerell & Son, nineteenth-century examples..... More
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990. Quarto. 245pp. Heavily illustrated with diagrams and drawings of tools and papers, photographs of artists and locations, and reproductions of advertisements, along with thirty-eight plates of papers. Faint sunning to bottom edges of boards, else fine in full blue cloth and dust wrapper. Prospectus..... More
