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: Nimrod Press, 1966. Folio. 7pp. One of 125 copies. A discussion of Jenson’s life and influence, with a leaf showing his beautiful Roman type from the 1472 edition of Pliny’s Natural History, printed in Venice. Even more than 500 years after Jenson first developed his Roman type, it is... More
(Fullerton, CA): Stone & Lorson, 1985. Folio. 23pp. From an edition of 115 copies, this is one of 89 copies quarter-bound in vellum, together with an original bifolium leaf from the edition of 1619. This copy contains a full hand-colored map of Palatinatus Bavariae in southwestern Germany, complete with text... More
Oxford: Plough Press, 1986. Folio. (6)pp., followed by ten annotated folders containing type and paper specimens. One of 110 copies. This collection of leaves was compiled to demonstrate some of the most important characteristics of nearly two hundred years of printing in England and Scotland. Leaves include The Optick Glasse... More
Los Angeles: Plantin Press for Dawson's Book Shop, 1956. Folio. 31pp. One of 290 copies printed at the Plantin Press for Dawson's Book Shop. Though this title usually only includes one original leaf, this particular copy contains two, one from the Book of Proverbs and another from the Book of... More
(Cambridge, MA): Houghton Library, 1994. Square octavo. (26)pp. One of 500 copies. Warmly inscribed by Lorenz to Anne & David Bromer. A catalogue for an exhibition of artist's books by Angela Lorenz held at Harvard University's Houghton Library in September 1994, featuring full-page photographs of the books and detailed descriptions... More
(1860). Handscroll. An elegant makimono-e painting in sumi ink and color wash on paper by 83-year-old artist Toshin. Handscrolls are meant to be viewed right to left in sections, traveling arms-length by arms-length through the continuous landscape. This painting takes the viewer through each of the four seasons in a.... More
(England): 1849. Octavo. 5ff. Verse manuscript with original watercolor illustrations, including a full-page cover title and title-page and sixteen vignettes throughout. The text tells the tale of Timothy Brown, who is introduced as "a wild little lad" who constantly tears his clothes and searches for ways to spend his days... More
(Paris: c. 1240). Manuscript leaf, on vellum, with text in Latin. The leaf contains 50 lines of double-column text in fine Gothic script. On the recto, it includes a five-line initial in blue and red inks with flourishes radiating along the center margin, while another red and blue initial with... More
(c. 1470). A single miniature manuscript leaf from a fifteenth-century Dutch or German Psalter executed in a miniscule gothic hand. The text of the recto includes the last three verses of Psalm 144 and the first three and a half verses of Psalm 145. The leaf contains eight initials executed... More
![[Travel sketches by a steamboat passenger].](/pictures/thumb/28068.jpg?v=1529093682)
(Ramsgate: (c. 1900). Oblong 48mo. (36)ff. Illustrated with thirty-six fine and accomplished pen-and-ink sketches by W.G. Bayly. The sketches provide a unique glimpse into Bayly's round-trip journey from Ramsgate to the Cape of St. Vincent, Port Said, Aden, the Bay of Biscay, Yangon, and finally Colombo in Sri Lanka. At... More
(Tokyo: Toppan Printing Co. 2000). (16)pp. Two volumes. According to the accompanying prospectus, this ultra-micro miniature containing the Chinese zodiac was the 2000 Guinness World Records holder for the smallest precision-printed book in the world, measuring a mere .95mm square. Remarkably, each page of this speck of a book bears... More
(Dutch: 18th century). Five bifolium sheets, each measuring approximately 7 5/8 by 10 3/4 inches. All contain images of Biblical scenes, composed of miniature writing known as micrography. The images, therefore, are composed of the words from the Biblical passages that describe the action being depicted. Four of these images... More
N.p. (1845). Octavo. (26)ff. A manuscript alphabet book of calligraphic paintings, signed by the artist, Jean Midolle. Includes an elaborately decorated title page, twenty-four letters, and "Fin." A renowned nineteenth-century Swiss calligrapher and miniature-painter, Midolle executed his alphabets in the gothic style of lettering to resemble the text of a.... More
Japan: (1963). One sheet folded accordion-style, printed on one side only. Reportedly from a Buddhist Temple, this sheet features three different styles of Japanese text. Bound in red silk with gilt decorations. Housed in clear plastic case with gold letters and within paper covering with sauwastika (a left-facing swastika) and... More
Wellington, New Zealand: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1962-1965. Lilliput Maori Proverbs, Lilliput Maori Place Names, and Illustrated Gospels in Maori. 526; 567; 559pp. All with illustrations throughout. The Proverbs and Place Names are reprinted from "regular" volumes at the time still in print. The Gospels is the first Lilliput edition... More
(Novi Sad: Nip Forum, 1978). 92; 92pp. Two volumes, each one of 500 copies printed to commemorate the visit of Hua Kuo Feng, the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Communist Party of China in Yugoslavia. Illustrated with black & white photographs throughout. Both... More
Japan: (1918). 64mo. Eleven original sumi-e and watercolor paintings in an accordion-fold book. The paintings have been dated Taisho 7, that is, the seventh year of the Taisho period, 1918. The paintings depict various landscapes, flora, and fauna, and have been created by the artists Sekitai Nagasaka, Seisen Oka, Hiyakunen... More
N.P. Miniature Book Society, 1988. Fine in printed wrappers. (2 7/8 by 2 7/8; 73x73mm). More
Boston & Vancouver: Bromer Booksellers & HM Editions, 2015. 72pp. From an edition of 120, this is one of thirty-five deluxe copies. Winner of the 2016 Miniature Book Society Competition Distinguished Book Award. Designed and printed at Heavenly Monkey, this lovely miniature memoir and bibliography contains stories of pleasure, coincidence... More
(New Britain, CT: Art Press), 1971. (16)pp., frenchfold. One of 50 copies. The Foreword by Massmann is signed by him. Hunter's account of the post-Civil War reuse of Egyptian mummies' wrappings by a Maine paper merchant is bound in stiff wrappers in the shape of a sarcophagus with the profile... More
Boston: Bromer, Anne and David, 1995. Oblong octavo. 66pp. With a preface by Kalman Levitan, the founder and first president of the Miniature Book Society, and author of books on miniature books. 230 items are described, all highlights from 60 years of collecting. A valuable reference. Mint in printed wrappers. More
(Newark, NJ: Caterteret Book Club, 1924). 16mo. (20)pp. One of 100 copies, printed on Swedish handmade paper for the members of the Carteret Book Club in December 1924. Contains remarks and descriptions of the items on display, arranged by type. In tan wrappers. Sewn into protective folio made of board... More
Boston: Bromer, Anne & David, 1987. Square 12mo. This collection of designer bindings was assembled over two years' time, commissioning bookbinding artists from around the globe. Fully described and illustrated with color photographs, this catalog is a valuable reference and visual record of the style and skill of each of... More
NY: Swann Galleries, 1990. Small quarto. 27pp. Auction catalogue from an important sale of miniature books from the collection of H. Marion Soliday, illustrated with black & white photographs. Also includes the Albert Cohen Collection of 19th-Century English Illustrated Books. Fine in printed wrappers. More
Stockholm: Sällskapet Bokvännerna, 1966. 16mo. 71pp. Bokvännens miniatyrserie 22. One of 700 copies. Black & white illustrations throughout. Swedish miniature book reference, including a bibliography. Bound in wrappers, with some edgewear and toning to spine; else about fine. More
