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
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
London: Bertram Rota, 1987. Octavo. 283pp., + (28)pp. of illustrations in both color and black & white. One of 400 copies. Barker's investigation of the Frederic Prokosch forgeries. In black, cloth-backed boards. Gilt-titled to spine. A little bit of dust and wear, else a fine copy. 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
Frankfurt am Main: Sonderdruck, 1978. Square 16mo. 44pp. "Aus dem Antiquariat" Nr. 2. One of 100 copies, illustrated throughout in black and white. Fine, in tan wrappers. More
(Boston: Thomas Todd, 1932). 30pp. One of 250 copies. The illustration used for the frontispiece was loaned by Wilbur Macey Stone. A true miniature book about miniatures written by collectors whose tiny tomes were auctioned at Swann Galleries on November 15, 1990. Outer hinge lightly rubbed, light uniform fading to..... More
(Pasadena): Vance Studley, 1997. Oblong 32mo. (8)ff. unbound booklet + 18 sheets of engravings, each signed by Moser. One of twenty copies. Cut in Resingrave and printed on Karma paper, the engravings collected here depict animals from across the globe in astonishing detail. Moser, as only he can, shows each..... More
(Pasadena): Vance Studley, 2005. One of twenty copies. Six engravings, each signed and numbered by Moser. These images portray dogs and cats (usually separately, but in one instance together and surprisingly at peace) with nobility and familiarity. The prefatory sheets show, on the first, a Dogon Greeting and publication information..... More
Frankfurt am Main: 1954/55. Octavo. Unpaginated. Entirely manuscript, with eight miniature paintings in a delightful array of colors, all with flourished backgrounds and borders by M. K. Neudold. Neudold's exacting hand here renders the well-known verses of the Rubaiyat into German, extending to some Arabic lines facing the title page..... More
London: Nine Elms Press, 1984. Octavo. 17pp. One of 500 copies. Signed by the author. Bound in Morris "Willow" pattern paper. Fine. More
Sherman Oaks, CA: Ninja Press, 2009. Quarto. (48)pp., presented as twelve unbound folios. One of 85 copies, signed by Carolee Campbell, who, in addition to the illustrations, executed the design, presswork, and binding. Nathaniel Tarn's series of ten poems meditate on the psychological and mythological tensions in the tale of..... More
(Milan): Officina Bodoni, 1968. Oblong 12mo. (14)ff. From an edition of 80 copies, this is one of forty printed for André Jammes, the French antiquarian bookseller. With a New Year's greeting inscribed on the first free endpaper from Jammes and his family. A beautifully printed Christmas alphabet book with red..... More
Verona: Edizioni Valdonega, (1980). Two quarto volumes. (lix), (288)pp; (viii), (10)ff. One of 125 copies in two volumes with ten leaves from original publications. This issue was not for sale. Illustrated with a series of woodcuts showing how a book is made, 116 reproductions of specimen pages, twelve pages of..... More
Verona: Officina Bodoni, 1930. Octavo. xxiii, (55)pp. One of 200 copies. Facsimile edition of Mercator's writing book with English text, a biographical introduction by Jan Denuc, and a note on his work as a calligrapher by Stanley Morison. Printed in collaboration with De Sikkel of Antwerp and The Pegasus Press..... More
Venice: Ongania, Ferd. 1879. Two miniature volumes bound as one. 354; 231; (6)pp. One of 1,000 numbered copies. This is copy number 1, and it is signed by Ongania below the limitation statement. With two portrait frontispieces and numerous, exquisite engraved vignettes throughout. Includes six sonnets which had recently been..... More
(Ditchling): 1919. Bodycolor and graphite on paper measuring 7 1/2 by 5 inches. Initialled and dated "17.1.19" in lower right corner. The image here was originally executed by Gill in 1917 after a crucifix in the window of York Minister (see Physick 89), and bears stylistic similarities with the crucifixion..... More
London: Macdonald Educational, (1973). Thirty-six gouache paintings on eighteen pieces of variously-sized illustration board, the largest measuring 21 1/2 by 15 3/4 inches; the smallest, 9 by 12. These illustrations are laid out in page format, with the artwork positioned where they appear alongside the text in the published work..... More
Piggots, High Wycombe: 1938. Pencil and crayon on graph paper measuring 14 3/4 by 11 inches. Dated 21 May, 1938. Large, detailed drawing of the crucifix that adorned the central altar at Blundell's School in Tiverton. Gill's work on this project was done with an eye toward making participation in..... More
(N.p. c. 1940). Oblong small quarto. (9)ff., illustrated on rectos only. A handmade children's counting book featuring animals in parent-child relationships. Each family group increases in number as the reader pages through the book, starting with one mother and one baby turtle and ending with a mother otter and her..... More
London: Dean & Co., (c. 1960). Three 12mo rag books, + two sets of original artwork. Artwork heavily annotated and in full color. The three published books are My Train Set, Our Nursery, and My Dolls; the artwork, rendered directly on boards, applies to the latter two. The pencil notes..... More
England: (c. 1957). Folio. (44)ff. An astonishing manuscript, featuring fourteen original drawings and gouache paintings mounted on heavy gray paper. They depict a range of toys and their contexts, from the familiar teddy bear to baubles from as far afield as Javanese shadow puppets and Hopi Indian dolls. The text..... More
(N.p.): 1929. Printed card, with wood engraving by Eric Gill depicting a coy couple searching for each other among vines. Printed to advertise the marriage of Constance Fry and Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, a bibliographer and writer who wrote a bibliography of Edward Gordon Craig. Fine. (4 1/8 by 5 1/8;..... More
(c. 1935). Three octavo sheets, each one with Gill's notations in graphite and colored pencil. Two sheets list thirty-seven of Gill's sculptures, including his Westminster Stations. Next to the sculptures' names are an array of further identifying notes - personal owner (Rupert Brooke, et al.), location (Glasgow, USA), and insitutions..... More
Stamford, CT: Overbrook Press, (1936). Folio. One of twenty copies. Six color engravings illustrating Oscar Wilde's text, each signed by the artist and mounted on a 13 by 10-inch off-white mat. This suite of prints comprises the full set of the engravings that appeared in the edition of the book..... More
San Francisco, CA: Pacific Editions, 2004. Two volumes: oblong octavo and oblong 48mo. (8); (24)ff. One of 54 copies, signed by the printer/designer/artist, Charles Hobson, on the colophon page. Interleaved among the larger volume's pages of Wilbur's poem are sheets of vellum containing hand-painted patterns printed as digital pigments, and..... More
Milan: Edizioni Culturali Della Rivista, 1954. Small octavo. (46)pp. One of 650 copies. A history and manual of Japanese papermaking, with illustrations throughout featuring Japanese people at various tasks both related and unrelated to paper production. Text printed in Italian. Bound in pale paper wrappers with black illustration and title..... More
