At Bromer Booksellers, we focus on the visual book, with fine images that both enhance narrative and stand alone as independent creations. Among our holdings in this area are costume books, emblem books, examples from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, the fantasy illustrators in the tradition of Arthur Rackham, and modern books with original graphics. We look for the successful fusion of picture with text from any century, any country, and across a variety of artistic movements and media. We are especially fascinated with books of other cultures, and you will occasionally find items such as Japanese illustrated woodblock books and Eskimo tales without words ...
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London: Ward, Marcus & Co., (c. 1880). (8)pp., accordion-fold. A New Year's card consisting of a four-panel panorama brilliantly printed in bright colors with gold backgrounds. The card allegorically depicts the year in the stages of its "life": as a child, dreaming of pudding and music-filled fun; a young man..... More
Bruxelles: Ets. Guy Onkelinx, 1924. Small quarto. (40)pp. Illustrated with ten color plates of Art Deco jewelry design and six allegorical color plates, a full-page black & white unattributed image, and a small vignette by American artist Lawrence Sterne Stevens. The jewelry designs by Devos, an important Belgian jeweler, are..... More
Offenbach am Main: Klingspor, 1930. Oblong 32mo. 24pp., frenchfold. Illustrated with elegant silhouettes of men and women dressed in the height of fashion, each framed by a colorful border. Facing each silhouette or pair of silhouettes is a passage of German verse. This particular copy is specially bound as a...... More
London & Philadelphia: Heinemann/Lippincott, (1920). Quarto. 110pp. One of 625 copies, signed by the artist. This copy bears an original pen-and-ink drawing by Rackham below the limitation statement, also signed. The drawing depicts the king and queen with their infant daughter. Illustrated with one tipped-in color plate and numerous silhouettes..... More
(London): Fortune Press, (1922). One of 100 deluxe copies with a limited, signed color etching. Warmly inscribed by Jean de Bosschère, "with greetings of spiritual brotherhood." With a color frontispiece, twenty-one full-page plates printed in black & white and sanguine, and numerous black & white illustrations throughout. The volume opens..... More
East Barnard, VT: Hand and Spoon, 1971. Oblong 48mo. (9)ff. One of twelve copies. Inscribed by the artist at the front flyleaf, "for Georgia with love/from Diane". Meaker's four glossy prints pair color spectrums and repeated images of stars, flowers, and menorah-like trees with the lines of Sandburg's hopeful poem..... More
(NY: 1958). 16mo. 20ff. First edition, limited to 60 copies signed by the artist. This copy bears a presentation inscription on the colophon page to Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda Bryson Shahn. Illustrated with eighteen compact etchings of babies sleeping, crying, smiling, or being held by their mothers, which..... More
(San Francisco): 2010. Manuscript on paper. Small quarto. 12ff. In the colophon for this work, Ingmire notes that this work grew from an earlier collaboration involving his calligraphic interpretation of Lorca's poetry and original art by Manuel Neri. Where that earlier project treated what Ingmire calls Lorca's "more despairing poetry,"..... More
(Otley, Yorkshire: J. S. Publishing & Stationery Co., Ltd., c. 1850). Sixteen 16mo. issues, each 8pp., comprising a complete series, as indicated on the back covers of each issue. All the chapbooks are illustrated with woodcuts on every page, and approximately half of the illustrations in each are hand-colored. The..... More
(c. 2009). Quarto. Eight-panel, life-sized self-portrait of fiber artist Sheryl Jaffe. Numbered "1/1" and signed by Jaffe to the interior of the box. In this "sculptural artist book," Jaffe is drawn lying on her back, nude, against a background of earthy greens, sunny yellows, and liquid blues. Climbing over the..... More
Newark, VT: Janus Press, 2011. Twenty-four 16mo. chapbooks, housed in quarto trifold portfolio. Each chapbook (8)ff. One of 120 copies, signed by Peter Schumann, whose charcoal-and-ink drawings illustrate the interiors and whose crayon drawings grace the covers. Here, Schumann explores the format of Latin American cordells, chapbooks traditionally sold by..... More
(N.p. Janus Press, 1955; 1980. Small octavo. (vi), 45, (2)pp. Inscribed twice by the author. The first book of the Janus Press, with a frontispiece woodcut and two additional cuts by Claire Van Vliet, whose imagery adopts a classical motif to echo the highbrow sentiments of Theobald's verses. A promising..... More
(Japan: Sûzan Shobô, 1816). Small quarto. (19)ff. A Japanese book of color woodblock prints by Kameda Bôsai (1754-1826), one of the leading painters of the Nanga or Bunjinga (literati) schools of painting. The seventeen full-page illustrations, five of which extend across the page spread, are landscapes depicting mountainous terrain, comprised..... More
Sydney, Australia: Beacon Press, 1948. Folio. 53pp. One of forty deluxe copies, signed by the author. A lovely production, illustrated with thirty-six color plates. The plates are genuine prints: beautifully made modern reproductions of the originals, done in Japan. The text traces the rise and fall of the Ukiyo-ye school..... More
Kyoto: Geisodo Yamada Naosaburo, 1911. Small folio. Folding album consisting of twelve ink wash and color prints on thirteen sheets, each bearing Seiho's chop mark. One of the key figures of modern Japanese painting, Seiho (1864 - 1942) absorbed elements of European-style painting -- Impressionism, in particular -- and successfully..... More
(London): Sotheby's Publications, (1987). Quarto. 2 volumes. 1-608; 609-1131pp., numbered continuously. Illustrated with 225 color plates and numerous black & white illustrations throughout. This detailed reference work also contains a glossary and indexes of works and authors. Hillier was the leading authority in Europe on the Japanese woodblock print, working..... More
London: Clover Hill Editions, 1979. Quarto. 19pp. One of 100 copies, printed on Barcham Green’s RWS handmade paper by Will Carter at the Rampant Lions Press, with an extra set of the engravings on japon. Illustrated with thirteen wood engravings by David Jones, several of which frame the text. Jones..... More
(Wales): 1980. Print measuring 20 by 17 inches. One of 50 copies. A delicate eight-pointed star radiates light, in shades of blue and tan. Signed by the artist. A renowned Welsh book artist, Jones has dedicated herself to the art of printing both words and images. With a blue mat..... More
(Wales): 1980. Print measuring 20 by 17 inches. One of 50 copies. A luminous print in green and violet of a hyacinth, signed by the artist. The flower blooms against layers of overlapping leaves, which lighten into transparency as they extend upwards. A renowned Welsh book artist, Jones has dedicated..... More
(Wales): 1980. Print measuring 20 by 17 inches. One of 50 copies. A bold color aquatint in brown, yellow, and tan, signed by the artist. This slightly abstracted sunflower is subtly shaded and textured. The flower's head is cradled within two outstretched leaves. A renowned Welsh book artist, Jones has..... More
Dordrecht: A. Blusse & Zoon, (c. 1794). 24mo. 24pp., + 8 plates. The engraved plates depict the marvels of a fair and the street performances therein, including dancing, singing, and a magician, all hand-colored. Particular highlights include a hurdy-gurdy man and a magic lantern show featuring a naval battle. The..... More
London: A. Park, c. 1840. Quarto. 6ff. First and last page pasted to inside covers. Illustrated with sixteen handcolored lithographed engravings, presumably by the publisher, Arthur Park, an engraver, lithographer, and artist who produced figures and scenes for juvenile toy theaters. He emigrated to America in 1842. The text covers..... More
London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1867. Small quarto. (36)pp. Illustrated with thirty-two chromolithographs, each with verse or prose captions. The book is divided into four subjects: Sunny Days, Home for the Holidays, Right and Wrong, and Picture Rhymes of Happy Times. Most of the scenes take place on farms and..... More
London: McMorquodale & Co., (c. 1934). Small quarto. (20)pp. Illustrated with twenty-two full-page plates in vibrant colors, with text running underneath. The tale told here is an adaptation of the famous, and famously controversial, "Ten Little Niggers" story, but here the boys of the original become anthropomorphic balloons of various..... More
Paris: Louis Janet, (c. 1820). Sixteen volumes bound in four. 32pp. each. Sixteen hand-colored engravings, each as an introduction to the succeeding text. The illustrations hail the creatures with appropriate familiarity or exoticism, showing the turkey with the cockatoo, the hyena with the kangaroo, and the dog with the boar..... More
