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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Banbury: J. G. Rusher, (c. 1810). 64mo. 16pp. Illustrated throughout with engravings depicting the stages of Tom Thumb's journey, including falling into the king's lunch, riding a butterfly, and battling a spider. Below each are two or three stanzas of verse describing, often humorously, the events. Bound in plain wrappers..... More
(Derby: Richardson, n.d. (c. 1835). 48mo. (12) pp. (wrappers included in pagination). Title-page vignette and six small woodcut illustrations. Rare provincially-published abridgement of the Dick Whittington tale, known only in one institutional copy. Front wrappers toned, otherwise near fine. More
Alnwick: W. Davison, (c. 1815). 24mo. 36pp. With thirty-four wood engravings, each of a different reptile or insect. Descriptions of sea turtles, vipers, locusts, and bees detail each animal's habits and habitats, as well as their distinct physical characteristics. Bound in plain printed wrappers, toned as expected with minor bumping..... More
Boston: Taggard & Thompson, 1858. 16mo. 31pp. Nine full-page color engravings, illustrating key scene's in the titular fox's antics in his journey to find food for his family. He finds a farm, confounds the animals, and captures a goose, only to again resort to his cunning ways to escape the..... More
York: J. Kendrew, (c. 1820). 48mo. 30pp. Playful woodcuts decorate each page, depicting bizarre scenes, such as the devil hugging a witch, a tailor riding a goose, and a monkey shaving a goat. Each is accompanied by rhyming verses lending whimsical comentary. Bound in orange wrappers, pleasantly crisp with scant..... More
York: J. Kendrew, (c. 1820). 48mo. 31pp. Woodcut frontispiece depicting Crusoe, as well as several throughout portraying scenes of Crusoe's hunts, his interactions with Friday, and his ultimate rescue. An abridged version of Daniel Defoe's seminal work. Faint toning throughout, minimal edgwear, else fine in orange printed wrappers. More
(Northampton, MA): Cheloniidae Press, 1986. 12mo. (34)pp., accordion-fold. From an edition of 200 copies, this is a unique artist's copy, hand-colored and signed by Suzanne Moore. Calligraphic letters, designed by Moore, are blind-stamped one to a page of this lovely fold-out panorama. To this copy, Moore has added the text..... More
(Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1985). Small oblong quarto. (19)ff., frenchfold. From an edition of 175 copies signed by Alan James Robinson, this is one of fifty deluxe copies, bound by Claudia Cohen in quarter red morocco and boards, with an extra suite of the prints signed by the artist. This..... More
(Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1980). Folio. (13)ff. One of 125 copies signed by the artist. The haunted tone of Poe's poetry is echoed in the five full-page etchings of The Raven by Alan James Robinson, who has titled and signed each one in pencil. This is Robinson's first interpretation of..... More
(Easthampton, MA): Cheloniidae Press, 1986. Oblong 16mo. (19)ff. From an edition of 225, this is one of twenty-five copies bound in full leather and joined by a suite of prints. Volume and suite signed by the artist. Robinson's drawing of Poe acts as frontispiece while his striking wood engravings and..... More
(Indianapolis): Bobbs Merrill, (1911). Small quarto. First edition. Illustrated with reproductions of drawings by Howard Chandler Christy, an American illustrator best known for his patriotic portraits of military men and romantic depictions of society women. The illustrations accompany a story in verse by the American poet James Whitcomb Riley. The..... More
(Denmark: c. 1947-1960). All 16mo. 8-12pp. each. A collection of forty-seven promotional booklets for films based on books. Produced exclusively in Denmark and printed in Danish, these booklets were for sale outside movie theaters—the booklet for "Baby Doll" even has a ticket stub laid in, and the one for "On..... More
Paris: La Bibliotheque de Arts, 1968. Quarto. 130pp. Of an edition of 600 copies, this is one of 40 with two original engravings numbered signed by Ciry. In this copy, one engraving is of Salome, completed in 1949, and the other is of Saint Sebastian, completed in 1950. The catalog..... More
Florence: Felice Paggi, 1883. Small octavo. 236pp., + iipp. of advertisements. First edition. The enduring children’s classic about a mischievous marionette whose nose grows every time he tells a lie, in the original Italian and wonderfully illustrated with a full-page frontispiece of the titular character, as well as sixty-one additional..... More
(England: c. 1825-1835). (4)pp., + 8ff. Original manuscript set of costume overlays depicting the evolution of a "Youth just ceased to grow" into a "Dandy quite complete." The Youth's ambition is to be a "Beau," and in each successive overlay, he puts on more of the trappings of dandyism until..... More
Zurich: J. H. Locher, (c. 1848). 48mo. (21)ff. accordion-fold. A panorama of color illustrations for each of the twenty-two Swiss cantons. Each image depicts Swiss citizens in traditional garb and at work or leisure characteristic to their canton; two cantons, Valais and Tessin, share an illustration. Date derived from the..... More
(France / China: c. 1900). Octavo. (22)pp. Album of Chinese landscapes in original watercolors, facing depictions of women's antique costumes painted on silk, interleaved with tissue. "Chinoiserie" refers to European art characterized by imagery of a romanticized China, a notion that similarly underpins the genre of costume books, which presented..... More
NY: Century Co., (c. 1933). Octavo. (x), 246pp. Copiously illustrated by Palmer Cox. This was the first adventure of the Brownies written in prose, and it is advertised as having "a detailed, connected story, with a beginning, a middle and an end." A later issue, with the text, binding, and..... More
NY: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1972. Folio. 202, (5)pp. Publisher's facsimile of the famed edition of Hamlet issued by the Cranach Press in 1929. With reprints of Edward Johnston's typography, Edward Gordon Craig's 74 woodcuts, and Eric Gill's contributions of two initials, the title over the first woodcut, and spine titling..... More
(Thetford, VT): Cricket Press, 1965. Quarto. (12)ff. One of twenty-two copies. Subtitled "The First Miracle, John 2," the book tells the story of the Wedding at Cana. The text is printed in red, and faces the tipped-in illustrations. Heavily influenced by Leonard Baskin's early work, there are nine exquisitely fine..... More
Boston: Impressions Workshop Inc./Cricket Press, 1965. Square quarto. (16)ff. One of 150 copies, signed on the colophon page by the poet, Bernard Bockes, and the illustrator, George Lockwood. Illustrated with fifteen fanciful woodcuts by Lockwood depicting insects, bats, dragons, and mythical beasts. Some are monochromatic prints, but others incorporate many..... More
London: Bentley, 1840, 1842, 1847. Three octavo volumes. viii, 338; ix, 288; viii, 364 pp. First edition. Illustrated with engravings by George Cruikshank and John Leech. Aside from very light splitting to extremities of outer hinges, this is a nearly fine, handsome set bound by Riviere in full polished tan..... More
Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, (1890). Small quarto. (14)pp., including paste-down endpapers. A stencil-colored cut-figure book, with each page cut into three sections so that one can make numerous combinations of the head, body, and legs of "Mon Oncle Gaspard." The Gaspards range in profession and character, from a...... More
(N.p.): Cygnet Press, 1928. 24mo. (33)pp. Text and woodcuts after the fashion of the early modern account of the life of the titular saint. First state, evidenced by the error to "lo impotente" on page twelve. The first book of the Press. Bound in black cloth with gray-green paper over..... More
(N.p.): Cygnet Press, 1928. Two 24mo. volumes. (33)pp. Text and woodcuts after the fashion of the early modern account of the life of the titular saint. Two copies of the book, representing the two states of the book. First state is evidenced by the error to "lo impotente" on page..... More
