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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NY: Scribner's, 1886. Octavo. xi, 209pp., + (16)pp. ads. First edition, first printing. Includes twenty-six illustrations by Reginald B. Birch, twelve of which are full-page. Some rubbing to corners and spine, otherwise a near fine copy of this important children's classic. (PPP 80, BAL 2064). More
Canton, NY: Caliban Press, 1995. 16mo. (vi)pp., + (17)ff. One of 90 copies. Signed by Eckmair at the colophon. A collection of sixteen of Eckmair's woodcut illustrations, all evincing his keen ability to capture the nuances of light and dark. With a Foreword by Fred Norton and an Introduction by..... More
Canton, NY: Caliban Press, 2007. Square 24mo. (8)pp., accordionfold. One of 200 copies. The jumblies in their famous seive, with holes in the appropriate places, on a colored etching, which is printed on a movable piece of paper affixed to the fifth panel. With red paper covered and housed in..... More
Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 2009. Two volumes: one folio, one oblong quarto. (vi), 141; 231pp. A brightly printed history of Alunno, with frontispiece and examples in the first volume, the second being a facsimile of his Cartoni. Both bound in blue cloth with blind stamping to upper cover and..... More
Henley-on-Thames, UK: 1957. Small octavo. (i), (9)pp. Calligraphic manuscript on paper written in green and black ink with first line and small text initials in gold. Text opens with a large illuminated initial "O" with the watercolor figure of an owl; the text closes with another watercolor owl, this one..... More
(San Francisco: 2010). Quarto. 10ff. Original calligraphic manuscript by Ingmire of the text from a section of Paz’s poem “Blanco.” This poem, which was published in 1967, has been linked to Paz’s time in India, and it can be read as a figurative exploration of Indian religious philosophy. “The spirit..... More
(San Francisco): 2017. Folio. (9)ff. Ingmire's artistry—his illumination, his calligraphy, his illustrative brushstrokes—here grasps the tactility of poetry alluded to in Robert Sheppard's lines. To Ingmire, "how to scan camouflage orchestrations" is to respond impulsively and boldly; his colors and lines are blissfully unrestrained, and his calligraphy embraces the joy..... More
London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. Elephant folio. xvi, 44pp., + 50 facsimile drawings. One of 500 copies. A keen catalogue and academic exposition on Canaletto's corpus, cleverly blending biography and art criticism. Booklet bound in full brown cloth, gilt stamped. With portfolio housed in brown Solander box backed in brown..... More
Zuilichem, The Netherlands: Catharijne Press, 1990. (30)ff. One of 150 copies. The activities of each month, illustrated with twelve full-page hand-colored plates. On the reverse of each illustration is a rhyming couplet pertinent to the month of year. Very fine in hand-colored vellum over boards. (1 7/8 by 2 1/2;..... More
NY: Knopf, 1933. Octavo. (12)pp. First edition thus. Signed by von Schmidt at the colophon. von Schmidt executed twelve ink drawings for the publication, each bridging his own iconic visions of the American West with the pre-Raphaelite style the book's mise-en-page presents. Printed in black and orange. Bound in tan..... More
(Portland, OR: Chamberlain Press, 1980-85). Small octavo. (112)ff. A collection of 105 engravings, all signed and numbered in pencil by Sarah Chamberlain. These hail from her major publications printed in the early 1980s via the Chamberlain Press: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1979), A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go (1981)..... More
(Easthampton, MA): Chamberlain Press, 1978. Octavo. (6)ff., frenchfold. One of 100 copies, signed by the artist. Designed, printed, and illustrated by Chamberlain. Lear's poem tells of an old man "who invented a purely original dress"; it was edible. Printed in two colors on beige Japanese paper and illustrated with two..... More
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1980. 24mo. (10)ff. One of 150 copies, signed by Chamberlain. Illustrated with eleven wood engravings depicting rowdy rats and the hapless inhabitants of Hamlin. Printed on Hosho paper and bound in marbled paper boards with leather spine label. Fine. More
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1982. Small octavo. (20)ff. One of 125 copies, signed by the artist, Sarah Chamberlain. Contains eleven whimsical poems by Hilaire Belloc, illustrated with seventeen wood engravings cut and hand-colored by Chamberlain. Bound by Barbara Blumenthal in patterned boards, with a morocco spine stamped in black. Fine..... More
1977. A delightful 15 by 11-inch painting of a large gnarled tree, its branches forming a leafy canopy over a portion of meadow grown thick with green grasses and pink thistle. The tree is painted with a wooden sign nailed crookedly to its trunk, bearing the artist's signature and date..... More
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1983. Octavo. (16)pp. From an edition of 125 copies, this is one of twenty-five deluxe copies signed by Chamberlain and with an extra signed print. This well-loved tale is designed, printed, and illustrated with ten delightful wood engravings by Chamberlain. The book is bound by Barbara..... 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
NY: Kiggins & Kellogg, (c. 1850). 8pp. A charming alphabet chapbook with a couplet for each letter, and each page illustrated with a single woodcut. Near fine in orange printed wrappers, mildly creased. More
London: Orlando Hodgson, (c. 1840). 16mo. 6ff., + wrappers. Each leaf presents the reader with a half-page illustration of activities suitable for the time of day described in the verse below them. The images are hand-colored in a variety of shades, giving them uncommon depth. The book weaves counting from..... More
London: John Harris, (c. 1826). 24mo. 16ff. On each page is a hand-colored woodcut showing punctuation in use, sometimes anthropomorphized, sometimes objectified, sometimes demonstrated. In one image, for example, a dash, a circumflex, a breve, a diaeresis, a hyphen, accents acute and grave, and a pair of parentheses form an..... More
(N.p.): Cheloniidae Press, 1991. Quarto. (89)pp. One of 210 copies, signed by both Robinson and McGrath at the colophon. Illustrated throughout with head- and tail-pieces by Robinson, as well as an example of calligraphy by Suzanne Moore and one by Elizabeth Curtis. A celebration of McGrath upon the fiftieth anniversary..... More
(Solihull, UK: Cherub Press, 1996). (10)pp., + 6 samples of Japanese papers. One of 95 copies. The paper specimens exemplify some of the major styles of Japanese papers, including Chiyogami, Suminagashi, lace-paper, and Kimburi Tairei paper. Butcher's text is a concise and accessible outline of the various methods employed in..... More
Shirley, Solihull: Cherub Press, 1986. 48mo. (14)pp. From an edition of 160 copies, this is one of 85 sewn into Strathmore covers with Roselle marbled endpapers. With two full page engravings by Renton capturing the romance of Keat's poem. Fine. More
New York: Minard W. Wilson, c. 1850. Octavo. 24pp. Illustrated throughout with woodcuts and wood engravings of various sizes, and likely from a variety of sources. The final engraving—a portrait of John Wesley—is signed "Jocelyn NY." According to OCLC, this primer was issued under at least three New York imprints..... 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
