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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(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
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
(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
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
Boston: Munroe & Francis, 1830. 64mo. 16pp. Engravings of animals throughout illustrate the narrator's opinionated and somewhat rambling accounting of their natures, including a brief interlude on the innocent deceit required to trick a monkey into taking medicine. General unobtrusive foxing, else near fine in self-wrappers. Only two copies in..... More
Philadelphia: John S. Cotton & Co., (c. 1860). 16mo. (16)pp. Every other page bears a full-page engraving, hand-colored, to detail the honorable naval escapades of the titular Fred Fearnought as he rises through the ranks and proves himself with suitable acts of derring-do. Bound in plain printed wrappers, with other..... 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
(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
Épinal: Pellerin et Cie. (c. 1870). 16mo. (24)pp, accordionfold. The book guides the reader along the busy city streets, navigating through and identifying the various sellers in alphabetical order, by way of hand-colored engravings. The alphabet, as typical for the language, omits "W;" and "X" and "Y" appear on the..... More
Paris: A. Bedelet, (1863). Oblong 16mo. (13)ff. After an engraved title page, which in twelve miniatures prefaces the inventions subsequently mentioned, and an alternate lithographed title page printed on the verso of the following sheet, each page shows two side-by-side tinted lithographs, with titles above and captions below. The twenty-two..... More
Moscow: Goznak, 1969. Oblong octavo. (40)pp. Mavrina's illustrations for this lush Cyrillic alphabet are at once delightfully couched in folklore and technically skilled in color and composition. The occasional letter receives a double-page spread, or highlight in metallic ink, and all suggest the drama and abundance of a stage production..... 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
(Paris: Chez Guérin-Muller et Ce. c. 1860). Oblong 24mo. Six panels presented accordionfold, with a seventh used as cover artwork. Each panel shows a different facet of soldierhood, all of it very debonair and civilized, from "Avant le Revue [Before Reveille]" to "La Cuisine [The Kitchen]" to "Le Carousel," in..... More
Chicago: Beckley-Cardy Company, 1950. Set of twelve black-and-white posters, each depicting a different worker at their task: bricklayer, butcher, carpenter, fireman, grocer, librarian, lineman, milkman, newsboy, nurse, policeman, and postman. At the bottom of each page is a footnote assigning colors to use in each area. Other than the librarian..... 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
Esslingen: J. F. Schreiber, 1920. An unusual unused booklet with "magic leaves," which reveal a picture when lightly passed over with a pencil. For obvious reasons, it is especially rare to find such as this with a clean interior. Oblong 32mo. (8)ff. Bound in pictorial wrappers featuring an old-fashioned horse..... More
Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, (c. 1810). 12mo. (4)pp. Contains the alphabet (excluding j and u) with illustrations and street vendors' cries, printed in six compartments per page. A very fine copy in the original olive wrappers, on which are printed upper and lower-case alphabets and two unattributed woodcuts. Mild edgewear and..... More
Philadelphia and Minneapolis: Dargonet Press (i.e. Dagonet Press), (n.d.). Large octavo. (24)pp. One of sixteen copies. Signed by Anderson after the title page, and by the designer and printer, James Engelbart, at the colophon. Anderson's nine woodcuts of chickens appear opposite nine original fables. Each of these is followed by..... More
Great Barrington, MA: Michael McCurdy, 2004. Quarto. One of eight copies. A suite of twenty-five laser prints of drawings by Michael McCurdy, each hand-colored, signed, and numbered by the artist. The drawings were originally done by McCurdy at the request of the University Press of Kansas, which commissioned the artist..... More
NY: E. M. Leavens Co., 1918. Quarto. (12)pp. Bold, colorful illustrations of the American West, including American Indians, cowboys, stage coaches, and frontier cabins, accompany explanatory text, printed in blue, red, and brown. Bound in color printed wrappers. Some bumping to corners, tiny tear at bottom of rear cover, else..... More
London: Griffith & Farran, 1876. Quarto. 21pp. Illustrations and text printed together anastatically. Kemp's elaborate calligraphy and illustrations imbue her rhymes with whimsy, making them more worthy of the category of fairy tale rather than nursery rhyme. Exceedingly rare. Bound in red cloth stamped in black and gold. Light soiling..... More
Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1939. Four quarto vols. (26); (28); (24); (26)pp. A collection of four children's titles, each robustly illustrated with vibrant color images by Ballester Peña. The titles are: 1. Historia del General San Martín. An approachable retelling of José de San Martín's heroics in the liberation of..... More
