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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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
(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, 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
(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
(N.p.): Cheloniidae Press, 1991. Quarto. (89)pp. One of 210 copies, inscribed by Harold McGrath. Signed sheet with autographs of contributors laid in. 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..... 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
NY: 6x9 Press, 1957. Oblong octavo. 12ff., frenchfold. Limitation not noted, but one of 80 copies. Illustrated with nine hand-colored linocuts by Seymour Chwast. With an Introduction by Chwast's cousin Dachine Rainer, the anarchist writer whose novella, A Room at the Inn, would be published the following year. An early..... 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: Knopf, 1946. First edition. One of 100 copies printed especially for the author, with an original drawing completed and signed by Covarrubias ahead of the title page. Edition replete with photoreproductions and other illustrations of life on the isthmus, as well as a fold-out map. Bound in pink cloth-covered..... 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
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. 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
(Chicago): The Compulsive Printer, 1977. Octavo. (30)ff. From an edition of 75 copies signed by the artist, Joseph D'Ambrosio, and the printer, Elmore Mundell, this is one of twenty-five with an extra signed serigraph and deluxe binding. The text is James Joyce's take on Aesop's "The Fox and the Grapes."..... More
Seattle: Grey Spider Press, 1992. Oblong octavo. (26)ff. One of 75 copies, signed by the artist, Michael Dal Cerro. An illustrated alphabet, with woodcuts by Dal Cerro. The words and images chosen are nature-themed and carry a strong environmentalist message. Printed and bound by Chris Stern in green cloth, with..... More
(Albany: Print Club of Albany), 1989. Broadside measuring 15 by 19 inches. One of 100 copies, signed by the artist. The Print Club of Albany's Annual Print for 1988-1989, it's 55th Presentation Print. This lithograph is the last of a series of prints by Dallman that explores industrial and residential..... More
Venezia: Antonio Zatta, 1757-1758. Four quarto volumes: L’Inferno, Il Purgatorio, Il Paradiso, Prose & Rime Liriche. (16), xlviii, ccccviii; ccccxiii, (3); cccclii, (4), 104; xii, 408, (4), 264, lxxxiv, (2)pp. Illustrated throughout with 114 engraved plates, by F. Giampiccoli, J. Magnini, F. Rizzi, and B. Crivelli, after works by Italian..... More
