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: Basilisk Press, 1979. Quarto. 180 pp.+(10) ff. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of twenty-five with ten original wood engravings bound-in subsequent to the text, five of which are signed by the book's illustrator, Edward Gordon Craig. For decades, Edward Gordon Craig nurtured an interest in... More about The Life & Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York
1973. Lithographic print, 22 inches tall by 16 inches wide, printed on Arches paper. One of fifty, signed by the artist. Leonard Baskin was an American artist, sculptor, and printmaker. He founded the Gehenna Press while still a student at Yale, and he taught at Smith College in Massachusetts from... More about Self portrait with green cat
(c. 1956). Watercolor and ink on paper, measuring 11 by 8 1/2 inches (28x22cm). Matted and framed. Signed by Bemelmans. This shoulder-length portrait of Bemelmans’s most enduring character is done in the later, bold style encountered in Madeline and the Bad Hat, and it shows red-headed Madeline wearing her characteristic... More about Watercolor drawing of Madeline
St. Paul: Bieler Press, 1981. Octavo. 67pp. One of 150 copies, signed by the author and the illustrator. A series of nine amusing essays on reincarnation by animals who had been persons in their past lives. Each selection is begun by a wood engraving of the animal by Michael McCurdy... More about Everything That Has Been Shall Be Again
(Athens, OH), Labyrinth Editions, 1982. Folio. (21)ff. From an edition of 130 copies, this is one of 50 with a separate portfolio of signed prints, and an additional, signed, unbound print, measuring 17 by 22 inches. Signed by the printer, Richard Bigus, and by Goldstein and Morrow. Rexroth's collection of... More about Between Two Wars. Selected Poems Written Prior to the Second World War. With an Introduction by...
(Moscow): 1904. Bright postcard, lithographed in color, showing a cemetery with a wooden structure behind it. Ivan Bilibin first trained as a lawyer, but after traveling through Europe, he became attracted to the art world. He began to draw and became highly successful as a theatrical designer. Besides work for... More about A Church and Cemetery
Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1984. Quarto. x, 49, 24 pp. + (31)ff. One of 500 copies. Contains three foldout plates, nineteen color reproductions of Japanese watercolors, and 30 illustrated facsimile pages of an eighteenth century Japanese papermaking manual. These woodcut facsimiles are printed on handmade Japanese gampi paper... More about Mr. Gladstone's Washi. A Survey of Reports on the Manufacture of Paper in Japan, "The Parkes...
(London): Jo Bird, (2009). 48mo. (22)pp., accordion-fold. A one-of-a-kind artist's book, signed by the artist, printer, and binder, Jo Bird. Folding out from right to left, the leporello is comprised of twenty-two linocuts depicting the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each calligraphic letter is printed in black ink onto swaths... More about A Hebrew Alphabet
(San Francisco: Black Stone Press, 1980). Oblong 24mo. (30)pp. One of fifty copies, signed by author Kate Pond and printer Shelley Hoyt-Koch. Each letter, printed in red, is accompanied by an illustration in black. Rhymes by Kate Pond, clever and at times unexpected, run across each page spread (e.g. "HORSE... More about ABC
Florence, Italy: Michael Angelino Press, (c. 1930s). Small quarto. 264pp. With woodcut cover illustration and five erotic, half-tone reproductions of paintings by Mahlon Blaine. This book is part of the swelling trend in the 1930s for "privately printed" erotic books, which would often be published by anonymous or pseudonymous authors... More about Amish Love. Adventures in a Puritan Cult
1986. Original ink designs for an alphabet formed from cats, signed and dated by the artist. Blegvad was a prolific children's book artist, whose atmospheric ink drawings are often compared to Gorey and Sendak. His illustrations graced more than 100 picture books, of which the best known is probably Mary... More about Cat alphabet
Parma: Bodoni, 1800. Folio. Three parts in one. 8, xxvii; 14, xliii; 11, xxxiii pp., + (35)ff. Contains thirty-five stipple-engraved plates, all but one in sepia, showing frescoes by the famed Renaissance painter Correggio at the Monastero de San Paolo in Parma. The engravings were done by Francesco Rosaspina after... More about Pitture di Antonio Allegri detto Il Correggio esistenti in Parma nel Monistero di San Paolo
(Hadley, MA): American Indian Mystery Press, 1997. Folio. (64)ff. One of 60 copies, signed by the author and the artist. Twenty-three etchings done in black, white, and shades of red, inspired by iconography of Plains peoples, specifically the Oglala Lakota. While the etchings give credence to the history of the... More about The Great Mystery
(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 about The World of Jean de Bosschère
Concord, MA: Sign of the Vine, (1903). 24mo. (20)pp. Titles and initals printed in red. The title page features a geometric design of rules and roses, reminiscent of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Mild toning to spine, else near fine in gray paper over boards with paper spine label. More about Rabbi Ben Ezra
(New York & Munich): New York Academy of Medicine & the Library of the University of Munich, 1934. Large folio. (308)pp. One of 615 copies printed at the Bremer Presse from the original wood blocks. A monumental work that reproduces the 1543 Basel edition of Vesalius’s De Humanis Corporis Fabrica... More about Icones Anatomicae
Niles, IL: Dark Harvest, 1986. Two quarto volumes. First edition. One of 52 copies signed by the author and the illustrator, Paul Sonju. A collection of short stories including the 1984 Hugo Award-winning "The Crystal Spheres." Each story features an illustration by Sonju. A very fine copy in bronze paper... More about The River of Time
(N.p. c. 1970s). Silkscreen broadside. The image shows Richard Nixon, printed in blue with his arm raised and two fingers extended in his trademark salute, under the red word "Impeachment." Nixon's form is cleverly constructed from various post office stamps, including "Void" taking the shape of his mouth, "Cancelled" standing..... More about "Impeachment"
Ditchling: St. Dominic's Press, 1923. Quarto. (ii), 75pp. One of 220 copies, printed in red and black with musical notations. Contains twelve wood engravings by Eric Gill and two by Desmond Chute. The book was printed for actual use by Dominican novices. A copy was displayed in the permanent exhibition... More about Horae Beatae Virginis Mariae, Juxta Ritum Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum
(Wakefield, Yorkshire): Fleece Press, (1986). Large quarto. (10)pp., + (19)ff. From an edition of 200 copies, this is one of twelve bound by James Brockman. Illustrated with twenty wood engravings printed on handmade paper from the original blocks that were cut by Underwood in the 1920s and ‘30s. Underwood’s Brook... More about Leon Underwood: His Wood Engravings
The Hague: J.B.W. Editions, 1935 (i.e. 1956). Small quarto. (14)pp. Although the colophon indicates a limitation of 50 copies, only 25 were actually bound and issued. This is the French version of the poem, printed for the artist in Holland before the war. Copies were available from Golden Cockerel at... More about L' Apres-Midi d'un Faune: Eclogue
San Francisco: Amber House Press, 1964. Small quarto. (42)pp. First edition of Corrington's third published book of poetry. Illustrated with drawings by Ann Parisi, printed in silver, including a stylized skeleton across the covers. With an Introduction and cover blurb by Charles Bukowski. Printed by Frank Westlake at the Bindweed... More about Mr. Clean and Other Poems
NY: Scribner's, 1886. Octavo. xi, 209pp., + (16)pp. ads. First edition, second 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 about Little Lord Fauntleroy
(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 about The Word
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 morocco. Fine. More about Fifty Drawings by Canaletto from the Royal Library Windsor Castle
