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: Greenberg Inc., (1926). Octavo. (28)ff. First edition. Each letter of the alphabet, and its accompanying emblematic imagery, is playfully illustrated in blue, magenta, yellow, and black. Most of the letters, in both image and verse, refer to a children's literary tale or rhyme; for example, G is for Gulliver's..... More
NY: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1932. Octavo. 31pp. The twenty-seven pages of text are joined by twenty-seven reproduced drawings by Vivier, who illustrates scenes from President Lincoln's life in his characteristic silhouette style. Both the images and the text evoke Lincoln the legend as much as Lincoln the man. Bound..... More
NY: Harper, (1945). First edition. Illustrated with line drawings by Garth Williams. This is White’s first book for children, which was written “in the hope of amusing a six-year-old niece.” Stuart Little was a bestseller in spite of some unenthusiastic initial reviews. White spent most of his literary career writing..... More
NY: Simon and Schuster, 1958. First edition. Inscribed by the artist, Marian Parry, at the front flyleaf. Parry's many line drawings bring whimsy to Winsor's equally fantastical, intergalactic takes on classic Mother Goose tales. For example, Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and "the radar has failed to find..... More
Yorkshire: Taylors Printers, (c. 1930). Six vibrant posters advertising pantomime shows with familiar titles: Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, Aladdin, Babes in the Wood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Mother Goose. For all except Babes in the Wood and Mother Goose, the story's protagonist, regardless of gender, has been replaced by..... More
Surrey: Circle Press, 1978. Folio. 58pp. One of 250 copies, initialed by the artist. With fourteen full-page, brilliantly colored silkscreen prints based loosely upon African masks. An extra initialed print is laid-in, this being marked III for The Squire. A fine copy in dark blue cloth boards and slipcase. More
Guildford: Circle Press, 1986. Small folio. (36)pp., french-fold. From an edition of 80 copies, this one is designated "A.P." Signed by the illustrator, Ronald King, and the poet, Roy Fisher. Illustrated in color with numerous photo-collage vignettes, seven tableaux from drawings, and twelve movable puppet designs by King. The puppets..... 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
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
1965. An original abstract painting signed and dated by the artist, Morris Cox, measuring 37 by 23 inches. Executed in acrylic on masonite in a palette of green, red, blue, and black, the image suggests a mountain range and setting sun with a crashing wave in the foreground. Framed in..... More
Gogmagog Press. 18 by 23 inches. Acrylic on Masonite, with oil glaze and wax varnish. Predominately in yellows and blues, showing a woman's face and her hand holding a posy of sunflowers. The outlines are incised, and the centers of the flowers are built up in relief. Framed to 20..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, (1977). Octavo. (30)pp., frenchfold. One of 90 copies printed on handmade mingei paper, and signed by the author/artist. Illustrated with four dramatic two-page colored intaglio prints by Cox, showing Victorian death scenes, two of them somewhat surrealist in influence. Cox's poems offer a modern twist on sentimental..... 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
(Weimar): Cranach Press, 1931. Tall octavo. 31, (1)pp. From an edition of 268 copies, this is one of 200 copies on handmade Maillol-Kessler paper. Printed in red and black and illustrated throughout with wood engravings and decorated initials by Eric Gill. This ancient dialogue between the Bride and Groom is..... More
(Weimar): Cranach Press, 1931. Tall octavo. 32, (2)pp. From the French edition of 164 copies, this is one of 50 on Japon. Printed in blue and black, and illustrated throughout with eleven wood engravings and decorative initials by Eric Gill. This ancient dialogue between the Bride and Groom is one..... 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
(Havana): 1893. Broadside dinner menu printed on yellow silk with hand-embroidery at head. Mounted at top to larger, folded piece of red silk, hand-embroidered with "Mr. R. A. C. Smith." The menu begins with a statement announcing the dinner's honoree: "The Phoenix Tourists, / - to - / Mr. R...... More
Chelsea: (Southernwood Press, c. 1915). Small quarto. (23)ff. One of thirty copies printed on handmade paper. Illustrated throughout by Josephine Winser. The drawings illustrate popular nursery rhymes, including Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Jack & Jill, and Sing a Song of Sixpence. Children take center stage in these depictions..... More
London: Soncino Press, 1930. Small quarto. xl, (3), 209pp. One of nine copies printed on Roman Vellum, signed by the editor, Cecil Roth, and the illustrator, Albert Rutherston. With fourteen full-page stencilled illustrations, plus seventy small ornaments, all in color. Rutherston's bright depictions of the Passover story, including illustrations of..... More
Sherman Oaks, CA: Joseph J. D'Ambrosio, 1982. Octavo. (21)ff. One of fifty copies. Signed by D'Ambrosio at the title page, as well as below each of the four original serigraphs that comprise the book's central section, "Ladies of the Garden." Illustrated throughout with images of flora as backdrops to the..... 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
Coaraze: Les Editions Coaraze, 1955. 16mo. 30, (2)pp., + 3 inserted plates. From an edition of twenty-four copies, this is one of twelve printed on Alfa Ivoire paper and labelled for a month of the year rather than the more common numeral. Signed by Arman on the colophon. Arman's contributed..... More
Maple Shade, NJ: Pickering Press, 1985. Octavo. (28)pp., frenchfold. One of 100 copies printed in black and brown. "A warm, witty, wry collection of observations by famous (& infamous) writers who 'draw the line in such a way as to define themselves.'" (Prospectus). This charming little book is printed in..... More
