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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San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1959-1965. Folio. Four volumes: "Figure Prints of Old Japan." 1959. (110)ff., + 52 plates. One of 400 copies. "Landscape Prints of Old Japan." 1960. (110)ff., + 50 plates. One of 450 copies. "Ukiyo-e: The Floating World." 1962. (92)ff., + 28 plates. One of 400... More
A collection of sixteen vibrant watercolor designs by Vernon Grant for an apparently unpublished children's book called "The Two Elves." Grant was one of the most popular illustrators of the mid-20th century, and his distinctive whimsical style influenced many of his contemporaries, including Walt Disney. Grant is perhaps best known... More
(San Francisco: Richard A. Gleeson Library, 1970). Large quarto. French-folded single sheet. Sketch of the poet Robert Graves to the front cover. On the interior, the printed text faces a facsimile of the original, handwritten poem. Printed by Lawton and Alfred Kennedy and presented to the joint meeting of hte... More
(Berkeley): Rasmussen Press, 1974. 81pp. One of 200 copies, this one being an unnumbered gift edition inscribed "To Doris- In memory of K.G." Illustrated with five sets of verses and drawings compiled by Lucile Rasmussen from those published in the Ladies' Home Journal, which were never published in book form... More
London: Medici Society, (1970). Small folio. (266) pp. One of 1050 copies signed by Francis Russell Flint, the artist's son. This richly illustrated work covers the varied career of this Scots artist, perhaps best known for his work with the Riccardi Press. It was published on what would have been... More
North Wales: Gregynog Press, 1991. Folio. 72pp. One of 450 copies. Contains a frontispiece portrait of the author and seven more large wood engravings in color by Gaylord Schanilec. Cut with exquisite precision, and printed in deep, strong colors, this suite of realistic illustrations suits the powerful sequence of Civil... More
Paris: Moreau, (1983). Oblong 12mo. (26) pp. Illustrated by Baltazar. From an edition of 220 copies, this is one of forty signed by the author and by the illustrator, and handcolored. Reproduced entirely by serigraphy, the text is from the author's own manuscript. The abstract black and white illustrations have... More
(Lexington, KY: Anvil Press, 1979). Quarto. (12)pp., (37)ff. One of 50 copies printed in American Uncial on Canson paper. A compilation of 36 plates printed from blocks cut or engraved by Victor Hammer. Several plates are hand-colored and all are tipped-in. Book compiled and designed by Carolyn R. Hammer and... More
London: Rainbow Press, 1975. First edition. One of 150 copies signed by the author. With full page two-color illustrations by Barrie Cooke. Handsomely printed early limited edition prints eight poems thematically related to Heaney's poetic pursuit of the archaeology of Ireland's violent past. These poems were published a month ahead... More
Dublin: Hieroglyph Editions Ltd, 1991. First edition. From an edition of 100 copies, this is one of 60 that were offered for sale. Illustrated with four lithographs by Felim Egan, who designed the book. Signed by Heaney and Egan. This is the first separate appearance of twelve poems from the... More
Dublin: Andrew Carpenter, 1979. First edition. From an edition of 125, this is one of 30 copies issued in black morocco and offered for sale. Illustrated with two lithographs by Louis Le Brocquy. Signed by Heaney, Le Brocquy, Liam Miller the designer, and the publisher, Andrew Carpenter. The book was... More
(Vancouver): Heavenly Monkey, 2007. Quarto. (5)ff. One of fifty copies signed by the contemporary Canadian artist Charles van Sandwyk. With six tipped-in plates, five of which are from the artist's earliest etchings, and one etching executed for this work. A brief essay about etching by van Sandwyk accompanies the artwork... More
Wellesley, MA: (Wellesley College, 2009). Poster commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Margaret Clapp Library at Wellesley College. The poster was commissioned for the library after Special Collections Librarian Ruth Rogers met Lance Hidy at a Boston meeting of the Society of Printers. The image, rendered in lineless areas of... More
(Boston: Godine Press, c. 1970). Framed etching measuring 11 by 8 inches. One of an unknown number of copies; the edition was probably no greater than 200. An image of an early flying machine crashed and abandoned in a field of clover, printed in green with a caption printed in... More
(Paris: Perrigot-Masure, c. 1922). Framed sheet of handmade paper with a chiaroscuro watermark portrait of Dard Hunter as a young man, based on a photograph by Clara Ragna Johnson. To the left, his name is lettered in the style characteristic of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Sheets of this handmade... More
(Vienna): Jugend & Volk Wien Verlag, (1969). Oblong quarto. 210pp. One of 99 copies, signed and numbered by the artist, Wolfgang Hutter. Bound-in are three original lithographs, also signed and numbered by Hutter. An essay on the style of the Austrian neosurrealist artist, followed by a catalog of his works... More
London: Ward, Marcus & Co., (c. 1880). (8)pp., accordionfold. A New Year's card consisting of a four-panel panorama brilliantly printed in bright colors with gold backgrounds. The card allegorically depicts the year in the stages of its "life": as a child, dreaming of pudding and music-filled fun; a young man... More
(Germany: c. 1856). Charming keepsake box, holding 14 items: three handwritten notes dated 1856 and 1858, eight additional blank sheets of note paper, a colorful floral print, a religious print of an angel guiding a child by the hand, and an image on paper over cardboard of a woman with... More
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
Paris: Meynial, 1923. Small quarto. 12pp., + (12)ff. colored plates. One of 600 copies. Art Deco legend George Barbier contributed fashion plates to several albums and almanacs starting in 1912 before finally, in 1922, starting his own publication titled Falbalas et Fanfreluches. Each annual issue included an almanac for the... More
Bruxelles: Ets. Guy Onkelinx, 1924. Small quarto. (40)pp. Illustrated with ten color plates of Art Deco jewelry design and six allegorical color plates, a full-page black & white unattributed image, and a small vignette by American artist Lawrence Sterne Stevens. The jewelry designs by Devos, an important Belgian jeweler, are... More
Ipswich, UK: Cowell's Anastatic Press, (c. 1850s-1860s). Quarto. (8)ff., final leaf blank. Lithographed throughout, and hand-colored in red, green, and blue, heightened with gold. Photographic reproduction of a madonna and child pasted to the title page as part of the decorative border. Each page shows a Christmas verse surrounded by... More
Japan: (1918). 64mo. Eleven original sumi-e and watercolor paintings in an accordion-fold book. The paintings are dated Taisho 7, that is, the seventh year of the Taisho period, or 1918. The paintings depict various landscapes, flora, and fauna, and have been created by the artists Sekitai Nagasaka, Seisen Oka, Hiyakunen... More
Offenbach am Main: Gebr. Klingspor, 1930. Oblong 32mo. 24pp., frenchfold. Illustrated with elegant silhouettes of men and women dressed in the height of fashion, each framed by a colorful border. Facing each silhouette or pair of silhouettes is a passage of German verse. This particular copy is specially bound as... More
Paris: Libraire Henri LeClerc, 1907-1914. Six volumes (Première Partie Tomes I-III, Seconde Partie Tomes I-II, Troisième Partie). Variously paginated. First edition. One of 300 copies. Extensively illustrated with reproductions of 2,000 woodcuts. A monumental and exhaustive bibliography on the illustrated book in Venice from 1450-1525. Essling provides lengthy and thorough... More
