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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California: Ettan Press, 1978. Octavo. 17pp. One of 90 copies. Six color engravings by von Mengershausen, all numbered and signed with the artist's monogram. These illustrations, with earthy colors washed over classical imagery - a bas-relief, an amphitheater, statuary, and geological outcroppings - emphasize Holderlin's belief in the connection between..... More
(Oakland: Eucalyptus Press, 1989). Folio. (6)ff. One of seventeen copies. Illustrated throughout with linoleum block prints altered so that the images in each book are slightly different. One two-page spread depicts the foolish villagers peeking over the edge of the soup pot with surprised expressions on their faces. Printed, illustrated..... More
(Santa Cruz, CA): Lime Kiln Press, 1981. Folio. 37pp. One of 115 copies printed, illustrated, and signed by William Everson. This book was Everson's final offering as Master Printer of the Lime Kiln Press. Illustrated with two woodcuts, and printed in black with red and blue initials on paper specially..... More
Hamburg: Frederic Perthes, (c. 1833). Octavo. vi, (104), 32pp. French translation of German fables by Wilhelm Hey, printed on rectos only and accompanied by charming wood engravings by Otto Speckter. According to Hobbs, these fables “were originally devised not for publication but to cheer up [the author’s] children, sick with..... More
(Moscow: 1929). Six pen-and-ink drawings colored with watercolor, with an expressionistic look, each measuring 7 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches. These delicate, stylized illustrations are tinted with shades of orange, purple, and green. The first drawing has the title and illustrator’s name, Ausbrey, below it in Russian. The images recount..... More
(N.P. Interprint, late 20th century). Quarto. 23pp. One of 300 copies designed by Sarah Janson. This book is dedicated to Nina Vaughan, who died in 1970 at the age of 25, shortly after completing the image around which the story is based. The fantastical picture and the accompanying story, "represents..... More
(Vatican City): Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1965. Folio. (296)ff. One of 1990 copies, printed to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante's birth. A full-color facsimile edition of the Vatican's much-illuminated and illustrated manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy (Codice Urbinate Latino 365). This edition is number XXIX from the series Codices E...... More
Milan: Ing. C. Olivetti & C., 1978. Quarto. lxx, (36), 109, (5)pp. One of 250 copies. From the series "Documenti sulle arti de libro", of which this is number twelve. A studious discussion of manuscripts, with Bussi's introduction in Italian followed by facsimile manuscript pages and transliterations in Latin. Bound..... More
Zurich: Quaterino Verlag Luzern, 2013. Small quarto. 286pp. With facsimile illustrations of the manuscript, which is Zentralbibliothek Zurich, Ms. Rh. 167, along with close-up shots and other diagrams relevant to the particular essays on the manuscripts various features and history. Bound in full burgundy cloth with gilt stamping, along with..... More
Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1971. Oblong quarto. 154, (7)pp. One of 1500 copies. A thorough academic and artistic discussion of the Genji Scroll, which is generally considered the Eastern equivalent in historical significance and exemplary craftsmanship to the Bayeux Tapestry. The production of the book reflects, as much as it..... More
NY: Smith & Haas, 1933. Octavo. First edition. Faulkner's last poetry collection published during his lifetime has a title-page vignette and dust wrapper illustration by Lynd Ward. In A William Faulkner Encyclopedia, Stephen Hahn writes that "The poems in A Green Bough are remarkable for the degree to which they..... More
New Orleans: Pelican Bookshop Press, 1926. From a total edition of 400 copies, this is one of 250 numbered copies. First edition, first issue. With illustrations of Sherwood Anderson and other famous Creoles, by William Spratling. Bound in green boards. This copy bears the white label, one of three variants..... More
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896). Folio. (556)pp. One of 425 copies. Contains 87 wood-engraved illustrations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. William Morris, in addition to the "Chaucer" type designed expressly for this book, provided 26 nineteen-line initials, and numerous foliate and floral borders and initials. Burne-Jones called the book "a pocket..... More
NY: Macmillan and Company, 1894. 12mo. 274pp. A unique copy with beautifully executed original pen and ink drawings throughout showing the sights and landmarks of Shakespeare's country. Profusely illustrated with hand-drawn vignettes of the thatched cottages of Stratford-upon-Avon, landscape vistas of Warwick and Windsor, and other known British locations. The..... More
Alford, MA: 1962. Small quarto. 28ff. One of forty copies. Etched title page and twenty-six fine etchings by Fink, ranging thematically from portraits to botany to insects. Many of Fink's etchings have a decidedly Baskinesque aesthetic, but Fink's circle centered primarily in New York, where he was friendly with Jack..... More
(Nutley, N.J.): Gianettino & Meredith, Inc., 1977. 12mo. (24)pp. From an edition of 275, this is one of fifty lettered copies in a cloth binding, signed by the artist, Jill Karla Schwarz. This humorous holiday list of thirteen "recipes" for turkey was appropriately filed by the author under the heading..... More
NY: Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1987. Quarto. (17)ff. One of 75 copies, signed by the translator, Michael Feingold, and the artist, Neil Welliver, whose five color etchings and double-page fold-out lithograph were printed by Shigemitsu Tsukaguchi. The translator served as the lead drama critic for the Village Voice until it..... More
NY: Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1989. Folio. (32)pp. One of fifty copies, signed by the artist, Susan Weil. Throughout the text are scattered collages, papers, and etchings that work together to create an interactive, multimedia experience for the reader. In this way, the reader physically engages with the work in..... More
(Wakefield, Yorkshire): Fleece Press, (1986). Large quarto. (10)pp., + (19)ff. One of 200 copies printed from the original blocks on handmade paper. Illustrated with twenty wood engravings by Underwood that were cut in the 1920s and 1930s. Underwood's Brook Green School produced a great many accomplished wood engravers, among them..... More
Denby Dale: Fleece Press, (1995). Folio. 80pp. One of 240 copies. When John Buckland Wright died in 1954 his studio contained a number of his engraved woodblocks, mostly those for which he had a particular fondness. This volume publishes "all the engravings of bathers or of women in watery landscapes..... More
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire: Fleece Press, 2000. Quarto. 87 pp. One of 44 deluxe copies with a print pulled from John Buckland Wright's copper plates entitled "Nymphe Surprise No.II", engraved during his period at the Atelier 17. It was a previously un-editioned copper engraving, printed by the Black Star Press and..... More
(Wakefield): Fleece Press, 1984. 16mo. 8ff. One of 250 copies. With seven wood engravings by Peter Forster, including cover label. Reprints a passage from Marvell's "The Rehearsal Transpros'd," published in 1672. Fine in marbled wrappers by Mark Whittaker. (Rogerson 6). More
(Wakefield, West Yorkshire): Fleece Press, 1993. Octavo. 28pp., + 42ff. One of 206 copies. Illustrated with forty-one plates of Buckland Wright's wood engravings, which represent a cross-section of his work in white line and silhouette engraving between 1929 and 1954. Extremely fine in vellum-backed Japanese wood veneer paper boards, housed..... More
London: Folio Society, 2016. Folio, plus accompanying octavo volume. 153; 32pp. The folio is a full-sized facsimile, true in printing and binding, of one of the extremely rare signed first printings of the edition produced by Grant Richards in 1915 in London. The facsimile includes reproductions of Coburn's forty photographs..... More
(c. 1965-1975). Folk art chess set and table. This non-traditional chess set is based on the theory of evolution, with dinosaurs facing off against mammals. The field is alternating squares of brown earth and green & blue ponds. The pawns on each side grow through the early evolutionary stages: the..... More
