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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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
London: Guild and School of Handicraft, Essex House, 1894. Octavo. 166pp. Ornaments on the prefatory material and the final page evince Ashbee's skills Art Nouveau style, and bring illustrative care and craftsmanship to Ashbee's treatise on what makes for good citizenship in an increasingly industrial state. Bound in full red..... 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
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
Leipzig: Pavla Riube, (c. 1880). Small quarto. 8pp., + six plates laid in throughout. The chromolithographed images illustrate the major events of the story commonly known to English-speaking audiences as "Sleeping Beauty," from the princess's birth, to the pricking of her finger on the spindle, and, finally, to her reawakening..... 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
(N.p. Ferguson, William, n.d.). Print measuring 10 1/4 by 13 inches. One of 76 copies. A windmill design in green and brown, with the words "arena," "monte," "cielo," and "nieve" on the four blades. SIgned by the artist. Fine. More
Praha [Prague]: Technologicko-Prumyslovým Museem [Technological Industrial Museum], 1914. 16mo. (v), 10, (4)pp. A student production, heavily ornamented with Cubist design principles, including three initials, a woodcut illustration, black decorative borders, fully illustrated endpapers, and an spectacular gilt cover design. The raw, saturated decorations reflect the weight of the book's text..... More
Barcelona: José Porter, 1945. Octavo. xvi, 96pp + 50 plates. One of 330 copies. Brugalla's treatise on bookbinding, illustrated with both in-text figural drawings and color plates of bindings, offers an educated and thorough historical and technical analysis of the craft. Brugalla demonstrates his own skill on this copy's binding..... More
London: Macmillan, 1872. 12 mo. (xii), 224pp. First edition, first issue, with "wade" for "wabe" on page 21. Like its predecessor, this continuation of the adventures of Alice is charmingly illustrated with 50 engravings by John Tenniel. Also like its predecessor, Carroll attempted to have the edition suppressed after the..... More
St-Zotique, Quebec: Cat's Head Press, 2008. Quarto. (48)pp. One of 114 copies. Illustrated throughout with a signed pochoir print by Jef Aerosol, a relief print by Melissa Schulenberg, a stencil by Guy Berard, and an abundance of found images and stencils by the staff at the Cat's Head Press. Printed..... More
(Portland, OR: Chamberlain Press, 1980-85). Small octavo. (112)ff. A collection of 105 engravings, all signed and numbered in pencil by Sarah Chamberlain. These hail from her major publications printed in the early 1980s via the Chamberlain Press: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1979), A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go (1981)..... More
Berkshire: Golden Cockerel Press, 1926. Small quarto. v, (i), 94, 1pp. A collection of Aesop's much-celebrated and much-cited fables, some illustrated with bold wood engravings by Celia M. Fiennes. In keeping with the Golden Cockerel Press's tradition of creating limited editions of classic masterworks, this representation was reprinted from Sir..... More
(Columbus, OH): Logan Elm Press, 1990. Quarto. (38)pp. One of 115 copies, printed on handmade paper and signed by the poet, David Citino, the artist, Anthony Rice, and the designer of the book, Robert Tauber. A stunning production crafted in advance of the quincentennial celebration of Columbus’s voyage. Illustrated throughout..... More
Middletown, CT: Price, Robin, 1998. Quarto. (36)pp. One of 150 copies. Signed by the illustrator, Keiji Shinohara, below the colophon. Decorated throughout with woodcuts in soft grays, greens, browns, and reds. The woodcuts interplay with the text itself, recreating in a visual way the experience of sitting in person for..... More
Easthampton, MA: Warwick Press, 1984-2003. Eight volumes. Variously paginated. All of different limitations, but the possibility of this full run is one of 45, designated by the edition for Book Eight. All books signed by Fitzenmeyer and Blinn. The continued collaboration between the two artists resulted in this happy series..... More
(Flansham, Bognor: Pear Tree Press, 1937). Quarto. 32, (ii)pp. One of 250 copies. Illustrated with a colored wood-engraved frontispiece portrait of Edward Thomas by Robin Guthrie, and with several engravings, colored vignettes, and two intaglio plates by James Guthrie. One of these intaglio plates reproduces an advertisement for Thomas's first..... More
(Los Angeles): Turkey Press, 1988. Small quarto. (60)pp. One of 125 copies, signed by the poet and the illustrator. William T. Wiley's drawings, which face each of Hannon's poems, encapsulate chaos through discordant lines and endow their paired verses with a sense of foreboding. Bound in black cloth with brown..... More
Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1963. Elephant folio. (24)pp. One of 150 copies, signed by the illustrator, Rico Lebrun, and by the engraver, Leonard Baskin, below the colophon and on the prints. Lebrun's illustrations evoke the raw emotion and bare-bones humanity and animality of Melville's tale. Pages held loose in unbound..... More
Newtown: Gregynog Press, 1931. Octavo. (10), 25, (3)pp. From an edition of 250 copies, this is one of twenty-five printed on Japanese vellum and bound after a design by Blair Hughes-Stanton himself. It marks Hughes-Stanton's first contribution to the Press' run of special bindings, and the advent of a shift..... More
London: Golden Cockerel Press, (1955). Octavo. 34pp. One of 500 copies. Peter Barker-Mill's color engravings capture all the fascination and heritage of the English topiary garden, as Stewart extols its many virtues. Bound in half orange cloth, with printed patterened paper over boards. Faintest rubbing to corners, expected offsetting from..... 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
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883. Octavo. First edition of the second Uncle Remus collection of stories. Widely illustrated with scenes from the familiar tales, including images of Brother Fox, Brother Bear, and Brother Rabbit. Bound in full yellow cloth elaborately stamped in black and with the title in..... More
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1892. Octavo. First edition of Harris's third collection of Uncle Remus stories. Illustrated with twelve plates, including a frontispiece, by popular illustrator and comics artist A. B. Frost. Replete with the well-known moralizing short stories and jolly songs. Bound in green cloth decorated in black..... 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
