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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(Germany: c. 1511). Woodcut measures 12 1/4 by 9 inches, in a handsome 18 1/2 by 15 1/4-inch frame. This original woodcut print by one of the masters of the Northern Renaissance is part of a series of illustrations depicting scenes from The Life of the Virgin. According to Meder... More about Die Beschneidung Christi (The Circumcision of Christ
NY: E. P. Dutton and Company, (c. 1870's). 16mo. (62)pp., including illustrations and advertisements. Part of the "Our Boy's Little Library" series. Copiously illustrated with nearly forty black & white engravings and sixteen three-line initials. Artists include noted English engravers Kate Greenaway, Robert Paterson, William Luson Thomas, and George Pearson... More about Bright Picture Pages. Full of Stories
N.P. n.d. Black & white photograph measuring 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches. A posed portrait showing a younger William Addison Dwiggins, likely in his early 40s, standing in front of a garden holding a hoe. The photographer is credited on the verso as C. H. Marble. Very fine. More about Original photograph
(Hingham, MA: Püterschein-Hingham, 1952). One of 100 copies. A woodcut in four colors cut by W. A. Dwiggins in 1921 and printed for the first time by Dorothy Abbe in 1952 from the original blocks. The lovely woodcut, in blue, yellow, orange, and black, illustrates Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka, which tells... More about Woodcut from Petrouchka
(Hingham, MA): c. 1930s. A black & white photograph of a marionette made by W. A. Dwiggins, measuring 10 by 10 1/2 inches. The marionette is a likeness of F. Morton Smith, a Boston lawyer who was married to Margaret Coatsworth, the sister of the children's book author and illustrator... More about Photograph of a Dwiggins marionette: F. Morton Smith
Peking, China: Lotus Court, 1943. Quarto. (xvi), 46pp. Illustrated with forty-six tipped-in woodblock reproductions of traditional Chinese embroidery patterns, printed in red on handmade paper, tipped in. Frontispiece is a real tissue embroidery pattern backed with red paper for support. A fascinating reference book on Chinese symbolism. The Foreword lists... More about Embroidered Wishes
1860. Single leaf measuring 5 by 7 3/4 inches. A drawing of a young man and woman glancing shyly at each other, with their noses drawn in an angular fashion so as to point at each other. Below the figures is penned words “i cant [sic] stop long this time.”... More about Illustrated Manuscript Valentine
Boston: Damrell & Moore, 1854. 12mo. (8)ff. An 1850’s advertising pamphlet, printed by Damrell & Moore for the Oak Hall Clothing House in Boston. Contains a group of poems about the advantages of shopping at this “unrivalled emporium for gentlemen’s, youth’s, & little children’s ready-made clothing.” With seventeen wood engravings..... More about Oak Hall Pictorial
Zurich: Maison Kratz, 1956. Lithographic print measuring 23 1/4 by 18 7/8 inches. One of 200 numbered copies, this one signed by the artist, with his name incorporated into a small drawing of a bull's head, and inscribed vertically, "For Martin Oberstein cordially 30 12 56." The lithograph is printed... More about "Les Enfants de L'Artiste"
(Campden: Essex House Press, 1904). Octavo. 22pp. One of 150 copies printed on vellum. The twelfth of the "Great Poems" series published by the Press. Illustrated with a hand-colored frontispiece and colophon device by C. R. Ashbee, and illuminated with initials throughout in blue, red, green, and gilt by Miss... More about Goldsmith's Deserted Village
(London: Essex House Press, 1901). 16mo. 400pp. One of 250 copies printed under the care of C.R. Ashbee. With a wood-engraved pictorial frontispiece by Reginald Savage, and numerous initials surrounded by flowers called "pinks," designed by Ashbee. Woolman, an eighteenth-century New Jersey Quaker, advocated the simple and unostentatious life, and... More about A Journal of the Life and Services of John Woolman
(Decorah, Iowa: Solmentes Press), 2013. Folio. (39)ff. From an edition of thirty copies, this is one of ten deluxe copies in a stunning designer binding of full white pigskin. At the center of the spine extending over both covers sits an acrylic-painted bowl of chili, garnished with spicy sour cream... More about Chili Recipe
Grasmere: The Wordsworth Trust, 2007. Small quarto. 376pp. One of 200 copies. Frontispiece and thirteen additional watercolors by Esslemont. Wordsworth's spiritual autobiography, presented in epic style, receives reverent treatment. Though it is, as Wordsworth's final line states, "of substance and of fabric more divine" than that which shapes and binds... More about The Prelude
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 about Der Archipelagus
(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 about Stone Soup
(Santa Cruz): 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 made... More about American Bard. Being the Preface to the First Edition of Leaves of Grass Now Restored to its...
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 about Cinquante Fables pour les Enfants
(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 about Original Drawings for "The Fox and the Stork"
(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 about Fairy Tale. A Picture by Nina Vaughan
(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 about Il Dante Urbinate della Biblioteca Vaticana
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 about Prefazioni alle Edizioni di Sweynheym e Pannartz
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 about Der Rheinaur Psalter
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 about The Tale of the Genji Scroll
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 about A Green Bough
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 about Sherwood Anderson & Other Famous Creoles: A Gallery of Contemporary New Orleans
