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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London: Saunders and Otley, 1836-38. Three octavo vols. 304; 304; 304pp. Engraved titles with vignettes, as well as nearly 150 engravings throughout the set. A testament to British literature and artistry, with the poetic pillars of Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, Shakespeare, Dryden, Burns, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, and myriad other writers comprising..... More
Print Club of Cleveland, 1950. Woodcut measuring 21 by 14 1/2 inches. One of 250 copies, signed and dated by Antonio Frasconi, an artist born in Uruguay and known for his distinctive woodcuts and numerous illustrated books for children. In this depiction of Aesop’s fable, a hungry, curvaceous crocodile tempts..... More
Paris: Front Culturel, 1970. Octavo. (33)pp. Illustrated throughout with images, sometimes caricatured, of greedy capitalists, corrupt judges, and militarized police. Juxtaposed with these are depictions of the revolutionaries and protestors of a variety of ethnicities raising strong fists and fighting back. The mission of the Front Culturel was to co-opt..... More
(Madison, WI: Quercus Press, 1993). Square 12mo. (20)ff. One of twenty-five copies. The first book of the Press. Designed, printed, illustrated and signed by John Carrera. Frost's words are printed on a fold-out panorama, one or two lines at a time. Six pages of original aquatints, with a rich drypoint..... More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of a kneeling figure overlooking a view of hills. Spot of foxing, else fine. (Image measures 5 7/8 by 5 13/16 in.; 150x148 mm). More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of a girl and her woodland entourage. Fine. (Image measures 3 1/2 by 4 1/4 in.; 90x109 mm). More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of an agricultural farming village, with bales of hay, thatch-roofed homes, and hills in the background. Fine. (Image measures 4 by 5 in.; 102x128 mm). More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of a shepherd carrying a lamb, evocative of Gaskin's illustrations for the Kelmscott Press' Shepheardes Calendar. Signed and titled in pencil by Gaskin. Fine. (Image measures 3 11/16 by 2 1/2 in.; 94x63 mm). More
1926. A woodcut print on India paper of a woman clambering into bed. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by Gaskin. Fine, affixed to mat. (Image measures 3 1/2 by 4 in.; 92x102 mm). More
1926. A woodcut print on Japanese paper of a couple in romantic embrace. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by Gaskin. Fine, matted. (Image measures 5 1/2 by 2 13/16 in.; 141x71 mm). More
1926. A woodcut print on Japanese paper of a woman, fitted out in frock and hat, in white figure against a black background. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil by Gaskin. Few spots of inconsequential foxing, else near fine. (Image measures 4 13/16 by 2 3/8 in.; 122x60 mm). More
1926. A woodcut print on India paper of two sisters embracing. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil by Gaskin. Shade of foxing, else near fine. (Image measures 2 7/8 by 1 15/16 in.; 74x50 mm). More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of a winter storm settling over a tree-embraced homestead. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil by Gaskin. Fine. (Image measures 4 by 5 in.; 102x128 mm). More
(n.d.). A woodcut print on India paper of three geese settled before a fence. Fine. (Image measures 3 9/16 by 3 1/2 in.; 90x89 mm). 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
Bob Ziering, 2009. Pastel on paper. Signed and dated by the artist, Bob Ziering. Original exploratory artwork for the gay 2010 American short film Curious Thing directed by Alain Hain. This bold, emotional piece is Ziering at his most authentic; a celebrated commercial illustrator, it was only after more than..... More
(Cambridge, MA: c. 2016). Oblong 16mo. (28)ff. One of an unidentified number copies of the second edition, though likely fewer than five. Signed by the artist at her Introduction, in which she states, "In making this book I wanted to portray each woman as a complex, intellectual being rather than..... More
(Sacramento, CA): Deconstructed Artichoke Press, 2012. As much a love letter to baseball as an admonition of its cultural shortcomings, Thompson’s prose poem follows a softball player’s discovery of herself and of the gender bias in the game she adores. The text is loaded with as many questions as answers..... More
NY: Furious Day Press, 2016. Small octavo. (8)ff accordionfold, printed on both sides. Each panel, save Turnbull's introduction and the colophon, presents the reader with a silkscreen investigating through collage and/or altered photographs the male body as artistic and historical object. The book is a collaboration between three Manhattan Graphics..... More
(Rheinbach, Germany: John Gerard, 2005). Small quarto. (40)pp. One of twenty copies, signed by the artist. Each letter of this alphabet is scrawled in black over and over to fill the text area defined by Tschichold's canon of page construction, which is printed in red on every page. An interesting..... More
(Gloucestershire, UK): Leslie Gerry Editions, (2016). Folio. (60)pp. From an edition of 80 copies, this is one of 70 bound in cloth. Illustrated with twenty-two full-color double-page spreads of the people and scenery of Havana. Includes extracts from Irene A. Wright's "Cuba," written in 1910. Gerry's paintings, inspired by a...... More
Victoria, Australia: 2010. Square 32mo. (14)pp., accordion-fold, decorated on both sides of the page. An original artist's book by Jennifer Gibney, with hand-drawn text and pen illustrations in black, sepia, and sanguine ink, housed within a hand-painted and decorated wooden box. The story concerns a jester-like character who is overwhelmed..... More
Ditchling, Sussex: Douglas Pepler, 1917. Fifteen sheets with multiple diagrams in pencil, ranging in size from 5 1/2 by 4 1/2 to 11 by 7 1/4 inches; eight sheets of pencil tracings on tracing paper, one of which is clipped to a woodcut proof; and one diagram rendered in blue..... More
Paris: Louis Janet, (c. 1830). 48mo. 48pp., + engraved title page and six plates of engravings. A collection of titularly genteel love poetry, mostly penned by “Bernard,” whose brief biography appears as an introduction. The inserted plates show lovers in pastoral settings. Bound in a glass binding, with spine and..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, (1965-66). Four small octavo volumes, each (26)pp. One of 100 copies printed on Hosho paper, signed by the artist/printer Morris Cox. Each volume contains a colorful panorama of nature printed from heavily textured blocks, which give the offset prints an embossed effect. The changing seasons appear in..... More
