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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(Wales): 1980. Print measuring 20 by 17 inches. One of 50 copies. A bold color aquatint in brown, yellow, and tan, signed by the artist. This slightly abstracted sunflower is subtly shaded and textured. The flower's head is cradled within two outstretched leaves. A renowned Welsh book artist, Jones has... More
Fairfax, CA: Jungle Garden Press, 1994. Quarto. (18)ff. One of only three copies, signed by the illustrator, Carl Dern, and the printer, Marie Dern. A portfolio of eight pieces of original art by Carl Dern, mixing printing, watercolors, pen drawings, and collage. Playing with the concept of the livre d'artiste... More
![Child's First Animal - Bird - Rhyme Book [cover title].](/pictures/thumb/27700.jpg?v=1512599742)
Newark / NY: Charles E. Graham & Co., (c. 1900). Quarto. (40)pp. Illustrated with sixteen bright full-page chromolithographed plates, including a magnificent two-page spread showing a yoke of oxen, plus another twenty-two pages of black & white illustrations. The book is divided into three sections: "Animal Pictures," "Our Bird Friends,"... More
Concord, NH: Atwood & Brown, 1837. 16mo. 16pp. Illustrated with numerous woodcuts throughout. The title page notes that this is the fourth number in the seventh series; the previous year, the Riddler was in the sixth series, suggesting that this was an annual. Although many of the riddles were likely... More
Dusseldorf: Levy Elkan, Baumer & Co., (1861). Octavo. (12)ff. A book illustrating the months, each page with a large color lithograph depicting a scene appropriate for that month. For example, April shows people working to shear sheep for the warm spring and summer months, and September shows children gathering apples... More
Baltimore: Raine, William, (c. 1840). 12mo. 6ff. Illustrated with hand-colored wood engravings throughout. The sequence of two-stanza verses highlights the rewards of good behavior and the consequences of poor behavior. This is a scarce chapbook, with just six copies recorded in institutional holdings. Raine published at the address shown on... More
NY: G.W. Carleton, 1879. Octavo. (96)ff. Features forty-eight color lift-the-flap illustrations (including the title page) in which the closed image illustrates the beginning of a verse and the open image depicts its conclusion. With numerous classic rhymes by Mother Goose, including the full versions of Old Mother Hubbard, and a.... More
Philadelphia: Kimber and Conrad, (c. 1812). 24mo. (24)pp., partially unopened. Illustrated with twenty-two half-page wood engravings, each with a simple sentence underneath related to the image; also included is a full-page engraving on the title page. The woodcuts are all collected from other books. On the back of the title... More
Paris: Rignoux, 1823. Ten volumes, each with 48 pages. First edition. Illustrated with 68 plates from copper engravings and one folding map. Legrand's miniature library for children contains the following titles: Morale en Action; Mythologie; Geographie; Fables; Histoire de France; Contes; Animaux; Insectes; Mineralogie; and Botanique. Augustin Legrand (1765 -... More
Frankfurt: Berhnard Dondorf, (1854). Likely third edition. Set of eight chromolithographed three-dimensional topographic relief maps, each measuring 10 7/16 by 8 5/8 inches [265x219mm], in wooden frames. Each panel in this educational set demonstrates the topography, countries, and major features of a region: Australia and Polynesia, South America, Africa, Europe... More
Chelsea: (Southernwood Press, c. 1915). Small quarto. (23)ff. One of thirty copies printed on handmade paper. Illustrated throughout by Josephine Winser. The drawings illustrate popular nursery rhymes, including Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Jack & Jill, and Sing a Song of Sixpence. Children take center stage in these depictions... More
NY: Century Co., (c. 1933). Octavo. (x), 246pp. Copiously illustrated by Palmer Cox. This was the first adventure of the Brownies written in prose, and it is advertised as having "a detailed, connected story, with a beginning, a middle and an end." A later issue, with the text, binding, and... More
Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager, 1824. 12mo. 6ff. Illustrated with hand-colored wood engravings throughout. This poem formed part of a series of seven similar works collected under the title Grateful Tributes, published in London around 1812. As separate works, these titles were issued by various publishers and ascribed to various authors... More
(NY): McLoughlin Bros. (c. 1859-1862). 24mo. (8)pp. Part of the Mother's Series, with hand-colored illustrations throughout. Rhyming verse about Henry Brown, the son of a carpenter who works hard and studies hard. His good character earns him success, and he is rewarded with a place in Congress and a beautiful... More
London: J. Harris, 1806. 32mo. (16)ff. First edition, Moon's fourth state with 1806 date on front wrapper, but with SMC initials on the earliest-state engraved dedication page. Illustrated with fifteen hand-colored copperplate engravings. According to Moon, this is the most significant children's book published by Harris, and surely one of... More
N.p. n.d. Small quarto. (ii), 36pp. This is a unique pre-production edition of Mary E. Williamson's children's book, which seems to never have been published. The text is handwritten in black ink, and the illustrations are hand-drawn and colored with ink and paint, all on boards. The story follows an... More
Austin: Kairos Press, 1986. Folio. (28)pp., + (7)ff. From an edition of 150, this is one of twenty-five copies signed by the artist. Illustrated with seven original monochrome lithographs, one of which is double-page. The prints form a sequence reflecting the progression of the poems, from the sensual woman portrayed... More
Poestenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 1990. Tall folio. (32)pp. From an edition of 55, this is one of twenty deluxe copies. Illustrated with ten paper pulp images of Jewish symbols, such as the Star of David, the Torah pointer, and the shofar. The text of the Song of Songs is printed... More
Poestenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 2001. Oblong quarto. 18pp., frenchfold. One of forty copies, signed by the artist/printer, Gunnar Kaldewey. An elucidating history of the allure, in Japanese culture, of the "songs" of night insects. Printed in black on sky blue, high-sheen handmade paper flecked with darker blue. Each printed page... More
Poestenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 1998. Quarto. 28pp., frenchfold. One of forty copies, signed by the author/artist/printer, Gunnar Kaldewey. This book is inspired by the notion of "nature as art," and was created after Kaldewey spent three months living in a traditional Japanese wooden house in Kyoto, studying the art of... More
(Postenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 1987). Folio. (36)pp. One of forty-five copies in a plexiglass binding by Christian Zwang of Hamburg. Signed by the author/artist/printer, Gunnar Kaldewey. With numerous monochromatic and two-tone illustrations. Written, illustrated, designed, and printed by Gunnar Kaldewey as Volume 5 of the Kaldewey Press series. In 1977... More
Poestenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 2016. Quarto. (12)ff., + 4 full-page illustrations from watercolors by Gunnar Kaldewey. One of only ten copies comprising the deluxe edition, which is specially bound and adds three original watercolors. The 84th publication of the Kaldewey Press presents a poem by the 12th-century troubadour, Jaufre Rudel... More
Cambridge, MA: Kat Ran Press, 2014. Octavo. (16)pp. One of forty-five copies of the deluxe edition, bound by Sarah Creighton in red and orange paste paper-covered boards, and including two mint stamps designed by the author. Contains fourteen full-color reproductions of collages by Chermayeff -- faces with features crafted from... More
Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896. Octavo. (iv), 82pp. One of 350 copies. Frontispiece cut after Edward Burne-Jones. Borders and initials by William Morris. This is the second of three medieval romances printed by Morris. In holland-backed blue boards, with faint soiling to boards and some foxing to very edges of text... More
1935. Measuring 13 by 9 1/4 inches, this watercolor bears Kent's signature along with the inscription, "to his friend Charly Mortensen, 1935." Mortensen was the telegraph operator aboard the Hans Egede, the ship on which Kent made two of his three celebrated voyages to Igdlorssuit, Greenland, where he would live... More
