A designer binding is the most visible of all the book arts. To those artists whose medium is the binding of a book, the old adage that you can't judge a book by its cover is untrue. From colored leathers and gold foil, vellum and exotic woods, the artistry of a book is vividly ...
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Martin Lesinski, 2017. Quarto. (26)pp. One of five copies. A book woven into being through the trials of military service, Beyond the Reach of Reason presents itself as a living thing. Lesinski’s poetry draws upon his experience as a combat veteran, a disabled veteran, and a disabled person living in..... More
London: Basilisk Press, 1979. Quarto. 180pp., + (10)ff. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of twenty-five with ten original wood engravings bound-in subsequent to the text, five of which are signed by the book's illustrator, Edward Gordon Craig. For decades, Craig nurtured an interest in Daniel Defoe's..... More
(Paris: c. 1910-1914). 6ff., loose. A collection of six designs for binding elements, three completed in pencil and watercolor, and the others incorporating pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, and gilt accents. Two of the designs are monogrammed "CM" for Charles Meunier and were likely made into bindings by the bindery of..... More
Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic Press, 1984. Revised first edition. Robinson’s classic introduction to the craft of bookbinding, with the inclusion of the original artwork for the book’s jacket design. The artwork is rendered in oil on board, painted in black and white on a gray background, and is framed in natural..... More
London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1870. 16mo. iii, (1), 199pp. Engraved portrait of Napoleon at title page, along with head and tail pieces throughout the text. Third edition. A Cosway binding by Rivière & Son in full blue morocco with a matching design to both covers: gilt rule frame..... More
London: Soncino Press, 1930. Small quarto. xl, (3), 209pp. One of nine copies printed on Roman Vellum, signed by the editor, Cecil Roth, and the illustrator, Albert Rutherston. With fourteen full-page stencilled illustrations, plus seventy small ornaments, all in color. Rutherston's bright depictions of the Passover story, including illustrations of..... More
Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1907-1908. Five small octavo volumes. xvi, 498; (v), 573; (v), 582; xvi, 453; (iii), 383pp. One of 100 copies. Three volumes of the set are devoted to Don Quixote; the other two contain Cervantes' novellas. Each receives a matching—save for the text—double-page title spread of a black..... More
Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, 1973. 55pp. The text is printed with large ornamental initials in red by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen. In a striking designer binding by Stephen Conway, evoking ancient wood and stone. Conway writes that his bindings "have a tactile quality, in keeping with the three..... More
Paris: Moreau, (1983). Oblong 12mo. (26) pp. Illustrated by Baltazar. From an edition of 220 copies, this is one of forty signed by the author and by the illustrator, and hand-colored. Reproduced entirely by serigraphy, the text is from the author's own manuscript. The abstract black and white illustrations have..... More
Paris: Chez F.-L. Schmied, (1929). Quarto. (126)pp. One of 150 copies, signed by Schmied. Illustrated throughout with color wood engravings, executed in tones of brown, orange, and blue, including twelve full-page illustrations, each one signed by Schmied. This is a work that Ward Ritchie called "ingenious in its design, one..... More
Coaraze: Les Editions Coaraze, 1955. 16mo. 30, (2)pp., + 3 inserted plates. From an edition of twenty-four copies, this is one of twelve printed on Alfa Ivoire paper and labeled for a month of the year. Signed by Arman, the illustrator, on the colophon page. Arman's contributed plates offer a...... More
Colombes, France: Collectif Génération, 1990. Square octavo. (15)ff. One of 60 copies, signed by the author, Marcelin Pleynet, and the illustrator, Bertrand Dorny. With imaginative engraved and blind-stamped illustrations throughout, to accompany Pleynet's modernist text. Many of the pages fold out to give the reader the feeling of discovery and..... More
(Watertown, MA): Anne and David Bromer, 1977. (24)pp. The text is printed on Japanese paper with ornamentation in green. Wood engravings by Sarah Chamberlain, as her first miniature book commission. This is the first miniature book published by the Bromers. Midori Kunikata-Cockram captures the whimsical nature of the text, which..... More
London: For A. Millar and W. Sandby, 1757. Quarto. v, [2], xviii, [2], 513, [1]pp. Second edition. Illustrated with 15 maps (of which 9 are folding), 23 plates (of which 3 are folding), and numerous ornaments and initials from copper engravings. Considered by many to be the best description of..... More
Petersham, MA: Lone Oak Press, 2005. Oblong quarto. 89pp. From an edition of fourteen deluxe copies and 70 standard copies, this is one of five deluxe copies chosen to be specially bound for the international traveling exhibit "InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books," and as such, it does not..... More
Decorah, IA: Solmentes Press, 2017. Oblong small quarto. (68)pp. From an edition of forty copies, this is one of five deluxe copies. Signed by artist at colophon. Thirty-six woodcut and linocut images together with separate blueprint for a pizza oven. Together, the illustrations create a visual narrative of how Esslemont..... 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
Paris: Gruel Engelmann, 1870; 1889. Three 12mo. vols, each a distinct copy of Engelmann's production; one from the 1870 first issue, and two from the later 1889 issues. (iv), 628; (xii), 649, (ii); (vi), 649, (2)pp. Two- and three-line initials, woodcut illustrations in the fashion of medieval religious imagery, and..... 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
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
Leipzig: Robert Crayen, n.d. (c. 1830). Two oblong octavo volumes comprising seven parts. (118); (120); (122); (122); (120); 120; (ii), 120; (iv), (124)pp. A collection of sheet music and lyrics for pianoforte gathered from a variety of composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. This set features wrap-around fore-edge paintings by..... More
London: Oxford University Press, (1925). Octavo. (ix), 1456, (iv), (130)pp. Later printing. With a large fore-edge painting by Miss C. B. Currie, which, according to the signed statement on the front endleaf, depicts "(a) view of the entrance to the avenue from Clare Hall Piece, Cambridge." It is identified as..... More
NY: Dodd, Mead, 1899. Three quarto volumes. xxvi, 330pp. From an edition of 268, this is one of thirty copies on Imperial Japon. In addition, this is a unique copy with an extra set of the 126 color photogravure plates printed on white satin and backed in celadon silk. The..... More
Madrid: Editorial Voluntad, 1927. Quarto. (vi), (121)ff., + 120 plates. Each plate shows a drawing by de Azpiazu, who in each captures the beauties of Spanish architecture, life, and landscape. The Quinteros provide commentary for each, and Serafina Alvarez Quintero contributed the frontispiece portrait of de Azpiazu. The book is..... More
