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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Chelsea: Ashendene Press, (1906). Small quarto. 161pp. One of 100 copies. Printed in red and black with initials by Eric Gill. This is the first book by the Ashendene Press with marginal notes printed in red. Featuring a designer binding by Franklin Mowery of black morocco blind-tooled with an intersecting... More about Utopia
London: Basilisk Press, 1979. Quarto. 180 pp.+(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, Edward Gordon Craig nurtured an interest in... More about The Life & Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York
Paris: Gumuchian, (c. 1930s). Quarto. (181)pp. + 135ff. of plates. One of 1000 copies. A catalogue of fine bindings from this famed Parisian bookseller, profusely illustrated with full-page black and white illustrations including XX color plates. In original dust wrapper, with the English titling: "Fine Bindings." This title also appears... More about Catalogue de Relières du XVth au XIXth Siècle, en Vente à la Librairie Gumuchian & C
(London): Jo Bird, (2009). 48mo. (22)pp., accordion-fold. A one-of-a-kind artist's book, signed by the artist, printer, and binder, Jo Bird. Folding out from right to left, the leporello is comprised of twenty-two linocuts depicting the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each calligraphic letter is printed in black ink onto swaths... More about A Hebrew Alphabet
Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, 1960. 45pp. Printed by Enschedé en Zonen in Holland. The text of the book is accompanied by several full-page illustrations printed in green, along with a frontispiece portrait of the author. Featuring a designer binding by the renowned English binder James Brockman. A church... More about Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
London: Folio Society, 2013. Octavo. 107pp. Illustrated with seven bold portraits of Holly Golightly by Canadian illustrator Karen Klassen. The collage-like images reflect the artist's fashion background, layering textures and patterns, such as scraps of lace and fabrics, with paint strokes and pencil lines. The multidimensionality of the illustrations is... More about Breakfast at Tiffany's
Venezia: Antonio Zatta, 1757-1758. Four quarto volumes: L’Inferno, Il Purgatorio, Il Paradiso, Prose & Rime Liriche. (16), xlviii, ccccviii; ccccxiii, (3); cccclii, (4), 104; xii, 408, (4), 264, lxxxiv, (2)pp. Illustrated throughout with 114 engraved plates, by F. Giampiccoli, J. Magnini, F. Rizzi, and B. Crivelli, after works by Italian... More about Opere di Dante Alighieri
(Shaker Heights, OH): Wind and Harlot Press, 1986. 12pp. One of twenty-three copies. Keats's ballad of a knight wooed by a beautiful and wild "faery's child" and then abandoned by her, haggard and pale, on the cold hillside. In a designer binding by Paul Delrue depicting the setting at the... More about La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1902; 1905. Two octavo volumes. 388; 342pp. Each volume is one of 300 copies printed by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. Titles and notes printed in red. Initials designed by Edward Johnston, printed in red in Paradise Regain’d and painstakingly calligraphed in Paradise Lost by Johnston and Graily Hewitt... More about Paradise Lost. A Poem in XII Books; Paradise Regain'd. A Poem in IV Books to Which are Added...
Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1914. Octavo. (168)pp. One of 200 copies printed on paper. Two initials in typical Doves Press style: a red five-line "C" on the half title, and a black four-line "B" on page 7. Stage directions, names, and scene indicators from The Tragedy of Coriolanus printed in red... More about The Tragedy of Coriolanvs
Lisbon: (1813). 32mo. (157)pp., + folding map. An elegant embroidered hand-calendar, giving Feast Days, a Court Calendar, phases of the moon, eclipses, lists of kings, bishops, cardinals, and more. Includes the lineage of the Royal Family. Frontispiece is an engraved, hand-colored folding map of Portugal. In a white satin embroidered... More about Diario Ecclesiastico para o Reino de Portugal Principalmente para a Cidade de Lisboa, para o Anno...
Paris: P. Rocolet, 1664. 320pp. Engraved frontispiece depicting two worshippers in stately garb each standing atop a heraldic device. This book of hours was designed with travelers in mind, from its convenient size to its durable binding to its conclusion, which bears a prayer specifically for those on a journey... More about Heures aux Cavaliers. L'Exercise du Cavalier Chrestien. Pour Chacque Iour de la Semaine
Petersham, Massachusetts: 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 about Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes & Ditches
(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
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 about Pizza from Scratch
Oxford: University Press, 1838. Two near-miniature volumes. Unpaginated. Concealed under the gilt fore-edges of the two volumes are beautifully executed paintings by Martin Frost. The fore-edge painting on the first volume, which contains the Old Testament, depicts the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest. Built in the Moorish Revival style in..... More about The Holy Bible
Paris: P. Blanchard, 1810. 189pp. Engraved frontispiece, depicting the Virgin Mary nurturing two young children, and an engraved title page, showing a young boy dressed in a tunic and praying in a garden. A charming volume replete with prayers for all situations and events, including days of the week and... More about Prieres de L'Enfance
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 about The Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapters 5, 6, 7
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896). Folio. (556)pp. One of 425 copies. Contains 87 wood-engraved illustrations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. William Morris, in addition to the "Chaucer" type designed expressly for this book, provided 26 nineteen-line initials, and numerous foliate and floral borders and initials. Burne-Jones called the book "a pocket... More about The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer now Newly Imprinted
(Newton): Gregynog Press, 1938. Large octavo. Binder's dummy, with all pages blank. The edition was limited to 175 copies, translated from the Spanish by Henry Thomas. Gregynog Press books were created under one roof, from design to printing, all the way to binding. George Fisher, who started at Gregynog Press... More about The Lovers of Teruel binder's dummy
NY: Macmillan and Company, 1894. 12mo. 274pp. A unique copy with beautifully executed original pen and ink drawings throughout showing the sights and landmarks of Shakespeare's country. Profusely illustrated with hand-drawn vignettes of the thatched cottages of Stratford-upon-Avon, landscape vistas of Warwick and Windsor, and other known British locations. The... More about Shakespeare's England
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 about 26 Etchings by Shelly Fink
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 about Arion. Sammlung auserlesener Gesangstücke mit Begleitung des Pianoforte
London: W. Bulmer, 1795; 1796. Quarto. Two books bound together in one volume: xx, 76; xv, vii, 126pp. First editions thus. With a fore-edge painting by the "double-line" painter depicting the pastoral village of Lissoy where Oliver Goldsmith spent his youth, standing in for the pseudonymous town of Auburn in... More about Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell; together with The Chase. A Poem. By William Somerville
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 about Pictures of Early New York on Dark Blue Staffordshire Pottery. Together with Pictures of Boston...
