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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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
Lyon and Paris: Librairie Catholique de Perisse Frères, 1844. Small octavo. viii, 524, (v) pp. A seventeenth-century silver gilt, jeweled binding covering a French prayer book, which was placed into the binding at a later date. Very fine in a modern, velvet-lined dropback box. The Journée du Chrétien concerned the daily..... More
(London: c. 1928). Small quarto. 33pp. Signed by Alberto Sangorski. A unique manuscript on vellum, designed, illuminated, and calligraphed by Sangorski. A stunning work containing the title poem and five others: "To the River," "Dream Land," "The Sleeper," "To One in Paradise," and "Fairy Land." With an illuminated full-page frontispiece..... 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
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
NY: Russell Maret, 2009. Quarto. (9)ff. One of 100 copies, signed by the translator, Bruce Whiteman. The Latin text is opposite Whiteman's English translation, which is set in a new type, Cancellaresca Milanese, designed specifically for this edition. Bound in handmade Nepalese wrappers with paper label at upper cover. Fine..... More
Newton, IA: Tamazunchale Press, 1987. 31pp. Truman Capote's essay describes his first meeting with French author Colette, during which she gave him a crystal paperweight and inspired him to start collecting the objects for himself. The book has been specially bound by Tom McEwan to reflect the world in miniature..... More
N.p. (1845). Octavo. (26)ff. A manuscript alphabet book of calligraphic paintings, signed by the artist, Jean Midolle. Includes an elaborately decorated title page, twenty-four letters, and "Fin." A renowned nineteenth-century Swiss calligrapher and miniature-painter, Midolle executed his alphabets in the gothic style of lettering to resemble the text of a...... More
London: Methuen, (1927). First edition. This famous collection of children’s verses, featuring Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, and his bear, is illustrated throughout with Ernest H. Shepard’s whimsical drawings. Signed at a later date on the title page by Shepard. Handsomely bound by Bayntun-Rivière in deep red morocco, with gilt ruled..... More
A nineteenth-century French solid gold enamel binding containing five bone leaves. First appearing around 1820, the carnets de bal were used to record the order of an evening's dances, as well as the name of the partner for a particular dance. This opulent example is decorated with a leaf border;..... More
Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1983. (62)pp. First edition. From an edition of 400 copies signed by Gorey, this is one of 100 copies comprising the deluxe issue with the illustrations hand-colored by him. The text is an alphabet of short humorous couplets patterned after early moral primers for children..... More
Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1989. (32)ff. From an edition of 400 copies, this is one of 110 hand-colored in metallic casein by the artist, and signed by him below the colophon. This Gorey rarity is bound in a one-of-a-kind designer binding by Brother Edgard Claes, a binder known for..... More
Kadan, Czech Republic: Jana Pribikova, 2015. (38)pp. One of six copies. Signed by Pribikova at the colophon. A concise history of Dutch windmills, with information on their locations, energy production, and various types. Delightfully bound in green morocco with red, yellow, and purple leather strips inlaid on spine over exposed..... More
Marcham: Alembic Press, 1998. (7)ff. leporello. One of 140 copies. Includes 13 stitched-in samples of miniature pastepapers from Maziarczyk Paperworks, which illustrate an essay about the process of creating pastepaper and the challenges of working on a miniature scale. Fine in boards covered with Maziarczyk's luminous "Copper Sponge" paper. A...... More
(Hyattsville, MD): Rebecca Press, 1986. 87pp. One of 350 copies. Signed by the designer, Rebecca Bingham. The second in a set of three fairy tales, "in which roses are significant story elements." Illustrated with original wood engravings by Sarah Chamberlain, who signs the colophon page. Bound by Green Dragon Bindery..... More
St. Petersburg: c. 1905-6. 14-carat pendant in the form of a hinged book containing three leaves with fine engraving work. The text begins with a plaintive song which was apparently popular in the salons of pre-Revolutionary Russia, and which closes with the line "Farewell, my invaluable friend/ Do not forget..... More
Rome: Delfino, (1985). Folio. 106pp. According to the colophon, this is one of 1,200 copies. Illustrated with ten color lithographs after drawings by Henry Moore. The editor, Dr. Stanley Wells, notes in the Foreword that this work reveals an "unsuspected spiritual kinship between one of the greatest visual artists of..... More
(Northampton): Pennyroyal Press, 1980. Small octavo. (20)ff. One of 100 copies, signed by the artist, author, and printer. A poetic gem about the trade by Mandelbaum, printed in four colors by Harold McGrath. Tailpiece and colophon device by Barry Moser. This is the first binding for the book in quarter-leather..... More
Dallas: Somesuch Press, 1983. 24pp. Inscribed by Stanley Marcus, noted miniature book collector and proprietor of the Somesuch Press, to his friend and fellow microbibliophile Donn Sanford. A collection of love poems by Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Browning, illustrated with two United States "Love" stamps and a British stamp in honor..... More
(N.p. c. 1976). Octavo. Unpaginated. Phillips' complete translation, written in plum, brown, green, and black inks. A noble effort reflecting Phillips' continual investment in Dante's most famous work: in 1983, Phillips published an important livre d'artiste featuring the present translation; and in 1990 co-directed the British mini-series, A TV Dante..... More
NY: Pre-Columbian Press, 1960-61. Octavo. 31pp. One of 500 copies, signed by Rau. Drawings accompany each of the eight sites described, and a map prefaces the text. Bound in sienna boards printed with Mayan hieroglyphs. Spine slightly tilted, else near fine in near fine dust wrapper. More
(Hyattsville, MD): Rebecca Press, 1983. 118pp. One of 150 copies. Illustrated with whimsical wood-engravings by Sarah Chamberlain. Designed by Rebecca Bingham, who signed the colophon. Published in the bicentennial year of the birth of Washington Irving. Bound in blue cloth with paper label. Very fine. (2 3/8 by 2 15/16..... More
Baltimore: Xavier Press, 1993. 19pp. A timeless essay by Lewis Carroll on the art of correspondence, illustrated with two pasted-in postage stamps promoting letter-writing and a fold-out sample of a letter by the author. In a designer binding by Dominic Riley featuring gilt-tooled envelopes and abstracted stamps in onlays 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
Mill Valley, CA: Sunflower Press, 1977. (16)ff. From an edition of 250 copies illustrated in color by Marcie Collin and printed by Carol Cunningham, this copy is in a designer binding by Sonya Sheats. Evoking the fierce battle between the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, the artist envisioned "a..... More
