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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Székesfehérvár: 1985. 106pp. One of the deluxe edition of 25 copies. This striking and novel miniature book is printed entirely on folded sheets of aluminium foil. It commemorates the 5th Aluminium Conference, which was held in Hungary in May, 1985 in order to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Hungarian..... 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
Baltimore: Xavier Press, 1988. vi, 18pp. Samuel Clemens's account of his formative time spent as a printer's apprentice, presented as a speech at a dinner for New York printers. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Clemens and a vignette depicting a compositor setting type. This copy is in a designer..... 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
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
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
(Northampton, MA): Apiary Press, 1961. Oblong quarto. (10)ff., + single letterpress sheet laid in. One of twenty-five copies signed by the illustrator, Joyce Sills. This copy bears a presentation inscription from Sills to social-realist artist Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda. The colophon notes that the Shahns' son, Ezra, had..... More
Boston: Southworth Press, 1931. Octavo. xxx, 214pp. One of fifty copies printed on Kelmscott handmade paper. Signed by Braithwaite, Hugh Francis Blunt, who wrote the Foreword, and Ralph Adams Cram, who wrote the Introduction. A broad collection of poems, largely on religious subjects, some of which reimagine often-male realms of..... More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1973. 55pp. From an edition of 1,500 copies, this is one of thirty-four in a special binding executed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Printed with large ornamental initials in red by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen. Tiny book label to rear paste-down, else fine in burgundy morocco..... More
Boston: Riverside Press, 1929. Seven octavo volumes. One of 500 large paper copies. Includes illustrations from photographs of Tennyson's country by Charles S. Olcott, as well as a portrait of the author. Introduction by Henry Van Dyke. ALs by Tennyson tipped-in to preliminary leaf. A lovely set bound in full..... More
Santa Cruz: Peter and Donna Thomas, 2012. Small quarto. (12)ff. One of fifty copies. Illustrated througout with arboreal linoleum cuts by Donna Thomas, two of which are full-page bookends to the volume's text. Others serve as backdrop to Everson's poem, as well as the colophon, so the text appears as..... More
Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1884. First deluxe edition. One of 100 copies, printed on Japanese paper and signed by the artist, Elihu Vedder, on the limitation page. The fifty-seven Art-Nouveau illustrations, drawn in pencil, ink, chalk, and watercolor over ten months from May 1883 to March 1884, are here..... 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
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
(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
