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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Sudbury, MA: Kurbel Books, 1988. (20)pp., accordionfold. One of 250 copies. Panorama with initials illuminated in gold and colors by E. Helene Sherman, and illustrated with a United States postage stamp of St. Francis. Layout by Robert E. Massmann. Bound by Bela and Mariana Blau in full red leather over..... More
Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 2013. Octavo. 59pp. One of 200 copies. Nancy Balboa’s illustrations celebrate Cuba’s agriculture, and draw a parallel between its grassroots rural life and its heritage of grassroots revolution. Martí, considered by many the “patron saint” of Cuba, was at the forefront of such organic, popular activism..... More
London: R. Wilkin, (1728). A wonderfully illustrated thumb Bible with sixteen copperplate engravings, including two frontispiece illustrations, one preceding the Preface and another prior to the main text, as well as two engraved title pages. Issued by printer and bookseller Richard Wilkin, this is the first English thumb Bible in..... More
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, (c. 1915). 702pp. An unabridged Book of Common Prayer. Gorgeously bound in maroon morocco with a hallmarked Birmingham silver plaque affixed to the front cover, featuring five cherubs. Very fine. A.e.g. (Bromer/Edison, p. 81). (2 1/8 by 1 7/8; 53x47 mm). 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
(Alès: PAB, 1960). One of forty regular copies, signed by Picasso, and the author/publisher Pierre André Benoit. Thematically similar to plate 22 in La Tauromaquia (1959), which depicts the instant of death of a bull in a bullfight, this single drypoint etching accompanies a brief poem by Benoit. This is..... 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
(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
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
Mill Valley, CA: Sunflower Press, 1985. (39)pp. One of 85 copies, signed by Carol Cunningham, who printed the book. A brief history of the Inca civilization illustrated throughout with hand-colored illustrations and striking gold-stamped imagery on black paper. This copy bound by Hannah Brown in sheet brass covered with black..... 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
Cincinnati, OH: Mosaic Press, 1986. (48)pp. One of an unspecified, but no doubt small, deluxe edition specially bound by Hugo Grummich in full brown leather with gilt spine titling and unique scrimshaw exemplar onlaid to upper cover. An impressive production that pairs the internal text's writ method with its realization..... More
Cincinnati, OH: Mosaic Press, 1986. (48)pp. One of an unspecified, but no doubt small, deluxe edition specially bound by Hugo Grummich in full brown leather with gilt spine titling and unique scrimshaw exemplar onlaid to upper cover. An impressive production that pairs the internal text's writ method with its realization..... 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
Berlin: Einhorn-Presse, 1927. Tall quarto. (24)pp. From an edition of 600 copies, this is one of only five printed on vellum and with text calligraphed by Melchior Lechter. In addition to writing the text, Lechter also designed the book, including initial letters of gold backed with green leather and onlaid..... 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
Hyattsville, MD: Rebecca Press, 1984. (58)pp. From an edition of 2,200, this is one of 200 specially bound deluxe copies, signed by Erté, this one out of series and noted as the binder's copy. Erté, whose fashion images adorned the pages of Harper's Bazaar from 1932 to 1937, was one..... More
Hyattsville, MD: Rebecca Press, 1984. (58)pp. From an edition of 2,200, this is one of 200 specially bound deluxe copies, signed by Erté. Erté, whose fashion images adorned the pages of Harper's Bazaar from 1932 to 1937, was one of the most prominent French illustrators of the Art Deco period..... More
Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic Press, 1984. First edition, revised. 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
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
London: 1916. Small quarto. (11)ff., + 3ff. Signed at the colophon, after the certification statement, by Alberto Sangorski. A unique illuminated manuscript on vellum, in which Sangorski engages with and inserts himself into a genealogy of Neoclassicism. His devotion to the tradition of the medieval manuscript is at once classical..... More
London: 1916. Octavo. 10ff., + 2ff.. Signed by Alberto Sangorski at the colophon. Sangorski's unique vellum manuscript suitably echoes the romantic aesthetic championed by Shelley's poetry. Each of the four miniatures emphasizes the influence of nature, either by literally or figuratively minimizing the stature of the human figure (as in..... More
Evanston, IL: Schori Press, 1963. (58)pp. One of 600 copies. Signed by Ward Schori. Printed in blue on silver-flecked paper with borders of wavy blue lines. The frontispiece drawing of a baby asleep on a crescent moon, which is repeated several times throughout the book, is also incorporated in the..... 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
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
