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 ...
Read more about Fine Bindings
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
London: Saunders and Otley, 1836-38. Three octavo vols. 304; 304; 304pp. Engraved titles with vignettes, as well as nearly 150 engravings throughout the set. A testament to British literature and artistry, with the poetic pillars of Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, Shakespeare, Dryden, Burns, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, and myriad other writers comprising..... More
London: J. Murray, 1778. Octavo. xlv, 256pp. This copy is extra-illustrated with four inserted plates by Bartolozzi, which are printed in bistre. Bound in full vellum by Edwards of Halifax. Both covers are underpainted in black, with a bucolic scene of a couple courting beneath a tree in a park..... More
London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1842. Small quarto. xlviii, 320pp. Enriched throughout with engravings that bring both pastoral and romantic themes to bear on Thomson's celebrated poetic cycle. Completed by some of the most eminent illustrators and artists of the era, including John Bell, Thomas Crewsick, and Thomas Webster..... More
(Rockport, ME): Gehenna Press, 1998. Folio. (65)pp. From an edition of fifty, this is one of ten deluxe copies, accompanied by a page of Hecht's manuscript, three watercolor drawings by Baskin, one of the original woodcut blocks, and a suite of woodcuts printed in black with several hand-colored by Baskin..... More
Paris: Louis Janet, (c. 1830). 48mo. 48pp., + engraved title page and six plates of engravings. A collection of titularly genteel love poetry, mostly penned by “Bernard,” whose brief biography appears as an introduction. The inserted plates show lovers in pastoral settings. Bound in a glass binding, with spine and..... More
Paris: Louis Janet, (c. 1820). 48mo. (ii), 48, (24)pp., + 6 plates. Engraved plates, title-page image, and decorative borders adorn this selection of pastoral and romantic poems. Throughout each verse are images of the lush French countryside, underscoring the expansive spiritual and emotional longing between lovers. After the poems is..... More
(New Britain, CT): Robert E. Massmann, 1980. (6); (6); (10)ff., frenchfold. One of 68 copies printed at Art Press. Fascinating in form and content, this book addresses two great papermakers in an octagonally-shaped book bound as a triple dos-à-dos. The first part is about Hunter, the second about Elliott. The..... More
Sydney: Ant Press, 2019. 16mo. (44)pp. One of six copies, signed by the artist, Monica Oppen. Oppen’s photographs depict the clamor of Sydney’s Central Station, showing all manner of bodies, movements, and faces turned away. In presenting a stream of figures all in a state of transience, all moving from..... More
Poestenkill, NY: Edition Kaldewey, 1986. Triangular small quarto. (28)pp. Of an edition of 50 copies, this is one of thirty regular. Signed by Bun-Ching Lam, whose six etchings render into visual art her original set of musical compositions that accompanied Beckett's poems. The etchings are in unusual shapes, and sometimes..... More
Los Angeles: Kaldewey Press, 1990. Octavo. From an edition of 40, this is one of 20 copies on multi-colored paper, signed by the author. A lecture on the contemporary artist's book, which Kaldewey gave across the country at centers of art like the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and..... More
Postenkill, NY: Edition Kaldewey, 1986 (but 1992). One of seven copies, the smallest limitation of the Press. Images pulped into the paper show the outline of a face in red and, in blue, the Chinese name of Bun-Ching Lam. The accompanying text is a short, but poetic, statement about the..... More
Bellamar, Cuba: Ediciones El Fortín, 2014. Octavo. (10)pp. One of fifty copies. An artist’s book of multi-dimensional, tactile design, layering organic materials, transparent sheets, and tipped-in pages to explore the Jewish-Latin identities of its authors. Illustrations include paper collage, calligraphy, and hand-colored printed drawings, which fold out to reveal scenes..... 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
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
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
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
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
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
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. Folio. xiv, 216pp. First American edition. Illustrated with nearly 150 full-color, full-page photographs, including several fold-out plates. A fine display of the remarkable variety and colorful vitality of this distinguished binder's work. Miura's text, a comprehensive examination of the bookbinder's art, is extensively illustrated..... 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, 1979. Small quarto. (34)pp. From an edition of 350 copies, this is one of 70 bound by Gray Parrot, and is lettered and signed by Moser. Eleven wood engravings by Moser, including title-page illustration and tailpiece, all exhibiting aspects of Moser's style. An informative treatise on the..... More
Easthampton, MA: Emanon Press, 1981. The poetry of Neruda is illustrated by Debra Weier with delicate, intricate, abstract etchings, with skillfully incorporated elements of collage, ragged-edged paper overlays, and two pop-ups. Each poem, printed in two languages, is an ode to the sky and earth and is keyed to a...... More
