Antwerp: J.E. Buschmann, 1896. Octavo. 61pp. From an edition of 112, this is one of twelve copies for private circulation, and signed by the printer, Buschmann. Illustrated throughout by with eight fine full-page woodcut plates, several text figures, head- and tailpieces, and decorated initial letters printed in black and brown... More
(N.p.): Paul Hayden Duensing, (1969). One of 300 copies. Broadside measuring 31 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches (800x317mm), printed by offset. A selection of typefaces offered by the Typefoundry, including borders, ornaments, Hieroglyphics, and Greek, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, and Cherokee alphabets. One faint spot, else fine. More
Paris: H. Piazza, (1919). Quarto. 148pp., + (27)ff. plates. French edition. One of 1,500 copies. The twenty-seven color plates by Edmund Dulac are tipped-in with tissue guards. Floral and foliate borders in yellow surround the text and plates, referencing Eastern illuminated manuscripts. According to White, the "bright, enamel-like" colors of... More
London: Hodder and Stoughton, (1909). Quarto. (3), (74)ff. One of 750 deluxe copies, signed by the illustrator. Complete with twenty enchanting tipped-in color plates surrounded by decorative borders printed in bronze ink. The text is also enclosed by ornamental borders. Bound in decorative gilt-stamped vellum, bearing the title in Arabic-inspired... More
NY: Brentano's, (1920). Quarto. 151pp. One of 100 copies, signed by the illustrator, Edmund Dulac. With ten mounted color plates by Dulac. Rosenthal, a Parisian jeweler, commissioned Dulac to illustrate his work on the history and intrigue of the pearl. Drawing his inspiration from the Middle and Far East, these... More
Guy Oliver Duncan, (n.d.). Broadside measuring 21 7/16 by 13 3/4 inches. One of twenty-five numbered copies, signed by the author and printer, Guy Oliver Duncan. Contains six poems by Duncan: "Feelings of a Lost Conviction," "(I see nothing)," "The Rising Sun," "The Spires," "Vanda," and "The Call of the... More
(Germany: c. 1511). Woodcut measures 12 1/4 by 9 inches, in a handsome 18 1/2 by 15 1/4-inch frame. This original woodcut print by one of the masters of the Northern Renaissance is part of a series of illustrations depicting scenes from The Life of the Virgin. According to Meder... More
NY: E. P. Dutton and Company, (c. 1870's). 16mo. (62)pp., including illustrations and advertisements. Part of the "Our Boy's Little Library" series. Copiously illustrated with nearly forty black & white engravings and sixteen three-line initials. Artists include noted English engravers Kate Greenaway, Robert Paterson, William Luson Thomas, and George Pearson... More
N.P. n.d. Black & white photograph measuring 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches. A posed portrait showing a younger William Addison Dwiggins, likely in his early 40s, standing in front of a garden holding a hoe. The photographer is credited on the verso as C. H. Marble. Very fine. More
(Boston): Boston Public Library, 1974. 12mo. 24pp. With a frontispiece portrait of Dwiggins. Fine copy in wrappers, illustrated with a Dwiggins ornament on front cover. "Abbe Talk, Boston Library '74" written in pen on front cover. More
(Hingham, MA: Püterschein-Hingham, 1952). One of 100 copies. A woodcut in four colors cut by W. A. Dwiggins in 1921 and printed for the first time by Dorothy Abbe in 1952 from the original blocks. The lovely woodcut, in blue, yellow, orange, and black, illustrates Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka, which tells... More
(Hingham, MA): c. 1930s. A black & white photograph of a marionette made by W. A. Dwiggins, measuring 10 by 10 1/2 inches. The marionette is a likeness of F. Morton Smith, a Boston lawyer who was married to Margaret Coatsworth, the sister of the children's book author and illustrator... More
NY: Limited Editions Club, 1932. Quarto. 23pp.,(4)ff. One of 452 copies signed by Dwiggins. Dwiggins facetiously discusses the atrocities of the present design of currency and postage stamps, proposing new ones based on those issued by the fictional country of the Antipodes. Includes plates of Antipodean stamps, and a currency... More
Paris: Simon du Bois for Geoffrey Tory, 1527. Octavo. 140ff. With twelve woodcut illustrations from thirteen blocks, Tory's "pot cassé" device on title page and colophon, and each page with a four-piece border in twenty-six distinct combinations. The lower blocks of several borders feature coats of arms, including those of... More
W. Somerville, MA: H. A. Chamberlin, (c. 1880). A child's spelling aid, with twenty-six color illustrations of animals and people. Printed on heavy card stock and edged in metal, the disk consists of five concentric circles. The outermost circle bears illustrations and labels of animals, such as a lion, an... More
NY: Elston Press, 1901. Small quarto. (xv), 68pp. One of 485 copies on Holland hand-made paper, in boards with vellum spine. Unopened. Decorated with initials by H. M. O'Kane, floral devices, and a printer's device on the title page. The text is a 1345 treatise on book collecting written by... More
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
Peking, China: Lotus Court, 1943. Quarto. (xvi), 46pp. Illustrated with forty-six tipped-in woodblock reproductions of traditional Chinese embroidery patterns, printed in red on handmade paper, tipped in. Frontispiece is a real tissue embroidery pattern backed with red paper for support. A fascinating reference book on Chinese symbolism. The Foreword lists... More
Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1903-04; 1909-14. Twelve octavo volumes. Autograph Centenary Edition. One of 600 copies signed by the publisher, and with an autograph manuscript leaf by Emerson bound in to the first volume. The original leaf, which has been expertly and invisibly repaired along the crease, is from "Man The... More
(N.p. c. 1860). Octavo. Single-sheet valentine. This "cobweb"-style valentine was so-named for its intricate lacework and circular central device, which, in this instance, is decorated with flowers. This circular element pulls out, creating a delicate, detailed peep show labeled, "Road to Happiness," which depicts two lovers sitting on a bench... More
1860. Single leaf measuring 5 by 7 3/4 inches. A drawing of a young man and woman glancing shyly at each other, with their noses drawn in an angular fashion so as to point at each other. Below the figures is penned words “i cant [sic] stop long this time.”... More
(The Netherlands: c. 1890). A late nineteenth-century chromolithographed and embossed Dutch postcard, measuring 5 3/8 by 3 1/2 inches (137x88mm). The postcard is made up of two layers, between which spin three wheels printed with the days of the week, dates, and months. The front of the card shows three... More
Argus Books. Broadside measuring 25 by 19 inches. A reproduction of a notice posted by order of the Sacramento City Settlers' Association on June 14, 1850 warning the unwary of "a number of men with remarkable principles, who go among those who have newly arrived and offer to sell or... More
(c. 1940-1945). Oblong 24mo. (30)ff. An autograph book made by Albert "Al" Cummings between 1940 and 1945. Includes messages in morse code, poems (good and bad), and cartoons from friends, neighbors, sailors on the SS Fairfax, and soldiers from the 32nd Ordnance Company identified as being from all around New... More
Boston: Damrell & Moore, 1854. 12mo. (8)ff. An 1850’s advertising pamphlet, printed by Damrell & Moore for the Oak Hall Clothing House in Boston. Contains a group of poems about the advantages of shopping at this “unrivalled emporium for gentlemen’s, youth’s, & little children’s ready-made clothing.” With seventeen wood engravings... More
