Paris: Gumuchian, (c. 1930s). Quarto. (181)pp. + 135ff. of plates. One of 1000 copies. A catalogue of fine bindings from this famed Parisian bookseller, profusely illustrated with full-page black and white illustrations including XX color plates. In original dust wrapper, with the English titling: "Fine Bindings." This title also appears... More
Limoges: Dalpayrat et Depelley, (1886). Three 16mo. volumes, each with an engraved frontispiece of Christ on the Cross. 124; 124; 124pp. The text blocks are bordered on two sides by engraved devices with a floral and animal motif. The first and third volumes are beautifully bound in blue morocco with... More
London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. 1901. 149pp. + (1)p. ads. One of the "Midget" series of miniature books published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. With portrait frontispiece and fifteen plates. Light soiling to cover, small ownership inscription to front endpaper, else fine in cream boards with red and... More
(N.p. c. 1886). A signed original drawing in ink over pencil by Birch, who is best known for illustrating Burnett’s classic work for children, Little Lord Fauntleroy, published in 1886. Fauntleroy is immediately recognizable in his plumed hat and lace-trimmed velvet suit, standing near a little girl in a costume... More
(North Hills): Bird & Bull Press, 1967. Octavo. 121pp. From an edition of 500 copies, this is an out-of-series copy in a 1968 trial binding by Jean Millard. According to a penciled note on the front endpaper, there were two copies bound thus, and the note mentioned that "L. Schlosser... More
(London): Jo Bird, (2009). 48mo. (22)pp., accordionfold. A one-of-a-kind artist's book, signed by the artist, printer, and binder, Jo Bird. Folding out from right to left, the leporello is comprised of twenty-two linocuts depicting the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each calligraphic letter is printed in black ink onto swaths... More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, (1961). 30 pp. One of "a limited edition printed for friends at Christmas," with just fifty copies offered for sale. Printed in black with orange printer's ornaments. Bound in quarter green morocco and decorative paper gilt-stamped with tiny stars. A.e.g. Spine a trifle sunned, else fine... More
Skokie, IL: Black Cat Press, (1976). (30)pp. One of 249 copies. Printed in red and black. Very fine in maroon leather with single gilt rule border and titling on the front. (1 1/4 by 1; 31x25mm). More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, 1962. 84pp. One of 300 copies, designed and with typography by Norman Forgue. A humorous essay about famous book collectors, many of them authors, who allowed their delight in collecting to carry them beyond the limits of moderation into gluttony. Very fine in gilt-stamped green leather... More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, (1962). 32pp., frenchfold. One of 275 copies. The book consists of quotations from participants of the War. A fine copy in gilt stamped blue leather. (2 5/8 by 2; 67x51mm). More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, (1971). (x)pp., (16)ff., (6)pp., frenchfold. One of 200 copies, with an introduction by the proprietor of the Press, Norman W. Forgue. Printed on Japanese paper with the fifteen Bewick vignettes printed from the original blocks in the collection of R. Hunter Middleton. This title is the... More
(San Francisco: Black Stone Press, 1980). Oblong 24mo. (30)pp. One of fifty copies, signed by author Kate Pond and printer Shelley Hoyt-Koch. Each letter, printed in red, is accompanied by an illustration in black. Rhymes by Kate Pond, clever and at times unexpected, run across each page spread (e.g. "HORSE... More
Florence, Italy: Michael Angelino Press, (c. 1930s). Small quarto. 264pp. With woodcut cover illustration and five erotic, half-tone reproductions of paintings by Mahlon Blaine. This book is part of the swelling trend in the 1930's for "privately printed" erotic books, which would often be published by anonymous or pseudonymous authors... More
(NY): Center for the Book Arts, (2007). Octavo. 18ff. One of thirty-nine copies. A collection of thirteen poems from Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, beautifully printed by nine compositor-printers at the Center for the Book Arts. Each printer’s work occupies a single bifolium sheet, forming nine loose signatures. All... More
(Los Angeles: Blau, Bela, 1965). 47pp. One of 1,000 copies printed on pure vellum by Bela Blau. With a frontispiece portrait of Kennedy, and with each page handsomely printed within a gold-ruled frame. Very fine in gilt-stamped vellum, with a vellum-covered slipcase, which has a split starting to one corner... More
Los Angeles: Cheney, William, 1965. 8pp. First edition. Printed by Cheney and bound by Bela Blau for Roy V. Boswell as a keepsake for the Banqueteers Fifth California Antiquarian Book Fair, 1965. Bound in brown calf, gilt-stamped to front cover and spine. A fine copy of a scarce modern miniature... More
1986. Original ink designs for an alphabet formed from cats, signed and dated by the artist. Blegvad was a prolific children's book artist, whose atmospheric ink drawings are often compared to Gorey and Sendak. His illustrations graced more than 100 picture books, of which the best known is probably Mary... More
NY: Null-Q Press, 1968. First American edition. One of 250 copies printed on a mimeograph machine on pulp paper, and stapled. This copy is inscribed and signed by Blish. This novel was first published in the U.K. in 1964, and because no American imprint would agree to publish it in... More
Amsterdam: S. L. van Looy, (1915). Octavo. (28)pp. Pages printed one side only, facing each other. Color lithographs throughout. Bodenheim was a Dutch illustrator known for her silhouettes, which often adorned children's books. She was part of the group known as the Amsterdamse Joffers, a collective of female artists in... More
Parma: Bodoni, 1800. Folio. Three parts in one. 8, xxvii; 14, xliii; 11, xxxiii pp., + (35)ff. Contains thirty-five stipple-engraved plates, all but one in sepia, showing frescoes by the famed Renaissance painter Correggio at the Monastero de San Paolo in Parma. The engravings were done by Francesco Rosaspina after... More
(Parma: Stamperia Reale, 1779). Octavo. xii, 296pp. First edition. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the poetess crowned with a laurel wreath, eleven beautifully-engraved vignettes and twelve culs-de-lamp. This elegantly-printed volume was published in commemoration of the coronation of poet Maria Maddalena Morelli Fernandez with laurels on the Capitol in... More
London: Harding & Lepard, 1827. Two octavo volumes. xiii, 562; 579pp. Fourth edition, greatly enlarged and corrected. Inscribed by the book collector and businessman Albert M. Todd of Kalamazoo, Michigan, to noted librarian William Warner Bishop, who was head of the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan from... More
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1864. Six 12mo. volumes. xii, 1-576; 577-1156; 1157-1756; 1757-2400; 2401-3028; v, 1-336pp. New edition, revised, corrected and enlarged, with an Appendix relating to the books of literary and scientific societies. Lowndes's bibliography, first published in 1834, was the first systematic work of its kind, taking fourteen... More
(Rosemead, CA): Bookhaven Press, 1968. 48pp. One of 500 numbered copies. Illustrated in black & white, with decorations and initials printed in teal. The second publication of the Bookhaven Press, operated by Pall W. Bohne, who wrote, illustrated, printed, and bound the book. Fine in gray mottled paper boards backed... More
San Francisco: Lawton Kennedy, 1958. Small quarto pamphlet. (6)ff. One of 175 copies. A tongue-in-cheek guide to the lexicon of the rare book trade. For example, the entry for "Fore-Edge Painting" states "These are always 'exquisitely executed' even when done by someone's Aunt Esmerelda on a wet Sunday afternoon." Fine... More
