In their broadest sense, the book arts are at the core of our inventory. To be sure, the category encompasses the specialties that you see on our homepage, such as Fine Printing, Fine Binding, and Illustrated Books. However, it also includes such things as writing books and calligraphy, fore-edge paintings, books on papermaking, and leaf books.
Read more about one of the book arts, Fore-edge Painting
(Portland, OR: Chamberlain Press, 1980-85). Small octavo. (112)ff. A collection of 105 engravings, all signed and numbered in pencil by Sarah Chamberlain. These hail from her major publications printed in the early 1980s via the Chamberlain Press: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1979), A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go (1981)..... More
Oxford: Alembic Press, 1992. Octavo. (38)ff. One of 150 copies. Contains a brief introduction on the development of the firm, and seventeen tipped-in samples of marbled papers produced for specific purposes, for customers ranging from Harrod's to a woman who wanted her lampshades to look like the feathers of her..... More
Greenbrae, CA: Allen Press, 1988. Small quarto. 136pp. One of ten copies bound in full vellum by Jenifer Lindsay. Handsomely illustrated with black & white drawings by Michèle Forgeois. Calligraphic variations on the letters "R" and "J" by Mark Livingston are printed in the margins in lush purple, orange, green..... More
Fairfax, CA: Jungle Garden Press, 1991. Oblong 24mo. (14)pp., accordion-fold. One of 55 copies designed, printed, and bound by Marie Dern at the Jungle Garden Press. A tongue-in-cheek printer's alphabet, with large initials in, appropriately, Caslon type. The initials are accompanied by humorous representations of the letters printed using numerous..... More
Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harvard College, 1968. Square 16mo. (8)ff. One of 500 copies, signed by the artist. Marie Angel, who also contributed illustrations to A. Colish's 1974 edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, here adorns Dickinson's two poems with a diverse array of butterflies set softly..... More
(Melbourne): Masterthief, 2009. Folio. (44)pp. One of ten copies, signed by the artists, Peter Lyssiotis and Theo Strasser. An imposing work, monumental in many senses, Remembrance matches Robert Colvin’s poetry with hand-painted pages and original screenprints to underscore the consequences of actions, especially those by the military. It demands a...... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1980. Tall quarto. Unpaginated. One of 275 copies, signed by Andrew Hoyem, the printer, and by Ray Bradbury, who wrote the Introduction. A strikingly visual presentation of this science fiction classic. Illustrated with die cutouts of geometric shapes, all of which have been hand-colored. Bound concertina-style..... More
1977. Original conté pencil illustration, signed by the artist, Bob Ziering, depicting a Black youth breaking a chain, under which reads “No More” in block letters. The youth’s hands are drawn together as a single line, connected by a square border that immediately draws the eye to the desperate strength..... More
Mission, British Columbia, Canada: Barbarian Press, 2013. Folio. (50)pp., + 134ff. plates. One of 120 copies of the regular edition. Illustrated with 134 examples of Brett's wood engravings. Number four in the Barbarian Press Endgrain Edition series of books on individual wood engravers. This volume includes an autobiographical Introduction by..... More
Mission, British Columbia: Barbarian Press, 2017. 24mo. (79)pp., + six loose plates. One of 60 deluxe copies. Engravings by John Lawrence printed largely from wood, with some detailed spots in larger engravings from polymer plates, all in the Press' customary assortment of bright colors. Texts from over forty songs and..... More
(Torrance): Labyrinth Editions, 1977. Translated by Enrique Sacerio-Gari. Tall quarto. (15)ff., frenchfold. One of 100 copies. Neruda's long poem celebrating the joys of the printed letter arranged in concrete typography by Bigus, who learned the craft of printing under the tutelage of William Everson and Jack Stauffacher at U.C. Santa..... More
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
North Hills: Bird & Bull Press, 1972. Oblong 16mo. 70pp. One of 140 copies. An early title, containing six articles on printing, papermaking, etc. Bound in vellum-backed pastepaper boards. Little rubbing to corners, else near fine. Prospectus laid-in. More
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1984. Scroll measuring 122 by 3 1/4 inches. One of 300 copies, printed in black with blue cherubim as ornament. This speech by Adelman was read at a meeting of the Friends of the Bryn Mawr College Library on April 3, 1981. In his..... More
North Hills: Bird & Bull Press, 1971. Quarto. 67pp. One of 255 copies. Contains some amusing essays on paper-making, and some paper samples, including two made "with the cooperation of certain local wasps." A brief history of printing gives credit to "a man named Gutenberg, probably a foreigner," who "wanted..... More
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1987. Oblong octavo. 77pp.(25) ff. One of 325 copies. The first third of this handsome book consists of correspondence between Hans Schmoller and Morris dealing with the problems of the book itself. The second part by Tanya Schmoller is text about the Chinese tea chest..... More
Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1984. Quarto. x, 49, 24 pp. + (31)ff. One of 500 copies. Contains three foldout plates, nineteen color reproductions of Japanese watercolors, and 30 illustrated facsimile pages of an eighteenth century Japanese papermaking manual. These woodcut facsimiles are printed on handmade Japanese gampi paper..... More
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1985. Octavo. 161pp. One of 325 copies. Illustrated with eighteen black & white photographs and drawings, fourteen full-color photographs of Kinder's bindings, and thirteen pages of black & white impressions of Kinder's bookbinding stamps. A thorough examination of one of America's finest binders and of..... More
Skokie, IL: Black Cat Press, (1977). Two volumes. 96pp., continuously paginated. One of 249 copies. Printed in two colors, with sample pages and pressmarks. Introduction by Richard Cady. Bound by Bela Blau in brown leather, gilt-stamped. Housed in a marbled paper slipcase. Fine. (2 3/4 by 2 1/4; 70x55 mm)..... More
Connecticut River Valley, MA: SAW Press, 2018. Octavo. (22)ff. One of fifty copies, signed by the artist, Shirley Ann Whitaker. Ashes to Ashes was originally a performance piece held in 2016, in which Whitaker organized the first-ever funeral service to commemorate and mourn the thousands of African Americans who have..... More
1930-1950. Forty-six quarto volumes, including the following: the original series (1930-1935) in twenty volumes; New Series (1935-1938) in twelve volumes; The Annual of Bookmaking (1938); New Graphic Series (1939) in four volumes; The New Colophon (1948-1950) in eight volumes; and the index to the original series. Lacks the New Colophon..... 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
(Paris: c. 1910-1914). 6ff., loose. A collection of six designs for binding elements, three completed in pencil and watercolor, and the others incorporating pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, and gilt accents. Two of the designs are monogrammed "CM" for Charles Meunier and were likely made into bindings by the bindery 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
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
