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
Paris: Marcilly, (c. 1830). 127pp. A beautiful little book of hours for young people, with engraved title and five plates, the most charming showing David dancing and playing his harp, as he leads the procession of the Ark. Contains the Order of the Mass and various services in French, and..... More
Wellington, New Zealand: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1962-1965. 526; 567; 559pp. All with illustrations throughout. The Proverbs and Place Names are reprinted from "regular" volumes at the time still in print. The Gospels is the first Lilliput edition, published by permission of the British Foreign Bible Society, first publishers of..... More
Kentfield, CA: Allen Press, 1972. Quarto. 79pp, unsewn as issued. One of 140 copies printed in four colors on handmade paper. Kazantzakis, best known for his novel Zorba the Greek, here mythologizes Columbus in the form of a play. Fine in stiff yellow wrappers, housed in a turquoise cloth dropback..... 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
(Portugal: c. 1885). Oblong octavo. (27)ff. First edition of this luxurious, allegorical alphabet by Godinho, with a full-page lithograph for each letter. The subjects are often highly symbolic, such as a soldier inside the letter G for "Guerra", an odalisque sleeping in the N for "Nudez", or a modern woman..... More
London: Econasign, 1929. Small quarto box. Contains four instruction and promotional leaflets, a booklet folder with ten plastic stencils for capitals, lowercase letters, numbers, mathematical symbols, and borders, two brushes, a brass straightedge, a felt dampener, and red and black paints. The set supplies the business owner or graphic designer..... More
Brooklyn: Angelica Press, 1975. Four folio volumes, each unbound as issued. One of 220 numbered copies printed by Dennis and Marilyn Grastorf. The titles include: "A History of Wood Types"; "How to Print Wood Type," with illustrations by Marilyn Grastorf; "Forty-nine Fonts of Wood Type"; and "Posters." The type specimens..... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2003. Quarto. xxi, 101pp. From an edition of 400 copies, this is one of 200 with a photographic portrait of the author by Edmund Shea and a signed chromolithograph by Wayne Thiebaud. The portrait is printed here for the first time. Preface by Ron Loewinsohn, who..... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1993. Large quarto. 143pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the author and the artist. Illustrated throughout with fifteen drawings by Stan Washburn. The second in Arion's drama series. A very fine copy in pictorial boards and goatskin spine, with a mylar wrapper. Lacks accompanying CD..... More
Mission, BC: Barbarian Press, 1994. Small quarto. (384)pp. From an edition of 430 copies, this is one of 250 in quarter cloth with patterned paper covers. Essays on wood engraving in Canada and in the USA are followed by approximately 150 examples of the artists' work. Text, including biographical notes..... 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
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1982. Octavo. 40pp. One of 250 copies. A comprehensive guide to bookbinding techniques and terminology for the layperson collector. Backed in cloth with red paper over boards. Fine. 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
(North Hills): Bird & Bull Press, 1980. Octavo. 40pp. One of 350 copies, each copy numbered "1". A clever and entertaining spoof by Henry Morris of several contemporary private presses, including his own Bird & Bull. Fine in cloth-backed decorated boards. More
North Hills: Bird & Bull Press, 1982. Octavo. 137pp. One of 500 copies. Facsimiles of two important essays on printing by Richard Atkins and the first specimen book by Caslon; introduced and commented upon by Cary S. Bliss. Very fine in tan buckram, with title-label on spine. Prospectus laid-in. (Bird..... More
Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1985. Octavo. (17)pp. One of 300 copies. Designed by Abe Lerner. A transcription of "an imperceptibly edition version of a talk given April 5, 1982" to the Friends of the Book Arts Press at Columbia University. Spine sunned, else near fine in tan wrappers..... 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
(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
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1990. Quarto. 64pp. One of 230 copies. A miscellany of amusing satires on many aspects of the world of fine printing, with cartoon-like line drawings. Includes "Meet Me at the Fair" and "Scouts' Honor" by Sidney Berger, both of which are signed by the author..... More
North Hills: Bird & Bull Press, 1975. Oblong 16mo. 62pp. One of "approximately 215 copies." Contains 24 tipped-in samples of colorful handmade paste papers. An account of methods and materials is illustrated with photographs. Bound in paste paper boards backed in vellum, gilt. Minor rubbing to edges, faint soiling to..... More
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1989. Octavo. 86pp. One of 300 copies. Printers, papermakers, binders, and booksellers issued such tokens from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Fully illustrated with photographic reproductions of tokens and engravings. Some sunning to blue morocco spine, else fine. The tokens are contained in a...... More
(N.p.): Bird & Bull Press, 1991. Octavo. 82pp. One of 250 copies. Determined to "preserve worthwhile skills and artifacts from the past," Iris Nevins has focused on the art of marbling. "Many wonderful intricate patterns fell out of use after about 1870," and Spanish marbling is among the most difficult..... More
