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 ...
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Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, 1973. 55pp. The text is printed with large ornamental initials in red by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen. In a striking designer binding by Stephen Conway, evoking ancient wood and stone. Conway writes that his bindings "have a tactile quality, in keeping with the three..... More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1973. 55pp. From an edition of 1,500 copies, this is one of thirty-four in a special binding executed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Printed with large ornamental initials in red by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen. Tiny book label to rear paste-down, else fine in burgundy morocco..... More
Venezia: Antonio Zatta, 1757-1758. Four quarto volumes: L’Inferno, Il Purgatorio, Il Paradiso, Prose & Rime Liriche. (16), xlviii, ccccviii; ccccxiii, (3); cccclii, (4), 104; xii, 408, (4), 264, lxxxiv, (2)pp. Illustrated throughout with 114 engraved plates, by F. Giampiccoli, J. Magnini, F. Rizzi, and B. Crivelli, after works by Italian..... More
London: Basilisk Press, 1979. Quarto. 180pp., + (10)ff. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of twenty-five with ten original wood engravings bound-in subsequent to the text, five of which are signed by the book's illustrator, Edward Gordon Craig. For decades, Craig nurtured an interest in Daniel Defoe's..... 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
(London): Jo Bird, (2009). 48mo. (22)pp., accordion-fold. 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
Paris: P. Blanchard, 1810. 189pp. Engraved frontispiece, after the painting "La Vierge à l'Enfant avec le petit saint Jean-Baptiste" by Raphael, and an engraved title page, showing a young boy dressed in a tunic and praying in a garden. A charming volume replete with prayers for all situations and events..... More
Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1989. (32)ff. From an edition of 400 copies, this is one of 110 hand-colored in metallic casein by the artist, and signed by him below the colophon. This Gorey rarity is bound in a one-of-a-kind designer binding by Brother Edgard Claes, a binder known for..... More
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Small quarto. (iv), 361pp. Morison's thorough treatise on the sociopolitical evolutions of script styles, specially bound by Garth While in full vellum. While's clever take on Morison's text sets the title and a short description over a fragmented manuscript design, all painted, with the fragments shaded..... More
Colombes, France: Collectif Génération, 1990. With imaginative engraved and blind-stamped illustrations throughout, to accompany Pleynet's modernist text. Many of the pages fold out to give the reader the feeling of discovery and thorough study. Bound in 2015 by Florent Rousseau, one of the few European binders with consistent mastery of..... More
(Watertown, MA): Anne and David Bromer, 1977. (24)pp. The text is printed on Japanese paper with ornamentation in green. Wood engravings by Sarah Chamberlain, as her first miniature book commission. This is the first miniature book published by the Bromers. Midori Kunikata-Cockram captures the whimsical nature of the text, which..... 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
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
Petersham, MA: Lone Oak Press, 2005. Oblong quarto. 89pp. From an edition of fourteen deluxe copies and 70 standard copies, this is one of five deluxe copies chosen to be specially bound for the international traveling exhibit "InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books," and as such, it does not..... More
(Decorah, Iowa: Solmentes Press), 2013. Folio. (39)ff. From an edition of thirty copies, this is one of ten deluxe copies in a stunning designer binding of full white pigskin. At the center of the spine extending over both covers sits an acrylic-painted bowl of chili, garnished with spicy sour cream..... More
Decorah, IA: Solmentes Press, 2017. Oblong small quarto. (68)pp. From an edition of forty copies, this is one of five deluxe copies. Signed by artist at colophon. Thirty-six woodcut and linocut images together with separate blueprint for a pizza oven. Together, the illustrations create a visual narrative of how Esslemont..... More
Kadan, Czech Republic: Jana Pribikova, 2015. (38)pp. One of six copies. Signed by Pribikova at the colophon. A concise history of Dutch windmills, with information on their locations, energy production, and various types. Delightfully bound in green morocco with red, yellow, and purple leather strips inlaid on spine over exposed..... More
NY: Macmillan and Company, 1894. 12mo. 274pp. A unique copy with beautifully executed original pen and ink drawings throughout showing the sights and landmarks of Shakespeare's country. Profusely illustrated with hand-drawn vignettes of the thatched cottages of Stratford-upon-Avon, landscape vistas of Warwick and Windsor, and other known British locations. The..... More
Alford, MA: 1962. Small quarto. 28ff. One of forty copies. Etched title page and twenty-six fine etchings by Fink, ranging thematically from portraits to botany to insects. Many of Fink's etchings have a decidedly Baskinesque aesthetic, but Fink's circle centered primarily in New York, where he was friendly with Jack..... More
Leipzig: Robert Crayen, n.d. (c. 1830). Two oblong octavo volumes comprising seven parts. (118); (120); (122); (122); (120); 120; (ii), 120; (iv), (124)pp. A collection of sheet music and lyrics for pianoforte gathered from a variety of composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. This set features wrap-around fore-edge paintings by..... More
London: W. Bulmer, 1795; 1796. Quarto. Two books bound together in one volume: xx, 76; xv, vii, 126pp. First editions thus. With a fore-edge painting by the "double-line" painter depicting the pastoral village of Lissoy where Oliver Goldsmith spent his youth, standing in for the pseudonymous town of Auburn in..... More
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
Paris: Moreau, (1983). Oblong 12mo. (26) pp. Illustrated by Baltazar. From an edition of 220 copies, this is one of forty signed by the author and by the illustrator, and hand-colored. Reproduced entirely by serigraphy, the text is from the author's own manuscript. The abstract black and white illustrations have..... More
NY: Russell Maret, 2009. Quarto. (9)ff. One of 100 copies, signed by the translator, Bruce Whiteman. The Latin text is opposite Whiteman's English translation, which is set in a new type, Cancellaresca Milanese, designed specifically for this edition. Bound in handmade Nepalese wrappers with paper label at upper cover. Fine..... 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
