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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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
Worcester, VT: Dragon Dance Theatre, 1993. Folio. (15)ff. One of sixty copies, signed by the artist, Sam Kerson. Illustrated with fifteen linocuts, printed in black & white by the Montreal-based artist Sam Kerson. The linocuts depict scenes related to Vermont’s involvement in the Underground Railroad. Vermont has a long history..... More
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (c. 1900). 64mo. 512pp. Engraved frontispiece shows the Burns monument and the new Brig O'Doon, located in Ayr, Scotland. A complete anthology of Burns' poetry, a testament to his legacy among the Scots. This copy bound by G. T. Bagguley, and later finished by Thomas..... 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
London: Soncino Press, 1930. Small quarto. xl, (3), 209pp. One of nine copies printed on Roman Vellum, signed by the editor, Cecil Roth, and the illustrator, Albert Rutherston. With fourteen full-page stencilled illustrations, plus seventy small ornaments, all in color. Rutherston's bright depictions of the Passover story, including illustrations of..... More
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
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
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
(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
NY: Stephanie Brody-Lederman, 2018. Octavo. 22pp. Unique, initialled by the artist, Stephanie Brody-Lederman. Mixed media on heavy paper, including acrylic paint, graphite, ribbons, pompoms, and dice. Fashioned after a didactic sketchbook, in which the artist must follow directives to draw certain objects, such as an orange vase, a white flower..... 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, 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
Praha [Prague]: Technologicko-Prumyslovým Museem [Technological Industrial Museum], 1914. 16mo. (v), 10, (4)pp. A student production, heavily ornamented with Cubist design principles, including three initials, a woodcut illustration, black decorative borders, fully illustrated endpapers, and an spectacular gilt cover design. The raw, saturated decorations reflect the weight of the book's text..... 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
Paris: Chez le Fuel, c. 1820. 24mo. 7ff., including title page, and pages for every month, each decorated with an engraving within a roundel. This is followed by a folded palimpsest of heavy coated ivory-colored paper with the days of the week printed in gold. This appears to have been..... More
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851. Small octavo. (viii), 100pp. Heavily ornamented with illuminated initials, borders, and tail-pieces. The title page is in full color, with a lush border featuring miniatures of the masks of comedy and tragedy and a portrait of Shakespeare, plus an illustration of Macbeth behind..... 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
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: Louis Janet, (c. 1830). 64mo. 48pp., + engraved title page and six plates of engravings. A collection of titularly genteel love poetry, mostly penned by a Bernard whose brief biography appears as an introduction. The inserted plates show lovers in pastoral settings. Bound in a glass binding, with spine..... More
Paris: Louis Janet, (c. 1820). 48mo. (ii), 48, (24)pp. + 6 plates. Engraved plates, title-page image, and decorative borders adorn this selection of pastoral and romantic poems. Throughout each verse are images of the lush French countryside, underscoring the expansive spiritual and emotional longing between lovers. After the poems is..... More
