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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Amsterdam: Nederlandse Handboekbindersen Boekbandontwerpersgroep, 1985. Quarto. 60, (12)pp. Illustrated in color and black & white throughout. Catalogue of the competition "Bindings in Paper," which was organized by the Dutch designer bookbinder's group, Nederlandse Handboekbindersen Boekbandontwerpersgroep. Introductory essays by Dr. Jan Storm van Leeuwen and Elizabet Nijhoff Asser. Minor edgewear and... 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
NY: Museum of Contemporary Crafts, 1964. Folio. (52)pp. Illustrated throughout in black & white. Catalogue for an exhibition of 160 designer bindings held 17 January-23 February 1964 at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City. Some edgewear and fading to covers, else near fine in pink and brown lithographed stiff wrappers. 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
New York: 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... More
Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, 1960. 45pp. Printed by Enschedé en Zonen in Holland. The text of the book is accompanied by several full-page illustrations printed in green, along with a frontispiece portrait of the author. Featuring a designer binding by the renowned English binder James Brockman. A church... More
London: Folio Society, 2013. Octavo. 107pp. Illustrated with seven bold portraits of Holly Golightly by Canadian illustrator Karen Klassen. The collage-like images reflect the artist's fashion background, layering textures and patterns, such as scraps of lace and fabrics, with paint strokes and pencil lines. The multidimensionality of the illustrations is... More
London: The Medici Society Ltd. 1912. Small quarto. xvii, 113pp. From an edition of 512 copies, this is number two of twelve printed on vellum. Illustrated with twelve mounted color plates by Sir William Russell Flint. These reproductions of watercolor paintings were originally grouped together at the back of the... More
Paris: Les Livres de Louis Jou, 1927. Folio. 152 pp. From an edition of 258 copies, this one of 225 on papier vergé. Illustrated with a woodcut portrait of the author on the title-page as well as numerous woodcut headlines, tail pieces, and initial letters all by Louis Jou. Specially... More
(Sherman Oaks, CA): Joseph D'Ambrosio, 1989. Octavo. 129 pp. One of 75 copies signed by the author/artist on the title-page. A bibliography which describes 44 of Joseph D'Ambrosio's works, illustrated with 60 tipped-in color photographs. Extremely fine in a binding that features a hinged gray leather spine, and a front... 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
(Shaker Heights, OH): Wind and Harlot Press, 1986. 12pp. One of twenty-three copies. Keats's ballad of a knight wooed by a beautiful and wild "faery's child" and then abandoned by her, haggard and pale, on the cold hillside. In a designer binding by Paul Delrue depicting the setting at the... More
New York: Abrams and the Grolier Club, (2007). Small quarto. 215pp. One of 250 deluxe copies, of which 200 were for sale, signed by the authors, Anne C. Bromer and Julian I. Edison, and including a facsimile of the book in miniature format. This unique set features a remarkable pair... More
(Hammersmith): Doves Press, (1907). Octavo. (342)pp. One of 300 copies printed by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker at the Doves Press. The main text body is printed in black; shoulder notes, chapter headings, and Edward Johnston's calligraphic initials are printed in red. Finely bound at the Doves Bindery in... 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, Massachusetts: 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
Oxford: University Press, 1838. Two near-miniature volumes. Unpaginated. Concealed under the gilt fore-edges of the two volumes are beautifully executed paintings by Martin Frost. The fore-edge painting on the first volume, which contains the Old Testament, depicts the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest. Built in the Moorish Revival style in... 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
(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
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
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
London: Trübner, 1879. Quarto. civ, 534pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece map in red and black, defining Shropshire County. This British linguistic text conceals a large, bright fore-edge painting underneath its gilt edge, depicting eighteenth-century views of New York and Philadelphia harbors. The scenes are framed inside two oval vignettes, depicting... More
Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1989. (32)ff. This Gorey rarity features a one-of-a-kind designer binding by Gabrielle Fox, one of the leading artisans in binding and conservation. Signed by Fox and the artist, Edward Gorey. With twenty-nine illustrations accompanied by rhyming couplets, Q.R.V is an homage to Isaac Watts, and... More
Mount Vernon, New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1925. Octavo. 51pp. One of 500 copies. A one-act play, set in Medieval Spain, by the English poet and dramatist T. Sturge Moore. Designed by Bruce Rogers and bound in full golden morocco by Peter Franck, who at one time executed tooled leather... More
