We close out our series of lists featuring books-about-books with a nod to the self-referential nature that these works tend to take. The preservation of stories about printing, typography, bookbinding, and book collecting lies at the core of this selection, covering a variety of bookish worlds, from the booksellers imagined in Henry Morris’s San Serriffe, to the Typestickers of Los Angeles. The high level of production also befits the texts they contain: consider George Parker Winship’s address on William Caxton, delivered to the Club of Odd Volumes in 1908 and printed at the Doves Press; or the indulgently extravagant entrée into the world of books and book collecting that is The Colophon—available here as a nearly complete run and with the first part in original slipcases.
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
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
(N.p.): San Serriffe Publishing Company, 2001. Octavo. 95pp. One of 200 copies, printed by the Foolscap Press. A roundup of the booksellers associated with the press, including Ki-flongian Booksellers, Cloacina Books, and Exterminator Books. Replete with tipped-in samples and photographs, bound-in title pages and keepsakes, a large fold-out title page..... More
Los Angeles: Rounce & Coffin Club, 1960. Octavo. xii, 62pp. Inscribed by Cheney and by the author of the preface, H. Richard Archer. A candid recounting of the joys and pitfalls of presswork in southern California. Cheney revels in the identity of the "typesticker": a printer who fits "easily and..... More
Athens, GA: Press of the Nightowl, 1990. Octavo. 34pp. One of thirty-three copies. Signed by the author, Alexander Lawson, and the printer, Dwight E. Agner. Four wood engravings by Joseph Sanders, one of which is the frontispiece. A brief history of the function and techniques of type compositors. Fine in..... 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
(Houston, TX: ImpPress, 1965). Small octavo. (12)ff. One of 150 copies, signed by the artist and printer, Dugald Stermer. A quirky type specimen book printed on various colors of paper, in many colors of ink. With full-page illustrations, including a cartoonish frontispiece of a man with a printing press in..... More
