London: Cassell and Company, 1890-1892, 1894. Four volumes of a five volume series. This set is missing Volume 3. Nonetheless, the volumes hold a fascinating array of photographs of many of the luminaries of the time. Each volume contains 36 black and white portraits accompanied by a brief, adulatory biographical piece. Subjects are drawn from many spheres of British society and culture, with an emphasis on royalty, the aristocracy, the stage, and the arts. Among those included are Oscar Wilde, the Prince of Wales, Thomas Hardy, Sarah Bernhardt, Frederic Leighton, George Bernard Shaw, and Czar Nicholas II. These are ex-library volumes with the bookplate of the City of York Public Library affixed to each volumes front pastedown. In what was probably an effort to discourage readers from taking photographs, the library applied an unobtrusive but visible embossed stamp to the margins of the photos. Despite these factors the photographs are still interesting and attractive. Bound in brown cloth with floral borders to front boards and titles in gilt to front and to spines. Some bumping and rubbing, remains of small white stickers at spine bottoms, but otherwise in quite good condition. Some hinges are loose but holding. Save for the small embossed stamps, the photographs are in very good condition. Each volume is 95-96 pages. PHOTO/092608.

Paris: Verve, 1948. Hard Cover. Thin 4to. Beige illustrated jacket with title to front board. A few chips to cover along spine ends. Rubbing to edges and bumping to lower corner of boards and pages. This issue features Pablo Picasso and includes tipped-in full color illustrations. Additional illustrations are printed in black and white. The interior is very clean and bright. A attractive collection of Picasso's work. Unpaginated. ART/063009. Very godd

Oldham: Incline Press, 2008. Hard Cover. 1 of 400 copies. SIGNED BY PRINTER, Graham Moss. Jost Amman (1539 - 1591) was a draftsman for wood-cut illustration who worked as a master printer in Nuremburg. The pictures reproduced in this book are taken from Standbuch which translates from the German to "an accurate description of all the classes on the Earth, high and low, sacred and profane, all arts of hand and commerce, and from the greatest to the least, also of their origin, invention & usage." Fine in green marbled paper covered boards with white title pastedown to spine and front board. Pristine. Printed on Magnani paper with Hyperion type designed by Berthold Wolpe in 1931. Printed by Graham Moss and Christian Brett. Includes woodcut illustrations of various craft workers such as the cook, the needle maker, the typefounder, the wind players, the mirror maker, etc. Also includes an introduction which provides background on Amman, his work, and the thought process behind the creation of this book. 57 pages plus colophon. PRI/043009. Fine

Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing Co., 1926. Hard Cover. SCARCE IN DUST JACKET. This sequel is based on BannermanÕs classic tale of Little Black Sambo. After losing, then recovering all of his clothes in the original story, Black Mumbo, his mother, forbids Sambo from wearing his nice Sunday clothes. Angered by having to wear a grass skirt, Sambo runs away from home and encounters more tigers. Beige paper covered boards with brown title to front board. Light wear to edges of boards and spine ends. The interior is bright and clean with eight color illustrations by Clara Bell Thurston. The black and white illustrations and lettering are by Earnest Vetsch. In a white dust jacket with color illustration of Sambo and blue title to front panel. Pencil marking to bottom edge of jacketÕs front panel and minor wear to edges including chipping to spine ends. Very good in very good dust jacket. [36 pages] CHILD/012009. Very good in very good dust jacket

London: Leonard Smithers, 1897. 1 of 50 large paper copies printed on vellum and signed and numbered by the publisher. There were 500 ordinary copies. As one of only 50 copies, this book is accordingly quite scarce. Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) is the best known illustrator from the British 1890s. He lived a tragically short time, dying of tuberculosis at the age of 25. For this book Beardsley selected the drawings himself, and they include five published for the first time here, including the tailpiece, and the front and back cover designs. VallanceÕs iconography was the first attempt to list the artistÕs works. (Lasner 112). Octavo volume bound in cream paper with gilt title, publisher and illustration on front cover. Gilt title to spine and small gilt illustration on rear cover. The binding is smudged and lightly soiled, with darkening on cover edges. As is typical, the front board is slightly bowed. The binding is otherwise in very good condition. There is a small bookplate affixed to the front paste down, and Òxiv/2243Ó stamped on front free end page. There is no other indication that this book may have once been in an institutional library. The interior pages are clean except for light aging to the margins, not affecting the crisp black and white illustrations. Many of the illustrations are preceded by a page giving the illustrationÕs title and source. A beautiful copy of a book that is rarely available. 212 pages. ILL/012710.

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Hard Cover. FIRST EDITION. PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed Òto C.A. Wylde with the authorÕs best regards May 10, 1899.Ó Becke (1859 - 1913), best known for his short stories and novels about the South Seas, had quite a few of his own nautical adventures. He made many voyages as both a stowaway and a crew member, survived a shipwreck, and associated with pirates, the most notorious of which was ÒBullyÓ Hayes. He wrote over thirty novels, and his short stories appeared in several periodicals, most notably ÒThe Bulletin.Ó The twenty-two seafaring stories in this collection are set in Australia, Polynesia, and other South Sea locales. Inscribed books by Becke are quite scarce. In very good in condition in original black cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Light rubbing to boards, tips of corners exposed, minor wear to spine ends and hinges, and slight cock to spine. Light foxing to end pages and a few creased corners, else the interior is clean. 330 pages. LIT/122908. Very Good

Newcastle on Tyne: Bewick, Longmans, 1824. Eighth Edition. An exceptionally beautiful copy of BewickÕs famous book, filled with his wonderful illustrations of a variety of animals. Bound in later three quarter leather with five raised bands on spine outlined in black, and red leather spine label with gilt title ÒQuadrupedsÓ and author. The front and rear boards are covered in marbled paper, and the edges are also marbled. Except for the slightest bowing, the binding is in fine condition. The interior pages are in near fine condition; they are remarkably clean and bright with virtually no foxing. Gift inscription dated 1835 on one of the front free end pages. NAT/032409.

Milan, Italy: Franco Maria Ricci, 1974. Hard Cover. Number 1137 of 3000 copies, signed by Franco Maria Ricci. Folio. The book contains a novel by Calvino titled Le Chateau des destins croises or The Castle of Crossed Destines in which several weary travelers communicate by using tarot cards. Through the cards, they tell each other about their odd journeys, love affairs, deceptions, battles, and more. The book also includes an essay by Sergio Samek Ludovici on the Visconti-Sforza tarot card, with a list of the cards, their current locations, and full color reproductions of each card. The Visconti-Sforza tarot deck is composed of about 15 incomplete decks in various locations around the world. The deck dates from the 15th century and is one of oldest in existence. Each card is lavishly decorated and has greatly influenced the design and interpretation of modern tarot decks. Fine in black cloth boards with gilt title to spine and front board. Two glossy full color illustrations of tarot cards are pasted onto the front board. The interior is printed on blue handmade paper made by Pietro Miliani mills at Fabriano. Housed in a very good black cloth covered box with minor wear to the edges. The book is written entirely in French; however, we are including a soft cover copy of the English translation of CalvinoÕs novel by William Weaver printed by Harcourt Brace and Company in 1976. 167 pages. The English translation is 129 pages. Fine in very good slipcase. PRI/123009. Fine in Very good slipcase

London: Michael Dempsey, 1975. Hard Cover. SIGNED BY RALPH STEADMAN WITH A DRAWING. FIRST EDITION. Steadman (1936 - ), an English cartoonist, is best known for his political caricatures and his illustrations for Hunter S. ThompsonÕs books and articles. He has also illustrated several childrenÕs books for which he has won awards, including the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for Alice in Wonderland. Signed by Steadman on the title page with the S of ÒSnarkÓ made into a serpent. He has also made a smiley face with a large red nose. (The red from the nose has bled a little onto the verso of the title page.) In very good condition in brown paper covered boards with black title to spine. Light bumping to corners of boards and spine ends. Signed by previous owner in pen on the front free end page. Very good beige dust jacket with black title to spine and front panel. There is a closed tear along the edge of the jacketÕs front flap, slight fading to the spine panel, and a few small spots of soiling to the rear panel of the jacket. 71 pages. CHILD/101909. Near fine in very good jacket

Oakland: In Cahoots Press, 2007. Hard Cover. Macy Chadwick formed the In Cahoots Press in 2002. Her work often addresses memory, communication, and connections between people. She is currently teaching book arts and letterpress at the Academy of Art University, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the San Francisco Center for the Book. 10 of 18 copies. Signed and numbered by the artist. This book was Òinspired by EuclidÕs geometric postulate, ÔAny two points can be joined by a straight line,Õ Connect the Dots explores, through words and images, the difficulties of applying scientific theory to an elusive relationship. Hoping that EuclidÕs postulate is right, the narrator imagines a landscape of constellations and trajectories, of dots and arcs, in an attempt to connect one person to anotherÓ (Macy Chadwick). Fine in brown cloth with paper title labels pasted to front board. The interior is letterpress printed on multicolored Kitakata paper with polymer, relief and pressure prints. The text was handset in Optima. Housed in a blue cloth box with a magnetic closure and a window to the interior. Within the box, the book is held in a plexiglass pocket. A well designed and well crafted book. [36 pages.] ARTB/043009. Fine

Hammersmith: The Doves Press, 1914. 1 of about 300 copies. INSCRIBED BY COBDEN-SANDERSON TO JOHN QUINN. The inscription is on the cover and is dated November 17, 1914. John Quinn (1870-1924) was a well known collector and a friend to some of the most important artists and writers of his time. He knew Ezra Pound, Joseph Conrad, T.S. Eliot, Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin, among many others. Printed in Doves type on Batchelor paper. Bound in the original brown paper wrappers; they are a little darkened at the edges, otherwise very good plus. The interior pages are in fine condition. 6 pages. $475.

London: Chapman and Hall, 1870. A nice copy of the first edition of DickensÕs unfinished last novel, as he died before he could complete it. Bound in contemporary dark green leather with blind stamp and gilt design to front and rear boards and gilt design and title to spine. Leather is worn and rubbed along edges and joints. Interior is generally clean with intermittent foxing to pages. The book includes twelve illustrations by S.L. Fildes and a frontispiece illustration of Dickens. 190 pages. LIT/041509.

London: George Newnes, Limited, 1892. FIRST EDITION, mixed state. This collection of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ensured his lasting popularity and fame. It includes such classics as ÒScandal in Bohemia,Ó ÒThe Red-Headed League,Ó and ÒSpeckled Band.Ó It was followed in 1894 by a second compilation, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. This volume is a mixed state: the front cover has a black and white illustration with a banner, ÒThe Strand Library.Ó The street sign is not blank. The end papers are the variant light orange peacock design. Page 317 has the uncorrected ÒMiss ViolentÓ rather than ÒMiss Violet.Ó Bound in the original blue cloth with gilt title and author to spine and front cover. Fraying to spine edges and beveled board edges, bumping and rubbing but still in nice condition. The inner hinges are cracked but text block is holding tight. Interior pages are clean and bright except for what appears to be a small cigarette (or Calabash pipe?) burn affecting the bottom margins of pages 282-289. Page 285/286 has an actual burn hole. Housed in light blue half morocco slipcase. 317 pages. LIT/072009.