San Francisco: Arion Press, 2003. Hardcover. Number 316 of 400 copies. Of the edition, 200 copies have a color lithograph by Wayne Theibaud signed by the artist. This copy is the standard edition and does not have the lithograph. Brautigan's early book, published in 1967 became an instant cult classic. Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960s and '70s who came of age during the heyday of Haight-Ashbury and whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imaginations of young people everywhere. Called “the last of the Beats,” his early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an international bestseller. The book was designed and produced by the Press under the direction of Andrew Hoyem. In the prospectus, Hoyem describes is long friendship with Brautigan and how this book came to be published by his press. It is bound in gray cloth with a blue cloth backing with title in black to spine. The title and author name along with a whimsical illustration of a fish are on the front cover. Printed in Bookman type on Mohawk Superfine paper. The photographic portrait of the author was printed by Watermark Graphics in San Francisco. Accompanied by the prospectus. In fine condition. Measures 7.25 x 10 inches. 124 pages. PRI/103024. Fine. More

New York and Roslyn, N.Y. The New York Public Library and The Stone House Press, 1989. Hardcover. Limited Edition, #196 of 200 copies. SIGNED by Printer and Compiler. Fine red buckram backed gray & white patterned paper boards, 8vo. Bright gilt to spine; very light rubbing to spine ends. Interior is like new: crisp, clean and bright. Strong, tight binding, protective mylar cover. Publisher's ephemera laid-in. 113 pp. Books on Books. BOB/12163. Fine. More

Paris: n.p., n.d. Portfolio. This is a scarce portfolio of beautiful color plates that showcase the breadth and beauty of French decorative arts at the beginning of the 20th century. The arts range from textiles, ceramics, bindings, ironworks, enamel, house designs and much more. The artists include LeFebvre, Magnew, Guimard, Mucha, Jambon, Lepere, Boulez among many others. There were 60 plates issued with this edition. Plates one and nine are missing, but there are two plates each for plates 4 and 55, each with a different design. The plates are generally in very good condition, with spotting and/or aging to some. The loose plates, preface, and list of plates are housed in a folio portfolio with grey paper boards and brown linen spine with gilt title to front board. Spine is split about two inches along front cover, chipping and bumping and ties missing. DEC/100812. Very Good. More

[New York]: Privately printed, 1941. Hardcover. One of 500 copies printed by D.B. Updike at the Merrymount Press.Bound in quarter black cloth with orange and brown marbled paper boars. Quarter black cloth with marbled paper boards. Paper label to spine with gitl title. T.e.g. Light wear to bottom edges, unevenly sunned, otherwise very good. With Alshul's compliments slip laid in. 196 pages. BOB/103116. Very Good. More

Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1906. One of 300 copies on paper. There were also 25 copies on vellum. This is a beautiful copy of this volume of essays by Emerson. Cobden-Sanderson, the founder of the press met Emerson in the 1860s when he visited London, and he had made quite an impression. He saw him as "a pinnacle of a man," and according to Marianne Tidcombe in her book The Doves Press, "was attracted to Emerson's idealism and to the hint of mysticism that coloured his view of nature." The twelve essays in this volume include "Self-Reliance," "Spiritual Laws," "Love," "Friendship," and "Intellect and Art," among others.

In a full limp vellum binding with titling in gilt to spine, and a coat of arms in gilt on the front cover. Spine lettering slightly faded. Vellum lightly creased on top and bottom edges. The arms are those of the Mander family. Sir Charles Tertius Mander of the paint and varnish company Mander Brothers, became a baronet in 1911. The binding must have been done after this as it uses his coat of arms registered that year. Affixed to the front pastedown is the book label of Gerald Poynton Mander of Tettenhall Wood in Staffordshire, the second son of the first baronet. His library sold at auction at Sotheby in 1954. Interior pages are elegantly printed in black with red initials. An extremely nice copy in about fine condition. Small quarto. 312 pages. PRI/092424. Fine. More

Paris: Edition des Musees Nationaux, 1937. Hardcover. IN FRENCH. VERY SCARCE IN THE UNITED STATES. Includes descriptions and full page black and white photographic reproductions of nearly 400 pieces of art. Tome I, Painters, spans from the 14th century to the late 19th century. Early paintings are religious in nature, and some of the painters of works in churches are unknown. Earliest identifiable 15th century painters include Froment, Charonton, and Fouquet. The works continue through those of 19th century painters such as Delacroix, Rousseau, Daumier, Corot, Manet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Degas. Tome II includes various art forms, with Sculpture beginning in the 12th century. Objets D'art begins in the 1st century, with Roman works. Many illustrations are full page. Very good in maroon cloth boards with gilt titles to spines. Minor dampstain causing lifting of some color to rear board of volume one and front board of volume two. Rubbing and a few dark spots to spines. Interiors remain clean and bright with no evidence of dampstaining. Browning to endsheets. A large, heavy set which may require an extra shipping fee. 509 pages in volume I; 507 pages in volume II. ART/091015. Very Good. More

New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2008. Softcover. First edition of this interesting and useful study of cloth book bindings from the time it became a process that revolutionized bookbinding in the early 1920s. The book was published by Oak Knoll in conjunction with The British Library and The Bibliographical Society of America. It focuses in good part on the study of cloth grains used during the period of this book, with numerous color illustrations of various book cloths. Bound in green paper covers with a light floral design and gilt titling to cover and spine. Covers show very light signs of handling. Text and illustration pages are in fine condition. Measures 6 x 9 inches. 92 pages. BOB/071825. Fine. More

London: Constable & Co., 1930. Hardcover. First Edition. Edited by Maartens's daughter. Her presentation slip inserted. Biography and correspondence of the Dutch author Joseph Van Der Porten Schwartz, who published under the pseudonym Maarten Maartens. He was a successful novelist and friend of such figures as Quiller-Couch, Edmund Gosse, and Max Beerbohm. Bound in publisher's blue cloth with gilt title to spine.Some small chips to spine ends. Text is clean and bright. Very good condition. 369 pages including index. Very Good. More

New York: Léon Amiel Publisher, 1975. Hardcover. One of 5000 copies of the English language edition, this copy unnumbered. This volume is one of six published as a catalogue raisonné of Miro's lithographs. With 11 original lithographs and a number of color plates of Miro's work. In an illustrated dust jacket with titling to spine in black. With a clear plastic cover and green wrap around paper slip with title and publisher name in white. Very slight chipping to the bottom of the green paper slip. Also light chipping and fading to spine of dust jacket. Interior pages are near fine. 253 pages. Measures 10 x 12.75 inches. ART/062922. Near Fine. More

New York: Oriole Editions, 1973. Hardcover. "May Morris' 'Introductions' to each of the twenty-four volumes of the 'Collected Works of William Morris' have become classics in themselves as well as illuminating and informative guides to her father's unique place in the art, literature and public affairs of his time. Among many other things, the 'Introductions' contain letters, conversations and accounts of people and events, not found in any other collection of William Morris materials or sources, which provide an opening to the variety, the scope and the meaning of the work of William Morris and his circle; an opening indeed on a large and most significant segment of the English cultural and intellectual movements of the second half of the nineteenth century. Gathered together in a separate work, the 'Introductions' will be readily accessible to a larger audience" (jacket). Both volumes are new in yellow cloth boards with red titles to spines and front covers. Pristine, tight interiors with illustrations. Brown dust jackets with black titles to spines and front covers. 761 pages. This set may require an extra shipping fee. MOR/080515. New / New. More

Mendocino CA: Moving Parts Press, 2022. Number 38 of 60 copies, signed by the book artist, the poet, and the binder, Craig Jensen. There were 48 copies of the standard edition and 12 copies of the deluxe edition. The books are accompanied by a digitally produced book The Heavy Lifting Companion, and the film On Heavy Lifting, all housed in a clamshell book box. Every book in the two editions is accompanied by the film, "On Heavy Lifting" on an SD card, but the deluxe edition also includes a second clamshell box that holds a laser cut printing plate and a digital viewer loaded with the film and eight other shorts.

This magnificent bookwork from Felicia Rice and Theresa Whitehill is a complex production that conveys the important messages that the artist and poet created from their collaboration. From the press website: "Heavy Lifting is a fierce work that names the darkness in the belief that the first stage of recovery from grief is acknowledgment, and that the precursor to action can be anger. It is a response to a call sounded by artist/educator Paul Soulellis in 2021: 'Publishing has always been political, but has it ever felt as urgent as it does right now in the global distress and intersecting crises of the past year? There’s a desperate need for new language to express publishing’s renewed urgency and importance. …let’s turn away from old, legacy publishing models towards something new: an ethics, craft, and politics of urgent making.”

The genesis for this project sadly was a devastating megafire in August 2020 that destroyed almost one thousand structures in Santa Cruz, where Rice had lived and worked for fifty years. The fire took her home, her letterpress shop and an entire inventory of artists' books. She and her husband were able to relocate to her family home in Mendocino to try to start over. She fought back by starting work on a new book project that addressed the personal crisis of losing her home and shop to fire, but also what she termed the collective crises experienced during this time - Covid, climate change, racial injustice, the threat of totalitarianism, and immigration among them. Her collaboration with her friend and colleague Whitehill began after the poet sent her a poem that Rice knew she could use as the driving force for the new book. Whitehill subsequently composed fourteen deeply emotional poems for their now joint project. Ultimately this project grew into much more than an edition of sixty artist's books. Rice and Whitehall developed a commercially printed companion book, an experimental video, and a listening tour throughout northern California. (Rice and Whitehill were interviewed and wrote in detail about their collaboration and its broad influence and effects in the Mendocino Real Estate Magazine issued in January 2023. It is available on the website: https://realestatemendocino.com).

This is an accordion-fold book and clamshell book box covered in Brillianta book cloth by Craig Jensen of BookLab II. Typeset in Stempel Garamond and Faster One types and printed from lasercut and photopolymer plates on Arches Watercolor paper. Images created by Rice and printed from lasercut wood plates made by Rice and photopolymer plates made by The Artichoke Press. Letterpress and relief printing by Rice using a Vandercook proof press. The book is comprised of two nested accordion-fold panels: Panel 1 “Birds”: 10 x 14.5 x 80 and Panel 2 “Crises”: 10 x 12.5 x 100 ; Panels extended: 15 end-to-end. Book: 10 x 14.5 x .75 Clamshell Case: 11 x 15.625 x 1.625 . In fine condition. ARTB/042424. Fine. More

Houston, Texas: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 1980. Softcover. This is the catalog for an exhibition "Bookbinding: A Living Art" held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1980. Includes 26 pages of black and white plates of the works in the exhibition. With introduction that describes the parts of the book related to bookbinding techniques. Tan paper wrappers with title and illustration to front panel. Edges of wrappers are slightly turned. Pages are slightly browned, but otherwise bright and clean. 48 pages. BOB/013124. Very Good. More

Portland ME: Ssouthworth-Anthoensen Press, 1945. Hardcover. Bound in blue cloth . Near fine in chipped and brittle glassine dust jacket. With a frontispiece portrait by Charles Gogin. Unopened. 35 pages. BOB/111616. Near Fine. More