Amstelodami, Typis Danielis Elzeverii, Sumptibus Societatis. 1664. Hardcover. In Latin, this is a new edition of Heinsius's text of 1652 of the poetry of Ovid. A lovely small volume that contains the text of Ovid's first two books, the Amatoria and the Metamorphoseon. Bound in period brown mottled leather with gilt decorations and red label to spine. Expertly restored with dark brown Japanese tissue reinforcing both joints and off-white tissue reinforcing both hinges. Fading to gilt title on spine and there is a closed crack going down the middle of the spine. Original white endpapers with some fading and soiling. Text pages have lightly browned and there is occasional foxing but text is still clean and legible. There is a split between the two volumes but the text block remains firm. With a general title page with a woodcut illustration and an ownership signature, and each book has a title page with Elsevier's printer's device in vignette. Housed in a custom brown leather clamshellbox with gilt titling to cover. A nice copy in very good condition. Measures 2.5 x 4.5 inches. Box is about 5.5 x 3.25 x 2 inches. Volume I: 268 pages. Volume II: 292 pages. CLA/031423. Very Good. More

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co, 1885. Hardcover. Revised Edition, Illustrated. Theater owner and playwright, Augustin Daly's copy, auction record 1545. Presentation copy from the author to Augustin Daly, dated September 6th, 1887. Also includes a tipped in letter from the author to Daly. Playwright, actor, and photographer, Harrison (1818 - 1902) is best known for his photographic portrait of Walt Whitman that appears in Leaves of Grass. He also wrote a stage adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter." Bound in three quarter tan leather over marbled paper covered boards with red label "Stage Biography" and green title / author label beneath. This is part of a series of books Daly had bound in a matching style, all labeled "Stage Biography." Rubbing, pulling, and wear to leather. Minor spotting to leather on rear board. Short splits to leather starting along top and bottom of front hinge. Top edge gilt with marbled endpapers. Bound by R.W. Smith. Clean and bright interior. Mostly unopened pages. Auction record tipped into rear. 404 pages plus 8 pages of ads. DRA/031419. Very Good. More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1898. Hardcover. First Edition of this rare work. William Platt was a peculiar 1890s writer whose works concern the role of the sexes and inhabit an area between regular fiction and the risque. A very nice copy in original grey cloth with a gilt cover design attributed to Sidney H. Sime. In very good plus condition. With book plate of Mark Samuels Lasner. 88 pages. LIT/032513. Very Good+. More

Dania Beach, FL: Claire Jeanine Satin, 2020. A unique artists' book from Claire Jeanine Satin, a well known book artist, sculptor and designer of public art installations. Satin's work has been extensively exhibited and collected in the United States and in Europe, including at The Library of Congress, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Getty (CA), MOMA, and The Victoria and Albert Museum. She is known especially for her conceptual works in uenced by the ideas of her friend and mentor the composer/visual artist John Cage, and the conversion of ordinary industrial materials into environmental constructions and book works of layered transparent mass. This is one of a series of lovely unique works by Satin, each signed by her. Each book is created with fine acid-free paper. This book uses various metallic papers, postage stamps, small blue and purple plastic shapes, sequins, crystals, and monofilament to create precise and inventive designs on the cover and each page. In a white gauze bag. In fine condition. Measures 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [8 pages]. ARTISTSB/032521. Fine. More

Dania Beach, FL: Claire Jeanine Satin, 1996. A unique artists' book from Claire Jeanine Satin, a well known book artist, sculptor and designer of public art installations. Satin's work has been extensively exhibited and collected in the United States and in Europe, including at The Library of Congress, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Getty (CA), MOMA, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Institute of Design (India). She has created more than 250 bookworks to date. She is known especially for her conceptual works in uenced by the ideas of composer/visual artist John Cage, and the conversion of ordinary industrial materials into environmental constructions and book works of layered transparent mass. This work from Claire beautifully exemplifies this conceptual approach to creating her books. The title of the book - Tetrahedron - describes a solid having four plane triangular faces - a triangular pyramid. The shape is associated with fire and perpetuates balance and stability [Wikipedia]. The book is a powder coated aluminum black screen with gold and silver ink/handwritten script (reassembled text from the book “M” by John Cage). Includes fine wire; brass filings from grinding keys Signed by the artist inside a miniature gold book attached to the complex wire structure emerging from the "spine" of the book. In fine condition. Measures 7 x 12 x 1.5 inches. Fine. More

London: Robert Pawlet, 1675. Hardcover. Sir John Savile was a member of a prominent Norman family. His brother Sir Henry Savile was Queen Elizabeth's tutor in Greek and mathematics, and founded the chairs of Geometry and Astronomy at Oxford in 1619. Professionally rebound in three quarter brown morocco with raised bands on spine, gilt lettering, and marbled boards. Wide margins, decorative initial, on hand-laid paper, printed in a Gothic typeface. The binding is in fine condition and the interior is in very good plus condition. There is light browning to the margins and there are antiquated signatures in pen to the title page. There are also occasional spots of foxing. In the legal language of the time, a combination of French and English. 8 x 12 1/2 inches. 136 pages, indices. English History. ENH3/3230. Fine binding with very good plus interior. More

Freeville, NY: Carol Schwartzott, 2019. Paperback. Number 3 of 10 copies. Signed by the artist. Bound in an accordion structure with hand colored, collaged elements including palmistry diagrams on each page. Includes two pages of text, Nine illustrations, and colophon. Housed in a altered Altoid box that has been collaged with a map of Europe and other papers on both interior and exterior. The box is titled in gold on the front panel. The book and box both come in a handmade navy blue felt carrying case with pink ribbon pull ties. Unpaginated. [18 pages.] Size: book is about 3.5 x 2 inches; box is about 3.75 x 2.25 inches. ARTB/051023. Fine. More

[New York]: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1899]. Charles Dana Gibson. A stunning large color advertising poster for the 1899 Christmas issue of Scribner's Magazine. It features a classic black and white illustration by Charles Dana Gibson of one of his Gibson Girls being escorted by an older gentleman. Noted Christmas Features listed include : A Christmas Poem illustrated in colors by Walter Appleton Clark; Two Christmas stories; C.D. Gibson's "The Seven Ages of the American Woman" a Series of Drawings; Augustine Birrell on John Wesley; and other illustrations by H.C. Christy and Maxfield Parrish. Banners with the title and with price of 25 cents are gaily decorated with green and red Christmas holly. In a faux distressed wood frame showing some nicks and scratches. Poster is in very good condition. Poster is 18 x 22 inches. With frame is 18 x 25 inches. ART/100114. Very Good. More

London: Jacob Tonson, 1734. Hardcover. Jacob Tonson (1656? - 1736) was one of the most influential publishers in England. and the premier publisher of his age. In 1709, he famously purchased the “copyright” to Shakespeare. Tonson and his family over the next fifty years went on to publish some of the most significant editions of the collected works of Shakespeare, edited by the likes of Nicholas Rowe, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. This volume of Timon of Athens is one of the many plays that Tonson published in 1734. The several titles were the first of Shakespeare's plays to be published individually rather than in the folios or Tonson's multi-volume sets of Shakespeare in 1709. Tonson entered into a feud in 1734 with another bookseller over the rights to see copies of Shakespeare's plays. Due to the Copyright Act of 1709, any “rights” that the firm previously held expired in 1731. Regardless of the law, the Tonsons and the other proprietors continued to hold claim to the rights and they actively intimidated their competitors from trying their publishing luck with the Bard. When in 1734 a small-time London bookseller named Robert Walker began to produce inexpensive editions of the individual plays, Tonson threatened Walker with litigation to cease production. Undeterred by Tonson’s threats, and eventual bribery, Walker called his bluff and continued to sell the plays, offering volume title pages for the plays to be bound in seven volumes, if desired. Realizing that he did not have any lawful recourse, Tonson counter-produced his own editions of the individual plays, to eventually be bound in eight volumes, publishing more copies, at a lower cost than Walker’s. While trying to out-sell each other, the two booksellers took to issuing “advertisements” with their publications, in an attempt to defame the othe [Folger Shakespeare Library]. This copy of Timon has one of these advertisements, printed on the verso of the title page under the list of characters. Bound in modern black pebbled cloth with title and year published in gilt to front cover. Slight rubbing and bumping. Marbled red endpapers. The text pages are browned and have occasional spots but are still quite nice and readable. With a frontispiece illustration by Paul Fourdrinier, the 18th century engraver. Very good condition. Measures 4 x 6.5 inches. 72 pages. Very Good. More

Rutland, VT: Carolyn Shattuck, 2021. Hardcover. One of 10 copies. This inventive work by Carolyn Shattuck joins previous artist's books she has produced to call attention to endangered animal species such as elephants and rhinos. The little known mammal in this work is the pangolin. She states that it is one of the world's most trafficked mammals, prized for its scales, which are used primarily for medicinal purposes in China and Vietnam. The book is a complex production that displays Shattuck's skill in using various book structures to convey meaning and context in the books she creates.An accordion style structure reveals a hand-painted pangolin in its painted forested environment. A foldout text lists the many ailments and other purposes that the animal's scales supposedly address. Printed on BFK Rives and painted with water colors. Housed in a black slipcase with title label on front. In addition to creating artists' books, Shattuck is a painter and creator of paper art. She exhibits her work nationally in numerous juried exhibitions and has received many awards. Her books have been collected by a number of special collections libraries at universities throughout the country. She teaches Book Art workshops in New England and Florida. She describes her work as "an expression of living life to the fullest while being aware of its risks." In fine condition. Measures 12 x 8 x 2.5 inches. ARTISTS/010422. Fine. More

Rutland, VT: Carolyn Shattuck, n.d. Carolyn Shattuck is a noted printmaker, using monotype, dry point, painting, stencils and mixed media. In addition to her printmaking skills, Shattuck is architectural in the way she executes the intricate constructions for her artist's books, which highlight her interest in social and environmental causes. Her books have been collected by a number of special collections libraries at universities throughout the country. The inspiration for this inventive book came from a bar in Key West where the walls were lined with license plates from all over the U.S. The combinations of symbols, letters, and numbers presented a word puzzle communicating in a unique language. This book is an open edition that is a "magic star" construction that allows the work to be opened to reveal the interior pages. In stiff black paper covers with title label and image of a Tennessee license plate with the letters DBL TRBL. Affixed to each folded page is an image of a different state license plate, all with vanity words instead of numbers. Printed on Red River paper and Hemptone from Paperworks. In fine condition. Measures 4 x 4 x 2 inches. ARTB/082323. Fine. More

Chicago: Sherwin Beach Press, 1992. Hardcover. Number 163 of 200 copies. "The Essence of Beeing" is an account by Michael Lenehan of two beekeepers: one who has hives on the roof of his apartment building in the city, and one who keeps bees on his farm in the country. In the process of describing the beekeepers and their work, the book tells a great deal of what is known about bees and honey. It was written by Michael Lenehan, executive editor of the Chicago Reader, where it appeared originally in 1977. Mr. Lenehan has contributed many pieces to the Reader during his more than 30-year association with it; he has also published elsewhere, notably in the Atlantic Monthly. Here, Alice Brown-Wagner has illustrated the text with drawings of the tools of beekeeping. "The laid-back style of the narrative belies well-packed information....It is a delightful essay....Binding and type were well and sensibly chosen. Any beekeeper would enjoy this for a generous present—as has, indeed, this reviewer. Others may find it tempts them toward one of the world’s absorbing occupations." —Colin Franklin, Bookways. The book was designed by Bob McCamant, hand set in 12 and 14 point Cooper Oldstyle by Alice Brown-Wagner, Kate Friedman, and Bob McCamant, and printed on Fabriano Roma Michelangelo by Bob McCamant. It was casebound, cloth over boards, by Ann Repp, and has a dust jacket of blind-embossed Roma Raffaello. 45 pages, 9 1/4 x 12 inches. Published in 1992, numbered but not signed. PRI/031620. Fine. More

Buenos Aires: Marina Soria, 2015. A unique sculptural book from Argentine calligrapher and book artist Marina Soria. This is one of a small series of Fude books that celebrates the Japanese brush. The book features a calligraphic text in Spanish from a poem written by the artist about dreaming about herself as a brush. This is an excerpt from the English translation:    "In my dream my name was Fude.  I rested in a delicate mahogany case.  My hair was bright, soft and combed  with much care and dedication.  It has been brushed till exhaustion  by expert hands tyring to line up  every single strand of hair ..."    It is bound and opens as a codex, but the pages can be unfolded to pop-out and stand-up as a paper "sculpture." The binding was learned at a workshop in Italy, and is based on a structure by Hedi Kyle. Done with Sumi ink on various papers. Held in a bordeaux colored paper envelope with title label on front. Accompanied by a card with a description of the book and an English translation of the text of the poem, signed by the artist. Fine condition. Measures 22 x 23 x 21 cm Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Marina Soria is a seasoned artist and educator with degrees in Fine Arts and Graphic Design. Not content to just immerse herself in learning calligraphy at international conferences, and through courses with renown calligraphers, she studied Eastern principles of Beauty in sumi-e (Japanese painting). She distilled and blended these principles with her rich experience and background in the fine arts, typography and graphic arts, employing unique approaches and techniques. She has also dabbled in the textile arts, creating a metaphor for weaving; letters as stitches and text as if it were a textile. Her works, vibrating with a love for nature and exploding with life and color, can be found in calligraphy collections in museums, universities, and libraries in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Marina has received numerous national and international awards, and has been featured widely in calligraphic arts publications. A prolific artist, experimental calligrapher, book artist, and educator, her goal is to mingle diverse disciplines to challenge the limits of conceptual art and technique. ARTISTSB/072622. Fine. More