New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1879. Hardcover. The American version of this popular English magazine about the fine arts. A total of 36 engraved full page plates based on paintings and sculptures by Gerome, Landseer, Lucas, Millais, Newton, Armitage, and more. Articles on British and American artists, architecture, decorative arts, poetry, and more. Ex-library from MICA with stamp to copyright page and fore-edge of textblock. Dark brown leather spine and corners over reddish-brown cloth covered boards with gilt title to spine and front cover. Minor wear to spine ends, hinges, and corners. Very slight browning to margins, but clean and bright overall. Chip to front free endpaper. Full gilt edges. Laid-in fold out supplemental illustration dated December 1879. An attractive volume despite the noted wear. 380 pages. This is a heavy, folio sized volume and it may require an extra shipping fee. ART/032619. Very Good. More

Washington DC: Abstract Orange, 2022. One of 45 copies. Corita Rules! is inspired by the work and rules of Corita Kent. Corita Kent (1918–1986) was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. She created many pieces using bright colors and typography. One of her works entitled “Power up” was a multi-section serigraph featuring the words “Power Up”. This book, that pays homage to Kent's use of color and typography, is an accordion using different color papers bound together to repeat her message of “Power up” — a call to action. The other words in this piece come from the “Ten Rules”, which was a collections of rules she used in her classroom. The book is letterpress printed using handcut wooden type. In Sister Corita’s practice, she did not number her pieces. This was a choice she made so that no one piece would be more valuable than the others. Following her tradition for this piece, the books are not numbered. In fine condition. Measures 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated. PRI/041223. Fine. More

City of Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico: ALTERnativa Ediciones, 2021. Paperback. Number 3 of 4 copies. A powerful and personal piece about the war in Ukraine. This artist's book juxtaposes a personal interpretation of the artist Ioulia Akhmadeeva's family history including her grandfather's involvement in WWII with the current war in Ukraine. Central to the book is a red velvet dress which was constructed from a bundle of velvet taken from Czechoslovakia as a war trophy by the artist's grandfather, a major in the Russian army during WWII. The velvet was passed down in her family and was eventually made into a dress by the artist's mother - and was worn by all three of the artist's daughters. While not directly involved, the artist continues to feel guilt for her grandfather's actions in WWII, which are represented in this book by the red velvet dress. The artist is of Russian and Ukrainian descent with much of her family still residing in Russia, so the war and political turmoil of the region are particularly poignant for her. In this work she compares the actions of her grandfather in WWII to the actions of Russian soldiers looting and bombing Ukraine. She shows this through images of her family, the symbolic dress, and fragments of images from WWII alongside with current photographic images of the war in Ukraine. On different pages she has blacked out the face of her grandfather, written a story about a Czech girl that could have received a velvet dress (rather than her own daughters), and has drawn bombs flying near her grandfather's Russian star of honor. Now a resident of Mexico, where she has lived for over thirty years, most of the text is in Spanish. The artist created this book as a work of resilience, penance, and protest. She states: "On February 24, 2022 at 6 in the morning my home country Russia started this massacre without announcing it, just like Adolf Hitler, who invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 at 4 in the morning. Women and children are killed, sister cities are under constant bombardment and utterly destroyed. Putin's propaganda of the last 20 years transforms and controls the minds of 70% of the people inside Russia, who support his war and geopolitical plans. The protests against the war of the other 30% who think, reason and are not afraid are punished, censorship does not allow publishing or sharing the truth... The responsibility is not individual. And the change will not come alone." The book is a collection of 12 unbound postcard pages, a colophon, and a small velvet dress hand sewn by Diana Jaime at Alternativa editions based on a design by the book artist. All of the items are housed in a blue cloth covered clamshell box with yellow title to front board, bound in yellow ribbon, and magnetic closure. The dress can be affixed to the interior of the front panel of the box with a removable magnet. The postcards are inkjet printed on cotton paper, reproduced from color lithography prints by the artist and reproductions of photographic images of war taken from public domain social media sites. The verso of each postcard is printed with a title, imagery sources, and (like a typical postcard) lines to write an address with a box to affix a stamp. The pages are formatted as postcards to encourage the viewer to mail them - in order to create awareness of the war in the Ukraine and to become an anti-war activist. Text in Spanish with English translation available upon request. This project was  a result of the art residency of the  ìace Foundation for Contemporary Art during March 2022, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was supported by a grant from the Mexican National System of Creators (SNCA) 2019 - 2022. This book is held in the Special Collections of Stanford University Library. ARTB/030923. Fine. More

Philadelphia: Alice Austin, 2018. Special edition with unique hand-made wooden box. Number 8 of 15 copies. This piece was produced in 3 different versions: the deluxe edition (1-6) is now sold out; the special edition (7-11) is issued in unique wooden boxes with specimens; and the regular edition (12-15) is the book only. In this elaborate work comprised of a hand-printed book, a collection of specimens, and hand-made box, Austin memorializes her walks along the shores of the ocean through poetry and lino-cuts. Her verse describes creatures encountered and beaches traversed. The supporting lino-cut illustrations depict an array of shells, horseshoe crabs, and more. Physical specimens of most of the items illustrated are included in the accompanying box. The accordion book is bound in Twin Rocker hand-made grey paper wrappers with black title and blue lino-cut scallop shells to the front panel. It is letterpress printed in Cheltenham Italic type on Somerset paper. Housed in a custom made unique cherry wood box with legs, inspired by a vintage type drawer by Wilfredo Rodriquez of Philadelphia. It contains multiple compartments within, which hold treasures from the ocean including: a dog whelk, slipper snail, beach glass, periwinkle (Maine); moon snail, scallop, horseshoe crab tail (New Jersey); fishing float fragment, limpet (Ireland); an origami boat and a booklet listing the contents - both created by the artist. Alice Austin is a printmaker, book artist and painter living and working in Philadelphia. She has been on the faculty at the University of the Arts, teaching book structures, and has also taught workshops at the Center for Book Arts in New York, Ballinglen Foundation in Ireland, The Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, and other institutions. She earned a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and has been an active member of the Guild of Book Workers since 1998. She worked as a rare book and paper conservator for over 20 years at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Alice has also been awarded several artist residencies in Europe, and her work is widely held in private, public and special collections worldwide. Book Size: 8.5 x 9.5 x 1 inches. Box size: 13 x 12.75 x 3.5 inches. Fine. More

San Diego: Bay Park Press, 2010. Hardcover. Number 4 of 10 copies. Book artist Sibyl Rubottom grew up on Long Island Sound where Esther Williams was her hero. She grew up watching her movies trying "to relive the fabulous water ballet sequences." As an adult her love of water continued and she began swimming in La Jolla Cove near her home and later in an olympic sized outdoor pool in Mission Valley. She dedicates this book to La Jolla Cove, one of her regular swimming spots when the water is warm enough. Illustrated with six etchings and three unique oil paintings on mylar. Printed on Fabriano Rosapina Bianco paper using letterpress and intaglio prints, some with chine colle. Set in Bernhard Modern. Oblong folio. Housed in a blue clamshell box. Unpaginated. Fine. More

Newcastle, England: J.G. Foster, 1860. Hardcover. Scarce. Thomas Bell (1785-1860) was a prominent land valuer and surveyor who also served as a commissioner and arbitrator for lands in districts of northern England. He is best remembered, however, as an extraordinary book collector, "bringing together one of the largest and most valuable collections of books, papers, and engravings ever formed in the North of England particularly in matters of local interest"(from obituary reprinted in catalogue). The auction sale lasted fifteen days. On the front free endpaper, there is an interesting later handwritten transcript of notes originally written by John Gray Bell, son of Thomas, about his father's library. He described a good-sized library that was shelved round with filled bookcases buried by other bookcases, also filled and then buried as well. The door of the room would only open slightly ajar and one had to sidle in one at a time along a narrow round pathway. A woman wearing a crinoline could not enter at all. The catalog was published in paper wrappers. This copy has been rebound with covers in blue cloth with a black and gilt spine label. Original wrappers bound in. Some bumping and fading. Browning to wrapper cover and browning to to untrimmed edges and to some page margins, not affecting text. Very good condition. 276 pages. BOB/042415. Very Good. More

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1878. Hardcover. First Edition. Lady Anna Brassey (1839 - 1887) recorded several of the celebrated voyages that she and her family made together around the world on their yacht, “The Sunbeam.” This was the first of the several volumes she published about their travels. It was a huge bestseller, running into many editions and translations. It provides a lively and detailed account of their journey around the world in 1876-77. In addition to vividly describing their journey, the book describes life aboard her yacht, which carried over forty people, including the family, the crew, friends, and a complete domestic staff. An uncommon book to find in the original cloth, it is bound in dark grey cloth with gilt title and author to spine and front cover, and gilt illustrations to front and back. Cloth is chipped and faded but still quite attractive. Some soiling to preliminary pages and tear to front map but otherwise in very good condition. With two fold-outs and 118 wood engraved illustrations after drawings by the Hon. A.Y. Bingham. With ownership signature of George R. Clayton. 504 pages. TRA/081715. Very Good. More

London: E. and R. Nutt and R. Gosling, 1734. Hardcover. SCARCE. The Second edition, corrected. A popular work, it went through six editions in the 18th century, the last being that of 1792. It covers abatement, affidavits, pleas, assignment, bankruptcy, bonds, courts, creditors, deeds, evidence, executors, heirs, idiots & lunaticks, limitations of suits, mortgages, titles, will, writs, etc. Quarto. Very good in original full leather binding with red leather label and raised bands on spine. The front cover is detached with slight evidence of prior repair to hinge. Heavy scuffing and wear to boards including chips to the leather and spine ends. The interior is very clean with a few light smudge marks and previous owner's name to front endpage and top of title page. Printed in Roman, Italic and Gothic typefaces. A good candidate for restoration. 417 pages + index. Law. LAW107181. Very Good. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2017. Number 29 of 42 copies. Signed by the printers and the author of the introduction, who are ardent and well-known Carroll admirers. The Cheshire Cat Press was formed by book designer and printer George Walker in 1991. The press began when he and two colleagues produced new editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Edward Wakeling, who wrote the introduction, is an internationally known authority on Carroll. From the prospectus: "Here finally is a book collecting all the Alice associated images into one volume. In this book is the work of the other PUNCH illustrators who were influenced by John Tenniel’s pictures for Lewis Carroll’s Alice. Oh yes we include Tenniel too! Through the many decades that Punch existed (1841-2002), references to the Alice books have been a common feature. Now you can have them all in one volume. The images are printed by hand directly from polymer plates made by Boxcar Press, except Alice Reigns Supreme (page 27) which is printed photo-mechanically. The plates were created from high resolution scans made directly from the original PUNCH publications. Printed on 115 gsm Rives Lightweight Buff 100% rag paper using a Vandercook Sp15 letterpress." Bound in green cloth with gilt title to spine and gilt ruling and Punch figure to front cover. Punch figure repetitive design to endpapers. Housed in a green cloth slipcase. Includes laid in prospectus. In fine condition. 10 x 13 inches. 57 pages. PRI/031323. More

New York: Béatrice Coron, 2023. Paperback. Artist's Proof of 3 copies. A papercut book on black Arches paper featuring the poem "Obsession" by Baudelaire. Coron's papercut illustrations echo the lines from Baudelaire's poem, depicting a shadowy forest, the sea, the night sky filled with constellations, and a web of eyes (with the pupils hand drawn in white chalk). The poem is printed in metallic silver and gold in French. The two panels featuring a night forest are backed with a translucent handmade paper. This eight panel accordion fold book is housed in a black paper wrapper with metallic title to the front panel and a cord closure. The wrapper is handmade paper with mica inclusions. This AP has a different paper wrapper than the rest of the edition and the text is printed in a different color. Size (open): 7 x 44 inches; (closed): 7 x 6 inches. Coron describes her book work: "For the last 20 years, I have been exploring visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Collecting memories from individuals and communities, I stage narrative allegories in silhouette to create a dialogue with the viewer in playful fantasies. These visual chronicles record archetypal stories that transcend time and space. I have been fascinated by the relation of people to their space and the sense of belonging. Using papercutting where everything is cut from a single piece of Tyvek, the profusion of individual stories makes a coherent whole world." [From her website] Chstina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes Coron's work in Coron's "artfragments" portfolio: "There is a palpable joy in the work of Béatrice Coron, the kind of joy we felt as children in unwrapping a particularly enticing holiday gift. But...for Béatrice the gift is a sheet of Tyvek...or paper, and the stories to be unearthed and unleashed within and through the medium." ARTB/030923. Fine. More

New York: Béatrice Coron, 2016. Number 3 of 5 copies. In this fun production, book artist Béatrice Coron collaborated with musicians Van Gage and Cortez to create both a book and a CD of their music! In addition to her paper cutting of musicians playing instruments, singing, and dancing Coron also wrote the song's lyrics, which are handwritten on one side of the black Arches paper silhouettes. This book was based on Coron's design for a public art installation in Kiest Park, Dallas, to honor the Vaughan brothers. Unfortunately, the installation was never built; however, elements from the design are incorporated into this book including silhouettes of Texan blues musicians. The paper silhouettes and the CD are housed in a black folder with a blue title label to spine and front cover. In fine condition. Folder is 6.5 x 6.5 inches. The paper-cut measures 6 x 24 inches when opened. Coron describes her book work: "For the last 20 years, I have been exploring visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Collecting memories from individuals and communities, I stage narrative allegories in silhouette to create a dialogue with the viewer in playful fantasies. These visual chronicles record archetypal stories that transcend time and space. I have been fascinated by the relation of people to their space and the sense of belonging. Using papercutting where everything is cut from a single piece of Tyvek, the profusion of individual stories makes a coherent whole world." [From her website]. Cristina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes Coron's "work in her artfragments" portfolio: "There is a palpable joy in the work of Béatrice Coron, the kind of joy we felt as children in unwrapping a particularly enticing holiday gift. But...for Béatrice the gift is a sheet of Tyvek...or paper, and the stories to be unearthed and unleashed within and through the medium." ARTB/081921. Fine. More

Glasgow: Frederick W. Wilson and Brother, 1888. Paperback. First Edition. 300 copies printed. SCARCE PRESENTATION COPY of Davidson’s fourth book, inscribed “To Mrs. John A. Cramb with kind regards from John Davidson.” John Davidson (1857-1909) was a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist. His chief talent was as a poet, and his work influenced early Modernists such as T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens. Due to personal and financial problems, Davidson ultimately committed suicide. The recipient and her husband, a student, were among Davidson’s closest friends when he attended Edinburgh University. They followed Davidson to London in the early 1890s hoping also for successful literary careers. In the end, John Cramb returned to academic life, becoming professor of Modern History at Queen’s College, London. Cramb had a crucial influence on Davidson’s later works (in particular The Testaments of John Davidson) through his book, The Origins and Destiny of Imperial Britain (1900). In the original parchment wrappers, which are browned and lightly soiled, but otherwise in very good condition. Interior pages are clean and bright, with very light rippling caused by tight signatures. Enclosed in red cloth folder, which is inserted into a red cloth slipcase with quarter leather spine. Gilt title, author, date, and “presentation copy” to spine. 82 pages including publishers catalogue. DRA/051111. Very Good in Wraps. More

Sebastopol, CA: Deeply Game Publications, 2022. Hardcover. 1 of 20 copies. Sara Press says of her book: "What if there was a standard-issue handbook that resolved grief, discord, paradox and ancestral trauma? As young artists, we dreamed of a world where there were no rules, but in this time of internal & external chaos, we wish there were more definitive answers. During a particularly difficult year, we traded sketchbooks back and forth, completing each other’s empty hands with objects that communicated our struggles and sought solutions. We know nothing is simple, but we indulged ourselves with the fantasy that things could be. We knew our drawings, born from questions, would contain all the answers if seen in the right combinations. So we indexed them with the moral authority of any other handbook grasping at truths, and solved all the world’s problems." Sara and Tiana's book addresses such problems as dealing with intolerable grief, dismantling capitalism, how to raise a child, and when to shut up, among many other topics. Each problem refers to one or more drawings of hands. The book is accompanied by a life-sized gypsum cement hand that cradles it for display in different ways. Book is bound in grey cloth with titling in black to cover. Minor rubbing to back cover otherwise fine. The text is letterpress printed and the water color pencil drawings of hands are digitally printed with Indigo Electroink on Mohawk Superfine paper. Housed in a brown cardboard box with the title inserted into a metal slot on the front. An inventive work in fine condition. Measures 5 x 7 inches. 84 pages. ARTISTSB/060222. Fine. More