Chicago: Starshaped Press, 2019. Hardcover. Number 6 of 50 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This powerful book was created by book artist and printer Jen Farrell to describe the pain and anguish she experienced as Jo, her young daughter, was treated in 2018 to stem the growth of tumor nodules around her right lung. She writes: "While the treatments were challenging, the fallout that followed over the winter was unbearable. The chest pressure, pneumonitis and inability to breathe sent us to the hospital repeatedly, with unsatisfactory results. By ‘unsatisfactory’ I mean punching-a-hole-in-the-wall angry at the lack of understanding about why Jo had these side effects and the weeks, sometimes months, it took to get appointments with specialists. I sought solace in songs that directed my frustration away from people around me. One of these was Black Star’s Respiration, with lyrics that expressed a metaphorical difficulty to breathe in an urban environment. Many of the words applied to our reality; rewriting the lyrics was an outlet for acknowledging the trauma....Respiration is a rewrite of the song, but in this case applied to watching my child struggle to breathe." The book unfolds as a poster measuring 20x14 inches that folds down to approximately 5x 7 inches within red paper covered boards. The covers are printed in two colors on Mohawk Keakolour and the interior text is printed on Fabriano Tiziano paper with ‘fuzz’ in the texture as a nod to the scarring fuzz in Jo’s lungs. The book is accompanied by a white folded paper reference guide to the lyrics with notes on Jen's rewrites. In fine condition. Fine. More

Eugene, OR: Susan Lowdermilk, 2007. Hardcover. Number 7 of 15 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. Susan Lowdermilk is a book artist and printmaker working in traditional processes such as woodcut, wood engraving and intaglio etching as well as digital media. Her artist’s books involve movable parts, pop-ups and LED circuitry. She is a professor at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, teaching courses in printmaking, artist books and graphic design. Her work has been collected by over 60 public institutions including, the Getty Museum, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. Her artist’s books are represented in galleries throughout the United States. She earned her Master’s of Fine Art from the University of Oregon. Her artist's statement: "Our experience of reading books is increasingly changing from being physical and tactile to digital and virtual. My artist books are hand printed and hand constructed and feature low-tech movable elements that are meant to be technologically transparent. I view my artist books as a counterpart to the flood of mass-produced, digital imagery that we contend with constantly. I am interested in the dualities that complicate our human condition—chance versus strategy, faith versus reason, serendipity versus design, peace versus war, winning versus losing and our relationship to and separation from nature." She met the poet Jeanine Hathaway several years ago at a show of her prints in Eugene and they became friends. ""Jeanine was inspired by my woodcut diptych titled, “Remembering, Forgetting,” and wrote the poem, “XO, On what might have been our anniversary.” I created my artist’s book, inspired by her poem, printed with the woodblocks from “Remembering, Forgetting,” thus continuing our circle of creativity and inspiration." Bound accordion-style with red paper covered boards. The text is laser printed with Futura Book and Bernhard Modern Italic type on organdy fabric that overlays the woodblock designs printed on Zerkall Frankfurt paper. In a paper chemise with woodblock design. In fine condition. 6.5 x 4.5 x .75 inches. ARTISTSB/073118. Fine. More

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1896. Hardcover. Includes the beginning of Twain's "Tom Sawyer" in the August and September issues on pages 344 - 361 and 519 - 537. Bound in three quarter black leather over black cloth covered boards with gilt title and volume number to spine. Minor wear to spine ends and edges of boards. Chip to leather on spine. Browning to edges of a few pages, but clean overall. 972 pages. PER/060619. Very Good. More

London: Cassell and Company, 1890-1892, 1894. Hardcover. Volume two only of a five volume series. This 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 in this volume are: H.R.H. The Princess of Wales, Bret Harte, George du Maurier, Frederic Harrison, and Oscar Wilde. This is an ex-library volume with the bookplate of the City of York Public Library affixed to the 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, not affecting the portrait itself. 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 foot of spine, but otherwise in quite good condition. Save for the small embossed stamps, the photographs are in very good condition. 95 pages plus photos. PHOTO/081017. Very Good. More

1636. Framed map of South Britain-Mercator-Hondius-Amsterdam. #37328. Very Good. More

London: Jacob Tonson, 1702. Hardcover. A unique copy of a first edition Restoration comedy from the personal library of actor and theater manager John Philip Kemble. The volume is initialed, collated, and pronounced perfect on the title page in ink by Kemble along with the date. John Philip Kemble (1757 - 1823) was an important English actor who also achieved fame as the manager of the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters. He was also known for assembling a theatrical library that was unrivaled. After he retired in 1819 he sold his collection of 4000 plays and forty volumes of playbills to Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire. The Devonshire collection is now part of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. The remainder of Kemble's library was auctioned by Evans in Pall Mall over ten days beginning January 21, 1821 (from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) was an untrained but accomplished architect who designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard in conjunction with NIcholas Hawksmoor. He was a popular dramatist and some of his comedies such as The Relapse and The Provok'd wife are still performed today. For this copy each individual page has been meticulously mounted on slightly large sheets of contemporary white paper. It has been beautifully bound by Riviere and Son in full tan calf with gold tooling and lettering. The spines have five raised bands with gilt decorated compartments and there are two leather labels, one with the play's title and author, and the other stating "J.P. Kemble's Copy." With gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt, in near fine condition with small split at right top of spine. The pages of the play are lightly browned with occasional spots of foxing and soiling. A very good copy of this volume. Measures 6.5 x 9 inches. 62 pages plus 2 page epilogue. DRAMA/011821. Near Fine. More

Newfoundland: walking bird press, 2015. Softcover. Number 17 of 30 copies. Signed by the artists. Henry and Rose Make Contact is a sequel to Henry and Rose Go to Camp. In this story, Henry makes a crystal radio as a Scout project, and gets it to work only to hear a distress call. Rose figures out where the signal is from, and Henry, his friend Ben, and Rose manage to save the day. The book is hand-set in Bembo Roman and Baskerville monotype and letterpress printed on Environment Text paper, with letterpress and inkjet illustrations. The wrappers are St. Armand handmade paper. The book and the functioning radio are housed in a wooden box made by Garry Quinlan and laser printed at the College of the North Atlantic. The radios for the edition were assembled by the authors with the invaluable assistance of Joe Craig. In fine condition. Book is 4 x 5 inches; box is 5 x 6 x 2 inches. ARTISTSBOOK/043018. Fine. More

This is a framed original copper plate engraving, with superb original hand color and nice clear plate marks, from Robert Warner's work, The Orchid Album, Comprising Colored Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare and Beautiful Orchidaceous Plants. The Orchid Album is one of the most beautiful and complete works on orchids ever done. Engravings are on fine, heavy stock paper.The print measures 11 1/4 x 9 inches. Matted in attractive wooden frame finished in gold. #42973. Fine. More

Herefordshire: The Whittington Press, 1997. Hardcover. 1 of 850 copies. This annual from The Whittington Press is perhaps the most highly regarded serial publication on the book arts. This volume includes articles on the Golden Cockerel Press, Bruce Rogers, Caslon Type, and the dust-jacket designs of Hermann Zapf. Contributers include Jerry Kelly, Sebastian Carter, John Dreyfus, Ruari McLean, and Roderick Cave. With many tipped in examples of type and paper. Fine in fine dust jacket. 195 pages. BOB/110410. Fine. More

Whittington Press, 2007. Paperback. 1 of 750 copies.This is 1 of 680 copies bound in stiff paper covers. Fine / Fine. More

New Rochelle: Wildcliff Craft Center, 1979. Hardcover. Number 19 of 35 copies of the limited edition catalog for “The Book as Art” exhibit at the Wildcliff Craft Center. Signed by Kathleen Dinan, Leonard Seastone, and Alexandra Soteriou, who oversaw the collaborative project. A number of book artists participated in this exhibit, and the folio catalog is itself a fascinating production. The pages are linked together by a broad ribbon, which allows them to unfurl like a ladder; or, the pages can be turned as usual to read the various artist’s statements and colophon. Bound into red and black cloth boards. Printed in Neuland and Goudy O.S. types on cotton handmade paper. In fine condition. Unpaginated. ARTISTSBOOKS/071012. Fine. More

Luminice Press. One of 10 copies. This fascinating and intricate work by highly regarded book artist Williams is about two forms of transformation: alchemy, a physical process, and written scripture, a codification of religious beliefs. Alchemists believed that a method could be found to transmute base metals into gold. After centuries of trying, they never discovered such a method. The beliefs of some early societies were transformed from pantheistic to a concept of a single god figure, whose stories were collected in written form and used to codify new faiths. This book looks at the failure of alchemy and also how early faiths were corrupted and then used by dominant groups to subjugate and harm those who differed. The front cover is a pentagram with five triangles. The pentagram symbolized both good and evil and had many interpretations. For example, the single point up indicated the five wounds of Christ; both points up had an occult meaning. The triangles represent the base metals of alchemy. From top left in a clockwise rotation they are: silver, lead, tin, iron and copper with the sixth metal, mercury, represented by the silver dust surrounding the pentagram. Gold, the primary objective of alchemy, is at the center. The rear cover represents the four elements identified in antiquity: air, fire, earth and water. Each base metal has been associated with a planet in our solar system. Lead with Saturn, tin with Jupiter, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, silver with the moon, and mercury with its namesake planet. As the book progresses, each etching is aligned with one of the metals. The symbol for each metal, or planet associated with it, is found on the text page. Wit 11 original etchings from zinc plates on Twinrocker hand-made paper, 12 letterpress printed pages from polymer plates with alcohol based stains on Mohawk text weight paper, marbled endpapers. Covers are bound with paper over binders board. Front cover has onlays of thin steel and copper with metal pigment coatings and patina as well as silver leaf and gold leaf. Rear cover has an onlay of embossed aluminium foil from an engraved polycarbonate plate. closed, with three flaps and magnet closure bound with book cloth over binders board with Tyvek hinges. ad, tin, iron and copper with the sixth metal, mercury, represented by the silver dust surrounding the pentagram. Gold, the primary objective of alchemy, is at the center. The rear cover represents the four elements identified in antiquity: air, fire, earth and water. Each base metal has been associated with a planet in our solar system. Lead with Saturn, tin with Jupiter, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, silver with the moon, and mercury with its namesake planet. Custom case measures 9.5 x 8.75 x 1.5 inches. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/052720. More

Lincolnville, ME: Dudley Zopp, 2017. Hardcover. Number 10 of 25 standard copies of a new limited edition book by artist and scholar Dudley Zopp. Signed and numbered by the book artist. Ms. Zopp graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. and M.A. and completed postgraduate studies in Drawing and Painting at the Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville. She now lives in Lincolnville, Maine. Zopp finds inspiration in geological processes and cultural histories of place. Her engagement with restoring habitat where she lives feeds directly into her work, which ranges from site specific installations to paintings, woodcuts and limited edition books. She has completed residencies at geologically significant sites in Newfoundland, Spain and Italy. She has exhibited widely at galleries, universities and museums in New England and the Midwest. Her work is included in university and museum collections nationally. This book is offered as both a limited edition deluxe set of 25 with one of the original signed drawings and marble ,and as a slipcased set of 25 with a limited edition print. of which this is one. The book considers our relationship to the Earth in a sequence of annotated watercolors. It was originally presented digitally for a 2014 exhibition "Turning in Your Hand: The Blue Marble Project,” at Waterfall Arts in Maine. Twenty artists were given a blue marble and asked to respond to the pale blue dot we call home. Dudley's images and notations provide a unique look into the oldest of concerns: our place in this world (artist's statement). The illustrations began with a month-long daily ritual of erasing an earlier charcoal drawing and, using watercolor and ink, creating a new drawing in its place. As part of this Dudley noted the weather and the color of the ocean as seen from her studio. She also added a few lines adapted from ancient Buddhist texts. The resulting 31 watercolors were collected in a mystical and magical book that beautifully captures Dudley's artistic consideration of our place in the world. Design, typography, and assembly of books and cases are by Richard Reitz Smith. Text and images are printed as offset lithography by Penmore Lithographers. Typeset inFutura on Cougar Opaque Smooth paper. Covers are blue Dover book cloth.The book is presented in an accordion format and can be read in the round or displayed as sculpture. The book is housed in a dark blue cloth slipcase with an archival pigment print of the drawing for Day Sixteen. Book measures 5 x 7 inches. 82 pages. In fine condition. ARTISTSB/110717. Fine. More