New Castle, DE: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2002. Cloth Boards. 4to. "Based on interviews and the Press's widely-scattered archives, this richly illustrated history discusses and assesses its books. In showing how the market for fine books was created and sustained, it provides many insights into other aspects of the British publishing scene" (jacket). In navy blue cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Pristine interior with tight binding. Blue dust jacket with white title to spine and front panels. Minor rubbing to jacket. With over 160 black and white illustrations and 16 pages of colour plates. 279 pages. BOB/020923. Fine in Fine dj. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2023. Hardcover. Number 20 of 42 copies. Signed by Tannenbaum, Richards, Malcolm, and Walker. Quarto. A parody of Lewis Carroll's "Hunting of the Snark", written during the COVID-19 quarantine, that involves an expedition to cure infectious diseases by procuring a tissue sample from the elusive Snark, which is said to have immunity to all germs. Unfortunately, all but one of the crew members takes ill and dies from one of the diseases they set out to cure. Includes the Snark Map and a table of diseased crew members. The author of the introduction, which discusses infectious diseases during Carroll's lifetime is Catherine Anne Richards (1963). She is a retired English paediatric surgeon with a passion for Carrollinia. The author of this parody, Alison Crane Tannenbaum (1946), is a neurobiologist that spent most of her career in biomedical research at the National Institute of Health. Bound in red cloth boards with leatherette title label to front cover and gilt title to spine. Printed in New Caledonia type on Velin BFK Rives paper by George Walker and Andy Malcolm. With wood engravings by Walker, made from end grain end grain maple wood. The engravings of each crew member are underprinted with engravings based on photographs of viruses, which were provided by the author. Housed in slipcase covered in same cloth as book with gilt titling to cover and spine. In fine condition. 54 pages. PRI/030923. Fine. 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, 2020. Paperback. Number 74 of 100 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist This handmade book offers reproductions of an astonishing series done by Béatrice Coron of five handcut Tyvek panels measuring 30 inches by 8 feet celebrating the history and landmarks of the five boroughs of New York City. The original panels are part of the exhibition: "In Profile: A Look at Silhouettes" on view at the New York Historical Society from January 2020 to February 2022. This book includes a negative of the original papercut. 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]. Bound in dark blue paper with a coptic binding and title label to cover. In fine condition. Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches. ARTB/030923. Fine. More

New York: Béatrice Coron, 2023. Hardcover. Number 3 of 3 copies. A comical poem about angels with a papercut illustration on black Tyvek by Coron. Stern's poem reads: "Whenever I think of angels, I get really angry. I want to rip their halos off, kick them, bite them, punch their pretty little faces and pull the feathers out of their little wings, one by one. Angels don't have to go to work, pay the bills, or fill out forms and wait, for their names to be called. They never feel too hot or too cold, Don't sweat, itch, fart, go bald or get old. It pisses me off! I would be an angel too, if I had no problems." Appropriately, Coron's illustration depicts angels playing music on clouds in the sky while humans toil beneath them on earth. The artist comments: "I read Mick Stern’s poem and had this image of a cloudy sky and a dreary hard day, while the angels had a party up in the sky. It made me smile and I had to cut it! I made the cover with eggshells as I was wondering if angels have wings, should have they shells too?" The booklet is housed in a folder with cloth spine and boards decorated with mounted bits of broken eggshells that have been sanded flat by artist, creating an interesting pattern of spots. Printed title label to front board of folder and first page of booklet. A playful piece, typical of Coron's whimsical style. Size (open): 7 x 12 inches. Case: 7 x 6.5 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] Christina 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

Gainesville, FL: Crooked Letter Press, 2015. Hardcover. Number 39 of 50 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. According to the artist: "'Ingress / Egress' is an artist's book that conteplates the design of artists' books. The intent of the piece is to encourage ideation on the theme "books are ..." [It is composed of] six French-fold booklets that use geometry, visual design, text, and imagery to investigate topics such as "Books Are Architecture" and "Books Are Collections." They are all letterpress printed on Japanese mulberry paper from photopolymer plates by the Boxcar Press in Humanist, Spectrum, and Spindle (a typeface created by Ellen Knudson). The unbound pages are housed in a clamshell box covered in blue cloth with a diamond shaped paper title label to the front board. This book was selected as one of the five finalists for the 2017 Minnesota Center for Book Arts Bienniel Prize. Size: 6 x 9 inches. Unpaginated. The Crooked Letter Press is the imprint of book artist and graphic designer, Ellen Knudson. Ellen is currently Associate in Book Arts at The University of Florida. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from The University of Alabama. Ellen has been a book artist for 17 years and a professional graphic designer for 20+ years . She has taught letterpress printing and Book Arts at The University of Florida, The University of Alabama, and graphic design at Mississippi State University and Wayne State University. Her work is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yale University, The Library of Congress, and many other national and international collections. PRI/030923. Fine. More

Gainesville, FL: Crooked Letter Press, 2020. Hardcover. Number 16 of 40 copies signed and numbered by the book artist. Crooked Letter Press is the imprint of book artist and graphic designer, Ellen Knudson. Ellen is currently Associate in Book Arts at The University of Florida. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from The University of Alabama. Ellen has been a book artist for 17 years and a professional graphic designer for 20+ years . She has taught letterpress printing and Book Arts at The University of Florida, The University of Alabama, and graphic design at Mississippi State University and Wayne State University. Her work is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Yale University (CT), The Library of Congress (DC), and many other national and international collections. From the artist's website and colophon: "Rule of Thumb is a moveable book about the historical human obsession with ourselves and with approval from others. In the last 10 years, we have become obsessed with living online instead of actual living. We seem to only care about how many "thumbs up”, likes, or hearts we can accumulate on social media platforms. We practice a psychological social separation. We live virtual lives. Now, with the proliferation of the COVID-19 virus, we are living with the physical reality of "social-distancing". How will we make it back? Can we make it back? I hope we will realize how much we don't want to live without one another." Rule of Thumb considers the ways in which humans have used our thumbs to, at best, twist reality, and at worst, ruin ourselves. The serious questions addressed in this book are approached through a seemingly whimsical description and movable depiction of various expressions with the word thumb - the pricking of my thumb, rule of thumb, sticks out like a sore thumb, under my thumb and more. These are accompanied by information about the phrase's origin and a few relevant quotations. Printed on and constructed from Colorplan paper (350gsm, Natural). Letterpress printed from linoleum blocks and photopolymer plates. The orange and red binding is a storage book binding with a green concertina spine made from Tyvek hand-tinted with acrylic inks. It is housed in a red portfolio with thumb images and with soft flaps (made using directions by Peter D. Verheyen). The spine of the portfolio and the book cover are foil stamped in matte black foil. In fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 11 inches. Portfolio measures 7 x 11.5 inches. Unpaginated. ARTB/030823. Fine. More

Berlin: Julius Bard Verlag, 1902. Hardcover. Cream paper covered spine with grey and gilt decorative paper covered boards. Gilt title to spine and front board. Wear and chipping to paper along edges, hinges, and corners of boars. Browning and slight roll to spine. Penned ownership inscription dated 1907 to front free endpaper. Clean interior overall. Attractively printed in red and black on laid paper. Devil motif to page numbers. 210 pages. GER/032323. Very Good. More

Phaidon Press Inc., 2001. Hard Cover. 4to. "This is a narrative of the Bible as an artefact - an account of how it has changed, evolved and survived during its extraordinary journey through history ... The story begins in the age of illuminated manuscripts" and continues through the invention of printing into modern times (dust jacket). Red paper covered boards with gilt title to spine. Clean, tight interior. Filled with illustrations, many of which are in full color. Tan dust jacket with black spine panel and white title to spine. Sunning to edge of front panel of jacket. Price sticker to front flap of jacket. 352 pages. BOB/020923. Fine / Very Good. More

Wien (Vienna): Ben Johann Thomas Edlen von Trattnern, 1795. Hardcover. Zwente verbesserte Ausgabe (second revised edition). This is the first volume only of a two volume work. Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis (1729 - 1800) was an Austrian author, poet, and the curator for the Vienna Court Library. He was also a Catholic Priest, Jesuit, and an entomologist who studied moths and butterflies. This work is presented in three parts discussing the history of the book through early Christianity, through the Renaissance, and finally through the mid/late 1700s including the book trade. Deaccession stamp from Harvard Library embossed to rear endpaper along with a black ink ownership stamp. The black ownership stamp appears in the margins of several internal pages as well. In modern binding, which appears to have been added after the book was deaccessioned as there are no library markings, of three quarter tan leather over marbled paper covered boards with black and gilt title to spine, which reads: "R. Denis / Bücher / Kunde" Minor wear and rubbing to edges of boards, corners, and raised bands. Replica pastepaper endpapers with a few small spots where the surface has lifted on rear endpapers (likely from glue). These replica papers reproduce a circular pencil marking that was found on the original. The title page is printed in red and black. Head and tail pieces throughout. Occasional spots of soiling to interior including smudge marks and ink spots. Dampstaining to top margin in gutter to most pages. The stain is small and light in most of the book, but covers a larger area of the page (about 2 x 3 inches) on later pages. The stain does not affect legibility. The folding chart at the rear has additional creases, a few tears, dampstaining, and minor foxing. Lacks additional engraved plate. IN GERMAN. Attractive binding. 293 pages with one folded engraved chart to rear. GER/020923. Very Good. More

New York: Hacker Art Books, 1979. Hardcover. 8vo. Illustrated yellow cloth boards with black and gilt title labels to spines. Light wear and rubbing to spines and edges of boards. Foxing to fore-edges of textblocks. Clean, bright interiors with diagrams and photographic illustrations. A few spots of soiling to top edges of textblocks. Vol. I, 251 pages plus plates; Vol. II, 406 pages. An excellent historical reference; also an excellent reference for book binding techniques BOB/020223. Very Good. More

Venetius: Apud Baltassarem Constantinum, 1553. Hardcover. An early medical work in Latin on the causes and symptoms of various illnesses and ailments. The author and the editor were both medical doctors. Bound in early brown leather. It is partially rebacked on a lighter brown leather spine with a fragment of the original spine; the original cover is also attached to the later boards. Leather is chipped, bumped and has a few small holes. The bottom of the title page was cut away after the date and is attached to a blank page. It is discolored and has a light ownership signature. Has printer's device. First signature is loose but still attached to text block. The final few pages also have discolorations not affecting the text. The index precedes the text. Pages are generally clean and bright with occasional spotting, and toning to the margins. Occasional margin notes and underlining. A nice copy overall. Measures 4 x 6.5 inches. 207, [1] pages. MEDIC/022123. Very Good -. More

New York: Limited Editions Club, 1959. Hardcover. Number 1442 of 1500 copies. Signed by Fritz Eichenberg. Includes the suppressed chapter "Stavrogin's Confession," translated by Avrahm Yarmolinsky. Each volume is bound in illustrated cloth with metallic silver and gilt titles to spines. One volume is bound in red cloth and the other in blue. Light sunning to spines and gentle wear to edges. Clean and bright interiors with Eichenberg's detailed wood engravings throughout. Housed in the original black paper covered slipcase with gold paper title label to spine panel. Wear including chipping to paper along edges and corners of case. The top half inch of the title label, which affects the word "The" is no longer present. Continuously paginated, 619 pages plus notes. LIT/020223. Very Good. More