New York: Nicholas L. Brown, 1929. Hardcover. One of 1410 copies printed from type on French Navarre paper. This was the author's own copy, with his bookplate affixed to the front pastedown along with a small oval pink and gilt decorative sticker showing two Greek figures. Tipped in is a charming original watercolor portrait of a young woman done by Franz Felix. He has inscribed it: "To Mitchell S. Buck, Esq in high esteem and friendship Franz Felix, NY 1929." The book is handsomely bound in quarter brown leather with black cloth covers. Raised bands to spine and gilt titling. Binding is near fine with the slightest wear to the corners. Interior pages are clean and bright. There are six stylized green illustrations with white background. A previous owner or bookseller has written in pencil of the free front endpaper that the book was the author's copy and includes an original watercolor. The rear pastedown has evidence that a bookseller ticket was removed. In about fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 8.5 inches. LIT/090523. Fine. More

Ogdensburg, NY: Caliban Press, 2017. 69 of 104 copies signed and numbered by the highly regarded book artist and printer Mark McMurray. This is a beautifully produced new edition of A Christmas Carol that captures the power of this timeless story through the inventive use of text, images, paper, type, and binding. McMurray writes in the prospectus: "We know the story, we know the characters, but the language of the text offers new rewards with each reading. This edition of Dickens' classic returns to the dark, sleep-deprived angst of the original complete text." The prospectus states that the text in this edition comes from the 1843 edition with minor corrections. Printed on a variety of handmade and mould-made papers including Zerkal Ingres and papers from La Papeterie-St. Armand. The text is printed entirely from metal and wood types, including monotype Bell plus many from the 19th century. There are wonderful images of the ghosts that visit Scrooge on that fateful night, and many other ornaments and designs throughout. They are done in various media including pochoir, collage, wood engraving, and relief blocks. Bound in black ribbed flexible covers with a red morocco leather spine with title in gilt on spine and inside a cutout on the front cover. Housed in a stiff black paper slipcase with a subtle chain design. Prospectus and errata slip inserted. In fine condition. 7.5 x 10.5 inches. 107 pages. PRI/051023. Fine. More

New York: Caliban Press, 2014. Paperback. Number 101 of 125 copies. Signed and numbered by the printer (Mark McMurray) and artist (Guy Berard). "The Five Spot Cafe was one of New York City's most legendary Jazz Clubs ... with repeated extended stays by Thelonious Monk and his various quartets ... The club also became a destination for New York's avante-garde of the period. Abstract expressionist painters as well as poets Frank O'Hara and Amiri Baraka were frequently in the audience. Other writers, critics, and journalists came too, including Martin T. Williams (1924 - 1992) a noted jazz critic and contributor to The New York Times and Harpers Magazine" (artist statement). Bound in Celtic grey handmade paper covers with green cloth spine and circular paper title label "5". Large circular cut out to front cover revealing yellow spot and black number five. The text first appeared in Down Beat magazine on February 13, 1964 and has been edited. Illustrated with a revolving map and a double page centerpiece collage by Guy Berard. The collage is based on a photograph from 1958 of the Thelonious Monk Quartet playing at The Five Spot Cafe. [11 pages.] PRI/051023. Fine. More

Venezia [Venice]: Per Francesco Piacentini con Licenza de' Superiori, 1736. Hardcover. Volume II only. A new edition of the Italian translation of Cicero's historically important work "Epistulae ad familiares" which collects Cicero's letters to various people during the Roman Republic. Cicero (106 - 43 BC) was one of Rome's greatest orators. In Italian. Bound in mottled paper covered boards over mottled leather spine with maroon and gilt title label to spine. Chipping and rubbing to paper on front board and to edges of boards. Cracking to leather on spine, short splits to leather along front joint, and chips to spine ends. Spots of foxing to interior, else clean. Ex-library embossed stamp from Napoli to front free endpaper. Red speckles to fore-edge of textblock. Pagination: 331 - 792. REL/071923. Very Good. More

New York: Béatrice Coron, 2022-2023. Number 3 of 6 copies. French born Béatrice Coron is a renowned artist whose work includes book arts, fine art, and public art. Her work can be found in major museum collections, libraries, as well as private collections. Her books are fascinating creations made through cutting images in paper or Tyvek. Cristina Favretto, Head of Special Collections at the University of Miami describes her creations 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." 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] This book was inspired by "The Conference of the Birds," a Persian poem of 1177 by Sufi poet Farid ud-din Attar. Ab mid bin Ab Bakr Ibr h m (c. 1145 – c. 1221; Persian,is better known by his pen-names Far d ud-D n and A r of Nishapur (Attar means apothecary), was an Iranian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Sufism. He wrote a collection of lyrical poems and number of long poems in the philosophical tradition of Islamic mysticism, as well as a prose work with biographies and sayings of famous Muslim mystics. The Conference of the Birds, The Book of Divine, and Memorial of the Saints are among his best known works [Wikipedia]. Coron states that the papercuts created for this book display the journey of life through the seven valleys. While keeping the symbolism of the epic poem, the images also represent the environmental and conflictual challenges of today. Her marvelous papercuts were done with dark blue hand-cut Lokta paper, backed in white paper to showcase the papercut images. Each panel has a word: Start, Believe, Explore, Forget, Merge, Trust, and Fuse that reflect the meaning of the images. The book has an accordion structure that allows either to be opened like a codex or to be unfolded to show all of the panels at once. The book is housed loosely in a green leather folder with the images of a bird and the artist's name made in tin affixed to the cover. The book in turn is housed in a bright yellow leather clamshell box with tin images of birds and a title label affixed to the cover. The edges of the box are covered in decorated tin. Each box binding in the edition is unique. Noted bookbinder Monique Lallier made the bindings for both the book and box. A striking production in fine condition. The book measures 7 x 6.5 inches when closed and 7 x 49 inches when opened. ARTB/090523. More

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1973. Hardcover. "This is the first comprehensive guide to a vast number of places connected with ghosts, hauntings, witchcraft, mysteries, strange customs and legends. It locates wishing wells, sites of buried treasure and the supernatural showplaces of England, Scotland and Wales, and is the ideal vade mecum for the visitor in search of the off beat and the eerie .... [It] is arranged by counties as a series of tours, but the maps adn index make it possible for the sites to be visited in conjunction with other itineraries which the tourist may have already planned" (jacket). Black cloth boards with metallic green title to spine. In color illustrated dust jacket with yellow title to spine and front panels. Minor wear to edges of jacket. Foxing to top edge of text block. Illustrated. 201 plus maps. OCC/082423. Very Good / Very Good. More

Venetiis [Venice]: antonii Tiuani, 1714. Hardcover. Quintus Curtius Rufus was a Roman historian who likely lived during the 1st century. His only known work is the history of Alexander the Great, and it does not survive in its entirety. Originally written in 10 books or chapters, several books are missing and others are incomplete. This book contains Book 10 only, which is incomplete. In Latin. Bound in the original light blue / grey paper covered boards with hand-written author to spine. Wear to corners and edges of boards. Heavy rubbing to boards. Split to front joint leaving internal sewing structure exposed. Soiling from old tape repair to boards and spine; however, tape has been removed. Occasional spots of soiling to interior, previous owner signature, and ink sketches to endpapers - else clean. 428 pages plus index. GRE/081523. Good. More

Paris: Carolum Savreux, 1663. Hardcover. Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel, Duhamel or du Hamel (1624 – 1706) was a French cleric and natural philosopher of the late seventeenth century, and the first secretary of the Academie Royale des Sciences. As its first secretary, he influenced the initial work of the Académie, but his legacy and influence on the Académie and the growth of science in France is mixed. It is Du Hamel's scholarly work, both in his analysis of the competing philosophies of the ancient and new science, as well as his role in disseminating the values and beliefs of the Académie to students and scholars that prove to be the most influential on the history of the science in France. Among his several books is this treatise in Latin on natural philosophy compares Greek and scholastic theories with those of Descartes. A scarce work that is quite uncommon in commerce or at auction. Bound in brown leather with five raised bands to spine with gilt titling and ornaments to the compartments. Leather is soiled and faded, with bumping to corners, a crack to front joint, and chipping to spine. Some offsetting to pastedowns and free endpapers. Bookplate from Liechtenstein. Text pages have browning and occasional spots but still quite legible. With a green ribbon bookmark that opens to an illustration that accompanies a section on the development of the Cartesian system. A nice copy of this classic of natural philosophy in about very good condition. Measures 7.25 x 9.25 inches. 280 pages. PHIL/090123. Very Good. More

London: Eragny Press for Halcon and Ricketts, 1900. Hard Cover. One of 226 copies of which 200 were for sale.This is one of 175 paper copies. There were also 10 vellum copies. Founded in 1894 by Lucien Pisarro and his wife, Esther, the Eragny Press became well known for its distinctive designs, woodcuts, and printing. The press originally printed books using Charles Rickett’s Vale Press type face; however, in 1904, after the closing of the Vale Press, Lucien began publishing his own books and printing them with a typeface of his design called Brook Type. This title beautifully exemplefies the style and distinctive qualities of the Eragny Press. It is printed on handmade papers with the Vale watermark using the Vale Press typeface. Printed in red and black with striking decorated initials. The frontispiece has a woodcut portrait of Villon done by Lucien Pissaro with an ornate border of leaves designed by Lucien and engraved by his wife Esther. Bound in floral patterned paper covered boards, with a gray paper spine with gilt titling. The spine has faded with some loss of cloth to head and tail, and it has been repaired along its right edge. The corners are bumped and there are light marks on the covers. Slight offsetting to pastedowns and the rear free endpapers. The text pages are generally in very good condition, with a bit of light spotting to the title page. Gift inscription in ink dated 1916, Measures 5.25 x 7.25 inches. 88 pages plus 3 page list of titles. PRI/061323. Very Good. More

New Haven, CT: Henry W. Wenning, 1966. Hardcover. Number 147 copies of 218 copies signed by the poet. Copies 5 to 215 were for sale, with the first three copies lettered a, b, c reserved for the poet, publisher, and printer. William Everson (1912 - 1994), was also known as Brother Antoninus, A deeply serious and religious writer, Everson spent 18 years as a Dominican monk and published many of his works under his name in religion, Brother Antoninus. He was variously classified as a nature poet, an erotic poet, and a religious poet, but, contended Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor James A. Powell, “above all else, Everson is an autobiographical, even a confessional poet. Throughout his career…he has made his personal life the predominant subject of his poetry.”was a poet, critic, and globally renowned handset printer [Poetry Foundation biography]. Bound in decorated paper covers in green, red, black on cream background, with brown leather spine with debossed titling. Spine with slight wear along joints and small tear on rear joint. Lightest wear to edges of covers. Small brown stains to fore-edges of two of free front endpapers. Signed by the poet in black ink with brown wash. Printed by Claude Fredericks in Pawlet, VT on kochi paper. Very good condition. Measures 10.5 x 6.5 inches. Unpaginated [13 pages]. PI/082423. Very Good. More

Philadelphia: Henry Perkins, 1836. Hardcover. Fourth Edition. Very good in brown paper covered boards with brown leather spine and gilt title to spine. Bookplate from a Greek society to front pastedown. White binders tape repair to front endpapers. Front board is nearly detached. Dampstaining to boards and edges of pages. Foxing and soiling - heaviest to last few pages and rear endpapers. A good reading copy. French language. FRE407261. Very Good -. More

Waltham St. Lawrence, Berkshire: Golden Cockerel Press, 1925. Hardcover. Number 294 of 450 copies. [From Roderick Cave's History of The Golden Cockerel Press] "Were it not for his sister Enid Clay, Eric Gill might not ever have been tempted to work with Robert Gibbings. Gibbings had approached Gill in late 1924 with an offer of work as an artist for his newly procured Golden Cockerel Press, but Gill refused on the ground that the press was not Catholic. Their acquaintance might have ended there, but as it happened Gill’s sister was in want of a publisher for her first book. Gibbings volunteered to take her on, and Gill was induced to be her illustrator. Following Gill’s temporary refusal, Enid Clay’s Sonnets and Verses (1925) became the first Golden Cockerel publication he was to illustrate. It was the beginning of a prolific seven-year partnership. The illustrations for his sister’s book are largely a continuation of the ones he had produced for St Dominic’s Press. In contrast to those seen in later publications, Gill’s nudes are white-on-black and lack the strong lines that characterize most of his engravings. Their Art Deco undertones render them barely distinguishable from similar illustrations of the period. As for their physical relationship to the text it is nonexistent, with none of the illustrations connecting particularly to the next." A handsome book from the famed Golden Cockerel Press. Bound in blue paper covers with light brown linen spine with paper title label. Book is lightly worn with fading to top edges, darkening to spine, and crease and tiny chip to the spine label. Interior pages are generally clean and bright with light darkening to edge of front pastedown and evidence of a label or bookseller ticket removed from rear pastedown. Top edge trimmed but fore-edge and bottom edge untrimmed. With eight full and partial page illustrations including the title page by Eric Gill. Very good condition. Measures 6 x 9 inches. 35 pages. PRI/083123. Very Good. More

Moscow: Emil Goozairow, 2022. 8 of 8 copies (in this binding), signed and numbered. Goozairow is a Russian artist who paints and draws, produces movies, and creates exceptional handmade books that are printed on rare types of paper and published in limited editions. His techniques create unique designs that often are made with natural materials alone or in combination with relief decorations made from metal or polymeric clay or 3-D prints. He creates books that he describes as "pop up," “kinetic carousel," “liporello” or “3D origami.” He also writes fairy tales, stories and mystical scenes. A playful alphabet book with something embedded in both covers, causing it to rattle when read. Delightful illustrations with alliterative phrases (many comical) for each letter such as: Angel's Acorns for A, Creeping Cats, Delightful Desire for D, and Ugly Unicorn for U. The book has a special folding design that seems to unravel as you open each page. It must be turned and flipped as you read in order to see all of the letters in order. This sculptural book is 3-D printed in the shape of a tower. It has been hand painted in metallic gold and bronze. The book is held closed with braided brown cord straps that affix to a ball near the base of the tower. In fine condition. A triangular book measuring: 4.5 inches tall x 2.5 x 2.5 2.5 inches. ARTB/052323. Fine. More