Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2014. Hardcover. Number 9 of 100 copies. Signed by the author. This book was inspired by a call for entries by the Guild of Book Workers with the theme of "vessel." Karen describes the text of her response as 60% memory and 40% casually researched, mostly on Wikipedia. Karen's book focuses on the iconic containers and conveyances of her childhood and adolescence between roughly 1962-1979. She juxtapositions her text with photographs of such "vessels" as the Chevy Nova, Crock-Pot, Electric Frying Pan, Mood Ring, Frye Boots, the 747, and more. Her words are often amusing, but they also offer astute observations on her family and our society during the period covered. This is the deluxe edition with marbled paper covers by Pamela Smith. Digitally printed and housed in a purple paper covered slip case. Digitally printed. In fine condition. 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated [26 pages] PRI/121415. Fine. More

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2018. Hardcover. Limited to 290 copies. Swiss book artist and typographer Romano Hänni (1956 - ) has been experimenting with unusual compositions of letter forms and symbols since the early 1980s. His intricate designs can seem somewhat whimsical but often are reactions to society, politics, and traumatic events. Creating things manually with the participation of all of the senses is very important to him. A master of visual poetry, he enjoys teaching to pass on his knowledge and skills. This inventive new version of an earlier book of the same title was hand composed and hand printed in black, red, yellow, and blue ink. It is an accordion structure with a stiff paper illustrated wrapper which, when removed, allows the twelve pages of the content to be unfolded into one continuous strip. With a paper band closure for the folded book. Includes a four page supplement featuring the title of the work and the colophon in both English and German. A small book measuring 3.25 inches wide by 5 inches tall. In fine condition. Unpaginated. PRI/112818. Fine. More

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2018. Hardcover. A set of three books in the Words Make the Infinite Finite series. Volume VII is limited to 290 copies, Volume VI is limited to 187 copies, and Volume V is limited to 86 copies. Swiss book artist and typographer Romano Hänni (1956 - ) has been experimenting with unusual compositions of letter forms and symbols since the early 1980s. His intricate designs can seem somewhat whimsical but often are reactions to society, politics, and traumatic events. Creating things manually with the participation of all of the senses is very important to him. A master of visual poetry, he enjoys teaching to pass on his knowledge and skills. Each of these books was hand composed and hand printed in black, red, yellow, and blue ink. All are accordion structures with stiff paper illustrated wrappers, which when removed, allow the twelve pages of the contents to be unfolded into one continuous strip. With a paper band closure for the folded book. Includes a four page supplement featuring the title of the work and the colophon in both English and German. A small set in a slipcase measuring about 3.25 inches wide by 5 inches tall by 1.25 inches thick. In fine condition. Unpaginated. PRI/112818. Fine. More

Harrison of Paris, 1930. Hardcover. Number 45 of 840 copies. "Of America's historical and legendary scenes, the Wild West is the one which casts the most magic spell abroad. It was Bret Harte who first saw it as Americans and foreigners have seen it ever since; he was its particular prodigy, its spokesman and laureate. How many cowboys with Greek profiles, how many chaste and sturdy heroines, how many poetical platitudinous films, owe their existence to him!" (slipcase). Bound in coarse tan cloth with red author to spine and red title to front cover. Browning to spine. Offsetting to endpapers and minor foxing to margins of a few pages, else clean and bright. Printed by R. Coulouma at Argenteuil under the direction of H. Barthelemy. With stencil colored illustrations by Pierre Falke, based on his original watercolors. Printed on Montgolfier Freres' Annonay vellum. Housed in the original off-white slipcase. Foxing, minor soiling,rubbing, and chipping to case. Literature. 187 pages. PRI/122022. Very Good. More

Philadelphia: Heirloom Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 4 of 5 copies. Signed by the artist. Folio. "Curio is a collection of quotidian objects that speaks to the idea of woman as domestic curator and as weaker vessel. Images of household vases, cups and bowls are paired with inkblots that evoke the trappings of middle-class existence" (artist's statement). Includes text adapted from the 1868 collection of articles, "Modern Women and What Is Said of Them" and the Kate Chopin novel "The Awakening." Many of the excerpts that the artist has chosen to include objectify women, likening them to jewelry, tables, and other precious possessions. For example: After scolding his wife for sun bathing, Mr. Pontellier looks "at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." Also "The mind ought to be developed a little, and in such a way as to make the body more piquant and attractive. Like the candle inside a Chinese lantern, it may serve to lighten up and show to advantage the pretty devices outside. But the outside is the important thing, and the inside only incidental" (from "Modern Women ...). Others comment on how wives should be controlled or "managed" and the power dynamics within the home. A powerful book about the subjugation of women. Bound in full white alum-tawed leather with seven raised bands to the spine. Printed using letterpress, screenprint, and lithography on paper handmade by the artist. Size: 22 (wide) x 14.5 (tall) inches when open. ARTB/060920. Fine. More

New York: Turkey Press, 2016. A unique design binding. The text is 1 of 100 copies, issued in a variable edition, of which 30 were offered for sale. The copies not offered for sale were offered as gifts of the press in celebration of the 70th birthday of Harry Reese and the 42nd anniversary of Turkey Press. Reprinted with permission of the translators and Persea Books. Includes the original red pastepaper wrappers bound in as well as two colorful decorative papers. Nâzim Hikmet (1902 - 1963) was a Turkish-Polish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and novelist that spent much of his adult life in prison or exile due to his political beliefs. A poignant poem about living fully without dwelling too much on the reality of death, written in a conversational tone. Bound in a flexible grey leather binding "Link-in-1" structure with gold hand-made paper linked in. This particular design structure was created by the binder, Sol Rébora. The leather is printed with an embossed pattern, which was designed by the binder. The title and author's name are hand stamped in black and red on the boards. The name of the binder is stamped in black to the inside of the front cover. Grey suede endpapers as well as several fine papers. Housed in a stiff silver paper enclosure with textured grey leather spine titled in red. Unpaginated. [12 pages.] Sol Rébora is a designer bookbinder working in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since 1999. She is a well-recognized practitioner, receiving awards both in Argentina and abroad. Her work encompasses innovative and experimental work in designer binding and contemporary conservation methods. She studied with Deborah Evetts, Monique Lallier, Pascale Therond, Edwin Heim, Helene Jolis, Sün Evrard and Kathy Abbott, among other teachers. She currently works and teaches courses out of her studio in addition to giving lectures and workshops in person and online at schools including the SF Center for the Book and Iowa University Center for the Book, American Academy of Bookbinding and Penland School of Crafts. She has participated in group exhibitions such us Epémère, Tomorrow’s Past and Les Pages Bien Gardees. Sol’s work may be found in many privet collections and inside of institution’s collections in USA, Mexico and UK such as Athenæum Library and British Library. Fine. More

Montgomery Village, MD: Shireen Holman, 2013. Paperback. Number 15 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the artist. This complex and beautiful artist's book explores time from the viewpoints of religion, literature, science, and philosophy. The book artist, Shireen Modak Holman, has been a printmaker for more than thirty-five years and a book artist for more than twenty. She was born in India, and her work often involves the interaction of her Indian and American cultures. She states that she is fascinated by time and spent several years reading, sketching, and selecting texts to illustrate the imagery she was creating as she tried to visually express time. She has used texts from the writings of Shakespeare, Tagore, Einstein, Thoreau, Hawking, and others. As the design of the book came together, she created a full-sized colored pencil mock-up. The finished book consists of woodcuts printed onto pulp-painted handmade paper. The text was letterpress printed on gampi paper and then pasted onto the handmade sheets. The pages are folded in such a way that one can see a little of each of the subsequent pages from the current page. Thus from the beginning to the end of the book one can see a little of the future from the present. Each page has semicircular areas cut out so that the calendar at the bottom right of the colophon page is visible at all times. Housed in a cream paper clamshell box with the title "Time" in raised letters affixed vertically to the cover. Linen spine. In fine condition. Accompanied by a softcover book titled "The Making of the Artist Book 'Time.'" Unpaginated. [16 pages]. 13.75 x 19.25 inches. ARTISTS/041916. Fine. More

Omaha: Abbattoir Editions, University of Nebraska, 1979. Number 156 of 235 copies. This book is by Ben Howard, an American poet, essayist, scholar and critic. This copy is unique, with a stunning custom designer binding by renowned English bookbinder David George Sellars (1949-2015). Sellars started his bookbinding career at the age of fifteen and quickly became most interested in the artistic side of binding. He had a varied professional life that included setting up his own studio, teaching, and serving as the President of Designer Bookbinders. By the end of the 1990s, Sellars focused on creating design bindings on commission, special designs for limited editions for small presses and publishers, one-off commissions for authors and special presentation bindings for publishers. His work is represented in most major libraries in the world and many private collections. This beautiful leather binding marries different green and brown shades and varied textures of leather along with copper strands of thread to express the movement of water. The title and author are debossed on the spine. The page edges have a decorative pattern. With suede pastedowns, and Sellars's monogram on rear pastedown. Housed in a custom clamshell box covered in black cloth with white title label to spine. In fine condition. Book measures 5 x 7.5 inches. More

Ben Iluzada. Paperback. zine. Fine. More

Oldham, England: Incline Press. Hardcover. Number 32 of 160 copies signed by the artist. This is a handsome book with striking prints from artist Nick Wonham. From the press: "Collective nouns, the stuff of schooldays, always seem to amuse us. A parliament of magpies has to be a favourite, especially if you’ve heard a group of them cackling together in the Springtime. But we prefer the alternative, a charm of magpies, which certainly suits this poem better. It is one version of a folk rhyme which has many local variants, all superstitiously foretelling the future through random occurrence. Although Iona & Peter Opie’s Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes does not include it amongst the counting rhymes. It makes a nice counting or even skipping song, and we present it thus, with the numeral and its word facing each picture to encourage learning by mixing reading with the action of counting. Magpies are often known a thugs in the garden, stealing eggs and chasing off their more delicate rivals. As printers, though, we have a fondness for them because of their “ink on paper” plumage and their latin name pica pica, which recalls the printshop unit of measure. The heart of our book is the ten two-colour linocut prints. Each one 8 x 6 inches, their bold, dense colours add to the edgy feel of the images. Hand set in Monotype Bemb from 24 to 72 points in size. The numerals are Winchester 30-line woodtype from Stephenson, Blake. The paper is Zerkall. Bound with a dark blue cloth spine and light blue printed paper over boards with specially printed endpapers by Roger Grech at his Papercut Bindery. In fine condition. Measures 14.5 x 10.25 inches. Unpaginated [27 pages]. PRI/102518. Fine. More

Oldham, England: Incline Press, [2013]. Hardcover. 1 of less than 240 copies printed of which only 50 (including this one) were bound for subscribers. This book was produced to commemorate Boccaccio's 700th anniversary in 2013 for the international conference and exhibition 'Locating Boccacio in 2013,' held at the John Rylands University Library and Town Hall in Manchester. This is an excerpt from De mulierbus, the first collection of biographies of women in Western literature. Fine in beige paper covered boards with red cloth spine. The text is printed on blue paper with Poliphilus type. Includes woodcut frontispiece illustration of Joanna, Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily (1541), initials, and head and tailpieces. In a fine tan dust jacket with red title to spine panel. 22 pages. PRI/092013. Fine / Fine. More

Oldham, England: Incline Press, 2010. Paperback. One of 140 copies published for the Summer Fair at Greenside Primary School Shepherds Bush London. A charming collection of poems for children. Poets include W.B. Yeats, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Edward Lear, and Lewis Carroll. Printed with Poliphilus type on Somerset Text Laid paper. Green Indian decorated paper wrappers with handsewn binding. In near fine condition. Unpaginated [18 pages]. PRI/033015. Near Fine. More