Munich: Bremer Presse, 1929. Hardcover. Number 177 of 250 copies printed in Germany at the Bremer Presse for Random House. An additional 280 copies were printed for Bremer Presse subscribers. This handsome book provides an excellent example of the fine printing done at the Bremer Presse. The press produced books from 1911 to 1934, with a break during World War I. Stylistically influenced by the English Doves Press, the press was a strong influence on German book art. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Nature" was written in 1836. In the essay Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a nontraditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses nature, and suggests that reality can be understood by studying nature. Bound in grey, white, and red marbled paper covered boards with cream vellum spine titled in gilt. Minor browning to spine and minor wear to edges, corners, and joints. Top edge gilt, with deckled fore-edge and bottom edge. Letterpress printed on Zanders handmade paper in black and red, with red title and initials designed by Anna Simons. Clean and bright overall with inscription from previous owner in pen to front free endpaper dated 1929. 86 pages. PRI/010923. Near Fine. More

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

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2018. Hardcover. Number 13 of 42 copies signed by the printers and the author of the introduction. This is a delightful new edition of Lewis Carroll's famous poem, The Hunting of the Snark. It was produced by a writer, artist, and book designer and printers who are ardent and well-known Carroll admirers. The Cheshire 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. In addition to writing a recent biography of him, Wakeling also created a comprehensive catalogue raisonne of over 1000 photographs taken by amateur photographer Carroll. Byron W. Sewell is a prolific illustrator, author and bibliographer of works associated with Lewis Carroll. For this edition of Snark, Sewell created new illustrations inspired by contemporary carte-de-visit photographs that were so popular in Victorian England. He has one for each character in the poem, adapting images from actual photographs. They are ideal depictions for this fantastic nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll, written when he was forty-four years old. Bound in maroon cloth with title in gilt to spine and on cover label. Handprinted in New Caledonia type on Bfk Rives Cream paper. The printing was completed by George Walker and Andy Malcolm, and the book design and layout were by Walker. An original print inscribed and signed by Sewell is inserted in a sleeve on the front pastedown. Housed in a slipcase in the same maroon cloth with gilt title on cover. In fine condition. 6.5 x 10 inches. 72 pages. PRI/010319. Fine. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, (2023). Hardcover. Signed in pencil on title page by George Walker with a Cheshire Cat hand drawn illustration. "The Cheshire Cat Press has finally made this unique artwork, with Carroll's original text, available once again - this time with extra illustrations not present in the previous editions. Walker's engravings are playful, surreal and downright provocative as ever, offering a new and darkly energetic interpretation of this time-honored, masterpiece" (jacket). This new edition is a redesigned version of the Porcupine Press edition printed in the late 1980s. Bound in red cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Red ribbon bookmark bound in. Pristine. In yellow dust jacket with red title to spine and front panels. Includes about 100 woodcuts by George Walker. 140 pages. PRI/022723. Fine / Fine. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2019. Hardcover. Number 13 of 42 copies. Signed by Walker, Burstein, and printer Andy Malcolm. Quarto. This is the latest version of The Hunting of the Snark to be published by the Cheshire Press. Carroll's famous nonsense poem has been subject to numerous interpretations over time. In this truly snarky edition, Walker has chosen President Donald Trump and his White House cabinet and advisors for his 21st century lineup of the characters. He writes: "...I think they match up nicely to to the crew of the ship. When you read the poem and think of Trump's cabinet, it's hard not to see the parallels. The political arena in the USA could be described as nonsense, which is exactly the type of poem [this] is. The plot follows a crew of ten unqualified professionals trying to hunt the Snark with a blank map." Thus such familiar names as Scaramucci, Sessions, Priebus, Pence, Mnuchin, Bannon, Sanders and Trump himself appear in parts that reflect their real-life attributes and roles. Bound in grey textured cloth with leather title label to front cover and gilt title to spine. Printed in New Caledonia type on Velin BFK Rives paper. With thirteen engravings by Walker and "The Snark Map" in a sleeve affixed to front pastedown. Housed in slipcase covered in same cloth as book with gilt titling to cover and spine. In fine condition. 71 pages. PRI/011520. Fine. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2019. Hardcover. Number 37 of 42 copies. Signed by Walker, Burstein, and printer Andy Malcolm. Quarto. This is the latest version of The Hunting of the Snark to be published by the Cheshire Press. Carroll's famous nonsense poem has been subject to numerous interpretations over time. In this truly snarky edition, Walker has chosen President Donald Trump and his White House cabinet and advisors for his 21st century lineup of the characters. He writes: "...I think they match up nicely to to the crew of the ship. When you read the poem and think of Trump's cabinet, it's hard not to see the parallels. The political arena in the USA could be described as nonsense, which is exactly the type of poem [this] is. The plot follows a crew of ten unqualified professionals trying to hunt the Snark with a blank map." Thus such familiar names as Scaramucci, Sessions, Priebus, Pence, Mnuchin, Bannon, Sanders and Trump himself appear in parts that reflect their real-life attributes and roles. Bound in grey textured cloth with leather title label to front cover and gilt title to spine. Printed in New Caledonia type on Velin BFK Rives paper. With thirteen engravings by Walker and "The Snark Map" in a sleeve affixed to front pastedown. Housed in slipcase covered in same cloth as book with gilt titling to cover and spine. In fine condition. 71 pages. PRI/011520. Fine. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 2017. Number 31 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. In fine condition. 10 x 13 inches. 57 pages. PRI/031221. More

Toronto: Cheshire Cat Press, 1991. Hardcover. Number 173 of 177 copies. Around 1982, Walker, Poole, and Brambant founded the Cheshire Cat Press. They spent six years working on their well received edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1988. George Walker's wood engravings were so admired that the Press decided to publish a book that would be devoted entirely to his engravings. This is that book, which is divided into three parts.: In the first part the 96 illustrations featured in Wonderland are reproduced by chapter in the story's order. The second part, Alice's Misadventures, has engravings that were not used in 1988 along with the reasons why. The last part reproduces some of Walker's preliminary sketches for Wonderland. The introduction describes the procedures the three used in deciding upon each of the illustrations used in Wonderland. Bound in red cloth with gilt titling to spine. Red and gold marbled endpapers. Printed with Century Schoolbook and Hadriano & Hadriano types on Noranda Recycled Antique paper. The drawings were reproduced from Polymer plates. In fine condition. PRI/011019. Fine. More

[London]: Chiswick Press, 1903. Hardcover. One of 200 copies. From the colophon: "The unknown 'Chanson de Geste' here transcribed belongs to the cycle of William Of Orange. There has been no attempt to edit the text, or even to correct not a few very obvious minor errors. The two reproductions are of the same size as the original manuscript." The Chanson de Guillaume, also called Chançun de Willame (English: "Song of William"), is a chanson de geste from the first half of the twelfth-century (c.1140, although the first half of the poem may date from as early as the eleventh century. Along with The Song of Roland and Gormont et Isembart, it is considered one of three chansons de geste whose composition incontestably dates from before 1150. The work is generally considered to have two distinct halves: the first tells of Guillaume of Orange, his nephew Vivien and the latter's young brother Gui and their various battles with Saracens at L'Archamp; in the second half of the poem Guillaume is aided by Rainouard, a giant. [Wikipedia] Bound in blue paper boards with cream linen spine with paper title label. Boards have fading along with light wear and bumping. The spine is faded with some light stains and wear along edges. Label is chipped and wrinkled. Offsetting to front and rear free endpapers. Some splitting to a few gutters not affecting the tightness of the text block. Most of the pages are unopened. A nice copy in very good condition. Octavo. Not continuously paginated. PRI/120822. Very Good. More

San Francisco: Deeply Game Publications, 2012. Hardcover. Number 45 of 55 copies. Signed by the author and book artists. Book artist Sara Press collaborated with Andrew Rottner to create this exquisite tribute to printing’s golden age. "The story, by Christina Lauritsen, mis-remembers H.C. Andersen’s classic tale of the same name, transforming it into a story of revelation and madness. The visual progression of the book mirrors the plot, pitting the beauty of the decorative arts against the intense and unpredictable messiness of human experience. This book confronts the inevitability of loss and bows to intellectual freedom and its attendant risks." [artists' statement]. The book is printed in Garamond and Bembo types on Moab Entrada paper. It features two 26 inch wide foldouts with illustrations by Rottner. The striking cover is done from a cut-marbled-paper and brocade. The book measures 7 x 9 inches. It is unpaginated. Deeply Game Productions creates and distributes the art works of Sara Press and her collaborators. Sara L. Press is a photographer, printmaker and book artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of her projects examine peculiar areas of overlap between nature and culture (for example: dog fighting, feral children, and our co-evolution with snakes). Sara has also wrestled with the relationship between creativity and the scientific method. Recently, Sara has turned to constructions of masculinity and femininity in our culture (such as human bloodsports and altered fairy-tales). Her work can be seen in public collections around the country and are also in many library and private collections. A lovely book in fine condition. PRI/021919. Fine. More

Santa Cruz: Foolscap Press, 2022. Hardcover. Number 38 of 90 numbered copies for sale, signed by the author, translator, and illustrator. "A novel in eight chapters, each of which are distinct episodes in the life of the narrator. The chapters show us moments of supreme lucidity where the narrator is consciously alive to the beauty of the world and the possibility of love in its many aspects. The setting is the Brezhnev era in the Soviet Union where as the narrator states, love is in essence subversive.' The essence of this novel is how to move beyond recrimination of the past or even the promise of the future and to be consciously alive to the beauty around us, and to that possibility of love. Andreï Makine is an elegant stylist who allows us to witness these clear moments throughout this moving and thoughtful novel" (Foolscap Press). The author, Andreï Makine, was born in Siberia in 1957, but has lived in France since 1987 where he was granted political asylum. He writes in French but has worked closely with Geoffrey Stachan to translate all of his novels into English. Both the author and translator have won major awards for their work. The illustrator, Vladimir Zimakov, is an art professor and director of the art gallery at Lasell University in Massachusetts. He has illustrated numerous books, specializing in limited editions. Bound in gray cloth with red leather spine titled in grey. Includes eight full page color illustrations and eight vignettes. Designed, printed, and bound by Peggy Gotthold and Lawrence Van Velzer. Letterpress printed on Rives paper in Van Dijck type. Housed in a red cloth covered box with gilt and leather title label to spine. In fine condition. Size: 9.75 x 13.5 inches. 103 pages. PRI/102022. Fine. More

Newtown, Wales: Gwasg Gregynog, 1998. Hardcover. Number 277 of 350 copies signed by the illustrator. Pryderi was the only character to appear in the tales known as The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, the chief glory of Welsh medieval prose literature. Pryderi provided the theme taken by Llewelyn Wyn Griffith in a series of radio talks in 1943. In 1962, The Adventures of Pryderi by Griffith was published by the University of Wales Press. Kyffin Williams, one of the foremost Welsh artists of the 20th century, produced a set of illustrations to accompany the text but they were presented to Gwasg Gregynog and published here for the first time. Kyffin Williams designed this book as well as creating the eight striking linocut illustrations. Bound at Gregynog in beige linen cloth with a gray linocut affixed to the front cover and black titling to spine. Printed in Monotype Baskerville type on Velin Arches pure cotton mould-made paper. In fine condition. Measures 8.25 x 13.25 inches. 38 [+1] pages. PRI/121422. Fine. More