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Hague & Gill Bibliography — “Observing Eric Gill's Centenary”

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•  First edition: Compiled and with an introduction by James Davis. The text is illustrated with four versions of the printer's devices designed by Gill for Hague & Gill, plus “Pigotts Road.”

•  Publisher's plain paper wrappers. Clean and fresh.  (29721)

“I Was Born in the Year 1632 . . . ”

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•  Illustrated late 18th-century rendition of this classic tale: The Stockdale edition of Defoe's most-read novel contains a frontispiece and engraved title-page in each volume, along with an engraved portrait of Defoe and 12 engraved illustrations done by Medland after drawings by Stothard. Chalmers’s Life of Defoe appears in this edition for the first time anywhere; another interesting addition is“A List of Writings, which are considered as undoubtedly De Foe’s.”

A handsome edition of a great, indeed landmark English novel.

•  ESTC N47632; Lowndes, III, 613; NCBEL, II, 900 (first few eds. only). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, bindings overall worn and rubbed with leather lost over corners and front joint of vol. I cracked though holding; now housed in a handsome clamshell case of quarter calf with marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations. Front free endpapers with pencilled ownership inscription (dated 1875 in vol. I); front pastedowns with 20th-century collector’s bookplate. Light to moderate foxing to pages in proximity to plates, with occasional small spots to other pages; plates spotted and browned although not beyond expectable degrees. Worthy.

The Art of the Printed Book

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•  First edition: Essays on book design and printing by a famed typographer, book designer, and hand-printer. This is one of 325 copies (300 for sale) printed; the edition was designed by Carol J. Blinn at Warwick Press, printed by Daniel Keleher at Wild Carrot Letterpress, bound by Sarah Creighton and C.J. Blinn in quarter olive Niger goatskin and paste paper–covered sides (paper made by Blinn), andsigned at the colophon by the author.

•  Binding as above, in original terra-cotta paper–covered slipcase; leather very gently sunned, slipcase with lower open edge rubbed and one side with small unobtrusive mark, otherwise clean. An attractive copy.  (30560)

From theFriends of B.R.

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•  In this address to the 25th Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Brown University Libraries, 25 March 1963, bookseller Philip C. Duschnes shares fond memories of his friend Bruce Rogers (1870–1957), the great American typographer.

This edition was limited to 750 copies privately printed atthe Stinehour Press in December 1965 for the friends of Philip and Fanny Duschnes, using Rogers' Centaur types in black with a few red accents. An inserted facsimile of a Stowaways club “invitation” of the 1920's lists B.R. as “Typster,” his self-styled moniker; the text concludes with a facsimile of B.R.'s personal envelope, “with his own bust and profile the same purple color and size and style as the George Washington oval stamp on the self-stamped envelope.”

Provenance:  “Bequeathed to the Library of Purdue University by the late Bruce Rogers” (bookplate, inside front cover,designed by Rogers himself for his alma mater).

•  Work of Bruce Rogers, 467 (bookplate).   Brown paper wrappers, title printed in black within a russet and brown ornamental border (designed by Rogers?). Pristine, in a mylar wrapper, and good reading.  (30534)

“Curves Do All Kinds of Queer Things”

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•  “A slightly expanded version of a letter written on July 21 1937 to a friend who wanted to know how one went about designing a typeface” (p. [3]): from the typographer, calligrapher, and illustrator W.A. Dwiggin to fellow typographer, engraver, and book designer Rudoph Ruzicka. In addition to several diagrams of letter construction, the letter is illustrated with a facsimile of a pencilled working drawing on thin paper. produced under the supervision of Boston master printer Gehman Taylorthis is the third publication from the Harvard College Library's Department of Printing and Graphic Arts.

•  Publisher's dusty rose (loosely) paper–covered limp wrappers, front cover with printed paper label; volume very clean, original slipcase discolored with joints split and much of spine detached but present. A nice exemplar.  (28334)

“TheGreat Private Libraries Have Had Their Day, and Are Gone”

•  Limited to 500 copies. Reprinted from the Book Collector.

•  Gallup, T. S. Eliot: A bibiography (rev. & ext. ed.), A59a.   Publisher's blue wrappers. Very nice copy.  (27445)

HER! Bookselling Reminiscences

•  First American edition of the first volume of reminiscences of Percy Muir's widow: Much on the bookselling firm of Elkin Mathews and life on home front in WWII England. A good sequel to Muir's Minding My Own Business, above. In print for $35.00.

•  Fine in original dust jacket.

Collectors generally fond of BIOGRAPHY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, & MEMOIRS
may enjoy our page devoted to them — click here.


 

Maverick Offerings — Maverick Ephemera

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•  A short listing of materials printed and sold by The Maverick Press, “a one man shop” run by Earl H. Emmons from his address on West 10th St. in New York City. The Maverick Press began its existence at Woodstock, NY, and only moved to the city around 1938. Emmons was clearly connected early on to Bruce Rogers, Frederic Goudy, and other famous type designers.

Offered among the “Incidental Items,” “Incumavericabula,” and bibliography are I Am Wonderful, by Teri (a dog), one copy; Hello Everybody, This Is Goudy Speaking, one hundred copies; and the gaudy Ballad of the Twin Buttes, sixty copies. Prices range from 50 cents to $10.00.

Contained in its original envelope addressed to writer and collector Mrs. Sherman Post Haight (Anne Lyon Haight), stamped and postmarked 1939, the bibliography-catalog is accompanied by a letter size-advertisement for the Gimme Room Sale, a holiday discount offering from Mr. Emmons, “On account I need some . . . space.” Both items and the envelope are printed in black with a few red accents, old style.

Rare: This publication is not heavily held and the sale broadside appears to beunrecorded.

•  Stitched with red thread. Pristine in the original envelope, as above.  (30529)

With theVery Striking Folding Plate

•  First printed work to give instructions on producing mezzotints, and a most curious account of the development of "sculpture." Evelyn (1620–1706), whose occupation the Dictionary of National Biography cites simply as "virtuoso," published popular works on gardening, politics, and education. His roughly chronological history of illustrative arts, divided primarily by significant figures, is sprinkled with a number of languages (Greek, Hebrew, and German all in their respective typefaces, along with Latin in italics), and also contains a detail from the first mezzotint print ever created, here reproduced as an oversized (and dramatic) folding plate. A "Life" of Evelyn is also supplied.

The work first appeared in 1662, with a second edition published in 1755; the present copy is a reissue of the 1755 with a cancel title-page. A handsome engraved portrait, in which Mr. Evelyn is wearing a most dashing cape, opens the volume.

•  Wing E3513 (first ed.) On Evelyn, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 79–83. Contemporary speckled sheep with red gilt-stamped morocco spine label; some little chipping to edges, with joints and spine lightly abraded and cracking (not disastrously). Early inscription reads "Evelyns Sculptura compiled originally the elder Faithorne." Pages unspotted for the most part, and plates in good condition save for slight offsetting to frontispiece. A pleasing book!

NEW JERSEY BOOKS, 1801–1860

Felcone, Joseph J.

•  This second volume of the catalogue of the Felcone library describes the books and pamphlets printed from 1801 through 1860. There are over 1400 bibiographical entries in this volume. The contents, binding, provenance, and historical context of each book or pamphlet is described in rich detail. An indispensable guide for anyone interested in the history of New Jersey.

•  Publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt on the spine. New.

Spouses, Don't Thwart Your Bibliomaniacs

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•  Fine-pressminiature production of this bibliophilic poem (first published in 1890) about a late-night encounter with the shade of bibliographer and collector Thomas Frognall Dibdin, who warns that wives who prevent their husbands from buying books or reading them in bed will be shut out of the sphere of heavenly “biblio-bliss above.” This isone of 500 copies printed by Vance Gerry, cofounder of the Weather Bird Press, better remembered by the general public for his role as a story artist on numerous Disney films.

•  Publisher's textured green paper wrappers, sewn as issued. Clean and crisp.  (30658)

GOOD forBoth Reading & Reference

•  English and Flemish panel-stamped bindings of the 16th century are damned similar in appearance. Fogelmark adds depth to our knowledge of each, and of which are which, picking up where Oldham's work on English blind-panel bindings left off with guesses and hints. We have a copy of this in our reference library, and you should too.

•  New, in publisher's gilt-stamped green cloth.

For the Shelley Fan, a Revelation & a Fine “Read” . . .

•  Vol. I: “Shelley's own books pamphlets & broadsides posthumous separate issues and posthumous books wholly or mainly by him.” Reprint of the 1886 first edition.

•  Publisher's green cloth, spine with black-stamped title; minor wear to corners and spine extremities. Pages clean and crisp.  (26152)

BIBLIO–BEDTIME READING — WOOLLY WHALE

•  The Whale's very handsome edition of one of the most substantial treatments of this famous and elaborate auction hoax. Including bibliographical descriptions of the catalogue, its subsequent printings, and the literature on the affair, it is limited to 200 copies, printed in Centaur types on rag paper, and bears a title-page decoration by Fritz Kredel.

The Fortsas hoax is legendary for having fooled many renowned collectors and dealers near the mid-point of the 19th century (1840, to be precise) into travelling to the small town of Biche, Belgium for an auction of unique books that were bibliographically unknown!

•  Publisher's quarter cloth and decorated boards, front cover showing one faint crescent of soil; top edge gilt, a touch soiled near spine, fore-edges untrimmed. Map endpapers. A copy not quite perfectly fresh but very nice.  (28319)

GUTENBERG — WOOLLY WHALE

•  Limited to 660 copies, hand set by George W. Van Vechten, Jr., with press work by George C. Montgomery and illustrations by Fritz Kredel.

This basic source for the study of Gutenberg contains Fuhrmann's study, facsimiles, and transcriptions of the original Alsatian-language documents and translations of them into French, German, and English. The documents were part of a trial for breach of contract.

•  Publisher's gilt-stamped cloth, top edge gilt; glassine dust wrapper with small chips just at corners, in a slightly rubbed slipcase. A very nice copy.

For more WOOLLY WHALE, 
click here.

Classic Spanish Bibliography — Inscribed by an Editor
*&* Presented to an Important Author

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•  First edition of this important bibliographical reference work: Gallardo's extensive notes on numerous rare and significant Spanish books and manuscripts, many of which were described herein for the first time. The notes were edited and compiled in vols. I and II by Remón Zarco del Valle and J. Sancho Rayon, and in vols. III and IV by Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo. Altogether, this four-volume set offers an impressive mass of detailed information, incorporating valuable literary fragments by and biographies of some of the greatest names in Spanish literature as well as some of the most obscure.

Provenance:  This copy from the library of author and diplomat Don Juan Valera y Alcalá Galiano; vol. I with a presentation inscription addressed to him on the half-title, with the bookplate of his son Luis Valera on the front pastedown of each volume. The inscription to Valera waswritten by one of the work's editors, Remón Zarco del Valle.

•  Palau 97065.   Contemporary brown morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and volume number, vols. III and IV matching I and II very closely but not quite identical; joints, edges, and extremities rubbed, spines of III and IV lightly sunned. Vol. I with inscription and all vols. with bookplate as above. One leaf of vol. I with paper flaw, noticeable but not touching text; six leaves of vol. II each with tear at inner margin repaired some time ago, not touching text. Vols. I and II: pages slightly age-toned with occasional faint spots, almost entirely clean. Vols. III and IV: somewhat more pronounced age-toning, scattered mild spotting. Overall a clean, solid set with an interesting provenance.  (29360)

Classic — Invaluable

•  Marvelously inclusive and detailed encyclopedia of book, printing, and binding terms. A classic, and Donald Farren's introduction is a welcome addition.

•  Publisher's cloth, dust jacket, and contents as new. (6107)

For more “GIFTABLES” — mostly $150
      & UNDER,  click here.


 

Book of Armagh — Limited Edition — Signed Binding

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•  Ninth-century Irish manuscript, here transcribed and edited with an introduction and appendices by John Gwynn, professor of divinity at the University of Dublin. The volume is illustrated with six plates reproducing leaves of the original manuscript.

This is no. 186 of 400 copies printed.

Binding: Publisher's brown suede, front cover with embossed Celtic designs, signed by Galwey & Co. of Dublin (with their ticket on the front pastedown).

•  Binding as above, minor discoloration to central portions of covers, leather of back joint cracking but joint firm. Title-page and one other institutionally pressure-stamped; lower edges rubber-stamped; first preface page with inked provenance notation and stamped numeral; back pastedown with adhesions from card pocket once present. Binding “going to red” as is the wont of this material; still, however, handsome.  (21062)

Printed @ Hoorn

•  Blue cloth, as issued.

TO Part III

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