THE BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA by Alastair [Hans Henning Voight].- Wilde, Oscar - 1928

Rome: Desclee, Lefebvre & C., 1903. Testo only. First edition. Hard cover in original cloth and boards. Published Rome: Desclee, Lefebvre & C., 1903. Folio, 12" x 16", xix+549pp., illustrated with 54 reproductions within the text. Text in Italian. Libro Primo, Libro Secondo, Supplemento Primo, Supplemento Secondo. Splitting to the outer cloth along the hinges, some scuffing to rear cover, light foxing along front edge of portion of page block, else very good. Text clean, bright, unmarked, binding tight. Not ex-library. Scarce. . 1st. Hard. Very Good Minus/No Jacket. Folio.

Shanghai Commercial Press, Ltd, China, 1936 Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. English and Chinese text; Hardcover (original blue cloth silk with gilt design - without dust jacket); 19.5 x 27.6 cm; 3.357 Kg; 4 volumes: 1. Bronze (101 pages); 2. Porcelain (3 parts) (244 pages); 3. Painting and Calligraphy (256 pages); 4. Miscellaneous (191 pages) (Tapestry and Embroidery, Jade, Cloisonné, Red Lacquer, Fans, Furniture and Writing Accessories, Archaeological Exhibits and Ancient Books); all with black and white illustrations.; Signs of wear in the hardcover cloth. Minor edgeworn. Minor scuffs on the front cover of the four volumes and on the back cover of the second and third volumes; The gilt designs on the front cover of the second and forth volume show minor yellowing marks. The interior is in very good condition with minor signs of wear.; REFERENCE EXHIBITION ON CHINESE ART.; Catalogue for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art held by the Royal Academy of Arts at Burlington House,… Read More

Shanghai: The Commercial Press, Limited, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 4to. SIGNED by author to flyleaf. Chinese dust jacket. Facing translations of Chinese and English. [8 prelim leaves], iii, iii, 22-323, [1], ii, ii, 74, [1]. Supplement Illustrating a Few Interesting Pieces of Bronze, Ceramics and Jade. Many colour and b/w illustrations on plates with tissue guards. Covers Chinese paintings, bronzes, ceramic art and jade. Bound in the original publisher's turquoise silk-covered boards with floral pattern, upper board richly illustrated in gilt, and with gilt lettering. Cord tassel decoration to front at joint. Some discolouration to silk, wear to spine ends and edges, foxing to edges and some interior pages. Green dust jacket with black lettering and decoration matching boards. Chips to spine ends (with loss) and foot of front cover and corners, a few perforations and small damp stains. A rare and beautiful find.

SIGNED by Watts, Hefner, Larry Flynt, Bunny Yeager, and Dita von Teese in black ink to ffp and title page. Black paper with gilt particulars to spine. Dust jacket protected in mylar. Both color and black and white illustrations in sections throughout text. These signatures were collected by the previous owner who attended a performance by von Teese, an exhibition opening at the NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale for Bunny Yeager, at a Los Angeles Barnes & Noble signing event for Hefner and Watts (December 16, 2008; flyer included), and at a signing event at Books & Books in Coral Gables for Flynt (June 3, 2011). ix, 529 pp. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches.

Scarce first German combined edition of Goeree's manuals for painting, drawing and watercolouringWillem Goeree (1635-1711).
Anweisung zu der Mahler-Kunst, worinnen nebst derselben Fürtrefflichkeit und Nutzen gezeiget wird, was einer zum gründlichen Verstand der Mahler-Kunst wissen, und wie er sich durch Ubung darinnen perfectioniren soll; nebst einem gründlichen Unterricht von der Reiß- und Zeichen- wie auch Illuminir-Kunst, oder dem rechten Gebrauch der Wasser-Farben.
Leipzig, Friedrich Lanckischens Erben, 1744.
3 parts in 1 volume. 8°. [8], 132, [4], 120, [2], 98 pp. With a woodcut vignette on title-page, several woodcut head- and tailpieces.
Modern half calf with marbled sides.
Very rare (WorldCat: 1 copy) first German edition of the collected artists' manuals by the Dutch author Willem Goeree. It combines the manuals by Willem Goeree on oil painting, drawing and watercolouring. These were originally published in Dutch as:
- Verlichtery-konst, in de welcke den rechten grondt, ende volkomen… Read More

Paris, Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Boussod, Valadon et Cie, 1886-1889. 16 volumes. Halfleather, leather corners, marbeld covers and endpapers. Top edges gilt. Each volume with ca. 360 pages and many original ill. on plates; 33 cm. Text in French / Français - (leather sl. rubbed, sl. worn, some foxing/ spotting) Although very good set, see picture. More pictures on request.

Various publishers, various places 1973-2009. Book. Near Fine. Soft cover. 1st Edition. An archive of over 100 items, from the collection of the late Julian Andrews, a long-term supporter and enthusiast of the artist, Head of the Fine Arts Department of the British Council and the author of the primary reference source 'The Sculpture of David Nash'. The collection comprises over forty (primarily solo) exhibition catalogues from shows all round the UK, Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and Australia, and includes the catalogues for his first three solo shows, each written and designed by Nash; various studies and monographs; circa forty exhibition handbills and private viewing invitation cards; plus several books by Nash himself and various ephemeral bits and pieces. Seven of the items bear the artist's signature or inscription. A signed copy of Julian Andrews' exhaustive reference work is also included. A fascinating and wide-ranging archive which would now be virtually impossible to… Read More

1768 Diderot Encyclopedia Plates HUGE FOLIO Medicine Architecture Vesuvius Art

The Enlightenment's most-important general encyclopedia!

Through the mid-18th-century, large collections of knowledge were relegated to specific areas of study like law, medicine, or religion. However, Denis Diderot's 'Encyclopedie' changed the public's knowledge base as well as setting a standard for future generations of acquiring knowledge on many different subjects. This was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many different named writers. It also was the first encyclopedia to describe work-related topics like agriculture, engineering, cooking, and trade.

This enormous tome is the complete volume of illustrations from the 1768 edition of Diderot and d'Alembert's famous encyclopedia. It features 294 full-page and folding engravings covering a wide variety of topics including human anatomy, surgery and medicine, military and war, art and architecture, zoology, chemistry, and music and theater. One… Read More

Preparatory drawing by Jakob van der Schley (1715-1779) for his famous print depicting execution methods that were supposedly used on Sri Lanka: crushing by a mounted elephant, impalement and hanging. The print was made by Van der Schley for Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exile's Histoire Generale des Voyages, published by Pierre de Hondt in The Hague1746-1789. It is included in volume VIII, where it accompanies the part on Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The part on Sri Lanka was largely derived from Robert Knox's An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon (1681), which was also illustrated with a plate showing the execution by elephant. Van der Schley modeled his composition after that example, but made drastic artistic improvements. His drawing is of a much higher artistic quality compared to the rudimentary manner in which the execution by elephant was made in Knox's work. Another difference is the other execution methods that are depicted. In Knox's illustration the other victim was tied to a pole, but in the… Read More

Kyoto Shoin Co., Ltd., Japan, 1977 Book. Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. Japanese and English text.; Hardcover (cloth without dust jacket - as issued) in slipcase with carton box.; 23 x 32 cm; 3.5 Kg; Colour illustrations throughout, each with caption in Japanese and English.; Used with signs of wear on the card box. Signs of wear on the hardcover cloth and slipcase. The characters on the spine of the slipcase spine and also on the spines of the hardcover cloth are faded. Interior in very good condition.; HARD TO FIND.; Two volume set comprising Color Section (217 pages) and Monochrome Section (238 pages).; With texts by the noted ceramic scholar Masahiko Kawahara, this two-volume publication illustrates a vast selection of Ko-sometsuke ('old blue and white') porcelain presented in 934 catalogue entries. A thorough introduction in Japanese and English outlines the most relevant features of this porcelain ware produced in China for the Japanese market during the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644),… Read More