Search Results: Books and book collecting from Ariadne Books

London: Thames & Hudson in association with The British Library, 2018. Hartdback. 256pp. Decorated boards. No jacket (as issued). Decorated papers have been in use for centuries - as wrappers and endpapers for books, as the backing for playing cards, and even as the lining for chests and cases. Drawing on the Olga Hirsch collection at the British Library, one of the most diverse collections of decorated papers in the world, this anthology brings together some of the most exquisite examples. It will delight and inspire designers, bibliophiles and anyone with a love of patterns and decoration. As new and unread.

London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd, 1914. Eighth Edition. dated 1914. Hardback. 8vo. xix, 190pp. Olive green cloth with black lettering and design to upper board, spine with gilt lettering and black design. No jacket. Eight plates (including frontispiece) plus line drawings and diagrams. A very useful summary of the techniques of bookbinding from one of the legends of the trade. Book in very good condition. Boards a little rubbed around the vulnerable points. Spine slightly faded. Faint toning to endpapers. Good, solid binding, nice and bright internally.

Belgium: Credit Cummunal, 1996. Hardback. 127pp. Publisher's original blue cloth binding with gilt titles to upper board and spine. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. The Wittockiana Library in Brussels is based on the personal collection of the former entrepreneur and bibliophile, Michael Wittock. This collection reflects Michael Wittock's personal interest in the art of the book and in bookbinding with many superb examples of the art from the Renaissance onwards. There are also some beautiful bindings from the Art Nouveau/Art Deco period. The collection was donated to the King Baudoin Fondation. NB - text in French. Lavishly illustrated with lots of colour photographs, many showing the art of fine bookbinding. Book in very good condition. Very slight toning to page edges. Dust jacket very good and unclipped. Minor surface marking and minimal edge wear.

Farnborough: Gregg International Publishers Ltd, 1973. Hardback. Unpaginated. Publisher's original blue cloth binding with gilt to spine. No jacket. Introduction in English, facsimile in French. The articles presented in this facsimile have been reproduced to show the Encyclopedie's coverage of the production and trade in printed books, a field of particular interest to the philosophe movement which was to such an extent a literary one and therefore dependent on this trade for the diffusion of its ideas. The main article is on letterpress printing while other major ones are on paper making, type founding, bookbinding, libraries and catalogues. Book in good condition. Some minor surface marking to boards and a little discolouration here and there. Spine lightly faded. Upper text block edge is a little soiled and has minor pressure marks. This is an ex-library book from the British Library Lending Division with two of their stamps to the title page together with some pencil annotations to… Read More

Washington: Library of Congress, 1982. Hardback. 295mm x 235mm approx. [i - iv], v, [vi], vii - x, [1 - 2], 3 - 296pp. Section of 13 colour plates between p134 and p135. Burgundy cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. No dust jacket (as issued). A vital and fascinating book for anyone interested in books, their conservation and bookbinding. In addition to the colour photos on the centre of the book, there are many illustrative drawings in the text by Margaret R. Brown. Book in very good condition. A little colour fade, mainly to spine but also, and to a lesser degree, to some exposed areas of boards. Tiny amount of spotting to upper text block edge. A small number of extremely minor marks here and there. Overall, a clean and bright copy which feels hardly used.

London: Maggs Bros. Ltd., 1996. Two card covered volumes. Part I: 236pp; Part II: 288pp. Full description for each entry, many of which have photographs (some in colour). An interesting read and good reference sources. Both volumes in near fine condition. Light creasing to spines. very clean and unmarked internally. The two volumes are quite heavy but no additional shipping costs to UK post codes.

Indiana University, Bloomington: The Lilly Library, 1976. Soft cover. 67pp. Illustrated with colour photographs. The bindings in this catalogue were specially commissioned from the various binders and executed by them during the two years prior to publication. The purpose of the catalogue was to demonstrate the impressive range of activity in British bookbinding at the time. Book in good condition. Some slight soiling to covers and a small area of scuffing to title area of front.

Indiana University, Bloomington: The Lilly Library, 1976. Soft cover. 67pp. Illustrated with colour photographs. The bindings in this catalogue were specially commissioned from the various binders and executed by them during the two years prior to publication. The purpose of the catalogue was to demonstrate the impressive range of activity in British bookbinding at the time. Contains a loosely inserted sheet with a brief foreword by William R. Cagle, Acting Lilly Librarian and an errata paragraph. Book in good condition. Light soiling to covers. Previous owner's printed bookplate to inside of front cover.

Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 1988. Paperback. [1 - vi], vii - ix, [x - xii], 13 - 160pp. No jacket (as issued). A concise and readable handbook on how to care for any book of value. For collectors, librarians and curators, it represents an elegant summation of their responsibilities and techniques. Included in The care of Fine Books is a brief history of book construction methods and a discussion of the nature of fine books and their component materials, thorough advice on storage and handling of books, securing a collection against a fire, flood, theft or other mishap, and elementary cleaning and repair. Over 200 line illustrations by the author. Book in near fine condition with little evidence of use.

Designer Bookbinders Publications Ltd, 2000. Orange card covers. 59pp. Illustrated with colour photographs. Introduction by Philip Smith. Book in very good condition.

Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co, 1991. Hardback. [i - vii], viii - xi, 146pp. Printed boards. No jacket. This study examines the history and vocabulary of European paper-covered bindings from their origin in fifteenth century Germany and Italy until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, after which time covers were mass-manufactured by a reorganized and consolidated publishing industry. The multilingual glossary includes as many terms in English, German, Italian and French as could be found for this special category of binding. Illustrated with black & white plates and diagrams. Book in very good condition.

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tubner & Co., Ltd., 1896. First edition, 1896. Hardback. 8vo. xvi, 256pp. Red cloth binding with gilt to upper board and spine. No jacket. Over fifty illustrations including frontispiece. Book in good condition. Cloth to boards faded around edges and to spine. A little rubbing and wear to corners. Ex libris plate to front paste down which has exacerbated some toning to front free endpaper. Rear endpapers also lightly toned. Occasional crack to gutter but everything is still held firmly in place. Light soiling to text block edges but clean and bright internally.

New York: Christie, Manson $ Woods International, Inc., 1988. Beautifully produced auction catalogue for this important collection of printed books and manuscripts. Large hardback. 345, [8]pp. Approx. 305mm x 210mm. Red cloth binding with gilt to boards and spine. Many of the lots are illustrated, some in colour. This sale covered lots numbered 1011 to 1672 and provides, as expected, professional cataloguing & provenance together with sale estimates. the catalogue also contains a list of works cited in the catalogue. Estelle Doheny was the widow of an oil tycoon, a man with something of a chequered history. Estelle Doheny was an avid book collector and brought together a number of historically significant early Bibles, including a Gutenberg. When she bequeathed her book collection to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles she had hoped the collection would be kept together. It was broken up and sold, including the Gutenberg Bible which went to a Japanese buyer for $5.4 million in 1987. The sale of many… Read More

Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co, 1925. Hardback. Approx. 260mm x 195mm. 19pp. plus 29 numbered full page plates (frontispiece in colour, others black & white). Decorated paper covered boards with printed label to upper board. No jacket (presumably as issued). "The extra binding department at The lakeside Press was formed in 1921 with the idea that there was a place for a bindery whose standard was simply the best that could be done...This book is made to represent our progress up to this point and is submitted to a few booklovers, knowing they will understand our liking for doing a thing as well as it can be done." Book in fair condition. Edges and corners of boards a little rubbed and worn. Spine cover detached and only about three-quarters of it remain (loosely inserted in the book). The page with plates XXIII and XXIV has separated from the binding. Internally clean and unmarked save for the ghost of a signature to the front pastedown.

London: David & Charles, 1984. First edition, 1984. Hardback. 151pp. Grey cloth binding with gilt to spine. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. In the second half of the twentieth century, fine bookbinding has undergone an exciting renaissance. This book looks at the twentieth century's leading binders, their work and their varied approaches to it. Lavishly illustrated with 33 colour and 82 monochrome illustrations. Book in very good condition. Minor creasing to very upper corner of first thirty pages with diminishing effect. Very slight toning to page edges. Internally clean and unmarked. Dust jacket good and unclipped. Minor edge wear. Some discolouration to a band across the top edges and less so to bottom edges.

Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 2021. Hardcover. 120pp. Publisher's original green cloth binding. Gilt to spine. Lots of illustrations. Book in near fine condition and very clean internally. A small number of very small marks to boards.

London: Dropmore Press Ltd, 1950. Copy number 143 of 250. First & limited edition. Hardcover. ii, 182pp. Publisher's original fawn buckram with black label to spine. Top edge tinted brown. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. Printed on cream wove hand made paper by Hodgkinson of Wells. Engraved frontispiece. Chapter heads engraved by Gwen Raverat and printed in brown. Colophon with engraved device. A journeyman bookbinder, John Jaffray, collected a great deal of information on the early hisotry of the bookbinders' trade union, founded circa 1780. This collection of material had not been viewed by anyone outside the union until Ellic Howe was granted access to it some five years prior to publication of this book. The result is a fascinating account of the personalities and working conditions in the London bookbinding trade during the period 1780 - 1806. Book in near fine condition. frontispiece lacking the original tissue guard (though the one for the colophon is still in place). Very… Read More

London : Allen Lane, 2016. First edition, 4th impression. Hardback. 632pp. Publisher's original ivory cloth covered boards with gilt to spine. Dust jacket in a removable protective sleeve. This is a book about why medieval manuscripts matter. Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, and yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting and talking to a person of world stature. The idea for this book is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence and to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history. The author traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time and space, and shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them and how we can tell, how they have been embroiled in… Read More

London: The British Library, 1986. Card wrappers. 64pp. No jacket (as issued). This book illustrates some of the finest (and some of the most unusual) examples from the British Library's collections. Mirjam Foot is an acknowledged expert on historical bookbindings and has written extensively on the subject. Book in good condition. Light creasing to first couple of pages. Some very slight and sporadic spotting but overall the book presents as clean and bright.

New York: Lenox Hill Pub. & Dist. Co. (Burt Franklin)., 1971. Originally published 1907. reprinted 1971. Hardback. [i - viii], ix - xlv, [1 - 2], 3 - 386pp. Publisher's original blue cloth binding with gilt to spine. No jacket. Jean Grolier (c1489 - 1565). is known especially for his patronage of the Aldine Press and for his love of richly decorated bindings. Fourteen plates (black & white). Book in very good condition. Internally clean and bright.