Search Results: Book Arts from Bromer Booksellers

Providence, RI: Ziggurat Press, 1989. (Bell, Andrew). Quarto. (32)pp. One of forty-five copies. Illustrated with seven copper engravings, originally executed by Andrew Bell, which accompanied the essay, here likewise reprinted, published in the 1797 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The former have been printed on handmade Moriki paper, the latter on Rives and Ingres. The result is a publication suitably honorific to its source material, one aesthetically fit to the task and engineered with a mathematical eye apt for both book and building construction. Bound in decorative papers over boards with three exposed brown leather bands, and embossed copper "illustration" inset to upper cover. Trace edgewear, else near fine.

(NY, 1924. Octavo. (11)pp. Four color linocut plates, one of which serves as titling. Four pages of text instruct the nascent illustrator-printer in how to "design, cut and print linoleum blocks," from preparation to particular substrates. A rear folio, not fully opened, contains seven loose exemplar plates. Bound in marbled paper-covered boards with block-printed title to upper cover. Some edgewear, else near fine.

Manteno, IL: Bronte Press, 1988. Pruchnicki, Suzanne Smith. (12)ff. One of 100 copies, signed and colored by the artist. Contains quotations about gardening from Bacon, Addison, Thoreau, Anacreon, and others, with eight hand-colored illustrations. Fine in green leather, gilt. (2 1/2 by 2 7/8; 54x72mm).

(Salisbury, CT: Lime Rock Press, n.d.). Four volumes; (24)pp. each. The four titles are: The Young Man from Dunfermline (Andrew Carnegie); America's First Libraries; Caleb Bingham's Dream; Caesar Augustus in Rome. The texts derive from "For the People, Fighting for Public Libraries", printed by the New York Public Library in 1979. Each volume is illustrated in black & white. Very light rubbing to covers, else fine in marbled wrappers with printed labels. (1 by 1; 25x25mm).

(New Britain, CT: Art Press, 1971. Massmann, Robert. (16)pp., frenchfold. One of 50 copies. The Foreword by Massmann is signed by him. Hunter's account of the post-Civil War reuse of Egyptian mummies' wrappings by a Maine paper merchant is bound in stiff wrappers in the shape of a sarcophagus with the profile of a mummy at the top. The cover wrapper is made from the last lot of paper made by Dard Hunter at Lime Rock mill. This is a fine copy of one of Massmann's scarcest titles. (Bradbury, p. 240). (1 5/8 by 2 1/16; 41x52mm).

(N.p., but Germany, 1930. Wolf, Gustav. Twenty-two wood-engraved prints, loose. All signed by Wolf. The prints are held in a custom chemise and dropback box, on the spine of which is gilt titling and the claim that the collection went unpublished, a statement corroborated by von Borries' 1982 catalog raisonné. The prints, produced in a unknown number of copies, were meant for an unrealized edition, the title of which, "Dinge," was decided by Wolf; von Borries cites a title page in his copy. That copy also had two more prints for a total of twenty-five, as well as a colphon. The edition, and perhaps even the ability to produce full suites of proof images, was certainly stunted by the nascent rise of the far right in Germany, which induced Wolf to flee and abandon many of his projects. The set, in any state of completion, is a remarkable survival; the Nazi's destroyed much of Wolfe's "degenerate" art. Each print is an extraordinary, grotesque example of Wolf's occult expressionism, as much an… Read More

Hudson, NY: Edward Hutchins, 1992. Hutchins, Edward. One of thirty copies, signed by the artist. Fourteen double-page spreads, accordion-fold, urging the reader to calm their worried mind. Provides a chair for the purpose, to which the book is affixed. Fine. Held in acrylic box. (1 15/16 by 1 15/16; 49x49mm).

(N.p.: Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective, 2023. Octavo. (19)pp. booklet + suite of three prints incorporating an impressive range of technical processes, including papermaking, letterpress, screenprinting, and relief printing. Each one is signed, titled, and dated by its artist: Tia Blassingame, Ben Blount, and Aimee Lee. The booklet situates the project within, first, the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective's mission of advocacy and diversity within the book arts; and second, the scholastic and artistic lineage of people of color in the bookmaking field. It includes a background by Blassingame, and reflections by Director of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Tamar Evangelista-Dougherty. All held in a paper folio. Very fine.

New York, New York: The Thistle Press, 1955. Eichenberg, Fritz. Two folio-sized portfolios. (8); (8)ff. A total of sixteen prints each measuring 12 1/2 by 17 inches. Known to book collectors as a master wood engraver, Eichenberg also executed a series of drawings that appeared in Dorothy Day's "The Catholic Worker" newspaper, a lay publication concerned with the intersection of religion and social justice. Although Eichenberg was a devout Quaker, these drawings, with their combination of traditional Christian imagery and social awareness, had broad appeal, and were printed in a number of publications associated with various denominations. Among the prints included are "The Adoration of the Shepards," "The Annunciation," "The Lord's Supper," "The Visitation," "The Labor Cross," "Saint Luke," and "Rest on the Flight." The sixteen photoengravings for these prints were made from Eichenberg's original drawings, and are reproduced in their intended dimensions, without the resizing that was necessary for… Read More

Bosham, UK: Circle Press, 2013. King, Ronald. Square small quarto. 7 unbound triptych sheets. One of thirty copies, signed by Richard Price and Ronald King. Price's verses appear alongside King's illustrations, which have been deeply embossed into the papers, mostly in blind but with choice additions of color. Each triptych articulates the case for animals presently threatened by or having already succumbed to the catastrophes of climate change: the armadillo, the emperor butterfly, the chimpanzee, the dodo, the elephant, the fox, and the goose. That the alphabetical bestiary format remains unfinished implies the continuing urgency of the matter. Sheets housed loose in embossed paper wrappers, held in chemise and slipcase. Fine.

Vancouver, B.C.: Heavenly Monkey, 2019. Jackson, Martin. Tall quarto. 18, (10)pp., + two tipped-in leaves. From an edition of 55 copies, this is one of twenty comprising the "Written" issue, featuring original calligraphy by Martin Jackson on the printed pages. Signed by Jackson on the colophon page. The text is Alfred W. Pollard's essay, which first appeared in 1921 as the introduction to the catalogue of William Andrews Clark's Kelmscott and Doves collections, printed by John Henry Nash. Pollard offers a summary of the typographical and aesthetic aims of both presses, the common denominator of each being Emery Walker; this edition presents the opportunity to examine a specific example from both presses—each of which Pollard references in his essay. The leaves included here are from the Kelmscott edition of The Golden Legend and from The English Bible, considered by many to be the masterpiece of the Doves Press. With a "Note from the Printer" which examines several of Pollard's statements about… Read More

San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1941. Angelo, Valenti. Folio. (10)ff. From an edition of 75 copies printed for David Magee at the Grabhorn Press, this is copy number nineteen of 27 deluxe copies signed by Magee, with a stunning vellum leaf from a sixteenth-century Italian Gradual bound in. The leaf, which has been trimmed, shows an intricate initial nearly six inches high, decorated in blue, pink, green, and gilt illumination with a rose design. The text of the book contains fourteen large initials, including a four-inch opening letter, all hand-written and illuminated by Valenti Angelo. Generally externally rubbed about two-tone cloth covers over boards, else very good. (BCC 43; Chalmers 90, Magee 363).

Flörsheim: Peter Malutzki, 2014. Malutzki, Peter. Octavo. (40)pp. One of twenty copies, numbered and signed by the artist. Malutzki reprints spam emails from Hong Kong, machine-translated into German and then "back-translated" into a "not less funny" English. Added are collages, all original to the copy, made up of letter envelopes and Chinese Yuan notes. Certainly humorous at the outset, the book also bears insidious traces of the porosity between the internet, governmental control, capital exchange, and the slipperiness of "authenticity." Bound in patterned paper over boards, with paper label. Remote rubs to corners, else fine.

Boston, 1991. Davidson, Laura. Unique book art object, signed and dated by the artist, made from wood, acrylic, paper, ink, and metal keys. Constructed as a temple, the statuesque object has two swinging doors on which Davidson has inked a Hindu tale; this and other designs are presented over excised maps and travelogues, creating a multimedia collage. The pillared templed stands upon a platform ornamented with six keys, each labeled "a" through "d" (there are multiple for "b") to mirror the coordinate grid of the map. The whole is a companion piece to Davidson's first editioned book, To Open, completed in the same year. Fine. Housed in custom box. (12 by 10 1/4 by 3 5/8 in.; 340 x 264 x 94 mm).

(Netherlands: Frits Knuf, 1993. Small quarto. (xvi), 26pp., accordionfold. One of 110 copies, signed by the author. Contains 90 original paper samples made in Aschaffenburg, Germany. The introduction, by Frigge, explains the history of papermaking in the town. The samples cover a wide range of paper types, including leather imitations, gold- and silver-printed, patterned, and paste papers, and marbled papers of all kinds, such as bouquet, combed, shadow, and shell marbled papers. Short explanations of the techniques are below several of the sample sets. Bound in purple cloth with title in gold. Housed in a black slipcase with title in gold. Both the upper cover and the slipcase have small paper samples attached. Very fine.

Toronto, CA: Droplit Books, 1988. Set of four books, all accordion-fold, and all printed on both sides. Though each by a different artist, all evince a concerted stylistic interest in the iconography and technicalities of surrealism and cubism. Includes: Gawad, Adly and Erella Vent, A Snake in the Glass. (Anonymous), Un Cadavre Equis [sp.]. Klunder, Barbara, Falling in Love. Fabo, Andy, Stream. All bound in paper over boards, fine. (All measure 2 3/4 by 2 1/4 in.; 70x56mm).

(East Aurora): Roycroft Printing Shop, 1896. Octavo. 72, (ii)pp. One of twelve copies printed on Japan paper. Each page has a large decorated initial lettering the style of William Morris. Title-page and colophon printed in red and black. This was the first book of the Press and took Hubbard and his partner, Harry Taber, four months to complete. The colophon states that it was printed "with no power save that of human muscle," and expresses a "Thank God!" for its completion. A scarce book and rarely seen in such good condition. Corners rubbed, minor soiling, else a lovely copy in linen-backed antique boards. Inscribed on the colophon "with kindly greetings from Elbert Hubbard." Bookplate. (McKenna 8).

Greenfield, MA: Greenfield High School, 1935. 76pp. No limitation indicated, although this volume is number 127. Printed and bound by William Merriott and William Thayer as their senior project at Greenfield High, under the direction of their teacher, Anthony T. Stavaski. Concludes with the well-trodden anxiety over the state of handwriting in an age of mechanical reproduction. Fine in black cloth. (2 by 1 5/8; 50x40mm).

(British Columbia): Barbarian Press, 2021. English, Andy. Octavo. xvii, (5), 271, cclxxi, (vi)pp. From an edition of 105 copies, this is one of 62 comprising the deluxe state, and thus accompanied by a portfolio of strikes of the engravings, which are supplied by Andy English and appear throughout the volume. Molly Holden (1927-1981) was a British poet, whose prolific poetic career (the present publication only represents approximately a third of her oeuvre) was informed yet unhindered by her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Many of Holden's poems reflect upon her condition, meditating upon feelings of capitivity and liberation, mortality and joy, the demise of the personal body and the richness of relationship. A powerful force of disability advocacy within and enabled by the lyric form, here presented by the Barbarian Press in its usual precise and evocative typography and craftsmanship. Bound, both literally and metaphorically, the reader opens the book to unbind them, to free them as Holden… Read More

(United Kingdom, 1925. Knowles, Reginald. Ink on paper. Thirteen calligraphed letters, each against an alphabetically apt background ("S" against a sunflower, for example). The selection evinces Knowles's impressive balance of restraint and fantasy, the regular serif letters suggesting a certain nobility while their botanical ornament. A note on the verso states that the pieces were completed for publisher J. M. Dent, with whom Knowles worked on a number of editions, among them Marie de France's Old-World Love Stories, Eric A. Sutton's The Happy Isles, and C. S. Lewis' Dymer, as well as decorations for the Everyman's Library; it is not clear in which book these letters eventually appeared. Editor's annotations visible on the twelve matted letters. An impressive glimpse into English lettering and book design, near fine.