Rare books from Knickerbocker Books

San Francisco and Berkeley: Pacific Editions and the Arif Press, 1986. October 1986. FINE in clamshell box. No. 62 of hand-numbered 165-copy Limited Edition. Signed by both author Lewis Thomas and artist Joseph Goldyne on limitation page. Thomas also inscribed the half-title page "To Fred Seitz with best wishes, Lewis Thomas." (Dr. Frederick Seitz, distinguished physicist and president of Rockefeller University.) Complete with five etchings: four color etchings by Joseph Goldyne, and signed by Goldyne in pencil. A fifth etching - also signed by Goldyne - representing the Quartet - is laid into a paper folder. Four essays by Lewis Thomas. Designed and letterpress-printed by Wesley B.Tanner, who hand set the text. Binding and text papers by Twinrocker Papermill. Hand-binding by Klaus-Ulrich S. Rotzsher, San Francisco. Etchings proofed by Kay Bradner at Katherine Lincoln Press; edition printing on the etching presses of Robert Townsend, Inc. of Georgetown, MA. Book is bound in leather spine… Read More

New York: D. Appleton and Company NEAR FINE. Handsome 3-volume set: 1875, 1878, 1879 with steel and wood engravings. Full morocco leather bindings over beveled boards (dark brown/black spines and corners edged with double gilt rules, over lighter brown leather boards). Decorative titling on front covers, with center illustration of an artist's palette; gilt titling and blind decorative tooling on spine between 4 raised bands. Marbled endpapers. All page edges gilt. A clean, totally unmarked set - no writing, bookplates or stampings; occasional light toning to pages facing steel plates but overall pages clean and fine, complete with all engravings present. (Recent owner has laid in loose tissues facing steel plates to protect pages from further toning.) Covers are clean with moderate rubbing and scuffing, primarily along edges, hinges, spines, spine ends and corners. Volume 1 is most heavily rubbed of the three but all are attractive, hinges intact, bindings strong. Volume I (1875) has 21 steel… Read More

Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1980. FINE four-volume set in Near Fine custom leatherette folding case with leather ties. #37 of 500 Limited Edition. A deluxe facsimile of the Lemgo 2-volume edition of 1777 / 79, prepared by Christian Wilhelm Dohm from Kaempfer's original manuscript, complete with folded plates. Also, the folio of B/W botanical plates "Icones Selectae Plantarum, quas in Japonia Collegit et Delineavit Engelbertus Kaempfer" edited by Joseph Banks (London, 1791). A fourth volume of commentary, includes the bibliographical discussion of works on Japan before Kaempfer, by Johann Caspar Scheuchzer; new essays on Kaempfer's role in the European Enlightenment; a printing history of his work on Japan; and a view of Kaempfer from the perspective of Japanese studies. Numerous illustrations and plates (many folding). Books bound in three quarter-leather and marbled boards. Four volumes, 8° and 4°, all in original tissue wrappers, all Fine in Near Fine, slightly shelf… Read More

Paris: Vrille, 1952. NEAR FINE. No. 31 of 100 copy Limited Edition. 17 color engravings by French painter Ferdinand Springer. Published "sous la direction d'Evrard de Rouvre a ete acheve d'imprimer le 31 January 1952 sur les presses de Andre Tournon. Les burins en couleurs ont ete tires par Georges LeBlanc, pour le compte des Editions Pro-Francia, a Paris, Quarante, Rue Francois-1er." Printed on heavy Rives deckle-edged paper, in 4-page units, some gathered to 8-page signatures. Each color engraving protected with a loose tissue guard. Signatures are not bound, but gathered loose in a cream colored paper wrapper with embossed design and lettering on front panel. The wrapper is protected by a clear acetate overwrap; the book then laid loose into a folded 'hardcover' of gray boards with cloth hinges, all then inserted into a matching Slipcase. The wrapper has about 12 small brown spots or foxings; there is some tearing to paper on inside hinges of the 'hardcover' and… Read More

Madrid, Spain: Joachin Ibarra, 1757. Traducidas al espanol por el P. Antonio Zacagnini. GOOD. Internally very good or better, with folded plates, in very worn leather binding. This Originally published in France, 1743 (6 volumes), this work by clergyman and physicist - the first professor of experimental physics at the University of Paris. He constructed one of the first electrometers and developed a theory of electrical attraction and repulsion. In 1748 he discovered osmosis in natural membranes. This volume includes Leccion IX. De La Mechanica and Leccion X. Sobre la Naturaleza, y propriedades del Ayre. Preceded by 2-pages of notes and followed by 14 page Indice. Pages are overall clean, no writing or other markings. The first 12 leaves have small insect channel towards top of page near gutter; light dampstain to bottom outside corner, affecting first 70 pages. Otherwise pages clean and supple. There are 17 delicately rendered fold-out diagrams, illustrating the experiments. The first three… Read More

London: The Leadenhall Press, 1891. 1891 Edition. VERY GOOD. Undated but an early, possibly first, printing. Title page names The Leadenhall Press in London as well as Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., and Scribner & Welford in New York. Scribner and Welford ceased to exist in 1891 (it became Charles Scribner's Sons). Preface by E. Walthamstow is dated 1891. A clean, complete copy bound in black cloth hardcover, gilt titled on spine and front cover. The only markings to the book is a "17D" penned to front free endpaper and a black crossout on reverse side of same endpaper. Light toning to pages, top edge dust stained, bottom page edges rough cut or untrimmed. There are a few small corner creases and short edge tears to a couple of leaves: text pages otherwise crisp and fine. The catalog is printed on different paper than the text; it has toned a bit more and there are a few small edge chips. Bottom page edges rough cut or untrimmed. Cover is black silk cloth is… Read More

London: Fountain Press, 1970. 1970 First Edition. NEAR FINE in NEAR FINE price intact dust jacket. Fresh, clean, totally unmarked and tightly bound in orange-red hardcover, gilt titled on front and spine. Pages fine. Slight shelf rub to cover edges (a few tiny white marks, likely from a bookcase). Unclipped jacket is clean and colorful, very slightly toned and rubbed at edges and a two-inch crease to bottom corner of rear flap - no tears or chips. Jacket is in a clear archival protector. Binding and hinges tight, intact and straight. The antics of voluptuous young Sunday Sue are artfully captured in Karl de Haan's luscious B&W photographs. 10-1/2 x 13-7/8". First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 4to.

London and New York: George Routledge and Co., 1859. 1859. With 40 illustrations by Birket Foster intricately overprinted in color from woodblocks; plus monochrome section head and tail ornamentations by Noel Humphries. Printed by Edmund Evans. For this title, Evans innovated by using separate color blocks to achieve the graduated colors of Birket Foster's original art. Evans hand ground pigments to make inks which would match Foster's color. Up to nine or ten passes, on a small hand press, were required for each illustration. Oval binder label on rear board is of the renowned bookbinder, Bone & Son, Fleet Street, London. VERY GOOD+. A well-preserved copy of this historic printing. Bound in salmon-colored cloth over beveled boards; elaborate stamping in gilt, blind and black on both boards and spine. The title is displayed on the front cover, the illustration credits on the rear board. Endpapers are pale yellow. Text is set within gilt borders and all page edges are gilt. Pages are near… Read More

Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press, 2002. AUTHOR SIGNED. 2002 Stated First Edition and with full printing number line. FINE in FINE price-intact dust jacket. Le Guin signed her name in violet ink on the title page, just below little Tom Mouse's nose. Signed on April 22, 2008 at Powell's Portland, Oregon bookstore. (Included with this book is a copy of Powell's April 2008 issue of the newsletter "Ink" with Ms. LeGuin's event listed.) A fresh, otherwise unmarked, tightly bound copy. Pages, yellow endpapers and hardcover (color pictorial paper with gloss lamination) are pristine. Binding and hinges tight and straight. Unclipped jacket, graphics matching the cover, is bright and clean; faint shelf rub along jacket spine where it wraps over the hinges but still fine, no tears, chips or creases. Jacket is in a clear archival protector. The tale of a little mouse with a yen to travel. Charming color illustrations throughout by Julie Downing. 8 x 10-1/4". 40 pages. Signed by… Read More

Self-published, 1982. 1982 Limited Edition of 250 copies. FINE hardcover featuring black & white drawings and constructions by sculptor and multimedia artist Malcolm Poynter. There is no text or printed attribution in the book - only Malcolm Poynter's signature, limitation statement and date in Poynter's distinctive calligraphy, penned on the front free endpaper: "Malcolm R. Poynter - 52/250 - 27.1.82." Contains 100 drawings, "sketches" and photo treatments. Bound in hardcover of blue cloth over boards, artist name stamped in silver on spine and front and with printed color pastedown centered on the front cover (a photo of a sculpture of two crouching figures). No jacket (likely issued without). A pristine copy. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2".. Signed By Artist. Limited Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Not Issued. 8vo.

New York: G. W. Bromley & Co., 1925. 1925 edition. VERY GOOD+. Pages are near fine; lightly toned along the outside margins but otherwise clean and unmarked, the colors clear and bright. Two leaves have short closed tears at bottom edge, but otherwise pages are exceptionally fine. Black cloth hardcover, red stamped title on front, is clean, moderately rubbed along edges and hinges. Cloth is frayed at spine ends, corners and several spots on the outside edges. Binding intact though loose, the hinges wobbly. All pages are firmly held. The book should stand gentle use for some time but would benefit from a professional binding reinforcement. An extraordinarily detailed record of Manhattan in a series of 191 maps clearly showing the streets and outlines of each and every structure, every park, every railroad track including elevated railroads, water and sewer pipes and even fire hydrants, from Battery Park to 228th Street. Even more miraculously, details about the buildings are supplied through… Read More

Mexico: La Oficina de los Herederos del Lic. D. Joseph de Jauregui, 1794. 1794. Original edition, published in Mexico. Two parts bound in this one volume. NEAR FINE. A clean, tight copy in lovely tree-calf binding. Pages are fresh and unmarked, the paper supple and bright. First 8 leaves, last ~20 leaves and endpapers have small book worm channels at top outside corner (affecting only folios in last few leaves), also a very short channel to top margin of about 6 leaves at center of book. Pages otherwise fine. Leather cover is gilt titled on blue leather spine label. Cover is lightly worn, a few short, shallow worm channels on front cover but overall near fine. Binding tight and straight. A collection of over 900 poems by the Spanish Jesuit, Francisco Xavier Lozano. Born in Spain, Lozano apparently lived in Mexico from about 1737 until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. He also wrote "Los atributos de Dios y misterios del Dios hombre." 6 x 8-1/4". Part 1: xiv + 168 pages. Part 2: 173… Read More

New York: G. W Bromley & Co., 1928. 1928 Edition (original, not a facsimile). VERY GOOD. A clean, unmarked copy. Light marginal toning to pages, otherwise pages are near fine. Bound in brown cloth hardcover with titles stamped in red on front cover. Cover is worn with most of spine cloth missing or detaching, front and rear boards clean, moderately rubbed. Binding is intact but tender. The 4-page Street Index is loose but present. (It appears to have been intentionally removed from the binding, but is laid into the book, those pages edgeworn.) Book block is otherwise intact. Interior hinges are lined with reinforcing tape and hinges will probably last for some time with considerate handling. This is a large Folio, measuring 13 x 16-1/2". The book is superlatively produced with 169 full-page plates: hand-colored maps detailing streets and buildings color-keyed for type of structures (e.g. wood, brick, etc.) lot sizes and numbers, number of stories of each building…also providing names of… Read More