Ursus Rare Books
Holiday Miscellany 2020 designs take three to five hours to complete, yet the pen returns microscopically to its starting point. The impoverished heir to these machines is the spirograph. Alabone was a defrocked medico who ran afoul of the anti-quackery and advertising crusaders. His claim to a cure for consumption led to his expulsion, in 1886, from the College of Surgeon and subsequent deregistration by the Medical Council. His effrontery in continuing to run a successful practice (he sported MDs from two suspect American institutions and called himself “ex-MRCS”) culminated in an unsuccessful prosecution by the Medical Council in 1900 which caused a ruckus in medical circles for years. He died in 1913.
Presentation page with foxing, else fine. OCLC records only the Cambridge copy of this edition and 5 copies of the 1912 edition, of which none are in the US. (#165755)
1. Edwin ALABONE W. Poly-cyclo-epicycloidal and Other Geometric Curves.
8 ff., one photo plate and 77 colour plates of designs. 8vo., publisher’s gilt decorated cloth. London: privately published, 1910. $ 2750.00
First edition, presentation copy, of which the only copy in OCLC is the copy at Cambridge. A second edition, or a re-issue, appeared in 1912 with a few more designs. It would appear that a fire at the publisher destroyed many copies.
The mathematical basis of design is an age-old pursuit and machines for producing geometric curves and forms of varying elaboration have been constructed for centuries. Richard Kerr’s preface to this book lists a number of then-popular machines, some of which “require the exercise of taste .. while others necessitate the application of mathematical calculation as well.” The “greatest, most costly and the most wonderful of all ... is the Epicycloidal Geometric chuck.” Alabone’s machine, illustrated in the photo plate, was made for him by Holtzapffel and was the “acme of perfection” given that some 4. L. BAUDRY DE SAUNIER L’Automobile Théorique et Pratique.
Two volumes. 416; 512 pp. Illustrated throughout with wood engravings. 8vo., bound in publisher’s light blue and tan cloth. [Paris]; the Author, 1899- 1900. $ 750.00
Fine copies of these French turn-of-the-century guides to motoring. One volume is dedicated to ‘Voitures a Pétrole’ and the second features ‘Motocycles et Voiturettes’. Each is profusely illustrated with wood engraved technical diagrams and includes many delightful ads for motoring gear at toward the end. (#165758)
2. Richard AVEDON 5. Vincenzo BELLINI In the American West. Norma. Lyric Tragedy in Two Acts. Unpaginated. Contains 100 full page photographs. 270 pp. 8vo., bound in publisher’s green cloth. New Folio, bound in publisher’s cloth. New York: York: G. Schirmer, ca. 1972. Abrams, 1985. $ 500.00 $ 1250.00
Signed by Beverly Sills, James Morris and Signed and dated by Avedon. A catalogue of Antonia (Kitsopoulos). Since these three signed photographs from Avedon’s American West series. this copy, we are assuming this is from a performance This catalogue is an expansion of the exhibition at of Norma given on January 11, 1972 in which these the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. three all sang. (#162606) (#165688)
3. Ellen BANKS Maple Leaf Rag.
By Scott Joplin. 1 leaf text and 4 illustrationson 8 folded leaves. Folio, 345 x 300 mm. Loose as issued in a black cloth portfolio. Atlanta: Nexus Press, 1988. $ 475.00
An immaculate copy of this highly unusual and stunning work, which combines the creative efforts of two Afro-Americans, the Musician Scott Joplin and the artist Ellen Banks. Banks “translated Joplin’s written piano score into a visual scaffolding onto which notes are assigned specific colors and values”. (#168069) No. 3, Banks One of an edition of only 50 copies, all on Japon. OCLC lists only the copies in The Bibliotheque Nationale and the Bibliotheque Doucet.(#163171)
8. Jorge Luis BORGES Ficciones.
xxxii, 306, [4] pp. Illustrated with 22 silkscreens by Jo Watanabe after original drawings by Sol Lewitt. Square 4to., 203 x 200 mm, bound by A. Horowitz & Sons in full black cowhide with author and title in blind on spine, in original black cardboard slipcase. New York: The Anthoensen Press for the Limited 6. W. Gurney BENHAM and Frank Editions Club, 1984. ADAMS $ 875.00 Arthur and the Boilybird. An A.B.C. Story. LeWitt’s conceptual illustrations, each based on the Unpaginated. With colour illustrations throughout elemental form of a cube, create a counterpoint by Frank Adams. Oblong quarto publisher’s colour with the text, which is enclosed within a linear illustrated boards with cloth spine. London: Blackie framework, and together they “offer a world of & Son [1909]. endlessly expanding mazes.” Watanabe was LeWitt’s $ 2500.00 printer of choice for his graphic work. Signed by LeWitt in the colophon. One of 1500 copies A delightful and scarce early twentieth century designed by Sol Lewitt and set in Cloister Bold by children’s ABC book in unusually fine condition. Mackenzie-Harris Corp OCLC lists only the Princeton copy. (#165808) Lewison, Tate Gallery Catalogue, p. 73. LEC 541. (#168493)
7. Pierre BETTENCOURT Deux sans Trois.
Illustrated with 6 pochoirs by S. Hladky (Pierre Bettencourt). 8vo., bound in publisher’s wrappers and slip case. Belle-Roche (Saint-Maurice-d’Ételan): par Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, Seine-Inférieure, l’Auteur, 1940. $ 1750.00
A pristine copy of the first book written, printed, illustrated and published by the French printer-poet, Pierre Bettencourt. In this, his first book, he used pseudonyms for the names of the author, artist, printer and place of publication. The charming illustrations were executed in pochoir, and are, perhaps deliberately, reminiscent of the work of Serge Gladky. 10. Alexander CALDER A Bestiary.
Compiled by Richard Wilbur. [8], 74, [4] pp. Illustrated with 56 original line drawings by Alexander Calder. Small folio, bound in publisher’s cloth in a new blue cloth folding box. New York: Printed at the Spiral Press for Pantheon Books, 1955. $ 2250.00
Illustrated with 56 of Calder’s animated line drawings, A Bestiary is a light-hearted compendium of animal tales and fables selected by Richard Wilbur from literary sources reaching across the timeline of Western literature. This is one of 750 copies printed on handmade Curtis rag paper, signed by both Calder and Wilbur on the colophon, and with a full page inscription on the front free endpaper strikingly written in Calder’s hand to Tanjas.
9. Constantin BRANCUSI Prather & Rower, Alexander Calder 1898-1976 Tales Told of Shem and Shaun. (National Gallery of Art) 288. (#165617)
Preface by C. K. Ogden. [6], xv, 55, [3] pp. Illustrated with an original portrait frontispiece etching by Brancusi. 8vo., 210 x 165 mm, bound in original publisher’s wrappers and gold covered cardboard slipcase. In a new yellow cloth folding box. Paris: Black Sun Press, 1929. $ 2750.00
First Edition of these three Joycean fragments which were later included in Finnegans Wake. This handsome book was printed by Harry and Caresse Crosby in a limited edition of 500 copies on Holland van Gelder paper. The original Brancusi portrait of Joyce spawned one of the memorable Joycean stories. Joyce’s brother Stanislaus had not seen James for some time when a copy of this book arrived in the mail. After studying the abstract Brancusi portrait of Joyce, comprised of circles and straight lines, Stanislaus remarked how much his brother had changed since the last time he saw him. This represents one of the very few examples of original Brancusi graphic art. A fine copy in the scarce slipcase.
The Artist and the Book 32. Johnson, Artists’ Books in the Modern Era 1870-2000, No 99. Slocum and Cahoon, A36. Minkoff, A-21. (#165316) 12. Henri CARTIER-BRESSON The Decisive Moment.
Unpaginated with 126 full-page monochrome photographs, and pamphlet of captions laid in. Folio, publisher’s cloth and dust-jacket designed by Matisse. New York: Simon & Schuster in collaboration with Verve, 1952. $ 4750.00
A fine copy of a book which is notoriously hard to find thus, especially with the fragile dust-jacket designed by Matisse. Published by Teriade, the publisher of Jazz and the magazine Verve, this is one of the most handsome of the twentieth- century photobooks. Simultaneously published in France as “Images a la Sauvette,” the book was an immediate success, and has been sought-after ever since, and has recently been issued in facsimile. Some minor tears or chips to the jacket, but a far superior copy to those usually found.
Roth, The Book of 101 Books 134. The Open Book 154. (#165446)
11. Lewis CARROLL Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Through the Looking Glass.
[4], xi, [3], 182, [4]; xxii, [8], 211, [5] pp. Two volumes. With illustrations by John Tenniel. 8vo., each volume bound in recent deluxe full morocco. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1932, 1935. $ 1500.00
A handsome edition of these classics in which the Tenniel illustrations have been re-engraved from the originals especially for this edition by Frederic Warde. Printed at the Printing House of William Edwin Rudge. Typography by Frederic Warde. Fine copies.
LEC 36, 65. (#103142) 13. Raymond CHARMAISON Les Jardins Précieux.
Preface by Henri de Régnier. [vi], [8] pp. Illustrated with 8 full-page colour pochoir plates by Charmaison, plus coloured cover illustration and one black and white title illustration. Folio, 490 x 335 mm, bound in original publisher’s printed paper folding chemise, preserved in new cloth folding box. Paris: Chez Meynial, 5 November 1919. $ 7500.00
First Edition. One of 8 copies accompanied by an original watercolour, this “La Treille Rose.” A colourful example of Deco luxuriousness, which only pochoir printing under the guidance of Jean Saudé could achieve. One of the premier books of Art Deco illustration.
These imaginary “Precious Gardens” are a testament to the power of the printed book as a vehicle for transporting the viewer/reader into the garden and a world of dreams. As Henri Régnier observes in the book’s gold-printed preface: “Il contient quelques feuilles avec des lignes et des couleurs, à peine les aurez vous considerées que vous serez transporté dans un pays de lumière et de soleil...”
The exquisite coloured plates offer garden views centered on a special garden feature. For example, the cover illustrates an idyllic forest stream; plate 1, “La Salle Verte” shows a Roman garden with pool, bright flowers, and marble columns; plate 2, “Les Flo” captures a yew-covered walk along the seashore; plate 3, “La Jarre” a terracotta pot is the focus of a brightly-flowered Mediterranean garden; plate 4, “L’Allée Rouge” evokes an Oriental garden with iris, red walkway, Japanese bridge and exotic trees; plate 5, “L’Atrium” an interior garden with fountain, potted trees and lounging cushions; plate 6, “Le Berceau” a lush covered berceau with tropical fruit; plate 7, “La Charmille” a verdant gateway into a hortus inclusis; and plate 8, “La Creille Rose” a night- time view of wisteria and roses on a trellis under the stars etc. -- each one rendered in the richest colours of the pochoir technique. Lacking ribbon tie, else, a very fine copy. (#127395) See( cover Illustration) design. The photographs are accompanied with the architectural schematics of each theater. Although the facades of several of these theaters remain, the grand auditoriums have been long since gutted to make way for modern multiplexes. (#155562)
14. George CHILDS Childs’ Drawing Book of Objects: Studies From Still Life, For Young Pupils and Drawing Classes in Schools.
Letter press title-page, followed by 24 lithographic plates. 4to., 190 x 265 mm, bound in publisher’s red cloth. Philadelphia: John W. Moore, 1845. $ 2500.00
A unusually well preserved copy of this delightful nineteenth century American drawing book for children by the aptly named Gerorge Childs. (#168867)
15. CINEMAS 16. Chauncey M. DEPEW Cinémas. Vues extérieures et intérieurs - One Hundred Years of American Commerce. détails- plans. 2 Volumes. xxxii, 336; xii, 337-678 pp. Illustrated Text by E. Vergnes. 16 pp text. Illustrated with with a coloured frontispiece and 99 black-and-white 36 photogravures. Folio, 448 x 325 mm, loose as photographic portraits in the text. Folio, bound in issued in the publisher’s blue cloth backed portfolio recent half black morocco. New York: D. O. Haynes with original ties. Paris: Librairie Génerale de & Co., 1895. l’architecture et des Arts, n.d. [ca. 1922]. $ 975.00 $ 1250.00 A classic work on the great era of American trade First Edition. A photographic and architectural with articles on various businesses by some of the survey of the cinemas recently built in and around great names in the history of American commerce. Paris at the time of the portfolio’s publication Contributions include “Powder and Explosives” by designed by such notable architects as Marcel Oudin Francis DuPont; “Petroleum: its Production and and Henri Sauvage. The large scale photographic Products” by Henry C. Folger, Jr.; “American Flour” plates depict the ornate movie houses full of nouveau by Charles A. Pillsbury; “American Publishing” and deco flourishes, and neo-Greco and Egyption by John W. Harper; “Machinery Manufacturing Interests” by William Sellers; “The Brewing from Nature,” in Antiques Magazine, March 1983, Industry” by Fred Pabst; “American Tobacco pp. 594-599). Some minor wear, overall in excellent Factories” by Pierre Lorillard, Jr.; “American condition. Soap Factories” by Samuel Colgate; “The Biscuit Industry” by Frank A. Kennedy (of the New York See Raphael. An Oak Spring Pomona Nos 63 to 66. Biscuit Company, later Nabisco); “Soda Fountains” (#142709) by James W. Tufts, “American Musical Instruments” by William Steinway; “The Jewelry Trade” by Charles Tiffany, and many others. Each article is illustrated with a portrait and facsimile signature of its author. The sum, at once mammoth in size and artful in presentation, is a fascinating portrayal of American business by one hundred of the biggest luminaries of the industrial age. A fine, handsomely bound set of this now scarce homage to the golden age of American business. (#156624)
17. D.M. DEWEY Nurseryman’s Specimen Book of American Horticulture and Floriculture, Fruits and Flowers, Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Roses &c. D.M. Dewey’s American fruit & flower plates, colored from nature, 2300 varieties.
With a chromolithographic title page and 56 stencillled plates of fruits flowers and 9 chromolithographic plates plates of fruits flowers and trees. 8vo., 220 x 140 mm, bound in contemporary morocco, rebacked. Rochester, N.Y.: D.M. Dewey, n.d. [ca. 1872]. $ 3750.00
An early American trade catalogue of Fruit, Flowers, Trees, and Nursery stock, issued, according to the Smithsonian Library, “ca. 1872” by the firm of D.M. Dewey, Rochester, N.Y. Many of the plates have captions giving name of variety of plant and brief information on main characteristics and growing season. The Smithsonian copy contains only 24 plates, compared to the 40 in the above copy.
“Nurserymen’s plates were an American innovation. They were made by various methods, the most distinctive being painted in watercolors. In design and coloring these plates were more akin to folk painting than to the commercial art of their time” (Charles von Ravenswaay, “Drawn and Colored By Vitaly Halberstadt. [4], 91 pp. (i.e., 180), eight plates with guards paginated 93-107, pp. 108-112 (i.e., 11 pp.), [1] f. advertisement, errata leaf inserted at front and another mounted on rear inner wrapper. Illustrated by Duchamp with 254 diagrams in text and eight full-page diagrams printed in red and black on tissue at end. 4to., 282 x 240 mm, bound in publisher’s tan wrappers lettered in red. Paris- Bruxelles: Editions de L’Echiquier, 1932. WITH:
Le Monde des Echecs. Serie No. 1 (Fevrier 1933). Publisher’s portfolio containing [1] f. text and 16 plates, each 160 x 240 mm. Both housed in a new blue cloth folding box, title gilt on red leather spine label. $ 3750.00
Ad I: First Edition. Although best known as an artist, Duchamp was also an avid chess player, who competed professionally. The present chess manual, designed by Duchamp, resulted from his collaboration with French endgame theorist and former opponent Vitaly Halberstadt (1903-67). The 18. Richard DIEBENKORN text is in German, English, and French, and the Poems of W.B. Yeats. book is illustrated with hundreds of diagrams in red, white, and black, and eight full-page diagrams Selected and introduced by Helen Vendler. xxv, on tracing paper at the end. An elucidating snapshot [3], 171, [2] pp. 4to, 260 x 205 mm, bound in half of the strategist’s, and artist’s, mind. In excellent red morocco over green cloth, in a green and red condition, with the two errata leaves. slipcase. San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1990. $ 3500.00
Limited edition of 426 copies. Yeats’s poems, printed with red titles and black Baskerville monotype, are paired with six of Diebenkorn’s figurative etchings, the first book illustrations he completed. Helen Vendler describes the synthesis of the two: “The Yeatsian metamorphoses of the coat of the body and the coat of its art are re-embodied in Richard Diebenkorn’s etchings here, in which the coat changes from a real garment to a metaphysical form.” As new. (#164400)
19. Marcel DUCHAMP L’Opposition et les Cases Conjugées sont réconciliées par... Ad II: The supplement comprises 16 photogravures First Edition. Both covers with original designs by of famous chess players by various photography Duchamp. The exhibition was held in October/ studios, including a shot of Duchamp and November of 1942 at the Coordinating Council Halberstadt by Man Ray, with one leaf listing each of French Relief Societies and was organized by competitor by name and nationality. André Breton. Duchamp created a front cover with perforated bullet-holes comprised of a close- Schwarz, The Complete Work of Marcel Duchamp up of the wall of Kurt Seligmann’s barn at Sugar No.430. (#168868) Loaf, New York. The bullet holes in the barn and the front cover are by the hand of Duchamp, who originally had fired five shots with a rifle into the side of Seligmann’s barn. The rear cover is a zoomed-in 20. Marcel DUCHAMP photograph of Gruyere cheese with the title of the First Papers of Surrealism. exhibition superimposed. One of the more amusing aspects of the catalogue Foreword by Sidney Janis. 52 pp. Illustrated are the series of imaginary portraits selected profusely with monochrome photographs, drawings by Duchamp and Breton. There are numerous and reproductions of paintings. Small 4to., 270 x portrait photographs of the principal exhibitors 185 mm, bound in original publisher’s illustrated and throughout the exhibition catalogue, but the stapled wrappers. Preserved in a green cloth folding selected photographs bear no relationship to the box. New York: Coordinating Council of French named artists whose portraits they are supposed Relief Societies, Inc., 1942. to represent. These imaginary portraits were $ 1750.00 chosen at random by Duchamp and Breton. Also included is Duchamp’s “compensation portrait” of himself. Photomechanical signatures of Breton and Duchamp on title-page. A superb copy, rare thus.
Schwarz, The Complete Work of Marcel Duchamp No. 487. (#167270)
21. Achille DUCHÊNE Petites et Grandes Residences.
Introduction by Ernest de Ganay. [1], 6, [7] ff. Illustrated with 64 collotype prints, mostly from Duchêne’s original drawings. Loose as issued in oblong folio format, housed in an folding box. Paris: Fondation Ligne à Beloeil, 1950. $ 5850.00
This splendid work was never published as almost the entire edition was destroyed while in storage. Some few years ago the Ligne Foundation was able to assemble eight sets from the estate of Duchêne and made three of them available for sale.
Achille Duchêne, whose career spanned the years 1880 to 1940, was the architect in charge of redesigning the gardens of almost all the major French garden and to come to know the man whose French historic residences. This work documents love of gardens is made manifest in his words, “Je the renovation of the gardens a la française after a donnerai ma vie pour que les fleurs me parlent.” long period of neglect during the 19th century. It Number 6 of 10 hors commerce copies from a total is a celebration of the renaissance of traditional planned edition of 350. architecture and landscape gardening and marks the return to grande décoration. Extremely rare, with OCLC listing on 4 copies worldwide: 2 in France, one at Dumbarton Oaks, The portfolio comprises 64 plates executed in and the other at the Getty. (#157701) collotype on fine filigrane velin d’Arches paper. Most of the original drawings and designs for these garden images were executed by Duchêne, as well as a few after Henri Brabant, his student 22. John F. EARHART and collaborator. The grand residences of France, The Harmonizer. including Chambord, Le Marais, Voisins, Sully, as well as the grounds and gardens of great American 7, [1], 240, [4] pp. Illustrated with 2 plates of ink estates such as those of the Vanderbilts and Wallachs, colours and 240 “colour-plates.” With a final leaf of are included. The drawings are from a birds-eye letterpress colophon. 8vo., 182 x 120 mm, bound in view; many show plans and details of the grounds original publisher’s gray cloth with red, yellow, blue and garden layouts. The preface was written by decorations and black-stamped lettering. Cincinnati: Ernst de Ganay, one of the most important scholars Earhart & Richardson, 1897. of garden history from the first half of this century. $ 2750.00
The rediscovery and availability of a few copies of First and only edition of this very scarce colour Petites et grandes résidences represents an important manual. A very good copy of this exciting tour-de- opportunity to study this beautiful and essential force of American nineteenth-century bookmaking. document of this phase of the traditional art of the The book demonstrates a highly imaginative use most famous pieces: Self-Reliance, Love, Friendship, of colour, and was intended to show the different The Over-Soul, Intellect, Character, and Manners. effects of the colour on varying paper stocks. Emerson, called “the sage of Concord,” became the Robert Herbert said “Among books which are chief spokesman for Transcendentalism. His Essays themselves exemplars of unusually beautiful are referred to as: “Timeless… as much read today printing, Earhart stands out. The Harmonizer (1897) as a hundred years ago. Their ethical inspiration and has extraordinary platen-press work of varied design, stimulation, their individualistic idealism… speaks based upon twelve pure inks, and twenty-four more with the same simple power and force in the midst derived from mixtures of the initial group.” Neat of modern complexities.” (Grolier, American One former owber’s name and address on front free Hundred 47). A fine copy in a lovely binding. endpaper. A fine copy. Grolier, American One Hundred 47. (#156011) A Color Bibliography II, Yale Library Gazette, 1978, p. 134. Birren Collection 215. Not in the Burke Printing Collection. Not in Romaine. Not in McKinstry. (#168666) 24. James T. GARDNER and Frederick Law OLMSTED Special Report of New York State Survey on the Preservation of the Scenery of Niagara Falls, and Fourth Annual Report on the Triangulation of the State for the Year 1879.
96 pp. Illustrated with engraved fold out frontispiece, 9 heliotype prints, one full page engraved plate, one photolithographic facsimile plate, 4 fold out maps and two loose folding maps. 8vo., 230 x 145 mm, bound in publisher’s blue cloth. Albany: Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons, 1880. $ 2500.00
A key publication in the creation of the Nation’s first state park. “Concerns about the preservation of Niagara Falls had begun to emerge in the late 1860s, as industrialists situated power plants along the shoreline and entrepreneurs bought up land so they could charge visitors for a view. Frederick Law Olmsted was one of the leaders of the “Free Niagara” movement, which urged New York 23. Ralph Waldo EMERSON State to take control of the Falls so the natural Emerson’s Essays. beauty of the surrounding land could be protected from commercial interests and exploitation and remain free and open to the public. This report, 2 vols. [vi], 345; [vi], 363 pp. 8vo., bound in full authored in part by Olmsted, was commissioned contemporary dark blue crushed morocco, spines by the State to survey current conditions and make gilt. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1899. recommendations on what should be done. As $ 1500.00 anticipated, the report concluded that “we find its treasures in the grasp of money-getters, and its A handsome set, printed on handmade paper, this sacred groves assailed by the axes of the mill-man or selection of Emerson’s Essays includes some of his desecrated by the purveyor of public amusements; A handsome edition of this classic fable about and are convinced that destruction of the scenery collecting. Zweig’s story, set in Germany in the will be swift and certain unless the all-powerful State aftermath of the First World War, is timeless. It shall appear as the preserver of Niagara.” eloquently evokes the magic of collecting, the excitement of dealing and the pleasures and The recommendations of Gardner and Olmsted, complexities of ownership. Joseph Goldyne, the along with Barker’s compelling photos of area’s distinguished California artist who is himself a natural beauty and the development along the renowned collector, has thoughtfully produced an shoreline, helped turn the tide of both public illustration which successfully solves the problem opinion and rouse state bureaucrats into action. of how to illustrate a book, which on first reading Niagara Falls State Park -- America’s oldest state would seem to defy the concept of illustration. park -- was established in 1885. A fine copy of a rare Peter Koch has designed and printed as elegant a publication. Printed presentation slip from Gardner version of Zweig’s story as one could hope for. tipped in. (#168865) One of an edition of only 50 copies elegantly printed by Peter Koch in San Francisco, and containing a signed etching by Joseph Goldyne. The colophon 25. Joseph GOLDYNE is signed by both Peter Koch and Joseph Goldyne. The Invisible Collection. As new. Bringhurst, Robert. JOSEPH GOLDYNE: Catalogue By Stefan Zweig. Illustrated with an original etching Raisonné of Books, Portfolios, and Calligraphic Sheets, 008. by Joseph Goldyne. 8vo., bound in original black (#128369) morocco-backed sepia-coloured paper over boards. New York: Ursus Books, 2007. $ 300.00 26. J. J. GRANDVILLE Les Etoiles.
By Joseph Mery. [4], xvi, 252 pp.; [4], 186, [2] pp. With 15 hand-colored engravings. 8vo., 255 x 176 mm, bound in publisher’s elaborately decorated polychrome cloth binding. Paris: G. de Gonet, [1849]. $ 4750.00
A fine copy of this charming work, Grandville’s last book of illustrations. It actually consists of two parts, each having its own title-page, but the parts are always found together. There are fifteen steel engravings by Grandville, all with delicate original hand-coloring. Despite occasional foxing, mostly confined to the text, the impressions are extremely clean--an unusual state for French books of this type from this period.
“The compositions of the `last fairy-tale,’ brilliantly engraved on steel by Charles Geoffroy and delicately colored, form a fitting memorial to Grandville. They show that his powers remained unimpaired to the end of his short career” (Ray). Despite the occasional 27. David HOCKNEY foxing, this is a desirable copy in a spectacular Hockney’s Alphabet. example of the publisher’s rare polychrome binding. From the Biblioteca Malaspina. Folio, bound in quarter vellum with handmade Fabriano Roma paper sides, housed in matching Ray 200. (#167580) box. London: Faber & Faber, 1991. $ 1975.00
Limited Edition of 250 numbered copies for sale, as new. Illustrated by David Hockney and SIGNED by the following contributors: Douglas Adams, Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Margaret Drabble, Patrick Leigh Fermor, William Golding, Seamus Heaney, David Hockney, Kazuo Ishiguro, Erica Jong, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, Ian McEwan, Arthur Miller, Iris Murdoch, Nigel Nicolson, John Julius Norwich, Joyce Carol Oates, V.S. Pritchett, Craig Raine, Susan Sontag, Stephen Spender, and John Updike. Anthony Burgess, Ted Hughes, Paul Theroux, Gore Vidal, and T.S. Eliot (who, for obvious reasons, could not sign), did not sign.
This book was published to raise money for people living with AIDS. The book contains the 26 letters of the alphabet plus “&,” each accompanied by a poem or short text with a full-page illustration by Hockney. (#52761) 29. Jasper JOHNS Screenprints.
With an essay by Richard S. Field. Exhibition catalog from a show at the Brooke Alexander which ran from November 15th, 1977 through January 7th, 1978. 4to., original silk-screen wrappers, preserved in an orange cloth folding box. New York: Brooke Alexander, Inc., 1977. $ 3500.00
The screenprint which Johns produced to illustrate the cover of the catalogue is one of his best known images. Despite the large edition of 3000 copies, complete copies are now scarce since many have had the wrappers removed for framing. A fine copy of a fragile work which is increasingly hard to find thus. 28. ITALY (#165491) Nouveau Voyage D’Italie, Avec un Memoire contenant des avis utiles à ceux qui voudront faire le mesme voyage.
By François-Maximilien Misson. Three volumes. [54], 339, [21]; 356, [24]; 414, [20] pp. With with 37 fold-out engraved plates, and 40 full-page engraved plates. 12mo., 170 x 110 mm, bound in contemporary full speckled brown calf, raised bands, spine stamped in gilt. The Hague: Henry van Bulderen, 1702. $ 3850.00
Fourth Edition of Vols 1 & 2, Second Edition of Vol 3. First published in 1691, translated into English in 1695, the work was hugely popular and was frequently reprinted with additions and enlargements. 30. William KENTRIDGE The fine engraved plates show detailed and accurate The Lulu Plays, by Frank Wedekind. views of the principal sites from the major Italian and other European cities, monuments, objects, 197 pp. Illustrated with 67 full-page reproductions animals and plants of local interest, and regional of drawings by William Kentridge. Folio, bound in costumes. The third volume contains a “Memoire” publisher’s cloth in matching slipcase, both designed for prospective tourists with sections on France, by Kentridge. San Francisco: Arion Press, 2015. Flanders, and Vesuvius, an alphabetical index of $ 2000.00 cities, a guide to the principal fairs and markets in various European cities, and lists of most important An exciting publication from the Arion Press luxury goods found in various Italian cities, with a featuring the work of one of today’s most sought- blank folding plate for the reader’s own additions. after artists. The text consists of the two plays which are the basis for the libretto of Alban Berg’s Lulu. Rossetti 7095. Fossati Bellani 363.(#166965) The Metropolitan Opera presented Kentridge’s & Remnants blind-stamped brown ribbed cloth, blocked to a Babylonian motif, portraying a human- headed bull in profile, his wings spread round the upper covers, within a frame below a sample of cuneiform script, spine title lettered in gilt within the statue’s breastplate. London: John Murray, 1853. $ 2500.00
First Edition of Layard’s account of his historic expedition, in which he investigated the ruins of Babylon and the mounds of southern Mesopotamia. Until Layard’s exploration, the identification of the site of Nineveh had long perplexed various archeologists. His excavations revealed palaces and a cuneiform library. The city of Nineveh, which is often mentioned in the Bible, was the capital of the Assyrian empire and reached its full glory under Sennacherib and Assurbanipal. The city fell in 612 B.C. to a coalition of Babylonians, Medes and Scythians.
The successful results of the years Layard spent among the ruins are, of course, renowned. Some production of Lulu which premiered on November isolated foxing as usual. The elaborate Victorian 5th 2015. Kentridge worked on the illustrations for publisher’s binding (reproduced by Abbey on Plate the book between 2011 and 2015 and they were made XX) is in unusually fine condition. to be used in the Met production by being projected onto the set. As is typical of much of Kentridge’s Blackmer 969. Abbey, Travel 364. (#150123) work there is a strong cinematic influence. Andrew Hoyem has accompanied Kentridge’s illustrations with bold typography in black and red, creating a strikingly modern book while at the same time rendering homage to the works of a century earlier. As new. One of an edition of 400 copies signed by the artist. (#161804)
31. Austen H. LAYARD Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the Desert: Being the Result of a Second Expedition undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum.
xxiii, [1], 686, [2] pp. Illustrated with 5 folding maps and plans, 11 engraved plates of the ruins and their environs (2 folding), and 232 woodcuts illustrating the text, many being full-page. 8vo., 221 x 140 mm, bound in the original (and famous) Edmonds marbled endpapers, t.e.g., others uncut, partially unopened. [Oxford: The Daniel Press, Christmas 1894]. $ 575.00
One of 200 copies. A small elegant printing of Milton’s Christmas poem printed by one of the precursors to the Victorian private press movement, the Daniel Press. A fine copy. (#115162)
34. Bruno MUNARI. Nella notte buia.
18 pp. Using black paper and 16 pp printed on acetate and 16 pp. on grey paper, mostly with die-cut images, and 8 partial pages on acetate. 8vo., bound in publisher’s illustrated black boards, in a new blue cloth folding box. Milan: Giuseppe Muggiani, 1956. $ 1250.00 32. Henri MATISSE First edition of this classic examples of Munari’s Matisse: His Art and His Public. imaginative book-making. The use of different papers and die-cut images demonstrate how By Alfred Barr, Jr. 592 pp. Illustrated with advanced Munari was in his concept of making photo reproductions throughout and one original children’s books. A biography of Munari, signed by lithograph by Matisse. 8vo., original cloth and dust him, is affixed to the rear endpaper. jacket in publisher’s cardboard slipcase. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1951. Maffei, Munari i Libri, p. 90. (#164447) $ 2500.00
One of 495 copies signed by the author. This is still considered the classic study of Matisse, the only one done while the artist was still living and completed with the help of the artist himself. Copies of the limited edition in fine condition, such as this one, with the original lithograph, are scarce. Price- clipped dustjacket with some minor chipping, otherwise a fine copy. (#165443)
33. John MILTON Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.
[10], 22, [2] pp. Ornamental woodcut border on title-page and woodcut printers device on colophon. 12mo., bound in contemporary full brown morocco, First Edition. William Robinson (1838-1935) is remembered as one of England’s greatest gardeners and a pioneer of the English natural garden. He was also a landscape gardener and horticultural journalist. This book is based on observations made during his visit to France in 1867 to report on the horticultural parts of the Paris Exhibition for the Times and several other periodicals. He saw much to admire and emulate in the monumental replanning of the centre of Paris in the 1850’s and 1860’s that saw the creation of many new public parks and gardens, squares, and boulevards. He writes about the various public parks and gardens including the Bois de Boulogne, the Parc Monceau, the Luxembourg gardens, the public squares of Batignolles, Belleville, Louvois, and others, as well as private gardens and cemeteries, and urges a similar regeneration of London and other English cities. A fresh copy in the original decorated cloth binding with just occasional foxing. (#156384)
35. Isamu NOGUCHI Secret Haiku.
By Charles Henri Ford. With 6 illustrations by Isamu Noguchi. 8vo., bound in original publisher’s cloth. New York: Red Ozier Press, 1982. $ 1500.00
A fine copy of this scarce and little-known book illustrated by one of the most celebrated sculptors of the twentieth century in collaboration with one of the most prominent American exponents of Surrealism. One of an edition of 155 copies signed by Noguchi and Ford. (#168480)
36. PARIS The Parks, Promenades & Gardens of Paris.
By W. Robinson. xxxii, 644 pp. Illustrated throughout with in-text, full-page and fold-out wood-engravings. Thick 8vo., 221 x 142 mm, bound in original green cloth, illustrated and gilt. London: John Murray, 1869. $ 975.00 37. PLATO First American Edition of the Viola tricolor, certainly Plato and Socrates. one of the most unusual artistic renderings of Pansies. These humorous, nonsense poems are 262 pp. 8vo., bound in full contemporary brown exquisitely illustrated with eight bizarre chromo- morocco gilt, raised bands on spine. London: lithographs, brilliantly printed by Lemercier of Humphreys, 1907. Paris, all of which offer sensational curiosities, $ 675.00 including: the Artist at his canvas; the Pas de deux; Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; the University A fine printing in an elegant binding containing four Faculty; the Marriage proposal; the Concert of Plato’s classic dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, d’amateurs; the Brocken (the gathering place for and Phaedo. (#145332) witches in The Walpurgis Night), and the Argonauts. All the faces have been replaced by variously coloured Pansies, with positively surreal results.
The Viola tricolor is hard to find in acceptable 38. Franz Graf von POCCI condition, and although there is some slight Viola Tricolor in Picture and Rhyme. wear to the edge of the binding, it is otherwise in fine, bright state, with the interior immaculate. [34] pp. With 8 chromo-lithographs executed by (#165733) Lemerciér. Folio, 355 x 266 mm, bound in original green publisher’s cloth, embossed and gilt, with new endpapers, professionally rebacked with a new matching spine. New York: Stroefer & Kirchner, 39 1876. Terry RAMSAYE $ 1500.00 A Million and One Nights.
Two volumes. lxx, [2], 400; [4], 401-868 pp. Illustrated with frontispiece portraits of Thomas Edison and Charlie Chaplin, plus 100 illustrations throughout (mostly photographic). Large thick 8vo., bound in recent blue half morocco, blue cloth over boards. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1926. $ 1500.00
First Edition. Thomas Edison is known to have stated: “This is, I believe, the first endeavor to set down the whole and true story of the motion picture.” A landmark in the study of early film, owing to the fact that in the creation of this work the author was able to consult with virtually all of the major film pioneers; much of the information cannot be found elsewhere.
100 Books on Hollywood and the Movies, No. 73. #114703) 41. Vita SACKVILLE-WEST The Garden, In Your Garden, In Your Garden Again, More for Your Garden, Even More for Your Garden.
Five volumes. Each volume illustrated with numerous full-page black & white photographs. 8vo., bound in original cloth and dust-jackets, preserved in half green morocco protective case. London: Michael Joseph, 1946-1958. $ 2250.00
First Editions, The garden, one of 750 Signed by Sackville-West. Vita Sackville-West wrote a weekly column called “In Your Garden” for the London Observer from 1947 to 1961. Contained in the first book, The Garden (1946), one finds Sackville-West’s poetic homage to the vicissitudes of botanical life during the four seasons. According to the Oxford Companion to Gardens, this book “is possibly the best evocation of the spirit and fascination of gardening 40. ROLLS-ROYCE in the English language.” . Rolls-Royce, Phantom III “Vita wrote her literary masterpiece, the epic poem The Garden, during the Second World War, Introduction by Wilfred Gordon Aston. 44 pp. an experience which prompted her to regard her Illustrated with 7 colour images of cars, one large garden as a personal haven. This idea of an escape folding plate showing the top and side view of the 40- from the ugly outside world had burgeoned through 50 H.P. chassis, four full-page photographic images the post war decades and influenced many people’s of a showroom, service depot, and classroom, and approach to garden design” (Plumtree, Great Gardens engine and car diagrams throughout. Folio, 325 x Great Designers, p. 35). Fine copies. (#168497) 240 mm, spiral bound in the original red and gold illustrated wrappers, flyleaves featuring the Rolls- Royce logo drawn in red by Charles Sykes. London: Rolls-Royce Limited, [1937]. $ 1250.00
An elaborate promotional brochure for the Rolls- Royce model Phantom III, “a motor-car capable of satisfying , to a hitherto unachieved extent, not only the conditions of to-day, but also those of to- morrow.” With many illustrations and information on special features, prices, inspection, overseas service, and the guarantee.
PROVENANCE: Stamp on front fly-leaf of The Shuttleworth Collection, the famous aeronautical and automotive museum in England.. (#153712) 42. William SHAKESPEARE 43. Kiki SMITH The Works of Shakespeare. Sampler.
Seven volumes. 8vo., 235 x 150 mm, uniformly By Emily Dickinson. 220 pp. 8vo., 280 x 175 mm, bound in full niger morocco, gilt ruled borders on bound in publisher’s red-brown goatskin spine, tan covers. London: Nonesuch Press, 1929 [-1933]. cloth sides, with the front cover embroidered in $ 4750.00 red thread for title and author and artist names in a slipcase. San Francisco: Arion Press, 2007. The famed Nonesuch Shakespeare designed by $ 1200.00 Francis Meynell and printed at the Cambridge University Press. Perhaps the most readable set of This exquisite limited edition presents a selection Shakespeare ever printed. The text is based on that of two hundred poems by Emily Dickinson, one of the first folio with quarto variants and a selection of America’s greatest poets, with prints by the of modern readings edited by Herbert Farjeon. acclaimed contemporary artist Kiki Smith. The “The Shakespeare represents the chef-d’oeuvre of the edition is printed by letterpress on hand-made Nonesuch Press and it is a model of careful proof paper, produced by the acclaimed Arion Press which reading and imaginative setting... This is the finest “produces some of the most beautiful limited- edition of our greatest poet” (Nonesuch Century). edition, handprinted books in the world,” according Spines on a few volumes a little faded, still a fine set. to the New York Times. The title of this book was chosen to signal that this is a sampling of the poetry Ransom 368. Nonesuch Century 58. (#166647) of Emily Dickinson, and it refers to embroidered samplers from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that inspired the imagery of Kiki Smith. The artist has made prints for every page of the poetry, as well as the half-title page and a portrait of Emily Dickinson on the frontispiece, 206 images in all. These are original prints, for which the artist has scratched lines in the emulsion of photographic negatives with an etching needle and other sharp- pointed tools, thus allowing light to pass through them in the making of photopolymer plates for letterpress printing. The artwork imitates stitching with short straight and slightly curved strokes like the stitches in samplers, traditionally sewn by young women to demonstrate their domestic skills. The subtle patterns in the artwork of cross-stitches and hatchings become recognizable figures or mysterious forms related to the wondrous imagery in Emily Dickinson’s poems. The type is Monotype and handset Walbaum. The type and polymer plates were printed by letterpress in black ink for the type and red-brown ink for the plates. The paper was made by hand at the Twinrocker Mill. The edition is limited to 400 numbered copies for sale, signed by the artist. (#127526)
44. Larry SULLIVAN The Brownsville Boys, The Jewish Gangsters of Murder, Inc.
[22] ff. Illustrated with 20 colour etchings by D.R. Wakefield. Folio, 450 x 330 mm, loose in publisher’s black chemise in original black cloth covered clamshell box by Claudia Cohen. [Maine]: Two Ponds Press, 2013. $ 4200.00
Twenty biographies of notorious Jewish gangsters by crime scholar Larry E. Sullivan of John Jay College in New York. The accompanying etchings are by D.R. Wakefield, a protege of Leonard Baskin, with whom Sullivan first discussed the project in 1993 for Baskin’s Gehenna Press. One of 50 copies for sale, signed by the author and artist, from a total edition of 60, designed by W.A. Dwiggins with typography by Russell Maret and presswork by Art Larson at Horton Tank Graphics. (#156406) 46. Robert VENTURI, Denise Scott BROWN & Steven IZENOUR Learning from Las Vegas.
189 pp. With 240 illustrations, many in colour. Large folio, bound in cloth with printed glassine wrapper. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1972. $ 3500.00
First Edition. A seminal and controversial book, rarely found in a dust jacket. In 1968, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour taught a third year studio graduate class at Yale that would have great implications on the study architecture in the postmodern era. The class was called “Learning from Las Vegas, or Form Analysis as Design Research.” There were thirteen students in total. In the end, their work would comprise the basis for the landmark architectural work Learning from Las Vegas, authored by Venturi, Brown, and Izenour, but compiled, researched and photographed by the 45. Emily Noyes VANDERPOEL students themselves An exceptional copy, with just Color problems. A Practical Manual for the insignificant wear to the glassine wrapper. (#168866) Lay Student of Color.
xv, 137 pp. Illustrated with 117 colour plates, each on a stub, and an envelope containing a chart and two plastic colour squares and mask. 8vo., 194 x 145 mm, bound in original green cloth. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1903. $ 2500.00
First Edition, second printing of a magnificent and little known masterpiece of American book- making. Vanderpoel was a New York artist, author, and collector of oriental art objects. Color Problems was intended as a manual for all those (decorators, designers, lithographers, etc.) requiring a fuller understanding of colour theory. She refers to Chevreul, Bezold, Rood, Church, and others as having written more technical treatises or artists’ manuals. The text focuses on colour contrasts and harmonies, with 117 plates printed in colour, and includes an appendix of definitions and terms and an interesting bibliography of fifty titles in several languages. This copy is complete with the mask, which is usually missing, inside the pocket of the rear cover. A fine copy of a scarce and wonderful book.
Birren 629. 148 x 92 mm, bound in publisher’s blue cloth with gilt front cover and spine, cover design repeated in blind on the bottom cover, a.e.g. Washington, D.C.: Cassimir Bohn. Sold by all the Booksellers, 1854. $ 1250.00
Second Edition. A pre-Civil War guide to the United State’s capital, embellished with attractive tinted lithographs of it’s famous buildings and monuments set against a fine blue sky. This guide finds the city in a state of transition, as the rapidly expanding country required a larger Capital Building, and the Washington Monument remains only a third complete (construction wouldn’t be finished until 1884). Also illustrated are the White House, Georgetown, The Smithsonian Institute, The Treasury etc.
The plan of the House and Senate chambers is of the first session of the 33rd Congress with the each member’s name on their desk; engraving of the Capitol building at the center of the plan. Short tear in each fold out, slightly shaken; occasional light 47. ANDY WARHOL foxing, overall an exceptional complete copy which Andy Warhol. includes the rare map and plan with a slightly faded but bright gilt front cover in very good condition. Unpaginated catalogue. With 27 illustrations including (#153793) some colour reproductions. Small 4to., bound in original illustrated cardstock wraps, in a recent cloth folding box. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1965. $ 3850.00
A fine copy of the rare catalogue for the first U.S. museum exhibition devoted solely to Andy Warhol. Includes: Campbell’s Soup Cans, Disasters, Flowers, Electric Chairs, Elizabeth Taylor, Brillo Boxes, Marilyn Monroe, etc. (#168782)
48. WASHINGTON, D.C. Bohn’s Hand-Book of Washington. With an Appendix. Illustrated with twenty engravings of public buildings, etc.
By Cassimir Bohn. 104 pp. Illustrated with engraved frontispiece, 17 tinted full-page lithographs, fold out lithographic map of Washington, D.C., engraved fold out plan of the House and Senate chambers. 12mo., 49. B. WYEDA and T. AOKI 50. J. XAUDARO Nihon meisho zue. Gokinai no bu. Illustrated Les Cinq Points. Le dessin instructif et Guide Book for Travellers around Japan. amusant pour les petits et les grands.
Seven volumes. Illustrated with 794 woodcut 6 pp. With 6 sheets of printed tracing paper and illustrations. Small 8vo., bound in original publisher’s 60 plates by Xaudaro. Oblong folio, 314 x 245 cloth-backed illustrated paper over boards, and mm, bound in original publisher’s illustrated housed in a new chitsu case. Osaka: Sanyodo, 1890. boards, decorated endpapers. Paris: Ollendorff, $ 4850.00 1912. $ 1750.00 A fine set of this wonderful illustrated guide to Japan. The text, with the exception of the captions First Edition, one of the very few surviving copies is entirely in Japanese. The nearly eight hundred of this drawing book, which is at the same time a plates in the Japanese Guide offer both countryside highly unusual illustrated book. The illustrations and city images. Many of the plates are populated commence with “Five Points” (subsequently with Western tourists. Although occasionally one increasing to ten), in which the amateur artist is finds a plate depicting a modern site such as the encouraged to create numerous sketches and figures new Kyoto train station, for the most part Japan of drawings utilizing one of the six specimens is depicted before it was infiltrated by Western of tracing paper accompanying the volume: the influence. “Points” are to be affixed to a blank piece of paper, and the student thereby creates his or her own OCLC lists a set at Brigham Young, and an odd composition surrounding the points. All six leaves volume at Berkeley. A very aesthetic object of great of tracing paper are present in the above copy, as rarity. (#165142) are all sixty of Xaudaro’s highly curious plates of demonic figures and acrobats. Only one other copy is recorded in North American On Xaudaro’s importance as a comic illustrator, institutional collections (at Huntington, San Marino). see Antonio Martín, Historia del Comic Español: 1875-1939 (Barcelona, 1978) chap. II (“Niveles de Joaquin Xaudaro (1872-1933) was one of the lenguaje del comic español, 1900/1917”) the section founders of modern cartoon and comic illustration on “Xaudaró, dibujante de comics” (pp. 33-37). in Spain. The introduction to the present volume (#89957) was by Achille Segard (1872-1936); Les Cinq Points is the only known work by Xaudaro on Drawing Technique and Line Art.