The VEATCHS ARTS of the BOOK Catalogue 87
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The VEATCHS ARTS of the BOOK Catalogue 87 Item 46. Kelmscott. cover: Item 8. Barbat (detail) THE VEATCHS ARTS OF THE BOOK 6145 McKinley Parkway, No. 9, Hamburg, New York 14075 [email protected] www.veatchs.com phone 716-648-0361 catalogue 87 Fall 2017 ordering information Your satisfaction is guaranteed. All books are returnable, with ad- vance notice. Payment is accepted by check, Visa, Mastercard, and wire transfer. Libraries may request deferred billing. New York State residents must add 8¾% sales tax. Shipping charges are additional. Please make checks payable to “The Veatchs.” we are happy to send images upon request. 1. Alexeieff. Genbach, Jean. L’ABBÉ DE L’ABBAYE. POÈMES SUPERNATURALISTES. Paris: La Tour D’Ivoire, 927. 7½ × 0. xii, 0 pages plus 6 surreal wood engravings by Alexander Alexeieff. Printed wraps, small stain on spine, some darkening at spine extremities. Very good. No. 240 of 350 copies printed on velin de Rives. $450 2. Alexeieff. Maurois, André.VOYAGE AU PAYS DE ARTICOLES. Eaux- fortes et bois en couleurs par Alexandre Alexeieff. Paris: Éditions de la Pléiade, (927). 7 × 9½. 22 pages plus 4 color aquatints. 9 wood engravings in the text—most in color—as chapter heads and tailpieces. Printed wraps, Small chips at spine base, light soil; slight separation between a few pages. Near very good, in custom chemise and slipcase. No. 299 of 300 copies printed by Couluma in Deberny et Peignot’s Garamond type—its first use in France. $800 Colors with a Delicacy of Execution and Technical Brilliance Never Before Achieved in the United States 3. Allen, John Fisk. VICTORIA REGIA; OR THE GREAT WATER LILY OF AMERICA. With a brief account of its Discovery and Introduction into Cultivation: with Illustrations by William Sharp, from Specimens Grown at Salem, Massachusetts, U. S. A. Boston: Printed and published for the author, 854. 20½ × 26½. 6 pages plus one- page index plus 6 full size color plates. One chromolithograph is from a drawing by Allen; the other 5 are from drawings by Sharp. Modern boards with linen spine; facsimile of original title label on upper cover. The contents have been completely restored with the paper de-acidified and each leaf hinged on linen. Most fore edges have been strengthened (almost impercep- tibly) with tissue. Two closed tears have been repaired. There is a date the veatchs arts of the book (Dec 96) stamped in the gutter of the dedication page. Very good copy of a brilliant and important book. A cornerstone of American color printing. These images were drawn on stone and printed by Sharp, America’s first chromolithographic printer. This was the earliest example of large scale color printing in the United States. William Sharp emigrated to Boston from England in the late 1830s and produced the first chromolithograph in the States in 1840. His career culminated in this work which Reese describes as “printed colors with a delicacy of execution and technical brilliance never before achieved in the United States.” The success of Sharp’s work is due in part to the fact that the five plates he designed were specifically intended to be printed by chromolithography. Most other practitioners of that time were just reproducing existing works of art. This large format reflects the extraordinary size of the lily. Leaves grow several inches a day until they reach up to 6 feet long, and are strong enough to support the weight of a child. The flowers are 12 to 17 inches in diameter. Allen’s text provides a history of the cultivation of the lily which was introduced into England, after being discovered on the Amazon in the 1830s. Victoria had recently become queen and the lily was named in her honor. Allen’s lily was given to him by Caleb Cope, to whom the book is dedicated. Cope, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, was the first American to cultivate this lily. Reese 19, Bennett p. 2, Marzio Democratic Art pp. 18, 215, 279–80. $55,000 4. Allen Press. Aeschylus. THE ORESTIAN TRILOGY. Greenbrae, 983. Two volumes. 6¼ × 0. 67 leaves; 74 leaves. Cloth, slipcase. Fine set. One of 140 sets hand printed on dampened handmade paper, in Menhart Unciala and Solemnis types. Text printed in brown and “flame” (orange). Title pages flame and 23 carat gold. Translated by E. D. A. Morshead. Greek calligraphy by Mark Livingston. $700 catalogue 87 5. Antiphonal Leaf. Manuscript antiphonal leaf on vellum. Fifteenth cen- tury. Approximately 8 × 22. Handsomely framed & double glazed (glass on both sides). Large initial “P” painted in yellow, red, orange, and green with large marginal acanthus leaf; rubric and other initials in red. Staves are in red, notes are in black. Text in Latin. Very good condition. $700 Victor Hammer “Leaf Book” 6. Anvil Press. CHAPTERS ON WRITING AND PRINTING. Lexington, 963. 6 × 0. 70 pages plus a 4-page specimen of Hammer’s American Uncial and Andromache types, and original leaves ( an 8- page gather- ing & a 4-page gathering) from Victor Hammer’s Stamperia del San- tuccio books in Pindar and Sampson types. Buff boards, paper spine label, spine very slightly darker, a few touches of foxing; booklabel inside front cover. Near fine.with : 6 additional leaves (most double). No. 87 of 134 copies, impeccably printed by Carolyn Hammer in black & red. The leaves include an engraved initial letter in red. The four chapters are “Calligraphy for the Printer” (Paul Standard), “Digressions on the Roman Letter” (Victor Hammer, “Printing from the Blocks of Bewick” (R. Hunter Middleton), and “Notes on the Stamperia del Santuccio” (Carolyn Hammer). With two Bewick illustrations printed from the blocks. $650 7. Ashmead, Henry B. “Henry B. Ashmead, Plain and Ornamental Book and Job Printer.” (Philadelphia, 857). 5¾ × 8½. Broadside advertise- ment printed in black on blue paper, mounted inside rear cover of Colton’s Advertising Atlas of America. ONLY the book’s cover is present here; not the book itself. The broadside is rubbed along the edges where it met the book’s front cover; lighter rubbing on the text; tips worn away. A striking piece of ephemera because of its size. Ashmead was a distinguished printing house, established by Isaac Ashmead in 1821. $200 Scintillating 844 Chromolithography 8. Barbat, Louis. ÉVANGILES DE DIMANCHES ET FÉTES. Illustrés par Barbat père et fils. Chalons- S- Marne: Imprimerie Lithographique Barbat, 844. 8¼ × . 39 pages. Collation: (2), –07, (3), 3–48, (4), 49–35, (2) pages. A few preliminary pages appear shuffled in the veatchs arts of the book Item 5. Antiphonal Leaf. Item 7. Ashmead. Item 8. Barbat. order—despite being in the original binding. Entirely lithographed in colors, silver, and gold on glazed white paper. These Gospels for Sun- days and holidays are set within elaborate ornate frames or cartouches and presented as double spreads. Each dazzling spread has a different frame, which are very varied in design. Some frames are rococo. Some of the cruciform borders in the Passion section approach Art Deco. Some are iridescent, changing color. There is a great deal of silver & gold printing; the text is also printed in various single colors or gold. Publisher’s thin enameled card covers printed lithographically in gold from transferred type. Some light foxing on preliminary leaves, very slight separation between some leaves, light cover soil, a very good copy of a truly stunning work. Scarce in the original wraps. To describe Louis Barbat ( 1795–1870) as the inventor of chromolithography (Lhote, p. 217) may be a reach too far. But it is certain that he experimented with and developed techniques of his own. Having studied drawing under the engraver Charles- Nicolas Varin, Barbat began experimenting with lithography in 1825, collecting ancient drawings, maps, and views of Chalon for his subjects. He and his son Pierre-Michael opened their shop in 1833. On January 3, 1834 Barbat received a patent to adapt a printing press to print several colors at once, with only one impression. Barbat’s series of lithographed calendars began in 1834. In 1838 Barbat began producing, in a great number of designs, elaborate and richly colored & metallic wine labels and trade cards for the Champagne merchants. (The Sorbonne dictionary describes these in some detail.) The labels and cards were printed on white “porcelaine” paper in the Belgian manner. Barbat’s entry for the 1839 Paris exposition, which included some of the title pages for the Evangiles were praised for the brilliance of the colors and the gold. Following on this success, after patient researches and a number of tries, according to Lhote, Barbat was able to produce the most varied colors in a full range of tones from the most vigorous to the sweetest, and by “d’ingenieux procêdees” achieved fused shades. At the 1844 Paris exposition Barbat was awarded the silver medal for Évangiles. This copy of Évangiles is printed entirely upon enameled or “porce- laine” paper. Coated papers, which absorb less moisture during printing, give greater richness to printed colors. They were preferred for powdered bronze, silver, & gold as it was easier to brush powder away from unwanted areas. Unusual for the time, Barbat’s paper was coated on both sides, allow- the veatchs arts of the book Item 8. Barbat. ing the beautiful double spreads. (Midolle also used coated paper, but on one side only; his plates are printed on the rectos only.) Twyman discusses at length this “notable” and “extravagant quarto,” which was said to rival the productions of Curmer. “All the text was trans- ferred from modern- face types and printed lithographically with almost miraculous consistency. This in itself was a major technical achieve- ment....” (p.