OCCASIONAL LIST: BOSTON BOOK FAIR / NOV. 13 – 15, 2009
JAMES S. JAFFE RARE BOOKS / JOHNNYCAKE BOOKS INC.
Booth 314 Booth 404
790 Madison Ave, Suite 605 12 Academy St. New York, New York 10065 Salisbury, CT 06068 Tel: 212-988-8042 Tel: 860-435-6677 Fax: 212-988-8044 Fax: 860-435-6688 Cell: 610-637-3531 Proprietor: Dan Dwyer
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.jamesjaffe.com www.johnnycakebooks.com
All books and manuscripts are offered subject to prior sale. Libraries will be billed to suit their budgets. Digital images are available upon request.
For the duration of the book fair, orders and inquiries should be directed to:
James Jaffe [610-637-3531] or Dan Dwyer [860-671-9197]
MOSTLY MODERN LITERATURE
1. AMMONS, A. R. Ommateum with Doxology. Small 8vo, original salmon cloth, dust jacket. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., (1955). First edition of Ammons’ rare first book. One of 300 copies printed, of which only 100 were bound. Wright A1. A very fine copy, essentially as new. $3500.00
2. [ANTHOLOGY]. WILLIAMS, Oscar, editor. New Poems 1940. An Anthology of British and American Verse. Edited by Oscar Williams. (Foreword by George Barker). 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. N. Y.: Yardstick Press, 1941. First edition. Signed on the front endpapers by many of the contributors, including Conrad Aiken, George Barker, R. P. Blackmur, Richard Eberhart, Horace Gregory, Weldon Kees, Marianne Moore, Frederick Prokosch, Muriel Rukeyser, Delmore Schwartz, among others. In addition, Oscar Williams has signed and dated the book April 17, 1941. The anthology includes contributions by Aiken, Auden, Barker, Berryman, Bishop, Eberhart, Jeffers, Kees, MacNeice, Moore, Ransom, Schwartz, Spender, Wallace Stevens, Allen Tate, Dylan Thomas, Warren, William Carlos Williams, among others. A fine copy in lightly worn dust jacket. $1250.00
3. [ART – LACHAISE]. GALLATIN, A. E. Gaston Lachaise. Sixteen Reproductions in Collotype of the Sculptor’s Work. Edited with an Introduction by A. E. Gallatin. (Illustrated with photogravures from photographs by Charles Scheeler.) 4to, original cloth-backed boards with printed labels, glassine dust jacket. N. Y.: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1924. First edition. Limited to 400 copies printed by D. B. Updike at the Merrymount Press. A superb association copy, a presentation copy from the subject to his friend and patron, Scofield Thayer, inscribed on the front free endpaper: “To my friend Scofield Thayer Gaston Lachaise.” Thayer a prominent collector and patron of the arts, and his collection included numerous works by Lachaise, including the sculpture Standing Woman (Elevation), which was part of the Thayer bequest to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thayer was also one of the owners/editors of The Dial magazine, with which Lachaise was associated after Thayer and James Sibley Watson purchased the magazine. In 1920, in the first issue under the new editors, Lachaise’s Dusk (1917) appeared as the frontispiece. A very fine unopened copy, in somewhat worn and chipped glassine, with the Thayer bookplate laid in. $2250.00
4. AUDEN, W. H. Poems. 8vo, original pale blue printed wrappers. London: Faber, (1930). First edition of Auden’s first regularly published book. One of 1000 copies printed. Bloomfield & Mendelson A2a. Signed by Auden using his full name on the title-page. Although signed copies of Auden’s later publications are not uncommon, signed copies of this book are extremely rare. Wrappers slightly rubbed and faintly dust-soiled, one shallow nick at top of back panel of wrapper, otherwise a very good copy of this fragile book. $7500.00
5. BISHOP, Elizabeth. Poem. Thin oblong 12mo, original decorated wrappers. N. Y.: Phoenix Book Shop, 1973. First edition. No. 16 in the Phoenix Book Shop Oblong Octavo Series. Limited to 126 copies signed by Bishop. MacMahon A11. Fine copy. $1750.00
6. CORMAN, Cid. One Man’s Moon. 50 Haiku by Bashō, Buson, Issa, Hakuin, Shiki, Santoka. Versions by Cid Corman. Oblong 12mo, original Japanese paper over boards. (Frankfort, KY): Gnomon Press, (1984). First edition, deluxe issue. One of only 26 lettered copies specially bound and signed by Corman. Very fine copy of this rare issue. $250.00
7. CORMAN, Cid. Born Of A Dream. 50 Haiku by Bashō, Buson, Taigi, Issa, Shiki. Versions by Cid Corman. Oblong 12mo, original Japanese paper over boards. (Frankfort, KY): Gnomon Press, (1988). First edition, deluxe issue. One of only 26 lettered copies specially bound and signed by Corman. Very fine copy of this rare issue. $250.00
8. ELIOT, T. S. Marina. With Drawings by E. McKnight Kauffer. Thin 8vo, original blue-gray boards. London: Faber and Faber, 1930. First edition, large-paper issue, limited to 400 copies printed on English hand-made paper and signed by Eliot. Gallup A17b. Boards very slightly rubbed, otherwise an unusually fine copy. $1000.00
9. ELIOT, T. S. Triumphal March. Drawings by E. McKnight Kauffer. 8vo, original gray boards. London: Faber, 1931. First edition. One of 300 large-paper edition copies printed on English hand-made paper and signed by Eliot. Gallup A19b. A fine copy. $500.00
10. ELIOT, T. S. Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats. London: Faber & Faber, (1939). First edition of Eliot’s most endearing work. 8vo, original pictorial yellow cloth stamped in red, dust jacket. One of 3005 copies printed. Gallup A34a. Very slight toning to the bright yellow dust jacket, which is price- clipped, otherwise a fine copy, in a half-morocco folding box. A lovely copy. $3500.00
11. ELIOT, T. S. Four Quartets. 4to, original quarter vellum & marbled boards, marbled board publisher’s slipcase. London: Faber & Faber, 1960. One of 290 numbered copies, signed by Eliot, and printed by Giovanni Mardersteig at the Officina Bodoni in Verona. Gallup A43c. A very fine copy in original slipcase, preserved in a half-morocco folding box. $4000.00
12. ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land. 4to, original quarter-vellum & marbled boards, publisher’s marbled board slipcase. London: Faber & Faber, (1961). First limited signed edition. Limited to 300 copies hand-printed in Dante type on Magnani paper by Giovanni Mardersteig at the Officina Bodoni in Verona, Italy and signed by Eliot. Gallup A6d. Barr 63. Very fine copy in slipcase, which is very slightly rubbed slipcase. $4500.00
13. FROST, Robert. A Boy’s Will. Small 8vo, original bronzed brown pebbled cloth. London: David Nutt, 1913. First edition, first issue, in the earliest binding [Crane’s Binding A] of Frost’s first regularly published book. Of approximately 1000 copies of the first edition of A Boy’s Will, fewer than 350 copies were issued by Nutt, which went into bankruptcy after the First World War. Even fewer copies were bound in the first binding of bronze cloth before April 1, 1913; the balance of the copies that Nutt issued were not bound until four years later in a different cloth by a different binder. Crane A2. A very fine copy preserved in a half morocco folding box. $12,500.00
14. FROST, Robert. A Boy’s Will. Small 8vo, original printed cream laid paper wrappers. London: David Nutt, 1913. The second issue, binding D in cream linen wrappers of Frost’s first book, one of 716 copies sold by Dunster House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, out of a total of 1000 copies printed. This is one of 686 with “Printed in Great Britain” rubber-stamped on the copyright page. Crane A2. Although not called for, this copy is signed by Frost and numbered “119”. Fine copy. $2500.00
INSCRIBED TO EARLE BERNHEIMER, WITH A MANUSCRIPT POEM
15. FROST, Robert. North of Boston. 8vo, original green cloth. London: David Nutt, (1914). First edition of Frost’s second book, binding A. One of 350 copies bound in coarse green linen out of a total edition of 1000 copies printed. Crane A3. Presentation copy, inscribed by Frost on the front free endpaper: “For his friend, Earle Bernheimer”, above which Frost has transcribed “Triple Plate”, a twelve-line poem which Frost used for his 1939 Christmas card. Frost’s signature book, including “Mending Wall”, “The Death of the Hired Man”, “After Apple Picking”, “The Wood-Pile”, among other poems. The present copy was sold as lot 82 in the sale of Bernheimer’s collection at Parke-Bernet Galleries in 1950. A fine copy, preserved in black cloth slipcase with chemise. $15,000.00
16. FROST, Robert. Three Poems. 4to, original pale blue wrappers with printed label on front cover. Hanover, N. H.: Dartmouth College, Baker Library Press, (1935). First edition. Limited to 125 numbered copies printed by hand in Caslon Oldstyle on Worthy Hand and Arrows paper for the Daniel Oliver Associates of Dartmouth College. None of the copies in the edition were for sale. Crane A18. Presentation copy, inscribed by Frost on the first leaf: “To C(harles). C. Auchincloss, these my first written but last printed, Robert Frost.” The three early poems printed here are “The Quest of the Orchis” (circa 1901), “Warning” (Circa 1895), and “Caesar’s Lost Transport Ships” (Circa 1892). A very fine copy, preserved in a green half-morocco slipcase. $4000.00
17. FROST, Robert. “1946” (“The Courage To Be New”). Small broadside poem, measuring approximately 7 x 5 inches, decoration by Thoreau Macdonald. Ripton, Vermont: Orris C. Manning Memorial, 28 July 1946. First edition. The present copy is signed by Frost and Thoreau Macdonald, although Crane is uncertain as to whether all of the copies were intended to be signed. There is no record of the precise number of copies printed, but in all probability, no more than 50 copies were printed. Crane A28. This little broadside, which printed two stanzas of the poem (subsequently published in Steeple Bush), was published to help defray the cost of the construction of the Manning Memorial in Ripton. The present copy is mounted on a stiff card and preserved in a full green morocco folding box. Extremely rare. $3500.00
18. GLÜCK, Louise. Firstborn. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. (N. Y.): New American Library, (1968). First edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s scarce first book. The white dust jacket is faintly discolored, with a touch of rubbing at the head of the spine, otherwise a fine copy. $750.00
19. GLÜCK, Louise. Firstborn. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. (Middlesex): Anvil Press, (1969). First British edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s scarce first book. Limited to 50 copies printed on Glastonbury Antique rose paper, signed by the poet. Fine copy. $450.00
20. GLÜCK, Louise. The Garden. Tall 8vo, original green printed wrappers. (No place): Antaeus Editions, (1976). First edition. One of 50 numbered copies signed by Gluck, out of a total edition of 500 copies printed at The Oliphant Press. Very fine copy. $450.00
21. GRAHAM, W. S. Letters & Heads. (Poems by W. S. Graham. Wood block prints by Douglas Thomson.) Folio, original black linen with woodcut label on front cover, publisher’s slipcase. (Llandogo, Monmouthshire): Old Stile Press, 1993. First edition. Limited to 125 copies illustrated with 16 full-page wood cuts of human heads by Douglas Thomson, printed from the original blocks, the text hand-set in Albertus and printed on Velin Arches paper, numbered and signed by the artist. A very fine copy $200.00
22. HEANEY, Seamus. Hedge School. Sonnets from Glanmore with colour woodcuts by Claire Van Vliet. 4to, original embossed brown handmade paper wrappers. Newark, VT: Janus Press, 1979. First edition. Limited to 285 copies signed by Heaney and Van Vliet. Brandes A18. Fine copy of this beautiful book. $1750.00
23. HEANEY, Seamus. Ugolino. 4to, illustrated with 2 lithographs by Louis Le Broquy, original limp black morocco, publisher’s slipcase. Dublin: Andrew Carpenter, 1979. First edition. Limited to 125 copies printed, signed by the poet, the artist, and the designer and publisher, Andrew Carpenter, of which this is one of 30 copies bound in black textured morocco; 70 copies were bound in black goatskin, and 25 copies were bound in paper boards. Only 30 copies were for sale. Brandes A19. A very fine copy of one of Heaney’s rarest books. $12,500.00
24. HEANEY, Seamus. Sweeney Praises the Trees. Illustration by Henry Pearson. Thin 8vo, original wrappers. N. Y.: (Kelly/Winterton Press), 1981. First edition. Brandes A29. Limited to 110 copies printed. A very fine copy. Rare. $1250.00
INSCRIBED TO SYLVIA PLATH’S MOTHER
25. HUGHES, Ted. “Roosting Hawk”. 8vo, printed wrappers. (Northampton, MA: Grecourt Review, 1959). First separate edition, an offprint. Presentation copy, inscribed on the inside front wrapper by the poet to his mother-in-law, Aurelia Plath: “June 24, 1959, To Sylvia’s mother from Ted with love.” Originally published in The Grecourt Review, an undergraduate publication at Smith College, where Hughes’s wife Sylvia Plath was teaching at the time, this poem was later collected in Lupercal (1960) as “Hawk Roosting”. Sagar & Tabor C53. Offsetting from newspaper insert on inside front cover, otherwise a fine copy. $10,000.00
26. LARKIN, Philip. The North Ship. Small 8vo, original black cloth, dust jacket. London: The Fortune Press, (1945). First edition of Larkin’s first book, first binding. Bloomfield A1. A very fine copy in dust jacket, which is price-clipped as usual. $3500.00
27. LARKIN, Philip. The Whitsun Weddings. Poems. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. London: Faber & Faber, (1964). First edition. One of 3910 copies printed. Bloomfield A7a. Very fine copy. $450.00
28. LARKIN, Philip. High Windows. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. London: Faber, (1974). First edition. One of 6000 copies. Bloomfield A10. Very fine copy. $250.00
29. LARKIN, Philip. Aubade. Oblong 12mo, wrappers in silver-gilt envelope. (Salem, OR: Seluzicki, 1980). First edition of this five-stanza poem. Limited to 250 copies printed at the Penstemon Press & initialed by Larkin. Very fine copy. $750.00
30. MACLEAN, Norman. A River Runs Through It. Photographs by Joel Snyder. Small 4to, illustrated, original two-toned cloth with pictorial label on front cover. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (1983). First of this illustrated edition, containing a previously unpublished essay “On The Edge of Swirls”. Limited to 500 copies signed by Maclean. A very fine copy of this illustrated edition which is considerably scarcer than its limitation would suggest. $1850.00
INSCRIBED TO JOHN GALSWORTHY
31. MASEFIELD, John. The Tragedy of Nan and Other Plays. 8vo, original cloth. London: Grant Richards, 1909. First English edition. One of 500 copies printed. Handley-Taylor p. 28. Presentation copy from the author to John Galsworthy, inscribed at the top of the front free endpaper: “John Galsworthy from John Masefield Sept 13th, 1909”. With Galsworthy’s ample bookplate, designed by R. H. Sauter, on the verso; the bookplate shows a dog, perhaps a Cocker Spaniel, bringing its master a book. The other plays are The Campden Wonder and Mrs. Harrison. Covers faded, head of spine rubbed, and evidently well-read, presumably by the recipient. $1250.00
THE DEDICATION COPY
32. MUIR, Edwin. We Moderns: Enigmas and Guesses. By Edward Moore. Small 8vo, original pebble- grained blue cloth with printed paper label on spine. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., (1918). First edition of Muir’s aphoristic first book, published pseudonymously. One of 1030 copies printed, of which 190 unbound copies were destroyed in the Blitz. Mellown A1a. THE DEDICATION COPY, inscribed on the front free endpaper “To A. R. Orage From the Author, His First Fruits, 29/5/18”. Orage was the open-minded editor of The New Age, the pre-eminent literary magazine in the years leading up to the First World War, and during his life a passionate advocate of a variety of intellectual and spiritual enthusiasms from theosophy, the philosophy of Nietzsche, Fabianism, Guild Socialism, and later in life, mysticism and the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky and G. I. Gurdjieff. Orage published Muir’s first published work, “The Epigram”, a short dialogue, in The New Age in 1913, and between then and September 1922, when Orage gave up the editorship of magazine, Muir published the vast majority of his early work there – well over one hundred articles and poems – including the essays in We Moderns. During this period, Muir also became Orage’s assistant, and a sub-editor of The New Age. Most of Muir’s early work appeared under the name Edward Moore, and it was not until June 1922 that he published the poem, “Re-birth”, under his own name in The New Age. – Mellown, Bibliography of the Writings of Edwin Muir (London: Nicholas Vane, 1966). When Orage died n 1934, Muir’s obituary of his earliest editor and mentor was published in the New English Weekly. Muir remembered Orage as “a charming companion, an enchanting talker, whether witty or serious or both, and a constant friend.” – Butter, Edwin Muir (Edinburgh & London: Oliver & Boyd, 1966), p. 74. Extremities of spine lightly rubbed, with one short quarter-inch tear at top, spine label worn, but a very good copy. $3500.00
33. O’BRIEN, Flann. At Swim Two Birds. 8vo, original black cloth, dust jacket. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1939. First edition, first issue. The publisher’s warehouse was destroyed in the Blitz and it is assumed that the majority of this first issue was decimated, with the consequence that a second issue, bound in green cloth, was produced. A touch of rubbing to the upper cover, some slight foxing, otherwise a fine copy in dust jacket with long quotation from Graham Greene on the back panel. The jacket is price-clipped, faintly sunned at spine, and shows very minimal wear at extremities. A very attractive copy, preserved in a half-morocco folding box. $9500.00
34. PEAKE, Mervyn. Titus Groan. 8vo, original red cloth. (London): Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946. First edition. Signed by Peake on the front free endpaper. Reptilian bookplate of E. Vipers (!) on the front free endpaper, small damp-stain on front cover, covers a bit dull, page edges foxed, but a very good copy of a book rarely found signed by the author. $1500.00
35. PLATH, Sylvia. “Sculptor. To Leonard Baskin”. 8vo, original printed wrappers. (No place): Grecourt Review, (no date, but circa 1959-1960). First separate edition of this poem, which first appeared in the May 1959 issue of the Smith College literary magazine The Grecourt Review on p. 282. Homberger, A Chronological Checklist of the Periodical Publications of Sylvia Plath (Exeter, England, University of Exeter: American Arts Documentation Centre, 1970), p. 10. Probably no more than 25 copies were produced. Although this pamphlet has the outward appearance of an offprint, there are none of the usual signs, such as pagination or the conventional statement that the text has been “Reprinted from . . .” to suggest that it is not a separate publication. Sculptor precedes Plath’s A Winter Ship, usually acknowledged to be her first book, by a year, and is considered by some to represent her first separate publication. A very fine copy. $2500.00
SYLVIA PLATH’S COPY
36. [PLATH, Sylvia]. WILBUR, Richard. Ceremony And Other Poems. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket. N. Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, (1950). First edition. Sylvia Plath’s copy, with her signature at the top of the front free endpaper “Sylvia Plath 1955” and numerous under-linings to many of the poems, as well as on the inside front flap of the dust jacket where Plath underscores the quotation from Wilbur that “The strength of the genie comes of his being confined in a bottle.” Among the lines Plath has marked are these from the title poem: “But ceremony never did conceal, / Save to the silly eye, which all allows, / How much we are in the woods we wander in. . . . And when with social smile and formal dress / She teaches leaves to curtsey and quadrille, / I think there are most tigers in the wood.” Wilbur, whose mother-in-law, Edna Ward, was a friend of Plath’s mother, met Plath in 1953, an encounter he commemorated in his poem “Cottage Street, 1953”, published in The Mind Reader: New Poems (1976). In his review of Wilbur’s Collected Poems in The New Yorker (“Get Happy: Richard Wilbur and the Poetry of Profusion”, Nov. 22, 2004), Adam Kirsch analyzed the meeting, its ambivalences, and Wilbur’s complex reaction to it: “In 1953, literary history—acting through the good offices of Edna Ward, of Wellesley, Massachusetts—brought together two of the most gifted, and least similar, American poets of the postwar era. Mrs. Ward was the mother-in-law of Richard Wilbur—at the age of thirty-two, the author of two acclaimed books of verse—and a friend of Aurelia Plath, whose twenty- year-old daughter, Sylvia, had just endured the hellish summer she later chronicled in “The Bell Jar.” Wilbur was invited, as he wryly recalls in his poem “Cottage Street, 1953”: ”to exemplify / The published poet in his happiness, / Thus cheering Sylvia, who has wished to die.” Of course, Wilbur’s good will could not make a dent in Plath’s misery: he describes himself as “a stupid lifeguard” who finds “a girl … immensely drowned.” But the meeting was productive in another way: decades later, after Plath had written, died, and become a myth, it offered Wilbur a test and an emblem of his own, very different poetic calling.” Kirsch accepts Randall Jarrell’s essentially skeptical view of Wilbur’s poetry, suggesting in a dismal way that Wilbur is some kind of failure, lacking in that “self-lacerating tendency” that Michael Dirda, reviewing Wilbur’s Collected Poems for the Washington Post, suggests is not what everyone wants or needs. Dirda admires Wilbur’s poetry in all its brilliance: “Comedy, after all, is harder than tragedy, and Wilbur’s consummate linguistic skill always serves deeper purposes than mere display. As is increasingly clear, the work in these 500 or so pages has been one of the saving graces of poetry in our time, as beautiful and moving as it is artful and accomplished.” Whether one favors the happy or sad poet, it is clear that Plath found much to commend, and perhaps remember, and even put to use, in this particular volume of Wilbur’s poetry. Dust jacket a little chipped and torn, otherwise a very good copy. $7500.00
37. ROTH, Philip. Portnoy’s Complaint. 8vo, original cloth, dust jacket, publisher’s slipcase. N. Y.: Random House, (1969). First edition. Limited to 600 copies signed by Roth. Fine copy. $750.00
38. STEVENS, Wallace. Esthetique Du Mal. A poem by Wallace Stevens with pen & ink drawings by Wightman Williams. 8vo, original quarter black morocco & rose Natsume paper-covered boards, (original?) glassine dust jacket. Cummington, MA: Cummington Press, 1945. First edition. One of 300 copies printed on Pace paper; one of only a few copies in rose Natsume straw-paper-covered boards. Most of the edition was issued in green Natsume paper-covered boards: “‘Only a few copies have [the rose paper covers] . . . . all the available green paper not quite being enough for the entire edition.’” (Unpublished letter from Harry Duncan [the publisher] to W[allace] S[tevens], November 17, 1945). Edelstein A10. In Randall Jarrell’s opinion “Esthetique Du Mal” was “the best of (Stevens’) later poems: As one feels the elevation and sweep and disinterestedness, the thoughtful truthfulness of the best sections of a poem like Esthetique du Mal, one is grateful for, overawed by, this poetry....” – Poetry And The Age, p.139 & 146. Grolier Club, A Century For The Century: Fine Printed Books From 1900 to 1999, 46. A very fine copy, far and away the finest copy we have seen, preserved in a cloth folding box. $10,000.00
39. STEVENS, Wallace. Esthetique Du Mal. A poem by Wallace Stevens with pen & ink drawings by Wightman Williams. 8vo, original quarter black morocco & green Natsume paper-covered boards. Cummington, MA: Cummington Press, 1945. First edition. One of 300 copies printed on in Centaur type on Italian Pace paper. Edelstein A10. An unusually fine copy, far superior to most other copies we’ve encountered in recent years. $2750.00
40. TATE, James. The Lost Pilot. Foreword by Dudley Fitts. 8vo, original boards, dust jacket. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1967. First edition of Tate’s first book. Head of spine of dust jacket a bit rubbed, otherwise a very fine copy. $350.00
41. TATE, James. Notes of Woe. Poems. Small 8vo, original salmon boards. Iowa City: Stone Wall Press, 1968. First edition. Limited to 230 copies on Hayle paper. Berger 28. Very fine copy of this beautifully printed book. $350.00
42. TATE, James. Hottentot Ossuary. Small 8vo, original black cloth, dust jacket. Cambridge, MA: Temple Bar Bookshop, 1974. First edition. One of 50 specially bound (hardbound) copies numbered and signed by the author out of a total edition of 1500 copies, 1450 of which were bound in paper wrappers. A very fine copy. $250.00
43. WILBUR, Richard. Seed Leaves. Homage to R. F. Poetry by Richard Wilbur. Prints by Charles Wadsworth. 8vo, illustrated with original colored etchings, marbled wrappers with printed label, in folding cloth & marbled board case. Boston: Godine, (1972). First edition of this homage to Robert Frost, the title-poem, which first appeared in The New Yorker, reprinted from Walking To Sleep with an explanatory preface by Wilbur. Limited to 160 copies signed by Wilbur and Wadsworth. A very fine copy of this lovely book. $450.00
44. [WORLD WAR I]. CHAPMAN, Guy. A Passionate Prodigality: Fragments of Autobiography. 8vo, original cloth. London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1933. First edition of one of the most admired memoirs of the Great War. Presentation copy, inscribed by Chapman on the free front endpaper “The 13th started + ended / With Gridley/ Guy Chapman/ 28.11.33” (in apparent reference to the 13th battalion of the London Fusiliers) and bearing two ownership signatures of A. J. Gridley, one in pen on the front free endpaper with his address, the other in pencil on pastedown. In addition, there is a correction in pencil on p. 71, changing “Gerrard” to “Goddard”. The book is signed by 26 people, presumably members of the Royal Fusiliers, on the copyright page, the dedication page, the contents page, the first sectional title-page and the rear free endpaper. Among the signatories is R. A. Smith, the only named dedicatee of the book, who has signed the dedication page. Guy Chapman (1889 – 1972) was born in London and educated at Westminster School, Christ Church, Oxford, and the London School of Economics. A lawyer, he joined the Royal Fusiliers on the outbreak of World War I, as a junior officer and arrived on the Western Front in August 1915. After surviving the Battle of Arras in 1917, Chapman was badly injured in a mustard-gas attack. He received treatment, and returned to the Front, where he remained until the Armistice was signed in 1918. Chapman became a university lecturer, and eventually Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds; he was also visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He published a number of books, including works on William Beckford, the Dreyfus affair, and France during the Second World War. Chapman is best known for A Passionate Prodigality. He also edited an important collection of prose writings from the Great War, Vain Glory (1937). In his classic study The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell quotes Chapman at some length with evident admiration for his insight and sensitivity. Chapman was married to the writer Storm Jameson, who edited A Kind of Survivor (1975), a selection of Chapman’s autobiographical writings, after his death in 1972. The first edition of A Passionate Prodigality is rare. Spine cocked and creased, otherwise a very good copy, lacking what we presume to be a rare dust jacket. $3500.00
45. YEATS, W. B. The Poems of W. B. Yeats. Volume One: The Wanderings of Oisin, Crossways, The Rose, The Wind Among the Reeds, The Old Age of Queen Maeve, Baile and Aillinn, In the Seven Woods, The Shadowy Waters, From ‘The Green Helmet and Other Poems’, Responsibilities. Volume Two: The Wild Swans at Coole, Michael Robartes and the Dancer, The Tower, The Winding Stair and Other Poems, From ‘A Full Moon in March’, Last Poems. Large 8vo, 2 volumes, original olive green buckram with gilt lettering on front cover & spine, t.e.g., slipcase. London: Macmillan, 1949. First edition. Limited to 375 numbered sets printed on specially made Glastonbury Ivory Toned Antique Laid paper and signed by Yeats. The edition was finished in 1939, the year of Yeats’ death, but World War II prevented its publication until 1949. Wade 209. A fine set in the original slipcase. $6500.00
46. YOUNG, Andrew. The Collected Poems of Andrew Young, Arranged With A Bibliographical Note by Leonard Clark. Wood-Engravings by Joan Hassall. Tall 8vo, original half-morocco & marbled boards by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1960. First edition. One of 65 copies printed on Basingwerk Wove Paper and signed by the author and the illustrator. Fine copy. $450.00
FINE PRINTING / PRIVATE PRESS BOOKS
47. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. Barrett, Timothy. Nagashizuki: The Japanese Craft of Hand Papermaking. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1979. Limited to 300 copies. Signed in pencil by author at limitation page. ALS by printer Henry Morris laid-in. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter morocco with decorated paper sides made by Seidayu Kodo. Very fine copy. $400.00
48. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. CRAIG, Gordon. Gordon Craig's Paris Diary, 1932-1933. Edited by Colin Franklin. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1982. Limited to 350 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter Oasis leather and tips with Japanese paper sides. Prospectus laid-in. Very fine copy. $200.00
49. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. MORRIS, Henry. Omnibus: Instructions for amateur papermakers with notes and observations on private presses, book printing and some people who are involved in these activities. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1967. Limited to 500 copies. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in quarter leather with decorative paper sides. Sample of paper made at De Schoolmeester mill in Westzaan Holland, and mentioned on p. 120, laid-in. Very fine copy. $375.00
50. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. MORRIS, Henry. Roller-Printed Paste Papers for Bookbinding. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1975. Limited to 215 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter white paper with paste paper sides by Bird & Bull Press. Very fine copy. $1500.00
51. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. MORRIS, Henry. Japonica: The Study and Appreciation of the Art of Japanese Paper. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1981. Limited to 250 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter Oasis leather and tips with Japanese Kyo Katazomegami paper sides. Single-sided single-page prospectus laid-in. ALS by author laid-in dated 4/10/80. Very fine copy. $375.00
52. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. MORRIS, Henry. Pepper Pot. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1977. Limited to 250 copies. Bound in quarter morocco and tips with grapevine paper sides made at the Bird & Bull Press. Very fine copy. $250.00
53. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. MURRAY, John. Practical Remarks on Paper. Introduction by Leonard B. Schlosser. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1981. Limited to 300 copies, bound by Gray Parrot in quarter Oasis leather and tips with decorative paper boards. Prospectus laid-in. Very fine copy. $250.00
54. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. SCHMOLLER, Hans. Mr. Gladstone's Washi: A Survey of Reports on the Manufacture of Paper in Japan. Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1984. Limited to 500 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter morocco and tips, with sides based on a fine decorated paper in the Parkes Collection. Accompanied by 20 numbered colored prints in a gray folding paper slipcase. Both book and prints in slipcase are together in a gray paper board slipcase. Very fine copy. $350.00
55. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. STROUSE, Norman H. The Passionate Pirate. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1964. Limited to 200 copies. Quarter russet Nigerian goat skin with decorative paper boards. Prospectus in matching paper covers laid-in. Very fine copy. $450.00
56. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. WEISSE, Franz. The Art of Marbling. Translated from the German and with an introduction by Richard J. Wolfe. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1980. Limited to 300 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter morocco with marbled paper sides. Very fine copy. $375.00
57. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. WOLFE, Richard J. Jacob Bigelow's American Medical Botany, 1817- 1821: An examination of the origin, printing, binding and distribution of America's first color plate book. With special emphasis on the manner of making and printing its colored plates. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1979. Limited to 300 copies. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter red leather with decorative paper sides reduced from an early 19th century woodblock paper. Title page decoration by Fritz Eberhardt. Very fine copy. $250.00
58. [BIRD & BULL PRESS]. WOLFE, Richard J. On Improvements in Marbling the edges of Books and Paper. Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1983. Limited to 350 copies, bound by E. G. Parrot in quarter blue morocco and tips, with marbled paper sides. Double prospectus for this book and for Japanese Paper Balloon Bombs: The First ICBM, in marbled paper covers, laid-in. Very fine copy. $250.00
59. [BOOK ARTS]. Barnacles from Many Bottoms Scraped and Gathered for (Bruce Rogers). . . by the Typophiles. 8vo, illustrated with photographs, original black decorated cloth. (N. Y.: The Georgian Press for The Typophiles), 1935. First edition. Limited to 100 copies printed. A complicated and delightful book, “put together for B. R. Its twenty-nine inserts are the result of fifty-six individual contributions . . . . among them the work of seven artists, fifteen writers and twenty-six printers. It is almost, as is fitting for our peer, a type speciment too, for many different faces, aside from his own Centaur, were used in its production. One, the Goudy Newcastle, was specifically cut for the purpose by the Sage of Marlborough.” – Paul A. Bennett, from his Preface. The title-page was deisgned by Rudoph Ruzicka. An anthology, with individually printed parts representing a variety of forms of tribute to Rogers, a number of the contributions are signed by their authors/artists/printers, including: Frederic Goudy, Edward F. Stevens, and Charles W. Smith, A fine copy, with a separately printed congratulatory message from Richard Ellis of the Georgian Press, signed by Ellis, laid in at the front. $500.00
60. [BOOK ARTS]. TANNER, Heather & Robin. A Country Alphabet. 4to, illustrated with wood engravings, original quarter leather & decorated boards, slipcase. (Blackheath, London): The Old Stile Press, (1984). First edition. Limited to 160 numbered copies printed on Zerkall mould made paper at The Whittington Press, Gloucestershire, and signed by the Tanners. Very fine copy. $1500.00
61. [CUCKOO HILL PRESS]. An Infant's Library. 31 volumes, 12mo, original wrappers, housed in a wooden box with woodcut label by Pam G. Rueter. (Various places: various presses, 1976-1980). First edition, and a complete set, of this collection of diminutive chapbooks printed by hand by thirty different international private presses (two pamphlets being printed by the Cuckoo Hill Press, which also contributed An Infant's Library. A list of Titles and of contributing Presses together with Some Notes on Cabinets and Libraries by Brian Alderson). Each chapbook is limited to either 70 or 100 copies. The series was sponsored by the PLA Society of Private Printers. Among the contriuting presses are: Biscuit City Press, In de Bonnefant, Brandywine Press, Cherub Press, Crabgrass Press, Cracked Bell Press, Cuckoo Hill Press, Gogmagog Press, Press of the Golden Key, Happy Dragons Press, Invicta Press, Keepsake Press, Laverock Press, Narbulla Agency, F. E. Pardoe, Perdix Press, Perhaps Press, Pough Press, P'Nye Press, Priapus Press, Proverbial Press, Pump Press, Quarto Press, Scarlet Ibis Press, Septentrio Press, Slow Camel Press, Stilt Press, Peter Stockham, Insegna della Tarasca, and Typographeum. The contribution from Morris Cox's Gogmagog Press is "My Mysterious Father" (1978). Chambers 31. Very fine set. $1000.00
62. [CUCKOO HILL PRESS]. Chap-Books: The Society of Private Printers Fifth Exchange, 1982-1986. 28 pamphlets & index, 12mo, mostly 12pp or 16pp, various presses and places. Pinner, UK: Cuckoo Hill Press, Society of Private Printers, 1982-1986. First edition. One of 125 sets, each pamphlet individually printed. Illustrators include Joan Hassall, Daniel McDowall, E.D. Jordan, David Harris, Tony Smith, Peter Lisieki and Mariaelisa Leboroni, as well as many reproductions from old engravings. Brown cloth chemise and slipcase with decorative spine label. The contributing private presses include Adagio Press, Alembic Press, Boetharson Press, Brandywine Press, Bullnettle Press, Cadenza Press, Cobtree Press, Contre Coup Press, Cracked Bell Press, Cuckoo Hill Press, Feathered Serpent Press, Press of the Golden Key, Keepsake Press, Old Stile Press, Perdix Press, Perhaps Press, Plough Press, P'Nye Press, Proverbial Press, Pump Press, Recalcitrant Press, Rocket Press, Scarlet Ibis Press, Septentrio Press, Sesame Press, Set and Forget Press, Studio d'Arte Tipografica, and Typographeum. One of the most successful of various compendia of chap-books from the U.K., U.S.A., Australia and Italy. Very fine set. $400.00
63. [CUMMINGTON PRESS]. TATE, Allen. The Hovering Fly and Other Essays. 8vo, illustrated with woodcuts by Wightman Williams, full russet morocco with inlaid hand-colored panel on the front cover by Arno Werner. (Cummington, MA): Cummington Press, 1949. First edition of the finest of all of Harry Duncan’s Cummington Press books, with Wightman Williams’ striking portrait of Tate on the title-page. One of only 12 copies on Van Gelder paper with an original drawing and the woodcuts hand- colored, specially bound, and signed by Tate and Wightman Williams out of a total edition of 245 copies. The binder’s copy, signed by Arno Werner on the colophon: “Arno Werner, Bookbinder, 1949.” A very fine copy of one of the most beautiful modern American private press books, and only the second hand-colored copy we have heard of on the market in twenty-five years. In a half-morocco folding box, with Werner’s book-plate/ticket. $15,000.00
64. [EMANON PRESS]. NERUDA, Pablo. Skystones. Las Piedras Del Cielo. Poemas de Pablo Neruda Translated by Benn Belitt. Intaglio Images by Debra Weier. 4to, original leather-edged decorated boards by Gray Parrot, cloth folding box. (Easthampton, MA): Emanon Press, 1981. First edition. Limited to 60 copies designed by Debra Weier and Bill Bridgers, handset in virgin Bodoni Book, and printed by hand, and signed by Belitt, Weier and Bridgers. The illustrations include five two-color etchings on Rives BFK and Arches. This copy additionally inscribed in pencil by the artist. A very fine copy. $1000.00
65. [FLORIN PRESS]. WYATT, Leo. Leo Wyatt’s Little Book of Alphabets with an Introduction by Michael Taylor. Small 8vo, original full decorated vellum, in chemise & slipcase. (Biddenden, Kent): The Florin Press, 1985. First edition. Limited to 150 copies “printed by hand on two Albion presses from the original wood blocks in Betty Wyatt’s collection. The text is handset in Original Janson Antigua. This being the first use of a paper made especially for The Florin Press by Barcham green, and of the device engraved by Simon Brett. The coloured inks were largely ground by hand from dry pigment and prepared varnish.” The present copy appears to be a special issue, or at least specially bound in full vellum. An exquisite copy, in perfect condition. $1250.00
66. [FLORIN PRESS]. WYATT, Leo. Leo Wyatt’s Little Book of Alphabets with an Introduction by Michael Taylor. Small 8vo, original quarter red leather & parchment with leather label on the front cover, in slipcase. (Biddenden, Kent): The Florin Press, 1985. First edition. Limited to 150 copies “printed by hand on two Albion presses from the original wood blocks in Betty Wyatt’s collection. The text is handset in Original Janson Antigua. This being the first use of a paper made especially for The Florin Press by Barcham green, and of the device engraved by Simon Brett. The coloured inks were largely ground by hand from dry pigment and prepared varnish.” A very fine copy. $650.00
BOUND WITH BASKIN’S MANUSCRIPT DUMMY COPY FOR THE BOOK
67. [GEHENNA PRESS]. BASKIN, Leonard. Blake and the Youthful Ancients, Being Portraits of William Blake and His Followers Engraved on Wood by Leonard Baskin and with A Biographical Note by Bennett Schiff. 8vo, illustrated with 18 wood engravings, original half-morocco & Cockerell boards at the Harcourt Bindery. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1956. First edition. A unique copy, being copy No. 1 of 50 copies signed by Baskin, bound with Baskin’s dummy copy for the book at the back. The dummy copy consists of a prefatory note, in pencil in Baskin’s hand, which reads: “This book was entirely printed by L. B. virtually the last book printed by me. I’ve indicated which portraits are from contemporary sources & which imaginary. This little book is an expression of my deep identification with Blake, Palmer & Calvert. This is the only existing copy of the dummy (that) was used in printing the book, Leonard Baskin”; a printed title-page followed by Baskin’s manuscript of the title- page; three newspaper clippings of Bennett Schiff’s essay, which is dated New York 1955; sectional title in Baskin’s hand; eighteen wood engravings annotated in pencil by Baskin, the last three incorporating pencil sketches by the artist; printed colophon, with pasted on logo, signed by Baskin; manuscript version of the colophon in Baskin’s hand; a printed slip reading “The Gehenna Press – Titans Pier – South Hadley, Mass.” with Baskin’s penciled note: “Dummy for Blake & The Youthful Ancients 1956.” The Gehenna Press, The Work of Fifty Years 7. A very fine copy, enclosed in a full morocco felt-lined folding box by David Bourbeau. $12,500.00
68. [GEHENNA PRESS]. Baskin, Leonard. To Colour Thought. 8vo, quarter leather & boards, paper slipcase. New Haven, CT: Yale University Library, 1967. First edition. Limited to 300 copies. A very fine copy. $225.00
69. [GEHENNA PRESS]. BASKIN, Leonard. Birds and Animals. Square 4to, 65 original wood engravings, full red pigskin with gilt cat profile on the front cover by Arno Werner. (No place): The Gehenna Press, (no date, but 1974). Unique copy, specially bound from the sheets by Arno Werner, one of the binders for the edition, who has annotated the book in pencil at the front: “This is printed right by Harold McGrath; Bound right by Arno Werner.” Our presumption is that this is not regular edition limited to 50 copies, but the earlier edition of 1974, about which the bibliography notes that: “Two earlier editions of the book were printed, the first in 1972, the second earlier in 1974. These editions each consisted of only a few copies, similar in format to this one, but with varying numbers of prints. Both editions were bound by Arno Werner.” In the published edition of the book, the prints appear on rectos only; in this copy, the prints are bound French fold; and there is no colophon page. Arno Werner’s copy, with his bookplate on the front endsheet. See The Gehenna Press, The Work of Fifty Years 77. A very fine copy, beautifully bound. $7500.00
70. [GEHENNA PRESS]. Baskin, Leonard (prints by); Romeyn de Hooghe. Romeyn de Hooghe to the Burgermasters of Haarlem. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1971. Limited to 100 copies. Includes loose additional print signed by Baskin in pencil. Bound Baskin print also signed in pencil. Marbled paper boards. $650.00
71. [GEHENNA PRESS]. GOETHE. West-Ostlicher Divan: Goethe's West-Eastern Divan, Volume One. Translation and Commentary by Alex Page. Drawings by Leonard Baskin. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1975. Red cloth, in marbled paper board slipcase. Unnumbered, one of 300 copies. The book was printed in 1970, but bound in 1973 and published in 1975. $175.00
72. [GEHENNA PRESS]. HALLEY, Anne. Between Wars & Other Poems. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1965. Signed and inscribed by Halley with the second stanza of “Christmas Card: For Burr.” Limited to 500 copies. 1-page prospectus laid-in. Green cloth, in dw. $100.00
73. [GEHENNA PRESS]. HUGHES, Ted. A Primer of Birds. Woodcuts by Leonard Baskin. Tall 8vo, original quarter green morocco & marbled boards. (Lurley in Devon): Gehenna Press, 1981. First edition. One of 25 roman-numeraled copies signed by Hughes & Baskin with an additional suite of the six woodcuts printed on Japanese paper, signed & numbered by the artist; out of a total edition of 250 copies printed on handmade paper. Very fine copy. $3500.00
74. [GEHENNA PRESS]. HUGHES, Ted. A Primer of Birds. Woodcuts by Leonard Baskin. Tall 8vo, original marbled boards with printed label on the front cover. (Lurley in Devon): Gehenna Press, 1981. First edition. One of 225 copies signed by Hughes and Baskin out of a total edition of 250 copies printed on handmade paper. Very fine copy. $1250.00
75. [GEHENNA PRESS]. KUNITZ, Stanley. The Coat Without a Seam: Sixty Poems 1930-1972. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1972. Limited to 145 (of a total 150) copies bound in half vellum & decorated paper over boards. Portrait of the poet by Leonard Baskin. Signed in ink by author and by Carol J. Blinn at limitation page. $500.00
76. [GEHENNA PRESS]. NATHAN, Leonard. The Matchmaker's Lament and Other Astonishments. Drawings by Leonard Baskin. 8vo, original brown paper boards. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1967. One of 400 copies, this designated as the printer’s copy. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Baskin for “Walter & Mary [Hamady] / from / Leonard / 1970,” in pencil on the front free endpaper. $350.00
77. [GEHENNA PRESS]. SCOTT, John Anthony. The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf Before the High Court of Vendome. Etched portraits by Thomas Cornell. Northampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1964. Limited to 300 copies, signed by Baskin in pencil at limitation page. Each of Cornell's 21 etched portraits are signed by him in pencil. Blue leather in brown cloth slipcase with blue leather spine. Binding by Arno Werner. $1250.00
78. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. 9 Poems from Nature. Illustrated with 11 elimination linocuts inked with water-colors. London: Gogmagog Press, 1959. Chambers 4. Copy number 2 of 35 copies numbered and signed in ink by the author on the colophon. Printed on Japanese mulberry paper, and bound in dark grey cloth boards piped with dark green cloth at head and tail, with acetate dust jacket. With two copies of the prospectus laid-in. $2250.00
79. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. The Curtain. Illustrated with 10 double-page reverse-offset prints. London: Gogmagog Press, 1960. Chambers 5. Copy number 19 of 26 copies numbered and signed in ink by the author on the colophon. Roderick Cave called this “the most completely satisfying of all the Gogmagog books.” – The Private Press. Printed on cream wove cartridge paper, and bound in black cloth boards with white stripes, with acetate dust jacket. $1750.00
80. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. Mummers’ Fool. Illustrated with a frontispiece hand-colored offset print and 6 double-page reverse/direct offset prints. London: Gogmagog Press, 1965. Chambers 13. Copy number 53 of 60 copies numbered and signed in ink by the author on the colophon. Printed on Barcham Green Roger Powell handmade paper, bound in quarter natural linen with paper boards containing actual dried grasses under transparent tissue paper. Prospectus laid-in. $1000.00
81. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. An Impression of Winter: A Landscape Panorama, An Impression of Spring: A Landscape Panorama, An Impression of Summer: A Landscape Panorama, & An Impression of Autumn: A Landscape Panorama. 4 volumes, each volume illustrated with 3 embossed reverse/direct offset prints joined in continuous strip. London: Gogmagog Press, 1966. Chambers 14, 15, 16, & 17. Winter is copy number 14 of 100 copies on Japanese “Hosho” paper, numbered and signed in ink on the colophon by the author, with grey-green Ingres paper boards printed with a monotype in black, dark green, and white, with acetate dust jacket, with 2 copies of the prospectus laid-in. Spring is copy number 14 of 100 copies on Japanese “Hosho” paper, numbered and signed in ink on the colophon by the author, with dark brown Ingres paper boards printed with a monotype in black and turquoise, and acetate dust jacket, prospectus laid-in. Summer is copy number 14 of 100 copies on Japanese “Hosho” paper, numbered and signed in ink on the colophon by the author, with salmon pink Ingres paper boards printed with a monotype in black and grey, and acetate dust jacket, with two copies of the prospectus laid-in. Autumn is copy number 19 of 100 copies on Japanese “Hosho” paper, numbered and signed in ink on the colophon by the author, with dull purple Ingres paper boards printed with a monotype in black, pale blue, and white, with acetate dust jacket, prospectus laid- in. $3500.00
82. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. From a London Suburb. Illustrated with a double-page-spread title-page reverse-offset print from lace and four reverse/direct offset prints on colored papers. London: Gogmagog Press, 1975. Chambers 25. Copy number 2 of 24 copies, numbered and signed by the author on the colophon. Corrie Guyt’s copy. Printed on Japanese handmade Yamato-Chiri and Mingei papers, bound in green silk boards with acetate dust jacket. Laid in is a long TLS, 1 page, 4to, 28 November 1975, from the author to “Corrie” who provided some of the silk for the bindings: “You will see that I have bound the book in some of your Hong Kong silk and the title-page has utilized one of your lace pieces!” $1250.00
83. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. Winter Trees: A Pictorial Study. Illustrated with 8 double- page prints on Japanese Gampi and Mingei handmade papers. London: Gogmagog Press, 1977. Chambers 28. One of 25 copies, this copy inscribed by Cox to the book binder Gemma O’Connor: “Copy for Gemma / Morris Cox 1977” written in pencil beneath second to last print. Black and white striped cloth boards with acetate dust jacket. $1850.00
84. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. Studio Book: 50 Original Colourprint. Illustrated with 50 reverse/direct prints in a variety of styles. London: Gogmagog Press, 1980. Chambers 33. Copy number 17 of 35 copies numbered and signed in ink by the author and Colin Franklin on the colophon. Printed on Japanese Hosho and Kuzo-shi papers bound by Morris Cox and Gemma O’Connor in natural silk boards with brown designs, in paste-patterned paper slipcase with orange draw ribbon. $1750.00
85. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. A Mystique of Mummers. Illustrated with 20 colored elimination linocuts, 12 ¼ x 17 inches, 22 loose sheets, plus a list of plates and two sheets of notes pasted inside the front and back of the box. London: Gogmagog Press, 1983. Chambers 35. First edition of Cox’s last collection of prints. Copy number 6 of only 12 sets printed in black, with each linocut individually titled and signed and dated by the artist/publisher. In a quarter-cloth solander box with printed label on the spine by Gemma O’Connor with cork lining, paper label at spine, and monoprint covers on Japanese paper by Cox. The list of plates and notes are handwritten by John Craig. Chambers/Franklin comment: “Morris Cox in his eighty-first year produced this energetic series of twenty prints, brightly colored in flat tones from linocuts. . . . It is a profound work. . . . If the word means merely actors, he finds them on the stage of history; mankind as mummer playing whatever dominating, automatic, poetic or dominated part the world’s destiny designed. This seems therefore to be his epilogue. With twelve sets completed and no gallery exhibiting him, few have seen what he has done.” $10,000.00
86. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. COX, Morris. Every Day’s Washday Now. Illustrated with 8 mounted pochoir drawings. London: Gogmagog Photocopy Library, 1985. Chambers 56. Copy number 10 of 10 copies numbered and signed in pencil by the author on the colophon. Text printed on cream antique laid paper, illustrations are hand-colored on colored Ingres papers. Blue, brown, and white paper boards with a white lace pattern. $1750.00
87. [GOGMAGOG PRESS]. CHAMBERS, David, Colin FRANKLIN, & Alan TUCKER. Gogmagog: Morris Cox and the Gogmagog Press. Illustrated with reproductions & paper samples. Pinner, UK: Private Libraries Association, 1991. One of 69 special copies with 9 additional tipped-in specimens, numbered and signed in ink on the colophon by printer Morris Cox, out of a total edition of 1,650 copies printed. Black cloth binding by Smith Settle with stamped gilt decorations at covers, stamped gilt title at spine, in black cloth slipcase. $450.00
88. [GOLDEN HIND PRESS]. FRASER, James H. The Paste Papers of the Golden Hind Press. Tall thin 4to, illustrated with tipped-in paper samples, original cloth-backed boards. Florham, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Library, Florham-Madison Campus, and The Tideline Press, 1983. First edition. Limited to 70 copies printed with Buti & Novarese’s Nova Augustea type on G. Trump’s Trump Mediaeval hand-made Fabriano paper, designed by Leonard Seastone, and signed by the delightfully named Delight Rushmore Lewis, the paste paper artist. A very fine copy. $500.00
89. [JANUS PRESS]. Silver Anniversary Miscellany. 1955-1980. Twenty-one individual prints, paperworks & printed pieces by Van Vliet, John Anderson, Jim Bicknell, Howard & Kathryn Clark, Ruth Fine, Susan Johanknecht, Lois Johnson, Jerome Kaplan, Barbara Luck, Dorian McGowan, Jim McWilliams, Ray Metzker, Peter Schumann, & Helen Siegl, enclosed in a cloth folding box. (Various places): Janus Press, 1982. First edition. One of only 75 sets, with each contribution signed by its maker. Very fine copy. $1250.00
90. [NINJA PRESS]. ANDREWS, Betty. Close to the Bone. Small square 8vo, illustrated with an original palladium photograph by Carolee Campbell, original linen. (Sherman Oaks, CA): Ninja Press, 1984. First edition. One of 40 copies specially bound and with an original photograph, out of a total edition of 315 copies printed in Centaur and Arrighi on Nideggen mouldmade paper, signed by the poet. A very fine copy, with the separately printed note about the illustration laid in. $1000.00
91. [NINJA PRESS]. ANDREWS, Betty. Plowing The Wind. Small 4to, original cloth-backed boards. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 1985. First edition. One of 50 copies printed in Perpetua type on Rivers Heavyweight and specially bound, signed by the poet. A very fine copy. $450.00
92. [NINJA PRESS]. THOREAU, Henry David. Walking. Folio, original linen backed boards, paper portfolio with printed label. Santa Barbara: Ninja Press in association with The Friends of the Library of the University of California, Santa Barbara, 1988. First of this edition. Limited to 150 copies printed by hand using Jan van Krimpen’s Spectrum and Antigone type on Barcham Green Charter Oak paper, bound in Barcham Green Renaissance III covered boards. A very fine copy. $1250.00
93. [NINJA PRESS]. HANNON, Michael. Imaginary Burden. Tall thin 8vo, original Vermillion Kyouseishi over boards. (Sherman Oaks, CA.: Ninja Press, 1990). First edition. Limited to 137 copies printed in Garamont Light on kozo kusa ki and kyousei handmade papers at the Fuji Paper Mills Cooperative in Tokushima, Japan, signed by the poet. Very fine copy. $350.00
94. [NINJA PRESS]. HANNON, Michael. Imaginary Burden. Small 8vo, original printed red wrappers. (Sherman Oaks, CA.: Ninja Press, 1990). “Special edition”, essentially a paperback edition, printed on ordinary paper in a smaller format. Limited to 120 copies. Very fine copy. $75.00
95. [NINJA PRESS]. ANDREWS, Betty. Family Album. Poems. Oblong 4to, original handmade paper wrappers. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 1991. First edition. Limited to 120 copies printed in two colors in handset Spectrum on dampened vintage T. H. Saunders paper and bound in handmade papers “strewn with dried wild flowers from the Richard de Bas paper mill in Ambert, France.” A very fine copy. $450.00
96. [NINJA PRESS]. MONTOYA, Jose. El Sol Y Los De Abajo. Tall thin folio, illustrated with drawings by the poet, original pictorial boards. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 1992. First edition, a bilingual edition. Limited to 195 copies printed in Spectrum type on Superfine Cover and bound in handmade cogon grass paper from the Philippines, signed by the poet. Very fine copy. $750.00
97. [NINJA PRESS]. ANDREWS, Betty. Two Poems. In celebration of a life well lived, enclosed are her two final poems completed on July 28, 1994. March 12, 1918 / Betty Andrews Blunt / August 5, 1994. (Sherman Oaks, CA.: Ninja Press, 1994). First edition. No stated limitation. Very fine copy. $50.00
98. [NINJA PRESS]. MERWIN, W. S. The Real World of Manuel Cordova. Oblong folio, illustrated, accordion-fold, original handmade paper folders. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 1995. First separate edition of this long poem which was originally published in Travels (N. Y.: Knopf, 1992), printed accordion-fold, so that when fully extended, the text is fifteen feet long. Limited to 160 copies printed from “hand-set Samson Uncial type on kakishibu, a persimmon-washed handmade paper” from the Fuji Mills Cooperative in Tokushima, Japan, illustrated with the image of an undulating river printed from photopolymer plates in five colors, the whole enclosed in layers of folders of handmade paper, the penultimate layer printed with Athanasius Kircher’s 1665 map of the world, the first to show the world’s currents, with the outermost layer/folder made of a “loft-dried raw flax sheet”, signed by Merwin. This copy is additionally inscribed by the printer, Carolee Campbell. A very fine copy of this extraordinary production. $1250.00
99. [NINJA PRESS]. WILKINS, Anita. Picnics & The Subject of Desire. Small 8vo, illustrated, original printed wrappers. (Sherman Oaks, CA.: Ninja Press, 1997). First edition, a keepsake. With a brief handwritten note from the publisher/printer laid in. $75.00
100. [NINJA PRESS]. BRINGHURST, Robert. The Book of Silences. Photographs by Carolee Campbell. 8vo, original hand-made paper wrappers with printed label on the cover, publisher’s matching embossed board portfolio. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 2001. First edition. Limited to 100 copies printed on Moulin du Verger handmade paper and bound in Barcham Green Renaissance, signed by the author. The illustrations are platinum photographs. A very fine copy, with publisher’s prospectus laid in. $1000.00
101. [NINJA PRESS]. WHITEMAN, Bruce. XXIV Short Love Poems. Small square 8vo, illustrated with cyanotype photographs by Carolee Campbell, original linen-backed paste-paper boards by Claire Maziarczyk. (Sherman Oaks, CA.): Ninja Press, 2002. First edition. Limited to 135 numbered copies printed by hand, the types are Eve and Paramount, the paper is Japaneze hangashi, signed by Whiteman and Campbell. A very fine copy. $350.00
102. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HALL, Donald. Kicking the Leaves. A Poem in Seven Parts with a Colophonic Boxwood Engraving by Reynolds Stone. Thin oblong 12mo, original wrappers. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, (1976). First edition of one of the poet’s most important poems, which is in seven parts and each part is marked with a word/number, each in a darkening red through the progression. One of 125 copies (the entire edition) signed by Hall. Hamady 74. Mint copy. $650.00
103. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. The Disillusioned Solipsist and nine related poems. Small 4to, illustrated with two original signed etchings, an original photography & two drawings by the author, original brown paper wrappers. (No place): The Perishable Press Limited, 1964. First edition of the first book from the author’s private press, “done in Detroit as an undergraduate independent study with Peter Gilleran at Wayne State University. Robert Runser had given me Printing For Pleasure by John Ryder which gave me my first instruction.” Limited to 60 copies, of which this is marked “Artist’s proof, Walter Hamady” on the colophon page. Hamady 1. A very fine copy of this rare book. $9500.00
104. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Closing Flowers. A Collection of poems here gathered together by the author, walter hamady from other small books of his own manufacture under the mark of the perishable press limited. 8vo, unbound signatures, as issued. Mt. Horeb, WI.: Perishable Press, 1966. First edition. One of only 30 copies printed on variegated handmade paper. Although “some copies were bound in cloth”, the present copy is one of the majority of copies issued as unbound signatures. Hamady 7. These poems are dedicated “In Memory of Randall Jarrell.” Fine copy. Rare. $4500.00
105. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Voltaire the Hamadeh. Interminable Gabberjabbs. Tall 4to, original wrappers. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1973. Limited to 120 copies printed; the first of Hamady’s Gabberjabb series, collectively his magnum opus. Hamady 61. A very fine copy, rarely offered for sale independently of the series. $2500.00
106. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Book No 68. Irregular 12mo, original wrappers. (Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin): Perishable Press, (1974). First edition. Limited to only 34 copies (the entire edition). Signed by Hamady using his Library of Congress number, PS 3558 A 42 9.11.74. First in tHe sCRAPs bOOks sERies. Hamady 66. Fine copy of one of the rarest of the Press’ publications. $3500.00
107. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Thumbnailing the Hilex. Another (3) Interminable Gabberjabbs. Folio, illustrated by Jack Beals, Canson MI-Teintes wrappers. (Mt. Horeb, WI): Perishable Press, (1974). First edition. Limited to 125 copies printed, signed by the author. Hamady 69. Fine copy, with publisher’s prospectus laid in. $1250.00
108. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. The Interminable Gabberjabb Volume One (&) Number Four. Oblong 12mo, illustrated with two photographs by Gregory Conniff, original wrappers. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1975. First edition. One of 60 copies. Hamady 70. Fine copy. Numerically, the scarcest of the Gabberjabb series. $2500.00
109. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. For The Hundredth Time, Gabberjab Number Five. 12mo, original boards. Minor Confluence, WI: Perishable Press, 1981. First edition. One of 200 copies printed. Hamady 100. This copy bears a special inscription by the printer on the back cover, noting that “This is a special copy for our friend . . . the cigar box label was given to me a long time ago (along with some cigar molds) by Paul Blackburn. If you subtract 14,500 from copy number you will see this is copy number five. All best, Walter Hamady 15 VIII 81.” Laid in is an appealing holograph postcard from Hamady, commenting: “Thank you very much for your kind words . . . . am pleased we can communicate. Your words do cheer me up in a world that seems so bossy & indifferent.” Selected as one of the A.I.G.A.’s Fifty Best Books of the Year. A fine copy. $1500.00
110. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Hand Papermaking: Papermaking by Hand.... Tall 8vo, illustrations by Jim Lee, original cloth. Minor Confluence, WI: Perishable Press, 1982. First edition. Limited to 200 copies printed on various handmade papers with title page typeface designed by Hermann Zapf. Fine copy of one of the most important books of the press, with two variant copies of the publisher’s prospectus laid in. $1750.00
111. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. Neopostmodernism or, Gabberjab Number 6. Oblong small 8vo, illustrated, original boards. (Mt. Horeb, WI): Perishable Press, 1988. First edition. Limited to 125 copies printed on various handmade papers. Signed by the binder, Marta Gomez, Hamady’s assistant, Kent Kasuboske, and especially inscribed by Hamady to a long-standing collector. Very fine copy. $2750.00
112. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. HAMADY, Walter. 1985, The Twelve Months. Twelve Paintings by John Wilde. 4to, original boards designed by Gary Frost. Mt. Horeb, WI.: The Perishable Press, 1992. First edition. Limited to 130 copies printed on a variety of papers. Specially inscribed by Hamady on the colophon. “It may be the first time a private press has used a six-color Heidelberg for an edition of 130 copies.” Hamady has said that this book is “an aleatory extension of Book Number 113. Gabberjabb Number 6.” Selected as one of the A.I.G.A.’s Fifty Best Books of the Year. Fine copy. $1750.00
113. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. ONDAATJE, Michael. Two Poems. (No place): Woodland Pattern, 1986. First edition of this rare broadside poem, printed by Walter Hamady at his Perishable Press in an edition of 275 copies signed by Ondaatje. Folding broadside poem. This broadside was distributed at a reading & to the best of our knowledge was never released to the trade. As new. $150.00
114. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. WAKOSKI, Diane. Making A Sacher Torte. Illustrations by Ellen Lanyon. Tall 8vo, original quarter leather & boards. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1981. First edition. Limited to 225 copies on Shadwell. Hamady 101. Selected as one of the A.I.G.A.’s Fifty Best Books of the Year. Fine copy. $450.00
115. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. WAKOSKI, Diane. The Wandering Tattler. Poems. Illustrations by Ellen Lanyon. Tall 4to, original quarter leather & cloth, slipcase. Wisconsin: Perishable Press, 1974. First edition. Limited to 130 copies signed by Wakoski. Hamady 67. Printers’ Choice, 69. Fine copy of one of the most beautiful books from the press. $750.00
116. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. WILDE, John. The Story of Jane and Joan. 4to, illustrated with 12 hand- colored etchings by Wilde, original quarter blue oasis leather-tipped paste-paper boards, in folding cloth box. (Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1977). First edition. One of only 25 copies printed (the entire edition), signed by Wilde; this copy additionally inscribed by Walter Hamady. “The etchings were printed by Steve Weitz and tinted by the artist.” - Hamady 83. The box is faded as usual: in another copy of this book which we handled about ten years ago, Hamady had commented the “binding (box) was light damaged when I took all the books from this press into the press room to photograph them”. Fine copy of one of the rarest books of the press. $5500.00
117. [PERISHABLE PRESS]. BEAL, Jack. Original pen-and-ink drawing of Walter and Mary Hamady’s farm in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, 6 ¾ x 7 ¾ inches, with a pencil note in the lower margin in the artist’s hand identifying the drawing as “The happy homestead of Mary Laird and Walter Hamady by Jack Beal” (no date, but 1975). A superb pen-and-ink drawing, which was reproduced on the small broadside birth announcement of the Hamadys daughter Laura. The announcement is entitled “Laura Evans Hamady – Printer’s Devil”. Laura Hamady was born January 5, 1975, and the proud parents printed a broadside to mark the occasion. The broadside reads in part: “Mother Father & Daughter are well and thriving at home, pictured above in a view from the barn drawn by Laura’s Uncle Jack who is so modest he didn’t even sign it.” It may be that Beal annotated the drawing at a later date, on a subsequent visit to the Hamadys, or the statement may simply mean that the drawing wasn’t signed in the conventional way. Jack Beal, one of the pre-eminent realist painters in American, illustrated nine Perishable Press books, including Loren Eiseley’s The Brown Wasps in 1969, two Gabberjabbs, Hunkering in Wisconsin and Thumbnailing the Hilex, in 1974, and Seeds and Chairs in 1979, as well as a number of ephemeral pieces. Best known for his paintings, drawings, and prints, Beal’s work is represented in many of the most prestigious museums in the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The present drawing, which beautifully illustrates his relationship with the Hamadys and the Perishable Press, is a fine example of Beal’s brilliant draftsmanship. The drawing is accompanied by a copy of the birth announcement, and both are in fine condition. Framed and glazed. $8500.00
118. [ROGERS, Bruce.] BRETON, Nicholas. The Twelve Moneths and Christmas Day From ‘Fantastickes’. 8vo, illustrated, original full navy blue morocco, gilt, publisher’s marbled board slipcase. N. Y.: Clarke & Way, 1951. First edition. One of 100 copies specially bound & signed by the designer, Bruce Rogers. The first book printed at the Thistle Press and the only book for which Rogers handset the type. Stark, p. 15. A very fine copy. $350.00
119. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. CROW, Barbara. An Acrobatic Alphabet. Gloucestershire: The Wittington Press, 1986. Limited to 335 copies. Paper covers sewn with yarn. In brown cloth and orange paper board slipcase. $125.00
120. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. GANT, Roland. Stubble Burning. Wood engravings by Howard Phipps. Gloucestershire: The Whittington Press, 1982. Limited to 175 copies. Signed by author and artist at limitation page. Stiff card with publisher background laid-in. Flax canvas boards. $250.00
121. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. LAWRENCE, Simon. 45 Wood-engravers. Introduction by John Lawrence. Gloucestershire: The Whittington Press, 1982. One of 15 out of series copies, from a total edition of 350 copies. Green leather boards, in marbled paper board slipcase. $1250.00
122. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. LINDSLEY, Kathleen. Pub Signs for Samuel Webster. Gloucestershire: The Wittington Press, 1983. Limited to 350 copies. Signed by author in ink at limitation page. Whittington marbled paper boards, black cloth spine, bound by Woolnoughs. $250.00
123. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. REEVES, James. Arcadian Ballads. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. Gloucestershire: The Whittington Press, 1977. Limited to 200 copies in cloth, bound by Weatherby Woolnough. Signed by author and illustrator in ink at limitation page. In pink paper board slipcase. $175.00
124. [WHITTINGTON PRESS]. THOMAS, Edward. The Chessplayer & Other Essays. Introduction by George Thomas. Wood engravings by Helmuth Weissenborn. Gloucestershire: The Whittington Press, 1981. First edition. Limited to 375 copies. Black cloth spine, Whittington marbled paper boards. $75.00
125. [WOOLLY WHALE PRESS]. CARY, Melbert B., Jr. The Estivation of Two Mao Tzu. N. Y. : Press of the Woolly Whale, 1935. Limited to fewer than 250 copies, hand bound by Gerhard Gerlach in yellow and purple cloth. Eerie foresight in last paragraph of mostly frivolous text: “There is no longer any doubt that Japan intends to control the destiny of the Far East and will brook no interference with her policy of determination. . . . Whether the violation of the two great Western policies of the Open Door and the Integrity of China will eventually bring Japan into conflict with England and America remains to be seen” (p. 124). $125.00