Smith, Judith; Short, Mary Dudley (illustrator)
First and only edition, number 232 of 240 copies, of this fine press tribute to the Virgin, following the blooming of the plants and flowers associated with Mary through each month of the year, and recording their legends. For early Christians, Smith writes, "every field path and hedgerow became an illuminated Book of Hours." The striking wood engravings by Mary Dudley Short include images of the Forget-me-not, the Snowdrop, and the Christmas Rose. Although "Mary gardens" had been cultivated in Europe since the medieval period, the publication of The Mary Calendar coincided with a modern resurgence of the movement in the United States, epitomized by The Garden of Our Lady in Wood's Hole, Cape Cod. A crisp, near-fine copy of a beautiful book, bridging the botanical and the devotional. Small quarto, measuring 7 x 4.75 inches: [8], 49, [7]. Original tan pictorial paper boards printed in green and black, black morocco spine lettered in gilt. Hand-printed on hand-made paper, edges uncut, illustrated with eighteen wood engravings throughout text. Index at rear. Light rubbing to lower board. Housed in original publisher's slipcase.
Tomine, Adrian
First edition of this collection of six stories by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine, originally published in Optic Nerve. Dealing with complicated experiences of marriage, separation, and parenthood, the emotional weight of the material is the more powerful for Tomine's precise draughtsmanship, which conveys the exact decrepitude of a rental apartment, the subtle details of cancer treatment. The more fluid graphic style in the final story, "Intruders," is a homage to pioneering Japanese manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi (1935-2015), to whom it is dedicated. Tatsumi's closely observed gekiga, "dramatic pictures," produced during the 1960s and 1970s, were a major influence on Tomine's work. A fine copy, signed by Adrian Tomine. Single volume, measuring 9.25 x 6.25 inches: 121, [3]. Original color pictorial boards, original printed mylar dust jacket, color pictorial endpapers. Illustrated in color throughout text. Signed by Adrian Tomine on the half-title.
[Young, Edward]; Herrick, Gale (binder)
Early edition of clergyman poet Edward Young's Night Thoughts, first published in 1742. Shaken by the deaths of his wife, his step-daughter, and her husband, Young wrote Night Thoughts to affirm his Christian faith in the face of doubt and grief: "What pain to quit the world, just made their own, / Their nest so deeply down'd, and built so high! / Too low they build, who built beneath the stars." This 1751 edition includes an engraved frontispiece depicting a lone mourner in a moonlit graveyard at night. Pettit 13d. This copy features an early design binding by California bookbinder Gale Herrick (1909-2001). Herrick studied binding late in life, but became an important figure in the American book arts community, serving as the first president of the Hand Bookbinders of California, and as Master of the Press of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco. A near-fine copy, handsomely bound. Twelvemo, measuring 6.5 x 3.75 inches: iv, 296. Modern design binding of espresso morocco with windowpane pattern stamped in dark brown to boards and spine, lettered in silver across both boards ("THE COMPLAINT OR" to lower board, place and date of publication to foot of spine, "NIGHT THOUGHTS" to front board); charcoal and black marbled endpapers. Bound without preliminary blank, engraved frontispiece by "Parr." Binder's ticket of Gale Herrick, dated 1970, to rear free endpaper. Lightest occasional spotting to text. Housed in custom paper-covered box.
Lafayette, Madame de; Follet, Edith (illustrator)
First edition of this Art Deco edition of Madame de Lafayette's seventeenth-century romance, a high spot of French literature often considered the first psychological novel. The highly stylized pochoir plates are the work of Edith Follet (1899-1990), who was briefly married to the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline in her youth, giving birth to their daughter Colette in 1920. Follet went on to a prolific career in popular illustration. In addition to La Princesse de Clèves, she would illustrate works by Ovid, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and Charles Baudelaire. This edition was issued as part of Nilsson's "Collection Emeraude." Text in French. A near-fine copy. Octavo, measuring 9 x 6.75 inches: [4], 186, [2]. Original buff wrappers, spine lettered in black, color pictorial pastedown to upper wrapper. Half-title and title page printed in red and black. Twelve color pochoir illustrations pasted throughout text. Uniformly toned, light edgewear.
Nelson, Michael; [Justice, James Robertson]
First edition of this cheerfully cynical novel of the English book trade, following the sale of a country-house library dominated by a ring of London dealers: "To think we could have bought the books for shillings and he has to go and chuck money away. It makes me spit blood. Why people can't be friendly so that we can earn a bob or two, beats me." Although Michael Nelson worked primarily as a journalist, he briefly ran a bookshop in Winchester after World War II; the dust jacket announces: "This is a novel based on fact -- the author has taken place in knock-outs." This copy is inscribed by Nelson to the flamboyant British character actor James Robertson Justice in the year of publication: "from Michael Harrington Nelson / ex-ringer." A very good association copy of a diverting book, scarce inscribed. Single volume, measuring 7.25 x 5 inches: 255, [1]. Original green textured boards lettered in silver, unclipped pictorial dust jacket printed in black, white, and lavender. Ink inscription from Nelson to James Robertson Justice on front free endpaper. Light spotting to jacket.
Chesterton, Mrs. Cecil (Ada Elizabeth Chesterton)
First paperback edition of this journalistic exposé of London street life, first published as Women of the Underworld in 1928. Ada Chesterton was the widow of G.K. Chesterton's younger brother, Cecil, who died of his wounds at the end of World War I. In 1925, she went undercover in London's shelters, lodging houses, and hostels to research In Darkest London, the first in a series of reports dealing with the lives of the urban poor. In Women of the London Underworld, she considers the precarious position of single women without means, open to exploitation on every front, "this heart-aching, ever-growing problem of the lonely, rootless girl in London." Chesterton's call for reform led to the founding of the Cecil Houses, named after her late husband, a series of shelters across London which provided safe lodging for any woman upon request. This paperback reissue was designed, in part, as a fundraising initiative to keep the Cecil Houses in operation. A near-fine copy. Single volume, measuring 7 x 4.25 inches: 254. Original wrappers printed in orange, white, and black; original matching dust jacket. Text block evenly browned, edgewear to jacket with partial splits at folds.
Willard, Nancy; Provensen, Alice (illustrator); Provensen, Martin (illustrator); [Blake, William]
First edition of the poet Nancy Willard's dreamlike tribute to William Blake, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Inspired by the childhood babysitter who recited "Tyger, Tyger" to her, Willard imagines Blake as an innkeeper with a staff of dragons and angels, and a tiger asleep on his hearth. "On windy days and moonless nights, / Blake wears a suit of shifting lights. / The tailor now has grown so clever / he stitches light and dark together." A Visit to William Blake's Inn won the Newbery Medal for 1982, and was named a Caldecott Honor Book that year as well: it remains the only book to receive both Newbery and Caldecott honors. A near-fine copy, accompanied by original publisher's promotional bookmark featuring a detail from "A Rabbit Reveals My Room.". Slim quarto, measuring 10 x 8 inches: 45, [1]. Original beige cloth spine stamped in gilt over blindstamped terracotta boards, original clipped color pictorial dust jacket with no Newbery Medal or Caldecott Honor Seal, ivory speckled endpapers. Color illustrations throughout text. Light spotting to cloth spine. With: publisher's promotional bookmark.
Hueffer, Ford Madox; [Rossetti, Dante Gabriel]; [Swinburne, Algernon Charles]
First edition of English novelist Ford Madox Ford's critical essay on Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with a warm presentation inscription from Algernon Charles Swinburne to his sister. The grandson of painter Ford Madox Brown, who was a tutor to Rossetti, Ford Madox Ford grew up in Pre-Raphaelite circles; his aunt Lucy Madox Brown was the wife of Rossetti's brother William. His essay acknowledges the critique of Rossetti as "an amateur who failed in two Arts," painting and poetry, but also emphasizes Rossetti's sympathetic appeal: "charm is the one quality that Rossetti's work, considered as a body, can definitely and unflinchingly have claimed for it." Rossetti met Swinburne at Oxford in 1857, during the painting of the Oxford Union murals, and the two poets became housemates in London after the death of Rossetti's wife, Elizabeth Siddal, in 1862. At the time that Swinburne presented this essay to his sister, Rossetti had been dead for twenty years. A moving association copy, bringing together two important Victorian poets. Single volume, measuring 6 x 3.75 inches: xv, [1], 192, [4]. Original olive green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt and blind, top edge gilt, title page printed in red and black. Monochrome reproductions of Rossetti's paintings throughout text; publisher's advertisements at rear. Ink inscription to front free endpaper: "Isabel Swinburne / from her affectionate brother / AC Swinburne." Manuscript corrections to pages 13 and 141. A few light spots to cloth, upper hinge cracked.
First edition of this retrospective "autobiography of the works of a poet," a collection of interviews with editor Edith Heal. Williams recounts the stories behind the writing and publication of his major works, with occasional wry interjections from his wife Florence, better known as "Floss": "We used to laugh . . . at how often Bill appeared in the last issue of a magazine. As soon as they published him, the magazine would blow up." A very good copy of a compelling descriptive bibliography. Single volume, measuring 9 x 6 inches: xii, 99, [1]. Original tan cloth, spine lettered in white, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket. Text printed in red and black. Lightest edgewear, spotting to rear endpapers and rear panel of dust jacket, tape repair to verso of jacket.
Twelve color illustrations by Le Roy Jansen, most likely a set of proofs for a calendar intended to demonstrate the printer's skill. Jansen was best known as a cover artist for Midwestern magazines such as Motor Life, which allowed him to celebrate his favorite subject, the automobile. His dazzling scenes of seasonal sports and pastimes reflect a modern Art Deco sensibility, although some display Jugendstil elements of the prior decade. These illustrations were evidently once part of Chicago's Printer's Row Printing Museum, which collected vintage model and proof presses, printing plates, wood blocks, and printing ephemera until its closure in the early 1990s. A beautiful series of images. Twelve color printed cards, most measuring 5.25 x 5.25 inches, the largest 6 x 5.25 inches, printed recto only. Lightest wear, with only a few stray marks and some faint ink bleed-through on versos. Tennis image with soft crease to upper right corner, hunting scene with vertical soft crease along right side.
A quartet of first editions of Mary Joss Jones's Hump Tree Booklets. The stories feature the adventures of the wildlife who live under the protective canopy of the Hump Tree, an old-growth arbor: "all the time through the hot, still air came the song of the Woodland People." The complete series comprised eight tales, bound separately in wrappers as the Hump Tree Booklets, and issued simultaneously in a single volume as The Hump Tree Stories. This bound group of four booklets, series-numbered 8, 3, 2, and 4, respectively, appears to have been issued in this format by the publisher, as evidenced by similar copies that have come to market. Remarkably fresh, near-fine examples of this uncommon children's series from San Francisco bookseller and publisher Paul Elder. Four volumes, measuring 8 x 6.5 inches: [6], 10, [4]; [6], 6, [4]; [6], 9, [1]; [6], 8, [2]. Publisher's color pictorial side-stapled wrappers, spines hole-punched and bound together with linen cord as issued, pictorial endpapers printed in green. Cover illustrations, frontispieces, head- and tailpieces printed in green and brown. Light shelfwear, lower right corner of first volume bumped, lower left corner of last volume reinforced with archival tissue.
First edition of this account of the transformation of Women's Wear Daily from a garment-district trade publication to "one of the single most influential newspapers in the United States" under publisher John Fairchild, whose promotion of individual fashion designers transformed the industry. Kelly's mix of social anthropology, celebrity gossip, and economic analysis mirrors that of her subject, informing her reporting on the Midi Skirt disaster and the HotPants revolution: "who's to judge what's Straight or Camp these days?" A bright near-fine copy, in a spectacular pop dust jacket. Single volume, measuring 8.25 x 5.5 inches: [6], 247, [1]. Original coral cloth spine lettered in gilt, mustard paper boards stamped in gilt, edges untrimmed. Original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket. Light crease to jacket front flap, faint tidemark to jacket verso.
Paper cutting kit for American children, issued at the turn of the twentieth century. In the 1830s, German educator Friedrich Froebel developed his original "system of kindergarten," a revolutionary program for children that emphasized spatial literacy and graphic design. The "Froebel gifts" were a series of twenty interactive toys, including building blocks, modeling clay, sewing cards, and colored papers for folding, cutting, and weaving. Milton Bradley was the primary distributor for the Froebel gifts in the United States, eventually marketing them as popular arts and crafts activities for use beyond the kindergarten classroom. Fun with Scissors, patented in 1906, repurposes Froebel's thirteenth gift, paper cutting, for a general audience. The patterns feature the shapes of everyday plants and animals, toys, and holiday images. A delightful survival. Seven printed silhouette pattern sheets (one a duplicate), measuring 4 x 7.5 inches; twelve uncut sheets of glossy colored paper, measuring 5.5 x 8.25 inches; two cut scraps of glossy colored paper; thirteen shapes cut from cardboard; original pair of scissors. Housed in original color pictorial paper-covered box, measuring 13 x 10.5 x 1.75 inches. Light shelfwear to box, with one split corner.
Early nineteenth-century broadside recounting the tale of King Lear, illustrated with a woodcut of the king in full regalia: "when he heard of Cordelia's death / Who dy'd indeed for love, / Of her dear father in whose cause / She did in battle move, / He swooning fell upon her breast / From which he never parted / But on her bosom left his life, / That was so truly hearted." This traditional ballad dates to the seventeenth century; in 1962, Smithsonian Folkways recorded Ewan MacColl's performance on Broadside Ballads, Volume I (London: 1600-1700). An ephemeral song sheet, in near-fine condition. Roughly trimmed oblong broadside, measuring 9.5 x 14 inches, printed recto only on grey paper. Illustrated with a woodcut vignette. General light creasing, a few small marginal chips, faint foxing.
Original cover illustration by Anatol Kovarsky for The New Yorker, published May 15, 1965, an iconic spring cover by one of the magazine's most celebrated artists. Kovarsky began his career at The New Yorker in 1947 at the age of 28. Over the next 22 years, he produced roughly three hundred cartoons and nearly fifty covers, making him one of its most prolific contributors. This illustration displays Kovarsky's favorite trope of a repeating design or object, creating quilt-like graphic patterns that envelop the page. Hairstyles and headdresses in particular, fascinated him. Several of his fine art canvases, to which he devoted his creative attention after 1970, feature brightly painted ladies in elaborate hair accessories or large setting curlers, the latter of which reminded him of the fanciful headdresses of traditional ethnic costumes. Easter Hats was included in the 2017 exhibition Kovarsky's World: Covers and Cartoons From The New Yorker at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. A fine example of original New Yorker cover art for collectors and fashionistas alike. Mixed media with gouache, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, measuring 14.75 x 11.5 inches, signed in image, lower right; publisher's ink stamp on verso. Remnants of masking and registration tape along outer edges, outside of visual field and crop marks.
First edition of Anne Waldman's self-published poems about the thankless work of publishing the New York School poets, issued during her time as director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. "I am the little red hen / I work my ass off / for all the poets / And what do I get? / A pat on the butt / when the sun goes down." She calls out a number of fellow poets, all men, including Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett, for dodging the administrative labor that goes into publishing their work: "Who will help me put out this magazine? / 'I won't,' says Ted Bear. / 'Not I," says Ron Giraffe. / 'Who me?' says Mike the Whale. / 'Fat chance,' says Jim the Lion." Attributed at times to both Waldman and fellow New York poet Larry Fagin, The Little Red Hen is now generally attributed to Waldman. Padgett's personal copy, now at Yale, is signed by her, and the poems appeared in her 1971 collection No Hassles. Decades later, Waldman would reference "the 'Little Red Hen' syndrome" when asked about the work of publishing experimental poetry: "somebody has got to roll up sleeves, be a witness, and get this stuff done" (Grace and Johnson, Breaking the Rule of Cool: Interviewing and Reading Women Beat Writers). One of forty regular copies, issued simultaneously with ten signed copies. A near-fine example. Side-stapled mimeographed volume, measuring 11 x 8.5 inches. Pictorial cover and five leaves, printed recto only. Lightest edgewear.
First and only edition, number 232 of 240 copies, of this fine press tribute to the Virgin, following the blooming of the plants and flowers associated with Mary through each month of the year, and recording their legends. For early Christians, Smith writes, "every field path and hedgerow became an illuminated Book of Hours." The striking wood engravings by Mary Dudley Short include images of the Forget-me-not, the Snowdrop, and the Christmas Rose. Although "Mary gardens" had been cultivated in Europe since the medieval period, the publication of The Mary Calendar coincided with a modern resurgence of the movement in the United States, epitomized by The Garden of Our Lady in Wood's Hole, Cape Cod. A crisp, near-fine copy of a beautiful book, bridging the botanical and the devotional. Small quarto, measuring 7 x 4.75 inches: [8], 49, [7]. Original tan pictorial paper boards printed in green and black, black morocco spine lettered in gilt. Hand-printed on hand-made paper, edges uncut, illustrated with eighteen wood engravings throughout text. Index at rear. Light rubbing to lower board. Housed in original publisher's slipcase.
First edition, number 85 of 150 numbered copies, of this collection of hand-colored Art Deco fashion plates inspired by the Greek myths. Thomas Lowinsky's surreal illustrations include "Circe and Cocktails Prepared for the Fleet," "Danae Waiting for the Weather Report on the Wireless," "Helen Turns Modiste to Retrieve Her Fallen Fortunes," and "Clyte Abandons the Old Sun for the New" (an early depiction of indoor tanning). The introductory essay on modern clothes is the work of art critic Raymond Mortimer, member of the Bloomsbury group and later literary editor of The New Statesman: "our feeling for the stream-line seems an indestructible part of the civilisation in which we live. We insist on it in motor-cars, we are beginning to prefer it in architecture and we are unlikely to lose our taste for it in women." A near-fine copy of a striking book. Tall slim folio, measuring 12.25 x 7.25 inches: 74. Original brown cloth spine lettered in gilt, patterned paper boards, text block uncut. Fourteen full-page plates hand-colored in pochoir. Book label of Cambridge bibliophiles Pamela and Raymond Lister to front pastedown. Light browning to paper boards, corners lightly bumped. Lacking original glassine.
Original subway poster designed by conceptual artist Barbara Kruger, produced as a project for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1983. Kruger's immediately recognizable style features black and white photographs with cryptic captions that mimic advertising copy: "your body is a battleground," "I shop therefore I am," "you kill time." In this example, a man peers down through a loupe at subway riders, who are themselves implicated in the act of policing one another: "surveillance is your busywork." Decades after the appearance of this subway poster, Kruger would again collaborate with the MTA, designing two limited edition MetroCards as part of the 2017 Performa Biennial. A near-fine example. Offset lithograph printed in red, black, and white on heavy card, measuring 11 x 28 inches. One short closed tear to lower edge.
Original dust jacket illustration by Jessie Marion King, the celebrated Glasgow School instructor and illustrator, produced in 1931 for A Bundle of Yarns: Tales and Memories, a nostalgic account of old Aberdeen by A.M. Williams. Painted when King was in her mid-fifties, the design reflects her mature style, a modern composition executed with a confident hand and use of color. The book's publisher, Gowans and Grey, provided King with a steady font of projects over her long career, from her early creative years in Paris through her final decades at an artists' colony in Greengate, Kirkcudbright. A characteristic example of original cover artwork by Scotland's most collected book illustrator. Watercolor, pen and ink on paper, image measuring 6 x 3.75 inches, framed to 11.5 x 7 inches. Signed in image, lower left. Even toning and a few soft creases.
Original program from contralto Marian Anderson's landmark 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial. The first Black member of the Metropolitan Opera, Anderson was barred from singing at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a racist snub that prompted first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign her DAR membership: "You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed." In collaboration with Howard University and a group of prominent supporters, Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial, an Easter Sunday concert attended by 75,000 spectators of all races, and broadcast to millions more. Anderson sang a thoughtfully chosen series of songs, from "America" to Schubert's "Ave Maria" to "Gospel Train," headlining a day of celebration and protest that foreshadowed the March on Washington, in the same spot, decades later. The program opens with the first line of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and includes a comprehensive list of sponsors: members of the Supreme Court and Franklin Roosevelt's cabinet, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, civil rights leaders Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter White, private citizens including Tallulah Bankhead, Katherine Hepburn, and Leopold Stokowski. A scarce and powerful artifact of a milestone in American civil rights history. Concert program, measuring 9 x 6 inches, printed on a doubled sheet: [4]. Lightest soiling, horizontal crease.
First edition of this midcentury anthology, containing the first appearance of film critic Pauline Kael's manifesto "Movies, the Desperate Art." Published while Kael was struggling to manage a two-screen art house in Berkeley, this essay predates her hiring at The New Yorker by a dozen years. The concerns that dominate Kael's later criticism are already evident in this early salvo: her contempt for bland, bloated studio productions; her attraction to "individual creative responsibility" in directors and actors; her distrust of overtly moralizing and edifying pictures; and her celebration of the movies as "an extraordinary education of the senses." Most notably, she insists on taking the movies seriously, however "desperate" that art may be: "Object to the Hollywood film and you're an intellectual snob, object to the avant-garde films and you're a Philistine. But, while in Hollywood, one must often be a snob; in avant-garde circles one must often be a Philistine." Other contributors to the anthology include Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Leslie Fiedler, and R.W.B. Lewis. A near-fine copy. Pocket paperback, measuring 6.5 x 4.25: [2], 216, [6]. Original color-printed wrappers, priced at 50 cents. Lightest shelfwear, text block toned and brittle.
