Priscilla Juvelis Inc. Archives - Rare Book Insider

Priscilla Juvelis Inc.

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Here's a Letter from Our Dear.A Remembrance of the American Civil War. 1861-1865. 4 Volumes

Here’s a Letter from Our Dear.A Remembrance of the American Civil War. 1861-1865. 4 Volumes

Maurer, Paul. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman Artist's books, each unique, from a series of 3, this consisting of 4 individual books, all on Strathmore "Printmaking" paper for the text and Stonehenge paper for the black titlepage, signed by the artist, Paul Maurer, and hand-numbered in pencil on the colophon. The disparate sizes, disparate bindings, various papers, all combine to reflect the rich variety of the American experience where almost every American suffered loss during this cataclysmic period in our history. Page sizes (smallest to largest): 6.5 x 5-3/4 inches; 14pp; 10-5/8 x 6 inches; 10pp; 11 x 7-1/4 inches; 8pp; 12 x 8 inches; 12pp. Bound by the artist: paper hinged folios; the next 2 leporello style with front cover in gold Fabriano "Cocktail Paper" and hinges of Thailand Kozo decorated with ink splatters; brown corrugated paper, and housed in protective envelope of black printed and collaged Strathmore cover stock, interior grey and white pastepaper, inside is a brown protective cover with collage of remnants of damaged flags found in 1996, inside panel collaged with damaged flags and the text of emotionally wrenching Civil War dirge by Walt Whitman, "Come Up from the Fields." Some of the Whitman poems included are "This Dust Was Once the Man.", When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.", "Quicksand Years", Long, too long, America". The Dickinson poems included are "The Battlefield" and "The Forgotten Grave." The images included are pulled from 100-year-old metal plates printed on a Blick tabletop etching press. The artist has embellished some of the etchings using acrylic ink and paint. He has also used metal Dingbat stamping as well as Peerless watercolor sponge painting on the pages. The calligraphy is accomplished in Sharpie markers and Speedball metal pens, mostly blue with red highlights and black headers. The art and text convey the chaos and destruction of the American Civil War. This artist's book (s) uses the words of Whitman and Dickinson causing a profound sadness in the reader / viewer. Yet, the art and words allow us to overcome the profound sadness and we are reconciled to the loss.
  • $2,200
  • $2,200
Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Of Unicornes Hornes. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson. Introduction by Jan van Dorsten

Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Of Unicornes Hornes. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson. Introduction by Jan van Dorsten

Cheloniidae Press. Browne, Sir Thomas First Edition, Artist Proof issue, one of 5 copies only, all on obsolete Whatman paper (blue-white laid ca. 1962), from a total issue of 225, all signed by the artist, as follows: 5 AP copies (this copy) in an elegant full limp vellum non-adhesive binding, title in gilt on spine, frontispiece etching in 2 states, an extra suite (14), each signed and numbered, and two extra suites of working proofs (28), each signed and labeled "wp," and an original drawing, a unicorn within an oval border signed in full by Alan J. Robinson, housed in 1/4 vellum folder with Narwhal "horn" tooled in gold gilt on spine, housed in tan cloth over boards with vellum spine stamped with title in gold gilt; 15 State Proof copies, bound in full vellum non-adhesive limp binding with an original drawing and an extra suite of prints plus a suite of working proofs of the prints and state proofs of the etching; 60 deluxe copies in vellum binding and an extra suite; 150 regular copies on T.H. Saunders Laid. Page size: 9 1/2 x 7 inches. Bound by Gray Parrot with his binder's ticket at lower rear turn-in: full limp vellum, matching quarter vellum sleeve for extra suites all housed in vellum and linen clamshell box, box slightly worn with 2 or 3 minor bumps, book fine. Illustrated with 15 woodengravings and one etching by Robinson, the text is set and cast in Van Dyck Monotype by Winifred and Michael Bixler and printed by Harold Patrick McGrath in black and blue at Hampshire Typothetae. Jan van Dorsten, Professor of English Literature at the University of Leiden, Nethrlands and Head of the Sir Thomas Browne Institute there, has written an introduction on Browne's life, work and thought especially for this volume, which is Chapter XXIII of PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA . In all, this is a lovely book, full of fantasy and romance, beautifully produced and executed by one of the finest naturalists working today.
  • $2,750
  • $2,750
The Simple Science Kit

The Simple Science Kit

Maurer, Paul Artist's book, unique, on various papers including Arches, Canson, Strathmore, signed and dated on the colophon by the artist / author, Paul Maurer. Consisting of seven individual booklets, all assembled into one handmade file folder, resulting from the artist / author's creating similar booklets for some young friends. Page sizes: Biology 5-1/2 x 7 inches, Astronomy 6-3/4 x 7-3/4 inches, Math 7 x 7-1/8 inches, Alphabet 8-1/2 x 7-7/8 inches, Birds 9 x 8 inches, Insects 9 x 10, Fish 6-1/4 x 1013/16 inches. Bound by the artist: individual booklets accordion foldouts in hand-painted paper wrappers, each laid into its own hand-painted and hand lettered sleeve; housed in custom-made paper over boards clamshell box, 13 x 13 x 3 inches, front cover lined with painted and stamped papers collaged to form "quilt" of brightly colored images; bottom tray padded and lined with blue velvet, white and gold gilt ribbon pull, clamshell "quilt" housed in handmade green and orange corrugated cardboard box with painted label "THE SIMPLE SCIENCE KIT" collaged to center right of lid. The printing blocks for the papers were hand printed with water-based inks. The calligraphy was accomplished with metal pens and acrylic inks with metal dingbat stamping here and there. The booklet covers and pockets are decorated with gouache, acrylic and enamels. The box is a collage of various parts of the booklets: tripled coated with gloss acrylic varnish. The text in the booklets is basic: i.e. the alphabet in black and white wood type followed by the words "& now make words." Inspired by American Folk Art as well as American primers, this is a thoroughly contemporary interpretation. It will make you smile and maybe even chuckle. It is a charmer.
  • $3,080
  • $3,080
The Bells: A Numerical Exploration. Images by Donald Glaister. Text by Edgar Allan Poe

The Bells: A Numerical Exploration. Images by Donald Glaister. Text by Edgar Allan Poe

Glaister, Donald. Poe, Edgar Allan Artist's book, one in a series of 10, on paper, polyester film, and metals, by noted book artist, Donald Glaister, who has signed and numbered the book on the colophon. Page size: 14-1/2 x 8-7/8 inches. Bound by the artist: painted paper over boards, hand-sewn with each page on tabs to allow complete opening of each page spread, grey morocco spine, title written in dark grey on aluminum inset on front panel, edges of front and rear panel edged in orange, housed in clamshell box. Designed, painted and bound by the artist, this book uses paper, various metals and polyester. The text is printed by laser on mylar; the mathematical formulas and equations are hand painted on metal inserts in each of the pages / boards. Using Edgar Allan Poe's diacopic masterpiece, THE BELLS (1849), the artist uses this important American text as a basis for visual exploration. The musicality of "The Bells" is reflected in the artist's use of numerical notations / equations. While not musical notations, they do reflect that sensibility - as do the arabesques that link each page spread. The page colors reflect the increasing darkness and frenzy of Poe's text, starting with the bright silver-white opening page spread with bright blue arabesques that run across both recto and verso and the interleaved mylar text page. The silver bells are reflected in the three aluminum inserts on each page - perfectly placed to lead the eye to the smaller text page in the middle. The "golden bells" of the next - not quite gold but more orange-toned - page spread have the mathematical equations written on gold metal, in black, orange, and white and the arabesques running across both pages (in a more frenetic pattern than the preceding page) again highlight the text. The subsequent page spread (alarm bells - fire) is a deeper orange, more frenzied. The iron bell page spread is dark grey - with the painting and inset mathematical formulas drawing the eye in to a very deep, dark place indeed. A masterful book, what one expects from Donald Glaister, who manages to astonish with each new work. Edgar Allan Poe's word mastery and dark visions are perfectly served by the non-representational art, painted on each page, of Donald Glaister.
Roadkills. A Collection of Prose and Poetry. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson. Texts by John McPhee

Roadkills. A Collection of Prose and Poetry. Illustrated by Alan James Robinson. Texts by John McPhee, Gillian Connelly, Gary Snyder, Madeline DeFrees, William Stafford and Richard Eberhart

Cheloniidae Press. McPhee, John First Edition, one of 50 Deluxe copies, from a total issue of 300: 50 Deluxe copies bound in quarter leather, with text printed on Sakomoto and the prints on Cha-u-ke plus an extra suite of the prints, signed by the artist and all of the authors; 250 regular copies with text on Mulberry paper, bound in paper, signed by the artist. Page size: 12 inches x 8 3/4 inches. Bound by Gray Parrot: quarter grey morocco with tire tracks blind tooled across spine and title in blind, matching black chemise with blind tooled tire tracks, all housed in grey morocco and black cloth clamshell box. Illustrated with 11 woodengravings (10 roadkills and one tire track/broken muffler as colophon) and one etching, the text was printed in red and black by Harold Patrick McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae in Bruce Rogers' Centaur and Frederick Warde's Arrighi which was hand set in 18 point by P. Chase Twichell. The artist explains in "On the Conception of Roadkills" that he had originally planned a portfolio without text of some of those animals he had encountered during his many drives to and from college. He adds, "Meanwhile, friends began to call my attention to writers who had also been inspired by the casualties of the highways: John McPhee, in Travels in Georgia, and poets Madeline DeFrees, Gillian Connelly, Gary Snyder, William Stafford, and Richard Eberhart. Thus I began to conceive of Roadkills as a book, with images and text interwoven." And what a book it is -- the text in red and black on tan Japanese paper, the black woodengravings on a darker tan paper, red Japanese paper as preliminaries -- all making a powerful statement about "The Dead by the Side of the Road." This is the very rare second book of the press; the deluxe edition with its extra suite and signatures of all the authors has long been out of print. In addition.