Allix, Susan
CURVATURES: or fat women
Susan Allix, London: 2015
- $2,500
Printed on Somerset mould made paper in an edition of 20 (this is number 3), the book measures 20 x 24.5 cm and has 45 pages. Contained in a cloth and paper envelope. Signed by Allix on the colophon. The book is letterpress in two fat face types. The principal typeface is 36pt Braggadocio which was designed in 1930 by W.A.Woolley for the Stephenson Blake type foundry. Some of the letterforms are startling in their weight, brevity, and the use of curve against straight. It is combined with Bodoni Ultra Bold, released in 1928 and designed by Morris Fuller Benton. "This book takes a wry look at seven ladies who are not of the slenderest proportions, accompanied by short quotations by George Eliot, Edith Wharton, and Marilyn Monroe. It also features a moment in the life of Miss Van Eyck where every letter of the alphabet in the typeface celebrated here may be seen. There is little that is straight in the chosen ladies - chosen because drawing a large woman is so much more interesting than drawing a thin one (or indeed, a large man)." - artist statement. The seven prints are made in various ways, which include etching, drypoint, aquatint, chine colle, digital, and lino cut. One title is from a drawing and five pages have collage with the letterpress. Born in England in 1943, Allix studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s. She won a Prix de Rome and created her first hand-crafted book in 1973. Her works are held in the collections of The British Library, Yale University, the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), the Claremont Colleges, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Alberta, as well as other fine public and private collections. OCLC locates seven copies of this title held in special collections, with none in commerce.
More from johnson rare books & archives
ADVANTAGE CARD PLAYING AND DRAW POKER
Reprint of the 1905 first edition. The first part and majority of this classic work deals with marked cards. It shows numerous examples of how and where to mark various back designs popular during the early 20th century in the United States. The second part briefly describes sleight-of-hand for the card cheater such as second dealing, bottom dealing, shuffling, false cuts, and mechanical hold outs. Each technique is illustrated with a photograph. The third and final part deals with the mathematical odds of draw poker. Oblong quarto. Full green cloth binding, with gilt titles. Issued without a dust jacket. A fine copy - as new, still sealed in the original shrink wrap.THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD or Adventures in Kensington Gardens
The first American edition. A series of short episodes, including both accounts of the narrator's day-to-day activities in contemporary London and fanciful tales set in Kensington Gardens and elsewhere, this novel introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. Octavo: 349 p. Original green cloth binding, with decorative gilt stamping. Period bookplate to the front pastedown. Light rubbing to the corners and tips; else especially crisp and bright.THE RENEWAL OF PAGAN ANTIQUITY: Contributions to the Cultural History of the European Renaissance
"Bibliophile, scholar, founder of what would become the Warburg Institute, Aby Warburg (1866-1929) ranks as one of the most original and brilliant art historians of this century. Warburg looked beyond iconography to more psychological aspects of artistic creation, and in particular he contemplated the meaning of the re-use of ancient motifs. His scholarship - published in German in 1932 in two volumes encompassing all of his published essays along with manuscript notes in his working copies - has had a crucial influence on the work of twentieth-century art historians. Now, with the publication of this new translation of The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity, these seminal volumes are available in their entirety in English for the first time." Introduction by Kurt W. Forster. Translation by David Britt. Thick royal octavo: [868] p. Original printed boards; issued without a dust jacket. Near fine.THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES AND THE DESCENT OF MAN
First edition thus, with "First Modern Library Edition, 1936" on the copyright page. A Modern Library "Giant", brining together for the first time in one volume the two principal works of Charles Darwin (1809-82). Octavo: xvi, 1000 p. Original blue cloth binding, with silver stamping. A near fine copy in an especially nice dust jacket with some mild toning and wear along the extremities. Scarce.LESSONS FROM BERNARD RUDOFSKY: Life as a Voyage
Setting out from the assumption that the design of every single room in a house is based on a physical function: one place to lie the body down to rest, another to take in food, a third to step into a tub to bath, Bernard Rudofsky believed architecture served to stimulate the senses and refine everyday culture. The rich visual material conveys his philosophy: "I believe that sensory pleasure should take precedence over intellectual pleasure in art and architecture." Quarto: 304 p. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket - as new, still sealed in the original shrink wrap.FAIRY TALES
Altemus' Young People's Library, No. 20. Small octavo: [256], [4, blanks], 16 [ads] p. with 65 illustrations (some color). Original gray cloth binding, with pictorial green, red, and black stamping. In the scarce dust jacket, which is toned with a little bit of edgewear; otherwise very good.VAN NUYS BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY 1955-56
Booklet: 48 p. with a two-page map by Howard Saunders. Original paper wrappers, printed in red and blue, and bound with two staples. Founded in 1911, Van Nuys was named for one of its developers, Isaac Newton Van Nuys, a rancher and entrepreneur of Dutch ancestry. It was laid out along with roadways and other towns by the Suburban Homes Company, a syndicate led by Hobart Johnstone Whitley, general manager of the Board of Control, along with Harry Chandler, H.G. Otis, and others. At the same time, Henry E. Huntington extended his Pacific Electric Railway through the Valley, and made Van Nuys the first new stop on the San Fernando Line. In 1915, the town was annexed into the city of Los Angeles following the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which provided the water required for further growth. Along with city agencies and offices, this directory provides an alphabetical listing of Van Nuys businesses intended to elicit support from the local community. The layout of Van Nuys in this directory is much different from its geography today. In 1991, a 45-block area of Van Nuys was redesignated as a part of Sherman Oaks and in 2009, some former Van Nuys neighborhoods won approval to break off and join the neighboring communities of Lake Balboa, Valley Glen, and Sherman Oaks in an effort to raise their property values, a change some suggested was motivated by racism. Other significant differences are immediately visible on the map. Birmingham Hospital, built at the corner of Vanowen Street and Balboa Boulevard in 1942 to care for troops returning home from overseas service, has been replaced by the public high school of the same name. No holdings were found in OCLC.CATALOGUES OF BOOKS, Nos. 164 to 178
Bound collection of 14 consecutive catalogues issued by James F. Drake, Inc., with the original wrappers intact. The firm of James F. Drake, Inc. was established in 1911 by James Frederick Drake (1863-1933) for the sale of rare books and manuscripts. For the native New Yorker the firm represented the culmination of a career in books and publishing that was already of thirty years' duration. Drake's sons, Marston and James, entered the firm in the teens, and by the time of the senior Drake's death the firm on West 40th Street was a mecca for bibliophiles in the New York area. The Drake brothers continued in the tradition of their father, but upon the retirement of Marston ("the Colonel") and death in 1965 of Jim the entire stock of the firm and its business records were acquired by the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. Small octavo. In a three-quarter red morocco over red cloth binding, with gilt stamping, five raised bands, and marbled endpapers. Some general scuffing and wear along the extremities.HEALD-MENEREY’S GEOGRAPHICAL, COMMERCIAL AND RECREATIONAL MAP OF CALIFORNIA
Bound with brads in printed tan cardstock wrappers, this sectioned wall map of California is cut into horizontal strips that fold out accordion style to 44" x 64". Printed in color, the pages of this book are coated. A very good example. The map book has an index of the counties printed on the verso of the front cover and directions for use on the verso of the rear cover: "The first of its kind ever devised for desk, home or automobile use. It consists of the California Survey, 44 x 64 inches in size, cut into eight strips and folded to make a book of 64 pages." The directions continue to explain its use: "It is simple to go from any given page to the one immediately to the north by subtracting eight pages from the page number." The map shows highways and roads, trails, railroads, water, county lines, national forests and parks, and even lighthouses. There are also insets of San Francisco and Los Angeles.NOUS TISSONS
This is copy number 77 in an edition of 102 copies. "Claire Van Vliet has visited Scripps College three times since 1980 as our Frederic W. Goudy Lecturer. Her inventive weaving techniques have served as inspiration to challenge traditional book content and form. We decided to honor her on her visit this semester by producing a woven book as the 40th book in our collaborative series. Twelve unique and colorful students as well as Professor Maryatt made connections through forceful weaving to bring Nous Tissons to life. Arches cover is a soft, flexible paper perfect for our book, and reflects our interwoven narratives. Stardream cover and text comprise our Jacquard anecdote and weavings as well as function to hold the book together. The title is presented on 12 pt. Centaur and 12 pt. Arrighi. Each individual line was typeset by hand and printed on Vandercook letterpresses by the diligent students. Paper weavings and linoleum cuts illustrate the narrative." Signed by all twelve contributors, as well as Professor Kitty Maryatt, who led the project as part of her Spring 2006 Typography Class at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Square 16mo. A fine copy.CALIFORNIA IN RELIEF: Thirty Wood Engravings by Richard Wagener
This is copy 14 of 300 copies signed by Richard Wagener. Additionally inscribed and dated by Wagener to Gordon Van De Water, past president of the Zamorano Club, once on a prefatory blank leaf and again on the colophon. One of the leading American wood engravers, Richard Wagener has created a visual account of his wanderings throughout California in this lavish new work. In thirty original prints and short prose pieces describing them, he chronicles a journey that begins and ends in Los Angeles with stops in the San Jacinto Mountains, the Antelope Valley, Sonoma County, and the Sierra Nevada. Like John Muir and Gary Snyder, Wagener is a wanderer, explorer and observer of California, creating a poetry of place through both words and images, all born of actual experience. Not since Paul Landacre mastered the aesthetic and technical challenges of wood engraving in the early twentieth-century has any California artist achieved prominence in the medium. Wagener's images of nature - his stately Sierra trees, stark peaks and rocky crags - and his urban architectural monuments - the Pantages Theater and the Griffith Observatory - combine to make this work a deeply personal record of distinctive California locations. Introduction by Victoria Dailey. Prospectus laid in. Quarto. Designed and printed by Peter Rutledge Koch. Original tan paper-covered boards over a dark green cloth spine, with a Wagener engraving on the front and a printed paper spine label. A fine copy in the illustrated glassine wrapper and the publisher's slipcase.ROADKILLS: A Collection of Prose and Poetry, with Etching and Wood Engravings by Alan James Robinson
This is Suite Number XL of fifty deluxe copies signed by Alan James Robinson, John McPhee, Gillian Conoley, Gary Snyder, Madeline DeFrees, William Stafford, and Richard Eberhart and accompanied by an extra suite of the prints. In the introduction, Robinson explains he originally planned a portfolio without text of some of those animals he had encountered during his many drives to and from college" "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." Illustrated with 11 wood engravings (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 text is printed on Sakomoto and the prints on Cha-u-ke. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter gray morocco with tire tracks blind tooled across spine and title in blind, matching black chemise with blind tooled tire tracks, all housed in a grey morocco over black cloth clamshell box. The leather spine of the clamshell box is darkened; else near fine. The rare second book of the press; the deluxe edition with its extra suite and the signatures of all the authors has long been out of print.BEAUTY
Of one hundred signed copies, this is number 65. A narrative poem from Fairchild's third collection, The Art of the Lathe (1998). Illustrated with linoleum cuts by Anna Alquitela, letterpress printed and hand-bound with stainless steel "hinges" and aluminum-wrapped covers, housed in a gray cloth clamshell box with a gray paper band. For her fine press edition, The Blackbird Press' Jean Gillingwators said she knew from the initial reading that her book edition would have metal covers, reminiscent of the corrugated-metal buildings that often house machine shops. However, her endeavor became a three-year ordeal when the metal hinges she planned to use were no longer available and had to be handcrafted by herself and her assistant. "The 2,200 parts arrived, drilled and cut perfectly, ready to use. We bought some miniature equipment, and Anna cut all the other tubing and wire into thousands of bitty pieces . Binding Beauty became a thousand-day undertaking, and with each hurdle, I felt a close connection to Fairchild's machine-shop laborers. And the Blackbird Press hinge structures echo the title of the poem - they are beautiful." Fairchild (b.1942) is an award-winning American poet and former college professor. The Art of the Lathe, winner of the 1997 Beatrice Hawley Award, brought Fairchild's work to national prominence, garnering him a large number of awards and fellowships including the William Carlos Williams Award. The book ultimately gave him international prominence, as The Way Weiser Press in England published the U.K. edition of the book. The Los Angeles Times wrote that "The Art of the Lathe by has become a contemporary classic - a passionate example of the plain style, so finely crafted and perfectly pitched . workhorse narratives suffused with tenderness and elegiac music."POWER OF TEN
This is copy number 75 in an edition of 100. "This dynamic work is an exploration of the power of ten mighty, mighty women. Each composed her section about a specific aspect of power while developing imagery and original text. The text was composed, critiqued, edited and painstakingly typeset by hand. Our book was proudly printed in mainly 12 pt. Optima type on Mohawk Superfine, Soft White 80 lb. cover, with a smooth finish. Images were printed from linoleum blocks; acrylic gel medium occasionally added texture. To bind our codex, each section was sewn into an accordion fold." Signed by all ten contributors, as well as Professor Kitty Maryatt, who led the project as part of her Fall 2006 Typography Class at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Small octavo: [84] p. A fine copy.A TRAVEL BOOK
Limited to 200 copies signed by Fred Martin and printer Andrew Hoyem. An accomplished California artist, and one-time director of the San Francisco Art Institute, Martin (1927-2022) collaborated with Hoyem on this first livre d'artiste to be published by the Arion Press. Entries from a diary kept by Martin during a trip to Asia along with his selections of travel writings from various sources are combined on every letterpress-printed page with Martin's multicolored drawings to create a kaleidoscopic Jungian travel narrative. This is the fourth publication from the Arion Press. Prospectus laid in. Oblong quarto. Full silkscreened cloth-covered boards, housed in the publisher's amber plexiglas slipcase. The spine is sun faded; otherwise very good.Pseudodoxia Epidemica: OF UNICORNES HORNES. Illustrated with Wood Engravings by Alan James Robinson, with an Introduction by Jan van Dorsten
Browne, Sir Thomas Issued simultaneously with the Regular Edition of 150 copies and the Deluxe Edition of 60 copies, this is number VI of 15 State Proofs signed by Alan James Robinson. Printed by Harold P. McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae. The Van Dijck Monotype was set and cast by Michael and Winifred Bixler. Illustrated with 16 wood engravings by Alan James Robinson. Hand-bound in full limp vellum at Gray Parrot's Bindery in Easthampton. This State Proof is accompanied by a one-quarter vellum over linen chemise housing 14 state proofs of the etchings, 28 working proofs, 3 states of the frontispiece portrait, and a rejected print, each signed by the artist, along with an original pencil sketch by Robinson. Accompanied by the string-bound prospectus, also signed by Robinson. Housed in a one-quarter vellum over linen clamshell box, with gilt stamping. Just a hint of foxing along the extremities of the clamshell box; else near fine. An elegant production.- $2,500
- $2,500
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND [and] THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, Illustrated with Wood Engravings by Barry Moser
Carroll, Lewis Issued separately, each folio volume is limited to 350 numbered copies signed by the illustrator and accompanied by an additional suite of wood engravings, with each print signed by Barry Moser, in a linen-covered chemise. A matching set, both volumes in this pairing are number 270. Printed in five colors on a paper specially made for the Press by Strathmore Mills, with calligraphy by G.G. Laurens. The type is Bembo, in blue, black, and red. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter purple morocco and crimson morocco, respectively, over marbled paper-covered boards. Each is housed with the chemise of prints in its own morocco-backed linen clamshell box, which are a little discolored along the extremities (as usual). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, were the first two in a series of four folio editions of classic texts printed at the Pennyroyal Press. Both sold out almost immediately and have remained the most popular of Moser's oeuvre ever since. The text was edited by Selwyn Goodacre, with a preface and notes by one of America's leading Victorianists, James Kincaid. A whimsical production and among the greatest achievements of late 20th century American book design.- $10,000
- $10,000
THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS; or, An Essay Toward an Analysis of the Principles by which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves. To which is added, A Dissertation on the Origin of Languages
Smith, Adam, LL.D. F.R.S. The first American edition, from the twelfth Edinburgh edition. Octavo: vii, 598, [2, ads] p. In a contemporary full calf binding, with a red morocco spine label, decorative gilt stamping, and marbled edges and endpapers. General toning and a bit of foxing to the contents, with a pair of 19th century previous owner's ink signatures to the title page and a related ink inscription to a prefatory blank leaf. Small bookplate and a period bookseller's label to the front pastedown. The spine is darkened, with some wear to the corners and tips. The author's first published work, it lays the psychological foundation on which The Wealth of Nations was later to be built. In it Smith describes the principles of "human nature", which, together with Hume and the other leading philosophers of his time, he took as a universal and unchanging datum from which social institutions, as well as social behavior, could be deduced.- $1,000
- $1,000
QUINTI HORATII FLACCI OPERA
Horace or Quintus Horatius Flaccus The second issue, with the corrected Caesar medallion in the second volume. Octavo, two volumes. In contemporary burgundy calf bindings, with a black leather spine label, five raised bands, elaborate gilt stamping, ornamental dentelles, and marbled endpapers. Period ink notation to the first blank leaf in the first volume. The bookplates of Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, FRS (1788-1850) and noted collector Francis A. Gaskill appear on the front endpapers. The spines are darkened, with a bit of wear to the extremities. A tour-de-force of 18th century book design, Pine's Horace is entirely engraved, both text and illustration, and liberally supplied with initials, head- and tailpieces and vignettes, exhibiting a harmony and delicacy reminiscent of the best French printing of the period.- $2,000
- $2,000
FACETISSIMI COMOEDIAE UNDECIM
Aristophanes Small octavo: [558] p. with the cat and mouse devices at the front and rear. Later marbled paper-covered boards over a burgundy calf spine with gilt stamping. The armorial bookplate of Thomas Blands, the small bookplate of architect Thomas Machen, and a 19th century previous owner's ink signature appear on the front endpaper. Mild dust staining to the top edge, with some general shelfwear to the binding.- $1,750
- $1,750
THE BROWN THRUSH: Anthology of Verse by Negro Students, Talladega College – Tougaloo College
Voorhees, Lillian W. and Robert W. O'Brien (Editors) Inscribed by Robert W. O'Brien to Hugh Vernon White, Executive Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, on the front flyleaf, above White's bookplate. An anthology of poetry written by undergraduates and recent graduates of the historically black colleges, with contributions by J. Henderson Brooks and Lucy Ariel Williams, among many others. In an April 13, 1932 letter to Robert W. O'Brien, Countee Cullen praised this anthology as "an encouraging expression of poetry from young Negro collegians" and "a definite indication that there is a crop of new Negro poets in the making". A second volume of The Brown Thrush was published in 1935. Octavo: 67 p. with [2] p. index and 2 illustrations. Original brown paper-covered boards over a green cloth spine, with printed paper title label on the front panel. Minor staining to the spine heel, with some wear to the corners and tips; else very good.- $250
- $250
VEDANTA FOR MODERN MAN
Isherwood, Christopher (Editor) Signed by Christopher Isherwood and contributors Swami Prabhavananda, Gerald Heald, Aldous Huxley, and John van Druten on the front flyleaf. While living in Hollywood, Isherwood (1904-86) was introduced to Vedanta (Upanishad-centered philosophy) and the circle of Hindu Swami Prabhavananda by his friend Aldous Huxley. Adopting Prabhavananda as his own guru, Isherwood visited the Swami every Wednesday for the next 35 years and collaborated with him on a translation of the Bhagavad Gita. He also took over editorship of Vedanta and the West, a bimonthly journal concerned with the theory and practice of Vedanta teachings and their relevance to Western intellectual life. This is the second collection of articles from the journal, including contributions by Isherwood, Huxley, Prabhavananda, Gerald Heard, Alan W. Watts, and many others. Octavo: xiv, 410 p. Original gray cloth-covered boards over a blue cloth spine with gilt titles. Offsetting to p.284-5 from an old Pickwick Book Shop (Hollywood, California) bookmark (still present). Minor rubbing to the corners and tips. Typical toning to the dust jacket, more so along the spine, with a bit of light staining to the front flap and some general edgewear; otherwise very good.- $1,000
- $1,000
THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY
Bierce, Ambrose Collector's Edition. Accumulated over three decades for a series of magazines and newspapers, the entries in The Devil's Dictionary paint a revealing portrait of late 19th century American life, with all its contradictions and hypocrisies laid bare. Features a color frontispiece portrait by Richard Sparks. Full burgundy leather binding, with elaborate gilt decorations, six raised bands, moire silk endpapers, and a ribbon marker. A fine copy.- $75
- $75
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Pelling, Henry Collector's Edition, issued as part of The Library of Great Lives. First published in 1974, this is regarded by many as the finest biography of the British statesman by an esteemed academic historian (in this case, from Cambridge). Foreword by Theodore Wilson, with frontispiece portraits, including one in color, and numerous textual illustrations. Octavo, two volumes. Full burgundy leather bindings, with elaborate gilt stamping, four raised bands, moire silk endpapers, and a ribbon marker. A fine set.- $100
- $100
CURVATURES: or fat women: https://rarebookinsider.com/rare-books/curvatures-or-fat-women/