Catalogue No. 3 - Recent Acquisitions (July 2019)
Listing of all books (with links to images) from the catalogue are below:
1) [Village Press] Browning, Robert. Rabbi Ben Ezra. Hingham, MA: Village Press, 1904. Limited to 173 numbered copies on Arches, of which this is #121. Frontispiece, title, and tailpiece in black; title page decoration and 9-line initial “G”, all by W.A. Dwiggins. Gray paper-covered boards with japan vellum spine. Possibly a presentation copy to the English designer Pickford Waller, as a small decorative “PW” label has been pasted to the front cover, on paper dyed to match the boards. Waller’s vibrant etched bookplate to front pastedown. Measures approx. 5.25” x 8”. Outside of slight browning to the spine, a near-pristine copy of this title. Cary 17.
SOLD
2) [Village Press] Kipling, Rudyard. The Gypsy Trail. Boston, MA: Alfred Bartlett, [1905]. Printed by Fred and Bertha Goudy at The Village Press, Hingham, Mass. Frontispiece by E.B. Bird. According to Cary, limited to 1000 copies. Slate grey paper-covered boards with white label to cover. Measures approx. 4.25” x 5”. Binding slightly cocked, some foxing to pages. Cary 27.
SOLD
3) [Village Press] Lowell, James Russell. Four Poems: The Ballad of the Stranger, King Retro, The Royal Pedigreee, and A Dream I Had. Hingham, MA: Village Press, 1906. Limited to 50 numbered copies on Arches, of which this is #18. Blue paper-covered boards with linen back. “Done for P.K. Foley of Boston. The last book printed at Hingham. The money received from it ($75) made possible the removal to New York” (Cary). Measures approx. 6” x 9.25”. A beautiful copy. Cary 33.
SOLD
4) [Village Press] Case, Elizabeth York. There is No Unbelief. New York: Ivan Somerville & Co., 1907. Designed and printed at The Village Press, New York. Double page border decoration in olive, hand-lettered title, 6-line initial “T”, all by Frederic W. Goudy. Paper-covered boards. According to Cary, about 1000 copies were printed on Old Stratford. “The first of three books composed and printed under the style of Ivan Somerville & Co., publishers. Mr. Goudy, who was to do the printing, and Mr. Somerville, who was to do the selling, constituted the firm.” Measures approx. 5.5” x 6.5”. Some browning and light edgewear to boards; gift inscription to ffep. Cary 44.
SOLD
5) [Village Press] Bowdoin, W.G. The Bunch of Violets. Brooklyn, NY: Privately printed, 1907. Printed for the author by Frederic and Bertha Goudy, and limited to 102 copies on Kelmscott Hammer and Anvil, of which this is #12. Frontispiece in photogravure from a study by Agnes Vinton Luther. Triangular decoration and 7-line initial “T” in red by Goudy. Grey paper covers bound in. Bound in ¾ maroon morocco and marbled boards by The Kuster Bindery, with approx. 40 blank leaves after the content (in order to fit the title and tools on spine). Measures approx. 4.75” x 7”. Significant wear and chipping to leather at corners and spine. Cary 52.
SOLD
6) [Village Press] Carman, Bliss. Address to the Graduating Class MCMXI of the Unitrinian School of Personal Harmonizing, Founded by Mary Perry King, at Moonshine, Twilight Park, in the Catskills. New York: Privately printed, 1911. “Two hundred and fifty copies of the address have been printed for the Author under the direction of Frederic W. Goudy, at The Tabard Press, New York, October, 1911.” Signature of the author (from a canceled check) tipped-in on ffep. Six line initial “I” by Goudy. Set by Bertha Goudy, and printed on Tuscany paper. Paper-covered boards with linen back. Measures approx. 6.75” x 10.25”. Some discoloration and water to boards. Cary 68.
SOLD
7) [Village Press] Irving, Washington. New Year Civilities. New York: Privately printed, 1912. Printed for Thomas Nast Fairbanks at The Village Press, and limited to 200 copies. Headband and 6-line initial “I” by Frederic W. Goudy. Blue paper-covered boards. Measures approx. 5.25” x 7.75”. Some chipping to paper at spine. Cary 78.
SOLD
8) Sutherland, Millicent [Duchess of Sutherland]. The Winds of the World: Seven Love Stories. London: William Heinemann, 1902. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. Bound in a striking painted vellum binding, featuring orange & yellow flowers, green vines, and gilt highlights. Interestingly, the bookseller G.T. Bagguley patented the Sutherland bookbinding process, named after the Duchess, which was a method of tooling in gilt and colors and usually employed on doublures. Though this volume was not produced by Bagguley, it is a skilled and very well-executed arts & crafts vellum binding. All edges gilt. Measures approx. 5.25" x 7.25". Some spots to front cover, small tear to frontispiece tissue. Bookplate to front pastedown.
SOLD
9) Shires, Frances (translator). Sly Mike. Budapest: George Vajna, 1937. Limited to 250 copies, of which this is #138. Ten original hand-colored and hand-pressed etchings by Lidia Farkas and Zoltan Poharnok. Farkas (1910-1985) and Poharnok (1905-1976) were both students of noted Hungarian painter Oszkar Glatz (1872-1958). Bound in cream cloth with an embroidered Hungarian folk art design to front cover. Measures approx. 6.5" x 9". Some minor browning to edges of cloth covers. (Far nicer condition than this title is usually found, given its binding of cream cloth.)
“A Hungarian folktale about a young man named Sly Mike who leaves home to search for his missing father. After learning that his father is a prisoner in Hades, Sly Mike outsmarts a troupe of demons and gains his father’s freedom as well as the freedom of a beautiful princess who he later marries (OCLC).”
SOLD
10) Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Flower and the Leaf. Edward Arnold & Samuel Buckley, London and New York, 1902. Printed at the Essex House Press. Limited to 165 copies printed on vellum, of which this is #94. Vellum binding with blind-stamped rose and “Soul is Form” motto. Printed on vellum with hand-illumination by the Essex House Press. One half page and one double-page illustration and 85 historiated initials, all hand-colored by Edith Harwood. The most illustrated work in the Essex House Press “Great Poems” series. Measures approx. 5" x 7.75". Some discoloration & staining to top edge of covers, dirtying to top of text block, light browning to spine & slight fading to gilt lettering. Bookplate to front pastedown.
According to Colin Franklin, “the most skillful and original (of the Series), a charming small work of art. Edith Harwood made and coloured the decorations which run happily through the pages, with people and flowers in greens and pinks, purple and brown.“
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11) Browning, Robert. The Flight of the Duchess. London: Essex House Press, 1905. Limited to 125 copies printed on vellum, of which this is #123. Hand-colored frontispiece by Paul Woodroffe, with hand-colored printer’s device and hand-painted initials. Bound in a beautiful green morocco arts & crafts binding by The Belvoir Bindery, featuring inlaid red flowers at the corners, gilt stems and leaves, and covers separated into rounded panels with gilt fillets and gouges. Spine features a vertical title with a vine & leaves on either side. Tissues bound in between each page (six missing). Measures approx. 5" x 7.5". Some browning to spine, bumping to corners, and light rubbing to covers and spine tips.
Also included is a promotional pamphlet for The Belvoir Bindery, entitled Bookbinding for the Book-Lover (circa 1918), written by James Samuel Hewitt Bates, director of the bindery. The pamphlet mentions his qualifications and skills, including awards of First Class Honours, First Prizeman, Silver Medallist of the City and Guilds of London Institute and holder of the Skinner’s Company Prize. He declares “special attention is always given to Extra bindings - the leathers used are guaranteed free from Mineral Acids - the decoration will be found to be appropriate and in good taste, and the workmanship sound”. The pamphlet includes several images of other volumes in beautiful arts & crafts bindings, including other Essex House Press titles, as well as this very binding design (though based on the tooling, looks to be a separate volume).
SOLD
12) Collection of designs, drawings, rubbings, and miscellaneous bookbinding ephemera from Riviere & Son, with the majority of the work from the late 1920s/early 1930s.
The collection appears to have been the work of a single binder for Riviere & Son, but no name or signature looks to be visible. A few of the rubbings look to be later–for instance, one of Animal Farm (1943). The listing below shows what is included:
8 - Larger designs for spines (some drawings, some with tool impressions - two in color)
4 - Smaller designs for spines
7 - Small “snippets” of tooling designs
7 - Front cover designs (some drawings, some with tool impressions)
26 - Rubbings of bindings (covers, spines, etc.), various sizes
4 - Miscellaneous: a sheet of oasis leather samples used for the Andrew Lang Fairy Books, tool roll samples for a set of Shakespeare, a small piece of paper with what looks to be time studies for various bindings (e.g. “½ Plain 50 min”), spine design samples from various sets of English authors, sheet with various pictorial tools used and which authors, titles, etc. to use them (e.g. a witch on a broom and “The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book”).
A variety of paper has been used; some thicker, but much of it quite fine, like tissue. Some small tears and browning from being folded for decades, but overall, most pieces in nice shape.
SOLD
13) Murray, T. Douglas (editor). Jeanne d'Arc: Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France. London: William Heinemann, 1902. With illustrations and a map. Bound in full dark brown modeled calf by Mary G. Gibson, featuring a striking image of a caped Joan of Arc holding a sword in outstretched arms, flanked by wings and stars, and standing in a field of flowers. Title and fleur-de-lis accents at top and bottom of front cover, title and author to spine, and coat of arms to rear cover. Silk endpapers, with binder’s name inscribed on upper turn in. Measures approx. 6.75" x 9.75". Some staining and scratches to covers (more prominent on rear), and foxing to pages. Bumping to corners, light rubbing, some scratches to back cover, and front cover slightly bowed inward. Browning to inner leather hinges.
Mary Gwenllian Gibson (1888-1966) exhibited her modeled leather bindings in the National Competition of Schools of Art in both 1910 and 1911, as well as in the 1926 Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition. A leather case and prayer book from the 1910 National Competition, both done in a similar style to this volume, received special mention by “The International Studio” as “the most interesting thing in the group of book covers…”. In addition, Gibson “taught leatherwork, needlework and bookbinding at Wolverhampton School of Art but was also a painter in oils, exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts during the 1940s and 1950s. She was also a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (elected a member in 1953) and Wolverhampton Society of Artists. Gibson was a friend and colleague of the sculptor Robert Jackson Emerson and was one of the group of artists who met at his studio in Castle Street, Wolverhampton” (Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951).
SOLD
14) Kent, Rockwell. N by E. New York: Brewer & Warren, 1930. One of 100 copies with a printed presentation leaf loosely inserted at front with an illustration not included in the regular edition. This special edition was, according to the leaf, issued “untrimmed and linen bound”–and indeed stands about ½" taller than the other copy catalogued below. In addition, a letter to the recipient of this volume, Edward K. Warren (of the publisher Brewer & Warren) is loosely inserted, mentioning the leaf and its presence in the book, and is signed by Alfred de Sauty. Whole and half-page woodblock illustrations throughout by Rockwell Kent. Measures approx. 6.5" x 8.75". Minor restoration to the outer hinges and some rubbing to spine bands.
Bound in full black morocco by the Lakeside Press, featuring a design on both covers that was used on a few presentation copies of this title: a stylization of a whale breaching and its water spout. The design was famously used on the 3 volume Lakeside Press limited edition of Kent’s Moby Dick (also published in 1930). The striking simplicity of the design is something to behold, and given N by E is the account of Kent’s sea voyage from Nova Scotia to Greenland, one can’t fault the “reuse” of the design. The tooling and title to the spine is significantly more prominent than the other presentation copies examined, perhaps owing a bit of inspiration from Merle Armitage. All edges gilt. Gilt and black endpapers.
SOLD
15) Kent, Rockwell. N by E. New York: Brewer & Warren, 1930. Bound in full black morocco, designed by Alfred de Sauty at the Lakeside Press, featuring a design on both covers of a horizon and compass rose punctuated with arrows drifting off to the northeast, with small red inlays in the negative spaces of NESW. According to the “This Book” leaf bound in at the rear of the volume, the book “was sewn by E. Dvorak / forwarded by H. Tribolet / finished by H.W. Anson / designed A de Sauty”. All edges gilt. Gilt and black endpapers. Whole and half-page woodblock illustrations throughout by Rockwell Kent. Measures approx. 6.5" x 8.25". A few light spots of rubbing at bands. A beautiful example.
SOLD
16) Extra Binding at the Lakeside Press. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1925. 29 black and white full-page captioned plates, with discussions, and color frontispiece. A catalogue of fine binding work by the Chicago press, under the direction of Alfred de Sauty. Later binding of ½ brown leather and tan buckram, housed in a grey cloth slipcase. Marbled endpapers highlighted in gilt. Lithograph by de Sauty of Angmering Church bound in at the front, with a gift inscription to the poet Henry Dierkes, dated 1934, who looks to have spent some time at the press during that period. Two approx. 2" tears to the bottom of the lithograph, as well as remnants of framing tabs to rear and light transfer marks from another litho. Volume measures approx. 8" x 10.5". Some light spots of rubbing to covers and some foxing to pages. Slipcase worn at edges.
SOLD