New Arrivals
Frederick Law Olmsted at Biltmore
Dallas, TX: Aredian Press, 2023. Approximately 3 x 2 3/4", oblong. LIMITED EDITION of 10 copies, this being #9. Design binding by Patrice Miller of Aredian Press. Green photographic paper cover with green leather quarter bound, extra endpapers on special paper, stamp frontispiece, colophon and limitation which is, signed and numbered by the publisher, illustrations, in fine condition. Beautifully structured and well-written biography.
Frederick Law Olmsted (1922 - 1903) was an American landscape architect, as well as a public administrator, social critic, and journalist. He was famous for co-designing many well known parks such as New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, as well as the campuses of Wellesley College, Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Chicago. Olmsted not only designed the landscape architecture of the Biltmore for George Vanderbilt II, but he designed the Biltmore Village to replicate the working estates of Europe. He was an important early conservationist and he encouraged the full use of naturally occurring features of any given space.
Patrice Miller's work has found its way to private and university collections, in the states and abroad. Human foibles, nature’s panoply, and artistic cleverness cannot help but inform future work. She continues to bind, and rebind, in Dallas, Texas.
Birds in Paradise (or) Life Upon a Japanese Screen
Los Angeles, CA: The Paper Source Museum & Gallery, 1984. Approximately 21 x 17", oblong. LIMITED EDITION of 100 copies, this being #36. Broadside is a serigraph image over text, signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, in fine condition.
Joseph D'Ambrosio (1934 -2009) was an American artist and binder. He left a career in engineering to pursue a new career in making artist’s books. He wrote, set type, printed designs, did the artwork and the binding. His books were considered works of art and were signed and numbered similar to limited edition fine art prints. D’Ambrosio also produced many broadside posters on fine papers that were issued in conjunction with his book projects and for special events. This broadside from 1984 is a promotional work for his book of the same title.
D'Ambrosio: The Book as an Art Form
Gualala, CA: North Light Gallery, 1983. Approximately 17 x 21". LIMITED EDITION of 100 copies, this being #60. Broadside is a serigraph image with text, signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, in fine condition.
Joseph D'Ambrosio (1934 -2009) was an American artist and binder. He left a career in engineering to pursue a new career in making artist’s books. He wrote, set type, printed designs, did the artwork and the binding. His books were considered works of art and were signed and numbered similar to limited edition fine art prints. D’Ambrosio also produced many broadside posters on fine papers that were issued in conjunction with his book projects and for special events. This broadside from 1983 is a promotional work for his book of the same title.
Little Tree
Dallas, TX: Aredian Press, 2022. Approximately 2 x 3". LIMITED EDITION of 10 copies, this being #6. Design binding by Patrice Miller of Aredian Press, red and gold patterned paper over boards with paper label on removable band, red felt spine, book is not rectangular - rather top right edge is slanted in, Christmas tree inside opens up, poem inside enclosed in its own little section, signed and numbered by the publisher on the colophon, in fine condition.
Lovely poem by e.e. cummings (1894 - 1962) about how cherished a Christmas tree is. Patrice Miller's work has found its way to private and university collections, in the states and abroad. Human foibles, nature’s panoply, and artistic cleverness cannot help but inform future work. She continues to bind, and rebind, in Dallas, Texas.
The Library of Alexandria
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Alvey Jones, [2021]. LIMITED EDITION of 2, this being #2. Tan cloth over clamshell box with green spine cloth, lime green acrylic label on cover and green speckled marbling on box edges, enclosed are twenty-six miniature books (scrolls) in various media such as paper and wood (scrolls are non-removable), in fine condition.
Alvey Jones is a painter, printmaker and book artist whose work has been exhibited locally and nationally and is in many public and private collections in the United States and Europe. He has a BFA in illustration and design, an MA in art history and he mostly creates miniature books. This book is an homage to the famed ancient library at Alexandria, Egypt, which ceased to exist by the end of the Third century CE and contains miniature books (scrolls) in several languages.
Medieval Labours
Sorbie, Scotland: Final Score, 2007. Approx. 2 x 2 5/8". LIMITED EDITION of 25 copies, this being #3. Brown cloth over boards with gilt-bordered paste-down label on cover, each copy individually illustrated using egg tempura paint on vellum with gold, signed on the colophon by both authors, in fine condition.
This beautiful book contains 13 illuminated illustrations accompanying each month of the year plus the title page. The text describes the work to be completed for each month in medieval times. For example, January described bread baking with a medieval recipe, while June talks of estate management. Only one OCLC holding at this time, from the collection of Muriel Underwood - a US Marine, member of the Caxton Club, longtime member of the Miniature Book Society and miniature book publisher herself.
Wallace Stegner: A Descriptive Bibliography
Lewiston, ID: Confluence Press, Inc., 1990. First Edition. No dust jacket, as issued. Green cloth over boards with crisp gilt design on cover and lettering on spine, signed by Stegner and the author on the title page, limited to 1,000 copies, no edge wear and looks unread, really minor foxing to top page edges, otherwise in near fine condition.
Wallace Earle Stegner (1909 - 1993) was an American novelist and short story writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for "Angle of Repose" and the National Book Award for "The Spectator Bird" in 1977. He won numerous other awards and his legacy lives on in many parts of the United States and Canada, with a Stegner Fellowship program in creative writing at Stanford University being one of the highlights. This is a must-have for any Stegner collector.
To Rule the Night
Philadelphia & New York: A. J. Holman Company, 1973. 5 3/4 x 8 1/2"; First Edition, Second Printing. Photographic dust jacket has some chips and creases, particularly at the spine extremities, a tear on the back cover which has been clumsily taped, in good condition. Black cloth over boards with gilt title on spine, gift inscription on front free endpaper and previous owner's signature on verso of half-title page which was signed by the Jim Irwin, foxing to page edges, otherwise in very good condition.
James Benson Irwin (1930 - 1991) was an American astronaut, US Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer and test pilot who served as the Apollo 15 Lunar Module pilot. He was the eighth person to walk on the moon. This autobiographical story tells of Jim's boyhood, his marriage, his career, his voyage on Apollo 15 and his spiritual life, which is weaved throughout.
The Reluctant Dragon
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. Approximately 8 1/4 x 10 1/2". LIMITED EDITION of 350 copies, this being #44. Green cloth over boards with brown cloth spine, brown slipcase, signed on the colophon by the illustrator, Michael Hague, includes a reproduction of a specially commissioned pen and ink drawing, all in fine condition.
Kenneth Grahame (1859 - 1932) was a British writer, best known for his novel, "The Wind in the Willows". This charmingly illustrated short story, is seen as an original idea that a dragon does not have to be seen as a threat, but can be a sympathetic character. This story was originally published in 1898 as a chapter in Grahame's book, "Dream Days".
The Betrayed Confidence
Orleans, MA: Parnassus Imprints, 1992. Approximately 7 1/4 x 7 1/4". LIMITED EDITION of 250 copies, this being #165. Black paper covered slipcase in fine condition. Illustrated paper wrappers, includes a signed and numbered previously unpublished print laid in which bears the same signature and number as on the colophon of the book, all in fine condition. (Toledano A104a)
Edward Gorey (1925 - 2000) was an American artist and writer, best known for his eccentric imagery and stories, often set in Victorian and Edwardian settings. This book covers seven series of Dogear Wryde (an anagram of Gorey's name) postcards and includes: Scenes de Ballet, Menaced Objects, Alms for Oblivion, Interpretive Series, Neglected Murderesses, Tragedies Topiares, and Whatever Next? Some cards are captioned and some are not. A lovely example of the wide range of Gorey artwork and macabre humor.