New Arrivals
The Story of Word Pictures
Santa Cruz, CA: The Good Book Press, 1984. 14 pp. Approximately 2 x 2 1/8". LIMITED EDITION of 200 copies, the first fifty are hand-painted and bound in leather, this being #197 of the regular printing. Pale green paper wrap with design and title on cover and spine in fine condition. Green boards with design on front cover, printed on a hand-operated printing press on Peter's handmade paper, one minor foxing spot on rear endpaper, numbered on the colophon, in near fine condition. (Bradbury, Peter and Donna Thomas 11).
Peter and Donna Thomas, well-known book artists, authors, and paper-makers, have been operating their private press since 1976. This is a lovely little book with elfin maidens and wizards and words by the author on how to gather pictures in your own head.
Pensées Genevoises
Geneva: Andre Kundig, 1963. 96 pp. Approximately 1 x 1 1/2". Yellow simulated leather wraps with red lettering to cover, in the French language, bookplate of E. Helene Sherman pasted-down to inside front cover, in fine condition.
Translation of title is Geneva thoughts, this sweet little book contains philosophical thoughts, proverbs, sayings, and quotes such as, "you whoever has a beautiful wife don't hold a handsome valet near her if you don't want him to be her darling" or "willingly people who are so proud and colorful, when they find resistance, appease their fury." E. Helene Sherman, whose bookplate is in the front of this book, was an American artist specializing in calligraphy and book illumination. Her artwork includes altarpieces for the National Cathedral in Washing, D.C. and Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Sherman illustrated many miniature books for REM Miniatures and Kurbel Books.
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.
African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist
New York: Scribner's, 1910. 585 pp. including index. Red cloth over boards with three-quarter brown leather in a deluxe binding of the first trade edition, front board almost detached with some splitting at the spine of the rear board, gilt lettering and decoration on spine, over wear and rubbing to the cover, top edge gilt, both dates on the title page and copyright match as 1910, seal on the copyright page of Conkey Hammonds, black and white photographs throughout, some water stains to fore-edges but no effect on the text, browning and stains to a few page edges and a tear to the last page of the index, otherwise a nice copy in very good condition.
This book contains the chronicles of President Theodore Roosevelt's African expedition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution to collect specimens for the Smithsonian's new Natural History Museum. In the name of science, Roosevelt trapped or killed approximately 11,397 animals, met many native people and local leaders and also collected flora and fauna over a 10 month period.
Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation." From the Original Manuscript. With a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts. (Olive Percival's Copy)
Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1901. 555 pp. Blue cloth over boards with beveled edges, crisp lettering and decoration on spine, minor wear to spine, signature and bookplate of Olive Percival on front endpapers with some browning likely due to newspaper placed there in the past, two ephemera items from within the pages: a newspaper clipping about the book (date unknown) and a blank letterhead piece of paper from the State of Connecticut Secretarys Office with official seal and note on the back dated 1905, many black and white photographs, a beautiful copy in near fine condition.
The Bradford Manuscript is a history of the Plymouth Colony from its inception to the year 1647 kept by Governor William Bradford of Massachusetts and the background history of the manuscript itself. Ownership bookplate on the front paste-down endpaper and the signature on the first free endpaper belongs to well-known suffragist Olive Percival, who was herself an author and avid book collector.
The Forgotten Village: Life in a Mexican Village
New York: Viking Press, 1941. 143 pp. Approximately 7 x 10". First Edition with the words "First Published in May 1941" on copyright page. Coarse buckram cloth over boards with bright green illustration on front cover, top edges stained green, slight toning of paste-down endpapers, near fine condition. Very good pictorial dust jacket, a few short closed tears, original price of $2.50 present, some chipping and loss, some toning to back cover. (Goldstone & Payne A14a)
From the front dust jacket flap, "This is a story of the little pueblo of Santiago on the skirts of a hill in the mountains of Mexico. And this is the story of the boy Juan Diego and of his family and of his people, who live in the long moment when the past slips reluctantly into the future." Photographs from the motion picture throughout.
Gunner's Dawn
New York: The Derrydale Press, 1937. First Edition. Limited edition of 950, this being #78. Red simulated leather over boards with gilt decorations, some dulling to gilt, minor cover rubbing especially to spine edges, original signed etching as frontispiece, 5 color plates and 14 black and white plates with some tissue guards missing, a few pages unopened, gift inscription on front paste-down endpaper which also has a small amount of foxing, otherwise in very good condition.
Roland Clark (1874 - 1957) was an American artist who was best known for his painting and etchings of ducks. He was also an accomplished writer and combined these talents in sporting articles, short stories which were autobiographical in nature.
Sapphira and the Slave Girl
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. 295 pp. First Trade Edition. Dust jacket in very good condition with 1" tear on bottom of front cover, darkened spine and minor chips on top and bottom spine edges, some spotting and darkening to rear cover as well. Green cloth over boards with spine only a slight shade lighter and some sunning to top cover edges, orange and black labels on spine has some slight smudging, otherwise in near fine condition.
Willa Cather (1873 - 1947) was an American author, mostly of the frontier and pioneer experiences. This is Cather's final novel, one that was much heavier in tone and subject matter than her other novels. It portrays a family in Virginia in 1856 before the Civil War.
A Miniature Book, Tie, and Suspenders from the estate of Julian Edison
New York: Abrams and The Grolier Club, 2007. Miniature edition and exact facsimile of the larger book "Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures" by Bromer & Edison; Maroon silk tie with white/gold/red tiny books from His Favorite Tie Neckwear housed in original plastic box packaging; Navy silk suspenders with red/green/gold books and bronze clasps from Paul Stuart, made in England, all from the estate of Julian Edison, all in fine condition.
Julian Edison (1929 - 2017) was an internationally renowned miniature book collector and co-author with Anne. C Bromer of Bromer Booksellers. Julian was an influential support of Washing University Libraries in St. Louis and the Special Collections there has been renamed the Julian Edison Department of Special Collections.
Italia
Seattle, WA: Sam Garriott Antonacci, 2019. One-of-a-Kind Artist Book. Single sheet fold-out pasted down to rear endpaper which shows mosaic illustration of Italy in prismacolor and ink on Thai Unryu paper, 2 1/4 x 2", blue cloth over boards with illustrated front panel; housed in matching clamshell box with layered illustrated cover, completed with two more boxes with printed book details and label, all in fine condition.
According to Sam Garriott Antonacci: "I see many of my books as histories or small personal documents of people, places, or objects." This miniature book is a beautiful homage to Italy, done in the soft Tuscan colors you would expect representing the Italian countryside, with excellent detail paid to the craftsmanship of the enclosing boards and boxes. Sam primarily does one-of-a-kind and limited edition books, mainly miniatures. She was raised in the Ohio River Valley on a rural farm so solitude and nature inform her work. She went to the University of Indiana at Bloomington and art school in Seattle, where she settled when she wasn't traveling - a favorite pastime of hers that also greatly influences her work.