hardcover
Perfumed Garden
Lake City, CO: Ravenpress, 2002. [24] pp. (Box) Approximately 1 1/2 x 3 x 2". LIMITED EDITION of 20 copies, this being #17. Outer box is highly decorative carved stone with brass hinge, printed bottom liner, in fine condition; Marbled paper over boards with printed title label on front cover, printed as leaves and pasted to form pages, and pasted to endpapers to mount in marbled boards without spine, copies of watercolor illustrations, numbered and signed on the colophon by the publisher, in fine condition.
From page 1: "The Perfumed Garden by Sheikh Zefzawi is likely the most famous of the Arab love manuals. This miniature book is based on Nafzawi's descriptions of the eleven basic lovemaking postures". Alicia Bailey began publishing under the Ravenpress imprint in 1996. Ravenpress publications are held in private, public and special collections worldwide. Bailey thinks of the artists' book works she creates as interactive sculptures realized in the form of the book. She works in a wide variety of materials, including those not often associated with the book form, thus necessitating structural redesign and innovations.
Poems
Austin, TX: Amistad Press, 1977. (40) pp. Approximately 1 x 1 3/8". LIMITED EDITION of 75, this being #18. Faux blue leather over boards with gilt bird decorations on cover and gilt initials of publisher on spine, illustrated throughout, fine condition. (Bradbury, Amistad Press 14)
A lovely book, both inside and out, with 8 poems by Martha D. Fletcher. According to the intro, Fletcher was from Alabama and taught various school levels, including some college. She is inspired by nature and infuses her poems with her love of nature and humankind. The author and her husband wish all who read her poems "happiness in life and thought".
Poems of Rudyard Kipling
(Pettigrew, AR): Burt Randle, 1940. (34 pp). Approximately 1/2 x 3/8". LIMITED EDITION of unknown quantity, usually done in 50 - 80 copies at most. Green leather cover which is rubbed and has a few spots on the rear cover, paper label on front cover, wire clasp. A very good copy, scarce. (Bradbury, Burt Randle, 5)
The miniature books published by Burt Randle were usually "photographic reproductions of his [Randle's] very small handwriting" according to Bradbury. This is a very tiny collection of some of Kipling's inspirational poetry. "Lest we forget".
Portsmouth Plaza. The Cradle of San Francisco.
San Francisco: John Henry Nash, 1932. 464 pp. Approximately 7 1/2 x 10 3/4". First Edition. One of 1,000 unnumbered copies. Slipcase in fair condition with case cracked, tape repairs, original paper lable on spine; Vellum-backed marbled boards, some wear to board edges, gilt lettering on vellum, which is slightly dirty and peeling in a few places, interior is bright with no foxing, errata slip tipped in at rear, in very good+ condition.
A beautiful, privately printed book about the history of San Francisco with profuse illustrations by William Wilke (1879-1958), a San Francisco native. The author, Catherine Coffin Phillips (1874-1942) was an author as well as a printer, book collector and historian.
Prelude to Space
[New York]: Gnome Press, Inc., 1954. 191 pp. 5 1/2 x 8"; First American edition, first printing; Illustrated dust jacket by EMSH with some slight rubbing, original price of $2.50 intact, in very good condition; Blue boards with red lettering on spine, some foxing to page edges, age toning of paper throughout, some stains to front cover, a lovely copy in very good condition.
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 - 2008) was a British science fiction writer, among other things . Best known for his screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey, he was a lifelong advocate of space travel.
Preparing for Federal Radio Operator Examinations
New York: Prentice-Hall, 1948, hardcover. Book has green cloth over boards with minimal stains, some slight corner bumping, age tanning to pages, and pen mark on half-title page, otherwise very clean and neat. No dust jacket. Very good condition.
This book was created to help students qualify for radio operator licenses. It also gives students a background on the theory and practice involved in being a radio operator. The book covers basic radio laws, basic theory and practice, radiotelephony, radiotelegraphy, rules governing commercial radio operators, extracts from the Communications Acts of 1932. It also contains many illustrations of transformers, resistors, amplifiers, etc.
Press-o-grams
(Pettigrew, AR): Burt Randle, 1939. (40 pp). Approximately 1/2 x 5/8". LIMITED EDITION of unknown quantity, usually done in 50 - 80 copies at most. Green leather cover, paper label on front cover, wire clasp. A fine copy, scarce. (Bradbury, Burt Randle, 1)
The miniature books published by Burt Randle were usually "photographic reproductions of his [Randle's] very small handwriting" according to Bradbury. This is Burt Randle's first publication, full of little snippets of sage advice. Very scarce, none currently listed in the trade and only 2 copies in WorldCat.
Pretty Polly, A Novel Panorama Picture Book
London: Ernest Nister, [1897]. Unpaginated. 7 3/4 x 9 1/2"; Red cloth backstrop with pictorial paste-down cover, edge wear to boards, cracked hinges, gift inscription on front free endpaper, four double page chromolithographic pop-ups in various conditions (one is damaged and one is mostly missing), some spotting and loose/torn pages, printed in Bavaria by Ernest Nister, "as is" in good condition only.
A beautifully produced book with lovely monochrome illustrations along with the chromolithograph pop-ups and accompanying stories. Very nice stories and poems for children, including the title stoy about the bird Polly, The Horse Parade, At the Sea, and The Rat Princess, among others.
Printing Throughout the World
Salt Lake City, UT: R. T. Porte & Son Printers, 1929. 144 pp. Approximately 10 x 10". First Limited Edition of 483 copies, this being #67. SIGNED by discoverer, R. T. Porte. Marbled paper-covered boards, cream paper-covered spine with 12 tipped-in illustrations, deckle edges, some foxing to pastedowns, red mark on spine title, otherwise in near fine condition. Marbled slip case is broken and missing a side so is barely functional. Only including it as it is somewhat scare and may perhaps be reparable.
A travelogue of the author's discoveries in printing as practiced around the world in places including the Far East, Cuba, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Peking, New Guinea, New Zealand, Java, India and Europe.
Private Ownership or Socialism
Philadelphia: Dorrance and Company, 1925. First Edition, Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. 218pp; Book has minimal wear to edges and spine, minor corner bumping, some shelfwear; some foxing to fore-edges; no dust jacket. Interesting chapter titles include: The Sixteenth Amendment - Unconstitutional; Taxation and the Courts; Representation of income in Corporate Control; Basis of Agreement Between Japan and United States.