Books about Books

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1814. Book. Near Fine. Cloth. First Thus. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Original edition, newly rebound in sympathetic brown cloth, title stamped in gold foil on spine panel, new endsheets, new head- and tail-bands. Approx. 8 3/16" x 5 1/8". Text block edges darkened by age, interior clean and fully intact. 373,[vi],25-88,[8],[ii],180 pp., complete as issued. Contains Parts I (Classical Authors, Misc. Greek and Latin), II (France, Italy, Mathematics; English Literature, History, Travel, Illus. Works, Early Typography), III (Books of Wit and Drollery, Humour and Fancy, Magic, Witchcraft, Alchemy, Chiromancy, Drama), and IV (Appendix), all published in 1814, also Triphook's Catalogues issued in Feb. 1814 (+ addenda listing his 26 publications 1810-14 and others forthcoming) and Jan. 1815. The 4 Longman catalogues are comprised by 4,123 entries, the two Triphook by 4,327, generally providing short descriptions, title/author, place of publication, date, a few… Read More

Tucson, Arizona:: Spaceheater Editions,, 2015.. Edition of 50. 6.5 x 9"; 40 pages including covers. Acid-free French Paper. Images printed using archival inkjet ink with three-color foil stamping on the cover, the title page, and the back cover. Interior flame sheets are loose-inserted in a slot in each interior folio. Hard-bound using a multi-needle coptic stitch with sewn-on hard covers made of acid-free solid-core black museum board. Signed and numbered by the artist. Laid in acid-free phase box. Philip Zimmerman: "I started doing research on the history of book-burning after seeing a video posted by the Islamic State/Daesh showing jihadists burning all the books from the Mosul Library in Iraq. I found that burning books has a long and infamous history dating back a couple of thousand years. Most people know about the Nazi's burning books as well as the famous Ray Bradbury book 'Fahrenheit 451', but it turns out that almost every authoritarian regime (and some are nominally… Read More

Adrian Wilson and Joyce Lancaster Wilson:
The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle
A splendid book in its own right, the Wilsons' book on the Nuremberg Chronicle is a masterpiece. Quoting from the front fold:
This is the first work in English on the entire production of an early illustrated book. The survival of page by page layouts for a book of the incunabula period, as well as the original contracts for its illustration,for its printing and for the allotment of profits and unsold books is unique to the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493...The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle... is a landmark in the study of incunabula.
Lavishly illustrated in both color and black/white, this scholarly and very readable book explores the entire process of making one of the most famous early woodblock-illustrated books in the world. The Nuremberg Chronicle appeared in 1493, first as a Latin edition and then in German translation.
The late Adrian Wilson was an internationally prominent book designer working in San… Read More

Catalogus van een groote verzameling … prent-kunst, door voornaame Italiansche, Fransche, Engelsche, Nederlandsche en andere Meesiers, waar by veele proefdrukken. Mitsgaders losse en gebonden prent-werken. Keurlyke optische Instrumenten, als telescopen, door J. van der Bilt, Nachtkyker, door Dollond, Brand-Spiegel en Illuminatie-kasten, kunstige geschilderde Stellen Glaasen, Toverlantaarn, met beweegende en andere Voorwerpen, Chamber-Obscura, Kunst-Stukken, door Kampman en andere magnetische Rariteiten. Laastelyk eenige fraaye Kunst-Kasten. Al het welke ... nagelaaten door wyllen den Kunst-Minaar den Heer Jan de Groot, op Maandag den 10 December 1804, en volgende dagen, zal verkocht worden, te Amsterdam, ... door de makelaars: Philipppus van der Schley, Jan de Bosch Jeronimusz, Jan Yver, Cornelis Sebille Roos, Roelof Meurs Pruyssenaar en Jacobus Vinkeles. ... Te Amsterdam, by de Wed. H. W. en C. Dronsberg, P. den Hengst en Zoon, en Jan Yver, Boekverkoopers (1804). (2), 128, (2) pages. Cont. Dutch… Read More

1984. Cloth. Near Fine. Gray linen portfolio, 26.5cm x 35cm, housing 12 signed and numbered wood engravings, 25cm x 33cm, each in their own bifolium. 6.5cm scratch to paste-down title label. Otherwise fine. Numbered 15 out of 350 copies. Engravings of Lao-Tsu, Michelangelo, Erasmus, Rembrandt, Goya, Beethoven, Daumier, Lincoln, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gandhi, Dorothy Day.

NY: George J. Coombes. Very Good with no dust jacket; Boards lightly toned and soiled.. 1886. Large Paper Edition. Hardcover. One of 100 copies, numbered and signed by Coombes on limitation page. Light green paper-covered boards with printed spine label. Index. Illustrations. Many pages uncut. A collection of bibliophilic essays by the Scottish author and folklorist of The Blue (and other colors) Fairy Book fame, about literary forgeries, Japanese bogie-books, parish registers, bookmen at Rome, bibliomania in France, bookbindings, Elzevirs, and a bookman's purgatory. Laid in is a four page MLS dated July 25, 1885, by drama scholar Brander Matthews to Coombes on Savile Club stationery. The letter advocates that Coombes publish this collection of essays, negotiates price and terms of publication in America and overseas, and asks if Coombes would be interested in a collection of poems about sleep. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 177 pages .

NY: Philmac Typographers, 1939. First edition. Published NY: Philmac Typographers, 1939. 4to. stapled wrappers, 7 1/2" x 10 1/2", 16pp., includes 2pp, type specimens and 15" x 21" fold-up of Lincoln's Gettsyburg Address in 2-color specimen. 2-color ads throughout, including Viking Press, "John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath". Very good. . 1st. Soft Cover. Very Good/No Jacket, As Issued. 4to.

New York: Argosy Bookstore, 1980. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. 48pp. Floral paper over boards, linen backing. Clean, unworn condition. This book is inscribed and signed by 8 participants of the University of Denver Antiquarian Book Seminar/Workshop held in August 1982. The participants were highly respected antiquarian book scholars, dealers and researchers. Laid-in is the four page biographical profile of the faculty members, plus the daily seminar schedule. A few handwritten notations have been written on the schedule.

First Edition, First printing of the 1959 edition "With Revisions, An Introduction and a New Chapter on Writing by E. B. White".

Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma. Very Good in Good dust jacket; Jacket price-clipped and tattered.. 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. xl, 360pp, illustrations, index. The former FBI Agent compiled a bibliography of 1,126 titles related to American murders, from a 1675 sermon directed at two servants who murdered their employer through titles published in 1900. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .

First edition hardcover of the definitive science fiction resource for collectors and booksellers.
Currey covers all the major US and UK authors to 1977. While this is a limitation it is nonetheless a vital reference work within its scope.

NY: Bibliographical Society of America. Very Good in Very Good dust jacket; Page tops foxed.. 1988. Hardcover. 0914930125 . Red cloth binding with clear plastic jacket. References, illustrations. xxiv, 1078pp. Bibliography of the German publisher's publications. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .