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

London, England: Eugrammia Press, 1965. cloth, paper wrappers, both volumes enclosed in a slipcase. Fournier, Pierre Simon. oblong 4to. cloth, paper wrappers, both volumes enclosed in a slipcase. Facsimile of the 1742 manual accompanied by the 20 page introduction. 2 volumes. Printed in an edition limited to 600 copies. Loosely inserted in this copy is the 12 page publisher's catalogue describing this book and others they published. One joint split about one inch from opening of slipcase. Minor wear to slipcase. Else a pristine copy of this scarce facsimile. Reproduced from the copy in the Printing Library of the St. Bride Institute. Thirty-three plates depict samples of the types cut by Fournier c. 1742, which then appeared in his Manuel Typographique. Introduction by Mosley, renowned typography professor and then librarian at the St. Bride Printing Library. Printed in collotype by Louis van Leer & Co. of Amsterdam on rag cream paper. A consummate artist and craftsman, Fournier (1712 - 1768)… Read More

New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1990. cloth-backed boards covered with patterned paper, in facsimile of an original Remondini pattern specially executed by Henry Morris, leather spine label. Bird & Bull Press. 8vo. cloth-backed boards covered with patterned paper, in facsimile of an original Remondini pattern specially executed by Henry Morris, leather spine label. 55, (5) pages. A first edition limited to 215 numbered copies. A fine copy with prospectus loosely inserted. Remondini and Rizzi is set in Perpetua and printed by letterpress on Johannot mouldmade paper by Henry Morris at the Bird & Bull Press (Berger B36). Italian block-printed papers were the start of the collection of decorated papers that Tanya Schmoller and her husband Hans gathered together for over twenty years. The use of woodblocks to transfer designs to cloth and paper can be traced back in Europe to the fourteenth century. In the region of what is now Italy there were several firms supplying these colorful papers, the most… 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

PARIS : CHEZ SILVESTRE LIBRAIRIE , 1842. Bella edizione del 1842 di questa importante opera bibliografica in forma di dizionario scritta da Jacques Charles Brunet. I primi quattro tomi di dizionario, l'ultimo di tavola metodica. L'opera è composta da cinque tomi ed è completa. Questa importante opera bibliografica descrive la grande maggioranza di libri importanti stampati prime del 1880. Oltre ai commenti contiene un indispensabile collazione di singoli libri. In ottime condizioni. Copertina in mezza pergamena coeva con titolo su tassello al dorso in ottime condizioni generali con lievi usuure ai margini e dorso. Legatura in buone condizioni. Pagine in buone condizioni con fioriture. In 8. Dim. 23,5x17 cm. Pp. XXV+(1)+823+(1), 786+(1), 896, 835+(1), XXXI+(1)+846+(1). Peso Kg. 7,266 Beautifule dition of 1842 of this important bibliographic work in form of dictionary written by Jacques Charles Brunet. the first four tomes of dicitionary, the last tome of chart. The work is… Read More

8vo., [8], xiv, 618, 64, plus indexes, [4] pages.Full leather binding with five raised bands and gilt title. Inner gilt dentelles with marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Leather to joints, leading edges of boards, and corners rubbed with marginal loss on corners. Corners bumped. Minor scratching and indents to boards without loss. Light foxing for first +/-30 pages and sporadically to a few subsequent pages. Heavy foxing to rear end-paper and final page of indexes. Otherwise text very clean. Very good condition except for defects reported.
Three plates present of the four for regular copies listed by Windle & Pippin "seldom all present in regular or large-paper copies" (Thomas Frognall Dibdin 1776-1847 A Bibliography, New Castle, Oak Knoll Press, 1999, p.42) – missing the frontispiece portrait of Dibdin. The cuts at pp. 250, 254, and 484 are on india paper which Windle & Pippin note are "sometimes found" in copies (ibid. p,43).
One of 500 copies printed.
Windle & Pippin A11d.
As a heavy and high… Read More

[4], viii, 71 pages.
One of one hundred copies. Boards covered with glazed cartonnage gilt (noted by Windle & Pippin, p134, as an original binding).Loss of cartonnage to the spine. Corners bumpedand rounded with loss. Heavy foxing to inner-covers, end-papers and throughout text to varying degrees. Fair condition for a very rare item.The first of three French responses to Dibdin's Tour in France and Germany, comprising of a translation of Dibdin's thirtieth letter from his Tour. What marks this publication out is the introduction written by the Parisian printer Georges Crapelet contesting Dibdin's veracity on occasions and criticising his general writing style as being too concerned with effect, and over-complicated (" Il vise singulièrement à l'effet, ne dit jamais rien simplement ").
Crapelet contrasts Dibdin's petulance and perpetual enthusiasm with the patience and contemplation he argues is necessary for bibliographical studies.
That being said he also 'tips his printer's hat' to the quality of… Read More

Privately Printed: [London], n.d. [1949]. First Editions. Hardcover. Small Octavo, 58, 38, 38, 32, 30, 24, 32 pages; VG; rebound in full blue leather, gilt lettering to spine; marbled endpapers; with seperate title and half-title for each part; lacking wraps; NOTE: Shelved in Room G. 1308156. Special Collections.

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 2009. First Edition. Fine. Signed, Limited to 500 copies, Large Quarto [13.25x10in]; xv, 324 pp., frontispiece of Kings River Canyon view of Mt. Hutchings, 92 images and illustrations, some in color throughout text, extensive appendices, endnotes, references, bibliography and index; Forest green linen cloth covers with black linen back strip, gilt lettering on spine, inset paper label with title and illustration of Yosemite on front, watercolor illustration of Yosemite Valley from Mariposa Trail [1889, Andrew Melrose] on front and back end papers; Negligible shelf wear, minor scratch to lower spine, signed by author on half-title page and four-page prospectus tipped in. [BCC #225]. James Mason Hutchings (1820-1902) was one of the many Englishmen that came to California in 1849 for the Gold Rush. He made his fortune in mining and was one of the early promoters of the wonders of Yosemite Valley and the National Park. As a businessman, he established a hotel… Read More

Complete with 18 A3 sized photogravure image plates in six volumes illustrated by Frederick Barnard, and numerous woodblock engravings by other artists. Descriptive content written by the Author Thomas Archer. Originally supplied to subscribers only.
Quote from the back cover:
"The characters which Charles Dickens has created are living, moving personalities in the minds and imaginations of the large majority of English men and women. To portray these characters in a manner which shall satisfy the aspirations of the countless multitudes of the author's admirers is a success of which any artist may feel justly proud."
Pages mostly clean with some light foxing to outer areas of the plates. Bound well with boards and cloth binding, some fading, marks and bumping to external covers.
Weight 0.76kg x 6 volumes

London: Royal Asiatic Society / Philip Wilson, 2010. cloth, dust jacket. Illuminated Manuscripts. 4to. cloth, dust jacket. 214 pages. First edition, first printing. A fine copy. The Shahnamah of Firdausi produced for the Timurid Muhammad Juki (a grandson of Timur) in the 1440s is one of the finest surviving Persian manuscripts produced between the heyday of Baysunghur's academy in Herat and the appearance of Bihzad. It has thirty-one exquisite miniature paintings depicting scenes from the epic tale and fine illumination on two pages. The manuscript was presented to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1834 by Lt. Col. C. J. Doyle who had probably received it as a parting gift from Lord Hastings on leaving India. It had previously been in the Mughal Imperial Library and bears the seals of the Mughal emperors Babur, Humayun, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzheb; there is an autograph note by Shah Jahan and further notes reveal its subsequent history. This monograph written by Dr. Barbara Brend is the… Read More

Vancouver, B.C., Canada: HM-Van, 2020. cased in thin boards covered with metallic blue paper, paper spine label. Heavenly Monkey. 8vo. cased in thin boards covered with metallic blue paper, paper spine label. (6) pages. Limited to 30 numbered copies printed by Rollin Milroy of Heavenly Monkey. A fine copy. Set in Cancelleresca Bastarda and printed with a Pratt-Albion foolscap handpress on dampened Richard de Bas paper. In 1516 the type cutter Francesco Griffo turned his hand to publishing, issuing an edition of Petrarch in a new and very compact italic. The book included a brief foreword from the printer, laying out the intenions and hopes for his new press. It is the only known text written by him. Fragments & Glimpses included an English translation; this book presents both the original Italian and the translation, on facing pages.

Windsor Locks, CT: C.H. Dexter and Sons, n.d.. Trade catalogue: from the paper mill of C.H. Dexter & Sons, established in the early years of the 19th century, with examples of nineteen colour paper samples, beautifully illustrated in the style of art nouveau. Stationery fetish aside, this is an important document in the development of printing history, with historical and cultural significance. Quarto, bound in pictorial wrappers, sewn, original ties intact. rubbed on rear panel and nicked at edges, a very good copy, internally clean and unmarked.

Katoomba: Wayzgoose Press, 2007. cloth, illustrated endpapers, black and red dust jacket. Wayzgoose Press. small folio. cloth, illustrated endpapers, black and red dust jacket. 177 pages. Limited to 500 copies. A near fine copy. Carolynne Skinner, an Australian-based publisher and arts promoter, in writing about this book states: In compiling The Wayzgoose Affair, Jadwiga Jarvis has used excerpts from her correspondence with friends, colleagues, supporters and, occasionally, detractors, to weave a story both instructive and amusing. She records the setbacks, successes, irritations, and even disasters with a wicked wit and an often sharp and critical tone. No holds are barred. She begins with the setting up of the press, its search for a permanent home, and more-or-less chronologically descries the technical challenges, frustrations and pleasures of each project, complete with illustrations.

The Library Companion; or, The Young Man's Guide, and The Old Man's Comfort, in the Choice of a Library. by the Reverend T F Dibdin. Second Edition. London: Printed for Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, Fionsbury-Square; and J Major, Fleet-Street. 1825. W Nicol, Printer, Successor to W Bulmer and Co., Shakspeare Press. Two Volumes in One. 899 pages.
Condition: NOT a library book. Modern 3/4 leather with marble boards. Two volumes in one. Sound binding, Clean interior with almost no foxing. No crimps, stamps, signatures or notes found within. Excellent condition for a book from 1825. Please review photos and ask for more if necessary to make your best buying decision!
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**Attention International Buyers** For all standard international book… Read More