The Literature of Papermaking 1390-1800

Chillicothe: Mountain House Press, 1925. Hardcover. First Edition: Limited to 190 numbered copies signed by the author. This copy being No. 171 and signed by Dard Hunter on the limitation page. 12.5 x 17.5in. 48pp. 22 illustrations and 24 reproductions of title pages tipped-in. Handmade paper. Bound by Peter Franck in full vellum with the date of publication hand-tooled at the base. Leather title label in gilt. Original cloth clamshell case with calf spine titled in gilt. [BAKER 276; HUNTER 71]. "The Literature of Papermaking" was the first of Hunter's sumptuous folios on the history and art of papermaking, which, according to Baker, was bound in "three quarter natural linen fabric" by Franck. The present volume deviates splendidly from that description and conforms to only two copies mentioned in Baker's biography of Hunter "By His Own Labor": "in fact, the only known fine bindings that Franck did on "The Literature of Papermaking" were for his and Hunter's personal copies. Hunter's copy is beautifully bound in full vellum with the title, author, and date of issue on the spine, as well as the title and printer's mark in the front cover" Presumably this copy, No. 171, is Franck's own and a sibling copy to Hunter's. At the time of publication only 180 copies had been sold and it stands to reason that Franck would have bound his and Hunter's personal copies amongst the later numberings, no less because this copy was not bound with the photogravure frontispiece of Dard Hunter's Mill (perhaps to offset the aesthetic and financial indulgence of their own copies). [BAKER 113]. NEAR FINE in Fine clamshell case. Shows the handsome bookplate of book collector Estelle Doheny at the front paste-down, several pages with light natural off-set, else Fine. The case is flawless. As pictured.