Search Results: Private Press from Rare Illustrated Books

Cleveland: The World Syndicate Publishing Co. An alphabet book picturing children from all around the world in their national costumes. Folio, a very good copy. Rare.

San Francisco: Printed by James and Cecil Johnson at the Windsor Press, 1929. LINKS, Julian. Numbered limited edition of 225 copies signed by the author, of which this is number 88. The Ackymals is one of Williamson's short, standalone pieces of fiction from a prolific body of work that extends to well over fifty titles. James and Cecil Johnson of the Windsor Press were born in Sydney in 1897 and 1900 respectively. After serving in the First World War they established the Windsor Press in San Francisco. Slim octavo; 24pp, original decorated papered boards with gilt title on cloth spine, fore and bottom edges uncut, a fine copy in slipcase showing mild wear.

Mosman, N.S.W.: The Pump Press, 1978. Limited Edition. Fine. Number 55 of 80 copies. Fine press publication regarding the work of Beatrice Webb (1858 -1943) and Sidney Webb (1859 -1947), noted English Fabian Socialists who visited Australia in 1898 addressing the United Trades and Labour Council in Adelaide. "Mrs Webb... remarked that public opinion in Australia and in all the colonies was strangely backward on the subject of factory legistlation. It should be the business of all trade unionists to destroy the idea that unregulated individual bargaining was the best for the worker. It was the restriction of the hours of labour that guaranteed the personal freedom of those who had to work..." [Beatrice Webb, Adelaide, 1898.]. Octavo, original string-bound paper wrappers, 8 pages, 2 photographic portraits, a fine copy.

London: Print Collectors' Club, 1931. MERYON, Charles.. A collection of dark and moody Parisian scenes by master French printmaker, Charles Meryon (1821 -1868) paired with an accomplished essay by the curator of prints of prints and drawing at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Martin Hardie. Limited edition - this is number 422 of 500 - printed at The Baynard Press. Small quarto, 80 pages, introductory text followed by 22 plates in collotype, quarter bound cloth, original printed papered boards, some rubbing to spine, occasional spotting, a very good copy.

Montpellier, 1925. Limited Edition. 'Dieu fait le mal sans malice; Avec des oiseaux tués Et le ralenti des limaces Il commence ma statue Il répare les garnitures De la mer, ses haies de houx, Son système de granit, Toujours mû par les mêmes roues. Maintenant, stupides oiseaux, Vous abandonnez la cage; Oui, la cage des mes os. Rage, rage, c'en est trop! J'aurai la clef du prodige, Je saurai où sont mesa mis, De mourir aucun n'avait l'âge; Mon Dieu où les avez-vous mis?' -CRI ECRIT, JEAN COCTEAU Translating to a 'written cry', the poem's title holds the poet's call to God, placing it before us on the page. 'I will know where my friends are', the poet speaks, demandingly. 'They were too young to die. God, where have you put them?' A strong modern poem by Cocteau; printed with just four lines to a page, the wild, mad voice of the bereaved becomes louder. With a frontispiece by Henri de La Jonquière. Strictly limited to fifty copies on papier de Hollande numbered 1 through 50. This is… Read More

Paris: Meynial, 1925. First Edition. George Barbier. A complete and excellent set of the five annual issues illustrated with a total of sixty beautiful pochoir plates, complete with decorated pochoir title pages. 'Falbalas and Franfreluches' (Frippery and Finery: Fashion Diaries) represents a literary and artistic collaboration of unusual elegance and sophistication. French illustrator, George Barbier (1882 - 1932) spared no effort in the making of this beautiful collection, using the finest pigments and up to thirty stencils per print to create images of the highest quality reflecting fashionable themes of the day. The plates portray romance amidst exotic lands and ages past, including a native American idyll on the Missouri, a languid mistress cocooned in a hammock in the tropical Antilles, high baroque debauchery, and, of course, a myriad of lovers depicted in Paris at the height of the chic 1920s. Each annual includes twelve pages of fine writing by Barbier's contemporaries in the Parisian scene… Read More

London: Warren Editions, 1972. Limited Edition. GIli, Phillida. The mutual obligations of hospitality, 'For each person, find a silvery-brown Manx kipper. This is not always easy but is always worth it. Grill these gently. For extra-greedy friends, add a lump of unsalted butter to melt slowly over each kipper...' followed by recipes for each meal of the day divided between the seasons of winter and summer. Limited edition of 200 copies for private distribution, with two illustrations by Phillida Gili. Bound in printed wrappers. concertina fold, 13 x 63 cm (unfolded); covers marked, corners creased, two annotations on the rear panel, lovely condition within. Rare.

London: World's End Press, 1984. Signed Limited Edition. A short and curious fairy tale illustrated with hand-coloured woodblock prints by British aritist and printmaker, Anne Brunskill (1923 - 2018). Translation by Helen Attlee. Limited edition of 120 copies signed by the translator and the artist. Quarto, bound in illustrated papered boards (back board a little rubbed) aach original hand-coloured print protected by a tissue guard.; a fine copy in a slipcase showing some moderate external wear.

London: Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, 1928. YOUNG, Blamire. First edition, limited to 750 copies. Housed in decorative Batik paper boards and printed on rich cotton rag, with spirited colour plates by Blamire Young. The author, Viscount Hastings, studied under Diego Rivera and was the 16th Earl of Huntingdon. Quarto, twelve tipped-in colour plates (including frontispiece); original decorated papered boards with gilt text to cloth backstrip, some wear to the extremities of the boards, with the small ownership label of Rollo Hammet, light browning to free endpaper, otherwise a very good copy.

Paris: Andre Delpeuch, 1927. AGHION, Janine. Deluxe Pochoir Edition. The deluxe pochoir edition of Toussaint's erotic Middle Eastern Tales superbly illustrated in Art Deco style by Janine Aghion. Bound in original printed wrappers, 185mm x 260mm, 160 pages, handmade Marais vellum paper, uncut, 8 pochoir illustrations by Janine Aghion and line drawings throughout; edition limited to 450 copies; a very good copy.

Oxford: H. Daniel, 1890. Gilt Morocco. Edition limited to one hundred copies. 'They that in play can do the thing they would Having an instinct throned in reasons place/ -And every perfect action hath the grace Of indolence or thoughtless hardihood- These are the best: yet be there workmen good Who lose in earnestness control of face Or reckon means and rapt in effort base Reach to their end by steps well understood. Me whom thou sawest of late strive with the pains Of one who spends his strength to rule his nerve- Even as a painter breathlessly who strains His scarcely moving hand lest it should swerve- Behold me now free from the care that stains And master of the art I chose to serve.'. Large octavo bound in gilt morocco by Morley of Oxford, spine in raised bands, top-edge gilt and others uncut, rich green marbled endpapers; external hinges a bit worn, a beautiful copy otherwise.

London: Printed by the Ditchling Press for the Hand and Flower Press, 1949. First Edition. Being a book of common herbs with etchings by Betty Shaw Lawrence together with curious notes on their histories and uses for the furtherance of loveliness and love by Thomas Fassam. Edition of 260 numbered copies signed by Thomas Fassam. Small quarto, half brown morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with spine in raised bands with gilt lettering, top-edge gilt and others uncut, engraved title-page by Alfred Richard Lane, twenty full page etchings signed by Betty Shaw-Lawrence; a fine copy.

Sydney: Sunnybrook Press, no date. First Edition. Poem published by Australian poet and journalist, Kenneth Slessor (1901 -1971) in veneration of James Tyrell's wonderful old bookshop. "Broadsheets there are, of horrid hangman's tales; Yellow-stained maps from some forgotten book; Journals of convict years in New South Wales, And Captain Cook." [K.S.]. Single folded sheet, 250 mm x 153 mm, containing one printed poem, with an illustration of a seated monk reading, a very good example.

London: Printed by the Curwen Press for William Jackson, 1929. AUSTEN, John. Decorations by John Austen. A lovely example of the fine typography and high book production standards of the Curwen Press. Numbered limited edition of 850 copies. Large octavo, quarter parchment, pale green cloth, top-edge gilt and others uncut, plates and vignettes throughout; a significant jagged perforation affects the spine, otherwise in good order, internally clean and attractive.

Paris: Editions Rene Kieffer, 1921. KING, Jessie M.. Rare French edition of Kipling's story decorated with twenty-nine hand-coloured pochoir plates by leading Scottish book illustrator, Jessie King (1875-1949). Of particular interest is the remarkable snakeskin binding by Rene Kieffer (1875-1964) with matched oval gilt blocked cameos of lovers, designed by Kieffer in collaboration with the modernist tastemaker and artist, Pierre Emile Legrain. Other beautiful examples of shark and snakeskin bindings by Legrain and Kieffer appear in Alistair Duncan's Art Nouveau and Art Deco Bookbinding (London, 1989). Edition limited to 500 copies, 235 x 185mm, 96 pages with 29 pochoir illustrations, pictorial title, high quality Japan paper; handsome in gilt blocked snakeskin binding, patterned endpapers, a fine copy.

Paris: René Kieffer Editeur, 1929. BRAUN, G.. Limited edition No. 1 of 50 printed on Papier du Japon. Illustrated by G. Braun, a dazzling gemoetric cover with art deco borders on every page. Mac Orlan's "The House of Sickening Return" was an early influence on French polymath, Boris Vian. A stylish publication, the twentieth title in the L'Amour des Livres collection, edited by Rene Kieffer. Octavo, 177 pp. with decorated borders.

Paris: L'Édition, 1922. Marcel Francois. An attractive work of French erotica, with art deco illustrations by Marcel Francois. One of only twelve examples printed on Japon Impérial, of which this is number seven. Edition limited, bound in original printed wrappers, 145 mm x 225 mm, 112 pages, 2 full page and many intricate coloured vignettes throughout, uncut; a fine copy.

Edinburgh: Printed by the Ballantyne Press for George Allen, 1902. In this exquisitely well-printed book, Ruskin eloquently discusses the proper education of women, among other things. Drawing examples from literature and poetry, from the work of romantic poets like Dante Rosetti and great playwrights like William Shakespeare, Ruskin argues for the moral superiority of the fairer sex, and, at the mercy of his velvety prose, Ruskin's picture of the ideal woman shows a beauitful and nurturing domestic goddess. Elegant typography composed within decorative floral borders. Octavo, original gilt-lettered vellum with cloth ties, edges uncut, a fine copy.

San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1929. First Edition. One of an edition of 325 copies signed by the author. Printed by the Brothers Johnson at the Windsor Press, handset type on handmade Arches paper. Finely reasoned essay on poetry venturing from the songs of the Navajo to a lengthy discussion on Chinese poems and Wordsworth. 'It is not necessary that culture bring about the death of poetry, as it did in the Rome of Virgil. The cynics are wrong who see in our future no place for an art which belongs, they say, to the childhood of the race. The head of a man and the heart of a child working together as in the Chinese have made possible with one race and may make possible with any race, even in the thick of the most intricate culture, the persistence of the purest poetry.' Witter Bynner. Limited edition of 325 signed copies. Small slim quarto, original red cloth, small neat previous owner's inscription on inner cover, back board partially sunned, else fine.

San Francisco: Printed by Cecil and James Johnson at the Windsor Press, 1932. Limited Edition. ANGELO, Valenti. With a delicate decorated frontispiece by Valenti Angelo. Edition of 150 copies. Slim octavo, original papered boards, old bookseller's stamp on front endpaper, a near-fine copy of an elegant production.