Search Results: Titles starting with U from Rare Illustrated Books

Paris: Office Technique Pour l'Utilisation de l'Acier, 1935. First Edition. This impressive publication is a record of a competition for a grand large-scale exhibition building at La Defense on the outskirts of Paris. The competition was organised by O.T.U.A., publishers of the magazine l'Acier [steel], to exemplify the spectacular possibilities of steel in modern building. Thirteen invited entrants accepted the challenge with varying success. Results range through art deco monumental, severe modernist, and near-visionary. Detailed information is given for each entry: area plans, perspective views, plans, elevations, engineering details and calculations, materials and services. Folio, numerous photogravure plates, plans, elevations and details, black leather spine, coloured decorative boards edged with white leather (scuffed). Binding signed 'Barast', apparently one of a number of special copies for presentation, this copy numbered '8' and inscribed to M. Bruneton.

London: George Routledge, 1890. First edition. GREENAWAY, Kate. First edition, second issue, retaining three full-page illustrations absent from future editions. Profusely illustrated in colour, this is Greenaway's first work with Edmund Evans, the printer famous for his mastery of the wood block print. The colour printing process used in these early books was quite innovative, involving photographing Greenaway's original watercolours onto specially prepared wooden blocks, one for each of the colours used. Large octavo, original illustrated papered boards, rebacked, faint occasional spotting, a very good copy of the first edition in fresh condition.

London: William Heinemann, 1909. Very good. Rackham, Arthur. One of the less common of Rackham's works and a beautiful example from the Golden Age of Illustration. It tells of a water-sprite, Undine, who can gain an immortal soul only through marriage to a mortal. The tale is ideally suited to Rackham's art nouveau style, capturing, as he does, both the tale's medieval chivalry and its roots in northern folklore. "It would seem unlikely that one of the most ethereal creatures to capture the imagination of translators and illustrators in the nineteenth-century should have been created by a Prussian officer and inspired by the writings of Paracelsus, the founder of the science of toxicology. Nevertheless, this was the pedigree of Undine, the heroine of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's romance of the same name, who would inspire operas, ballets and numerous adaptations. Her elusive form can be glimpsed behind Hans Christian Andersen's ‘The Little Mermaid' and Dvo ák's Rusalka, a symbol of all that… Read More

Chicago, 1900. Rare plan of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900 detailing each of the exhibition spaces occupied by the different countries, listing the products that each nation has chosen to present to the world as a revelation, all contained within a little promotional pamphlet advertising American food exports. Small octavo, bound in illustrated paper wrappers, 100 mm x 127 mm, 18 pages, a near fine copy.

Lisbon, 1952. 'The big-game hunter does not go to the North Pole to track elephants or to Africa to shoot Polar bears. Nature confines certain of her species within restricted geographical limits. Thus, the genuine sardine, Clupea Pilchardus, is only found off the Atlantic shores of Portugal, France and Spain...'. Octavo, illustrated wrappers, 23 pages, near fine.

Sydney: Published by the 'Sunday Sun', 1930. Rare early Ginger Meggs adventure titled 'Danny is Delayed' (whole page in colour), with the regular Sunbeams letters section and a further page of cartoons in colour by Syd Nichols and May Gibbs (Tiggy Touchwood, half page). Broadsheet newspaper supplement of four pages measuring 420 x 600 mm, two pages of cartoons printed in colour and two pages of black & white text; in excellent condition.

Sydney: Published by the "Sunday Sun and the Guardian, 1934. 'Bib and Bub' gumnut baby comic strip by May Gibbs (half page in colour) with a rare Ginger Meggs adventure titled 'Luke's Lapse' (whole page in colour). Includes the regular Sunbeams letters section and a further half page cartoon by Tom Glover ('Skeeter in Fairyland'). May Gibbs was Australia's first female cartoonist. Broadsheet newspaper supplement of four pages measuring 420 x 600 mm, two pages of cartoons printed in colour and two pages in black & white; in excellent condition.