1. [Abbey, Edwin Austin (cover design and illustrations)]; Herrick, Robert. SELECTIONS FROM THE POETRY OF ROBERT HERRICK. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1882. First Edition. Large 4to (9½" x 12"). pp. 188. Unsigned binding design by Edwin Austin Abbey in gold, chartreuse, red and black of a radiating sun and floating flowers extending around the spine to the rear board on beige cloth. a.e.g. Includes pictorial title page, 42 full page wood engraved illustrations as well as wood engraved head and tail vignette illustrations after Abbey. The gift box has a rococo style border surrounding the titles. A portion of the original paper wrapper is present.
This was Abbey's first book, and its popularity pushed Abbey's work to the forefront of the illustrators of the time, spawning numerous imitators. “The cover design of this book... is an early manifestation of Art Nouveau influence from across the Atlantic, in the somewhat vibrating, floating design, in the choice of green, gold and red on a pale beige cloth, and in the new freedom of the hand-lettering” (Turn of a Century 108). A landmark book in the history of American trade binding design.
A very good + copy with 3 faint moisture marks and rubbing to the gold of the sun on the front board, and a small stain to the rear board. The good original box has cracks to the corners of the top portion; one side of the top portion has its finish removed and a 1½" portion missing. One of the sides of the bottom portion is detached but present and shows signs of a previous repair. One panel of the original paper wrapper is present but wrinkled.
Exceptionally scarce in the original box and with a portion of the original wrapper present. Inscription of "Christmas 1882" in pencil on the inside of the top portion of the box. (1281)
$450
|
|
|
2. [Armstrong, Margaret (binding, dust jacket and slipcase design]; Reed (McCullough), Myrtle. A WEAVER OF DREAMS. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1911. First Edition. 8vo (5¼” x 8½”). pp.374. Unsigned binding design by Margaret Armstrong in gold, white, pale green, and pink on periwinkle blue cloth of a fire screen with floral and butterfly decorations and a central panel containing titles. t.e.g. The dust jacket repeats the cover border in purple and has advertisements for other Reed novels on the rear panel and the flaps. The slipcase also repeats the cover border in purple on the side panels, and has a paper title label on the spine panel.
A young girl is unlucky in love and loses her boyfriend to another girl. She isolates herself at home and finds the perfect lover in her dreams. This was Reed's final novel, published posthumously after Reed took her own life at the age of 36. One of a series of binding designs Armstrong created on periwinkle cloth for Putnam's romances by Reed.
A fine copy of the book in the original good dust jacket. The dust jacket has a 1½" open tear at the top corner of the rear panel, at the head of the spine panel, and at the bottom of the spine panel. In the original good slipcase with splits to the seams between the spine panel and all but the rear panel, with rubbing to the design at the front edge of both side panels.
Any member of the Armstrong Reed series is exceptionally scarce with both the the dust jacket and slipcase present. GE 212. (1523)
$250
|
|
|
3. [Brock, Charles E. (binding design and illustrations)]; Irving, Washington. THE KEEPING OF CHRISTMAS AT BRACEBRIDGE HALL. London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1906. C8vo (5.4” x 8”). pp. xvi, 267. Unsigned Brock binding design of a repeating vertical pattern of roses and leaves with a central basket of roses and a cartouche with the titles in gold on pale green cloth. Spine with titles and a repeat of the cover motif in gold. t.e.g. In original paper dust jacket with the front board and spine designs repeated in pale green on the ecru paper front and spine panels. Includes color frontis., illustrated title page and 22 full page illustrations in color and chapter headings in black and white by C. E. Brock.
Irving's description of the keeping of Christmas in an old English country house in the late 18th century, originally written as part of Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. which was published serially throughout 1819 and 1820. Part of Dent’s “Series of English Idylls”.
A near fine copy with heavy toning to the endpapers. The very good dust jacket is brittle and has two large chips at the head of the spine panel, and small chips (1/16") to the corners and the bottom of the spine panel; There is scotch tape on the inside of the dust jacket at the join between the spine panels and the side panels, and at the top of each flap join. Skilton 161. (1433)
$125
|
|
|
4. [Decorative Designers (binding design)]; Little, Frances (Mrs. Fannie Caldwell Macaulay). THE LADY AND SADA SAN. New York: The Century Company, 1912. First Edition. 12mo (4¾ x 7¼). pp. 225. Signed Decorative Designers binding design in dark blue, light blue and gold on grey cloth of titles and an Art Nouveau style design with rococo motifs. The spine has the titles in dark blue with a portion of the central cover design motif in dark blue, light blue and gold. The original paper dust jacket cover panel has the titles in dark blue and a portrait of a Japanese woman in a kimono against an orange-red Japanese "Rising Sun". The spine panel titles are repeated with a copy of the book's spine rococo motif all in dark blue. The front and rear panels contain publisher's advertisements in dark blue. Includes full page color frontis. most likely by the same unidentified artist that created the dust jacket.
The sequel to Macaulay's best-selling 1907 epistolary novel, The Lady of the Decoration, which follows the adventures of a young American missionary kindergarten teacher in Hiroshima, Japan before and during the Russo-Japanese War. This sequel follows The Lady back to Japan, to be near her husband while he works in China. During this stay she becomes the chaperone of Sada San, "who is half American dash and the other half the unnameable witchery of a Japanese woman".
A wonderful binding and dust jacket transitional combination where the dust jacket design and the binding design have very little to do with one another -- with the exception of a small nod to the spine decorative motif on the dust jacket spine panel. Here we see the beginnings of the dust jacket as a tool to communicate graphic and advertising information, but where the decorative binding design has not yet lost its power of attraction.
A very good + copy with faint foxing to the front edge and a faint damp stain to the bottom edge of the rear board, with mild paper adhesion at this position from the dust jacket. The dust jacket is moderately soiled and has chipping to the extremities. Exceptionally scarce in the dust jacket. (1522)
$400
|
|
|
5. Earhart, Amelia. 20 HRS. 40 MIN. OUR FLIGHT IN THE FRIENDSHIP. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1928). 8vo (5¾” x 8¼”). pp. 314. Later printing. Dark blue woven cloth with the titles on the front board and spine in orange. Dust jacket in dark blue, orange, grey and white with an image of titles and Ms. Earhart with a silhouette of the Friendship behind her; quotations from the book on the rear panel, and publisher's advertising on the flaps. Includes frontis. portrait and 63 additional black and white illustrations after photographs. The first edition first printing was published by G. P. Putnam and Sons; Grosset and Dunlap leased the original plates to make inexpensive reprints of the book after Putnam completed the earliest printings.
In 1928 Earhart was invited to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane. On June 17, 1928 after several weather delays, Amelia Earhart flew as a passenger in a plane named Friendship with co-pilots Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and Louis "Slim" Gordon. This account of Earhart's flight as the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air contains actual log entries Earhart made during the flight with a memoir of her childhood and how she first became interested in aviation.
During the late 1920's, as this dust jacket and binding pair shows, the dust jacket attained complete dominance over the decorative cover design to become the primary means of communication of book information to the consumer. The simplistic design of the book cover and the intricate, colorful design of the dust jacket is the reverse of the norm prior to World War I.
A good copy with moisture stains to the front and the rear boards that are heavier near the edges. The very good original dust jacket has chipping to the top edge at the join to the flaps as well as to the head and tail of the spine; a closed tear and some wrinkling to the bottom of the front panel at the join to the spine panel. A gift inscription of the ffep is dated 1935.
An early reprint of Earhart's first book with the exceptionally scarce original dust jacket. (1594)
$300
|
|
|
6. [Edwards, George Wharton (binding design, decorations and illustrations)]; Spenser, Edmund. EPITHALAMION. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1895. First Edition. 8vo (5½”x 9”). pp. 42. Limited edition; One of 450 copies. Unsigned Aesthetic style binding design by George Wharton Edwards of a fountain surrounded by pomegranates below and foliage and birds above in gold with titles in light green on vellum. Marbled endpapers. Original hinged box covered in light green paper with the binding design in gold and green repeated on the front panel. Includes over 50 illustrations in black and white by George Wharton Edwards after the style of Beardsley with each verse framed in a rich ornamental border and accompanied by a full page illustration. Printed on Imperial Japan paper by the DeVinne Press.
An epithalamion is a wedding song written by the groom for the bride; this particular song was written by Edmund Spenser for his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle on their wedding day in 1594, and was first published in 1595. Gullans and Espey state that "this superb volume is obviously the most successful of all of his (Edwards) decorative work". (TBR 6:11). Epithalamion was released in this limited vellum edition as well as in blue-green cloth, both of which are scarce.
A very good + copy with some warping to the vellum and light foxing to the rear board and the edges of the front board. The very good - original hinged box has wear and starts to the joints on the upper portion of the box, but is holding firm; the lower portion of the box is intact. There is a remnant of the box's inner ribbon still attached to the center lower portion of the box. The Pepperell armorial bookplate is on the paste-down. Exceptionally scarce in the original box. TBR 6:11. (1229)
$625
|
|
|
7. [Falls, Charles Buckles (binding design and decorations); Fisher, Harrison (illustrations)]; McCutcheon, George Barr. THE PURPLE PARASOL. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1907. Later printing. 8vo (5¼” x 7¾” ). pp. 108. Unsigned binding design attributed to Charles Buckles Falls on dark green ribbed cloth of three panels framed within olive and light green rules, with the central panel containing the titles in gold and the two side panels each containing a single spire of purple flowers. The spine has the titles in gold and a repeat of the panel edge at the head and tail of the spine. t.e.g. Includes color frontis. and 4 additional full page color illustrations by Harrison Fisher, as well as dust jacket design, end papers, historiated initials and signed Art Nouveau decorations on every page by Charles Buckles Falls.
The story of a young lawyer directed to follow a woman having a purple parasol and other recognizable characteristics. The woman he follows does not turn out to be the woman he was directed to follow and they fall in love.
An interesting book and dust jacket combination where the design of the dust jacket has very little to do with the cover design. Comparison of the dust jacket to the book illustrations show that the dust jacket was by Falls, but it is unclear if Falls was the designer of the cover (GE attributed only the book illustrations to Falls, but did not attribute the binding to him; while UNCG attributes the cover to Falls). Since the dust jacket is a different and far more intricate design than the cover design, it could be that this dust jacket was specifically designed by Falls for the publisher to cash in on his popularity as an designer and illustrator in a more cost effective way than an expensive and intricate cover design would.
A fine copy in the original paper dust jacket. The dust jacket has chipping to the extremities and an open tear at the head and tail of the spine panels. Scarce in this condition and in the original paper dust jacket. TBR 4:7; UNCG 1905 MCCP; Not in PBO or Minsky. (1157)
$325
|
|
|
8. [Gilbert, Charles Allen (dust jacket and binding design)]; Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge). LORNA DOONE; A ROMANCE OF EXMOOR. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, ca.1916 (1889). Later printing. 8vo (5¾” x 8”). pp. 703. Signed C. Allen Gilbert Art Nouveau binding design of three linked roses in dark green, light green and red on fine vertically ribbed olive cloth. The spine with titles in dark green has a single instance of the cover motif. The original paper dust jacket cover panel has a color illustration after a drawing by Gilbert of a woman dressed in medieval-themed Victorian finery in a forest glade. The illustration wraps from the cover panel to the spine panel. The rear panel contains a list of Grosset and Dunlap titles, while the flaps each contain a synopsis of individual Grosset & Dunlap titles. Endpapers and top edge stain in the same light green used in the binding design. The classic Blackmore story of John Ridd, a farmer who falls in love with a girl he meets in the forests of Exmoor, not knowing she is part of the thieving and murderous Doone clan.
An interesting binding and dust jacket transitional combination where we see the beginnings of dust jacket dominance, but where the decorative binding design has not yet lost its power of attraction. Austin Abbey Rare Books believes that this is a Grosset reprint that dates to the period between 1916 and 1919 when Gilbert reached his creative heights in book illustration. It is likely that Grosset & Dunlap had Gilbert design both the binding and the dust jacket based on the stylistic elements used and the "G" signature in the lower portion of the binding design. Not in Minsky, PBO or UNCG.
A fine copy in a very good dust jacket. The dust-jacket has creases and a small closed tear to the lower front edge. Exceptionally scarce in the dust jacket. (1579)
$450
|
|
|
9. [Gill, Eric (bookplate design)]; Jewett, Sarah Orne; Fields, Annie (editor). THE LETTERS OF SARAH ORNE JEWETT. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911. First Edition. 8vo (5¾” x 8”). pp. 259. Dark olive cloth with a central double rule panel whose corners are connected with single rules with filigree decorations on end; single rule border. Titles on spine. In original ecru paper dust jacket with cover design and titles repeated in black, and in original pebble textured paper covered slip case. The paper is decorated orange, green, pale blue and gold in a repeating loose floral pattern. Paper label in brown ruled with gold with titles. Includes frontis. portrait of Miss Jewett and a 1903 photograph of her in academic robes.
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849 – 1909) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her novels of village life set along the southern coast of Maine. Woodcut unicorn bookplate of Scott Cunningham designed by English sculptor, typeface designer and printmaker, Eric Gill, ARA (1882 - 1940).
Although the dust jacket relays the cover design and book information from binding to the consumer, in this case, it is the colorful paper covered slipcase that attracts the consumer's attention using textured floral papers.
A very good copy with the gold on the front panel design and spine titles rubbed off. Light crazing to the bottom of the front and rear boards; light rubbing to the extremities. The very good - paper dust jacket is separated at the join of the rear panel and the spine panel, has starts to both flap joins and there is heaving chipping along the top edges. The very good original floral paper covered slipcase has chips to the paper on the spine panel top and bottom corner, with darkening to the top and spine panels; approximately half of the spine label is missing, but still clearly reads "Sarah Orne Jewet(t)". Scarce with the dust jacket and slipcase. Very good in very good - dust-jacket. cloth. (1605)
$175
|
|
|
10. Hartmann, (Carl) Sadakichi. THE WHISTLER BOOK. Boston: L. C. Page and Company, 1910. First Edition. 8vo (5⅝” x 8⅛”). pp. 271. Includes lists of principal magazine articles, paintings and nocturnes as well as index. Second impression. Olive green cloth with titles in gold and a gold bordered paper onlay after a portrait of Whistler by Boldini. Frontis. with tissue guard uses same portrait of Whistler after Boldini; 56 additional full page black and white illustrations of Whistler's works. t.e.g. In original white moire patterned paper covered box with paper onlay containing the titles and the Boldini portrait, with the remnants of the original glassine dust jacket laid in.
A survey of Whistler and his work by a contemporary art critic who praised Whistler for being "the first man who combined the beauties of Eastern design with the principles of Western art" (p. 142). Although Hartmann's admiration of Whistler's work is evident, he was quite honest about the man and said that he "admired (Whistler's) colossal vanity" (p. 231), but that Whistler "was somewhat of a snob and a precieux, like his friend Comte Montesquiou" (p. 237).
A fine unopened copy in the very good- gift box, with the remnants of the original glassine wrapper laid in. The top portion of the gift box has soiling and moisture stains, and there is one side panel missing. The side panels of the top portion of the box are cracked at one remaining corner and has cracking to one side. The bottom portion of the box is clean and has one cracked corner. Scarce with the original box and in presence of the glassine wrapper. Fine in good dust-jacket. cloth. (1404)
$150
|
|
11. Irving, Washington. THE SKETCH BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENTLEMAN. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, (1926). 8vo (5¾” x 8¼”). pp. 396. Unsigned binding design on light brown cloth of the titles on a scroll flanked on each side by a dwarf carrying a keg (from Irving's story Rip Van Winkle) in black and dark brown on a gold panel at the top of the front board, with a double rule border. Titles in the scroll design repeated on the spine in dark brown and black on gold. The dust jacket is white paper with the book's cover and spine design repeated in reddish-brown on the front and spine panels, with Crowell advertisements on both flaps and on the rear panel. Includes a medallion portrait of Irving on the title page and a black and white illustrated frontis. and tissue guard as well as 19 additional black and white illustrations. Irving's 1848 revised edition of his perennially popular short stories.
A very good + copy of the book with faint rubbing to the extremities. The good + paper dust jacket has chipping to the top edge of the front panel and spine ends as well as small moisture marks on the spine panel; some wrinkling and a small (¼”) closed tear on the rear panel. Scarce. Very good + in Good + dust-jacket. cloth. (1530)
$140
|
|
|
12. Irving, Washington. THE SKETCHBOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT. Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1886. 8vo (5” X 7½”). pp. 374. Unsigned floral binding design black stamped in the negative, leaving the fine, diagonally ribbed brown cloth to form circular floral designs with the edition title in a banner above and the publisher's logo at the bottom right corner of the front board. The spine title is gold stamped in the negative, with a single row of the floral motifs repeated on the spine below it. Stippled moss endpapers in dark brown. Washington Irving's collection of 34 essays and short stories. The collection includes two of Irving's best-known stories, which he attributes to the fictional Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. In original paper dust jacket stamped with the cover and spine designs. The rear panel is stamped in black with publisher's advertisements dated 1886.
A Belford, Clarke & Co. reprint from the first American edition of the sketchbook. Belford's Caxton Edition series, was, like its other series, a fast way to cash in on intellectual properties that had slipped out of copyright. This uniform cover was used for all the books in the series and was released in three different cloth variants: blue, red and brown.
A fresh, fine copy in a very good dust jacket. The dust jacket has small open tears to the head of the spine panel and small chips to the corners of the front panel; gift inscription to the front flyleaf. A gift card from Graham Gardiner laid in. PBO.pba00588.bib; Not in UNCG. A miraculous survival in this condition and in the original paper dust jacket. (1557)
$450
|
|
13. Muir, John. THE STORY OF MY BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. First Edition. 8vo (5½”x 8⅜”). pp. [294]. First issue. Unsigned binding design of a Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) with an Art Nouveau border of Sequoia needles and seed cones in black with titles in gold on green cloth. The spine has the titles in gold and three horizontal instances of the needle and cone border motif. t.e.g. The dust jacket repeats the cover and spine designs in green on ecru paper, and has Houghton Mifflin advertisements for outdoor and travel books on the rear panel.
Includes a photogravure portrait of Muir after a photograph by Edward B. Greene, and 9 additional black and white illustrations after sketches by the author. An autobiographical account of the author's childhood in Dunbar, Scotland, his immigration to America (1849), his adolescence on a pioneer farmstead near Kingston, Wisconsin, and his student years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. First issue that contains the criticism of the blacksmith minister's cruel treatment of his simple brother on p. 217: "...none was bold enough or kind enough to break the blacksmith's jaw." Kimes, William F. and Maymie B. John Muir: A Reading Bibliography 315; BAL 14768.
A near fine copy with faint rubbing at the extremities in the original very good - paper dust jacket. The dust jacket has light creasing to the top 1/4" of all three panels, 2 small chips at the head of the spine panel, a small closed tear and a 1" open tear at the top of the front panel, and a small chip to the bottom corner of the front panel. Extremely scarce in original paper dust jacket. (1481)
$400
|
|
|
14. [Schaller, Charlotte (dust jacket design and illustrations); Desains, George (illustrations)]; Mack, Adelaide. MAGNETIC PARIS. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1913. First Edition. 8vo (5¼” x 7⅝”). pp. [244]. Unsigned binding design of a magnet and its magnetic field surrounded by a double ruled border containing the titles at the top and bottom, and an Art Nouveau design of a flowering vine along the sides in brick red on mottled grey paper. The unsigned Charlotte Schaller dust jacket design in pink, black and olive of a Parisian scene with two fashionably dressed women and a man in front of a building with the titles in gold. The design wraps around the spine panel to the rear panel. A collection of an American woman's impressions of Paris just before the start of World War I.
A striking binding design and dust jacket produced during the late transition period near the beginning of World War I where dust jackets began their ascendancy and binding designs were present, but not as elaborate as those produced in the previous 25 years. The book was produced in both a red cloth as well as a paper binding variant; the red cloth binding variant is still present in limited numbers, but no dust jacket for it has been reported. This paper binding variant is seldom seen.
A very good copy with slight rubbing and a small chip to the spine head and one corner. The very good dust jacket has a ½” chip on the top of the front panel near the spine and small chips along the foot of the spine panel. Exceptionally scarce. Very good. Paper covered boards. (1654)
$375
|
|
|
|
