European BookbindingsThere are 56 items
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Svenska Bokband under nyare tiden : Bidrag til svensk bokbinderhistoria : 1521-1718 § 2: 1718-1809 § 3: 1809-1880
Stockholm, Föreningen för Bokhandtverk, 1910-1914Three parts in one volume (31.5 cm), I (1910): xxx, 156 (2) pp., 84 illustrations (4 in colour). II (1913): xxvii (1), 86 (2) pp., 45 illustrations (2 in colour). III (1914): xxvii (1), 82 (2) pp. 41 illustrations (2 in colour). In a fine binding by Gustaf and Arvid Hedberg, Stockholm; edges gilt (original upper-wrappers bound-in). - “The standard work on book-binding in Sweden” (Lindberg), compiled by a prominent Swedish book collector and bibliographical scholar. “A pioneer work, distinguished by [Rudbeck’s] knowledge of bindings not only in public libraries but also in several important private collections” (Sten G. Lindberg, Swedish books 1280-1967, Stockholm 1968, p.61 no. 86 and p.84). ¶ Immaculate copy. -
De Kunst der Oude Boekbinders : XVde en XVIde eeuwsche boekbanden in de Utrechtsche Universiteitsbibliotheek
Utrecht, Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Bibliothecarissen en Bibliotheekamtenaren, 1921(24.5 cm), (8) 59 (1) pp., 40 numbered illustrations (20 leaves, printed both sides). Publisher’s printed wrappers. - “An excellent and detailed little work on the stamped bindings in the University Library of Utrecht which much enriches our knowledge of Low Country binders, about 280 stamps, 40 rolls, and 20 panel stamps being illustrated. The authors have based their work on documents, and have taken great pains to record the provenance of the bindings described” (Strickland Gibson, “Recent books on binding” in The Library, series 4, volume 3, 1922, p.138). ¶ Spine neatly reinforced with cloth. Bookseller’s label on upper wrapper: B.H. Blackwell Ltd. -
La rilegatura piemontese nel ’700
Milan, Antiquariato Walter Toscanini, 1929(30 cm), 69 pp. 60 pl. on 30 leaves. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - Describes the distinctive Piedmontese style which evolved after the appointment by Victor Amadeus II in 1719 of a royal binder. The names of the royal binders (one was Dutch, one French, one Neapolitan, and at least eight were Roman) are given and 106 illustrations of bindings. “In spite of its title, the first plate represents a binding by Magnus of Amsterdam!” (G.D. Hobson, “Books on Bookbinding” in The Book-collector’s Quarterly, volume 7, July-September 1932, p.83). “Di quest’ opera furono stampati 300 esemplari numerati a cura della tipografia Cardinal Ferrari in Milano”. ¶ Copy numbered 248, in superb state of preservation. -
Leben and Werk Jakob Krauses
Leipzig, Insel Verlag, 1943(29.5 cm), 150 (2) pp., with 102 text illustrations, frontispiece (in colour; tissue guardsheet present), 30 plates. Publisher’s cloth-backed, marbled paper boards. - A classic study of Jakob Krause (1526/27-1585), the most accomplished German binder of the Renaissance. “Schunke’s monograph is a model of what such a study can and should be” (E.P. Goldschmidt, reviewing her book in The Library, March 1946, pp.311-312). ¶ Tiny chip to cloth spine. Excellent, unmarked copy. -
Blind-stamped panels in the English book-trade c. 1485-1555 (supplement to the Bibliographical Society's Transactions, 17)
London, Bibliographical Society, 1944(22.5 × 19 cm), 111 (1) pp., 8 plates on 4 leaves. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - First edition of Hobson’s study of blind-stamped panels used in England during the only period in which they were in vogue here. He believes that around 160-200 different panels were used in England and that the majority were the products of foreign craftsmen. “A valuable feature of the study is the relating of developments in bindings to the political and social circumstances of the time, which are found to have affected among other things the choice of subjects employed. As is well known, the English book trade of most of this period was dominated by men of foreign extraction, and among other conclusions drawn from this fact Mr Hobson attributes to it the strange absence of native saints from the panels used in England, and the frequent occurrence of royal arms panels, the latter on the ground that foreigners might be expected to be ‘plus royalistes que le roi’” (from a review by J.B. Oldham, in The Times Literary Supplement, 21 April 1945, p.192). F.A. Schmidt-Künsemüller, Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Einbandkunst von den Anfangen bis 1985 (Wiesbaden 1987), no. 4214. ¶ Paper defect in margin of four leaves; wrapper fatigued, but intact. -
Stockholms bokbindare 1460-1880 (Nordiska Museets Handlingar, 36-37)
Stockholm, [Nordiska museet], 1949-1960Two volumes (29 cm), I (Tiden fran 1460 till omkring 1700, 1949): 420 pp., text illustrations including facsimiles, 103 plates. II (Tiden fran omkring 1700 till 1880, 1960): 331 pp., text illustrations including facsimiles, 62 plates. Uniform half-calf bindings (original wrappers bound in). - Summaries in English. ¶ Very fine copy, elegantly bound. -
French bookbinders 1789-1848
London, Printed for the author by Lund Humphries & Co. Ltd, 1950(25 cm), xx, 228 pp., black & white frontispiece, illustrations. Publisher’s blue cloth (no just jacket issued). - An alphabetical list of about 1500 French binders at work during the period, accompanied by a dozen pages of introductory material and illustrated with 40 collotype plates. Ramsden’s large personal collection of English and French signed bindings from the period 1780 to 1840 was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1958. ¶ Superior copy. -
Verzierte gotische Einbände im alten deutschen Sprachgebiet
Stuttgart, Josef Habbel at Regensburg for Max Hettler Verlag, 1951-1958Four volumes (26 cm), I (Text, 1951): 159 (1) pp. II (1. Tafelband, 1953): 185 (1) pp. Plates 1-152. III (2. Tafelband, 1956): 137 (1) pp. Plates 153-256. IV (3. Tafelband, 1958): 157 (1) pp. plates 257-364 (altogether, approximately 2400 illustrations). Uniformly bound in collector’s red cloth. - A pioneering work for identifying the bindings of German incunabula, based on the author’s systematic investigation of forty-three libraries, mostly in South Germany, where he examined 23,800 volumes. Kyriss identifies 186 groups of tools, each one of which probably represents the equipment of a single bindery; thirty-eight of these are monastic binderies, thirty-two binderies which used a name tool, a small number are binderies signing with initials or arms, and the rest binderies associated with a particular town. “The work takes its place among reference books of outstanding importance… With the aid of these plates it should be possible to localize a high proportion of German gothic bindings” (from a review by Howard Nixon of Bildband II, in The Book Collector, Spring 1957, pp.75-76). ¶ Ownership inscriptions and notes ink on endleaves of the bookbinding historian William Smith Mitchell (1908-1982); his pencilled instructions to his bookbinder on half-titles. Loosely inserted are Mitchell’s typescript for a review (for Libri, volume 8, 1958, pp.200-201), and several of his offprints. -
English blind-stamped bindings : The Sandars Lectures 1949
Cambridge, University Press, 1952(39 cm), (4) xiii, 72 pp., 61 collotype plates. Publisher’s blue cloth, red lettering-piece. - The standard work on those English bindings which were tooled by hand with single tools or rolls in blind, that is, without the use of gold. A classified index of over 400 rolls used in England is provided. “This is probably as near a complete catalogue as will ever be possible, and the patience and ingenuity with which Oldham has disentangled their confused history – since many passed through a bewildering number of workshops – cannot fail to excite our admiration… An indispensable tool by means of which the great majority of English roll-tooled bindings can now be localized and approximately dated” (from a review by A.R.A. Hobson, in The Library, series five, volume 7, 1952, p.284). 750 copies printed. David McKitterick, The Sandars and Lyell Lectures: a checklist (New York 1983), p.24. ¶ Clipping from a French bookseller’s catalogue description on pastedown. Lacking dust jacket; otherwise a fine, unmarked copy. -
French and Italian collectors and their bindings illustrated from examples in the library of J.R. Abbey
Oxford, Printed for presentation to the members of the Roxburghe Club, 1953(35 cm), xiii, 190 pp., frontispiece (in colour), 84 plates. Publisher’s half-brown morocco binding, spine gilt, top edge gilt. - Descriptions of 89 bindings chosen from Major Abbey’s collection, with appendices, a list of abbreviations, and index. “In forty-two essays on French bindings from 1512 to 1942, and thirty-five on Italian bindings from 1480 to 1839, [Hobson] has embedded an enormous amount of research” (B.H. Breslauer, The Uses of bookbinding literature, New York 1986, p.28). ¶ Exlibris (“Esher”) of Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher (1881-1963), member of the Roxburghe Club on the date of issue (cf. membership list printed on p.v, where his name is printed in red); Percy Muir, “Private Libraries, I: Lord Esher” in The Times Literary Supplement, 28 May 1938, p.376. Sold by Christie’s South Kensington, 22 November 2002, lot 140 (with other books of Esher provenance). Immaculate copy, superior to all others seen on the market in recent years. Slip loosely inserted: With the compliments of Major J.R. Abbey | Greyfriars : Storrington : Sussex. -
Irish bookbindings 1600-1800
London, Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1954(32 cm), x, 47 pp., 59 plates (one in colour). Publisher’s blue cloth, printed dust jacket (Brodart dust jacket protector). - The first full-scale monograph on Irish bookbindings. Examining the various styles and tools used, Craig isolated the work of individual shops which he identified as Parliamentary Binders A and B, the College Binder, the Rawdon Binder, etc. ¶ Wrapper slightly finger-stained; otherwise an excellent, unmarked copy. -
Les Reliures mosaïquées du XVIIIe siècle
Paris, Société de la Reliure Originale, 1956(25.5 cm), 125 (3) pp. and 45 plates (6 in colour). Publisher’s printed wrappers with original glassine jacket; publisher’s red cloth slipcase. - “Excellent study of French eighteenth century inlaid bindings… comprising a census of all such bindings known at the time” (B.H. Breslauer, The Uses of Bookbinding Literature, New York 1986, p.21). ¶ “500 exemplaires sur marais crèvecoeur dont 458 numérotés de 1 à 458” (this copy numbered 289). Several losses to glassine jacket; otherwise a very fine copy. -
Der verzierte europäische Einband vor der Renaissance (Meister und Meisterwerke der Buchbinderkunst, Heft 5)
Stuttgart, Max Hettler Verlag, 1957(25 cm), 40 pp., 16 plates. Bound in collector’s blue cloth. - A summary and statistical survey of the author’s Verzierte Gotische Einbände (1951-1958), illustrating the commonest types of tool and roll, and typical designs of bindings from Nuremberg, Augsburg, Erfurt, Cologne, Leipzig and Vienna. As the title implies, it also covers the pre-Romanesque and Romanesque bindings, and the late Gothic bindings of the Netherlands, France, England, Italy and Spain, illustrating one example from each of the first four countries; “But its real value lies in its masterly conclusions on the decorated Gothic bindings of the German-speaking countries on which Dr Kyriss is the supreme authority” (from a review by H.M. Nixon, in The Book Collector, Summer 1958, pp.196-199). ¶ Ownership inscription on endpaper of the bookbinding historian William Smith Mitchell (1908-1982), dated February 1958; his annotations in pencil in margins. Loosely inserted is an offprint of Mitchell’s review of the book (for The Library, volume 13, 1958, pp.213-214). Excellent copy. -
Blind panels of English binders
Cambridge, University Press, 1958(38 cm), xv, 55 (1) pp. 67 collotype plates. Publisher’s blue cloth, printed dust jacket. - The definitive work on those English bindings (mostly of the sixteenth century) on which the decoration was applied by an engraved panel in some sort of press. Reproductions are provided of Oldham’s rubbings of all the known panels used in England (a total of 256, an addition of about 100 to the previous estimate), classified according to subject and with notes recording all available information about their ownership and period of use. ¶ Superior copy of the first edition. -
Bookbinding then and now : A survey of the first hundred and seventy-eight years of James Burn and Company
London, Faber & Faber, 1959(22 cm), (2) 126 pp., with 2 colour plates, 1 plate of gold blocking, 16 half-tone plates, text illustrations. Publisher’s blue cloth. - The author was for many years the London director of James Burn (his library and bookbinding equipment was sold by Phillips, 16 May 1991). ¶ Very good, unmarked copy. Lacking dust jacket. -
Il libro romano del Settecento : la stampa e la legatura (catalogue of an exhibition held in the Biblioteca, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, [1959])
Rome, Tipografia dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1959(24 cm), 134 pp., [25] leaves of plates. Publisher’s printed wrappers. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy. -
Studien zum Bilderschmuck der deutschen Renaissance-Einbande (Beiträge zum Buch- und Bibliothekswesen, 8)
Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz, 1959(25.5 cm), viii, 151 (1) pp., 8 line-block illustrations in the text. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - A collection of seven essays, most dealing with the influence of book illustration on the designs used by the cutters of bookbinders rolls. In “Urs Graf und der frühe Rollenschnitt” Schunke attributes twenty-eight rolls found on Basel bindings with designs by Urs Graf, some derived from the 1492 Basel edition of Brant’s Narrenschiff. In “Das Aufkommen vergoldeter Bildplatten” she associates the gilt title-lettering used by Nuremberg binders of Koberger’s incunables with panels probably engraved by Hans Burgkmair. “Der Einfluss der Buchillustration auf den Rollenschnitt” deals with the evolution of the heads-in-medallion rolls and hunting-scene rolls, the latter derived from designs in printed lace pattern books. “Der Stecher des Buchführers Eisengrein” is an account of seven rolls which may be attributed to an engraver who worked for the Speyer bookbinder, Eisengrein; “Die Kleinmeister und der Einbandschmuck” discusses rolls and panels used at Tubingen in the mid-16th century, and identifies the artists whose work the roll-cutters copied. “Der Bilderschmuck der Otto-Heinrich-Bände” traces the sources of the designs of the panels, hand-tools, and rolls used on bindings from the Elector Palatine’s library; “Das Werk des Meisters NP” records the panels and rolls (over 130) by the most prolific of all German 16th-century roll cutters. B.H. Breslauer, The Uses of bookbinding literature (New York 1986), p.29. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy. -
La legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI. Notizie ed elenchi. Volume I: Napoli, Roma, Urbino, Firenze § II: Bologna, Cesena, Ferrara, Venezia § III: Verona, Milano & Pavia, Genova, Bergamo, Perugia, Legature alla ‘Greca’, Legature con cammei a placchette, Antifonari
Florence, Fratelli Alinari, 1960Three volumes (36.5 cm), I: xxi (1), 125 (5) pp., with frontispiece and 26 plates accompanying the text (A1, B2, C1, D16 in colour), and at end plates numbered 1-207 (plus 187 bis, 187 ter, 187 quater; nos. 160, 208 not issued and omitted from “Indice delle Tavole”). II: xviii, 138 (8) pp., with 81 plates accompanying the text (including 31 bis, 38 bis), and at end plates numbered 209-414 (plus 354 bis, 354 ter, 354 quarter, 354 quinter). III: xv (1), 187 (5) pp., with frontispiece (in colour) and 51 plates accompanying the text, and at end plates numbered 415-545 (plus 504 bis; pl. 498 faces p.61, and is in colour). Uniform publisher’s quarter-morocco bindings, original slipcases. - The core of the work is a list of over 3000 bindings, mostly produced 1450-1550, which are classified party by city, and partly by type (“Greek” bindings, medallion and plaquette bindings, those with architectural decoration, antiphoners and choir-books). The author has seen the vast majority; about 20% are illustrated. “Although there may be disagreement about some of M. de Marinis’s findings, there can be no doubt of the importance and permanent value of his book, which for the first time supplies a broad and scholarly basis for the study of Italian binding… So long has passed since the book was published that few copies are likely still to be available; I can only end by assuring anyone fortunate enough to secure a copy that he will not regret it” (from a review by Anthony Hobson, in The Book Collector, Winter 1963, pp.511-519). Printed by Giovanni Mardersteig on hand-made paper. “Questo edizione è limitata a 500 esemplari”, however about half of the edition was destroyed in the Florence flood of 1966. Of the remainder, approximately thirty copies were purchased by Martin Breslauer, Inc. c. 1977. All of these copies had traces of mildew on the cloth boards. B.H. Breslauer, The Uses of bookbinding literature (New York 1986), pp.21-22. ¶ Cloth very lightly spotted (as often); otherwise in faultless state of preservation. -
Bookbindings from the library of Jean Grolier : a loan exhibition (held at the British Museum, 23 September-31 October 1965)
London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1965(22.5 cm), xx, 76 pp., frontispiece (in colour), 128 plates, 11 plates reproducing rubbings of 282 different tools. Publisher’s skivertex binding. - Exhibition catalogue commemorating the fourth centenary of Grolier’s death, featuring 138 volumes, all that could be traced in British and Irish libraries (counting each volume of a multi-volume work separately, including one empty binding, and one of doubtful provenance). Nixon here identifies a binder hitherto known as the “Entrelac Binder” as Claude de Picques, well-known as the Royal Binder to Henri II; 84 of the 138 bindings in the exhibition are assigned to de Picques. Nixon’s careful study and reproductions of the individual tools used by different workshops, together with his observations about the binding shops that worked for Grolier, give this catalogue an enduring utility. ¶ Excellent copy. -
Die italienischen Renaissance-Einbände der Bibliothek Fürstenberg : Einführung von Hans Fürstenberg : Einbandbeschreibung von Tammaro de Marinis
Hamburg, Maximilian-Gesellschaft, 1966(30 cm), 190 (4) pp., 79 illustrations. Publisher’s cloth. - Catalogue of bindings in the private library of Jean Fürstenberg. Cf. B.H. Breslauer, “Jean Furstenberg, 1890-1982: Portrait of a Bibliophile” in The Book Collector, volume 31 (1982), pp.427-444. ¶ Fine copy.
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