Materials, features, stylesThere are 27 items
-
Nouvel armorial du bibliophile : Guide de l'amateur des livres armoriés
Paris, Émile Rondeau, 1890Two volumes (28 cm), xvii (3), 390 (2); iv, 494, (2) pp., profusely illustrated. Uniform contemporary French quarter-leather bindings, marbled page-edges. - Second, revised edition (original edition Paris: Librairie Bachelin-Deflorenne, 1870-1873). B.H. Breslauer, The Uses of bookbinding literature (New York 1986), p.17. ¶ From the auction sale of the Handbibliothek of the art-dealer Walter Bornheim (1888-1971), conducted by F. Zisska & R. Kistner, Munich, 27-28 March 1984, lot 2036. Attractive copy. -
Manuel de l'amateur de reliures armoriées françaises
Paris, Charles Bosse, 1924-1938Thirty volumes, bound in fifteen (28 cm), with 2,685 plates reproducing approximately 10,000 armorial stamps. Uniformly bound in quarter blue morocco, top edges gilt (a collector’s binding). - An enormous and indispensable work, with well over 3000 reproductions of armorial stamps. “So far as I have tested it, it is very accurate, and full of new information” (G.D. Hobson, “Books on Bookbinding” in The Book-collector’s Quarterly, volume 7, July-September 1932, p.79). ¶ Well-preserved, well-bound copies like the present one have become rare. -
Armorial belge du bibliophile
Brussels, Société des Bibliophiles et iconophiles de Belgique, 1930Three volumes (30.5 cm), I (Maisons souveraines et gouverneurs généraux des Pays-Bas; Amateurs ecclésiastiques): xii, 384 pp., text illustrations, plates 1-17. II (Abbayes et institutions religieuses; Royaume, provinces, villes, universités et institutions civiles): vi, pp.385-630, text illustrations, plates 18-26. III (Amateurs particuliers): vi, pp.631-948, text illustrations, plates 27-38. Paged continuously. Loose in portfolios, as issued. Uniform publisher’s printed wrappers. - “A major reference source for armorial bindings from Belgium and the Low Countries, covering both private and institutional owners. Well illustrated with drawings of armorial stamps, and pictures of bindings” (David Pearson, Provenance research in book history: a handbook, London 1994, p.115). ¶ “Exemplaire No. 5. Imprimé pour M. le Vicomte de Jonghe” (of 50 special copies printed on “papier de Hollande Pannekoek”; the remainder of the edition of 700 numbered copies was printed either on “papier Hendon de luxe” or on “papier Hendon ordinaire”). Light spotting on some page edges; overall in excellent state of preservation. -
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. -
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. -
Gold-tooled bookbindings (Bodleian Picture Books, 2)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1951(22 cm), 7 (1) pp., [12] leaves of plates. Publisher’s printed wrappers. ¶ Good, unmarked copy. -
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. -
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. -
The decoration of a 1486 book wrapper and its reappearance in 1531
New York, Renaissance Society of America, 1959Offprint from Studies in the Renaissance, volume 6 (1959), pp.167-174. - Illustrates the Augsburg wrappers covering copies of the Historia von den sieben weisen Meistern (Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger, 1486) and Ausschreiben durchs Chur vnd Furstenthumb zu Sachssen: etlich nöttige stuck, zuerhaltung Christlicher zucht, belangend ([Coburg: Hans Bär] 1531). The latter pamphlet was acquired by the University of Pennsylvania in 1957 (shelfmark: GC5 J5962 531a). Hirsch’s essay complements W.A. Jackson, “Printed wrappers of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries” in Harvard Library Bulletin, volume 6 (1952), pp.313-321. ¶ Good, unmarked copy. -
Rollen- und Plattenstempel des XVI. Jahrhunderts : Unter Mitwirkung von Dr Ilse Schunke
Nendeln & Wiesbaden, Kraus Reprint Limited / Otto Harrassowitz, 1968Two volumes in one (23.5 cm), xi (1), 518 (2) pp., with 2 plates; (6) 480 (8) pp., with 8 plates. Publisher’s blue cloth binding (no dust jacket issued). - Facsimile reprint of the edition Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1928-1929, in the series Sammlung Bibliothekswissenschaftlicher Arbeiten (nos. 41-42). ¶ Excellent copy. -
Les Reliures à la fanfare, le problème de l's fermé : Une étude historique et critique de l'art de la reliure en France au XVIe siècle fixée sur le style à la fanfare et l'usage de l's fermé… Deuxième édition, augmentée d'un supplément contenant des additions et corrections par Anthony R.A. Hobson
Amsterdam, Gérard Th. van Heusden, 1970(31 cm), xvi, 152, 17 pp., with 81 text illustrations, and 46 plates (some in colour). Publisher’s blue cloth binding (no dust jacket issued). - Discussion of a type of binding made in certain Parisian ateliers from about 1562 until 1620. The bindings were costly to produce in large numbers; most seem to have been used as gifts. The one exception is Jacques Auguste de Thou, who owned about twenty of these bindings, but stopped collecting them when his library got so large that he could no longer lay the books on reading-desks but had to start putting them on shelves. Reprint of the previous edition (London: The Chiswick Press, 1935), with a supplement by A.R.A. Hobson listing “reliures à la fanfare” which had come to light since the first edition (about 175), other additions and corrections. ¶ Excellent, unmarked copy. -
Sixteenth-century gold-tooled bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 1971(30 cm), xv, 263 pp., illustrations. Unbound sheets, gathered in a collector’s morocco-backed box (by Bernard Middleton). - The author’s heavily corrected page proofs. ¶ Bloomsbury Book Auctions, The working library of the late Howard M. Nixon, London, 6 October 1983, lot 105. -
Sixteenth-century gold-tooled bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 1971(29 cm), xv (1), 263 (1) pp., illustrations. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - 66 magnificent examples of the work of this period. ¶ Light shelf-wear; otherwise a very good, unmarked copy. -
Bezeichnungen von Einbandeinzelstempeln und Deckelmustern (15. und erstes Viertel des 16. Jahrhunderts)
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek / Preußischer Kulturbesitz Handschriftenabteilung, 1977(30 cm), 59 leaves, illustrations. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - A useful pictorial vocabulary of bookbinding stamps (Motive von Einbandeinzelstempeln, pp.20-59). ¶ Insignificant mark on wrappers. -
Buntpapier : Herkommen, Geschichte, Techniken, Beziehungen zur Kunst
Munich, Verlag Georg D.W. Callwey, 1977(29 cm), 255 pp., 152 black & white illustrations, 18 paper specimens tipped-in. Publisher’s wrappers, slipcase - Revised, second edition (original Munich: Callwey, 1961). ¶ Excellent, unmarked copy. -
Le Carte decorate nella legatoria del ‘700 e delle prima metà dell ‘800 (catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Comune di Bergamo, Assessorato alla Pubblica Istruzione, and Biblioteca Civica A. Mai, held in Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 27 May-25 June 1978)
Bergamo, Biblioteca Civica A. Mai, 1978(24 cm), 84 (2) pp., [48] p. of plates. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - 314 catalogue entries. Transcribes (pp.31-41) the price lists in the Remondini shop catalogues of 1762, 1766, 1772, and 1788 advertising the various qualities of papers sold by the Bassano firm. ¶ Very good, unmarked copy. -
Dixième Congrès international des bibliophiles : Athènes, 30 septembre-6 octobre 1977 : Tenth International Congress of Bibliophiles : Athens, 30 September-6 October 1977 [title also in Greek]
Athens, Manutius Press, 1979(24.5 cm), (4) 74 pp., [16] leaves of plates (pls.1-32). Publisher’s printed wrappers. - Essays (in English or French) by Francis R. Walton (The Greek Book 1476-1825), Dennis E. Rhodes (Early printed books in Greece), Loukia Droulia (Le Voyage de Grèce), A.R.A. Hobson (Bindings à la grecque), and others. ¶ Fine, unmarked copy. -
Altes Buntpapier (Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher)
Dortmund, Harenberg Kommunikation, 1979(17.5 cm), 175 (9) pp., full-page colour reproductions of marbled and other papers. Publisher’s wrappers. - The papers were selected from the large collection of the Deutsches Tapetenmuseum in Kassel. 77 catalogue entries. “Register der deutschen Verleger von Brokatpapieren” (p.175). ¶ Very good copy. -
Victorian publishers' book-bindings in paper
London, Gordon Fraser, 1983(30.5 cm), 112 pp., illustrations (some in colour). Publisher’s illustrated paper boards, quarter-bound in blue cloth; gilt spine. Publisher’s opaque paper dust jacket. - A companion book to the author’s study on cloth and leather bindings, published in 1973. It contains numerous illustrations of books published after 1800 in Britain, France, and the United States. Much attention is devoted to bindings in papier-mâché (the author illustrates all those he knows to be extant). ¶ Fine copy.
Top