Modes et Manières d’Aujourd’hui. (2e Année)
by Martin, Charles (illustrator); Corrard, Pierre (editor); Nozière, Fernand (text)
(Paris): Pierre Corrard, 1913. First and only edition of the 1913 number of Modes et Manières d’Aujourd’hui, number 193 of 300 copies, signed by illustrator Charles Martin. In 1912, inspired by the Napoleonic-era fashion journal Modes et Manières du Jour, Pierre Corrard launched Modes et Manières d’Aujourd’hui in Paris. Over the next decade, seven numbers in the series appeared,... Read More
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Basic by Isotype
by Neurath, Otto; Ogden, Charles Kay (preface)
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1937. First edition of Austrian philosopher Otto Neurath’s illustrated companion to Basic English, a practical demonstration of his Isotype system of education “through the eye.” Founder of the International Foundation for the Promotion of Visual Education at the Hague, Neurath imagined a global language of icons that would transcend linguistic and cultural... Read More
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The Nightingale Warbling Forth Her Owne Disaster: or, The Rape of Philomela
by Parker, Martin; [Strettell, Amos]
London: Printed by G.P. for William Cooke [but privately printed by J. Moyes for Amos Strettell], 1820. Publisher’s presentation copy of this nineteenth-century reissue of Martin Parker’s 1632 ballad of Philomela, inspired by Book Six of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Parker was a prolific balladeer under Charles I, publishing popular broadsides and chapbooks, with a penchant for “moralistic tales of inconstant... Read More
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Original mixed-media architectural study: ornate pilaster with a geometric pattern
by Parrish, Maxfield
No place, 1895. Original mixed-media architectural study by American illustrator Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) for an ornate pilaster with a geometric pattern. Parrish renders the acanthus leaf motif on the capital of this Ionic column in a fine ink stipple. The mounted grille, a found object made of compressed fiberboard, features a hand-punched repeating key design; when laid over a... Read More
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Sweethearts; with: signed promotional broadside for “Jayne Anne Phillips Reading ‘Sweethearts’”
by Phillips, Jayne Anne
Carrboro, North Carolina: Truck Press, 1976. Signed first edition of West Virginia writer Jayne Anne Phillips’s Pushcart Prize-winning debut, published when she was 24 years old in an unnumbered edition of 400 copies. A collection of short prose fragments, Sweethearts unfolds in a run-down Southern landscape of great natural beauty and pervasive menace: “Six girls giggly drunk jumping out... Read More
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The Raven and Other Poems
by Poe, Edgar Allan
New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. First edition in book form of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” the single most famous American poem of the nineteenth century, first published earlier that year in the New York Evening Mirror (under Poe’s own name) and The American Review (under a pseudonym). Partly inspired by the early lyrics of Elizabeth Barrett (later... Read More
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Portraits of twelve British poets from Friedrich Bruckmann’s Portrait-Collection
by [POETRY]; Addison, Joseph; Byron, George Gordon, Lord; Burns, Robert; Dryden, John; Goldsmith, Oliver; Milton, John; Moore, Thomas; Pope, Alexander; Scott, Walter; Shelley, Percy Bysshe; Tennyson, Alfred, Lord; Wordsworth, William
Munich, Berlin, and London: Friedrich Bruckmann, 1870. Set of cabinet cards featuring photographic reproductions of twelve portraits of celebrated British poets, issued as part of “Bruckmann’s Portrait-Collection” by German art publisher Friedrich Bruckmann. The portraits range from the seventeenth century (Milton, Dryden) through the eighteenth (Addison, Pope, Goldsmith, Burns) to the nineteenth (Byron, Shelley, Scott, Moore, Wordsworth, and Tennyson).... Read More
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Sugar and Spice (original book illustration)
by Provensen, Alice and Martin
No place, 1970. Original illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen for The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense, a 1970 anthology of humorous verse edited by poet Louis Untermeyer. The whimsical image depicts girls in fancy frocks whose buttons are knobs that open drawers full of candy, a reference to the nursery rhyme: “What are little girls made of?... Read More
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Charles F. Heartman Reviews Dr. Rosenbach’s Young American Parade (broadside)
by [Rosenbach, A.S.W.]; [Newton, A. Edward]; Heartman, Charles F.
No place: no publisher, 1933. Ephemeral promotional broadside produced in support of A.S.W. Rosenbach’s Early American Children’s Books. The broadside reprints Charles F. Heartman’s favorable American Book Collector review of Rosenbach’s book, praising “the Doctor” for the breadth of his vision: “he has succeeded in robbing the dreary religious aspect of most of the early publications of its unattractiveness... Read More
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Eve (signed color etching, artist’s proof)
by Rosenhouse, Irwin
No place, no date. Original artist’s proof of Irwin Rosenhouse’s color etching “Eve,” depicting the snake curling around Eve's body to bring the apple to her mouth. Cooper Union professor and Greenwich Village gallerist Rosenhouse (1924-2002) was a prolific painter, printmaker, and illustrator, best known for his album covers for Folkways Records and his iconic 1968 “peace dove” design.... Read More
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“I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting;” or, Looking at Kafka
by Roth, Philip; [Kafka, Franz]; Glaser, Milton (illustrator)
New York: Push Pin Studio, 1974. First separate edition of Philip Roth’s experimental short story, in which Franz Kafka does not die young of tuberculosis, but instead escapes to Newark, New Jersey to teach Hebrew to schoolboys during the Second World War: “we vent on him our resentment at having to learn an ancient calligraphy at the very hour... Read More
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Audubon
by Rourke, Constance; [Audubon, John James]; MacDonald, James (illustrator)
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936. First edition of this illustrated biography of John James Audubon, written by pioneering American anthropologist and folklorist Constance Rourke: “This biography had its more distant origin in a concern with American frontiers . . . but characters have a way of transcending the liveliest general questions.” In her interest in Audubon as... Read More
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Anatomy for Interior Designers and How to Talk to a Client
by Schroeder, Francis de Neufville; Lustig, Alvin (jacket design); Repetto, Nino (illustrator); Stalhut, Henry (illustrator); Carreño, Mario (illustrator)
New York: Whitney Publications, 1948. First edition of this wonderfully illustrated collection of articles first published in INTERIORS magazine, in the original dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, inscribed by author Francis Schroeder: “The first copy of my first book for my first wife – Bunny.” Journalist and art critic Schroeder was the editor of INTERIORS from 1941 until... Read More
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American Folk Songs for Christmas
by Seeger, Ruth Crawford; Cooney, Barbara (illustrator)
Garden City: Doubleday & Co, 1955. Early printing of this collection of traditional American songs suitable for use at Christmas, compiled by composer and folklorist Ruth Seeger, mother of Peggy and Mike Seeger, and adoptive mother to Pete Seeger. Drawn from a variety of regional musical traditions, the songbook encompasses folk carols, “shouts,” spirituals, shape-note hymns, and fiddle tunes.... Read More
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Four-Way Blocks (American version)
by Shapur, Fredun (designer)
Princeton: Creative Playthings, 1972. American edition of this iconic educational toy, graphic designer Fredun Shapur’s four-way blocks. Shapur developed the first version of these blocks, featuring four simplified, stylized animals, in 1964. They were awarded the London Design Centre label, and picked up by Naef, the Swiss toy company, for manufacture and distribution in Europe. In 1968, Shapur became... Read More
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Four-Way Blocks (Swiss version)
by Shapur, Fredun (designer)
Zeiningen, Switzerland: Kurt Naef, 1965. Swiss edition of this iconic educational toy, graphic designer Fredun Shapur’s four-way blocks. Shapur developed the first version of these blocks, featuring four simplified, stylized animals, in 1964. They were awarded the London Design Centre label, and picked up by Naef, the Swiss toy company, for manufacture and distribution in Europe. In 1972, as... Read More
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The Cloud Eye
by Squatriti, Fausta; Dorfles, Gillo (text)
Milan: Sergio Tosi Stampatore, 1969. First trade edition of this early livre d’artiste by Italian artist Fausta Squatriti, offered at the Museum of Modern Art in conjunction with her 1969 exhibition at New York’s Kozmopolitan Gallery. Squatriti’s abstract candy-colored lithographs are teamed with an account of her work by critic Gillo Dorfles, printed in both English and Italian, titled... Read More
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Families Reading Together
by Steptoe, John (art); Grandits, John (design)
The Children’s Book Council, 1989. Color poster depicting a grandmother sharing a book with her grandson, created by John Steptoe. In 1989, the Children’s Book Council commissioned four posters on the theme of “Families Reading Together” from children’s illustrators Steptoe, Donald Carrick, Peter Sis, and David Wiesner. Proceeds from their sale supported literacy and reading programs around the world.... Read More
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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (poster coloring book)
by Tenniel, John (illustrator); Akmon, Roni (designer); [Carroll, Lewis]
San Anselmo, California: Blushing Rose Publishing, 2000. Poster-sized coloring book featuring John Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Author Lewis Carroll originally intended to illustrate his surreal 1865 classic himself, but eventually hired Tenniel, who had made his career as a cartoonist for Punch. Tenniel’s immediately recognizable Wonderland remains the definitive interpretation: even Walt Disney would follow his... Read More
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Philipok
by Tolstoy, Leo; Beneduce, Ann Keay (translator); Spirin, Gennady (illustrator)
New York: Philomel Books, 2000. First edition of this English adaptation of Philipok, a classic of Russian children’s literature, collected in Leo Tolstoy’s 1875 New Primer (Novaya Azbuka). Eager to go to school with his older brother, little Philipok slips out of the house one day to find the village schoolhouse: “there was nobody on the porch. Philipok could... Read More
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Killing and Dying
by Tomine, Adrian
[Montreal]: Drawn & Quarterly, 2015. First edition of this collection of six stories by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine, originally published in Optic Nerve. Dealing with complicated experiences of marriage, separation, and parenthood, the emotional weight of the material is the more powerful for Tomine’s precise draughtsmanship, which conveys the exact decrepitude of a rental apartment, the subtle details of... Read More
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Four original literary-historical illustrations for The New York Times Book Review
by Van Werveke, George; [Evelyn, John]; [Wren, Christopher]; [Grote, George]; [Milton, John]; [Hazlitt, William]; [Scribe, Eugène]
New York: New York Times, 1926. Four large original watercolors by George Van Werveke for the New York Times Book Review, published in 1925 and 1926. Headlining the fiction section, Van Werveke’s historical scenes provided a counterpoint to the modern American titles reviewed below, offering amusing glimpses of English and French literary history. Each illustration catches a writer at... Read More
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Three original illustrations for Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop
by Von Schmidt, Harold
No place, 1929. Three finished original illustrations by Harold Von Schmidt for the first illustrated edition of Willa Cather’s novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, first published in 1927, the tale of Catholic Archbishop Jean Marie Latour’s journeys through the American Southwest in the wake of the Mexican-American War. The three images, all created for the final chapter, which... Read More
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“Shinbone Alley” (illustration)
by Wachsteter, George
No place, 1957. Original caricature by George Wachsteter (1911-2004) of the 1957 Broadway musical Shinbone Alley, starring Eartha Kitt, published in the New York Journal American on April 11, 1957. Co-written by Mel Brooks in his first Broadway book credit, Shinbone Alley was a stage adaptation of Don Marquis’ popular Archy and Mehitabel tales, featuring a philosopher-poet cockroach “who... Read More
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The Canterville Ghost
by Wilde, Oscar; Zwerger, Lisbeth (illustrator)
Natick, MA: Picture Book Studio/Neugebauer Press, 1986. Illustrated edition of Oscar Wilde’s 1887 ghost story, the first of his stories to be published. In this comic tale, a historic English country house ghost is demoralized by the arrival of an unspookable American family: “on one occasion, while dressed for the part of ‘Black Isaac, or the Huntsman of Hogley... Read More
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