Miscellaneous books from HM’s shelves that need a new home. Prices are Cdn$ (and possibly negotiable for some titles, especially when interested in more than one); knock about 30% off these prices for the US$ equivalent. New customers will be asked to remit prior to shipping. Payment by cheque, etransfer or Paypal (Canada); US$ cheque or Paypal (USA); or Paypal (everywhere else). Additional details or photos available upon request (see About page for email). Purchase price only will be refunded upon return of the item(s) within 30 days of delivery, in condition they were sent. Shipping to Canada, the U.S.A. & U.K. will be by tracked package charged at cost; other countries TBD.
Aldus, the First Editor. With a leaf from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. T. De Vinne. Book Club of California 1924. Reprints De Vinne’s essay about Aldus, in which he unfortunately repeats the 19th-century falsehood that the typecutter Francesco Griffo was the artist Francesco Raibolini. So, not much use as a reference work, aside from the original leaf, which includes a few Greek characters at the bottom of the beautifully shaped verso. And it’s a lovely example of early Grabhorn printing, on a handmade paper with watermarks I do not recognize. Edition of 250 numbered copies. Buckram spine quite worn (but holding) boards worn along all edges. Newer ex libris on front pastedown. Buy it for the contents, not the case. $400
Hymns to Aphrodite. Published by the Grabhorn Press in October of 1927. Edition of 200 copies, quarto size, 12 pp. These selections from the volume of Homeric Hymns were translated into English prose by John Edgar and first published in Edinburgh in 1891 by James Thin. This copy found years ago without it’s spine and just one board. Rebound at HM with paper vellum spine and painted paper over boards. Small illustration from original boards inset to front. Original pastedowns retained (front p/d shows glue remnants from ex libris removed before I found it). Internally unmarked/fine. $50
Kuthan’s Menagerie of Interesting Zoo Animals. Nevermore Press 1960. An almost unique book in the history of Canadian private press printing. A collection of multi-color linocuts by George Kuthan, accompanied by his spare text. Only about 60 copies from the edition of 130 were bound at the time of publication; the history of the remaining sheets can be seen on this page. This set of sheets was bound in the 1990s by Terry Rutherford, in a style similar to — but better than — the original: the sheets were sewn at the open edge and bound with quarter leather and pattered paper. The original copies used a Japanese sheet to cover the boards, and it was much too soft and prone to wear. The copies bound/issued after 1965 were not numbered or signed by Kuthan; this one was signed by publisher Robert Reid. $750
Ars Typographia. Greenwood Reprint Corp, 1970. 2 vols., facsimiles of all 9 issues, which appeared irregularly between 1918 and 1934. Very minor shelf wear to buckram. $175
The Fleuron. Greenwood Reprint Corp, 1970. 5 vols., facsimiles of issues from 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928 & 1930. With a remarkable number of tipped-in samples, which must have been done by hand. Buckram on all copies shows some shelf wear & minor marks, and two of the heavier copies are starting to pull from the case, as heavy books in a case with tipped-on endpapers always will. But essentially internally fine. $300
Unknown Pleasures. Inside Joy Division. Peter Hook. First edition, 1/1000 signed copies issued in a (tightly fitting) slipcase. Probably a better book than the next item… Fine. $100
Chapter & Verse. New Order, Joy Division & Me. Bernard Sumner. First edition. Signed, with promotional card from the signing event laid in. Fine. $50
The Common Press. Godine 1978. Two vol. in slipcase. Slipcase has sticker adhesive mark and old repairs to cracks in two places, but holding together and doing its job. Folder for drawings has some small chip at head. Text volume has very slight bump at tail. Contents all fine. Probably useful if for some inexplicable reason you ever want to build a common press. $40
Twelve Woodengravings of Cirsia & Various Thistles With Sundry Notes Gathered, Engraved & Privately Printed for Gray Parrot by Barry Moser 1978. 3.5 × 4.5 inches, 38 leaves. Set by hand in Lutetia, printed in three colors on handmade Fabriano laid paper. This book was issued in an edition of 35 copies, all bound (but not all identically) by Gray Parrot. This is an odd out-of-series copy. It has just 11 engravings (Cirsium virginianum is lacking) and there are a few odd blanks in the collation. The colophon is signed by Moser but not the individual prints (which are in the edition copies). Interestingly, it includes a half-title (which is followed by a blank) that does not appear in my copy from the edition. The binding is a puzzle too: the leather is similar to that used by GP for the edition, but not exactly. Overall it looks like something done by an amateur with some skills but new to leather, maybe someone who took lessons from Parrot using sheets he pulled out of his recycle bin. (It’s about on par with what’s produced by commercial binderies doing “full leather bindings” these days…) The fourth image below shows the book’s 12 engravings, each about 1.5 inches square. Despite and because of these oddities, it’s an interesting copy of a scarce Moser title. $250
The Journal of Norman Lee. Robert & Felicity Reid, 1959. Edition of 100 copies set in Eldorado and printed on English Eynsford Antique Laid paper. The fascinating gold rush-era account of a Lee’s quixotic 1898 attempt to get rich by driving 200 head of cattle from central British Columbia up to the Klondike. With numerous facsimiles and sketches from Lee’s journal of events and details along the way. A trade edition, using Reid’s same setting, went into multiple printings; this original limited edition is very uncommon. ¶ Copy 17 of 20 bound c.2005 by Claudia Cohen, this one of 15 in quarter leather with marbled paper, leather tips & hinges, with slipcase. These 20 copies were original sets of sheets from the edition that had not been bound upon publication. Their limitation statement, at the front of the book, is not numbered. A one-page afterword was set and printed at HM in 2003, explaining the history of these copies, and was numbered and signed by Reid. $500
Gold. Its properties, etc etc. Robert Reid & Takao Tanabe, 1958. Reprint of one of the earliest books published in British Columbia (1871); I guess gold rush collecting was still a vibrant pursuit in ’58. Set in Caslon, printed on unidentified (but lovely) “British handmade paper.” This copy inscribed on second front endleaf from printer Robert Reid to his mother. Quarter leather with marbled paper. The paper at first looks rubbed but it’s the way it was made: a friend of Reid’s taught herself marbling on his front lawn for this project. But there is slight rubbing to bottom tips. With (different) leather spine label laid in. One of the few copies bound with vellum tips. This title has become uncommon on the market. $150
The Officina Bodoni: An Account of the Work of a Hand Press, 1923-1977. Edizioni Valdonega, 1980. English version, edition of 1500 copies. An excellent source for anyone interested in 20th-century fine printing. Fine/like new (this is a spare copy, so never really opened). $50
Fine Print Magazine. 37 issues spanning Vol. 6 (1980) to Vol. 16 (1990). In very good to near fine condition; a few have small marks on the cover, but no tearing or leaves spilling out. Still makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in contemporary fine press publishing — the ads alone are worth looking at. Vol. 6, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 7, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 8, Nos 1 - 3; Vol. 9, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 10, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 11, Nos 1, 3 - 4; Vol. 12, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 13, Nos 1 - 4; Vol. 14, Nos 2 - 4; Vol 15, No. 3; Vol 16, Nos 1 - 3. (Note: the stack of issues is about a foot high, so shipping will cost a bit.) $100
L’Incal Lumiere. Editions Jonas, 1986. 46 pp, 11.75 × 15.5 inches. I believe this is the first book publication of this story, which follows on from L’Incal Noir. An edition of 870 copies (fewer than the first volume), shoddily auto-numbered. Inscribed to me when Moebius visited Vancouver in 1991 (he inscribed it before I could say No No, just sign! ). Still in the publisher’s printed shipping box. Light toning to edges of the coated paper covers, probably caused by the box. That’s how I found it at some shop in Montreal c.1988. The book’s been protected by some glassine since. In French (in case that wasn’t obvious). I still enjoy my Moebius books but this one’s tall & inconvenient to shelve. If you like Moebius, this place in Paris has some good stuff. $200
Iconologia. Leonard Baskin. HBJ 1988. Square 4to. Signed on half title by LB. Fine in jacket. $50
Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten Leitfaden Offentlichen Berlesungen Entrvorfen. Joseph Beer. Wien, 1813. Volume 1 (vol.2 published 1817). “An important reference in ophthalmic medicine.” Three of the four plates are hand-colored (gooey eyes); these also bear what looks like a holographic signature (it’s outside the plate area), and could be J Beer. This same signature appears on other copies of the prints seen online. Sewn in paper cover: back cover missing, the section with the prints has become detatched, some staining to leaves but not obscuring text. Text is complete. Lovely paper and hundreds of pages of fraktur beautifully set & printed. Great gift for your opthalmologist. $35
A New Display of the Beauties of England: or, a description of the most elegant or magnificent Public Edifices, Royal Palaces etc. R. Goadby, 1787. 452+ pp. Enlarged & expanded edition after 1776 first. Vol 1 of 2 (only). Disbound, title page and some prelims missing, text starts on A2 (Bedfordshire). Book appears complete after that. Many copper plate engravings throughout. Great for the Anglophile in your life. $30