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ART & ARCHITECTURE

Bettens, Edward. The Louise E. Bettens Memorial, Harvard College. New York: Private Distribution By E.D. Bettens, 1916. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Near Fine [23]p. [17] leaves of plates. 150 copies printed on Japan paper bound in a rich red Levant by Stikeman & Co. with red silk end-papers and all edges gilt. Includes the bookplate of her library. A handsome copy with some light rubbing to extremities. In her early married life, her husband developed an illness which incapacitated him, a son died at the age of 20, while she returned to Cincinnati where she worked as a seamstress and raised her two remaining sons, where they lived above a furniture store. Her son Edward went to Boston and became a well-known lawyer and her other son Thomas a college professor. Edward was wealthy and enabled his mother to live a rich and luxurious life. She was able to obtain a collection of Whistler paintings which she donated to the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard, knew Emerson and many of those among the Harvard elite. This volume shows her home, library, and background. John Fiske gave her a special alcove at the Harvard Library where she would keep her books and notes. As her eyesight failed, she had readers who read her the classics and her beloved Emerson. (A photograph in the volume shows her with a reader who is speaking over a primitive microphone.) Her son Edward Bettens produced this book in her honor and continued to add to the art collection at Harvard. A handsome copy with some light rubbing to the extremities.

[014097]           $450

Bohbot, Michel, Illustrated by Papart, Max. Naissance Des Signes: Trois Eaux-Fortes Originales De Max Papart. Paris: Michel Bohbot, 1978, Near Fine / Near Fine. Limited Edition. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Text in French. 12mo. oblong, 15 leaves. A portfolio of prints; #47 of 60 copies, signed by the artist and author. Three color prints, each numbered and signed by Max Papart with tissue guard. An exquisite production, in case printed silver on black cloth, with simple matching slipcase. Green endpaper wrap. A scarce item not in OCLC.

[009443]             $750

Gill, Eric O.S.D. Clothing Without Cloth - An Essay on the Nude. ill. Gill, Eric O.S.D.. Berkshire: Golden Cockerel Press, 1931. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Hard Cover. Limited Edition. Near Fine / No Jacket. 4 engravings on wood by Eric Gill. Limited to 500 copies. This is number 220. Gilt along top and fore-edge, bottom has a deckle edge.16 p.

[030176]      $300
 

Hays, Helen Ashe. A Little Maryland Garden. New York: Putnam, 1909. 201pp. This is an unusually bright copy with every aspect of the original green cloth with gilt and white accents as bright as the day they were issued. This beautiful book on the gardens of Maryland is further enhanced by the illustrations of Zulma De L. Steele. The author was highly regarded for her books on gardens and landscape. The beauty of the decorative cloth covers of this era would be too costly to duplicate today. There is no evidence of wear, bumped corners or any of the multitudinous defects that happen to most books. the book has the top edge gilt and eight full page color illustrations with the original tissue guards and numerous decorations between the chapters.. Decorated Cloth. Fine. Illus. by Zulma De L. Steele.

[012581]         $150

Hnizdovky, Jacques. Twelve Birds (Portfolio of 12, All Signed and Limited to 100 copies). New York: Associated American Artists, 1975. Elephant Folio - over 15" - 23" tall. All 12 of the woodcuts measuring 370 x 265 mm are present done on rice paper each signed, dated and number 7/100. The twelve birds are (1) Jacana; (2) Vulture; (3) Barn Owl; (4) Sage Grouse; (5) Bald Eagle; (6) Indian Wood Ibis; (7) Ostrich; (8) Kiwi; (9) Crowned Crane; (10) Lyre Bird; (11) White Turkey; and (12) the Pelican. The artist sketched these birds at the Smithsonian, the Bronx Zoo and the New Orleans Zoo. Complete sets are scarce. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has only 7 of the 12. The Baltimore Museum of Art but 4. The one that appeared at auction in 2004 lacked one of the 12. Original covers present also signed and limited 7/100, with exhibit card, and original portfolio case with top and bottom original black ties present but worn. Some wear to portfolio cover and light stains to pastedown label but all prints and interior is as new.

[014131]            $3750

Jacquemart, Albert. HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART a Descriptive and Philosophical Study of the Pottery of All Ages and All Nations. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle, 1873. Quarto. Engraved frontispiece, translated by Mrs. Bury Palliser, containing 200 woodcuts by H. Catenacci and Jules Jacquemart, 12 engravings in aquafortis by Jules Jacquemart and 1000 marks and monograms, bound in original blue cloth decoratively paneled in gilt and black over beveled boards by Burn with binder's ticket at rear, pictorial spine and all edges gilt, brown coated endpapers, a few small spots to upper joint near foot otherwise a very handsome copy, clean and bright throughout.

[014735]                     $375

Mason, Rupert; [George Sheringham and R. Boyd Morrison, editors]. ROBES OF THESPIS Costume Designs By Modern Artist. . London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1928. First Edition. Quarto. 143pp, frontispiece and 109 other color plates with tissue guards, bound in blue pictorial gilt cloth, spine lettering gilt. Rupert Mason brings light to the unknown artist of costume, to give them a chance of success with profits devoted to the creation of a fund to help in their advancement of recognition. Joints just a bit rubbed otherwise an exceptionally nice copy.

[014339]              $125

McCall, Robert. The Art of Robert McCall: A Celebration of Our Future in Space (with Original Art and inscribed) Introduction By Ray Bradbury. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. First Edition. Square Quarto. Cloth. Fine / Fine. Beautiful full page ink drawing of the planets and exploding sun with inscription: "For Hugh Downs with admiration and best wishes" Signed by Robert McCall. Captions by Tappan King.

[013334]                $450

Nielsen, L.C.  A Danish Artist's Craft; the Silverwork of Georg Jensen; a Twenty-Five Years Retrospect. Kobenhavn: Georg Jensen, 1935. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Original Paper Wraps. Near Fine 15p. Laid in is a two page price guide of his flat silver prices in the mid-1930's. The only recorded copy in OCLC is listed in the Danish Union Catalog and Danish National Bibliography.

[014215]           $125

Robert McCall.; Asimov, Isaac. Our World in Space. New York Graphic Society, 1974. Square Quarto. Cloth. Fine / Fine. A beautiful pen and colored ink watercolor over two pages with rich blues, greys, brown and black with exploding sun out of planets. Inscribed "to Hugh Downs ...in appreciation for his generous contribution to the Science Center." signed, Robert McCall, 26 Sept 1980.

[013343]               $650

Scamozzi, Ottavio Bertotti; Andrea Palladio (Vols. 1 and 4 only) Le Fabbrich e I Disegni Di Andrea Palladio Francesco Modena, Vicenza, 1776. Half Leather. Book Condition: Near Fine. Atlas Folio - over 23" - 25" tall. These two atlas folio volumes (Volumes 1 and 4) represent Palladio's work through superb engravings of Scamozzi. The remarkable detail of the work is clear since these plates lack the usual foxing or toning which exist in most copies. The original binding is in place with no serious wear. The frontispiece of Volume 1 has a very nice engraving of Palladio. Each volume has 45 engravings. Complete sets are rare and those that have appeared at auction in recent years have serious foxing.

[012303]         $6000

A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT ART OF ARTHUR SECUNDA
WITH AN ORIGINAL HENRY MILLER POEM

Secunda, Arthur; Henry Miller . Secunda Provence "O Lake of Light". Scottsdale, Arizona: Arthur Secunda, 2002. First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Original Cloth in Case. Fine.

 [000040]    $2500

Smith, S.C. Kaines. AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF PAINTING in Europe to the End of the Nineteenth Century. London: The Medici Society, 1930. Octavo. 274pp, 149 illustrations of which 24 are in colour, finely bound by Sangorski & Suttcliffe in 3/4 brown crushed morocco over marbled paper covered boars with matching endpapers, raised bands with compartments ruled in gilt, top edge gilt. A fine, bright copy.

[014445]                    $500

Thulstrup, Thur De. Drawings By Thur De Thulstrup and Others. New York: E.R. Herrick & Co., 1898. 22 plates, 36 x 52 cm. Each of the twenty-two color lithographs are in pristine condition. The binding is tight. Bror Thure Thulstrup (1848-1930) served in Sweden in the Svea Artillery Regiment then joined the foreign legion. He arrived in New York in 1974 to do illustrations for the Graphic and Harper's Weekly. This work became one of the finest not only for his vivid contrasts of the New York Upper Class with various elements of the lower class but also the war between the sexes. The rich colors of the men in formal dress and parties, card games etc are also matched with those from their counterparts in the Bowery and similar card games in the south of African Americans which while richly drawn cannot escape the caricature that was rooted in the white mind. The book is remarkably fine with each plate perfect with the original 1/4 cloth binding over pictorial boards. An uncommon item.

 [013318]           $850

Portfolio of Williamsburg Restoration Fabrics

F. Schumacher & Co. Portfolio of Williamsburg Restoration Fabrics. New York: Schumacher, Double Elephant - over 25" - 50" tall. Good 1948 30 pages of which 19 are mounted samples. One of the most elaborate of the sample books these were used in displaying the fabrics designed for the Williamsburg restoration that began in 1953. The Art Institute of Chicago says books of this kind were generally disposed of by the trade and interior designers who would have owned them and used them. (Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 1995) Size 53 x 64 cm. Research Library of Paramount Pictures dated November 17, 1948. Only known copies are in the New York Public Library and the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Back hinge is beginning to separate.

[013965]      $1250
 

Imperial Wall Coverings

 

The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection; Imperial Wall Coverings. JYD Ltd, 1985. A large elephant folio sample book issued by JYD Limited of the great collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This volume has the Imperial Wall coverings designed for royalty and here is made available (for a price) to those who desired it. 102 pages (note pages are numbered variously with some of the smaller wall covering samples counting as a separate page; in other cases they are not counted) It measures 46.5 cm x 33 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago notes such sample books are difficult to find once new productions of fabric lines change (see their 1985 note in the Museum Quarterly) It has a handle so it could have been carried by a sample salesman

[013966]      $600

Scenic Wallpaper

Stockwell, C.M. The World is Your Stage.  Very Good. 63 leaves of which the last three leaves have wear on the outer edges, the rest are in pristine condition. Title on spine reads: Scenic Wallpaper. Measures 52 cm. x 35.5 cm. Such sample books are scarce.

[013964]         $750

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