Search Results: Authors starting with F from Swan's Fine Books

[San Francisco]: The San Francisco Club of Printing House Craftsmen, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, miniature book, 66 pp. A short essay on early California printing by San Francisco bookbinder and typographer, Herbert Fahey. This work was the genesis for his later important book published by The Book Club of Califronia, "Early Printing in California", in 1956. Dedicated to the Thiriteth Annual Convention of The International Association of Printing House Craftsmen, Inc., with the title page designed by Haywood Hunt. Herbert (1894-1959) and Edna Peter (1897-1974) Fahey opened their workshop (out of their home) in San Francisco, in 1935, upon their return from a European tour. During the four years of travel they studied with master binder Ignaz Wiemeler in Germany for six months; in France, with several binders for two years including Mlle. M. Morin-Pons; and in London with Douglas Cockerell and Thomas Harrison. After only a year they realized that bookbinding was… Read More

San Francisco: Printed for The Book Club of California by John Henry Nash, 1921. Limited Edition. No binding. Fine. Nash, John Henry. Single leaf folded once to make [4] pp. A lovely broadside printed by the San Francisco printer extraodinaire, John Henry Nash (1871-1947) with his characteristic mitred ruled border, this heavily decorated (as was his style) in light olive green, with a large gilt intial capital letter. The sermon is introduced thus (addressing the San Francisco Examiner): "Mr. John J. Cummins, of No. 1729 Amsterdam Avenue, New York City, writes: 'At the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes I heard a wonderful sermon preached by the Rev. Martin E. Fahey on 'The Sermon on the Mount.' I wish you would write one of your Sunday editorials on that wonderful Sermon on the Mount, it cannot be printed too often". ___DESCRIPTION: A single leaf folded once to four pages, the sermon on the front in black, large gilt initial capital "M", introduction in red, surronded by a gilt ruled border with four… Read More

New York: William Morrow and Company, 1944. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/very good. Quarto size, 41 pp., inscribed by Wolo. Mixing delightful illustrations with playful fantasy adventure, "Sir Archibald" is the story of a brave monkey who goes on a quest to retrieve the lion king's crown, travelling through harrowing wilderness and magical parts of the jungle. Wolf Erhardt Anton George Trutzschuler von Falkenstein (1902-1989) wrote five children's books under his pen name "Wolo"; after escaping Nazi Germany, he taught himself how to draw and lived and worked in San Francisco, where, in addition to book illustration, he painted murals and advertisement art. This volume is the first edition, and contains a special bookplate inscribed by the author. Not in Baumgarten. ___DESCRIPTION: Full paper with a full-colour illustration of the characters with title in black on the front board, black and brown lettering on the spine, plain orange paper on the rear board, endpapers with a map of the land… Read More

Oakland: The Westgate Press [printed by Alfred and Lawton Kennedy], 1948. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. One of 235 copies, octavo size, 79 pp. John Henry Nash (1871-1947) was one of the pre-eminent printers in the early part of the 20th century, printing high-quality editions at his printshop in San Francisco. He quickly gained a reputation for exceptional precision and attention to detail from his earliest years as a printer, when he was in complete charge of design and production for Paul Elder under the Tomoye Press imprint, and later formed a part of the firm Taylor, Nash and Taylor. He opened his own establishment in 1916 which he operated successfully until the early 30s, when, as a result of the changing economy following the Great Depression, continuing was no longer possible. This work provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of the man himself as well as his operation. Written by Joseph Fauntleroy who worked for Nash first as a compositor and subsequently as… Read More

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. First printing, quarto size, 507 pp. For any student of the history of Venice or the madrigal form, this scholarly work is indispensible to have a thorough understanding of such in medieval Venetian culture. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full green cloth over boards, gold lettering stamped onto the spine, endpapers a fascimile of an antique map of Venice, book replete with reproductions of photographs and maps, charts, and with extensive footnotes; quarto size (10 1/8" by 7"), pagination: [i-vii] viii-xxxi [1, blank] [1-2] 3-473 [1, blank] [1, colophon]. Dust jacket of green with white lettering, illustration on front panel and spine, review blurbs on back panel, summary of book on both flaps, short author bio on back flap, the jacket is unclipped and is unpriced. ___CONDITION: Volume is fine overall, with clean boards, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is… Read More

n.p.: Sore Dove Press, 2009. Limited Edition. No binding. Fine. No. 67 of 100 copies, signed by Ferlinghetti. The co-founder of San Francisco's landmark progressive book store and publisher City Lights, Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021) is associated with the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat movement in poetry that emerged there. This poem from "A Coney Island of the Mind", first published in 1958 by New Directions, which is Ferlinghetti's most famous work. It has been translated into nine languages and has sold over a million copies, likely a response to the refreshing good humour and anti-establishment spirit it possesses. Here printed broadside by the Sore Dove Press in honor of his 90th birthday, signed by Ferlinghetti. ___DESCRIPTION: Broadside measuring 12.5" by 6", bottom edge uncut, signed by Lawrence Ferlinghetti below the colophon, this no. 67 of 100 copies. ___CONDITION: A fine copy: clean, with a hint of bend to the upper corners, else as new. ___POSTAGE:  International… Read More

Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1998. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Kent, Rockwell; Muniak, Susan (Photography). Octavo size, 96 pp., inscribed by Scott Ferris and Ellen Pearce. Inscribed by co-author and Kent specialist Scott R. Ferris to Riette Kahn, who with her husband, Albert, is mentioned on page 86 of the book as owners of "From Palmer Hill" and friends of Rockwell Kent; included is a TLS by Scott R. Ferris presenting the book to Riette Kahn. Also signed by co-author Ellen Pearce (Rockwell Kent's granddaughter). Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was an American painter and illustrator who bridged the artistic gap between Victorian and Modern art; highly regarded, he is perhaps best known today for his illustrations, particularly in books such as "Moby Dick" and "Beowulf". He developed sympathy with the social and economic welfare of the working man and became increasingly supportive of Soviet-American friendship, thus becoming a target of Joe McCarthy and even having a travel ban… Read More

Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Field, Rachel. 24mo size, 67 pp. Rachel Lyman Field (1894-1942) was a well-loved children's author, as well as a novelist and poet; she is best known for her Newbery Award-winning "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years". She was also awarded the Caldecott Medal, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and one of the inaugural National Book Awards. This is a sweet little story about a park that "was not really a park in any proper sense of the word, but it was big enough for Tommy Toomey and the other children on the block", and the day one summer when "something happened". With enchanting illustrations that recall childhood in days now long past. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in bright orange cloth with black lettering on the front and spine, yellow endpapers, coloured vignettes on the title and dedication pages, coloured illustrations throughout including one double spread; twenty-fourmo size (just under 5.75" by 4.25"),… Read More

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good +. Lathrop, Dorothy P.. First printing, octavo size, 219 pp., in publisher's dust jacket. A delightful children's book which tells the tale of a hand-carved wooden doll and her many adventures. "As far as I can learn, I must have been made something over a hundred years ago in the State of Maine in the dead of winter..." (p. 3). Authored by Rachel Lyman Field (1894-1942) who wrote over twenty-five children's books and with illustrations by Dorothy P. Lathrop (1891-1980) who provided the charming artwork for almost fifty children's books, "Hitty" would go on to win the Newbery Medal in 1930. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full decorated cloth over boards, small illustrated paper onlay on the front board, colour frontis an image of Hitty, small black-and-white illustration by Lathrop on the title page, lavishly illustrated with a total of twenty-three illustrations, two in colour (in addition to the colour frontis) twelve… Read More

London: Printed for T. Longman et al., 1792. Leather bound. Near fine. Three volumes (complete), duodecimo size, 1024 pp., in a full leather Stikeman binding. Henry Fielding (1707-1754) is often viewed as one of the founders of the traditional English novel - and, as proof that there were many different sides to this fascinating man, he also was one of those who founded the Bow Street Runners, the first professional police force in London. "The History of Tom Jones" is considered Fielding's masterpiece; first published in 1749 it was an immediate best-seller, in the first year being printed four times. This work, stated on the title pages as "A New Edition", came out in 1792, with four illustrations engraved by Thomas Bonner, in an elegantly simple Stikeman binding. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound by Stikeman in full brown leather over boards, a narrow gilt double-ruled border on all boards, the spine compartments with the same ruled borders, title and volume number in two compartments and the other four… Read More

Austin: W. Thomas Taylor [Designed and Printed by David Holman at the Wind River Press], 1983. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. One of 325 copies, folio size, 100 pp. A catalogue published in connection with an exhibition held at the Grolier Club to explore and celebrate the then-current state of fine press printing in America; as is stated in the Introduction, "a primary goal of the exhibition was to feature a selection of lesser-known and younger printers - to learn what they are doing, and why and how they are doing it". The exhibition finally comprised 41 different presses showing 100 of their works; presses which include The Allen Press, Arion Press, Bird & Bull, David R. Godine, Heron, Plantin, Zephyrus, and many more. A lovely catalogue which informs us about the individual presses while showcasing some of their best work. ___DESCRIPTION: Linen cloth boards in varying shades of ivory, gold and mauve, paper spine label with brown lettering, brown laid paper endpapers, title page in… Read More

(Kentfield, California): The Allen Press, 1974. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. One of 140 copies, folio size, 90 pp., with prospectus. Although Gustave Flaubert's (1821-1880) best known work may be "Madame Bovary", he had a deep interest in "The Temptation of Saint Anthony", spending thirty years in research and working countless revisions. It is said that he became intrigued with the subject by a stained-glass window in the Rouen cathedral, which depicts the Saint as a hermit. Anthony (ca. 251-350), born in upper Egypt, experienced, says tradition, every temptation the devil could devise, including the sensuous charms of the Queen of Sheba (fortunately he "was an unusually rugged character and was able to dismiss all of the enticing seductions") (n. b., above info from prospectus). This text from the translation by (Patrick) Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), a noted author and translator who himself had in his family background blood both Greek and Arab, Irish and Gypsy. Embellished with… Read More

San Francisco: Paul Elder & Company [The Tomoye Press], 1909. Hardcover. Very good +. Jenkins, Will. Sixteenmo size, 71 pp. This collection of poems by Agness Greene Foster was printed by the Tomoye Press, an imprint associated with Paul Elder & Company, a notable bookstore in San Francisco run by Paul Elder, who, in addition, published his own books. The Tomoye Press was Elder's collaboration with the eminent typographer and printer John Henry Nash (1871-1947), whose standards of quality were second to none. This volume is a careful execution of Foster's seasonal poetry, featuring Nash's excellent typesetting and decorations by Will Jenkins. ___DESCRIPTION: Full mauve paper with pink lettering and decorations on the front board, fore- and bottom edges uncut, purple endpapers, frontispiece a reproduction of an illustration titled "My Lady's Garden" by J. Young Hunter, with lettered tissue guard, title page with decoration by Will Jenkins in black; sixteenmo size (6.25" by 5.25"), pagination: [i-ii]… Read More

San Francisco: The Press of Lewis and Dorothy Allen, 1942. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Walker, Lawrence E.. One of 225 copies, duodecimo size, 61 pp. The exploration of California led many people to write effusively of the merits of Golden State, and Victor Fourgeaud (1815-1875) does so here in this reprint of a piece he wrote for "The California Star", the first newspaper in San Francisco, published by Samuel Brannan (1819-1899); made wealthy by the California Gold Rush, Brannan publicised the gold rush early, one example being Fourgeaud's writing, one of the earliest published accounts of the discovery of gold in California (per Kurutz). This early publication by the Allen Press features a reproduction of the only known photograph of Fourgeaud, pictured with his family, as well as two line drawings by Lawrence E. Walker, one a portrait of Brannan and the other of Fourgeaud. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter brown leather with light teal paper boards speckled in brown and gold leaf, line… Read More

Los Angeles: Glen Dawson [Printed by Mallette Dean], 1959. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Dean, Mallette. One of 225 copies, duodecimo size, [71] pp. This the first time Fr. Vizcaino's diary was published; it was discovered by Woodward "among the hundreds of unknown manuscripts in Biblioteca Naconal de Mexico in Mexico City" in the summer of 1940. Fr. Vizcaino was one of the few passengers on the ship "San Antonio" which was commissioned to bring food and supplies to the earliest explorers of Alta California. He reports on their first sighting of land (San Clemente, in the Channel Islands), details on the canoes used by the Native Americans they encountered, and many other aspects of the Native Americans who lived in the region. Printed, illustrated and bound in paper boards by Mallette Dean, an eminent California artist and printer; the title page illustration being a linocut, the illustration on p. xviii a colour wood engraving, and the map (p. xxxii), illustration on p. xxxxii, and the… Read More

Ditchling, Sussex: St Dominic's Press, 1930. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Derrick, Thomas. No. 49 of 480 copies, octavo size, 45 pp. The Saint Dominic's Press, founded by Harry (Hilary) Douglas Clarke Pepler, flourished at Ditchling, Sussex, from 1916 to 1936. The first home of the Press was "a disused stable", with a hundred-year-old Stanhope hand-press which supposedly had belonged to William Morris. Pepler endeavored to do everything possible by hand, believing that such would both produce the best results and also be a "more individual or 'humane'...product". He therefore "preferred the handpress to the machine, handmade to machine-made paper, and handset founder's type to the products of typesetting machines." Pepler met Edward Johnston and Eric Gill while living in Hammersmith; Pepler and his family would eventually move to Ditchling to join Gill, who was one of the most important artists to provide illustrations for the St. Dominic's Press. Other artists who provided… Read More

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1978. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. One of 500 copies, folio size, [112] pp., with original prospectus and sample plate, and a notice from the publisher. A significant illustrated study of the aquatint medium for book illustration, by antiquarian bookseller and bibliorapher Colin Franklin, who is also the author of "The Private Presses" and is considered an authority on the subject. The book was designed by John Dreyfus and printed at the Curwen Press, the first Book Club publication to be produced entirely in England. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter red cloth, and Cockerell marbled paper over boards, title in gilt to backstrip, white paper dust jacket, sixteen numbered plates including frontis (not included in pagination), Bell monotype type, machine made paper, folio 14 1/2" by 9 3/8", [i-iv] v-vii [viii] 1-103 [104] pp., limited first edition, one of 500 copies, with original prospectus and sample plate, and a notice from the publisher… Read More

London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1875. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +. First printing, octavo size, 405 pp. Douglas William Freshfield (1845-1934) began mountaineering as a young man, making the first ascent of the Tour Ronde in 1867, and the first ascent of Mt. Elbrus (18,510 feet) in 1868. As well as continuing to climb, he would go on to become President (1914-17) of the Royal Geographical Society and Chairman of the Society of Authors (1908-09). This work, "Italian Alps", is (in Freshfield's own words) "a patchwork from the journals of seven summers. Their chief claim to interest lies in the fact that they deal with portions of the Alpine chain, about which English readers have hitherto found no information in their own language except in guide-books..." After stating that, if he could, he would have left the region a secret (and therefore unspoiled), after admitting that could not be the case, he decided that it would be "better that they [i.e., the mountains] should be introduced by… Read More

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +. First American edition, duodecimo size, 63 pp. Robert Frost's (1874-1963) first book, "A Boy's Will" is a collection of lyrical, autobiographical poems of Frost's early life; the collection ties thematically with Frost's later work in its descriptions of nature and rural settings. The book takes its title from a line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "My Lost Youth": "A boy's will is the wind's will / And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts" (n. b., quote from the Poetry Foundation website). ___DESCRIPTION: Full blue linen with gilt rectangle on the front board enclosing the title and author lettered in gilt, gilt lettering and rules on the spine, fore- and bottome edges uncut, publisher's device on title page; duodecimo size (7.75" by 5.25"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-ix [10] 11-63 [64]. With first issue point "Aind" instead of "And" on the last line of page 14. The book came to us in a glassine wrapper, not… Read More

Great Britain: Golden Cockerel Press, 1939. No binding. Near fine. Mackenzie-Grieve, Averil. Folio size, [2] pp. Prospectus only for "John Fryer of The Bounty", with two wood-engravings by Averil Mackenzie-Grieve. ___DESCRIPTION: A single sheet, announces publication "in November" at 2 Gns.; folio size (12.5" by 7.5"), [2] pp., 2000 copies printed. ___CONDITION: Near fine, clean and free of edgewear, with three horizontal creases (one of which was the original mailing fold) and a few very shallow creases in the margins; free of markings. ___CITATION: Cock-A-Hoop no. P146; volume found in Pertelote no. 146. ___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every item we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.