Search Results: Authors starting with R from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1936. First (British) Printing of this Edition. 260 x 197 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 3/4"). 255, [3] pp. Original publisher's linen boards, original pictorial dust jacket. With 12 COLOR PLATES (including frontispiece) BY ARTHUR RACKHAM, all protected by tissue guards with descriptive letterpress. Latimore & Haskell, p. 74. ◆Dust jacket with tiny chip out of bottom edge of back panel and two very minor closed tears at bottom of front panel, a little chafing at folds, but still A VERY FINE COPY IN A FINE JACKET. This is an especially well-preserved copy of the first British trade edition (appearing the same year as a British limited edition and an American trade edition) of Rackham's "Peer Gynt," written by Ibsen in 1867. The translator here, R. Farquharson Sharp (1864-1945), says that his translation is an improvement over former ones because he has refused the temptation of retaining the rhymed verse of the original. He has instead chosen unrhymed verse in Ibsen's… Read More

New York: The MacMillan Company, 1917. No. 180 OF 250 COPIES OF THE AMERICAN LARGE PAPER EDITION. 292 x 222 mm. (11 1/2 x 8 3/4"). xxiv, [iv], 517, [1] pp.Text abridged from Malory's "Morte d'Arthur" by Alfred Pollard. Original white kid stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, others trimmed on the rough (upper hinge expertly strengthened). In a new felt-lined slipcase. WITH 16 MOUNTED COLOR PLATES with lettered tissue guards and 70 drawings in black & white BY ARTHUR RACKHAM. Latimore & Haskell, p. 47. ◆Leather with a hint of soiling and very minor wear (corners slightly rubbed, a couple--perhaps naturally occurring--abrasions on the back cover), otherwise an especially fine copy. This is a lovely copy of the deluxe American edition on Large Paper of Arthur Rackham's take on the Arthurian legends. While Rackham did illustrations for a great many books, Houfe observes that he concentrated "particularly [on] those of a mystical, magic, or legendary background," like the present work. Rackham (1867-1939)… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1918. No. 369 OF 765 COPIES SIGNED BY RACKHAM. 286 x 232 mm. (11 1/4 x 9 1/8"). ix, [i], 132, [2] pp.With a preface by Edmund Gosse. Very attractive red three-quarter morocco, gilt (stamp-signed "Putnams" along rear turn-in), raised bands, spine handsomely gilt in compartments formed by plain and decorative rules, quatrefoil centerpiece surrounded by densely scrolling cornerpieces, sides and endleaves of rose-colored linen, top edge gilt. With numerous black and white illustrations of cherubic children in the text, and NINE COLOR PLATES, as called for, all tipped onto brown paper and with letterpress guards. Front pastedown with morocco bookplate of W. A. M. Burden. Hudson, p. 170; Latimore & Haskell, pp. 48-49. ◆Just a hint of offsetting from the brown mounting paper, otherwise A VERY FINE COPY, BRIGHT, FRESH, AND CLEAN INSIDE AND OUT, with only the most trivial of imperfections. This collection of Swinburne verses written for and about children was published near the… Read More

Paris: Hachette et Cie, [1913]. No. 54 OF 60 SPECIAL COPIES printed on imperial Japon paper, from a total edition of 460. 295 x 225 mm. (11 5/8 x 9"). 38, [2] pp.Introduction by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. Publisher's full vellum, upper cover with fanciful gilt penguin after a Rackham design, titling above it, smooth spine with gilt lettering and rampant cat ornament, top edge gilt, yellow silk ties detached (one laid in at rear). A few vignettes in the text, and 44 COLOR PLATES mounted on brown paper, all with lettered tissue guards. Front pastedown with bookplate of Jean Couchie. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 41-42; Hudson, p. 169. ◆Boards tending to bow a little, half a dozen (naturally occurring) small yellow spots to vellum on rear board, but a very nearly fine copy--pristine internally, in a binding with few signs of wear. This collection of color plates shows Rackham's range of artistry, from the distinctive fairy-tale drawings for which he is best known, through works in the style of the… Read More

Philadelphia: David McKay, [1931]. First American Trade Edition. 250 x 188 mm. (9 7/8 x 7 1/2"). 223, [1] pp. Publisher's green cloth boards with gilt lettering, original (price-clipped) pictorial dust jacket. Housed in the original box with the dust jacket image pasted onto the top, as issued (the box with a little wear along edges, a couple of tears and neat repairs to corners and sides, but in excellent condition overall). Illustrated title page and endpapers, 24 illustrations in the text, and 12 COLOR PLATES (including frontispiece), all BY ARTHUR RACKHAM. Latimore & Haskell, p. 67; Hudson, p. 172; Coigney 313; Oliver 276. ◆Dust jacket with very minor imperfections (a small stain near head of backstrip, very slight yellowing on spine and a hint of soiling on lower wrapper), but essentially in fine condition, and the binding and contents pristine. This is an outstanding copy of a classic that is as much a meditation on the tranquility to be found in nature as it is a guide to the sport of… Read More

London: Printed for T. Basset, 1687. 392 x 247 mm. (15 1/2 x 9 3/4"). 2 p.l., xxxii, [26], 41, [1], 813, [45] pp. Pleasing contemporary sprinkled calf, covers paneled in blind with fleuron cornerpieces, raised bands, original tan morocco label. With woodcut headpieces, decorative initials, and genealogical tables in the text, engraved allegorical frontispiece, portrait of the author, six double-page maps, and two double-page battle plans. Wing R-168. ◆Minor chips to head and tail of spine, short cracks to head and tail of front joint, corners rather bumped, covers with a dozen small patches of lost patina from insect activity, but the completely unsophisticated original binding still solid and generally well preserved. A handful of gatherings with very faint dampstain to top two inches of paper, two quires and one map with faint dampstain to top third--but nowhere is the discoloration anything except barely perceptible, one leaf with small hole in text affecting three words, Sss3 with printing… Read More

[Paris: Alexandre Richomme, 1805-06]. 383 x 280 mm. (18 1/8 x 11"). Attractively matted (secured at the top, loose at the bottom) and housed in a stiff paper portfolio, with protective waxed tissue between the engravings. THE COMPLETE SUITE OF 12 HAND-PAINTED ENGRAVINGS, each depicting an allegorical figure against a black background, framed in purple, and with small animals and objects in a frieze below, the images by different printmakers (including Jean Baptiste Fosseyeux, Louis Croutelle, Eugene Bourgeois, Jacques Louis Petit, Jean François Ribault, N. Thomas, Jacques Lavallée, Louis Francois Mariage, and François Jacques Dequevauviller), ALL PAINTED WITH GOUACHE IN THE STYLE OF MICHANGELO MAESTRI. With the printed titles in Italian pasted onto the lower edge of the verso. See: Giangiacomo Gandolfi, "The Strange Case of Raphael's Planetary Hours: Revealing a Neoclassical Forgery," an unpublished presentation given at the "Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena" conference in London in 2015.… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1894. 210 x 135 mm. (8 1/4 x 5 1/4"). Two volumes.. Vibrant dark red half-morocco over textured fuchsia boards, raised bands with gilt rule, compartments with gilt lettering and tools, matching textured endpapers, edges untrimmed. Each volume with frontispiece and with numerous illustrations throughout. ◆Two corners just slightly bruised, a breath of wear to extremities, but A FINE COPY, the contents in perfect condition and the bindings unworn. First published in 1861, Reade's greatest novel follows a 15th century scribe and illuminator who becomes friar following erroneous news of his wife's death. When the couple are reunited years later, the protagonist chooses the celibate life of the Church over obligations to his family. According to the DNB, Reade "read seventy-nine books . . . and filled three 'gigantic cards' with notes about hermits" in preparation this work, allowing him to write in great detail about life in the Medieval world. This work was also Reade's… Read More

York: The Ebor Press, 1983. 298 x 210 mm. (11 3/4 x 8 1/4"). 2 p.l., 116 pp. Green paper wrappers. ◆In fine condition. .

Publisher's dark red cloth, upper cover with gilt pictorial design and titling, smooth spine with gilt lettering. IN THE ORIGINAL BOX with cover design printed on lid (top and bottom of box very expertly repaired at corners). With frontispiece portrait of Longfellow, wood-engraved headpiece vignettes at beginning of each chapter, one or two small wood engravings in the margin of each page, showing the face of a character, specimens of area wildlife, and Native American tools, vessels, and clothing, and 22 photogravure plates after Remington, all with lettered tissue guards.
Front free endpaper with neat ink inscription: Charles S. Davis / Christmas 1913 / from Bessie"; publisher's announcement for Whittier's "Snow-Bound" (1906) laid in. ◆Binding with trivial shelf wear, a couple of faint marginal thumb smudges, but A VERY FINE COPY--clean, fresh, and bright internally, in a virtually unworn binding and the sturdy original box.Longfellow's epic poem about the Native American "Hiawatha"--a composite… Read More

Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger, 12 July 1482. 298 x 211 mm. (11 3/4 x 8 1/4"). Single column, 37 lines in gothic type. Attractively matted. Each side with one six-line and one three-line decorative woodcut initial. Goff E-23; ISTC ie00023000; not in BMC. ◆Faint freckled foxing to head edge, two small marginal wormholes, but a fine leaf, clean and fresh, from this rare work on German land law originally written between 1224 and 1227 (just one copy in the U.S.). .

[Geneva]: Excudebat Henricus Stephanus, 1574, 1577. FIRST EDITION of the Epigrams of Callimachus. 255 x 180 mm. (10 1/8 x 6 3/8"). 4 p.l., 240 pp.; 8 p.l., 72, 134 pp.First work with Henri Estienne's textual notes on and analysis of the epic; both with Greek scholia. Pleasing 18th century olive brown morocco, covers with triple gilt fillet border, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with central floral sprig surrounded by small tools, flower cornerpieces, gilt titling, gilt-rolled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (older repair to head of rear joint). Printer's devices on title pages, woodcut headpieces and decorative initials. Front pastedown with armorial Syston Park bookplate and monogrammed book label of John Hayford Thorold; front free endpaper with bookplate of Stephen Winkworth, front flyleaf with ink presentation inscription to Winkworth as a wedding gift from L. and F. Campbell, dated April 7, 1895; flyleaf also with earlier notation at head edge: "L'archer's copy." First… Read More

London: Philip Lee Warner, Publisher to the Medici Society [for the Riccardi Press], 1909. No. 499 OF 500 COPIES on handmade paper (and 17 on vellum). 272 x 202 mm. (10 3/4 x 8"). 4 p.l., 108 pp., [1] leaf (colophon). Contemporary crimson crushed morocco by Maurin (stamp-signed on front turn-in), raised bands flanked by blind rules extending to meet in points on the covers, gilt lettering to spine panel, turn-ins with repeating gilt foliate tool, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Device in blue on half title and title, 12 MOUNTED COLOR PLATES BY W. RUSSELL FLINT printed on paper and bound at the end, each with tissue overlay printed in red. Tomkinson, p. 148. ◆Spine a shade darker than covers, boards slightly soiled, joints and extremities just beginning to show wear, but still a pleasing lustrous binding, and a fine copy internally--clean, fresh, and bright. This is an appealing copy of one of the series of luxury editions Flint produced for the Riccardi Press of the… Read More

London: Philip Lee Warner, Publisher to the Medici Society [for the Riccardi Press], 1909. No. 107 OF 500 COPIES on handmade paper (and 17 on vellum). 268 x 197 mm. (10 1/2 x 7 3/4"). 4 p.l., 108 pp, [1] leaf (colophon).Translated by George Long. Attractive tan morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers with gilt- and blind-ruled border, gilt arabesque at center, raised bands with blind-tooled fleurettes extending onto covers, spine compartments with various gilt Roman symbols at center, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled turn-ins, patterned endpapers, top edge gilt. In (slightly worn) matching patterned paper slipcase. Riccardi device in blue on half title and title, 12 MOUNTED COLOR PLATES BY W. RUSSELL FLINT printed on paper and bound at the end, each with tissue overlay printed in red. Tomkinson, p. 148. ◆Spine gently sunned, one neatly repaired marginal tear, but a nearly perfect copy--the text clean, fresh, and bright, and the binding unworn. This is an extremely… Read More

London: [Printed at the Riccardi Press for] Philip Lee Warner, Publisher to the Medici Society, 1909. No. 61 OF 500 COPIES. 260 x 194 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 5/8"). 6 p.l., 16, [1] pp. Pleasing olive brown crushed morocco by Bumpus (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers framed with three sets of triple fillets, raised bands, spine compartments similarly framed, gilt titling and turn-ins, all edges gilt. Vignette on title page and colophon, both in blue, and 10 fine color plates by Russell Flint, mounted on stiff paper, each of the plates accompanied by a tissue guard and an additional captioned paper guard. Tomkinson, p. 148. ◆Spine faded to a soft hazel brown (as usual with green), boards with just a hint of the same fading, very slight rubbing to a small portion of the joints, usual offsetting from turn-ins to endleaves, one tissue guard with one-inch strip torn at head edge, but still a very appealing copy, the attractive binding lustrous and with no significant wear, and the interior clean and fresh.… Read More

Paris: De l'imprimerie de Plassan, 1821-22. 212 x 133 mm. (8 3/8 x 5 1/4"). Two volumes.. Very attractive quarter calf blind-stamped in "cathedral" style over marbled boards by Thouvenin (stamp-signed in gilt at foot of spine), corners tipped with green vellum, spine blindstamped with a design of gothic-arched windows, gilt titling, marbled endpapers and edges. Half title with ink inscription in French stating that this book was purchased at the sale of the library of the Duc de Coigny at Chateau de Franquetot on 24 April [19]12. ◆Occasional insignificant smudges or spots of foxing, the paper a little on the inexpensive side, otherwise an appealing copy with virtually no signs of use. This is an early 19th century French edition of Richardson's first major work, offered here in a well-preserved unusual contemporary binding and with intriguing provenance. Samuel Richardson (1679-1761) was a printer who loved to write letters and who, at the age of 50, began writing novels using the epistolary… Read More

London: Day & Son, 1855-56. Second (First Small Folio) Edition. 285 x 195 mm. (11 1/8 x 7 3/8"). Six volumes bound in three.. FINE 20TH CENTURY CRIMSON CRUSHED MOROCCO BY ZAEHNSDORF for Asprey & Co. (stamp-signed on front turn-in), boards with simple gilt-rule border, raised bands, spine compartments ruled in gilt, gilt titling, densely gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. 250 FINE TINTED LITHOGRAPHED PLATES, MOSTLY OF VIEWS OF THE HOLY LAND, by Louis Haghe after Roberts (a few with hand coloring), including engraved titles, two engraved maps, and an engraved portrait of Roberts. Abbey, "Travel" 385, 388, and 272; Blackmer 1432; Tobler, p. 229. ◆Text leaves with faint overall darkening (due to paper quality), isolated small patches of foxing or minor smudges to margin of plates, otherwise AN ESPECIALLY FINE SET, the text entirely clean, smooth, and fresh, the bindings unworn, and THE IMAGES VERY CLEAN, RICH, AND ENTIRELY WITHOUT FOXING. This is a remarkably clean and bright copy, in… Read More

This is a very fine assemblage of works from the three iterations of the handpress founded by Alan James Robinson (b. 1950) and Joel Ginsburg in 1979: the ABCedary Press; the Cheloniidae Press (the best-known of the press names), and The Press of the Sea Turtle (1992 to present). All of these books are impressive private press productions that are lovely, charming, and in exceptional condition. Robinson quickly established a reputation for producing books that are uniformly tasteful as well as delightful, that use the highest quality materials, that involve the work of various highly skilled collaborators, and that are generally in some way about animals. He received an MFA in printmaking from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has spent his adult career within the well-developed book-arts community in western Massachusetts. He designs and illustrates all of the Cheloniidae books in collaboration with numerous artisans and craftsmen. All of Robinson's books were printed by the celebrated… Read More

Boston and New York: [Printed at the Riverside Press for] Houghton Mifflin & Company, 1902-04. No. 61 OF 265 COPIES. Three volumes.. Publisher's green handmade marbled papered boards backed with light green canvas, flat spines with printed white paper label, ENTIRELY UNOPENED. Volume I and II in original pale green paper dust jackets (the jacket for the third volume absent), each volume in its original (rather soiled and slightly worn) folding cloth box, with paper spine labels. Frontispiece portrait in each volume, 23 full-page facsimiles, large and beautiful criblé initials throughout, criblé headpieces. Designed by Bruce Rogers. Extra paper title label tipped into the back of each volume. ◆A faint, pencil-thin vertical stain on dust wrapper of one volume (with transfer onto front free endpaper), jackets a little creased, tiny ink spot (from printing process) to edge of three leaves, otherwise (and apart from the boxes and the one missing jacket) a very fine copy, nearly unchanged from the day… Read More

Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1552; Venice: Jacopo Strada, 1557. FIRST COMPLETE AND FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION of the first work; FIRST EDITION, Second Issue of the second work. 330 x 215 mm. (13 x 8 1/4"). [108] leaves; 8 p.l., 192, 181-228 pp., [99] leaves (index). Two works in one volume.. 18th century marbled calf, rebacked, original backstrip laid down, flat spine in compartments formed by decorative leafy rules and featuring large floral ornaments at center, two morocco labels, marbled end papers. Printer's device on titles and on final leaf of first work, fine large and small (mostly historiated) woodcut initials, and MORE THAN 100 FINE WOODCUTS (mostly large or full-page) IN FIRST WORK, several signed by "C S" (perhaps Conrad Schnitt or Christoph Schweizer), ILLUSTRATING BUILDINGS, OCCUPATIONS, MILITARY MACHINES, COSTUMES, etc. (some cuts repeated, one cut printed upside down); 369 numismatic woodcuts in text of second work (262 of these, including repetitions, with medallion portraits and 107… Read More