Search Results: Titles starting with A from Swan's Fine Books

Torino: Zecchi e Bona, 1850. Hardcover. Very Good. Duodecimo size, 176 pp., text in Italian. Text in Italian, with some Latin quotes scattered throughout. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter tan leather with marbled paper boards, gilt lettering and decorations direct to spine, text block edges appear to have been stained at some point, now faded, plain endpapers, vignette on title page, original red ribbon marker still attached; duodecimo size, pagination: (xxiv), 150, Index (1 page), printer's mark on verso of Index page. ___CONDITION: Overall in very good condition, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, and straight corners with a minimum of rubbing; the leather spine is in near fine condition, bright and supple, although there is some wear to the head and tail, marbled boards rubbed; the volume was in at least one ecclesiastical library, there are (only) two library markings, one being a bookplate on the front pastedown (Sac. Vercellone Joseph, Valgranensis) the other being a small purple stamp… Read More

1780. No binding. Near fine. van Rijn, Rembrandt. Single etching printed to recto only, plate margins: about 4.5" by 3.5" A late 18th-century restrike, likely by Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) of Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn's (1606-1669) etching, "Abraham Caressing (Isaac) Benjamin". While producing a body of work that continues to be treasured 400 years after his lifetime, Rembrandt experienced a great deal of loss in his personal life, losing three children in infancy and his beloved wife, Saskia, after the birth of their fourth child - the only one to survive to adulthood. The look of quiet sadness in this etching on the face of Abraham perhaps echoes some of that loss experienced by Rembrandt, while the face of the child shows only joy at being so closely held by his father. Rembrandt's work varies greatly, an aspect that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries. His work included biblical scenes, such as that seen in this work, but was not limited in that respect. He worked in… Read More

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Near fine. Two volumes (complete), quarto size, 2002 pp. A fresh look at one of the greatest of the American Presidents, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). This multi-volume biography has been awarded several prizes, including One of the 5 Best Books of 2009 by "The Atlantic", One of the 10 Top Lincoln Books by the "Chicago Tribune", 2008 PROSE Award for Best Book in U.S. History and Biography/Autobiography by the Association of American Publishers, and the 2010 Lincoln Prize from the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. From the web site of the publisher: "In the first multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln to be published in decades, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame offers a fresh look at the life of one of America's greatest presidents. Incorporating the field notes of earlier biographers, along with decades of research in multiple manuscript archives and long-neglected newspapers, this remarkable work will both alter and reinforce current… Read More

Monmouthshire: The Old Stile Press, 2006. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Reddick, Peter. Number III of X special edition copies (total edition 200), quarto size, [60] pp., signed by the artist and author. As explained in the Press's description: "The first 'poem-by-way-of-a-preface' implies that this book is a three-way collaboration of the words (the poet's) and the image (the engraver's) and the space between (the printer/designer). On this occasion, it is not just one art form responding to another. Sometimes a poem responded to a visual image, sometimes vice versa; many pages are more collaborative still, with a sketch from one prompting a draft from the other, worked up to a finished picture and redrafted poem once the printer's hand has set them in their space. Poppies, trees, fire, natural forms all excite the different forms of expression found here. Peter Reddick was, for many years, one of the most highly regarded of British wood engravers and his work has appeared in many Penguin… Read More

Los Angeles: Glen Dawson [Printed by Mallette Dean], 1956. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Dean, Mallette. One of 225 copies, duodecimo size, [56] pp. Zakahar Tchitchinoff was born in 1802 in a town in Eastern Siberia; he joined his father, an employee of the Russian American Company, where he was employed on the Company's ships. Tchitchinoff's descriptions of his adventures in California give a good picture of Russian activities in the Farallones in the period of 1818-1828, which consisted mostly of hunting seals for their fur. For the men it was a life filled with deprivation, and Tchitchinoff gives us a first-hand insight into the hardships of their daily lives. Printed, illustrated and bound in paper boards by Mallette Dean, an eminent California artist and printer, with the colour wood engravings and the wood-engraved initials printed from the original blocks. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter orange and gray striped cloth with decorative paper covered boards, paper spine label, four color wood… Read More

London: Grant Richards, 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Robinson, W. Heath. First printing, octavo size, 135 pp. William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) was an exemplary book illustrator and cartoonist, "the only British illustrator to become a 'household name'" (Houfe), a contemporary of acclaimed illustrators Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, best known for his cartoons portraying elaborate and whimsical machinary made to complete simple tasks. In fact, his fame was such that the term "Heath Robinson" was used in the United Kingdom to refer to such machinary, much as the term "Rube Goldberg" was used in the United States. "The Adventures of Uncle Lubin" is a fantastical tale of daring and danger, and is an early example of depictions of the complex machinary for which Robinson would become known; the book is replete with illustrations, often full-page, that bring the story and characters vividly to life. ___DESCRIPTION: Full teal blue cloth, with debossed illustrations in red, grey, and… Read More

Ausable Forks N.Y.: Asgaard Press, 1968. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. Kent, Rockwell. One of 250 copies, octavo size, 23 pp., inscribed and additionally signed by Rockwell Kent. Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was an American painter and illustrator who bridged the artistic gap between Victorian and Modern art; the illustrator of countless books, his appeal has continued to grow throughout the 20th century and he remains highly collectable today. This volume relates, in a fascinating and mostly humorous style, the story of Kent (and family's) short visit to Newfoundland, with Kent being viewed with some suspicion resulting in the officials inviting Kent and family to leave....then, in 1967 ("more than half a century from the events I have recorded") receiving an official invitation for them to return. A wonderful and heartwarming story, with five illustrations by Kent. Inscribed by Kent on the dedication page (printed "To Joseph R. Smallwood") with, beneath the printed dedication:… Read More

San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1965. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Elkus, Richard J.. No. 83 of 487 copies, elephant folio size, approximately [100] pp., signed by Richard Elkus, Robert and Edwin Grabhorn, with prospectus. The last major book of the Grabhorn Press, "Alamos" is a collection of photographs by Richard Elkus, capturing the poetry of the town of Alamos in Mexico; the photographs, a mix of landscapes and portraits, have a gritty serenity and a real sense of the character of the town. The titles of each photograph, printed on the preceding pages, resonate with a poetry rich with description. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter brown suede with orange, beige, and tan linen boards, title blind-embossed on the front board, fore-edge rough cut, title page in red and black, twenty-four black-and-white photographs tipped in throughout, all versos blank; Goudy Modern type, machine-made paper, elephant folio size (17" by 13"), approximately 100 unnumbered pages, one of 487 copies, this number… Read More

[Iowa City, Iowa]: Empyrean Press, University of Iowa, 2002. Limited Edition. Stitched Binding. Near Fine. Cohen, Ronald. One of 15 special copies, quarto size, 44 pp., signed by Jorie Graham. Jorie Graham (b. 1950) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1996 and became the Boylston Professor at Harvard, taking over from Seamus Heaney. The title poem of this collection appeared, as of this printing, in this edition only; the work has a pastel drawing by Ronald Cohen recreated on the title page and printed from photopolymer plates in colours ranging from light lemon to cadmium yellow. ___DESCRIPTION: Binding is sewn longstitch on a spine of vellum and alum-tawed pigskin, navy blue leather boards with fore-edge bands in natural leather; printed on Center for the Book hemp paper, quarto size (11.75" tall), pagination: [i-viii] 1-33 [34-35] [1 colophon], one of 15 special copies (total edition 315), signed by Jorie Graham on the colophon. The special copies, of which this is one, come in a drop-spine… Read More

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1985. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Dean, Mallette. One of 750 unnumbered copies, folio size, 124 pp. An impeccable reproduction of the original bibliography of the Allen Press, with additional entries published subsequent to the original biblilography. The new, updated material was printed letterpress at the Tamalpais Press. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full tan cloth, design (depiction of Columbian hand press) in light tan on front board, title stamped in gold on the spine, fore-edge uncut, title page and some reproductions in colour, divisional titles in red, marginal decorations in red and black; folio size (13 3/4" by 9 1/2"), 124 pp. ___CONDITION: Fine, with clean boards, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new. ___CITATION: BCC 200, no. 180. ___POSTAGE: Please note that this is an unusually large book… Read More

[London]: The Golden Cockerel Press, 1948. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Webb, Clifford. One of 500 copies, quarto size, 253 pp., with prospectus. The Golden Cockerel Press came together in autumn of 1920, at a time when post-World War I society was ushering in a renaissance of creative minds, including another renaissance of the printing press as the artist's tool similar to that of William Morris and the arts and crafts printers of the previous century. The press worked with many notable artists including Eric Gill, Blair Hughes-Stanton, Robert Gibbings, and the artist for this work, Clifford Webb. Clifford Cyril Webb (1895-1972) studied art and is best known today for his wood engravings. He was a founder-member of the Society of Wood Engravers, and "was a prominent figure in the group of engravers whobrought about the revival of wood engraving in the 1920s, and benefited from the encouragement of Robert Gibbings and the Golden Cockerel Press" (n.b., quote from Webb's entry in Horne,… Read More

[Cuernavaca]: [Printed by "El Barretero"], 2000. Sewn binding. Fine. Hutchins, Edward. Oblong 32mo size, 32 pp., in both Spanish and English, signed by Edward H. Hutchins and Steve R. Warner, with two hand-coloured illustrations. Book Artist Edward H. Hutchins believes that: everyone has a story to tell; that the best books are not mass-produced; and that when one let's one's imagination soar, the most amazing creations are possible utilizing, often, fairly inexpensive materials. Thus was born - Guerilla Bookmaking. Ed Hutchins has produced at least over eighty books between the years 1968 and 2005 (perhaps more - gleaned from several sources). Always creative and frequently carrying a social justice message, Ed's books charm and delight. His own web site offers a few books which are still in print; this volume relates, in Spanish (with the English translation following) a short story based on a factual happening; Ed and Steve were in Mexico for a year, and having been there only one week, a… Read More

[San Francisco]: Pacific Editions, 2009. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Hobson, Charles. No. 5 of 39 copioes, folio size, 11 pp., signed by Roger Angell and Charles Hobson, with TLS. For those touched by a love of sailing and the sea, this work, masterfully blending Angell's essay with Hobson's design, personifies that love and makes it touchable. The text is an essay by Roger Angell (b. 1920), award-winning writer of mainly sports literature (he has been referred to as the "Poet Laureate of baseball ") and a regular contributer to The New Yorker. Charles Hobson, book artist extraordinaire, has incorporated into his design old maritime charts of Maine, overhead views of islands based on those provided by Google Earth, model sails and rigging, and a pastel of a baseball cap (the BoSox, of course) signed by him beneath. Includes a TLS from Hobson to the original owner of the book loosely laid in, dated July 28, 2009, wherein he walks the recipient through the book pointing out salient features -… Read More

San Francisco: San Francisco Opera, 1976. Wraps. Fine. Casey, Lawrence. Program: octavo size, [24] pp., signed by Wallace Stegner. Poster: 25" high. In order to help celebrate the 200th anniversaries of both the nation and the City of San Francisco (which took place on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away), the San Francisco Opera adapted Wallace Stegner's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Angle of Repose" into an opera. Offered are two items from the World Premiere which took place in November of 1976: the program, which is signed by Stegner underneath his printed name on page [15], along with the opera company poster for the same. The program includes pieces by the composer, the librettist, the conductor, and Stegner, with the signature of Wallace Stegner (N.B., not recorded in Colberg). The poster has an illustration of "Fia" (1965) by Sam Tchakalian, San Francisco artist and… Read More

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1943. Comb binding. Very good +/good. Quarto size, [22] pp., with dust jacket. Three favourite children's stories with the imaginative paper engineering of Julian Wehr (1898-1970), who was known as the "American Master of Animated Books" (n.b., quote from Wiki). ___DESCRIPTION: Illustrated paper-covered boards with a red comb binding, illustrated title page in green and black, the six moveable pages in full colour and the rest of the pages with green and black, or red and black, small illustrations; quarto size (10 3/8" by 7 1/2"), unpaginated with eleven leaves. The dust jacket front panel mirrors the front board, back panel and spine blank, front flap a publisher's blurb about the animation, back flap publisher's ad for a different animated book. ___CONDITION: Volume better than very good and could almost be deemed near fine, the animations all in good working order, the yellow paper boards clean other than a stray speck or two, the top corners unrubbed, the comb… Read More

San Francisco: The Grace Hoper Press, 1956. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. One of 75 copies, folio size, [33] pp. Another iconic Commonplace Book from the Grovers, somewhat more elaborate than its predecessor. With excerpts, anecdotes and proverbs from many different sources, such as "Advertisements are of great use to the vulgar" -Addison. Sherwood and Katherine Grover were a husband and wife team; Sherwood was the pressman at the Grabhorn Press and that is where the early Grace Hoper Press books were printed. He eventually left the Grabhorns to pursue his own career, although remaining fast friends with the Grabhorns throughout their lives. ___DESCRIPTION: Quarter linen and decorative paper covered boards, with a red leather label lettered in gilt on the backstrip, tail- and fore-edges uncut, printed in black, gilt, red, blue and yellow, numerous initials, flourishes, and vignettes throughout; numerous typefaces, handmade paper, folio size (13" by 9"), [1-4] 5-32 [1 colophon] pp.,… Read More

New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Very good +. First printing, octavo size, 756 pp. "Short, cheap pamphlets with catchy titles and crude woodcuts lured readers in early modern England. The pamphlets described notorious murders and the sometimes providential means by which the culprit was captured and condemned to the scaffold. In this extraordinary book, Peter Lake examines how various groups, protestant, puritan, and catholic, the press, and the popular stage, sought to enlist these pamphlets for their own ideological and commercial purposes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. "[This] book redraws the intellectual map of early modern England...[and] takes us not merely to the print shops, book stalls and theaters, but also to the pulpits, prisons, and public executions of post-reformation England... by exploring popular literature and the way it was used Lake analyses contemporary notions of politics, religion, gender and social order" (n.b.,… Read More

New York: Atheneum, 1970. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, large octavo size, 317 pp., signed by Cecelia Holland. Cecelia Holland (b. 1943) has written, to date, over twenty historical novels which span both the globe and time. In addition, she has authored a multitude of other fictional series, as well as short stories, children's books, and non-fiction. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981-1982. This work, "Antichrist", her fifth published historical novel, set in the early thirteenth-century, follows Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, who leads a crusade to liberate Jerusalem in 1229. Note that we have several other volumes of Holland's historical fiction, many of them signed; if you are searching for a particular title, please do let us know. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in quarter blue cloth with grey paper-covered boards, the title blind-debossed on the front board, gilt lettering stamped onto the spine, top edge stained red, red endpapers, signed by the… Read More

[Rio de Janeiro]: Nova Fronteira Memoria Brasileira, 1980. Hardcover. Near Fine. Folio size, 124 pp., inscribed by Claudio Arrau. A little-known work on the great coffee plantations of the nineteenth century in the area around Rio de Janeiro. Coffee first started to appear in the area around 1760, and by 1822 there were plantations in the area with more than fifty thousand coffee plants, with massive tracts of rainforest being cleared first from the vicinity of Rio and later Sao Paulo for coffee growing. The families owning the plantations built huge homes, some of them almost small castles - one of which, the Parque Sao Clemente, had ceilings so beautiful that special reclining chairs were installed so that they could be better admired. This book explores those fazendas, both inside and out, to provide a glimpse into this glittering past. The text of the book is in Portuguese, and an accompanying softcover book has the English translation. This volume was previously owned by Claudio Arrau… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. First printing, octavo size, 390 pp., from the library of the Science Hill School. Catherine Esther Beecher (1800-1878) , the sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, was an outspoken educator and writer, and advocated for equal access to education for women. She founded the Hartford Female Seminary in 1823, where she taught for nine years; the founding of numerous other schools, particularly in the American West, are credited to her ideas on education. Although she was opposed to women's suffrage, she strongly believed in the social and intellectual importance of the home and women's positions within the educational and domestic spheres (n. b., info from the website of Women's History). In "An Appeal to the People", Beecher favours a personal examination of God's teachings in the Bible, valuing the agency of the people; she writes in the Introduction that ". . .people are endowed with principles of common sense by which they can… Read More