//Books about books
  • Cover: John Milton | A Catalogue of Works by or Relating to | John Milton | {vignette portrait} | Catalogue 620 | Issued by | MAGGS BROS. Ltd. | 34 & 35 Conduit Street, New Bond Street | LONDON, W.I. | and at Paris | 1936 || Title page: top left: Catalogue 620; top right: 1936, middle: JOHN MILTON | A CATALOGUE OF WORKS BY OR | RELATING TO JOHN MILTON | Largely comprising the Library of the well-known Milton Scholar, the late | prof. Hugh C. H. Candy, B.A., B Sc. | {coat of arms: by appointment to his majesty King George V} | MAGGS BROS. Ltd. | BOOKSELLERS BY APPOINTMENT TO HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V | AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES | 34 & 35 CONDUIT STREET, LONDON, W.I. | TELEGRAPHIC & CABLE ADDRESS: “BIBLIOLITE, LONDON.” […] TEL.: REGENT 1337 | At Paris: Maggs Bros., 93 & 95 Rue La Boëtie. || Printed: Courier Press Leamington SPA and London. Pagination: [1-4] 5-56 [6], wrappers incl. in pagination, the total number of leaves is 31. Binding: 24 x 18.5 cm, publisher’s tan wrappers, front wrapper detached, browned.
  • Title: A CONRAD | MEMORIAL LIBRARY | THE COLLECTION OF | GEORGE T. KEATING | {Conrad's portrait in a circle} | 1929 | Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. | Garden City, New York || Pagination: [2] – blanks, [i-vi] vii-xvi, [1-2] 3-448 [449-450], [2] – blanks, [2] – justification (501 copies printed, 425 for sale, this is № 365), verso blank, plus frontispiece – a colour portrait of sitting Mr Conrad from the painting by Walter Tittle with lettered tissue guard; the total number of pages 472; 304 items recordered and described. Binding: 27 x 19.5 cm, bevelled boards, blue cloth, white embossed head portrait of Conrad pasted to front board, spine sunned to green-yellowish, paper label with lettering to spine, top edge gilt, other untrimmed, printed on laid paper; in a black buckram slipcase with a green label to spine. Contributors: Joseph Conrad [Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski] (British-Polish, 1857 – 1924) George Thomas Keating (American, 1892 – 1976) – author Printer: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company Richard Robert Donnelley (American, 1838 – 1899) Publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Frank Nelson Doubleday (American, 1862 – 1934) George Henry Doran (American, 1869 – 1956) Tittle, Walter (American, 1883 – 1966) – artist (portrait)
  • Title: BIBLIOTHECA FICTIVA | A Collection of Books & Manuscripts | Relating to Literary Forgery | 400 BC – AD 2000 | Arthur Freeman | Bernard Quaritch Ltd | 2014 || Pagination: xvi, 424, with colour frontispiece and 36 illustrations in text. Binding: 26 x 18 cm, burgundy cloth, blocked in gold on spine, printed dust-jacket.  
  • One volume 22.3 x 14.4 cm, green buckram, gilt lettering to spine, Brooklyn public library copy with stamps and sticker; [i-iv] v-xi [xii blank], [1-2] 3-144 [4 blank], total 160 pages, 80 leaves; 620 entries + index. Title-page (vertical double-rule, left indent): CHODERLOS de LACLOS | The Man, His Works, and His Critics | An Annotated Bibliography | Colette Verger Michael | {publisher’s device} | GARLAND PUBLISHING INC. • NEW YORK & LONDON | 1982 || Contributors: Michael, Colette Verger (American, b. 1937) Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre Ambroise François (French, 1741 – 1803) – author. Ref.: WorldCat.
  • Title-page: DELLE | NOVELLE ITALIANE | IN PROSA | BIBLIOGRAFIA | DI | BARTOLOMMEO GAMBA | BASSANESE | EDIZIONE SECONDA | CON CORREZIONI ED AGGIUNTE | {publisher’s device} | FIRENZE | TIPOGRAFIA ALL’INSEGNA DI Dante | M.DCCC.XXXV. || Collation: 8vo; π8 1-198; an extra leaf between 18 and 19 (189, pp. 289-10, errata), leaf 11 unsigned, leaf 12 signed 11. Total 161 leaves plus 6 leaves of plates extraneous to collation; Plates (copperplate engravings): (1) Giovanni Boccaccio, (2) Angelo Firezuola (i.e. Agnolo Firenzuola), (3) Lorenzo Magalotti, (4) Gasparo Gozzi, and (5) Michele Colombo by Marco Comirato, and (6) Franco Sacchetti by Francesco Bosa. Pagination: [i-iii] iv-xv [xvi] [1-3] 4-290, index [16], total 322 pages plus 6 plates, unpaginated. Binding: 22.4 x 15 cm, modern brown half-morocco over green sprinkled boards, red label with gilt lettering, publisher’s yellow wrappers preserved. Edition: 2nd; the 1st edition was published in 1833. Contributors: Bartolommeo Gamba (Italian, 1766 – 1841) – author, complier. Marco Comirato (Italian, c. 1800 – 1869) – engraver. Francesco Bosa (Italian, ? – ?) – engraver. Sitters: Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian, 1313 –1375) Franco Sacchetti (Italian, c. 1335 – c. 1400) Agnolo Firenzuola] (Italian, 1493 – 1543) Lorenzo Magalotti (Italian, 1637 – 1712) Gasparo Gozzi (Italian, 1713 – 1786) Michele Colombo (Italian, 1747 – 1838)
  • POLEMIC AGAINST PRINTING | by | FILIPPO DE STRATA | Translated by SHELAGH GRIER | Edited and | Introduced by MARTIN LOWRY | University of Warwick | The Hayloft Press | 1986 || Publisher’s mustard wrappers w/ lettering, 18.5 x 12.5 cm, 20 unnumbered pages of parallel Latin text and English translation with English introduction; limited edition of 350 copies, 100 for private circulation and 250 numbered copies for sale of which this is №3, with ink inscription to the last page: To Beryl | on her birthday, 1986 | with love from | David ||  
  • Detailed Bibliographical Description:  ( Title: Principles of | Bibliographical Description | Fredson Bowers (in a frame) | PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY | PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS | 1949. Pagination: [i-vii] viii-xvii [xviii] [1-3] 4-505 [506], 2 leaves of plates. Exterior: 24 x 16.5 cm, purple-grey cloth, brown label with gilt lettering to spine, DJ. Fredson Thayer Bowers (American, 1905 – 1991).
  • Title page: THE ART OF | MAHLON BLAINE | A Reminiscence | by G. Legman | with a Mahlon Blaine bibliography | compiled by Roland Trenary | {Blaine’s fac-simile} | Peregrine Books | 1982 || Pagination: [1-4] 5-26 + 84 pp. of illustrations, unpaginated. Collation: 13 leaves of text, 40 leaves of b/w plates, and 2 leaves of colour plates, 55 leaves total. Binding: 29 x 22.5 cm; publisher’s black cloth, silver lettering to spine, pictorial endpapers, pictorial dust jacket. Edition: Limited edition of 100 copies (this is №100), signed by Gelman, Trenary, and Arrington. Contributors: Blaine, Mahlon (American, 1894 – 1969) – illustrator. Legman, Gershon (American, 1917 – 1999) – author. Arrington, Robert L. (American, 1984 – 2015) – author, introduction. Trenary, Roland (American) – author, compiler. Peregrine Books (East Lansing, MI) – publisher.
  • Title: PROCESSES OF | GRAPHIC REPRODUCTION | IN PRINTING | BY | HAROLD CURWEN | [space] | LONDON | FABER AND FABER | 24 RUSSELL SQUARE || Pagination: [i-vii] viii-xvi [6] [1-3] 4-142 [2], ills. Collation: 8vo; π3 [A]8 B-K8, 14 plates extraneous to collation, in-text illustrations; (quire K – 'Binding'). Binding: 22.8 x 15 cm, black cloth, gilt lettering to spine; calligraphic MS bookplate to fep "Dorothy Mahoney | 1942." Edition: 1st edition, printed by The Curwen Press in Plaistow. Contributors: Harold Curwen (British, 1885 – 1949), grandson of John Curwen (British, 1816 – 1880) – author. The Curwen Press (Plaistow, London) – printer. Faber and Faber Limited (London) – publisher. Dorothy Mahoney – provenance; author of the book The Craft Of Calligraphy, first published on October 12th, 1981 by Pelham Books. The 1st American edition was published the same year in New York by Oxford University Press [LIB-2835.2021].
  • Title: PROCESSES OF | GRAPHIC REPRODUCTION | IN PRINTING | BY | HAROLD CURWEN | [space] | NEW YORK | OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS | 1934 || Pagination: [i-vii] viii-xvi [6] [1-3] 4-142 [2], ills. Collation: 8vo; π3 [A]8 B-K8, 14 plates extraneous to collation, in-text illustrations. Binding: 22.5 x 15.5 cm, dark-blue cloth, remnants of gilt lettering to spine. Edition: 2nd (after the 1st published by Faber and Faber in London, printed by The Curwen Press in Plaistow, the same year, 1934 – [LIB-2840.2021]). Contributors: Harold Curwen (British, 1885 – 1949), grandson of John Curwen (British, 1816 – 1880) The Curwen Press (Plaistow, London) – printer.  
  • Title: DER INSEL VERLAG | EINE BIBLIOGRAPHIE | 1899-1969 | […] Bearbeitet und herausgegeben | von Heinz Sarkowski | INSEL VERLAG || Pagination: [i-vi] vii-xiii [xiv] [2] 1-452. Binding: Blue cloth, black label with gilt lettering to spine, lettered and blind-stamped DJ.
  • Title: JACK KAHANE | ★ | Memoirs of a | Booklegger | [space] | {publisher’s device} | MICHAEL  JOSEPH LTD. | 26, Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.I || Pagination: [1-6] 7-287 [288 blank]; total 288 pages. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-S8; total 144 leaves. Binding: 21.5 x 15 cm, by James Burn, publisher’s blue cloth, silver lettering to spine, yellow endpapers; cream dust-jacket with black and red lettering and reproduced photo portrait of the author. Contributors: Jack Kahane (British, 1887 – 1939) – author. Michael Joseph (British, 1897 – 1958); Michael Joseph Ltd. (London) – publisher. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.; Mayflower Press (Plymouth) – printer. John Dickinson & Co.; John Dickinson (British, 1782 – 1869) – paper maker. Frederick E. Kahane – dedicatee (brother of Jack).
  • Title page: BOOKLEGGERS | AND | SMUTHOUNDS | THE TRADE IN EROTICA, 1920-1940 | JAY A. GERTZMAN | UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS • PHILADELPHIA || Pagination: [8] [1] 2-418 [6] blanks, total 216 leaves. Binding: 24.5 x 16 cm; black cloth, silver lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket.
  • Title: ABC | FOR | BOOK-COLLECTORS | BY | JOHN CARTER | {publisher’s device} | RUPERT HART-DAVIS | SOHO SQUARE LONDON | 1952 | [TITLE-PAGE] || Pagination: [1-6] 7-191 [192 advert.], total number of pages 192. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-M8, total number of leaves 96. Binding: 21 x 13.5 cm, aubergine cloth, gilt lettering to spine, pictorial endpapers; cream unclipped (15s. net) dust-jacket with the sea-green panel in a border, with a fleuron frame, black and cream lettering, and publisher’s device to front; lettering to spine and back; folded prospectus insert loose. Edition: 1st. Contributors: Carter, John Waynflete (British, 1905 – 1975) – author Hart-Davis, Sir Rupert Charles (British, 1907 – 1999); Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. (London) – publisher. Hazell, Watson and Viney, Ltd. – printer.
  • Title: TASTE & TECHNIQUE | IN | BOOK-COLLECTING | A study of recent developments in | Great Britain and the | United States | BY | JOHN CARTER | SANDERS READER IN BIBLIOGRAPHY | AND SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF | KING’S COLLEGE | {space} | {publisher’s device} | CAMBRIDGE | AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS | 1949 || Half-title: TASTE & TECHNIQUE | IN | BOOK-COLLECTING | The Sanders Lectures in Bibliography | 1947 || Pagination: [i-vi] vii-x [xi] [xii blank], 1-201 [202 blank] [2] – advert. / blank, total 12+202+2=216 pages. Collation: 8vo; π6 1-128, 136, total 108 leaves. Binding: 22.5 x 15 cm, red cloth, gilt lettering to spine, lettered dust-jacket with armorial publisher’s device in red, price-clipped. Edition: 1st edition (1948), 2nd impression, corrected (1949). Contributors: Carter, John Waynflete (British, 1905 – 1975) – author. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge) – publisher. Brooke Crutchley – printer.
  • 2 volume set. Vol. 1. Title: Typographia, | OR THE | Printers' Instructor : | INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT | of the | ORIGIN OF PRINTING, | with | Biographical Notices of the Printers of | England, from Caxton to the close | of the Sixteenth Century : | A Series of | Ancient and Modern Alphabets, | and | DOMESDAY CHARACTERS : | Together with | An Elucidation of every Subject con- | nected with the Art. | By J. JOHNSON, Printer. |{stanza}| Vol. I. | In frame: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, | Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Pater- | noster Row, London | Under the frame: 1824. || Typographical frame with the names of distinguished printers; on the cornerstone: William Caxton, 1474. Pagination: ffl / blank, blank / engraved frontis., engraved t.p. / blank, engraved dedication / list of club members, engraved arms vignette / blank, [4] pedigree, [i] ii-xii – preface, [1] 2-610, [10] – index, bfl. Text printed in the frame. To ffl : previous owner’s inscription: Herbert Heath | from | William Blades. | Xmas 1886; Frontispiece: Portrait of John Johnson at age 46, engraved on wood by W. Hughes; t.p.: TYPOGRAPHIA, | OR THE | PRINTERS INSTRUCTOR | BY | J.JOHNSON | PRINTER. VOL. 2. | 1824 | frame with lettering, top: GUTTnbg – FAUST – ELZEVIR – ALDUS, bottom: MENTZ – STRASbg –HARLAEM | below: BIBLIOTHECA • BODLEIANA. | below the frame: G.W.BONNER SC ||; Dedication to Earl Spenser, K. G., and the members of The Roxburghe Club, dated 1824, engraved on wood by W. Hughes; Arms vignette: Roxburghe Club | Instituted | June XVII | M D CCCXII || engraved on wood by William Harvey. Provenance: Admiral Sir Herbert Leopold Heath, KCB MVO (1861 – 1954); William Blades (1824 – 1890) – English printer and bibliographies. Inscription to ffl in both vols:D. Bateman. Vol. 2. Pagination: ffl, t.p. (similar lettering, but Vol. II.) / blank, [2] advert., [i] ii-iv contents, [1, 2] 3-663 [664] [16]. Points: Vol. 1.: Frontispiece portrait of Caxton replaced by a portrait of J. Johnson from Vol. 2, engraved t.p. of Vol. 1. replaced by t.p. of Vol. 2; Vol. 2 without engraved t.p., and without frontispiece. Edition: First Edition. Size: 16mo. 12.5 x 8.5 cm Binding: Mid-nineteenth century polished calf, the covers with a border of a gilt double fillet and blind roll. Spine divided into six panels with raised bands flanked with gilt fillets, lettered on new red goatskin labels, marbled endleaves and edges. Seller's description:
    John Johnson (1777-1848) operated Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges's Lee Priory Press before a falling-out. Typographia was printed at his Apollo Press, in Brook Street, Holborn, with the financial support of Edward Walmsley, and came out in four sizes. "Of the few standard works on the art of printing in the English language, this is perhaps the most familiar. [The first volume contains] a table of the introduction of the art into the different countries, after which comes the "introduction and art in Great Britain", with a list of the productions of the first printers up to 1599. The second volume may be described as practical, in contradistinction to the first, which is historical. It gives a description of types, directions for composing, for press, and warehouse work, &c. It is particularly rich in foreign alphabets, a feature which has gained of it great estimation. It has long since become, and deservedly, a printer's classic" - Bigmore & Wyman, I, pp.371-2.
    Note: This is the book that served as a source of plagiarism for  Adams's Typographia: a brief sketch of the origin, rise, and progress of the typographic art published in Philadelphia by himself in 1837. The copy returned to the seller for the reason stated in section Points above and replaced with the unaltered copy LIB-2693.2021.
  • 2 volume set, ¾ burgundy morocco over peacock marbled boards, ruled gilt, raised bands, gilt-ruled in compartments, gilt lettering, marbled endpapers and all margins, binding by W. S. Hiltz, NY. Vol. 1. Title: Typographia, | OR THE | Printers' Instructor: | INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT | of the | ORIGIN OF PRINTING, | with | Biographical Notices of the Printers of | England, from Caxton to the close | of the Sixteenth Century : | A Series of | Ancient and Modern Alphabets, | and | DOMESDAY CHARACTERS: | Together with | An Elucidation of every Subject con- | nected with the Art. | By J. JOHNSON, Printer. |{stanza}| Vol. I. | In frame: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, | Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Pater- | noster Row, London | Under the frame: 1824. || Pagination: Blank leaf, [2] – blank / engraved frontispiece (portrait of William Caxton by W. Hughes) w/guard, [2] – engraved t.p. by Thompson (upper margin almost none, tall lower margin, unframed) / blank, letterpress t.p. w/guard / blank, [2] – dedication to Earl Spenser and Roxburghe Club members / list of members, [2] – engraved Roxburgh Club plate by W. Hughes / blank, [4] – the pedigree of Earl Spenser, [i] ii-xii preface, [1] 2-610, [10] – index, blank leaf; printed on wove paper, text within double rule border. Vol. 2. Title: Typographia, | OR THE | Printers' Instructor: | INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT | of the | ORIGIN OF PRINTING, | with | Biographical Notices of the Printers of | England, from Caxton to the close | of the Sixteenth Century : | A Series of | Ancient and Modern Alphabets, | and | DOMESDAY CHARACTERS: | Together with | An Elucidation of every Subject con- | nected with the Art. | By J. JOHNSON, Printer. |{stanza}| Vol. II. | In frame: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, | Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Pater- | noster Row, London | Under the frame: 1824. || Pagination: Blank leaf, [2] – blank / engraved frontispiece (portrait of John Johnson ÆTATIS XLVI by William Harvey), w/o guard, [2] – engraved t.p. by G. W. Bonner (framed) / blank, letterpress t.p. w/o guard / blank, [2] – advert. / explanation of engraved title, [i]-iv contents, [1, 2] 3-663 [664], [14] – index, [2] – cantata, blank leaf; printed on wove paper, text within double rule border. Note: This is the book that served as a source of plagiarism for  Adams's Typographia: a brief sketch of the origin, rise, and progress of the typographic art published in Philadelphia by himself in 1837.
  • Description: One volume 22.8 x 25.4 cm, in contemporary gilt-ruled brown half morocco over green buckram boards, spine with raised bands, gilt in compartments, lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, printed in sanguine; pp. [6] [1-3] 4-234 [4], 36 blank leaves ruled red, 12 blank leaves; total 170 leaves; 35 mounted marbled paper samples on 10 sheets. Title-page: THE PROGRESS | OF THE MARBLING ART | FROM | TECHNICAL SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES | BY JOSEF HALFER | WITH A SUPPLEMENT ON THE | DECORATION OF BOOK EDGES | Translated by Herman Dieck, Philadelphia {gothic} | BUFFALO, N. Y. | LOUIS H. KINDER | 1893 || Edition: 1st American edition (and first edition in English) after two editions in Budapest (Austro-Hungary) in 1884 and 1890. Contributors: Josef Halfer (Austrian, 1846 – 1916) – author. Herman Dieck (American, fl. 1883 – 1896) – translator. Louis H. Kinder (American, 1867 – 1938) – publisher.