• Kitagawa Utamaro. Illustration from the book Ehon koi no Onamaki. Cited at Hayashi Yoshikazu's 20-volume set Edo makura-e shi shusei: Kitagawa Utamaro. Size: Chuban (25.5 x 18.5 cm), two book pages glued together.  
  • [Michael Hoyer]. Vita B. Ioannis Chisii a Maciaretto, ord. ermit. s. p. Augustini. — Antverpiæ, Apud Henricum Aertssens, Anno MDCXLI [1641]. Pagination: [2] *3+recto unpag. *4+recto unpag., [10], 5-135 [3]. Illustrations: Frontispiece missing, 4 copperplate engravings (pp. 22, 64, 90, and 120) by Pieter de Jode the Younger (1606–1674, Flemish printmaker, draughtsman, painter and art dealer) after Erasmus Quellinus the Younger (1607–1678, Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer). Size: Pott 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm), vellum binding. Expanded title: Vita Beati Ioannis Chisii, a Maciaretto, Ordinis Eremitarum Sancti Patris Augustini. [Translation: Life of Blessed Giovanni Chigi from Maciaretto, Order of Hermits of St. Augustine]. Blessed Giovanni Chigi (1300 - 1363) [1] was a lay brother of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine. The Chigi family is a Roman princely family of Sienese extraction descended from the counts of Ardenghesca. The earliest authentic mention of them is in the 13th century, with one Alemanno, counsellor of the Republic of Siena. The Wikipedia article does not mention Giovanni Chigi, however, it states that one of the Chigi, Cardinal Fabio Chigi, was elected pope as Alexander VII at the Conclave of 1655. The book was published in 1641 with a dedication to the said Cardinal Fabio Chigi before he was elected pope. The town, Maciaretto, where Giovanni Chigi was from, is unclear because there is no such place in modern Italy, and there are two places called Macereto: (1) Macereto Alta/Basso in Perugia province and (2) Macereto in the municipality of Visso, in the province of Macerata, region Marche. I assume that our Giovanni Chigi was from the one that is closer to Siena, i.e. Macereto in Perugia province. Regarding the author. There is no author's name in the book. However, in various sources, the book is mentioned as written by Michel Hoyer, who was born in Hesdin, Flanders in 1593 and died in 1650. He pursued an ecclesiastical career and professed rhetoric at the College of Saint Pierre in Lille. He later joined the Order of Saint Augustine, in the convent of Ypres, and settled in various schools in the Netherlands. His reputation attracted many students, among them Albert Rubens (1614–1657), the eldest son of Peter Paul Rubens and Isabella Brant. Michel Hoyer wrote several books, the most known is Flammulae amoris, S.P. Augustini versibus et iconibus exornatae: Surprisingly, there is only limited information about Michel Hoyer in Spanish Wikipedia; other language versions of his biography do not exist. Another author mentioned in the book is some anonymous Augustinian from Cologne. Regarding the illustrations. In our copy, the frontispiece is missing. It was probably ripped off by some unscrupulous seller of antique prints. The image on the missing frontispiece is this: The names of the artists engraved in the bottom of the stone: E. Quellinus, delin. to the left and P. de Jode, fecit. to the right. We can infer that the other illustrations in that book are produced by the same duo. The image represents three cherubs: one with Athena's serpent in his left hand and a cardinal's hat in his right hand; another in Athen's helmet on his head and her owl beside his feet, with the staff of Mercurius (serpent-twined staff adorned with a winged hat) in his left hand, and the House of Chigi - Della Rovere coat of arms in his right hand; the third cherub depicted with the Hercules attributes - lion pelt and a  club. Regarding the publisher. Henricum Aertssens or Hendrik Aertssen, 1586-1658. Besides the other books, he published PIA DESIDERIA by Herman Hugo in 1636 [1621 french edition by Jean Cnobbartin in Antwerp in his collection LIB-1657.2018]. According to Nina Lamal [2], nothing is known about career of this publisher, besides what's said in Adresboek van zeventiende-eeuwse drukkers, uitgevers en boekverkopers in Vlaanderen / Directory of seventeenth-century Printers, Publishers and Booksellers in Flanders / Vlieger-De Wilde, Koen De (editor). The list of his publications can be seen here. Other artists who turned to the figure of Blessed Giovanni Chigi were Abraham van Diepenbeeck (painter) and Conrad Lauwers (engraver). The print is in Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam. Here we see a more complex composition but with a clear reference to the work of Quellinus and de Jode: The cherub in Athena's helmet takes away the old coat of arms of the Chigi, and the other cherub points out to the new one, with papal symbols of St. Peter's keys, another cherub carries the papal tiara. Rijksmuseum dates the image as 1642 - 1685; most probably it is ca. 1655, when Fabio Chigi became Pope Alexander VII, and propaganda was focused on promoting his outstanding ancestor Giovanni, who died 300 years before. Giovanni Chigi is depicted here resurrected, accompanied by the archangel, and receiving the blessing from Jesus on the cross. 1 - Michael J. Walsh. A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West, p. 308. 2 - Nina Lamal. Publishing military books in the Low Countries and in Italy in the early seventeenth century in 'Specialist Markets in the Early Modern Book World', ed. Richard Kirwan, Sophia Mullins, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2015, pp. 232-233.
     
  • Title: AN ESSAY | Towards a | REAL CHARACTER, | And a | PHILOSOPHICAL | LANGUAGE. | By John Wilkins D.D. Dean of Ripon, | And Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY. |—| [armorial device] |—| LONDON, | Printed for Sa: Gellibrand, and for | JOHN MARTYN Printer to the ROYAL | SOCIETY, 1668. Pagination: [2] blank/order, [2] t.p./blank, [16], 1-454; + 79 leaves of Dictionary, unpaginated (158 pages); Illustrations: folding plates before pp. 167, 187, and two folding plates before p. 443. Collation: π2 a-d2 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Lll4 Mmm3 aaa4 Aaa-Sss4 ttt3 Size: 4to, 32 x 20 x 5 cm; Binding: Full speckled calf, later polished calf spine with raised bands, double fillet ruled gilt compartments, crimson label with gilt lettering, margins sprinkled red. The work of John Wilkins is dedicated to the problem of the universal language. Wilkins was the Dean of Ripon from 1663 to 1672 and one of the founders of the Royal Society.  
  • Title: Ю. И. МАСАНОВ | В МИРЕ | ПСЕВДОНИМОВ, | АНОНИМОВ | И ЛИТЕРАТУРНЫХ | ПОДДЕЛОК | Под редакцией и со вступительной статьей | П. Н. БЕРКОВА | ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО ВСЕСОЮЗНОЙ КНИЖНОЙ ПАЛАТЫ | МОСКВА • 1963 || Frontispiece: ИСТОРИКО- | ЛИТЕРАТУРНЫЕ | И | БИОГРАФИЧЕСКИЕ | ОЧЕРКИ Pagination: [1-6] 7-318 [2], errata slip; 15 leaves of plates. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-208. Binding: 22.0 x 18 cm, hardcover; publisher's tan cloth, gilt arabesque to front board, brown labels with gilt lettering to spine; pictorial DJ. Масанов, Юрий Иванович (Russian, 1911 – 1965). Берков, Павел Наумович (Russian, (1896 – 1969).
  • Title: THE | BIOGRAPHY AND | TYPOGRAPHY | OF | WILLIAM CAXTON, | ENGLAND'S FIRST PRINTER. | BY | WILLIAM BLADES. | LONDON : | TRÜBNER & CO, 57 & 59 LUDGATE HILL. | STRASSBURG : | KARL I. TRÜBNER. | 1877. || Pagination: ffl, [2] blank, [i, ii] - t.p., imprint, [iii], iv, v - preface, [vi] - cul-de-lampe, [vii], viii - contents; [1], 2-383 [384] - imprint, 2] - blanks, bfl.; 18 plates: op. p. 8, 22, 54 (3), 60, 126 (4), 283, [311], 336, 358 (5). Collation: 8vo; [A]4 B-Z8 AA8 BB7. Exterior: 22.6 x 14.8 cm, printed on watermarked Zanders laid paper, original brown decorated paper boards, spine with decoration and lettering, marbled end-papers, water stain to bottom of upper cover, slightly rubbed, upper margin marbled, other untrimmed, binder's mark to back pastedown: "Bound by Simpson & Renshaw". Bookplates to front pastedown: upper: F. Marcham | Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. | Hornsey | 1907"; lower: (2) "From the library of | H. Harvey Frost". Caxton, William (British, c. 1422 – 1491). Blades, William (British, 1824-1890) Frank Marcham (1883 – 1934), motto: "Times are changed, we also are changed with them". This book is based on the author's The Life and Typography of William Caxton, London: J. Lilly, 1861-63, – "A new 'Life' in a more handy form".
  • Title: MEMOIRS | OF | VIDOCQ. |THE | Principal Agent of the French Police. | WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, | AND TRANSLATED FROM THE | ORIGINAL FRENCH, EXPRESSLY FOR THIS EDITION. | WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS, | FROM | ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY CRUIKSHANK. | PHILADELPHIA: | T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, | 306 CHESTNUT STREET. || Pagination: ffl, engraved frontispiece w/guard, engraved t.p., [2] t.p. / copyright, 19-580, [12], [2] 3-17 [18-30], bfl + 4 plates. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-358 362 + 22 leaves of advert., + frontis., t.p., 4 plates. Correct collation despite pagination starts at p. 19. Binding: Publisher's brown pebbled cloth, front stamped in blind, gilt spine lettering, yellow endpapers. Owner's ink inscription to ffl, dated 1936. Ref.: HathiTrust and OCLC identify the plates as 'by George Cruikshank' though none is signed. Authorship of Eugène-François Vidocq (French, 1775 – 1857) is doubtful too. The translator is not stated.
  • Softcover, pictorial wrappers, pp.: 1-200, il.
    Foreword: A treasure trove of ukiyo-e prints / Kobayashi Tadashi The Grabhorn ukiyo-e collection at the Asian Art Museum / Melissa M. Rinne Edwin Grabhorn : passionate printer and print collector / Julia Meech Figures of humans and animals : some early Japanese color prints from the Grabhorn Collection / David Waterhouse. Edwin Grabhorn (1889—1968), co-founder of the Grabhorn Press, Northern California's premier letterpress printer, was a pioneer American collector of Japanese prints. The Grabhorn prints in the collection of the Asian Art Museum comprise the upper echelons of the original collection. The collection includes a superb selection of early monochrome and hand-colored ukiyo-e prints by Sugimura Jihei, Torii Kiyonobu, Okumura Masanobu and others, from the seminal decades of the woodblock print production in the late 1600s and early 1700s.
  • Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, t.p. with contents / to readers, [1] 2-376 + 7 b/w and 16 coloured plates (total 23); this differs to Abbey’s description of 372 pages + 4 pages index, and 41 plates (lacking 18 plates). In No 73 lacking 3 plates: Quadrant Regent st., Morning dress and Full dress. In No 74 lacking 5 plates: Charles str., Brienz, head dresses, full dress, and muslin patterns. In No 75 lacking 5 plates: 4 with bank notes and Castle of Rinkenberg. In No 76 lacking 1 plate: Cavern St. Beat. In No 77 lacking 2 plates: Wetzar and Lake Thun. In No 78 lacking 2 plates: Crescent at Portland Place and Environs of Thun. Collation: 4to; letterpress title, [A]1 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3C4 3D2. Binding: 23.5 x 15.5 cm; double fillet blind-ruled half-calf over pebbled cloth boards, raised bands ruled blind, crimson label with gilt lettering to spine. References: Martin Hardie (1906), p.310 [LIB-2623.2021]; R. V. Tooley (1935), p. 26 [LIB-2641.2021]; J. R. Abbey (1953), Cat. № 212, p. 174 [LIB-2622.2021].
  • Binding: 25. 3 x 19.5 cm, light blue cloth, black labels with gilt lettering to cover and spine. Title: Dictionary of | Victorian | Wood Engravers | {fleuron} | Rodney K Engen | Chadwyck-Healey || Pagination: frontispiece; [i-iv] v-xxi [2] 3-297 [298]. Author’s signature dated 1987 to recto frontis.
  • Cover: Изданiе "БРОКГАУЗЪ-ЕФРОНЪ" | ИСТОРIЯ ЕВРОПЫ | ПО ЭПОХАМЪ | И СТРАНАМЪ | Н. И. Карѣевъ | ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ ИСТОРIЯ | ФРАНЦIИ | ВЪ XIX ВѢКѢ || Title page: Исторiя Европы по эпохамъ и странамъ в среднiе вѣка и новое время. | Изд. под. ред. Н. И. Карѣева и И. В. Лучицкаго. | Н. И. КАРѢЕВЪ | ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ | ИСТОРIЯ ФРАНЦIИ | ВЪ XIX ВѢКѢ. | (Правительственныя формы и внутренняя политика, политическiя партiи | и общественные классы). | Изданiе Акц. Общ. "Брокгаузъ-Ефронъ". | С.-ПЕТЕРБУРГЪ. | Типографiя Акц. Общ. Брокгаузъ-Ефронъ. Прачешный пер. № 6. | 1902. || Pagination: [2] – title / blank, [i-iii] iv-v [vi], [1] 2-300 +1 colour plate (maps). Collation: 8vo; [π]4 1-188 196 + 1 leaf (maps). Binding: Publisher’s green cloth with black lettering to spine and cover, design elements to cover. Contributors: Кареев, Николай Иванович (Russian, 1850 – 1931) – author.
  • Vol. 1: Title: MÉMOIRES | DE | MONSIEUR CLAUDE | CHEF DE LA POLICE DE SURETÉ́ SOUS LE SECOND EMPIRE | {single rule} | PREMIER VOLUME | publisher’s device «JR» in oval} | PARIS | JULES ROUFF ET Cie, ÉDITEURS | 14, CLOITRE SAINT-HONORÉ, 14 | {single rule} || Pagination: [4] – h.t., t.p., [1-3] – engraved t.p. w/portrait, 3-800 [4], in-text and full-page woodcuts; last two leaves (table) has numbered pages 1000 and 1001; the total number of pages 808. Collation: 4to; π2 [1]4 2-1004 Ω2, woodcuts by Quesnel and Ferdinandus, within collation; the total number of leaves 404. Vol. 2: Title: Same but “DEUXIEME VOLUME” Pagination: [4] – h.t., t.p., [801-2] – frontis., 803-2010, [6] – assassinats, [4] – table, in-text and full-page woodcuts; last two leaves (table) has numbered pages 2018 and 2019; the total number of pages 1224. Collation: 4to; π2 101-2524 Ω2, woodcuts by Quesnel and Ferdinandus, within collation; the total number of leaves 612. Binding: Two volumes 28 x 20.5 cm each, uniformly bound in quarter polished brown calf over marbled boards, blind-stamped florets and gilt lettering to spine, marbled endpapers. Contributors: Claude, Antoine (French, 1807 – 1880) – declared author of the text. Labourieu, Théodore (French, 1822 – 1889) – assumed author of the text. Quesnel, Désiré Mathieu (French, 1843 – 1915) – woodcut printmaker. Ferdinandus, Alexandre [Avenet, François] (French, 1850 – 1888) – illustrator. D. Bardin et Cie – printer. Jules Rouff (French, 1846 – 1927) – publisher. Jules Rouff et Cie (Paris, 1873 – 1982) – publisher. Note: Common opinion is that the text was produced by Théodore Labourieu, not by, Antoine Claude. The first edition was published by the same publisher in 10 volumes in wrappers without illustrations, between 1880 and 1883, after the death of Antoine Claude. As stated in WorldCat: “not written or sanctioned by him.” This two-volume edition was published later, with multiple woodcuts.
  • Front cover: LONDON | Highlights from | the Erotica Library | of Tony Fekete | Tuesday 18 November 2014 | {vignette in colour} | CHRISTIE'S || Pagination: [2] 3-134 [2], total 136 pages, 221 lot. Binding: 16.7 x 21 cm, publisher’s pictorial wrappers, red spine with white lettering.
  • 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].
  • Description: One volume, 27 x 21.5 cm, collated 4to, bound in full dark crimson calf with gilt floral border, raised bands with gilt filets, gilt lettering to spine, 16 colour plates, one of them loose, and numerous woodcut tailpieces. Title-page: (black and blue): VOLTAIRE | L'INGÉNU | {VIGNETTE} | ILLUSTRATIONS DE BERTHOMMÉ SAINT-ANDRÉ | ÉDITIONS DE LA BONNE ÉTOILE | PARIS || Collation: 4to; π4 (2 blanks, h.t./limitation, t.p.), 1-184, last blank; total 76 leaves plus 16 colour plates after Louis Berthommé Saint-André and two flyleaves, first and last. Pagination: [4 blanks] [1-4] 5-143 [144] [4 blanks]; total 152 pages, ils. Limitation: Edition limited to 2,500 copies, of which this is copy № 1621. Colophon: Printed under direction of Paul Cotinaud at L’Union Typographique by Henri Leduc; photogravures executed by G. Duval and coloured by E. Vairel fils. Contributors: François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (French, 1694 – 1778) – author. Louis Berthomme Saint-André (French, 1905 – 1977) – artist.
  • Softcover, in flapped pictorial wrappers, 28 x 21.6 cm, 35 entries, with colour illustrations. Catalogue # 4 of the sales exhibition on September 19-22, 2000 in NY; pagination: [1-3] 4-61 [1], ils., some folding. Contributor: Sebastian Izzard
  • Title-page: Heroes & Ghosts | Japanese prints | by | Kuniyoshi | 1797-1861 | [space] | Robert Schaap | introduction by | Amy Reigle Newland | essays by | Timothy T. Clark | Matthi Forrer | Inagaki Shin'ichi | {publisher’s device} | Hotei Publishing, Leiden | Society for Japanese Arts || Description: Square hardcover volume, 29.3 x 29 cm, bound in black cloth with blind vignette to front cover and blind lettering to spine, black pictorial endpapers, pictorial dust jacket; pp.: [1-4] 5-280, incl. 279 plates and 31 figures in the text; based on exhibit in Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) 30 Jan – 5 Apr 1998 and Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia) 24 Apr – 29 Jun 1998.
  • © Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad, 1985. Printed and bound in Finland. Title-page (in red on the pictorial background): SAVED FOR | HUMANITY | THE HERMITAGE DURING | THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD | 1941-1944 | AURORA ART PUBLISHERS • LENINGRAD || Illustrated album in hardcover, 33 x 25 cm, bound in black cloth with gilt and red to front cover and spine, brown endpapers, pictorial dust jacket; pp.: [1-6] 7-270 [34], total 304 pages with 388 b/w and colour illustrations. TextSergei Petrovich Varshavsky [Сергей Петрович Варшавский] (Jewish-Russian, 1906 – 1980); B. Rest [Б. Рест; Юлий Исаакович Шапиро] (Jewish-Russian, fl. 1940 – 1980). Preface: Boris Piotrovsky [Борис Борисович Пиотровский] (Russian, 1908 – 1990). Translated by Arthur Shkarovsky-Rafeé. Layout by Liubov Rakhmilevich. Photography by Viktor Savik and Leonid Bogdanov. Design by Valery Ivanov. A twin edition to [LIB-3042.2022] S. Varshavsky, B. Rest. The ordeal of the Hermitage: The siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944 — Leningrad: Aurora Art Publishers, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1985 and the Russian edition [LIB-3044.2022] C. Варшавский, Б. Рест. Подвиг Эрмитажа, 1941-1944 / Альбом. — Ленинград: Издательство «Аврора», 1987. The text extracted from [LIB-3035.2022] С. Варшавский, Б. Рест. Подвиг Эрмитажа: Государственный Эрмитаж в годы Великой отечественной войны. — М.-Л.: Советский художник, 1965.  
  • Paperback, 21.2 x 13.6 cm, dark blue pictorial covers with white lettering, pp.: [2] 3-316 [4]. Title-page: Рав. Й.-Д. Соловейчик | И СТАНЕТЕ ИСКАТЬ | ОТТУДА… | Перевод Мириам Китросской | Памяти | Миши Шнейдера и Лены Гальпериной | {publisher’s device} | Иерусалим 5782 (2022) || Contributors: Иосеф Дов-Бер ха-Леви Соловейчик [יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ'יק‏‎, Joseph Dov-Ber Soloveitchik) (Jewish-American, 1903 – 1993) Мириам Китросская [Miriam Kitrossky] (Israeli, b. 1957)