USD
GBP
EUR
CAD
AUD
ZAR
The Accidental Bookseller
Specializing in Uncommon Copies of Interesting Books
Membership(s): IOBA, FABA, PADAH
Lawrence, John Sketchbook Drawings
$100.00
Previous Parrot Press: Oxford (UK), 1991. First edition.
Introduction by Peter Guy. Limited edition, 170 total, signed by Lawrence and Guy, this is one of only 35 copies that have been hand colored on the instructions of the artist.
Lawrence is an award winning author of several children’s books as well as the illustrator for numerous books, most notably Richard Adams’ Watership Down, works by Phillip Pullman, Paul Theroux, and Folio Society editions of Waugh, Sassoon, Defoe and others.
Illustrated paper over boards. Fine.
Related products
-
Political Artist's Book by Claire Van Vliet
Van Vliet, Claire Greed
$600.00Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB
Newark, VT: Janus Press, 2013. 6-1/2″ x 7.” Limited edition, one of 120 copies. Accordion fold with 8 panels, 4 of them are fold-down pages. Each of the four page-spreads include letterpress text in various typefaces and colors which fold-down, expanding the canvas of words, sayings, and accusations (including a catalog of U.S. Senators and Representatives of the 111th Congress who became lobbyists—a list that fills the fold-down page in a small font); these opposite a lithograph by Van Vliet, each lithograph is titled by the top word on the opposite page: Propagandist, Lobbyist, Banker, Joe Public. Bound in gold paper repeated printed with the word “Greed,” and all housed in gold slipcase. A fine copy. In a contemporary newspaper article in the Burlington Free Press, Candace Page relates an interview with Van Vliet: “[She] picks up dummy of GREED, a slim volume that will sit inside a glittery cover of gold paper. It opens like an accordion to display four Van Vliet black-and-white lithographs of distorted faces: A banker, a lobbyist, a newscaster, she says, ‘and this one on the end, the sap, John Q. Public, us.'” Van Vliet continues in the Page interview: “The word ‘greed’ will be printed multiple times on the cover in heavy, unevenly inked type, as though it were printed contemptuously, by some greedy person with no respect for the written word. The paper is not handmade — that would be too good for the book. Instead it is ‘slick, nasty machine-made paper,’ she says. The edges of the gold cover will be sharp ‘because greed is not a comfortable subject.'” There is a wonderful irony that the lithographs employed in Greed were originally drawn for an edition of Kafka decades before that just weren’t quite right for the project. Here, they are perfect! This is a striking book, a political book, one might say, an angry and defiant book. Van Vliet’s politics being informed by the McCarthy era during which she was a student, she admits to having distrusted the powerful ever since. This edition sold out very quickly and is now rare in commerce. A book that was, is, and will always be relevant.
Offered for Sale by: Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB -
A Signed Definitive Retrospective
Al Hirschfeld; Introduction by Alistair Cooke Hirschfeld: Art and Recollections From Eight Decades [Signed and Inscribed]
$350.00New York: Scribner, 1991. Hardcover. Large oblong 4to., 306 pp. Introduction by Alistair Cooke. Profusely illustrated by the author. Signed and inscribed by the author on the half-title page. Illustrations throughout by the author. Sharp copy. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket which has a few creases along the top edge. Item #908202505 Offered here is a scarce signed edition of Hirschfeld: Art and Recollections from Eight Decades, the definitive retrospective of Al Hirschfeld’s extraordinary career. Published in 1991, this lavishly illustrated volume celebrates eight decades of his instantly recognizable caricatures and theater portraits, drawn with the wit, precision, and elegance that made Hirschfeld a cultural icon. The book pairs hundreds of his finest works with personal reflections and anecdotes from a life spent chronicling Broadway, Hollywood, and the arts. This copy is boldly inscribed, dated and signed by Hirschfeld soon after publication on the title page — a highly desirable feature, as signed examples are increasingly uncommon. A must for collectors of 20th-century illustration, performing arts history, or modern caricature, this volume captures the genius and humor of one of America’s great visual storytellers. Near fine in its original dust jacket, this is a a beautifully preserved tribute to a lifetime of art and imagination.
Offered for Sale by: 32.1 Rare Books + Ephemera -
First Printing of the 1956 Caldecott Award Winner
John Langstaff Frog Went A-Courtin’
$650.00New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1955. First Edition. Binding: Hardcover. Illustrator: Feodor Rojankovsky. Book Condition: Very Good+ Condition. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+. Size: 9″ -11″ – Small Quarto (Sm. 4to). [32] pages. Stated First Edition of the 1956 Caldecott Award Winning book. The dust jacket does not have the award sticker or mention the award, which is the case with later printings. The classic folk tale put to music of Frog’s courting of Mouse. In his introductory “Story of This Story,” Langstaff traces its origins to Scotland and journey to the American colonies. “The story of the ‘Frog and Mouse’ became a part of America,” he writes, “and belongs to all of us today.” The last page of the text includes the tune the author says was sung by “the children of the southern Appalachian mountains ….” The two-page facing illustrations alternate between green, black and white drawings and full-color illustrations. In their 1982 annotated bibliography Newberry and Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, Peterson and Solt wrote, “The predominantly red, yellow, and blue illustrations, as well as the monochromic ones, humanize the tale’s characters without stripping them of their dignity and natural traits.” They add, “Rojankovsky has recorded this tale so that it works well with the text and extends and synthesizes word and picture in a manner which retains the humor and fun of its original intent.” Supplementing the story and in keeping with the fun are matching full-color end papers showing the animals at play. Bound in blue textured paper over boards with the title in black on the spine and an illustration of Frog in black at the lower right corners of the front cover. Corners are sharp with minimal wear. The top of the spine has been bumped, resulting in a light crease 1/2″ down from the head of the spine and a diagonal crease in the upper left corner of the front cover. There is some light purple-ish spotting around the edges. Text block is tight, bright and unmarked. No foxing in this copy. Side and bottom page edges are clean, neat and free of foxing. There is some light dust speckling to the top page edges. The unclipped ($2.50) dust jacket has some wear at the folds with a 3/8″ chip at the head from the front flap’s fold and a small 1/8″ chip at its foot. There are small (1/8″ or less) chips at the head of foot on the fold between the front panel and the spine. The spine and exposed edges of the folds are slightly darkened from handling or exposure and there is some light spotting visible in the light areas of the front and rear panels. The dust jacket is protected in a clear archival Brodart sleeve.
Offered for Sale by: Quaint Book Shop -
A reflective, non-sentimental meditation on belief
Porter, Katharine Anne (1890–1980) A Christmas Story Author SIGNED – Drawings by Ben Shahn (1898–1969)
$450.00New York: Delacorte Press, 1967. Limited Edition. Hardcover in a slipcase. The design and production place this squarely within the tradition of American literary livre d’artiste projects of the postwar period, pairing a canonical author with a major modern artist in a deliberately limited format. Octavo, green cloth in matching slipcase. Limited to 500 numbered copies, this being no. 306 and signed by Katherine Anne Porter on the limitation page (Ben Shahn’s name in facsimile). Designed by Ben Shahn, with a special frontispiece drawing and additional illustrations throughout. Condition: The bindings are tight and square. Text is clean; light, even age-toning. Slipcase shows minimal handling. Signed limitation page present and complete. Originally published in Mademoiselle, A Christmas Story is a reflective, non-sentimental meditation on belief, innocence, and moral inheritance, written late in Porter’s career and widely regarded as one of her most affecting shorter works. Shahn’s linear, symbolic drawings—angels, floral fields, architectural motifs—complement the text with restraint and gravity, aligning the book with mid-century fine-press sensibilities rather than commercial illustration. Historical Context:Katharine Anne Porter is a central figure of American modernism, best known for Ship of Fools and her finely wrought short fiction. This late work reflects her long-standing preoccupation with moral clarity and mythic structures. Ben Shahn, a leading figure in American social realism, brings a spare, emblematic visual language that elevates the book beyond holiday literature into the realm of serious artistic collaboration Subjects: Katharine Anne Porter, Ben Shahn, Signed Limited Editions, Mid-Century American Book Design, Literary Illustration, Christmas Literature, American Modernist Prose, Livre d’Artiste Tradition, American Literature, Modernism, Fine Press, Artist-Illustrated Books
Offered for Sale by: Blind Horse Books [ABAA]
