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Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB
Buying and selling fine, antiquarian, and used book
Membership(s): ABAA, ILAB, IOBA
Aratus Phaenomena Sky Sign
$2,500.00
Newark and Burke, VT: Janus Press and Plowboy Press, 2022. Folio. [4], 58, [4] pp., plates, maps, illus. Limited edition, one of 120 numbered copies. Letterpress printed on Barcham Green Boxley by Andrew Miller-Brown of Plowboy Press. The frontispiece is Durer’s northern celestial map. There are 28 illustrations of the constellations from Caspar Vopel’s 1534 woodcuts and eight full-page original digital prints of weather by Claire Van Vliet based on her pulp paintings. Additionally, there are numerous in-text illustrations, some mounted, some printed. This is sewn longstitch into pulp-painting covered boards by Katie MacGregor; pocket inside the front cover contains prospectus and Translator’s Introduction and Notes. The book is wrapped in a linen-covered chemise lined with Durer’s 1515 celestial maps, all housed in maple and birchwood slipcase with a lasercut title on the spine. A fine copy. Aratus was born in Soli in present day Turkey in about 315 BCE. Educated in Athens, he eventually made his way to the Macedonian court where it is believed he wrote the Phaenomena. It describes in verse the constellations, their rotation in the night sky throughout the year, various other natural signs, and their uses as a calendar and weather forecasting tool for farmers and sailors. For Aratus these sky signs, from the constellation Ursa Major to the smallest mouse tossing straw with its paws, represent a gift from Zeus to guide human endeavor if only we would take notice. The Phaenomena was enormously popular in its time and afterwards. It inspired many translations, some with a liberal dose of revisions and additions, as well as many commentaries starting in at least the second century BCE. This edition of the Phaenomena features a verse translation from the Greek by Stanley Lombardo and a new commentary for the modern reader by Mark Breen, senior meteorologist and director of the planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. And while it is easy to get caught up in the interesting particulars of the book and its history as well as the particulars of this edition, Van Vliet, Miller-Brown and their collaborators have created an edition that has reinvigorated this millennia-old navigational and practical treatise. This edition is full of wonder. MacGregor’s pulp painted covers are haunting and exquisitely suited for the work. And further, the book, designed with a mind towards early scholarly works with Aratus’s text surrounded by commentary and illustration, is a joy to leaf through, every page spread is visually engaging from the early section on the constellations to the section on weather that is elevated by Van Vliet’s art. After 70 years of bookmaking, Van Vliet has not stopped pushing forward in her design and vision.
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The 'Christian Cicero' in His Best Dress (1692)
Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus (c. 250 – c. 325) De Mortibus Persecutorum [Of the Deaths of the Persecutors] [1692 Utrecht Variorum] [Kevin Guinagh’s Annotated Copy] This is the definitive 1692 Utrecht Variorum edition of Lactantius—the most scholarly and complete printing of its era—presented here in its ideal 17th-century state.
$1,250.00It includes the seminal historical commentary of French scholar Stephanus Baluzius (Étienne Baluze). This specific copy serves as a remarkable ‘working laboratory’ of classical study, formerly belonging to the noted Latinist and translator Kevin Guinagh (author of Latin Literature in Translation and numerous other works on the classics). This copy preserves roughly two dozen pages of Kevin Guinagh’s working marginalia, where a modern Latinist actively engages the text—translating, correcting, and comparing passages across editions. KEY FEATURES +++ Visuals: Illustrated with an elaborate copperplate engraved frontispiece and a suite of high-contrast plates by the renowned Dutch engraver Gilliam van der Gouwen, depicting scenes of martyrdom and Roman judgment; with woodcut printer’s devices, including the Halman ‘Virescit Vulnere Virtus’ device.+++ Scholarship: Includes the ‘Stephani Baluzii Miscellaneorum Liber Secundus,’ featuring the critical notes of Étienne Baluze that established this edition as the academic standard. +++ Design: Features two distinct title pages with woodcut printer’s devices, including the Halman ‘Virescit Vulnere Virtus’ (Virtue flourishes from a wound) device. +++ Binding: Original or very early full vellum; spine features two distinct black leather title labels (‘LACTANTII DE MORT. PERS.’ and ‘TRAJ: AD RHEN: 1692’) with bright gilt-stamping and decorative borders. Top edge stained reddish-brown. +++ Specs: Octavo (8vo) confirmed by vertical chain lines and ‘A’ signature marks. 8.5 inches tall. Collation: [464 pp + 64 pp index]. +++ Provenance: From the library of Kevin Guinagh, with his personal ‘Quantum est quod nescimus’ bookplate and 20–25 pages of modern English scholarly marginalia in his hand. Includes a dealer sticker from Galloway & Porter (Cambridge). CONDITION+++ The Binding: Original or very early full vellum with two distinct black leather title labels; gilt-stamping remains bright. The vellum exhibits characteristic age-toning and mild splotching with minor bowing to the boards. Hinges and joints remain stiff and stable, square, and firm. The top edge staining remains dark and effective.+++ Internal Text: Pages are complete, consecutive, and mostly bright. Occasional light foxing is present throughout, including a localized spot at page 161/162.+++ Paper Anomalies: Three pages exhibit heavy period-toning consistent with 17th-century paper manufacturing flaws, likely due to a specific batch of paper with higher acidic content or a flaw in the mill slurry.+++ The Plates: Dark, crisp impressions. The ‘Heads’ plate has a small closed tear at the foot of the gutter attachment (not affecting the image). Ghosting from plates is present on opposite pages, as typical for the era. SCHOLARLY FEATURES+++ Historical Context: Lactantius, often called the ‘Christian Cicero’ for his elegant Latin style, provides the essential first-hand account of the persecutions under Diocletian and the subsequent triumph of Constantine.+++ Marginalia Analysis: A true ‘Scholar’s Dialogue,’ featuring Kevin Guinagh’s analytical pencil notes. These annotations cover historical debates such as ‘Peter in Rome’ and detailed comparisons of linguistic deviations between historical versions, marking this as a vital document of 20th-century classical translation.+++ Artistic Merit: The engravings by van der Gouwen provide a visceral visual companion to the text, representing the high-water mark of Dutch Golden Age book illustration.+++ Provenance Chain: Documentation of a complete scholarly lineage, including the personal ‘Quantum est quod nescimus’ bookplate of Latinist Kevin Guinagh, a dealer sticker from Galloway & Porter (Cambridge), and a previous bookseller’s typed summary. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCELactantius serves as the primary bridge between the classical Roman world and the emergence of Christian historiography. His work sought to demonstrate the ‘divine vengeance’ that befell the emperors who persecuted Christians, written with a Ciceronian polish that made him a favorite of Renaissance humanists and Enlightenment scholars alike. The 1692 Utrecht edition is the ‘Variorum’ par excellence, representing the peak of 17th-century Dutch scholarship. By incorporating the notes of Étienne Baluze—the ‘Historiographer to the King’ and a giant of French historical criticism—this edition transformed a theological text into a rigorous historical specimen. As an Association Copy, this volume links the 17th-century European academy with modern American classical scholarship. Kevin Guinagh, a prolific Latinist, used this copy as a working tool. His marginalia transforms the book from a static artifact into a living record of how classical texts are interpreted and translated across centuries. SUBJECTS: Early Christian History, Roman Persecution, Latin Literature, 17th-Century Printing, Classical Scholarship, Kevin Guinagh, Variorum Edition, Illustrated Book, Association Copy, Annotated, History of Scholarship. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Dibdin, Introduction to the Classics; Graesse IV, 66.
Offered for Sale by: Blind Horse Books [ABAA] -
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 -
1ST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF LANG'S RED FAIRY BOOK
Lang, Andrew, editor. THE RED FAIRY BOOK.
$600.00Philadelphia: David McKay Company, (1924) First illustrated edition. The second of the color fairy books compiled by Lang, originally published in 1891, consisting of translations and adaptations from their Norwegian, French, German and Russian originals – some well known like Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, and others like Princess Mayblossom less so. This edition is beautifully illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren with eight color plates, an illustrated title page, illustrated endpapers and a plate on the cover. An early and uncommon Tenggren illustrated book, and scarce in this condition and in dustjacket. Red tinting to top edge. 285 pp. Very near fine in red cloth with plate on front cover, gilt lettering on spine (bookplate on front pastedown) in a near fine dustjacket with a bit of wear to the edges, and the ends of the spine.
Offered for Sale by: Bookfever.com -
A Classic Union of Literature and Architecture
Edith Wharton with Pictures by Maxfield Parrish Italian Villas and Their Gardens
$700.00New York: Century, 1904. Hardcover. 4to. 270 pp. With 52 illustrations, 26 of them by Maxfelld Parrish, most of them in color. Green cloth stamped in gold with elaborate coat of arms with two [2] lions and escutcheon and painted garden scene on front boards. Top edge gilt. Fully illustrated with color plates of Parrish and black and white photos. Very Good with a tiny bit of edge wear at the extremities. Text block solid, illustrations clean. A nice copy. Item #700142 A seminal work on garden design and a statement to the passionate connoisseurship of one of Americas greatest writers. This comprehensive look at the history and character of Italian garden architecture and ornamentation explores more than seventy-five villas, capturing what Wharton calls their “garden-magic” and illuminating the intimate relationship between the house, its formal gardens, and the surrounding countryside. This elegant collaboration between one of America’s foremost literary stylists and one of its most celebrated illustrators captures the grace, symmetry, and romance of Italy’s classical gardens. Wharton’s text, informed by her keen architectural sensibility and lifelong love of European design, provides a thoughtful and erudite tour through the villas of Tuscany, Lombardy, and the Roman countryside. Parrish’s luminous color plates and delicate drawings complement her prose with scenes of tranquil terraces, sculpted hedges, and sunlit fountains. Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, this first edition exemplifies early 20th-century bookmaking at its finest, with gilt-decorated green cloth covers and high-quality paper stock. A landmark in travel and design literature, ‘Villas’ helped shape the American appreciation of classical landscape architecture. Copies in well-preserved condition are increasingly scarce, especially those retaining Parrish’s vibrant plates. A cornerstone volume for collectors of Wharton, Parrish, or fine illustrated books of the period.
Offered for Sale by: 32.1 Rare Books + Ephemera
