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Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB
Buying and selling fine, antiquarian, and used book
Membership(s): ABAA, ILAB, IOBA
Shakespeare, William The First Part of Henry the Fourth
$4,000.00
San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1961. Folio. [4], 46, [2 (blank)] pp., illus. Limited edition, one of 180 copies. This copy bound by Katy Starr-Baum in full black calf with inlays of sanded aluminum and pained paper as well as onlays of buffalo, watersnake and stone veneer, all arranged in a coronal design from front board to rear; graphite top edge with sprinkled palladium; handsewn silk endbands; hand-painted endpapers echo the cover design. Housed in clamshell box. A beautiful and fitting binding on one of the Grabhorn Shakespeare series with colored woodblock illustrations by Mary Grabhorn. A bold design using material that speaks to the time—stone and metal. The hand-painted endpapers evoke the night sky and have an iridescence that is dynamic when one opens the cover, the light catching the paint shifts as the board moves. While boldly monochromatic, what color there is in the binding, the leather onlays and the painted paper, picks up the pastels of Grabhorn’s illustrations. The coronal design speaks to the backdrop of this play, Henry IV holding onto power amidst treachery and Prince Hal’s coming into the crown. But as Starr-Baum notes, the design has a more potent, deeper meaning: “the circular shape … represents familial cycles: the traits and behaviors that are passed down from one generation to the next and the transformation of Prince Hal into King Henry.” A powerful binding by one of the most recent recipients of the Fine Binding Diploma of the elite American Academy of Bookbinding. $4000
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Bayntun-Rivière full morocco gilt binding
Quiller-Couch, Arthur The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900
$350.00Clarendon Press, 1930. India Paper Edition, small 8vo (4.5″ X 6.5″). Later impression, first published in 1900. Beautifully bound by Bayntun-Rivière of Bath in full blue morocco, front cover tooled in gilt with an ogival lattice of curved fillets, gilt dots at the intersections, each compartment centered with a Tudor rose tool, within a border of gilt arcs; rear cover plain. Spine in six compartments between five raised bands, lettered in gilt direct in the second, the others centered with a Tudor rose tool. Wide turn-ins ruled in gilt with rose tools at the outer corners, combed marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Signed by the binders in gilt on the front turn-in. Gilt on side of text block slightly scratched, else a fine copy indeed.
Offered for Sale by: The Accidental Bookseller -
Signed artist's book exploring the letter Q
Moore, Suzanne Rescuing Q Quandaries and Queries
$3,500.00Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB
Tucson, AZ: Suzanne Moore, 2024. Original Wrappers. Fine binding. Item #9704 Folio. [26] pp., illus. Limited edition, one of 26 lettered variants. Lettered and signed by Moore. Bound in Cave paper wrappers with gold tooling, with an original piece of process art laid into a paper folder, all housed in clamshell. The latest in a remarkable body of work by Suzanne Moore, this artist’s book employs printing by polymer plates by Sandy Tilcock at lone goose press as well as handset vintage type by Jessica Spring at Springtide Press. Original work—collage, embossing, gilding, and hand coloring in pencil and gouache—by Moore assures that each of the 26 lettered copies are variants, not identical. The overarching vision of this book is an artistic and philosophical exploration of the letter “Q.” Moore writes, “Q is key to Latin words of inquiry, and questions inspire conversation, idea exchange and research. This book was designed as an antidote to Q-Anon, and reminder that there is power in the act of questions—and listening with an open mind. Through sincere questioning, consideration, and conversation we can move to otherwise impossible connections—and new levels of understanding.” Interspersed throughout Moore’s lettering are printed questions offered by Moore and her friends. These range from playful to poetic, from intimate and deeply personal to grand considerations of the Nature of Things. The one commonality is that none of these questions are easily answered, if answerable at all; but all are worth consideration. Among the most impactful aspects of Moore’s book is the profound and relentless way in which she demonstrates that even simple concepts can be so much more than they seem. She takes the letter Q, as straightforward a letterform as any, and gives it more than a hundred iterations from humble to breathtakingly dynamic. If something as simple as a letterform can be so much more complicated and varied while retaining its identity . . . is nothing fixed, decided, solid? And in that question, we are brought back to Moore’s central proposition: “Through sincere questioning, consideration, and conversation we can move to otherwise impossible connections—and new levels of understanding.” An important proposition at a time where intractability is the sentiment du jour. A stunning and inimitable book. Also available with an annotated process portfolio, inquire for details and pricing.
Offered for Sale by: Michael Pyron, Bookseller ABAA/ILAB -
A RUSSIAN SOUL IN FINE PRESS
Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821–1881); Translated by Garnett, Constance (1861–1946) A Gentle Spirit: A Fantastic Story. [Harrison of Paris] [Limited Edition of 50] A MASTERPIECE OF RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FICTION TRANSFORMED INTO A MODERN FINE PRESS EDITION
$2,400.00A STORY OF ISOLATION AND INNER LIFE.Originally published as Krotkaya (The Meek One), Dostoevsky’s novella presents the final confession of a man confronting the consequences of pride, loneliness, and emotional blindness. Through its intense psychological structure, the work examines guilt, despair, and the possibility of spiritual recognition. Constance Garnett’s translation introduced generations of English-speaking readers to Dostoevsky’s shorter fiction and helped establish his enduring literary reputation in the English-language world. THE MODERN BEAUTIFUL BOOK.Harrison of Paris, under the direction of Monroe Wheeler, sought to unite important literary works with exceptional typography, materials, and artistic collaboration. This limited vellum issue demonstrates the press’s interest in presenting major authors through the lens of twentieth-century design. Christian Bérard’s illustrations bring a distinctly modern interpretation to Dostoevsky’s psychological atmosphere, connecting Russian literary tradition with the artistic currents of interwar Paris. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Octavo, approximately 9.75 inches tall. Bound in full vellum. Illustrated with mounted plates by Christian Bérard. Printed and made in Germany by arrangement with William Heinemann, New York. 85 pages. Copy number XV (15) of 50 copies printed on Imperial Japanese vellum. CONDITION: Fine. The vellum is remarkably clean and supple, with no significant warping or discoloration. The mounted illustrations are pristine. The text block is bright and sharp. An exceptional example retaining the elegance intended by the publisher. LITERARY SIGNIFICANCE: DOSTOEVSKY THROUGH A MODERN LENS—THE HUMAN SOUL EXAMINED.Fyodor Dostoevsky remains one of the defining figures of world literature, recognized for his penetrating examinations of morality, psychology, faith, and human suffering. A Gentle Spirit represents the author’s later short fiction, compressing many of the themes that shaped his major novels into a concentrated psychological narrative. A PARISIAN REINTERPRETATION.This 1931 Harrison of Paris edition appeared during a period when European and American publishers were exploring new relationships between literature, design, and visual art. By pairing Dostoevsky’s psychological intensity with Christian Bérard’s modernist illustrations, Monroe Wheeler created an edition that reflects both literary heritage and contemporary artistic vision. The result is not simply a presentation of a classic text, but an interpretation of Dostoevsky through the aesthetics of interwar fine printing. SUBJECTS: Fyodor Dostoevsky; Constance Garnett; Christian Bérard; Monroe Wheeler; Harrison of Paris; Russian Fiction; Literary Translation; Fine Printing; Imperial Japanese Vellum; Modernist Illustration; Interwar Paris; Private Press Books, Fine Press; Russian Literature; Illustrated Books; Limited Editions; Translated Literature; Modernist Books.
Offered for Sale by: Blind Horse Books [ABAA] -
First edition of Defoe's imagined circumnavigation
Defoe, Daniel A New Voyage round the World By a course never sailed before. Being a voyage undertaken by some merchants, who afterwards proposed the setting up an East-India company in Flanders. Illustrated with Copper Plates.
$2,749.00London: printed for A. Bettesworth, at the Red-Lyon, in Pater-Noster-Row ; and W. Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple-Bar, M.DCC.XXV [but 1724]. Full Calf. First Edition, in two parts, of “perhaps Defoe’s best travel book,” an imaginary voyage of circumnavigation, intending to discover uncharted lands in the South Pacific. (Earle) Crown 8vo (201 x 115mm): [2],208; 205,[1]pp, with frontispiece map of the globe by J. Clark and three full-page views of life ashore. Beautifully bound by Fitterer in full speckled calf to period style, spine in six compartments between gilt-ruled raised bands, covers paneled in gilt, red morocco lettering piece gilt, matching end papers renewed. Scarce in commerce. A superlative copy in a fine binding, clean throughout with good margins. Moore 469. Sabin 19291. Furbank and Owens, pp. xviii-xx. Lowndes II 620. Howgego D11. Gove, pp. 241-42. Hill 462. Goldsmiths’, 6348. Landis V 724/49. Earle (The World of Defoe), pp. 54-57. Fine. Published anonymously six years after Robinson Crusoe (and thus testifying to Defoe’s abiding interest in voyaging to the South Pacific), but attributed to Defoe some fifty years after his death. One of Defoe’s lesser-known works but deserving of classic status, A New Voyage broke new ground, heralding a fresh approach to fantasy fiction of the eighteenth century. According to Howgego, Defoe based his work on a wide variety of sources, including Dampier, Frézier, Narborough, and other accounts of the great buccaneering voyages of his day. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Offered for Sale by: Fine Editions Ltd
