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Featured Items | - 31 items found in your search |
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1 |
Album for Photographs with Three Fore-Edge Paintings
Full Morocco Very Good
A highly unusual set of fore-edges. N.d., late nineteenth century. The fore-edge paintings are views of a Swiss chalet, a lakeside scene with two sailboat at rest and rendered loosely in the style of Claude Lorrain, and a view of a lake shore. Each of the paintings is in an oval cameo that is surrounded by bright guaffered edges that contain an elaborate floral design. Since the album leaves are made of thick card, these fore-edges are fully visible when the book is closed tight -- it would be impossible to fan the leaves, and thus impossible to do fore-edge paintings that disappear when a book is shut. Yet the execution of fore-edge paintings on an album of this type had to have been uncommon and thus more than compensates for their mechanical limitations. The binding itself is in the Gothic style, with raised leather banding on the front and back together with a raised center lozenge medaillion. The spine has five raised bands and typical gilt decoration in the compartments. The album is shut firmly with two decorative brass clasps. After a chromolithographic title page with "Album for Photographs" written, the album has 24 leaves, with four slots each on the front and back of each leaf. A little over half of the slots are filled with religious imagery, photos of artwork, much of a religious nature but also including classical statuary, busts of more contemporary subjects, animal portraits, with some concentration on feline images, portraits of a few well-known personages. To most these images lend some period authenticity and charm, but they will be secondary to the fore-edges and the binding. The leather is heavily rubbed along the edges and has scuffs elsewhere. The joints are rubbed. The spine has a crack line down its vertical center. The album is supposed to have four pearl studs on the front and rear boards respectively to balance it and protect the leather below; the front is missing two of these studs and the back, one.
Price:
600.00 USD
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2 |
Album of Humorous Cut-Out Figures, Detailed with Penwork, And Some Movable
England Quarter Morocco Good
Highly unusual and original album of cut-out figures, loosely in the style of an Edward Lear. N.d., early 20th century. With 21 leaves. There are images of early cars and scooters, and a reference to Teddy's braces, which is probably referencing Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the figures, though, could easily be late Victorian as much as Edwardian. The juxtapositions on some of the leaves can be manic, and that is part of the fun, in addition to the figures with movable parts. The effect is that of collage. There is the occasional political reference, but there would seem to be no agenda other than the nihilism of humor and caricature. Rebacked with green morocco. A few leaves have apparently disappeared, based on the evidence of offsetting, but since there is no narrative, the loss, such as it might be, would otherwise not be noticed. A few of the cut-outs have become loose, and a few others have minor losses (a limb, and the like). Regardless, a wonderful piece of home made entertainment.
Price:
2000.00 USD
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3 |
Black Forest Photo Album with An Unusual Relief Depicting Putti, One Blowing Bubbles, the Other, Playing Cymbals
Berner Oberland, Switzerland Very Good Plus
N.d., circa 1890. The front board is quite elaborate, with a beveled perimeter of a richly painted wood grain. Within is an oblong piece of walnut in the quintessential Black Forest, or in actuality, Swiss Brienzerware, style. By this is meant the delicate foliate relief vignettes which rest on lightly pitted wood. But this frames a light walnut oblong oval with the putti relief that bespeaks more eighteenth century rococo than standard Brienzerware, except that the stones and vegetation at the base are consistent with Brienzerware. The rear board of the album has a pyrographic bouquet such as was practiced by the Swiss carvers later in the nineteenth century. The album, now empty of photos, has 25 thick card leaves, and it is kept closed with a brass clasp. The spine is of brown morocco.
Price:
1250.00 USD
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4 |
Bridge Tally with Black Jazz Musicians
New York and Kansas City Hall Brothers, Inc. Fine
N.d., circa late 1920s or 1930s. Fabulous Art Deco jazzy design from the time the new game of contract bridge, invented by Harold Vanderbilt on his yacht, was sweeping the nation. The score sheet pad looks unused.
Price:
100.00 USD
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5 |
Collection of Seventeen Nineteenth Century Indian Costume Watercolors
Very Good
N.d, circa mid to late nineteenth century. These were watercolor illustrations of Indian characters in characteristic costume. The watercolors were produced for the English market as essentially souvenirs. Perhaps things that an English colonist might take back home at the end of his tour of duty, perhaps something that might be send to relatives back home, or perhaps even hung on the walls of his Indian bungalow. The drawings are on the naive side in their styling, and this is part of the charm. They are quite colorful and in detached form an excellent complement to the color plate costume books of the era. The paper is not a standard size, but they are all around 8 by 6 inches. There is some soiling to the off-white paper and a few minor chips or closed tears. They are all nonetheless fit for framing and very attractive. Now protected in heavy mylar sleeves.
Price:
800.00 USD
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7 |
Lays of the Western World Illuminated by T. W. Gwilt Mapleson [Thomas W. Gwilt Mapleson]
New York Putnam 1848 First Edition Full Decorated Morocco Very Good
Printed in colors by Scottish-American lithographer Thomas Sinclair of Philadelphia. 4to. Unpaginated, 40 pp. An anthology of poems with magnificent chromolithographic border ornamentation and plates. In addition to the Medieval and Gothic imagery and decoration, there is Egyptian, Alpine and American imagery. With an imposing bevelled full morocco binding. Rebacked sympathetically. Craquelature along the joints. A few finger smudges of the heavy card leaves, but overall clean and bright.
Price:
1500.00 USD
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8 |
LINDAIR IN PERSON Placard Unequaled, Outstanding Novelty, Sensational, Original Act, In a Class by Itself, Real Balancing, Every Trick Feature, Every Move From a Glance, America's Foremost Gymnastic Talent, A Refined Novelty, Big Drawing Card, etc.
Very Good
A fascinating odd piece of theater ephemera, from an acrobatic Vaudeville perfomer named Lindair, who balanced himself on a chair sitting atop bottles, or balanced a chair on his chin, and many other variations it would seem involving balancing himself, in, on and around a chair. The photos on the placard can be blurred from the necessity in those days of a timed exposure. No date, but circa 1900. The placard or poster measures 56 by 43 cm, 22 by 17 inches. Made of durable, heavy card, it has minor wear around the edges. It would make for a fun, idiosyncratic framed wall hanging.
Price:
400.00 USD
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9 |
New York World's Fair Colored Miniatures Assorted Views
New York, Chicago, respectively Frank E. Cooper. Curt Teich & Co. 1939 First Edition Fine
Sixteen lovely commemorative views of the Hall of Communications, the Du Pont Building, the Court of Peace, Constitution Mall, a night view of the Lagoon of Nations, the General Electric Building, the Trylon and Perisphere, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Building, the Administration Building, the Aviation Building, the Ford Motor Building, the U.S. Steel Building, the Hall of Marine Transportation, the Palestine Exhibits Building, the General Motors Building, and the Hall of Fashion. The color palette is rich, and the cards, a mere 3.5 by 2.5 inches, are on a sturdy card, with descriptions of the view on their backs. The illustrations manage to convey the exciting modernism of the fair, still fresh today, and we see a fusion of a vigorous futurism with the Art Deco aesthetic that was the prevailing style of the day. The cards are all pristine. The packet in which they are housed has light wear but remains a great relic of the event.
Price:
65.00 USD
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10 |
Ortega, Imprenta-Litographia. Catalogo Muestrario de Carteles, Cartelitos, Cabeceras, Prspecus y Billetes de Propoagand Taurina, Ferias y Fiestas.
Valencia 1948 Wraps Very Good
Oblong 4to. 43ff in color wrappers. Splashily colorful trade catalogue from lithographic printer specializing in cards, tickets, programs and posters dedicated to bullfights and local fairs and fiestas. Much of the content is brilliantly illustrated promotions of bullfights, with flyers, posters and the like tipped in, generally two or three pasted onto the same base leaf. Samples which in practice might have been printed in varying sizes, often much larger than in the catalogue, they capture the thrill, ritual and spirit of the sport. The pages with tickets and some other items are less eye candy but no less useful documents of the material paraphernalia of the sport, and reminders too of the manifold commercial aspects of an entertainment business. Quite scarce, with the only copies surfacing on OCLC single copies from 1945 to 1960 of catalogues from the same company that are housed in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana and a 1954 catalogue at the Ibero-Amerikanischen Institut.
Price:
850.00 USD
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11 |
Panorama of English History
Very Good
N.d., circa 1840s. Leporello with 40 hand-colored panels, each with a cameo portrait, all but four of an English monarch starting with William I and concluding with a youthful Victoria, and below a vignette of a scene relating to that monarch, accompanied by a caption identifying the event. The first four panels depict a Briton, a Roman, a Saxon and a Dane. Very scarce, with no copies discovered on OCLC or COPAC. The mad-dash across over two millenia of English history has a folk art-ish charm while managing to capture quite minute detail in the vignettes. Clearly the target was a juvenile audience. Closed, the panorama measures 4.25 by 3.25 inches, 11 by 8 cm. It extends to 120 inches, or 300 cm. Some wear and light soiling of the red blindstamped boards. Light marginal soiling of the leaves. The final leaf has a rough edge, with minor loss of the margin.
Price:
1950.00 USD
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13 |
The Riley Elevated Railway System
Boston W. S. Best & Co., printer for The Riley Railway Construction Company 1887 First Edition Thick card bound with two brass clasps Very Good
A rare piece of illustrated Bostoniana and railroad ephemera. Including several items, for this was a working set of documents at one time. The primary document, carrying the title given above, is a prospectus for a proposed subway system to run through Boston. Also included are a 19 page transcript of an 1891 meeting considering this proposed system, and two other prior reports. The prospectus is oblong, 11 by 14 inches, 28 by 36 cm. Unpaginated. Seven leaves of text, 32 plates. A promotional brochure for a proposed elevated railway system to run through Boston. The Riley system was a single post system; in other words, the tracks would be held aloft by a single post, much like a monorail. The brochure boasts how this system is economical, allows for greater light, and lends itself to being dressed up ornamentally. For Boston, the system offered the advantage of being well-suited to the narrower streets. Also, as a system run on electricity, it would offer advantages of cleanliness and quiet. At the time of this proposal, Boston had only horse-drawn streetcar lines. This company lost out on its bid for the electrical system to Thomson-Houston, and little was heard of the company afterward, meaning it soon went out of business. Still, the prospectus offers a great glimpse at a piece of transportation history. Of the 32 plates, six picture the system running through city streets, the seaside or a mountainous location. The remainder of the plates show the cars, including are more technical drawings of the system itself, including a cross-section of the railway cars themselves. A few closed tears of the leaves. The wraps have soiling, with scuff marks and a small hole on the spine.
Price:
2800.00 USD
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14 |
Tuesday's Hand-made Menu in a Spiral Notebook
N.d., circa 1970. 4to. 12 pp. on six lined leaves with pop-art ink drawings in the spirit of Peter Max and the psychedelic sensibility of the day. The handwritten menu offerings are written though in a very neat, calligraphic hand. In all likelihood this notebook served as a proof of a printed menu. Gold, red and silver pasted-on stars are scattered throughout. Bound in a typical black and white marbled spiral notebook. Tuesday's was a popular Second Avenue restaurant and bar associated with the Swinging Singles scene of the 1960s and 70s. (Post-pill, post-Ginger Man and Mad Men, pre-Saturday Night LIve.) It was the type of place with exposed brick walls, sawdust scattered on the wood floors, and not a little brass detailing.
Price:
450.00 USD
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15 |
[Trade Catalogue] 1937 Decorated Tin Boxes. Hudson Scott & Sons Limited. Carlisle, England
1937 Wraps Very Good
A beautiful, and colorful, catalog of tin boxes. 47 pp. The tins are decorated in a multitude of styles, with Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Indian) influences particularly strong, but also Regency, deco-ish and other styles popular at the time evident in some tins. The leaves are printed only on the recto sides. Some of the tin images are mounted, others are printed directly onto the leaf. The mounted tins appear to be of very thin tin and thus particularly authentic representations of the actual tins. Below the illustrations are dimensional, price and other descriptive text. A scarce trade catalog, with none located on OCLC. Light soiling to the wraps. The mounted tins have a tendency now to curl at the base. Bound with ribbon and a short string attached to the top.
Price:
650.00 USD
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16 |
[Watercolor Album] Tokayi-do. Famous Places on the Tokaido
Wraps Very Good Minus
44 oblong pages of sublime Japanese watercolored panoramas, views and landscapes. A few of the images are double paged; all have a flow that provide a strong cohesion to the work, which qualifies as a pictorial essay. The treatment of buildings, topography, and flora is both impressionistic yet specific, and there is a dream-like quality that is powerfully seductive. The album measures 6.5 by 9.5 inches, 24 by 17 cm. The wrap covers are worn, with heavy edgewear, warping, soiling. The tissue thin leaves are folded over, and some of the folds have closed tears. While there is scattered light soiling on the pages, the images have their essential integrity intact.
Price:
1350.00 USD
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17 |
Currier and Ives The Darktown Hook and Ladder Corps. Going to the Front. Currier & Ives Series No. 7.
New York Currier & Ives. Joseph Koehler, publisher 1884 Very Good
Crude and wildly offensive depiction of Blacks as simian nincompoops by Currier & Ives, who departed from their more refined style and approach for this series. Few of the darktown series survived because it was issued as ephemera to be tacked on walls of barns and office warrens (essentially, locker room art) as opposed to parlor rooms. This copy is framed in a simple wood frame. One can see a minor tear of the paper in the lower margin under the glass. No matter its rascist attitude, the piece represents a slice of genuine Americana.
Price:
450.00 USD
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18 |
El Comancho [pseudonym for W. S. Phillips] [Manuscript] The Adventures of Little Jack Rabbit, [together with] a specification letter by author and note from publisher relating thereto Based on nature and the actual habis of the Jack Rabbit. Scenes and surroundings are those under which the Jack Rabbit actually lives. Not a nature fake but a true to life story
Seattle Cloth Very Good
A lovely mock-up manuscript of a chidren's story, with many original watercolored drawings, and generally several takes on each drawing. N.d., circa 1920. Oblong quarto, 35 by 28 cm, 14 by 11 inches. Unpaginated, 118 ff. Phillips was a published author who wrote several successful children's books about the West, including "Indian Tales for Little Folks". It is unknown why this particular manuscript was never published, given how far he got in the process. (It would seem doubtful that the concerns related to copyright, since the story is easily distinguishable from Peter Rabbit, from which the author expressly did draw inspiration, and which he explicitly cites as a template in his "specifications". The most significant difference is in this story's ambition to depict the animals more realistically and as true animals, not animals dressed in human clothes. Indeed, this conceit would set this story apart from most anthropomorphic juvenile literature of the day. In this story, the young rabbit, defying his mother's warning about coyotes, ventures out into the sagebrush and has close calls with not just a coyote but also an eagle, meets several other burrowing animals and has to escape from an irrigation ditch as he desperately seeks to find his way home. Effortlessly the author educates us in the process about the lifestyle of Jack Rabbits. The drawings are mounted on heavy stock and interleaved with pages of tracing paper and a light weight paper upon which variants of the drawings are rendered. Throughout are maginal notes covering details of the book's production, in addition to the letter of instructions. Heavy foxing on some leaves. A half-title or cover sheet somewhat chewed up. The binder is loose by the front joint, and the title label on the front board is heavily rubbed.
Price:
2800.00 USD
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20 |
Frederic Schoberl. Illustrated by J. and J. Lory Picturesque Tour from Geneva to Milan, By Way of the Simplon: Illustrated with Thirty Six Coloured Views of the Most Striking Scenes and of the Principal Works Belonging to the New Road Constructed Over that Mountain, Engraved from Designs by J. and J. Lory, of Neufchatel; And Accompanied with Particulars Historical and Descriptive by Federic Schoberl.
London R. Ackermann 1820 First Edition Quarter Morocco over Cloth Boards, with Custom Clo Very Good
Imperial 8vo. 11 by 8 inches, 29 by 20 cm. [8], 136, [2], 8 pp. Plus 36 hand-colored aquatint plates, and tinted frontis map. Includes useful publisher's eight page catalog. One of the most beautiful of plate books, capturing some dramatic and treacherous scenery. Views include Sion, Lake Geneva, Brieg, Bridge at Ganther, Algaby, Ponte Alto, waterfall at Pissevache, bridge at St. Maurice, Lake Maggiore, Arona, Sesto, Milan, Lake Como, etc. Tooley 446, which notes that the work was issued later with title still dated 1820, but that is manifestly not the case here since plates are dated 1819 and 1820 and the publisher's quarter leather binding is consistent with the first issue as thus. (Some plates were issued earlier in Ackermann's Repository.) The publication itself should be seen as a product of the building appreciation of Alpine and Swiss scenery, once scorned, that began in the 1700s, and in particular British fascination with it. Custom clamshell case. Some offsetting from plates, including from frontis to title. Soiling of frontis in margins especially. Clamshell box has a few loose seams along joints and other minor wear. Plates have watermarks from 1819 and 1820.
Price:
5400.00 USD
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