Rare Book Monthly
Articles - January - 2004 Issue
Artistry in Books from<br>Bernard J. Shapero
Maisonneuve Dubois’ red and black images from antique vases.
By Michael Stillman
Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books recently issued a catalogue entitled “Miscellaneous Works.” While “miscellaneous” may be appropriate to the variety of subjects covered, there is a common thread running through most of these titles. That is the quality of artwork. Whether in the images within the books or the contemporary bindings, the artistic quality of many of these books is astounding.
The catalogue is divided into six sections: Natural History, Science & Medicine; Architecture & Design; Military, Naval & Sports; Illustrated Books & Costume; Literature, Philosophy, Economics & Fine Bindings; and Photography. Most in the final category are mounted photographs rather than books.
Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books is located in London, so, not surprisingly, most titles are European. However, there are a few items offered with ties to the Americas.
An example of stunning beauty is found in Maisonneuve Dubois’ Introduction a l’Etude des Vases Antiques… A first edition from 1817, this is a collection of plates of red and black Greek antique vases contained in several major collections. Transcribing the images to a flat surface was a challenge to the illustrators as they were taken from the curved, convex surfaces of the vases. Copies were also offered in black and white (uncolored), but this copy is a rare hand-colored version. Item 61. Priced at £25,000 (all prices in this catalogue are in British pounds).
Item 75 is a panorama of London as it appeared around 1870. It unfolds to reveal a 21-foot long picture of the city from Parliament to the docks. It folds back into an original cloth cover. £450.
If you have an interest in foot fetishism, or simply, like Imelda Marcos, you like shoes, check out Item 132, The Karl Friedrich Schoensiegel Collection – The Shoe, the Foot, & Fetishism. From the 1920s, these six volumes include 277 original watercolors illustrating shoes from all over the world. Schoensiegel’s illustrations and years of research are preserved in folders. These illustrations are all that remains of his once amazing collection of footwear. Schoensiegel put his shoe collection on display in Berlin in 1939, reportedly to great acclaim. Unfortunately, the war soon intervened, and the shoes were either lost or destroyed. £50,000.
