Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2016 Issue

Kelmscott Bookshop Offers Artists' Books, Private Press, Art, Literature, First Editions & More

Books from the Kelmscott Bookshop.

The Kelmscott Bookshop Rare Books has issued their Catalogue 14: Artists' Books & Private Press, William Morris, Art, Literature, Presentation Copies, First Editions, & More. In other words, there is a wide variety of material offered. Through these items there is a common thread of artistic merit, appropriate for a bookshop named for William Morris' Kelmscott Press. Some are books that are simply works of art, for viewing more than reading. Others are more textual, but whose illustrations, bindings, and such make them works of art. In some, the text is the art, the art being in the words rather than the visuals, such as poetry, music, and literature. And then, some items aren't books at all, but drawings, photographs, caricatures, and fashion designs. There is a lot to be found here. These are a few samples.

 

We begin with a work from one of the great American writers of the 19th century. He was undoubtedly a literary genius, but few will call this one of his greatest works. Well, perhaps the great 19th century educator, Horace Mann, would disagree, in a sarcastic way. Nathaniel Hawthorne had achieved notable success in the two years prior to 1852, having published The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. This one was not meant to be any such achievement. It was a gift to an old friend, one that soon would be repaid. Item 85 is The Life of Franklin Pierce. Pierce and Hawthorne had gone to college together and remained good friends. In 1852, Pierce was running for President, and Hawthorne responded by writing a biography of him. It was, naturally enough, very favorable to Pierce. He described Pierce, a classic 'northern man with southern principles,' as "a man of peaceful pursuits." Horace Mann reportedly said, "If he makes out Pierce to be a great man or a brave man, it will be the greatest work of fiction he ever wrote." Mann was, of course, right about Pierce, one of the worst presidents in American history. Hawthorne deserves his own scarlet letter for writing this one. However, he instead received an appointment as consul to Liverpool, a very prestigious position at the time, where he remained until the end of Pierce's term in office in 1857. Priced at $250.

 

Here is one of those books that is not really meant to be read. Not that it couldn't be. The book is Charles Dickens' Bleak House. First published the same year Hawthorne was penning his paean to Franklin Pierce, it is way more highly regarded than Hawthorne's effort. Bleak House is the story of interminably long legal proceedings, the fictional case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, endless litigation concerning the terms of a will that affects all of the book's characters. However, this 2014 edition features more of the artistry of Stanley Strauss than of Dickens. The "book" consists of three items. The first is a 5 ½ inch thick, 736-page printing of the entire text of the book, bound only with binding straps. It is as large and unwieldy as the court case itself. The second piece is called "Jarndyce v Jarndyce," with each of the 58 characters names handwritten on scraps of torn paper, bound accordion style. The third item is titled "Last Will and Testament," and it consists of innumerable scraps of torn printed paper, conveying the futility of the litigation. They are sealed in a clear acrylic box. One can only wonder how Hawthorne would have reacted to this unusual treatment of his work. Item 2. $1,400.

 

Next comes the simply titled Poems, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, published in 1870. Rosetti was an artist and a poet, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelites, who would greatly influence William Morris and his circle. However, the story behind these poems seems better suited to a volume by Poe. Around 1850, Rossetti began painting the model Elizabeth Siddel, an ordinary but beautiful woman who in time would become an artist and poet herself. The two became enchanted, then deeply in love with each other. Rossetti painted her constantly. They became engaged, yet Rossetti managed to keep putting off the marriage, not being above affairs on the side. Siddel's health deteriorated, and she became increasingly addicted to laudenum, a painkiller containing morphine. However, they married anyway in 1860, though Siddel was quite ill. She died two years later, and a devastated Rossetti buried the only copy of some of his erotic poems with her body. He should have kept a second. Eight years later, now determined to publish these poems, Rossetti had her body exhumed and the poems removed. This copy was published in a very small run. The limitation notice says there were 25 copies printed on large paper for private circulation, but his brother's bibliography of Rossetti's works claims there were only 18. Item 52. $2,400.

 

Here is a book that makes 18 copies seem like a large print run. The title is Florentine Pages by Tatiana Shukhin. Shukhin was born in Russia and graduated from the Moscow University of Printing. However, she later picked up degrees in the U.S. and currently works from Maryland. This 2013 book is designed to take its readers on a trip through Florence by means of a journey through the pages of the book. The text is in narrow passages that lead to various sights in the city. Towers, cathedrals, fountains, and various buildings are seen in bright colors as one makes their way through the book's pages. Evening sights are illuminated in yellow by street lights. Each of the copies has a slightly different binding, all seven of them. Item 39 is number 7 of 7. $900.

 

This is sort of a specimen book for England's Incline Press. This private press was founded in 1993 and operates to this day. It comes with a title of Forty Sheets to the Wind. It consists of 40 sample broadsides and other sheets printed by the press which demonstrate their typefaces and printing skills. There were 150 sets published in 1999, this being the halfway point – number 75. Item 16. $300.

 

The Kelmscott Bookshop Rare Books may be reached at 410-235-6810 or info@kelmscottbookshop.com. Their website is www.kelmscottbookshop.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions