1903rif. ST19464Boston: Privately Printed by Nathan Haskell Dole 1903-05. No. 2 OF 26 COPIES OF THE HELLENIC EDITION printed on Royal Japanese vellum. 230 x 165 mm. 9 x 6 1/2". 10 volumes. SUPERB CONTEMPORARY INDIGO CRUSHED MOROCCO GILT AND INLAID covers with gilt rule border central panel framed by 20 inlaid lighter blue morocco tulips interspersed with tiny gilt stars raised bands spine with three panels inlaid with sprays of dark red and citron morocco tulips and lilies accented with small tools two panels with gilt titling SKY BLUE MOROCCO DOUBLURES featuring an indigo morocco frame inlaid with red morocco lilies at corners central panel inlaid with eight teal morocco tulips and a large red morocco lily on graceful gilt stems a sprinkling of gilt stars above them ivory watered silk free endleaves all edges gilt. LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED by artists including A. G. Learned and E. F. Bems with decorative frame on limitations and title pages NINE FRONTISPIECES 97 HEADPIECE VIGNETTES 95 DECORATIVE TAILPIECES AND 269 THREE-QUARTER FRAMES ALL HAND COLORED and 675 black & white three-quarter frames. With engraved bookplate of George Clinton Ward on front flyleaf most now loose. Spines with just a hint of dulling a whisper of shelfwear to a couple of volumes isolated small marginal smudges from the printing process but A VERY FINE SET WITH VIRTUALLY NO SIGNS OF USE. This superb set features English translations of important Classical texts handsomely printed on Japanese vellum extravagantly illustrated and sumptuously bound. It contains "The Wisdom of Marcus Aurelius" "The Eclogues of Vergil" "Sayings of Epictetus" "Selections from Gesta Romanorum" "Odes of Anacreon Anacreontics and Other Selections from the Greek Anthology" "The Satires of Horace" "The Story of Odysseus in the Land of the Phacians Being the Sixth and a Part of the Seventh Book of the Odyssey" "Selections from Aristophanes and Lucian" "The Olympic and Pythian Odes of Pindar" and selections from the Koran translated by George Sale. The project was undertaken by writer translator and editor Nathan Haskell Dole a popular member of the Boston literary set. Educated at Philips Andover and Harvard he was much influenced by family friends like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. He showed an early facility for languages teaching himself to read French German Greek and Latin. Our set was designed by Dole to be the crown jewel of a library combining beauty and luxury with Classical erudition. The bindings here are unsigned but are very similar to those on a copy of this work in the Phoebe Boyle sale bound by the Adams Bindery. Ralph Randolph Adams was along with Henry Stikeman and a handful or others one of the great American art bookbinders of his era. His workshop produced bindings of notable beauty and craftsmanship. The New York Times 11 October 1902 described an Adams binding as "so exquisite in design and execution that those long skeptical of the ability of Americans to bind artistically should now be convinced of their error. . . . It is to be hoped that all American binders will be encouraged to strive toward producing designs like Adams' that are in a measure original and which show more of the individual touch of the artist.". Privately Printed by Nathan Haskell Dole unknown books
1922rif. 204721922. Full Limp Red Calf. Slipcase -- marbled paper pastedown on all sides other than opening. Chemise or inner folder -- thick glossy card stock all sides other than that has red calf with title label. Emily Swinton. Magnificent illuminated manuscript version of the Rubaiyat or some verses from the Rubaiyat. The illuminated borders are singular -- their design is unlike that we are familiar with and not even vaguely similar to anything we have ever seen produced by a latter-day illuminator professional or amateur. Their tracery is of blues greens reds some yellow in a few instances and not least the all important gilt. The illuminator surely was paying homage to some Islamic and Persian illumination in her palette but overall these sources are but influences; the illuminations are far from merely imitative. The design pulls you in and as one gazes longer one will discover small figurative imagery woven into the lines and swirls of the larger ornamentation. Words are beyond us to come close to capturing their complexity and character -- our photos hopefully will impart something of that. Let us just say the colors are deep and bold. Within these extraordinary borders is the calligraphic text rendered in a stunning easily legible Gothic Fraktur script. And there are four dream-like miniature watercolors as well of scenic Persian villages. N.d. circa early 1920s. 4to. 28.5 by 19 cm. Unpaginated 14 leaves with illumination -- illumination on one side. The back side of the leaf then left blank. Tissue guards for each page with illumination. The first leaf has no text -- it is a rectangular abstract design suggestive perhaps of a spectacular rug and inspired by such illuminated painting as one finds in many an antiquarian Koran. The next leaf is the title page with the words appearing to float on the page. The lettering has a distinctive verticality and the gilt letters are both clearly the letters they are supposed to be but have an abstraction that one can imagine they are Arabic script as well. The last two leaves with a more restrained formalistic illumination has evenly spaced dome-shaped pointers as one finds in Koranic decoration to highlight important passages. The binding slipcase and chemise are functional but don't really do the contents justice. Other than some crease marks on the calf and light wear overall to these protective features the binding and slipcase present no issues. unknown books
1930rif. 140943679Paris: Chez F.L. Schmied 1930. Signed Limited Edition. Near Fine. Copy number 13 of 162 numbered copies from an edition of 172 total signed by Francois-Louis Schmied. Folio. A beautiful and lavish production with 28 wood engravings printed in colors each one signed by the artist; signed by Schmied on the colophon and with an additional presentation inscription from the artist on the blank front free endpaper. With an additional suite of plates printed in black being numbered 8 and signed by Schmied on the section's title page and with an additional suite of plates in color also numbered 8 and signed on the section title page and an additional suite of 20 pages showing the separation of the plates. Bound a beautiful art binding by the French master binder Madame Marot-Rodde in full golden morocco inlaid with a tan morocco panel and white vertical and horizontal striped. Inside boards with yellow watered silk pastedowns surrounded by gilt and white morocco inlay housed in a yellow marbled slipcase with morocco tips. Near Fine with rubbing to outer hinges. A stunning copy. Chez F.L. Schmied unknown books
