Libros raros de Bromer Booksellers

1935. Kent, Rockwell. Watercolor on paper measuring 13 by 9 1/4 inches, signed by Kent in the lower right margin, along with the inscription, "to his friend Charly Mortensen, 1935." Mortensen was the telegraph operator aboard the Hans Egede, the ship on which Kent made two of his three celebrated voyages to Igdlorssuit, Greenland, where he would live off and on between 1929 and 1935. His life and work among the native Greenlanders during these years resulted in two of his greatest books: Greenland Journal and Salamina. The present painting, a moving, somber work executed in the artist's typically realistic style, depicts a European sailor, presumably preparing to depart Greenland for home, comforting a native Greenlander who is weeping into her hands at the prospect of their parting. The watercolor is accompanied by Mortensen's autograph book, which contains numerous drawings and inscriptions by friends and Hans Egede passengers, including two drawings by Kent, both signed. One drawing, a charming,… Leer más

(Bologna: Caligola Bazalieri, 1501. Quarto. (94)ff. This edition is based on the version published by Caligola Bazalieri's brother, Bazaliero Bazalieri, in July 1491. The text is Ovid's Heroides, a collection of imaginary letters written from ancient mythological heroines to the lovers who abandoned or mistreated them, including Penelope, Dido, Ariadne, Phaedra, Medea, and Sappho. Printed in Roman type, with wood-engraved initials. Caligola Bazalieri began his career as a printer by working at his brother's press, and he printed his own title in 1492. It is rare to come across any of Caligola Bazalieri's editions: seventeen of the forty-two books that he published are known only as single copies or are "ghost" volumes, only known through bibliographies. This edition of the Heroides is unknown to all bibliographies and unrecorded in any institution. Bound in eighteenth-century red half morocco by Carlo Zehe. Spine in six compartments, gilt-titled in one, and with gilt floral decorations in the other… Leer más

London: Soncino Press, 1930. Rutherston, Albert. Small quarto. xl, (3), 209pp. One of nine copies printed on Roman Vellum, signed by the editor, Cecil Roth, and the illustrator, Albert Rutherston. With fourteen full-page stencilled illustrations, plus seventy small ornaments, all in color. Rutherston's bright depictions of the Passover story, including illustrations of the Jews under Pharaoh, the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, and the prophets looking over modern children at play, bring both joy and gravity to the sacred text. Rutherston collaborated with the Curwen Press repeatedly over his career, and this is perhaps one of his most accomplished works, possibly influenced by his years in Palestine while serving in the British Army. Set in Roman and Italic English type, as well as Hebrew type purchased from Enschedé en Zonen in Holland, the edition embraces the tradition of the pictorial Haggadah while imbuing it with modernity. A Western title page appears at the front of the… Leer más

London: Saunders and Otley, 1836. Fazakerley of Liverpool. Three octavo vols. 304; 304; 304pp. Engraved titles with vignettes, as well as nearly 150 engravings throughout the set. A testament to British literature and artistry, with the poetic pillars of Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, Shakespeare, Dryden, Burns, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, and myriad other writers comprising the anthology. Along with these are brief biographical sketches, facsimile autographs, and portraits rendered after paintings and designs by notable British artists like Turner, Bonington, Landseer, and Maclise. Gorgeously bound by Fazakerley of Liverpool in maroon morocco with giltwork, intricate rose onlays, moiré silk doublures, and gauffered edges highlighting three fore-edge vignettes of bucolic villages, seacoast towns, and storm-blown ships. Hint of wear to extremities, else fine, housed in a morocco-backed cloth folding case.

(Rockport, ME): Gehenna Press, 1998. Baskin, Leonard. Folio. (65)pp. From an edition of fifty, this is one of ten deluxe copies, accompanied by a page of Hecht's manuscript, three watercolor drawings by Baskin, one of the original woodcut blocks, and a suite of woodcuts printed in black with several hand-colored by Baskin. Signed by both Hecht and Baskin at the colophon; Baskin has also signed each of the prints in the book. Hecht's poems, rich with earthy imagery to communicate the individual and common depths of grief and joy, are each faced with a colorful woodcut of a flower. Baskin's signature dark shading and rough edges capture both the gritty beauty of the plants themselves and their untidy but profound reflection of humanity. Bound by Claudia Cohen in full peach morocco, with rules in both blind and gilt, an artful gilt laurel design and yellow leather onlays to covers, matching gilt spine decoration onlaid. Drawings and extra suite housed in cloth-covered chemise. Held, along with the book… Leer más

(Berlin): Officina Serpentis, 1926. Folio. 45pp. From an edition of 340 copies, this is one of seven printed on vellum, with initials added by hand in gold by Hanns Thaddaus Hoyer. A stunning example of manuscript proficiency that highlights typographic expertise, Officina Serpentis' edition of three letters from Plato to his friends and colleagues simultaneously honors and modernizes the customary Early Modern mise-en-page. The original Greek text of each letter has been printed in the Greek Tischendorft typeface by Schelter & Giesecke, of which this edition is its first continuous use. Surrounding the Greek is its translation in German, which is in Gentzsch & Heyse's Elzevier-Cursive. The stylistic harmony of the printing underscores the thesis behind the selection of these three particular letters; previously questioned for their authenticity of authorship, the unification and aesthetic exaltation of these writings posits their genuine linkage to Plato. It perhaps suggests an even larger… Leer más

(London): Doves Press, 1908. Johnston, Edward. Two large octavo volumes. 192; 200pp. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker. This collection of Browning's poems explores the many aspects of love between men and women. The colophon is beautifully inscribed in red: "Flourished by Edward Johnston. May 1908/November 1908." The table of contents shows calligraphic flourishes in blue, green, and red by the master calligrapher, while larger flourishes decorate headings throughout the book. These conform to the copy described in Tidcombe's bibliography. The set shows the Doves Press at its most ornate, the severe typography softened to the subject by Johnston's lovely decorations. This title is also notable for being the last book from the Doves Press bearing Emery Walker's name on the colophon. In beautiful Doves-style bindings of gilt-decorated dark blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. The bindings feature a central gilt arabesque with small red and green… Leer más

Berlin: Einhorn-Presse, 1927. Lechter, Melchior. Tall quarto. (24)pp. From an edition of 600 copies, this is one of only five printed on vellum and with text calligraphed by Melchior Lechter. In addition to writing the text, Lechter also designed the book, including initial letters of gold backed with green leather and onlaid to the pages, and the decorated borders, which are printed in gold and bear printed almond-shaped medallions at their lower sections. These medallions, reminiscent of the iconographic mandorla, each show a distinct mystical design, incorporating symbols and imagery from a variety of Eastern and Western faith traditions, along with other esoteric elements. The book is not shy about the Theosophical overtures of its tale or of its author; it begins and concludes with Hindu lettering in gold, as well as, on the final page, a six-pointed star with four rays suffused with Buddhist symbology, its basic floral outline mirrored in the gold borders. The story itself is an allegorical… Leer más

Newtown: Gregynog Press, 1931. Hughes-Stanton, Blair. Octavo. (10), 25, (3)pp. From an edition of 250 copies, this is one of twenty-five printed on Japanese vellum and bound after a design by Blair Hughes-Stanton himself. It marks Hughes-Stanton's first contribution to the Press' run of special bindings, and the advent of a shift in the style of those bindings toward modernity, embracing restraint while highlighting line and form. Hughes-Stanton likewise supplied as wood engravings the frontispiece, title vignette, and illustrations of all six costumed characters. This is the first book of the Press arranged by William McCance, though set and printed by Idris Jones. Its artistic and critical success helped turn the Press' fortunes and added to its growing reputation as a pinnacle of not only Welsh bookmaking, but of Western printing as a whole. Hughes-Stanton's binding is of full dun-colored levant morocco, with covers bearing vertical panels of blind lines, bordered by gilt frames. Upper cover shows… Leer más

(Alès: PAB, 1960. Picasso, Pablo. One of forty regular copies, signed by Picasso, and the author/publisher Pierre André Benoit. Thematically similar to plate 22 in La Tauromaquia (1959), which depicts the instant of death of a bull in a bullfight, this single drypoint etching accompanies a brief poem by Benoit. This is the first of two miniature books illustrated by Picasso. This copy specially bound by Georges Leroux in full brown calf, with upper cover bearing a design of three concentric circles of inlaid tan leather spotted and outlined with gilt, at the center of whch is an overlaid bull's head spotted with metallic red. Lower cover shows the same design, but with the colors reversed. Spine titling in gilt and metallic red; binder's stamps to foot of doublures; suede endpapers. A remarkable copy, very fine. Housed in chemise and slipcase. (Cramer 102). (1 1/4 by 1 3/4; 33x46mm).

London, 1916. Sangorski, Alberto. Octavo. 10ff., + 2ff.. Signed by Alberto Sangorski at the colophon. Sangorski's unique vellum manuscript suitably echoes the romantic aesthetic championed by Shelley's poetry. Each of the four miniatures emphasizes the influence of nature, either by literally or figuratively minimizing the stature of the human figure (as in the full-page frontispiece depiction of the titular woodman and the sleeping woman at the title page for "To Night"), co-opting it into allegory (as in the full-page characterization of night itself as a woman), or eschewing humanity entirely (as in the miniature at the foot of page 13, which shows an expansive evening landscape in which a lone turret stands as solitary evidence of civilization). Added to the sense of the manuscript as honorific to the aims of the Romantic poets are the resplendent title page with lettering in red and gold and full floral border, and further florals adorning every subsequent page. Every stanza bears an illuminated… Leer más

London, 1916. Sangorski, Alberto. Small quarto. (11)ff., + 3ff. Signed at the colophon, after the certification statement, by Alberto Sangorski. A unique illuminated manuscript on vellum, in which Sangorski engages with and inserts himself into a genealogy of Neoclassicism. His devotion to the tradition of the medieval manuscript is at once classical and modern, and deeply entrenched in naturalistic aesthetics; the title page features a lush floral border surrounding a field of vines, and a similar border ornaments each page of text. Nine large illuminated initials are intertwined with the greenery, the language itself relying on and supporting the landscape of the page. Sangorski's four miniatures depict scenes of Classical Greek pastoral life, save for the title-page portrait of Gray. These images likewise seat Sangorski himself among the Romantics and Pre-Raphaelites, but also serve the greater purpose of establishing Gray's position as a sort of proto-Romantic. Although that title alone is too… Leer más

(London, 1946. Buckland Wright, John. Three oblong quarto volumes; 25; 27; 21ff. Two are Whatman series A30 sketch books, originally containing 30 leaves, and have been titled "Girls in Undress" and "Figures" by Buckland Wright; the third is a Reeves branded book which also formerly contained 30 leaves. All are bound in the original canvas boards, and each bears a single ink initial on both ends of the spine, likely an identification method used by the artist. The bulk of the images are detailed pencil sketches, occasionally accented with an ink wash; most pages contain a series of smaller sketches focusing on a theme or action, and many bear dates in the upper left margin. These studies were done during the period when Buckland Wright lived in London, serving as a press censor at the Ministry of Information - a post that coincided with the artist's desire, which he stated in a letter to Christopher Sandford, to "be near humanity in the mass, with the possibility of seeing a hundred girls every time… Leer más

East Aurora: Roycroft Press, 1900. Kinder, Louis. Octavo. 8ff., frenchfold. One of twenty-five (i.e., twenty-one) copies printed on vellum. Signed on the colophon by Elbert Hubbard, and with an inscription by the illuminator, Frances Carmody. Designed by Samuel Warner. Illustrated throughout with hand-illumined art nouveau borders. The Last Ride was one of only two or three books printed on pure vellum by the Roycrofters. The present copy features a magnificent binding by Louis Kinder of turquoise levant with intersecting brown and black morocco onlays, bordered in gilt, sweeping across both covers, and a gilt tooled fern spray radiating out from the center, against a backdrop of gilt-tooled stars. Elaborately tooled vellum doublures carry the fern motif inside, where they form a horizontal plane that divides the doublures into four sections, decorated with gilt strapwork, at the center of which are four tooled devices: a pair of clasped hands, a pair of hearts pierced by an arrow, an hourglass… Leer más

Munich: Histradut Zionit, Achida, and Nocham, 1946. Adler, Miklós and Yosef Dov Sheinson. Octavo. 14ff. With seven woodcuts by Miklós Adler. Text in Hebrew and Yiddish. Light spotting on back cover, else a very fine copy in printed wrappers. The history of this Haggadah begins with the compelling story of Hungarian-born Jewish artist Miklós Adler, whose family had endured the occupation and brutality of the Nazis. Between March 1944 and May 1945, more than half a million Jews of Hungary were killed. After living in Debrecen's Jewish ghettos and being marked for transport to Auschwitz, the Adler family was moved to Thieresenstadt, the concentration camp outside Prague. In May of 1945, the Adler family survivors returned to Hungary, and Miklós created sixteen vivid and emotive woodcuts depicting atrocities of the Holocaust, arranged in the order in which the events occurred and numbered to correspond to this chronology. The first five images elucidated Adler's personal experience with the Nazi… Leer más