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"May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books." -Thomas Carlyle

Welcome to my virtual book collection. Since collecting actual books is somewhat cost-prohibitive, I've begun to amass all of the books I would love to have if I had the means. Some are new, lots are old, all are unique or beautiful or unusual or in some other way have captured my fancy. Enjoy browsing!

Special Collections: Fine Bindings ~ Fairies and Fairy Tales ~ Terror and Madness ~ Poetry ~ Food, Drink and Apothecary ~ Science Fiction ~ Illuminations, Lettering and Hand-Coloring ~ Magic ~ Supernatural and Occult ~ Alchemy ~ Science and Technical ~ Maritime ~ Costumes ~ Humor ~ Children's books ~ Legend of King Arthur ~ Americana ~ 18th Century ~ 19th Century

Authors and illustrators: Edgar Allan Poe ~ Jules Verne ~ Edmund Dulac ~ Kay Nielsen ~ Arthur Rackham ~ Edward Gorey ~ Charles Dickens ~ H.P. Lovecraft ~ William Hope Hodgson ~ Mark Twain ~ Lewis Carroll ~ Salvador Dali ~ George Cruikshank ~ Emily Dickinson ~ Geoffrey Chaucer ~ H.G. Wells

Mock Beggar Hall
Robert Graves. Hogarth Press. 1924.

First Edition. Original dark grey boards, the imposing overall front cover design is by William Nicholson and printed in black, Simon Nowell-Smith’s book label, untrimmed.

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Myrrhina

O, why judge Myrrhina
As though she were a man?
She obeys a dark wisdom
(As Eve did before her)
Which never can fail,
Being bound by no pride
Of armorial bearings
Bequeathed in tail male.

And though your blood brother
Who dared to do you wrong
In his greed of Myrrhina
Might plead a like wisdom
The fault to excuse.
Myrrhina is just,
She has hanged the vain rogue
By the neck from her noose.

Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll. Bound By Kelliegram.
With Fifty Illustrations by John Tenniel. London: Macmillan and Co., 1927.

A spectacular Kelliegram pictorial binding, ca. 1927, stamp-signed “Kelliegram Binding London,” of full dark green crushed morocco. Covers decoratively panelled in gilt, with five characters from the story depicted in multi-colored morocco onlays on each cover. The front cover with central onlay of Humpty Dumpty in brown, red, pale green, black, blue and beige morocco and corner onlays of: the White Queen, the Red Queen, Haigha (the Messenger), and Hatta (the other Messenger). The lower cover reiterates the upper’s design with a central onlay of the Walrus in brown red, pale green and beige morocco and corner onlays of: the Carpenter, the Old Sheep, Tweedledum & Tweedledee, the Frog and the Carpener. Spine richly gilt in compartments with dots and pictorial devices. Five raised bands with gilt dots. Turn-ins with gilt corner devices. Amber silk endpapers. All edges gilt.

Spells and Philtres
Clark Ashton Smith, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1958.

First edition / First printing. Octavo. Hardcover. A very good copy in a very good dust jacket. One of 519 copies. Jacket art by Frank Utpatel. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries #51.

Printing with the Handpress: Herewith a Definitive Manual…to Encourage Fine Printing through Hand-craftsmanship
Allen, Lewis M.. Kentfield, CA; Allen Press, 1969

Illustrated by Victor A. Seward. Decorations engraved on wood by Mallette Dean. Printed in Romanée type designed by Jan Van Krimpen for Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, on hand-made paper from Wookey Hole Mill in England with the watermark of the Allen Press. 12x8, decorative full linen with “hand” design based on a 15th century woodcut, acetate cover. One of 140 copies, handset and printed by Lewis & Dorothy Allen.

One of the most beautiful and sought-after productions from the Allens, considered by many their masterwork. Allen Press 34.

cover-duende:

the devil’s dictionary by ambrose bierce

The Devil’s Dictionary is a satirical “reference” book written by Ambrose Bierce. The book offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language, lampooning cant and political doublespeak, as well as other aspects of human foolishness and frailty. It was originally published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book before being retitled in 1911. Modern “unabridged” versions that include Bierce “definitions” that were for various reasons missed by earlier editions continue to be popular a century later.

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A classic.

(via xx-the-dark-domain-xx)

mlmac11 asked: Love your site. He's not a superstar, but you might want to look into the work of Charles Ricketts and the Vale Press. Beautiful books as art, and the artist whom Mr. Beardsley kind of ripped off, as he himself acknowledged. Not that I don't love Mr. B.

Thank you! And thanks for the tip - I will certainly look into his work.

Monody
Melville, Herman. Grasse, Prometheus Press, 1982.

One of five copies signed by artist Frederic Prokosch

[6] + 1 blank leaf + [1] pp. With hand-painted frontispiece illustration, signed with artist’s initials. 15.8x11 cm. (6¼x4¼”), saddle-sewn blue wrappers, paper cover label, clear jacket. Number “alpha” of 5 copies, printed on Guerimand paper.

Three Volumes Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley
- Malory’s Morte D’Arthur. New York: Dutton, 1927, limited to 1600 copies, publisher’s gilt cloth, t.e.g.;
- Fifty Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley„ New York, 1920, numbered 233 of 500 and signed by the publisher, ornately stamped gilt publisher’s cloth;
- A Second Book of Fifty Drawings, London, 1899, limited to 1,000 copies, red publisher’s cloth, pictorial gilt stamped, spine worn and faded, all titles illustrated throughout.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Edgar Allan Poe. New York, Tudor Publishing Co. 1933
Illus. Harry Clarke.

412 pp. 8 tipped-in color plates and 24 monochrome plates by Harry Clarke. (4to), black cloth, paper label on front, pictorial dust jacket. First Tudor Edition.

The Shakespeare Hero & Heroine Calendar for 1895
Place: London
Publisher: Raphael Tuck & Sons
Date: [1894]

12 leaves, chromolithographed with gilt. 29.5x24.5 cm. (11½x9¾”).
Ornate calendar featuring passages and characters from Shakespeare’s plays, “Designed in England, Printed in Germany.” Each leaf with two holes at top, but the ribbon that once connected them is gone.

#Ephemera  

The Bells and Other Poems
Edgar Allan Poe. New York and London, Hodder and Stoughton, [c.1912]

Unpaginated. Twenty-eight color plates by Edmund Dulac, other illustrations in text. (4to) 28x22 cm. (11x8¾”), original beige cloth, spine & front cover elaborately embossed and gilt lettered. First Dulac Trade Edition. Forty-six poems by Poe handsomely illustrated by Dulac.

Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1872, Containing a Calendar, Cash Account, Diary and Memoranda for Every Day in the Year, And a Variety of Useful Business Information
London, Punch Office, 1872

176 pp. Hand-colored folding frontispiece and additional illustrated title page, numerous inserted illustrations. (12mo) 12.3x8.5 cm. (4¾x3¼”) wallet-style black morocco, gilt-stamped figure of Mr. Punch on front. Illustrations by John Tenniel, Charles Keene, L, Sambourne, etc.

The Martian Chronicles
Ray Bradbury. Avon CT, Limited Editions Club, 1974.

Illustrated by Joseph Mugnaini. Black cloth, speckled with white, glassine dust jacket, matching board slipcase. No. 1935 of 2,000 copies. Signed by the author and illustrator at the limitation.

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“Science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle.”

― Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Additional illustrations.... ›

….from the previously posted ‘Faust’ volume illustrated by Willy Pogany. Thank you, FYVI.

Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Illust. Willy Pogany.
London, Hutchinson & Co. [c.1908]

xx, 210 pp. 16 color plates by Willy Pogany (printed on linen). (8vo) original cloth. Early edition.

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“Whatever is the lot of humankind
I want to taste within my deepest self.
I want to seize the highest and the lowest,
to load its woe and bliss upon my breast,
and thus expand my single self titanically
and in the end go down with all the rest.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

 
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