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Grimm’s Iron John, the classic tale of male rights-of-passage, is here rendered in calligraphy and a series of fine historiated initials by a young Maria Elizabeth Passini. The style is medievalist, paying homage to the chivalric manuscripts of an earlier age, but is unmistakably of the 1930s. We have been unable to find any other examples of manuscripts by Passini, and it is likely to have been a student project. Her later works were figurative drawing and paintings, often portraits and graphic designs for commercial clients.

Elizabeth Passini was born in Innsbruck in 1911 into a family of notable Austrian painters and emigrated to England in the late 1920s where she studied at the Slade School. She also studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, the Central School and St Martins. She was a member of the Pastel Society, Contemporary Portrait Society and a founder member of the Hampstead Artists Council. She was a key member of the Hampstead art scene and regularly took part in the Open Air Exhibitions in Heath Street there from the late 1940s and, later on, the Royal Free Hospital Exhibitions. She taught at the Camden Arts Centre for many years. She died in 1995. Burgh House & Hampstead Museum holds a number of her works.

First collected edition, with 4 engraved vignettes by Blake after designs by Thomas Stothard. The Bradley Martin copy. Jackson, p. 96; Keynes 94; Russell 48.

One of six copies, a fine and characteristic example of Beatrice Coron’s cut paper artist’s books. Across the four panels, the artist has opened a series of tunnels linking worlds above and below ground, inviting us to look into ‘memory holes’. Dreamlike and haunting, Memory Holes is a meditation on what lies below the surface of everyday life, but, as often in Coron’s world, we are never sure what is real, and what is imagined. Examples of her work, both books and public art, are held by numerous significant museums and libraries in Europe and America.

A recent miniature book, unique, illustrated in ink and watercolour. ‘Ce tout petit livre est unique. Je l’ai peint et relié à ma façon et à Marliac, en fin d’hiver 2018’.

A set of blank ornamental borders designed for use by the convent girls of the monastery of the order of the Visitation at Ornans in Eastern France. Probably destined for use as models for notecards and letters, as suggested by the contemporary tracings. A wonderful example of contemporary decorative arts in a convent environment these watercolours are elegantly ornate, incorporating foliage, flowers, vines, swags and birds. The convent at Ornans had been founded in the early seventeenth century and, after the Revolution, refounded as a religious school in 1839 for girls. The Ordre de la Visitation de Sainte-Marie, or ‘Visitandines’ had existed also from the early seventeenth century, founded as an active order for the visitation of the sick.

A superb illuminated manuscript decorated in a wide variety of styles, chronologically arranged, including Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Greco-Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arab, Byzantine, Carolingian, German, Celtic and European styles from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. The manuscript is unsigned, but is typical of the very best French revivalist artists of the period, who were often (but not always) women trained in ultra-orthodox Catholic religious houses. Leading binders such as Léon Gruel in Paris could call upon a wide range of talented calligraphers and artists for commissions such as this commemorative marriage book for Irma Lafontaine and Émile Brangeon (both born 1899 and married at Lourdes in 1929).

First edition. Jointly authored with Robida, who also provided the illustrations, Contes pour les Bibliophiles contains Uzanne’s prescient essay ‘La Fin des livres’. This remarkable text has been eagerly discussed by commentators on the interface between traditional and electronic book. Like many contempories Uzanne and Robida had been enthralled by inventions such as Edison’s phonograph and Ader’s ‘théatrophone’ and they predicted fundamental shifts in the consumption of literature in their wake. ‘La Fin des livres’ describes (and illustrates) wonderful devices for the consumption of audiobooks in the home and in public places, suggesting that they would become as straightforward as turning on a tap. The library of the future would in turn become a roomful of recorded cylinders, and publishers would be required to register the voices of their authors by way of copyright.

What would such a democratization of the word do to the printed book? Uzanne’s response was to look at current production of books and insist that books would not die provided they remained objects of beauty and desire worthy of the attention of bibliophiles. The wonderful cover illustrations and typography are by George Auriol, member of the Chat Noir circle and friend of Erik Satie.

First and only edition, issued the year after the Easter Rising, showing hundreds of Dublin businesses seeking exports all over the world. Among the many listings and advertisements for brewers, distillers, foundries, printers, publishers, linen manufacturers, shipyards, engineers and so on, are found two one-third page adverts for the Yeats sisters’ Cuala Industries and the Dun Emer Guild. The two firms had been founded under the Dun Emer name by Elizabeth and Lily Yeats in 1902 producing Arts and Crafts printing, embroidery, rugs and tapestry, before dividing in 1904. The Cuala advert shows the Yeats’s Churchtown bungalow and reads: ‘Embroidery—Lily Yeats. Hand Press—Elizabeth C. Yeats. Editor of the Press—W.B. Yeats.’ The Dun Emer advert shows a woman working at a loom and offers ‘Hand-woven Carpets & Tapestries, Embroideries, Enamels, Bookbinding’.

There are also historical and topographical accounts of the city. This was the first appearance of the Dublin Year Book and it was apparently not reprinted. Scarce. Worldcat lists US copies at NYPL, Illinois, Kansas, Chapel Hill and South Carolina. We also find copies at the University of Cork, UCD, LSE and BL.

A very neatly presented elementary project on leather production and its use in craft bookbinding, with useful samples illustrating the different characters and textures of goat, sheep and calf, and the nature of morocco. There are also colour samples and some examples of elementary lettering and tooling (presumably by the author) who was probably a student at a British technical college. There are two samples of eighteenth century book covers and a nice drawing of the binding of the seventh century Stoneyhurst/St Cuthbert Gospel, the earliest intact European bookbinding.

An elaborate antiquarian collection containing 19 large double-page armorials, apparently of the sixteenth century of the major families of Belgium, including Beaufort, Berghes, Egmont, Hornes, Lalain, Luzembourg, St. Aldegond, and including a number of members of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Each of these armorials bears detailed contemporary genealogies to their versos. These have been conserved by the British antiquary David Powell (?1772-1848) with other early genealogical material, his own notes and four large drawings of related stained glass, including a large window from the church of Notre Dame du Sablon (Brussels) and another in the hands of ‘Mr Whatson an eminent glazier Hanway Yard Oxford Street’ in 1816.

Born in Tottenham, Powell became a Lieutenant in the 14th Light Dragoons; he left a manuscript account of his 1794 experiences in Cork, Flanders and Brabant. He later entered Magdalen College, Oxford, receiving a B.C.L. in June 1805. He spent much of the rest of his life making heraldic and genealogical collections, and touring England and Wales to make watercolour sketches of churches and manor houses in over forty counties. He died in 1848, and his library was sold by Puttick & Simpson over three days. Many of Powell's manuscripts are now in the British Library.

First editions, deluxe issues, each volume being one of only 15 copies with an additional suite on chine printed from the original woodblocks, by renowned artists such as Hermann-Paul, Sem, Daragnès, Baudier, Cochet, Hallo, Renefer and Roubille, many numbered or signed by the artists in pencil. Fayard’s enterprise was one of democratisation — aiming to bring high-quality illustration, examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving, to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the woodblocks, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite specially printed on fine paper from the original blocks. A remarkable collection of separately-issued works. This group contains 36 of the first 41 volumes (vols. 4, 13, 17, 21, 26, 29 and 36 are those not present):

I. BENJAMIN, René. RENEFER, illustrator. Les Soldats de la guerre. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 158, [2], plus a suite of 21, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
II. WILLY, Colette. HERMANN-PAUL, illustrator. Mitsou ou Comment l’Esprit vient aux Filles. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 94, [2], plus a suite of 16 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
III. BORDEAUX, Henry. Paul BAUDIER, illustrator. Une Honněte femme. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 123, [5], plus a suite of 25 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
V. BOYLESVE, René. Georges BRUYER. Le Meilleur Ami. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 106, [4], plus a suite of 20 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
VI. SEM. Louis ANDRÉ, illustrator. La ronde de nuit. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
VII. HARRY, Myriam. Pierre FALKÉ, illustrator. L’ile de Volupte. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 24 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
VIII. DUVERNOIS, Henri. Achille OUVRÉ, illustrator. Crapotte. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 23 on chine, numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
IX. CORTHIS, André. Paul VIGOUREUX, illustrator. Le Pardon premature. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 25 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
X. BORDEAUX, Henry. Paul BAUDIER, illustrator. La Maison. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 159, [1], plus a suite of 40 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XI. MIOMANDRE, Francis de. Roger GRILLON, illustrator. L’Aventure de Thérèse Beauchamps. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 124, [4], plus a suite of 28 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XII. FARRÈRE, Claude. A. ROUBILLE, illustrator. La Bataille. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 142, [2], plus a suite of 27 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XIV. BENJAMIN, René. Georges BRUYER, illustrator. Les Justices de paix ou les Vingt Façons de juger dans Paris. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 142, [2], plus a suite of 38 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XIV. DELARUE-MARDRUS, Lucie. RENEFER, illustrator. La Cigale. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 28 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XV. HARRY, Myriam. Gérard COCHET, illustrator. La petite fille de Jérusalem. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1923].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 27 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XVI. Henri DUVERNOIS. Guy DOLLIAN, illustrator. Morte la Bête… La Fugure – Un Soir de pluie. Paris: Arthème Fayard, 1924.
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 30 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XVIII. WILLY, Colette. G. JEANNIOT, illustrator. Chéri. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 126, [2] plus a suite of 22 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XIX. LOUŸS, Pierre. HALLO, illustrator. La Femme et le pantin: roman espagnol. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 107, [2], plus a suite of 24 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XX. AUDOUX, Marguerite. Paul-Émile COLIN, illustrator. Marie-Claire. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 21 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
[XXII.] BOYLESVE, René. Paul BAUDIER, illustrator. Je vous ai désirée un soir. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 109, [3], plus a suite of 22 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15
XXIII. BORDEAUX, Henry. René POTTIER, illustrator. Le Pays natal. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 38 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXIV. MONTFORT, Eugène. DARAGNÈS, illustrator. La Belle-Enfant ou l’amour à 40 ans. 27 bois originaux de Dargnès. Paris: Arthéme Fayard, [1926].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite on chine, numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXV. VIOUX, Marcelle. RENEFER, illustrator. Les Amants tourmentés. 29 bois originaux de Renefer. Paris: Arthéme Fayard, [1925].
pp. 125, [1], plus suite of 29 proofs on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy no. 2 of 15.
XXVII. BOURGET, Paul. G. JEANNIOT, illustrator. Tragiques Remous. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 20 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXVIII. VILLETARD, Pierre. Pierre FALKÉ, illustrator. Monsieur Bille dans la tourmente. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 25 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
[XXX.] DUVERNOIS, Henri. Berthe MARX, illustrator. Gisèle. La Guitare et le jazz-band. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 125, [3], plus a suite of 27 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXI. HARRY, Myriam. J. HALLO, illustrator. La Divine Chanson. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 23 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXII. BENJAMIN, René. ROUBILLE, illustrator. Grandgoujon. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 22 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXIII. D’HOUVILLE, Gérard. Gérard COCHET, illustrator. L’inconstante. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 125, [1], plus a suite of 23 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXIV. BORDEAUX, Henry. RENEFER, illustrator. La Fée de Port-Cros. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 28 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXV. CHAUVIÈRE, Claude. Hermann PAUL, illustrator. La Femme de personne. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1925].
pp. 110, [2], plus a suite of 24 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXVII. THARAUD, Jérome et Jean. Pierre FALKÉ, illustrator. La Randonnée de Samba Diouf. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 40 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXVIII. ELDER, Marc. RENEFER, illustrator. Le Peuple de la mer. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 22 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XXXIX. CHATEAUBRIANT, A. de. CRESTON, illustrator. La Brière. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 127, [1], plus a suite of 24 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XL. JALOUX, Edmond. Paul BAUDIER, illustrator. La Fin d’un beau jour. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 126, [2], plus a suite of 32 on chine, signed and numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.
XLI. CORTHIS, André. Hermann PAUL, illustrator. Victime Expiatoire. Paris: Arthème Fayard, [1926].
pp. 109, [3], plus a suite of 27 on chine, numbered in pencil, copy number 2 of 15.

First edition in English, very rare, of this celebrated treatise on inventions and origins, including accounts of the invention of printing, theatre, mathematics, medicine, magic, religion, law, government (as well as prostitution and warm baths). First published in Latin in 1499 (Venice) and augmented in 1521, it digested a huge mass of classical, biblical and contemporary learning and became a Renaissance bestseller. As many as 30 Latin editions alone appeared before the author’s death in 1555. The English translation, an abridgement by Thomas Langley, did not appear until 1546, by which time the Urbino-born Polydore had been resident in England for several decades. A diplomat, scholar and historian, Vergil counted Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, Cuthbert Tunstall, Thomas Linacre and Baldessare Castiglione among his acquaintances and correspondents.

Issued no less than three times in 1546, this English edition is remarkably rare. We can find only this copy at auction in the last 50 years. The work is divided into eight books, from which Langley makes succinct abridgements, of which a selection of chapter headings gives a flavour:

I. 9. ‘The begynnyng of Tragedies, Comedies, Satyres, and newe Comedies; 11. ‘Who founde Musyke’; 12. ‘Who found Musicall instruments’; 14. ‘Astrologie’; 15. ‘Who fonde Geometrie, Artihmetike’; 16. ‘Physike’; 17. ‘The inventours of herbes medicinable’; 18. ‘The beginnyng of Magike’; 19. ‘Two kyndes of divination’.

II. 1. ‘The originall of lawes’; 2. ‘Who ordeyned the first gouvernaunces’; 6. ‘Who set furth books fyrst, or made a library, Printyng, paper, parchement, arte of memory’ (which includes the observation: ’Truely the com[m]odite of liberaries is right profitable & necessary, but in co[m]parison of the crafte of printyng it is nothyng, both because one ma[n] may printe more in one day, then many men in many years could wryte: And also it preserveth both Greke & Latine auctours fro the dau[n]ger of corruption. It was found in Germany at Mogunce [Mainz] by one J. Guthenbergus a knight, he found moreover the Inke by his devise that printers used...)’

Among other entries we find treatments of: war, Olympiades, plays, metals, coins, painting, ‘wyne, oyle, honye, chese, and strange trees broughte into Italy’, labyrinths, theatres, prostitution and brothels, and Christian and Moslem origins and customs.

Provenance: Sotheby’s, June 14th, 1965, lot 231 (Traylen, £55); Blackwell, Centenary Catalogue, 1979, item 27, £450; private collection. STC 24654. STC lists two other printings of the same year: 24655 (another edition, reset, with colophon dated 16 April) and 24656 (another issue, portions reset, with both title and colophon dated 16 April). In an article of 1888, John Ferguson suggested that these 16 April editions/issues preceded the 25 January edition, having old style dates in their imprints, but this sequence was not adopted by the editors of STC; John Ferguson, ‘Bibliographical Notes on the English Translation of Polydore Vergil’s work, De Inventoribus Rerum’, 1888, pp. 17 et seq.

First edition of the first French book on the diabolo or devil sticks, and thus probably the first European book on the subject. The diabolo craze swept Paris in 1812, all the illustrations here are of young men and women at play with this juggling toy. Besides the first two chansons, on a diabolo theme the texts here are typical of other contemporary almanacs, and the last 14 pages contain an almanac for 1813. Derived from an ancient Chinese toy it was the French who first embraced it as a fashionable activity in the early nineteenth century.

First edition, scarce. Taxidermy was at the heart of most natural history cabinets and museums before the modern era, but there are relatively few treatises devoted to this art. Manesse’s was one of only a handful of treatises available to French naturalists dealing with the vast influx of animals and birds sent to Paris for study from all over the world. He proposed a type of tanning of the skins of carcasses to facilitate their long-term preservation.

A very rare publisher’s advert for children’s books, issued on behalf of Amable Rigaud (a pseudonym of children’s author and publisher Charles de Ribelle), publisher at 50 rue Sainte Anne, Paris. Rigaud was prolific from around 1859 to 1880 and this fine lithograph appears to date from the early part of this period. It lists 15 different title all published around 1859-61 including Histoire des siècles. Des Découvertes et inventions, Livre des jeunes personnes vertueuses, Le grand Alphabet pittoresque de la jeunesse, Le Monde et se merveilles and Histoire des animaux célèbres. Born in 1810 Ribelle had also founded a juvenile magazine Journal des enfants.

Sole edition, one of 50 copies on chine. An illustrated collection of epithets on love and the relationships between men and women, a witty reflection of the sexual politics of fin-de-siècle Paris. The conceit of the title, and the charming accompanying vignette, involves communication (or perhaps miscommunication) via headphones and a phonographic machine operated by Cupid. It is a nice example of the contemporary fascination with the potential of electronic communications, with echoes of the science-fiction fantasy La Fin des livres by Albert Robida published in the same year, in which a new world of literature was a network of wires and headphones and of the Theatrophone apparatus recently exhibited at the Paris exhibitions. Worldcat lists 3 copies only: Bibliothèque nationale, British Library and Yale.

A calligraphic certificate by Julia Beck, being the copy of a letter of 8 June 1914 sent by a leader of the women’s movement in France, Isabelle Bogelot to Canadian feminist, Lady Aberdeen endorsing the new book by Indiana feminist, May Wright-Sewell, entitled Genesis of the International Council of Women (1914). It was written on behalf of the Conseil National des femmes françaises.

Calligrapher Julia Beck was born in Stockholm in 1853 and moved to Paris in 1883. She became one of the first female artists from her country to make a living through art alone. She is best-known for her landscape paintings in the Impressionist style, which were highly regarded in France and abroad, but she supported herself partly through commercial calligraphy, at which she excelled. She was a committed advocate for women artists.

A superb collection of over 300 spontaneous sketches made in situ in Paris of popular films and entertainments of the 1950s, including the classics Les Vacances de M. Hulot, Buñuel’s El, Le Ballon Rouge and other French films by Renoir and Meliès, Sophia Loren in Neapolitan Carousel, Bob Hope and Lucille Ball in Fancy Pants, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in Artists and Models and Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop.

Ryutchi Souzouki (1904-1985) had been a well-regarded and well-connected Montparnasse figure, counting Ernst and Foujita among his friends in the twenties and thirties and frequently exhibiting alongside the surrealists. Born in Yokohama, he spent much of his life in Paris, though his Japanese citizenship prevented him from exhibiting during the war years and probably accounted for his increasing isolation in the post war period. A solitary figure, until his death in poverty, he continued to work, experimenting with automatic drawing and making sketches, such as these, from popular films and entertainments, such as the tableaux vivants of the Casino de Paris, the Folies bergères, conjuring performances and the opera, instantaneously capturing their spirit on scraps of hotel stationery, recycled scraps or cheap spiral-bound notebooks. They are witty, touching and always engaging responses to what he saw in the cinemas and theatres of Paris. Following his death, the contents of his studio, including the many albums he had carefully collated in his final years (like ours) were conserved by his concièrge and dispersed at auction in 1985.

1949-53, 1953-6, 1953-4, 1956-7, 1962

First edition with Sigros’s illustrations, tirage de tête, one of 16 copies with a suite and an original drawing (total edition 1500).

First edition with Colucci’s superb illustrations, one of 125 copies on Rives (after a single copy on japon). A decadent edition of one of the six novellas from Les Diaboliques (1874). ‘The She-Devils’, considered D’Aurevilley masterpiece, collects six stories, each featuring a woman who commits an act of violence, revenge, or some other crime. Colucci had exhibited alongside Gleizes and Delaunay in the 1920s, but was especially successful as a book illustrator.