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First edition with Renefer’s illustrations, number 2 of 15 copies with the suite of all 22 wood engravings on chine, all signed by the artist. Elder’s novel of the sea had won the 1913 Prix Goncourt (against both Proust and Alain Fournier). Renefer had made his name as a war artist during the Great War. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought 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 prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.

First edition with the Falké illustrations, number 2 of 15 copies only with the woodcuts on chine, numbered and initialled by the artist. A colonialist novel in which a young Senegalese fisherman finds himself enlisted in the army, fighting with the French in the trenches of the Great War. It first appeared in 1922. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought 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 prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.

14 rare belle époque cards, including: ‘Au Pompe-Dard — Pumping Fashion’; ‘Position du tireur debout — Standing fashion’; ‘Enviander les Brancards — Between the Shafts’, etc.

A series of witty and finely executed erotic miniatures, presumably a Paris souvenir made with an anglophone audience in mind, most likely the American servicemen in Paris after 1945.

Two rare and decorative Spanish ABCs for use in the schoolroom, each with decorative woodcut squares for the letters of the alphabet. The dated example (1868) depicts men and women in a range of roles and occupations (a bagpiper, children, drummer, florist, calendar seller, etc) within attractive roundels with palms,the captions of each are divided into syllables. This sheet is numbered ‘13, pliego 2’, indicating it was probably part of a series of educational plates (unidentified). The undated example is not numbered and has a different sequence of decorative squares illustrating a range of contemporary occupations: including a shoemaker, carpenter, dentist, barber, grape seller, doctor, organist and acrobat. In each case the letter of the alphabet is given with a corresponding number.

J. M. Marés was a prolific publisher of juvenile literature and chapbooks in Madrid. Worldcat lists a number of large-format woodcut sheets, but neither of these titles, nor any other ABCs.

First edition (presumed first issue, being bound concertina style). A very rare and influential kimono design book by the Rinpa master, Kamisake Sekka. Koromogae (literally ‘change of clothes’) consists of 100 striking modernist fabric designs for kimonos, on double leaves. Sekka was an influential advocate for the wearing and design of the kimono among early twentieth-century Japanese women, encouraging the modernisation of its decoration and a closer liaison between producer and consumer.

Sekka is important for having fused traditional Japanese design with European modernism, the latter experienced first hand in his visit to the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901. At the age of 36, Sekka travelled to Europe on behalf of the Kyoto local government to attend the Glasgow Exhibition. He stayed in Europe about six months researching European craft and design before returning to Kyoto where he served as an instructor at the School of Art and Design. ‘Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) was one of Japan’s leading artists, designers and art instructors. His bold, visually dynamic designs and innovative approach to production made him one of the great visionaries of modern Japanese art and design’ (Kamisaka Sekka: Dawn of modern Japanese Design, 2012). Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) lists the BL copy only (and a copy of vol. 1 only at Manchester). Worldcat adds National Diet Libryyr (Tokyo) and University of Cincinnati only.

A rare caricature of domestic strife, Calcutta-printed by Scottish printmaker James Moffat (1775-1815), better known for his Indian topographical views popular among British colonial residents in India. A woman, dressed in a short shift, angrily pulls a bottle from the hand of a drunken man, who sits with his right fist raised and a cigar hanging from his mouth as smoke billows around his head. He holds onto a bottle with his left hand, a glass and pile of cigars at his elbow. The woman points with her left hand to a clock on the wall which shows the time as five past five. In the background on the left, a dark-faced, cloaked figure stands before the curtained doorway on the left.

‘Moffat was a Scotsman who arrived in India aged only 14, living in Calcutta from 1789 to 1815. He appears to have learnt his profession of drawing and engraving in India. According to Wynyard Wilkinson (‘The Makers of Indian Colonial Silver’, London, 1987, p. 137) he was apprenticed as an engraver to the silversmith John Ludvig Jacobi in 1789, and then worked from 1794-1804 for another silversmith John Mair and his successor firms, while engraving and publishing his own views. An advertisement in the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ in 1797 offering to produce ‘Picturesque copper-plate engravings’ led to a series of views of Calcutta and its environs.’ ?

First edition of this very scarce collection of French caricatures of English ‘types’, men and women, including: an Oxford student, an auctioneer, a bus driver, a barmaid, a dressmaker, a chamber maid, a beggar and an invalid. Libraryrhub lists Bodley as the only UK location.

Three superb preliminary drawings for lithograph caricatures on the Civil War: Saturn is pleased to see it is not just he who devours his own children, as the figure of America in feathered head-dress gobbles up one of her people; American game animals congratulate themselves on the chaos of the war, which leaves them safe and sound; while the figure of Europe falls asleep watching the spectacle of war, which has been going on the same for two years.

1. Le vieux Saturne voyant avec plaisir qu’il n’ya pas que lui qui dévore ses enfants (168 × 212 mm).
2. Le Gibier américaine se felicitant de la Guerre civile qui lui laisse la paix et la tranquilité (170 × 212 mm).
3. Finissant par s’endormir à force de leur voir faire toujours la même chose depuis deux ans (182 × 230 mm).

These three images, by the pre-eminent French caricaturist of the day, were published as lithographs in the Paris journal, Charivari. Cham (1818-79), worked very much in the spirit of Daumier and contributed to the the Charivari for some thirty years; he had also created first French comic book (‘bande dessinée’), Histoire de Mr. Lajaunisse in 1839.

A unique artist’s book. A powerful fusion of the Dance of Death with the creatures of a Medieval bestiary in De Bournazel’s extraordinary style. Tumbling figures, furtive forest creatures, and a grinning death’s head, combine in this meditation on human mortality, made as a visual diary of the artist’s own personal bereavement. Adieu Vat (an archaic French term of farewell) expresses the sense of incomprehension (a lone figure holds a placard reading ‘NON’, the only word in an otherwise wordless book), of anger, despair, ultimate acceptance and, occasionally humour and consolation. Made in 2016 the book has been retained by the artist until now.

Diane de Bournazel (b. 1956) creates books as ‘poems without words’ in her unique pen, ink and gouache style, filling each page with mazes of vegetation, mysterious borders, structures and figures, opening windows within pages allowing us to see behind and beyond them, suggesting a series of alternative worlds and narratives. Drawing on the universals of the cosmos, the natural world, of childhood and human relationships each of her books invite careful ‘reading’ and multiple interpretations. Collectors have found the books to speak for themselves, and the artist writes of her work simply as:

‘Poésie sans paroles.
Il s’agit bien de ça.
Mettre en images le monde et l’arrière monde,
Comme un poète mais sans mot dire’.

Her work is represented in private and public collections in France (including the Bibliothèque nationale), the United Kingdom and in the United States (Boston Athenaeum, San Francisco Center for the Book etc).

One of Heath’s famous satires on the theme of The March of Intellect, which expressed contemporary anxieties over progress and social change in England brought about by science, education, industrialisation and commercialisation. This one shows a London street corner at the edge of open country and the sea, with numerous figures, including a street-sweeper, horse-drawn carriage, two men playing chess, musicians and singers and street-sellers, with wealthy figures being sent down a mechanical lift beside giant shop window to left; a steam carriage is seen in background with balloons and a rocket-powered flying ship in the air beside bridge crossing the English Channel between 'Dover' and 'Calais’.

First edition in French of China Painting (also 1883) by Florence Lewis, one of the most successful and prolific artists working for the Lambeth Doulton potteries, who produced many thousands of designs for the pottery’s immense output exported throughout the British Empire and beyond. She was notably the decorator of what was (in 1893) the world’s largest vase, commissioned by the Indian Prince Gaekwar of Baroda from Doulton, exhibited at the Worlds Fair in Chicago.

Lewis ‘worked at the Minton Art Pottery Studio in London before joining Doulton’s new Art Pottery in Lambeth around 1874. Miss Lewis became supervisor of Doulton’s Faience department in 1880, training the younger woman artists, and in 1883 she wrote a book about china painting for amateur and professional students. Her work was admired by Queen Victoria, who bought a tea service decorated with primroses in 1887’ (Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts). Rare: Worldcat lists the Cambridge University copy only of the French translation.

First edition of the official visitor’s guide to the Louvre salon of 1804, sold to visitors on arrival. The 1804 salon was the first in the renamed ‘Musée Napoléon’ and was filled with Napoleonic propaganda pieces. It notably included the first exhibition (number 495 in the guide) of Vanderlyn’s new painting of the murder of Jane McCrea in 1777 by a Native American warrior in the service of the British Army, made by the artist for Joel Barlow, who recounted the episode in his Vision of Columbus. The painting is now in the Wadsworth Athanaeum, Hartford, CT.

Among other works listed are: (213) Girodet’s painting of Paul and Virginie crossing the river [used in the famous 1806 Didot edition of Paul et Virginie; (225) Gros’s portrait of Napoleon Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa and (298-300) Lejuene’s battle scenes of Lodi, Thabor and Aboukir.

‘Contemporary reports indicate that these volumes were eagerly perused before any glimse of the art was ventured, and that they were subsequently clutched and consulted throughout the visit’ (Jackall, ‘The Livrets of the Salon’ in Documenting the Salon, NGA, 2016, p. 26). Documenting the Salon, p. 113.

A series of anonymous watercolours, with numerous floral borders and vignettes, but also including 20 lovely compositions with books, journals, bundles of letters, music, a writing desk, a watercolour stand, inkwells and pocket books. The style is very much in the Empire taste, and the flower painting is exquisite. The volume appears to have been bound from loose sheets, many of which may have been destined as title pages for some uncompleted album project: a few have tiny marginal notes in ink giving a volume number and several are ruled in pencil for the addition of text.

Many bear the monogram ‘AD’ and some the name Délie, together with dedications ‘À toi’ or ‘À elle’, as though all were in some way dedications to a sweetheart or perhaps a child. There is a slightly morbid air to some, towards the end, which depict tombs, memorials and a deathbed scene. Among other subjects are a billiard room, a pet dog in a basket and two most inviting beds.

A modern manuscript note loosely inserted connects the album to Jules Lardin (1787-71), poet, musician and dilettante. Lardin is known to have created designs for tickets and publicity for concerts and to have made several albums, so this attribution is quite possible. The identity of ‘Délie’ is another question.

A very rare Swiss almanac, including four superb woodcuts and news reports from all over Europe. The Postillion was issued simultaneously in French and German issues: Der Kriegs- und Friedens-Postillion, but both are very rare, recorded in only a handful of copies each of any yearly issue. The woodcut on the first leaf depicts the postillion riding through an emblematic landscape, the three others are: a spectacular sea battle between a French and English ship; the deathbed of Elisabeth II or Russia (folding, c. 185 × 320 mm); and two murders (one from a tragic account from Ireland), each with accompanying descriptions in the text. The news reports have been gleaned from a wide variety of sources. Added them are the familiar elements of an amanac: calendars, astronomical, astrological and meteorological data, with typically charming woodcut vignettes.

Pilinski’s remarkable facsimile of the the ‘Columbus Letter’ (the Latin version printed at Basel in 1493, the first illustrated edition). This is the first issue of the facsimile, made by Pilinksi from the imperfect copy in the Royal Library, Munich (which wants the first and last leaves bearing 4 additional woodcuts). A second issue of 10 leaves added facsimiles of the woodcuts from the copy in the Lenox Library. It is considered that there were only 20 copies of each issue.

Polish born Pilinski (1810-87) was the pre-eminent facsimilist in France, later creating the series Monuments de la Xylographie Française du XV siècle (1882-3) (McKitterick, Old Books, New Technologies, p. 108). He pioneered combined techniques of photography and lithography to create facsimiles of unrivalled quality.

One of the strangest and most opulent Regency variants of the traditional Game of the Goose, with just 20 positions laid out across the luxuriant (and unarguably delicious) fruit basket. Aimed at a young audience, the game includes positions for: a penitentiary, the Royal Academy, an infirmary, a chemistry lesson, schools, a bazaar, Greenwich and Chelsea pensioners, a Female Benevolent Society, a Bible society, culminating with the female personification of ‘Glory inciting an Oxonian and a Cantab Student to Emulation, Learning, and the Arts’. The deliciousness of the fruit basket and the novelty and elegance of the board is strictly tempered by the moral and intellectual content of the Explanations, which run to several pages for each position. Rare: Worldcat lists copies at Morgan and Library Company of Philadelphia. There is also a copy in the V&A (with a variant of the rule book). Seville, The Cultural Legacy of the Royal Game of the Goose, 2019, pp. 170-2 and p. 119.

First edition. A very rare work, published for the author, La Serrie of the Vendée, who published a series of little books at the opening of the nineteenth century, in small editions for distribution among his friends, with illustrations engraved by himself. These are naive but accomplished and often very striking devotional compositions. They are almost all captioned, almost invariably with the letter ‘N’ in reverse. No copies located in Worldcat.

A unique artist’s book. Diane de Bournazel (b. 1956) creates books as ‘poems without words’ in her unique pen, ink and gouache style, filling each page with mazes of vegetation, mysterious borders, structures and figures, opening windows within pages allowing us to see behind and beyond them, suggesting a series of alternative worlds and narratives. Drawing on the universals of the cosmos, the natural world, of childhood and human relationships each of her books invite careful ‘reading’ and multiple interpretations. Collectors have found the books to speak for themselves, and the artist writes of her work simply as:

‘Poésie sans paroles.
Il s’agit bien de ça.
Mettre en images le monde et l’arrière monde,
Comme un poète mais sans mot dire’.

Examples of the Regency fashion for intricate paper cutting. Each roundel contains figures of angels, of John the Baptist holding a cross, and birds among the exquisitely cut foliage and swags. At the centres are small watercolour scenes, one of Abraham and Isaac, the other of Moses and the burning bush. The initials ‘MWM’ may denote a recipient, or perhaps the object of a memorial. The black backgrounds and symbols of resurrection suggest these are memorial pictures.