Shakespeare's Sonnets
Letterpress Printed

[Arion Press]
Shakespeare, William; Helen Vendler, introduction and editing.
Shakespeare's Sonnets.
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1997.

Number 140 of 200 numbered copies with 26 lettered copies for private distribution. Helen Vendler provides an informative and enlightening discussion of the 154 sonnets in her introduction. Helen Vendler was an American academic, writer and literary critic. She was a professor of English language and history at Boston University, Cornell, Harvard, and other universities. [Wikipedia] She died in 2024.

This lovely volume is bound in elegant quarter leather with patterned cinnamon and silk brocade covers. Gilt titling to spine. Very minor sunning to spine. Printed on Hahnemühle paper using handset Bulmer type with Stylescript for initial letters, sonnet numbers and running heads. The book was designed and produced at the Press under the direction of Andrew Hoyem. Housed in a brown paper covered slipcase with the brocade of the book's covers along its edges. Small title label to spine. In about fine condition. Measures 7 x 8 inches. Introduction is 24 unnumbered pages plus the 154 sonnets and index of first lines. (#37532)

Price: $750

Poetry of Sappho - many about love and romance
Letterpress printed with wood engravings by Anita Cowles Rearden

[Arion Press]
Sappho, poetry; Page duBois, introduction; Julie Mehretu, prints; John Daley and Page duBois, translators; Anita Cowles Rearden, wood engravings.
Poetry of Sappho.
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2011.

Number 172 of 400 numbered copies for sale, with 26 lettered copies for complimentary distribution. Signed by the artist on the colophon. A superb production of Sappho's timeless poetry from the esteemed Arion Press. In the accompanying prospectus, they write that this was one of its major books done with artists and call it one of Arion's most beautiful and ambitious publications. The illustrator, Julie Mehretu joins a distinguished group of artists, including Jim Dine, Richard Diebenkorn, Jasper Johns, Sol Lewitt, and Robert Motherwell among many others. There are also wood engravings by Anita Cowles Rearden, did them in the 1890s and were intended as illustrations for a book on Sappho by her husband Timothy Reardon, but are printed for the first time on the title page, introduction and colophon. The prospectus offers comments about the introduction by deBois, saying that as a comparative literature scholar who is an expert on the Greek world, Sappho, and on women in antiquity, she provides the fullest and most meaningful context for appreciating Sappho in our time. The translation by duBois and poet Daley offers an opportunity to read Sappho through the eyes of a new poet, which can reveal something new. They sought to stay close to the Greek and to approximate the elegancies of Sappho's verse in Greek.

Bound in a lovely light green cloth with a a white vellum spine with the title in gilt to the spine. The covers are imprinted with a portion of an image by Mehretu from an extra suite of prints in darker green. Printed on Revere, an Italian mould-made paper usine Garamont type for the English translation and the Greek using Adobe Garamond Greek type. Housed in a dark green paper covered slipcase with edges in green cloth and a dark green label with gilt titling. In fine condition in a fine slipcase. Measures 9.75 x 14.5 inches. 112 pages. (#37597)

Price: $1,500

A Scottish Romance - from the late 1800s

Crockett, S. R.
The Lilac Sunbonnet: A Love Story.
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1894.

SCARCE. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. A romance between two young lovers in Scotland. Lilac cloth covered boards with silver title and decoration to front board and to spine. Minor bumping to spine ends and corners, minor rubbing to exterior hinges, and minor browning to spine. Light yellowing to edges of pages. Else is clean and bright. Binding tight. 296 pages + ads. Very Good. (#32043)

Price: $25

A Surrealistic Poem - a man's bizarre dream involving love, life, and sex

[Cummington Press]
Berg, Stephen, William Kulik [illustrator].
The Queen's Triangle, a romance.

West Branch, Iowa: Cummington Press, 1970.

LIMITED EDITION. Number 116 of 300 numbered copies. First edition. A bizarre surrealistic poem that reads like a fever dream. Stephen Berg is an award winning poet who has taught at Harvard. Fine black cloth backed, beige covered boards with black title to front board. Interior is clean and bright with lovely color illustrations. In white dust jacket with no title or text. Small closed tear to top edge of rear panel of dust jacket. 20 pages. Fine / Very Good. (#29992)

Price: $75

Romantic Story of a Young Man Chasing a Woman Who is Engaged to Another Man
First Edition

de Lyrienne, Richard, [David Hodge].
The Quest of the Gilt-edged Girl.
London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1897.

Bodley Booklets Number Two. First Edition. Rare. A send-off of Richard Le Gallienne's 'The Quest of the Golden Girl' written by David Hodge and George M. Matheson, two Glasgow journalists writing under the pseudonym of Richard de Lyrienne.

"The story follows the protagonist, a young man named Jack, who becomes infatuated with a wealthy and beautiful woman known as the "Gilt-Edged Girl." Jack embarks on a journey to win her heart, but soon discovers that she is already engaged to another man. Despite this, Jack continues to pursue her and becomes involved in a series of adventures and misadventures as he tries to win her over. Along the way, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters, including a group of bohemian artists, a mysterious gypsy woman, and a wealthy socialite who offers to help him in his quest. The novel explores themes of love, class, and the pursuit of wealth and status, and is notable for its vivid descriptions of turn-of-the-century London society" (online summary).

Near fine in orange paper wrappers with brown title to spine and front panel. There is a short closed tear to the front end page; otherwise, in fine condition. Housed in a portfolio within a grey cloth slipcase with black and gilt leather title label to spine and bookplate of Mark Samuels Lasner on inside board of portfolio. 98 pages plus 4 pages of ads. Near Fine in Fine slipcase. (#23611)

Price: $175

Eroticized Fairy Tales (and Other Classics)
Letterpress Printed with Illustrations

[First Bite Press]
Dolin, Stephanie K., book artist; Miranda Culp and Jef Delman, authors; Laurelin Gilmore, illustrator.
The Canon of Aphrodisia Four Volumes.
Portola Valley, CA: First Bite Press, 2023.

Number 9 of 100 standard copies of this four volume collection. There were also 25 copies in the deluxe edition. First Bite Press was founded by Stephanie K. Dolin to produce fine press books with original erotic and romantic writing. Dolin writes on her press website: "First Bite Press publishes limited edition books in a genre of fiction that is currently not being produced by fine press printers. Romance novels, including those with “steamy” scenes, are the highest grossing genre in fiction. Beautiful, high-quality, hand made books to showcase the author’s stories are rare. As a result, what we often lack in fine press books is the fun and exciting exploration of the human condition and imagination through intimate experiences. It seems a natural fit for the tactile experience of reading a handmade book. After a successful career in the legal technology field, Dolin turned her attention to learning the skills necessary to publish, design, and produce limited edition books. With her work at First Bite Press, she wants to create beautiful books where all of the components of a book from the content to the sewing of the bindings, coalesces into a pleasurable, thoughtful experience for the reader."

Each of the four volumes in this beautiful and intriguing set has a different title and three stories taken from classic fairy tales and literature. In their introduction the authors write: "Unlike much erotic or fan fiction that concludes with happily ever after, in these stories we let classic horror, fantasy, noir, fable, tragedy, sci-fi, fairy tales...maintain their organic integrity." Thus the stories include their versions of The Time Machine, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, Wendy and Peter Pan, Cinderella, Tom Sawyer, and Pygmalion among others. Volume I is titled "The Dark Deed;" Volume II is titled "Manners & Merrymaking;" Volume III is 'The Upper Hand;" Volume IV is "The Mortal Transcends." This standaard set includes the four volumes each with a different colored cloth binding wiith gilt titling to spine. The collection is housed in purple stiff paper slipcase. Printed on Rives Lightweight paper using Perpetua and Joanna Typefaces. In fine condition. Volumes measure 3.5 x 6.25 inches. Volumes I-III each have 77 pages; Volume IV has 91 pages. Fine. (#37185)

Price: $800

A Novel About the Beauty in Life and the Possibility of Love
Letterpress Printed with Illustrations by Vladimir Zimakov

[Foolscap Press]
Makine, Andreï; Geoffrey Stachan (translator); Vladimir Zimakov (illustrator).
Brief Loves That Live Forever.
Santa Cruz: Foolscap Press, 2022.

Number 55 of 100 copies, signed by the author, translator, and illustrator. A beautiful production from this esteemed private press. The describe the book: "A novel in eight chapters, each of which are distinct episodes in the life of the narrator. The chapters show us moments of supreme lucidity where the narrator is consciously alive to the beauty of the world and the possibility of love in its many aspects. The setting is the Brezhnev era in the Soviet Union where as the narrator states, love is in essence subversive.' The essence of this novel is how to move beyond recrimination of the past or even the promise of the future and to be consciously alive to the beauty around us, and to that possibility of love. Andreï Makine is an elegant stylist who allows us to witness these clear moments throughout this moving and thoughtful novel" (Foolscap Press).

The author, Andreï Makine, was born in Siberia in 1957, but has lived in France since 1987 where he was granted political asylum. He writes in French but has worked closely with Geoffrey Stachan to translate all of his novels into English. Both the author and translator have won major awards for their work. The illustrator, Vladimir Zimakov, is an art professor and director of the art gallery at Lasell University in Massachusetts. He has illustrated numerous books, specializing in limited editions.

A handsomely designed book that is bound in gray silk cloth with red leather backing titled in gray. Designed, printed, and bound by Peggy Gotthold and Lawrence Van Velzer, proprietors of the press. Letterpress printed on Rives paper in Van Dijck type. Includes eight full page color illustrations and eight vignettes by Zimakov.. Housed in a red cloth covered box with gilt and leather title label to spine. In fine condition. Size: 9.75 x 13.5 inches. 103 pages. (#37474)

Price: $1,500

A Love Story - set in the English countryside - from late 1800s
Signed by the Author

Gale, Norman.
A June Romance.
Rugby: Rugby Press, George E. Over, 1892.

SCARCE. From the date and the binding this appears to be the limited edition that was printed two years before the trade edition, but it lacks the limitation information and the publisher's signature. Signed by author on free front end paper. Norman Gale (1862-1942) was better known as a poet but also wrote several novels, including this one, published early in his writing career. A June Romance is set in the English countryside during the month of June. The story is told through diary entries, one for each day of June, by a young tutor, Ralph Anderson, who has been hired to tutor the family's son. He meets and falls in love with the family's daughter, Alice, and each day's diary entry follows their interactions through to a successful conclusion. A charming story, with several poems by Gale interspersed as the writing of the tutor.

Small octavo bound in semi-stiff white wrappers without lettering, with some page edges untrimmed. Some darkening and light staining, darkening to fore-edges, some pieces of spine cover torn away, but otherwise very good. 107 pages. Very Good. (#26511)

Price: $90

Heartache, Loss, and Betrayal
An Artists' Book - letterpress and monotype

[Gazelle and Goat]
Alpers, Rhiannon, book artist.
Whispering Stones.
Denver: Gazelle and Goat Press, 2022.

Number 15 of 20 copies signed by the book artist. Rhiannon Alpers is a well-known and highly regarded book artist, papermaker, and letterpress printer. She has exhibited internationally, and her edition and one-of-a-kind artist books are produced under the Gazelle and Goat Press imprint. Rhiannon has taught academic courses at San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts (San Francisco), University of San Francisco, and Columbia College Chicago, Dominican University. She has also taught workshops for adult centers such as San Francisco Center for the Book, Penland School of Crafts, Guild of Bookworks, Book Arts LA, Focus on Book Arts, San Diego Book Arts, Center for Book and Paper in Chicago, and at her own studio in Denver. In 2015 and 2017 she received the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts Jurors' Recognition of Merit for her editioned artist books.

This is a stunning production and also a mystical book of poetry from the book artist, written in collaboration with Julia Alpers. She describes the book in its prospectus: "Whispering Stones explores the concepts of heartache, loss, betrayal and the passage of time through hardship. Using two stones to represent two sisters, one as the moon and the other a large boulder on earth. The siblings each experience life changing grief, erosion and endings in different ways. The poem unfolds as they whisper their stories and woes across the night sky of distant places. The shared conversations are offered as gifts in the deep of the night."

This intricate book was created using a combination of letterpress polymer plates and mono-printed forms. It uses hand paper-cutting in a double-layer carousel-style false accordion binding. The papers used in the book are handmade Khadi Natural Cotton. The artist used Thai kozo natural paper for the back layer, and handmade denim and cotton paper that she made to create the carousel style binding. The dark blue covers are made of Ultra Suede panels with a natural mica stone inlay. The dark blue clamshell box is made with two styles of indigo-dyed Cave Paper, one that includes dispersed mica flecks. The book is accompanied by a copy of the prospectus and a typed sheet titled "Care for your Artist Book." It provides instruction for caring for the Ultra Suede covers and the Cave Paper box. In fine condition. Measures 5 x 9 x 1 inch closed, and 5 x 9 x 36 inches open. Unpaginated [with 7 spreads]. (#37317)

Price: $750

An Aztec Romance and Adventure Story
First Edition and Presentation Copy from the Author to His Brother

Haggard, H. Rider; Illustrated by Maurice Greiffenhagen.
Montezuma's Daughter.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1893.

First Edition of this Aztec adventure story involving a shipwreck, a brush with the Spanish Inquisition, murder, slavery, romance, and more. Author's Presentation Copy, inscribed "To Andrew from his affec brother H Rider Haggard 1894." Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was the author of a number of adventure novels set in exotic locales. His books, including She and King Solomon's Mines, are still popular today. Haggard traveled to Mexico in 1891 to do research for this book and sadly his young son died while he was away. The book describes the first interactions between the Spanish and South American natives, as well as murders, shipwrecks, and slavery. Colonel Andrew Haggard, who had a distinguished military career - he was one of he first British officers to command in the Egyptian army - was also a successful novelist, travel writer and poet. It is known that Andrew helped Rider with the writing of Dawn and he likely played an important role in helping his younger brother with the several bestsellers which revolved around Egypt and mummies. There are 25 black and white illustrations by the British painter and illustrator Maurice Greiffenhagen. He was Haggard's friend, which led him to illustrate several of his adventure books, starting with She in 1889.

Bound in the original publisher's blue-green cloth with gilt author and title to front cover and spine. Light bumping, small chip to bottom of faded spine. Hinges a bit tender but text block is tight. Interior pages are clean. Bookplate of collector Mark Samuels Lasner to front pastedown. Very good condition. 325 pages plus 24 page publisher's catalog. (#28937)

Price: $1,900

Story of a Youthful Romance -  written during WWI 

Hergesheimer, Joseph.
The Lay Anthony: A Romance (1st Edition).
New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1914.

First Edition. Joseph Hergesheimer (1880-1954) was an American writer known for his naturalistic novels of decadent life amongst the very wealthy. He published over a dozen novels and several collections of short stories between 1914 and 1934. This is Hergesheimer's first novel, published in 1914. It tells the story of young Anthony Ball, his experiences in the country club set, and his first romance.

Octavo. Purple cloth-covered boards with title in gilt to front cover and in black to spine. Covers show sunning around edges, and spine is heavily sunned. Minor wear to edges. Front hinge is starting. 327 pages. Very Good. (#11002)

Price: $40

Beautifully Bound Collection of Poetry - with many about love and love lost

Hope, Laurence.
Indian Love, Stars of the Desert, The Garden of Kama.
London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.

Later edition of this classic, finely bound with Stars of the Desert and The Garden of Kama. These popular volumes of lyric poetry were written by Adele Florence Nicolson using the pseudonym of Laurence Hope. In 1900, Adela Nicolson, who also used the name Violet Nicolson, began to publish her poetry under the pseudonym Laurence Hope. Hope’s formal verse, steeped in the Indian landscape and Sufi symbolism, often assumes the voices of Indian dancers and slaves to engage themes of passionate love and loss. Her first collection, The Garden of Kama (1901), was initially presented as a translation and arrangement, rather than the original poetry it was later revealed to be. In 1904 her husband died during a medical operation; two months later, at the age of 39, she committed suicide with poison [ Poetry Foundation].

Beautifully bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in dark red leather with gilt rulings to covers. Spine with gilt decorations and author and title labels to six compartments with raised bands. Some light chipping to spine hinges but very good. All edges gilt. With gilt dentelles and lovely patterned endpapers. Interior pages are also very good, with frontispiece portrait of author. Octavo volume. Indian Love: 92 pages; Stars of the Desert: 152 pages; The Garden of Kama: 174 pages. Very Good. (#35503)

Price: $90

Romantic Songs by Robert Burns
Letterpress Printed

[Incline Press]
Burns, Robert.
Two Songs by Robert Burns: Lassie with the Lint-white Locks and The Golden Locks of Anna.
Oldham, England: Incline Press, 2020.

Number 11 of about 100 copies. This chapbook was printed in honor of Burns Night. In his introduction, the printer Graham Moss, writes that "for all his poetry, it ought to be his songs that Robert Burns be best remembered for."

Bound in red handmade paper with the title and titles of songs printed on the front cover. Also on the cover is a handsome ampersand cut in wood by Mark McKellier for use in this chapbook. Its design is based on the Dutch typefaces that became the models for Caslon. The text is set in Monotype Bembo. A charming book in fine condition. Fine. (#37669)

Price: $60

Poems by D.G. Rossetti - including many about love and love lost
Kelmscott Press in Original Vellum Binding

[Kelmscott Press]
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel.
Ballads and Narrative Poems.
Hammersmith, England: Kelmscott Press, 1893.

One of 310 paper copies. There were also 6 vellum copies. This beautiful book from the Kelmscott Press was intended as a companion volume to Rossetti's Sonnets and Lyrical Poems, issued early in the following year. Both titles were printed for Ellis & Elvey as agreed to by William Morris. Ellis & Elvey paid the press production costs and they later wrote to William Michael Rossetti, brother of Dante Gabriel and his literary executor, that the two titles had sold well [Peterson bibliography A20].

This rather scarce Kelmscott title is bound in the original full vellum with yapp edges and all four of the fragile brown silk ties. Title and author are stamped in gold on the spine. The vellum is clean and bright. Printed on Flower paper in red and black in Golden type. With a woodcut title page and facing full page woodcut border. There are lovely six and ten-line initials throughout with some lines and shoulder titles in red. The interior pages are near fine save for browning to page edges and light brown speckled staining at the top margin of the first few signatures, particularly heavy on pages 34-35. A very nice copy despite described flaws. Measures 5.75 x 8.25 inches. Very Good+. (#37469)

Price: $3,000

An Erotic Beauty and the Beast Inspired Fanzine
Inscribed by the Author

Kleinsorge, Carolyn; Sherry White, illustrator; John Kleinsorge, graphic design and layout.
...Shall Have No Dominion.
Napa, CA: Dominion Press, 1990.

The quite scarce first edition of this unusual publication that was inspired by the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Inscribed by the author in ink on the inside front cover to someone she met at a meeting of the Romance Writers of America. It is described as an amateur Beauty and the Beast fiction fanzine, intended solely for the enjoyment of the readers and does not infringe upon copyrights....In her author's note, Kleinsorge states: "Like all true obsessions, this novella arose out of the need to come to terms with a situation that affected me deeply - personally." The often erotic story recounts the relationship between Vincent, the beast-like male character and Catherine, a beautiful young woman. They also have a baby named Jacob. Promotional material accompanying the book says that it is written in the style of more sensual category romance on the general market today.

Bound in softcovers with illustration of Vincent and Catherine on the front cover, with a black spiral comb spine. A clear mylar sheet protects the front cover. Interior pages are clean and bright, with 16 full page black and white illustrations. The book is accompanied by two sets of three promotional sheets , the first with the description, quotes, and ordering information. One of the sheets offers a copy of an audio-cassette of the text, and the third is a message from the author to readers. In about fine condition. Measures 9 x 11 inches. 129 pages plus references at the end printed on pages i - iii. (#37780)

Price: $125

A Poetry Collection of Love and Hate Filled Verse
Deluxe Letterpress Printed and Signed by Contributors

[Littoral Press]
Rappoport, Lisa, editor, contributor, and book artist.
A Flame in the Heart. A Love/Hate Anthology.

Oakland CA: Littoral Press, 2002.

Number 6 of 125 copies. This is one of the ten copies from the Deluxe Edition that are signed on the colophon by sixteen of the seventeen contributors to this poetry and prose anthology (alas, not Frida Kahlo). They include Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhran, Claribel Cone, Martha Gies, Robert Hass. Steve Hellman, Marie Howe, Frida Kahlo, Vickie Karp, Stephen Kessler, Rachel Loden, Jane Miller, Janell Moon, Sharon Olds, Lisa Rappoport, Mark Salerno, Joseph Stroud, and Gary Young. Rappoport writes that this book "is dedicated to those we love with a blazing passion, to those we hope will burn in hell, and ideally, to the future separation of the two." She has been a book artist for almost twenty years and her books can be found in many institutional collections.

This beautiful accordion book is bound in red and black Thai Unryl reversible paper with a black title label to front cover. Printed with handset Garamond type on Johannot paper with black and blood-red ink. Each volume has unique pastepaper endpapers. With title page drawing of a heart in flames by Bobbe Besold. The book is 11 x 7 folded and 18 feet long unfolded. In fine condition. Unpaginated. [25 pages]. (#28037)

Price: $500

A Few of William Morris's Favorite French Romances (in English translation)

Morris, William.
Old French Romances done Into English.
New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1896.

Maroon cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Minor wear to spine ends and edges. Minor browning to edges of interior, though text remains bright. The page edges are untrimmed and there is chipping to the edges of many pages. Tight binding. 169 pages. Very Good.(#19090)

Price: $35

A Unique Calligraphic Artists' Book on Love
Poetry by Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Jan Owen
Handmade Paper, Handwritten, Hand Bound
- a perfect gift for a loved one -

Owen, Jan, poem, book artist and calligrapher; Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh.
My Love.
Belfast, ME: Jan Owen, 2024.

A lovely unique work from renowned calligrapher Jan Owen that celebrates love and connection. Signed and dated by her. On her website she states: "I was born in New York City, grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York and loved to draw and read as a child. Now I live in Belfast on the coast of Maine with long winters to write and beautiful summers. I walk to the beach to watch the sun rise and the tide come in. My day begins with brushstrokes to music, on to lettering and then to the words. My first books were long, hanging accordion fold books, large pieces that could be seen all at once and then folded away. I played string bass with a symphony orchestra for many years and the music always kept moving forward. I wanted my art to be still and include brush strokes and layers of words all visible at once. Now I like planning the pacing and arrangement of pages, words and images."

Jan writes about this book: "My Love features Marlowe’s, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” Raleigh’s later response, “The Nymph’s Reply,” and I wrote an updated, “Hey” about modern love, social media and new customs. This was fun to make. The papers were made by Kate FairChild. She and I took paper making classes at Haystack on Deer Isle, Maine. Working on the back deck of the graphics studio, her bright, funky papers sometimes got sprinkled with spruce needles and raindrops. She gave me her paper when she moved and for years I had no idea what to do with it. Now I love the challenge of the wrinkles and especially her colors.

This beautifully crafted book with the three poems about love by Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and by Jan Owen herself. The stanzas of the poems were each hand written in Jan's elegant calligraphy along with small illustrations on the FairChild handmade paper in various colors as described by Jan above. Created using gouache and acrylic. The pages are in a coptic binding using colorful linen thread, with vivid decorated boards and title on front cover. A separate pamphlet also in handmade paper covers has the texts of the three poems. There is a separate printing of the poems without covers. All three are housed in a clamshell case covered in cream cloth with a multicolored title label to front cover and to the spine and thin tie of woven string. In fine condition. Measures 8.5 x 5.5 x .75 inches. Unpaginated [48 pages]. (#37397)

Price: $1,800

Cupid and Psyche - a love story

Pater, Walter; Ray F. Coyle, illustrator.
The Very Pleasant & Delectable Tale of Cupid and Psyche.
San Francisco: Taylor, Nash & Taylor, 1914.

Number 51 of 250 copies sold by San Francisco bookseller John Howell. John Henry Nash (1871-1947) was one of the pre-eminent printers in the early part of the 20th century. He quickly established a reputation for exceptional precision and attention to detail from his earliest years as a printer, when he was in complete charge of design and production for Paul Elder under the Tomoye Press imprint, and later formed a part of the firm Taylor, Nash and Taylor. He opened his own establishment in 1916 which he operated successfully until the early 30s, when continuing was no longer possible due to the Depression. The striking black and white frontispiece illustration is by Ray Frederick Coyle (1885-1924). It is reminiscent of the work of Aubrey Beardsley as were many of his pen and ink illustrations. He was primarily a self-taught artist. He worked for years as a pen-and-ink illustrator for John Henry Nash, a San Francisco printer of fine quality books.

This is a lovely book with fine printing befitting this classic work. Bound in light blue patterned paper covers with a tan cloth spine bearing a paper title label. Light fading to covers and to spine. Minor small brown spot to front cover and on top edge. Slight offsetting to pastedowns and free endpapers. Interior pages are about fine with text and red shoulder notes. Preliminary and final white pages are unopened. Housed in a black slipcase. Measures 5 x 7.5 inches. (#37293)

Price: $45

Deluxe Edition of Cupid and Psyche - a romantic story
An Abandoned Kelmscott Press Book - brought to back to life in the 1970s
Printed from William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones's wood blocks and drawings

[Rampant Lions Press]
Morris, William; Edward Burne-Jones, illustrator; J.R. Dufty, introduction.
The Story of Cupid and Psyche.
London and Cambridge: Clover Hill Editions and Rampant Lions Press, 1974.

Number CI of 130 the magnificent deluxe sets numbered with Roman numerals. The sets comprise the introductory volume by A.R. Dufty and the second volume containing the text and engravings, with an accompanying book-shaped portfolio containing a separate suite of loose plates. This was the eighth book printed by the Press's Clover Hill Editions. It consisted of two volumes, The first volume includes acknowledgments, a list of plates and engravings for both volumes, an introduction, a list of illustrations proposed by William Morris and and 26 plates of collotype reproductions of drawings and preliminary prints by Morris and Burne-Jones. William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones resolved as early as 1864 to collaborate on a large quarto edition of Morris’s famous work The Earthly Paradise. They began with The Story of Cupid and Psyche, for which Burne-Jones drew 44 designs, of which Morris himself engraved 38 on wood. But not finding a type-face that harmonized with the illustrations, they abandoned the project and the illustrations were never published. The original wood blocks were bequeathed in 1938 to the Society of Antiquaries where they were forgotten until the late 1960s. Soon after, Clover Hill Editions received permission to borrow the wood blocks to print a “worthy” edition of Cupid and Psyche. They did so, using type cast from the original matrices of the Kelmscott Troy type.

Volumes I and II are bound in handsome full dark blue morocco by Sagorski and Sutcliffe with the title and author in gilt on the red leather spine labels. They are housed in a slipcase covered in Morris's blue and white Willow design. The portfolio is in quarter leather with the same willow design, which was also used for the endpapers. Printed on untrimmed J. Barcham Green thick wove paper. A beautiful set in fine condition in near fine slipcase. Measures 9.5 x 13.5 inches. Volume I: 36 pages + 26 pages of collotypes; Volume II: 92 pages. (#37484)

Price: $4,000

Ronsard's Sonnets - poems of love, reproach, and love lost
Finely Printed in Lovely Binding

Ronsard, Pierre de.
Les Sonnets Pour Helene.
Paris and Maastricht: La Connaissance and Leiter-Nypels, 1924. 

Number 308 of 380 copies. Printed to honor the 400 year anniversary of the birth of the author, Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585).

Bound in full tan leather boards with gilt title to spine and blind stamped devices to both boards. Rubbing and chipping to leather along hinges, corners, and edges of boards. The leather along both hinges is starting to crack, but the boards remain firmly attached and the cords remain unbroken. Gilt decoration to dentelles. Marbled endpapers with top edge gilt. Printed on fine paper in Erasmus-Mediaeval type with initial letters and decorations by S.H. de Roos. With a lovely color frontispiece engraving. Gilt flourish to title page. Printed in black, red, and blue inks. The original blue paper wrappers are bound in. Clean and bright aside from penned gift inscription to front free endpaper, offsetting to title page, and browning to top margins of two facing interior pages - likely due to a laid in bookmark that has since been removed. A beautiful printing of these classic sonnets. 183 pages. Very Good. (#36482)

Price: $90

Collection of Photographs and Poems - showing a love of life; although, a few are romantic

Stoll, Jerry; Evan S. Connell, Jr. selector of comments.
I Am a Lover.
Sausalito, CA: Angel Island Publications, Inc, 1961.

An interesting collection of photographs taken by Jerry Stoll (1923-2004), a photographer perhaps best known as the official photographer for the first eight years of the Monterey Jazz Festival. This collection of b&w photos vary in subject although all are of people photographed in the vicinity of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. The comments selected by author Evan Connell are quotes from such disparate figures as Churchill, Darwin, Dickens, Oppenheimer,Poe, Conrad, and Wolfe.

Softcover with pictorial covers and a psychedelic lettered title in pink. Wear to edges, light bumping and wear. Interior pages clean. Very good condition. Measures: 8.5 x 11 inches. Unpaginated [ about 100+ pages]. (#37076)

Price: $50

A Finely Printed Ode to the Love of Books and Book Collecting

[Torch Press]
Brewer, Luther A.
The Love of Books with a Reprint of Leigh Hunt's Essay on "My Books"
Ceder Rapids, IA: Torch Press, 1923.

1 of 300 copies. Privately Printed for the Friends of Luther Albertus and Elinore Taylor Brewer at the Torch Press, Christmas 1923. Luther Albertus Brewer (1858 - 1933) was a publisher and the president of the Torch Press.

White parchment backed light brown paper covered boards with gilt title to spine. Minor wear to edges of boards, spot of soiling to rear board, and a few light markings to spine. Ownership signature and stamp to front endpaper, else clean interior. Printed on paper watermarked "The Ioway Club." 38 pages. Very Good. (#36295)

Price: $40

An Artists' Book of a Failed Romance

[Susan Lowdermilk]
Hathaway, Jeanine, poet; Susan Lowdermilk, book artist.
XO, On what might have been our anniversary.
Eugene, OR: Susan Lowdermilk, 2007.

Number 7 of 15 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. Susan Lowdermilk is a book artist and printmaker working in traditional processes such as woodcut, wood engraving and intaglio etching as well as digital media. Her artist’s books involve movable parts, pop-ups and LED circuitry. She is a professor at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, teaching courses in printmaking, artist books and graphic design. Her work has been collected by over 60 public institutions including, the Getty Museum, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. Her artist’s books are represented in galleries throughout the United States. She earned her Master’s of Fine Art from the University of Oregon.

Her artist's statement: "Our experience of reading books is increasingly changing from being physical and tactile to digital and virtual. My artist books are hand printed and hand constructed and feature low-tech movable elements that are meant to be technologically transparent. I view my artist books as a counterpart to the flood of mass-produced, digital imagery that we contend with constantly. I am interested in the dualities that complicate our human condition—chance versus strategy, faith versus reason, serendipity versus design, peace versus war, winning versus losing and our relationship to and separation from nature."

She met the poet Jeanine Hathaway several years ago at a show of her prints in Eugene and they became friends. "Jeanine was inspired by my woodcut diptych titled, “Remembering, Forgetting,” and wrote the poem, “XO, On what might have been our anniversary.” I created my artist’s book, inspired by her poem, printed with the woodblocks from “Remembering, Forgetting,” thus continuing our circle of creativity and inspiration."

The poems reads:
"How our desires signed off, stringing along kisses and hugs. Once a game, an alphabet for two boxed in pens, our characters tick-tocked onto a lattice. I'd x you out. You'd hold your place. We crossed ourselves, carved the zero of a face in bank accounts, park benches, sand. Like hope in deep midwinter, no valentine survives on frosted windshields, sugar hearts. XO can disappear, a change not like weather but when, like a woodcut, the inked vows erode from relief to vague and slurred impressions. Even kissing costs us breath, the tight squeeze, breadth. In grading, lists, the X means wrong and done. More than binary, O means failed, perfect."

Bound accordion-style with red paper covered boards. The text is laser printed with Futura Book and Bernhard Modern Italic type on organdy fabric that overlays the woodblock designs printed on Zerkall Frankfurt paper. In a paper chemise with woodblock design. In fine condition. 6.5 x 4.5 x .75 inches. (#32397)

Price: $400