FINE

Bifolium (21.5 x 14.5 cm): 4 pp. Good, on lightly-aged good-quality laid paper. Lightly folded. First page headed with a 5 cm square illustration of the front of Essex House. Begins: 'The Guild of Handicraft announce the forthcoming issue of the sixth book from the Essex House Press: | The Poems of Shakespeare and lyrics from his plays, in the orthography of the earliest editions. Edited by F. S. Ellis, with a frontispiece by Reginald Savage, and a new alphabet of bloomers designed by C. R. Ashbee.' Physical description and price follow.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. The letterhead describes the firm (‘formerly Walker and Cockerell’) as being ‘Process and General Engravers, Draughtsmen, Map Constructors Copper-plate Printers Collotypers and Photographers of Works of Art’. Signed ‘Emery Walker’. He is sending Wright ‘proofs of the plan from Coutts’ Bank’, and is sending a duplicate to ‘Mr. Fayle’, asking him ‘to let me have the lettering, that is, if he wishes on seeing the plan to vary it’. He is having ‘proofs of the title page from Messrs.

Two good substantial letters, filled with personal and professional content. See the entries for Thorp and Wrench in the Oxford DNB. Both letters in brown ink in Thorps calligraphic hand. ONE (to Sir Evelyn Wrench): 2pp, 8vo. On cream paper with brown italic letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Signed ‘Peter’. Begins: ‘My dear Evelyn / We are going to make a great change in our way of life. For a long time I have felt that both physically & financially this house is beyond our strength.

Two attractive pieces of Curwen Press ephemera. 'Cornucopia' is scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only two copies on JISC at Lancaster and Aberystwyth. The 'Short History' is better represented. ONE: 'Cornucopia'. 12pp, landscape 12mo. Stapled into illustrated wraps. Printed in brown on cream paper. Booklet designed by James Shurmer, with text by Basil Harley. Many illustrations of unicorns arranged in eight 'plates'. Internally in good condition, but front cover grubby, and blank back cover stained. TWO: 'The Curwen Press / A Short History'. 39pp, small 4to.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 8 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a letter. The valediction, firmly written in Angerstein’s hand, reading: ‘I am / D. Sir / Your Mt Obt Sert / J J. Angerstein’. First initial of the signature lightly inked. In good condition, lightly aged.

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. He published two dozen works on calligraphy, and Pepys described him as ‘the famous writing-master’, and employed him to engrave his slide rule, but it is as an arithmetician that he is remembered: two works published shortly after his death, purportedly from his manuscript, gave rise to the expression ‘according to Cocker’. It has not been established which one of Cocker’s works the present item comes from (his earliest, ‘Pen’s Experience’, is lost). In black ink on one side of a 17 x 11 cm piece of laid paper.

See Nicolas Barker’s typically-elegant obituary of Williamson in the Independent. 2pp, 4to. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. On aged and worn paper; folded three times. Signed ‘Hugh Williamson:’ and addressed to ‘Mr Block’. Thirty-one lines in a close, calligraphic hand.

A splendidly intemperate correspondent between contributor and publisher, almost worthy of one of Jackson's own bibliophile volumes. The four items are in fair condition, on aged and worn paper, one with paperclip stain, another with brass stud, and a third with staple holes; creasing to carbon copies. Kapp's handwriting is 'artistic', and his letterheads are unusually long 8vos. ONE: Kapp to Jackson, 20 January 1920. Signed 'E X Kapp'. 1p, 8vo. Begins: 'My dear Holbrook-Jackson, | Don't you feel you'd like to send me a copy or two of "To-Day" each time? I buy one or two as well, you know!

Pamphlet: 4pp, 8vo. Bifolium of thick wove paper. In red wraps, with title printed in black on front cover, with words: 'Printed by permission.' The full phrase is printed at the end of the article on p.4. Drophead title on p.1 same as title on cover. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The bifolium of text was formerly glued into the wraps, but the glue has become brittle, and the wraps and contents are now detached from one another. There was a report of the meeting, and of Kipling's speech, in The Times, 10 May 1907; and the speech was later collected in 'A Book of Words' (1928).

[16]pp, 16mo (11.5 x 7.5 cm). Stitched unpaginated pamphlet, tastefully printed with decorative headpiece to title, and the Press's celebrated device to the colophon. A frail survival, aged, worn and spotted, with one corner of last leaf dogeared. At foot of title-page: 'Any volume will be sent on receipt of Postal Order in advance.' Following the title-page are two pages with a history of 'The Chiswick Press. | Founded 1789.' Then a full-page advertisement for 'A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography', with a full page containing 'Some Press Opinions'.

The only copy of this item on OCLC WorldCat is in the Canadian National Archives. An attractive and characteristic piece of late nineteenth-century French printing. The present copy is 14 + [1] pp, 16mo. With frontispiece and eight illustrations and vignettes. Stitched booklet (13 x 7.5 cm). In wraps printed in black and red. In fair condition, lightly aged, in grubby wraps.

See Harling's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. The salutation ('My dear Percy'), valediction ('Luv Robert'), and one additional word in autograph; the rest typed. He begins by thanking Muir for a copy of 'PHM 80', the volume celebrating Muir's eightieth birthday.

1p., 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He has been called away at the last moment, and asks him to 'tell Mr. Brown anything that you may have to arrange respecting the Phiz Exhibition'. From the papers of Arthur Allchin. The Athenaeum reported in 1883 that 'Mr. Arthur Allchin, who was an intimate friend of the late Hablot K. Browne, has written an article on his life and work which will appear shortly in the Century Magazine, and will be copiously illustrated from original drawings by " Phiz."'

38pp., 16mo. Internally in very good condition, in red paper boards printed in gilt, with bubbling at front and back, and in chipped and aged glassine wrapper. The number of the meeting has been added to the title in manuscript ('511'), and the signatures of 'Frederick Keel | Singer' and 'Walter Braithwaite' are written in pencil beneath the limitation (no 24 of 133 copies). Scarce.

8pp., 12mo. Stitched into grey printed wraps. Aged and worn. On reverse of title: 'This booklet is produced in accordance with Paper Control regulations and is therefore limited in size and scope | It is publication number one of the Imprint Society and was first issued in August 1944'. The pamphlet begins: 'The idea that led to the Imprint Society being formed was conceived when two compositors, working in Johannesburg in 1939, realized that most of the printed matter produced in South Africa was ugly and uninspired, and that nothing was being done to remedy this.

A scarce piece of Liverpool printing ephemera. Dimensions approximately 63 x 51 cm. Both sides printed in light blue. Text and illustrations complete. In need of expert cleaning and repair: grubby and stained, with chipping to extremities and some closed tears. At the head of the one side is the masthead of 'The Employment Exchange | Edited by Charles H. Megson' ('The only recognized medium for speedy Employment. Absolutely without rival.') with illustrations of figures at work.

1p., 4to. Nicely printed (by the Curwen Press?) on watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. A nice piece of First Edition Club ephemera. The year to which the circular relates is meant to be added in manuscript, but has not been. Begins: 'The Committee appointed to choose the Fifty Books of the Year for [blank] will be grateful if, at your early convenience, you will submit such of your publications as seem to you most likely to be selected. I may perhaps remind you that the criteria by which judgment is made are | 1. TYPOGRAPHICAL DESIGN | 2. PAPER | 3.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir, | I am much obliged by your letter, and shall always be glad if you will point out unusual books. We have, however, both those which you mention, and must not buy duplicates.'

[1] + 13pp., 12mo. Stitched. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A tasteful production in grey printed wraps. Elaborate pseudo-seventeenth-century design to title-page replicated on front cover. Five-page 'Promoter's Address'' to 'My Friend and Pitcher', signed in type by Sharman, followed by a page listing the five members of the 'Committee, 1874-5' (Julian Sharman; Henry S. Leigh; Bourchier F. Hawksley; Jas. J. Railston; F. W. Robinson), and five pages carrying the club's fourteen rules.

The ten letters total 4pp., landscape 8vo, and 6pp., 4to. The collection in good condition, lightly aged and worn. With stamps and annotations of the Royal Society of Arts. The correspondence relates to a lecture given by him by invitation, and its subsequent publication in the Society's journal. He originally suggests that it be titled 'The Application of Science to economic purposes, with illustrations from the Cotton Trade', thinking that it would 'attract people outside cotton circles', but is persuaded to alter this to 'Examples of Applied Science in the Cotton Industry'.

29pp., 16mo. Nicely printed with nine plates. In brown card wraps, with the following on the cover: 'Mediaeval Pilgrims' Badges | Privately printed opuscula issued to members of ye Sette of Odd Volumes | No. XC'. 'Imprimatur' preceding title, signed by 'Frederick Keal' and 'Tancred Borenius', states that this is copy 11 of 199. Good copy, in lightly-worn wraps. Uncommon.

The four items date from around the same period, all printed in black and white on shiny art paper, stapled in cream card wraps with simple and elegant titles printed in gold on the front covers. All four are profusely illustrated, with accompanying effusive text. Two have price lists printed in red tipped-in at the end. All four are in fair condition, with pages of text in a good state, and light signs of age and wear to the covers, the two larger items exhibiting slight rolled creasing, and one of them with wear at foot of spine.

The three items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Booklet: [2] + iv + 29 + [2]pp., 8vo. With fold-out table at front. Nicely printed in green paper wraps with white label printed in red and black. According to the colophon 'The type is 14 point Monotype Bembo 270 augmented by 7 newly designd characters engraved by Ludlow Ltd Hertford | About 100 copies impressed on Archive Text paper in September 1989'.

Printed in black ink on one side of a piece of 18 x 11 cm piece of laid paper. Dimensions of image 15.5 x 10 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The image forms the upper part of the engraving, within a decorative border, with the caption, covering eleven lines, as the lower part, within its own lapidary border. The image is, as the caption explains, from 'a curious M.S. in the Archbishop's Library at Lambeth'.

16pp., 4to. Stapled into light brown wraps, with 'GOUDY' nicely printed in dark brown decorative letters on front cover. In fair condition lightly aged and creased. Inscribed in a small calligraphic hand at foot of front cover to 'DE fr. WGT [W G Thomson?] xi.48'. A well-printed item, with two pages carrying photographs of Goudy, a six-page 'Appreciation', two pages of 'Goudy Monotype Faces', and the final page carrying an 'appreciation' of Goudy by Bruce Rogers, ending 'He worked to the last, and he died at the zenith of his powers.

1p., 4to. On pink paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, worn and creased. With Dodd's personal oval stamp in purple ink. Reads: 'Mr J Gulliver | Sir | Will you kindly forward to me at the above the subscription on Bible you had of us in September | In so doing you will save the expences of sending a man'

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. With Royal Society stamp of acknowledgement. Written on behalf of Crouch, who is 'desirious of securing recognition by the R.S.A.', and who has 'supplied us with many designs of high artistic merit or many years and has made a considerable contribution to theh success of our fine art productions.' He praises the 'originality of design and the high artistic merit of his work', and considers that 'his work for industrial art deserves the highest recognition', being 'easily recognizable' and in a 'style distinctly his own'.

16 x 20 cm booklet, consisting of a bifolium stitched with black green thread into covers of thicker paper. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of clear plastic front covering. On the front cover is a heavily-inked art photograph superimposing an image of a musical score over the edges of an fanned-out signature. On the inside of the back cover is a facsimile of a calligraphic inscription in Latin, in Renaissance style. The inner contents consists of two facsimiles.

Printed in black on a 45 x 28 cm piece of white card, folded twice to make a 22.5 x 14 cm bifolium. When opened out the card has the printing details and 'THE 35TH DINNER' on the otherwise blank reverse. Aged and worn. The outer covers of the card, opening out to 45 x 14 cm, carry a reversed photograph of a Miller & Richard chase, with form featuring the words 'DOUBLE CROWN CLUB'.