Rare books from Four Rivers Books, LLC

Big Sur: Henry Miller and Bezalel Schatz, 1947. Schatz, Bezalel. A visual riot of a book, printed totally in serigraph in bright colors. The text is derived from Henry Miller's Black Spring, and is presented in Miller's hand. The pages of text are interleaved with vividly colored images by Bezalal Schatz which also creep into some of the pages of text. These images range from small accent pieces to roaring two page spreads. One of 800 copies, although there is some doubt about how many copies have survived the rodents in Miller's basement. Signed by author and artist, cloth bound with serigraph printed on the binding and the vaunted bit of red felt is glued to the front. Book is in fine condition.The slipcase, while sound and visually presentable, may well have been a survivor of the attentions of Miller's gang of mice--there are a few minor stains and a couple of small rubbed spots. The spine of the case bears a small clear tape with the number (313) of this copy.

Quarter vellum with gray paper sides, embossed in silver on spine, slipcase covered in the same paper. Illustrated with seven full page monochrome lithographs, of which the frontispiece-title page sprawls across two pages, by Peter Nickel. Bound by Craig Jensen. Printed in Romanee type on Rives BFK paper by Bradley Hutchinson, Nancy Ruppert, Elaine Smyth, and Tom Taylor. Number 54 of an edition limited to 150 copies. Fine in fine slipcase with the original glassine sheets.

Moser's Alice joins the ranks of the earlier spectacular Alices: Tenniel, Rackham, Dali: not only do the 75 images dance and sprawl across the pages, but they reflect new visions of the text. These images range from marginalia to images merged into the text, to full page and on to two page spreads. The text is printed in black, with highlighted words in red or blue. Moser's signature is in purple, as is the limitation number, 157 of 350. The book is half bound in purple morocco with boards covered in a coordinating hand marbled paper, from the workshop of Gray Parrot. The type was cast and composed by Michael and Winifred Bixler. Further hand composition was done by Arthur Larson. Text and blocks were printed by Harold McGrath on Puligeum, a paper specially made for Pennyroyal by the Strathmore Paper Company. The clamshell case is quarter bound in morocco with cloth covered sides. The extra set of 75 prints, each signed by Moser, is enclosed in a matching cloth covered portfolio. A cover letter to… Read More

Fabric covered boards with a tan background and blue design elegantly done with a bird and her nest in a flowering tree, marbled end papers, unpaginated. One of an edition limited to 90 copies signed by Nicholas and Mary Parry, using colored Lino prints to illustrate this book. The poet loved exactitude, which is demonstrated in his beautifully rhythmical poetry. Fine condition.

Full green linen with gold lettering on spine, marbled slipcase, (viii), 37 pages. One of an edition limited to 200 copies, 20 being for presentation. Ten engravings on copper and with a forward by David Jones. Printed under the supervision of Douglas Cleverdon. A masterpiece of the Twentieth Century. A new printing of the Jones masterpiece, with the images printed from the original plates. Very good to near fine condition, head and tail of spine are slightly bumped and boards are slightly rubbed. Slipcase in near fine condition with corners slightly rubbed.

Quarter white vegetable parchment with blue cloth covered boards, gold stamped lettering on spines. xviii,600; iv,601-1096,lxviii pages. The Holland Press reprint of the renowned Fairfax Murray catalogue. The original was limited to 100 copies. This edition is considered the best of several reprints. Profusely illustrated. Quality of reproduction is very high. Books are very good plus, with some wear to the corners of the volumes.

Quarter white cloth with red fabric covered boards, gold stamped lettering on spines. xxii,462; iv,465-818,lxii pages. The Holland Press reprint of the renowned Fairfax Murray catalogue. The original was limited to 100 copies. This edition is considered the best of several reprints. Profusely illustrated. Quality of reproduction is very high. Books are in near fine condition.

Blue fabric covered boards with title and author in black on the spine, full color dust jacket printed with a photograph of a quilt by Ringgold. xi,116 pages. Well written biography of Faith Ringgold with many full color reproductions of her work, carefully annotated. Ringgold is the creator of the eight serigraphs that illustrate the visually stunning and moving Letter from Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King and published by the Limited Editions Club in 2007 in its series of books written by and/or illustrated by African Americans. She is also the current subject of a major exhibition of her entire life's work at the New Museum of New York in and the subject of an extensive article in the Wall Street Journal. Fine copy in a fine dust jacket, with publisher's card laid in.

The book has 71 pages, three fold-out sections. The text is printed on white hand-made Fabriano Umbria paper in black ink with headings printed in five colors and the three fold-out sections are printed on different pastel shades of MacGregor-Vinzani specially made for this edition. The various cutouts and collages are in different colors as well. Michael Alpert printed the book, created and constructed all the various components of the book itself and its binding. The book is bound in a hand made paper wrappper and then inserted into a binding made of paper by MacGregor-Vinzani. The book is then placed in a cloth covered clamshell box with a paper spine label. The book also contains the two-cd set of a recording of Gluck's opera laid into pockets at the back of the book. Number 16 of an edition of 90 copies. Signed by Alpert on the colophon. Fine in a fine clamshell box. Alpert and the Theodore Press have collaborated on other artists' books creations with Claire van Vliet and her Janus Press,… Read More

In addition to writing the introduction, the author also assembled the text by various authors: Peter Porter, D.H. Lawrence, Father Bernard Walke, Jack Clemo, John Whitworth, Thomas Hardy, Charles Causley, Canon Hawker, Patricia Beer, and Sabine Baring-Gould. Lavishly illustrated with scraperboard drawings by Alan Richards. These drawings range from quarter-page images to two-page spreads. The boards are covered in a paper printed with another scraperboard drawing by the artist. 12 1/8 x 8 3/8 inches. 48 pages. Number 128 of an edition of 326 copies (36 of which were hand-colored under the direction of the artist). Signed by Richards and Harrison.

This is number 13 of the 50 deluxe copies. Total edition limited to 250 numbered copies. Accompanied by an extra set of five full color woodcuts, numbered and signed by Schanilec and inserted in a paper wrapper, all loosely inserted in the cloth-covered clamshell box. This deluxe edition also contains a fifth print facing the colophon not in the regular edition which is a woodcut of a house that turned out to be the wrong house. Wood engravings by Gaylord Schanilec. Binding by the Campbell-Logan Bindery. Numbered and signed by the author and printer/illustrator. Fine in a fine clamshell box, with slight fading to the spine of the box. Quarter to Midnight A.130.b

Leaf book containing a leaf from the Doves Press edition of Goethe's Faust II. Texts include A Note by the Printer, a history of the Press and its types, a profile of Cobden-Sanderson by the noted calligrapher Edward Johnston, C-S's own "The Ideal Book or Book Beautiful", and a list of Doves publications. Designed and printed by John Henry Nash. Number 99 of 339 copies. Bound in limp vellum, which has a few very small surface imperfections, one affecting the spine title. The vellum has gone slightly rogue, with slight warping of the covers and some separation of the pastedowns from the vellum. t.e.g. A very nice example of one fine printer's tribute to another!

A collection consisting of four novels and reminiscences about Powell's career and his writing. Powell was a renowned expert in bibliographical matters and in addition to his writing held important posts at academic libraries. He possessed the rare gift of writing about books and personalities with a great deal of feeling and affection. Whole generations of book collectors, librarians, and book sellers came to admire his work and owe their inspiration to him.

Designed by Ward Ritchie for the Capra Press. One hundred copies were quarter bound in leather with patterned paper covered boards enclosed in a cloth covered slip case. 436 pages. 9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches. The book is signed by Powell. Number 9 of 100 copies. Fine.

The editorial matter is set in Ehrhardt types, the contributors' list in Goudy Old Style & the poems in the attractive Hyperion, designed by Berthold Wolpe. Bound in black cloth with a bird blind embossed on front cover, title in silver on front and spine. 10 1/4 x 7 inches. Unpaginated. Number 70 of an edition limited to 180 numbered copies. A collection of 22 woodblock prints on a single theme, "illustrated" by poems of various authors. Spaul's images are taken from life in our urban surroundings. For, like the fox, there are few birds which are not urban. The creators of the book wished to accompany Spaul's images with poetry written by authors who tried to write about birds as birds, rather than just using them as vehicles to carry human characteristics. Fine.

One of 500 copies. Cobleskill NY: Kathryn I. Rickard, 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, leather-textured fabric covered boards with gold lettering on the spine, dust jacket. viii, 250 pages. The first bibliography of miniature books, written by the Head of the Catalogue Department of the Newberry Library. Near fine, with a very slightly bumped corner and very slight wrinkles of the otherwise near fine dust jacket.