Humboldt-Fraktur

STEMPEL (D.) Schriftgiesserei. Humboldt-Fraktur. Frankfurt a M. [c.1939]. 4to card portfolio, 26 x 20cm, containing upwards of 25 pieces being examples of this typeface in use. Designed by Hiero Rhode in 1938. Lacks one small mounted piece. Sold.

Cowell's Steam Printing Works Annual Wayzgoose, 1879

COWELL (S.H.) [later W.S.Cowell Ltd, printers] Cowell’s Steam Printing Works Annual Wayzgoose at the Ordnance Hotel, Felixstowe, July 19th, 1879. [Ipswich, 1879]. 116 x 77mm. Card programme. Pp. [4]. The outside elaborately chromolithographed, the inside printed letterpress in red and green. Some slight evidence of former mounting, but very good. £35

A manuscript arithmetic exercise book, 1819

A manuscript arithmetic exercise book, 1819. 4to. Pp. [168]. A blank book of handmade paper watermarked ‘C.Wilmott 1818’ written throughout in black and red in a very neat script. Orig. parchment boards, edges chafed, worn at foot of backstrip but good and sound. The first page says ‘C.Beale commenced this book June 11th 1819’. It is divided into sixteen sections: Double Fellowship, Profit & Loss, Barter, Vulgar Fractions, etc., some with elaborately embellished calligraphic headings. Including many ‘real life’ problems rich in references to contemporary trade and commerce, estate management, etc. £60

A collection of children's books c.1935 - 50 (3)

Two more Albums du Père Castor of the 1930s, these featuring the work of the Swiss-French artist Béatrice Appia (1899-1998): Conte de la Marguerite, 1935 (top), and Histoire de Perlette, goutte d’eau, 1936 (bottom).

There are five English books in the collection. Here are four of them. First, a spread from This or that? by Wyndham Gooden, illustrated by Barbara Jones, published for the Scottish Committee of the Council of Industrial Design, HMSO, 1947. Below that, left to right, Dorothy Chapman’s Baby Puffin, Counting book; Ring-a-Ring of Roses by Nancy Innes, Faber, 1942; and one of Enid Marx’s war-time miniature books for Faber, Quiz.

 Finally, a small group of Russian children’s books:

A collection of children's books, c.1935 - 50 (2)

Two books in the collection are illustrated by the Russian émigré Feodor Rojankovsky (1891-1970). The top one is his Calendrier des enfants, 1936, one of the Albums du Père Castor series published by Flammarion:

These photos show books by another Russian-born illustrator, Hélène Guertik. The top one, Des poissons, 1935, is one of  three animal colouring books she made for the Père Castor series in the mid-1930s:

A collection of children's books, c.1935 - 1950

I am in the process of cataloguing an amazingly well-preserved collection of mainly soft-back children’s books from the 1930s and 40s. There’s a strong ex-patriate Russian (or Soviet empire) theme. Over half the books in the collection are illustrated by Elisabeth Ivanovsky (1910-2006). Born in Moldova, she spent most of her working life in Brussels where she came in 1932 to complete her training, soon establishing herself in the broader artistic and literary community. Here’s a selection of her work, including some of the ‘Pomme d’Api’ miniature books she created with her husband René Meurant in the 1940s, and Scarabées, done with her long-time collaborator Marcelle Vérité:

Edward Bawden's Take the Broom

BAWDEN (Edward) Take the Broom. Printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son Ltd. for George Rainbird, Ruari McLean and the author, 1952. Ltd. to 350 copies. 10 x 13cm. 32pp. Eight full-page colour litho illusts. A very good copy.

   Take the Broom is one of a set of six tales drawn by Bawden for his children, Richard and Joanna, during 1944. At the request of George Rainbird and Ruari McLean it was redrawn on lithographic plates for this private publication in 1952. £225