Bawden in Portugal

BAWDEN (Edward) Four prints from Bawden’s Portuguese series of linocuts first published in ‘Bawden in Portugal’, Motif, no.9, 1962, pp.19-30, comprising ‘Obidos’ (image area 30 x 32cm), ‘Lamego’ (28.5 x 39cm), ‘Beja’ (30.5 x 44cm) and ‘Evora’ (30 x 40cm). Printed in black and two or three colours. Individual prints laid down on board and framed. Paper sunned throughout but the inks fast save for the grey in ‘Beja’ which has faded significantly. A few old and unobtrusive damp-stains. A most attractive group. These are almost certainly not original linocuts but proofs of the prints as they appeared in Motif, printed from sets of line blocks. Bawden gave the original designs to the National Gallery of Scotland in the 1980s. £150

Shell peepshow

FREEDMAN (Barnett) In winter & in summer you can be sure of Shell. London: Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, n.d. [c.1935]. 145 x 236mm. Seven-fold concertina peepshow diorama, chromolithographed throughout. A few small unobtrusive repairs. A very good copy which has been preserved in a custom-made clamshell box. Rare in this condition. Sold.

Harpel's Typograph

HARPEL (Oscar H.) Typograph, or book of specimens, containing useful information, suggestions and a collection of letterpress job printing. Printed and published by the author, Cincinnati, 1870. 8vo. Pp.252. 11 plates & 19 other inset specimens, some folding, some printed in several colours + 15pp. ‘Advertisers’ Addenda’. Lacks two leaves of text, pp.3-6, and plate 1 (monochrome specimen of wood-engraving). A few small tears and one long closed tear (affecting folding plate). Orig. brown cloth stamped in gilt and black. Corners a little worn. Inner front joint cracked. Binding of first few leaves tender. Good. The original primer of late Victorian ‘artistic’ printing. Scarce. 

   

Lewis Carroll anecdote

The hand-written sheet reproduced below is an enclosure in a letter of c.1976 from the musician Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994) to his friend the poet (and librettist) Anne Ridler (1912-2001). It recalls the early years of his time as Organist at Christ Church, Oxford, where he heard from the then Dean, Dr Thomas Banks Strong (1861-1944), a story about C.L.Dodgson.

'Dr Strong told me that when he was first made a member of the S[enior]. C[ommon]. R[oom]. at Ch[rist]: Ch[urch]: they used to dine on Sundays at 5.30 pm or 6 o'clock. A senior clerical student, the Revd T.J.Prout, (I hope the initials are correct) was vicar of Binsey. One dank foggy Sunday evening in late November C.L.Dodgson came in to dinner, and said, as he took his seat, "I have today walked out to Binsey for evensong with my friend Prout for the last time. As I sat, listening to his sermon, the wet green things grew up the legs of my trousers". If you remember what Binsey church was like in the winter even a generation ago you'll realize that this was no exaggeration.' Sold.

Johnson's Typographia, 1824

JOHNSON (John)  Typographia, or the Printers' Instructor; including an Account of the Origin of Printing. With biographical notices...a series of ancient and modern alphabets...an elucidation of every subject connected with the art. London: Longman, Hunt, Rees, Orme Brown & Green, 1824. 

   2 vols. 8vo. Port. of Caxton, pp. [xii], 610, [10] (index); port. of Johnson, pp.[iv], iv, 664, [16] (index). Numerous engr. illusts. Uncut in orig. cloth-backed boards, printed spine labels (partly worn away in vol.2). Covers worn. Sound. First few leaves of second vol. a little water-stained at the head, otherwise internally clean and bright. The smaller of the two large paper editions. Scarce in this uncut state. Bigmore & Wyman I, 371-3; PHS E12.  (Stock ref 1117) £225

 

Imprimatur

BAUERSCHE GIESSEREI Imprimatur. Frankfurt a.M.: n.d. [1955]. 4to printed card portfolio containing 32 loose specimens of the type in use. Designed by Walter Baum.   (Stock ref 2276) £25

Volta

BAUERSCHE GIESSEREI Volta. Frankfurt a.M.: n.d. [1955]. 4to printed card portfolio containing 30 loose specimens of the type in use. A Clarendon revival, somewhat modernised, designed by Konrad Friedrich Bauer and Walter Baum. (Stock ref 2277) £25