Ulysses. Illustrated by Henri Matisse by JOYCE, JAMES & HENRI MATISSE - 1935

Seville, En Casa de la Viuda de Nicolas Rodriguez, 1671.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Folio (31.2 x 21.2 cm.), contemporary vellum (slightly soiled, repaired, recased, new endleaves). Total of 20 engravings, some folding, many with emblems (see below). Double-rule borders on each page, with ample margins. Crisp and clean, but the plate showing the Giralda with repairs (a bit crude) in upper portion at the fold, affecting the sky. Overall in good condition. (4 ll.), 343 pp., engraved title, 2 engraved portraits, 9 large folding engravings, 9 folio-size engravings. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of the finest Spanish festival book of the seventeenth century. Hofer described it as "The best illustrated Iberian book, by all odds, contained in the Harvard Collection." It records the festivities connected with the canonization of D. Fernando III, for which elaborate decorations were made at the Cathedral of Seville - some of them by the important Sevillan artist Juan de Valdés Leal.The portrait of D. Fernando… Read More

THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More

Probaly Venice, 1825. An exquisite suite of watercolours, including a beautiful series of scenes documenting a Venetian commedia dell'arte troupe, by the Italian artist Francesco Novelli. Francesco Novelli (1767-1836), one of the preeminent artists of his generation, lived in Venice where he was best known for his outstanding book illustration. He enjoyed a long and successful career that culminated in the landmark editions of Don Quixote (1819) and Gil Blas (1820). Novelli is also known for illustrating works such as the Fasti Veneziani (1794), hinting at his abiding interest in the theatre and the performing arts. In this unmatched collection of Novelli's watercolours, the greatest number are piquant images of a troupe of the commedia dell'arte, with especially fine depictions of Pierrot himself, as well as other key figures such as Columbine and Harlequin. There is a remarkable series of scenes from a play, as well as studies of individual performers, many so precisely rendered that it is almost… Read More

Japanese stab binding, (covers worn), title slip (ink written, not original) 11 double sheets, numbered 12 – 22; 1 page text, 10 double page woodblock prints. In each double sheet a strong sheet of Japanese paper was bound in between, to avoid shining through of the next page, a very effective method to optimize the visual effect of the beautiful pictures.
Old, Japanese library seal on front page; a few minor defects, 7 double pages with a small, hardly noticeable insect damage at upper margin (as an example, the worst one, see last photo).
Reference: IWANAMI, "KOKUSHO SO MOKUROKU", number 4290602. Kenji Toda [RYERSON COLLECTION]. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF JAPANESE AND CHINESE ILLUSTRATED BOOKS IN THE RYERSON LIBRARY OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO. Chicago, 1931: "… the most famous book by Moronobu…"
Extremely rare: WorldCat knows only three specimen of this edition in public libraries.
Hishikawa Moronobu is generally accredited as the founder of ukiyo-e. Before his time, the illustrations in… Read More

Amsterdam, Michel Colin, 1622.
Folio [370 x 250 mm] gathering 6 parts: (6) preliminary ll. including 1 engraved frontispiece, the foreword, and 2 preliminary ll. of the second text bound by mistake at the beginning of the volume; I/ " Herrera's Indiae Occidentalis
" ll. 1 to 44, 15 maps; II/ " Jacob Le Maire's 'Historia Navigationis Australis'", (1) l. (the other 2 preliminary ll. are bound by mistake at the beginning of the volume), 1 portrait of Jacob Le Maire, ll. 46 to 74, 2 large maps, figures in the text; III/ " Account of the Spanish expedition to the strait of Magellan... ", ll. 74-75; IV/ " Short history of the voyages to the strait of Magellan ", ll. 75 to 83; V/ " Description of the West Indies by Ordonez de Cevallos ", 10 ll. wrongly numbered 9 ; VI/ " Description of America, from the geographical tables of P. Bertius ", 11 ll. Bound in limp contemporary vellum, flat spine with the handwritten title. Contemporary binding.
The first complete account of Le Maire's world tour, which allowed… Read More

Seville, En Casa de la Viuda de Nicolas Rodriguez, 1671.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Folio (31.2 x 21.2 cm.), contemporary vellum (slightly soiled, repaired, recased, new endleaves). Total of 20 engravings, some folding, many with emblems (see below). Double-rule borders on each page, with ample margins. Crisp and clean, but the plate showing the Giralda with repairs (a bit crude) in upper portion at the fold, affecting the sky. Overall in good condition. (4 ll.), 343 pp., engraved title, 2 engraved portraits, 9 large folding engravings, 9 folio-size engravings. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of the finest Spanish festival book of the seventeenth century. Hofer described it as "The best illustrated Iberian book, by all odds, contained in the Harvard Collection." It records the festivities connected with the canonization of D. Fernando III, for which elaborate decorations were made at the Cathedral of Seville - some of them by the important Sevillan artist Juan de Valdés Leal.The portrait of D. Fernando… Read More

THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More

Probaly Venice, 1825. An exquisite suite of watercolours, including a beautiful series of scenes documenting a Venetian commedia dell'arte troupe, by the Italian artist Francesco Novelli. Francesco Novelli (1767-1836), one of the preeminent artists of his generation, lived in Venice where he was best known for his outstanding book illustration. He enjoyed a long and successful career that culminated in the landmark editions of Don Quixote (1819) and Gil Blas (1820). Novelli is also known for illustrating works such as the Fasti Veneziani (1794), hinting at his abiding interest in the theatre and the performing arts. In this unmatched collection of Novelli's watercolours, the greatest number are piquant images of a troupe of the commedia dell'arte, with especially fine depictions of Pierrot himself, as well as other key figures such as Columbine and Harlequin. There is a remarkable series of scenes from a play, as well as studies of individual performers, many so precisely rendered that it is almost… Read More

New York: The Limited Editions Club. Fine. 1990. Limited Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. My Sister Life was written in the summer before the 1917 October Revolution, it was very well received and established him as a genius of Russian poetry. The English translation was done by Mark Rudman. The acclaimed Russian born artist, Yuro Kuyper provides 6 etchings for the publication, printed on Hannemule paper in Paris. The paper used for the text was hand-made by H. M. P. Mill in Connecticut to resemble the sort of stock produced in 1920's Russia, even incorporating bits of Russain newspapers with rags and cotton pulp. The book is in near fine condition, with the only defect being some sunning to the spinea. The slipcase in VG or better, showing some sunning. The book is signed by Yuri Kuyper and this copy is #212 of 250. The original LEC invoice for $4000 laid in; Etching; Folio 13" - 23" tall; Signed by Illustrator .

Japanese stab binding, (covers worn), title slip (ink written, not original) 11 double sheets, numbered 12 – 22; 1 page text, 10 double page woodblock prints. In each double sheet a strong sheet of Japanese paper was bound in between, to avoid shining through of the next page, a very effective method to optimize the visual effect of the beautiful pictures.
Old, Japanese library seal on front page; a few minor defects, 7 double pages with a small, hardly noticeable insect damage at upper margin (as an example, the worst one, see last photo).
Reference: IWANAMI, "KOKUSHO SO MOKUROKU", number 4290602. Kenji Toda [RYERSON COLLECTION]. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF JAPANESE AND CHINESE ILLUSTRATED BOOKS IN THE RYERSON LIBRARY OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO. Chicago, 1931: "… the most famous book by Moronobu…"
Extremely rare: WorldCat knows only three specimen of this edition in public libraries.
Hishikawa Moronobu is generally accredited as the founder of ukiyo-e. Before his time, the illustrations in… Read More