Search Results: Titles starting with A from Ursus Books

1934. BRUNHOFF, Jean de. A.B.C. de Babar. [48] pp. Illustrated throughout in colour. 8vo., 210 x 162 mm, bound in original publisher's decorated boards, decorated endpapers, in a new yellow cloth folding box. Paris: Editions du Jardin des Modes, 1934. First Edition. A number of Babar's friends may be seen herein among the A.B.C.'s, including Céleste, Coco, and Cornélius. Below the "Liste des mots à trouver" Babar says: "Félicitations de Babar à tous les lecteurs qui trouveront d'autres mots." Very minor signs of use, but overall a fine copy of a delightful children's A.B.C., and one of the scarcest Babar books. .Slight wear, but in general a fine copy of a scarce book.

1779. BETTI, Giovanni Battista. A' Dilettanti delle Bell'Arti. Contents includes illustrated engraved title and 24 engraved plates. Oblong folio, 220 x 300 mm, bound in contemporary paste-paper wrappers, preserved in a red half morocco folding box. Florence: 1779. First Edition of Betti's imaginative illustrated alphabet-book, containing 24 full-page oblong plates of richly ornamented capital letters, each letter standing in a bucolic landscape with a corresponding figure from Greek or Roman mythology. It is a work "rare and distinctive for the range of its subjects" (DBI) and draws heavily on the imagery of pastoral Greece. 6 copies in America according to OCLC. Getty, Harvard, NYPL, Redwood Library, Austin, Newberry. An unsophisticated copy, with occasional spots and minor stains, but nevertheless an appealing copy. Bonacini 200; Berlin Kat. 5300; Guilmard 332: See Garvey, E.M. Introduction to the 1969 Facsimile published by Harvard.

1943. ALPHABET. ABÉCÉDAIRE du Marechal Petain. [28] ff., illustrated throughout. Square 8vo, 140 x 140 mm., original illustrated wrappers in a new linen box with black label. n.p.: Bureau de Documentation du Chef de l'Etat, 1943. One of the strange alphabets, but a perfect insight into the creation of Petain as saviour of France. A rare little book. OCLC lists just 3 copies, all in France.

1926. PASPA, Karel. ABECEDA. By Vitezslav Nezval. Designed by Karel Teige. Illustrated with 25 black and white photomontages by Teige from Paspa's photographs. 4to, bound in contemporary blue cloth boards with original printed front wrapper bound in. Prague: J. Otto, 1926. An important landmark of the Czech avant garde and at the same time one of the most celebrated of all photobooks. Paspa photographed the Czech dancer Milca Mayerova posing in the various letters of the alphabet. This copy is distinguished by inscriptions from both Nezval and Mayerova on the title-page dated December 18 1926 and December 29, 1926 respectively. Original wrapper a little smudging, otherwise a near fine copy. Parr, The History of the Photobook II p. 94. Primus, Tschechische Avantgarde 1922-1940 pp. 154-162. Toman, The Modern Czech Book. Photo/montage in Print p. 294-295. Andel, Avant Garde Page Design 338-340. Fundacion Juan March, The Avant-Garde Applied 183100-1950. L 310.

1969. Calder, Alexander. CALDER: An Autobiography with Pictures. 285 pp., profusely illus., 4to, 252 x 201 mm., wraps, in a new cloth folding box. New York: Beacon Press, 1969. A unique copy of Calder's autobiography embellished with a self-portrait drawing by Calder on the title page.

1930. JAPANESE COMMERCIAL DESIGN. A Collection of approximately 200 labels for food and drink products. Various sizes, mounted in an album. Small folio, 305 x 225 mm., bound in pale blue wrappers in a recent brown chitsu case. [Japan, 1930s]. An eclectic collection of Japanese food and drink labels from the first quarter of the twentieth century. Fruits, vegetables, spirits, candies, canned meats and fishes are all represented on colourful labels featuring combined western and Japanese design sensibilities. They are neatly tipped into an accordion style album of thick pale blue paper and mostly remain in fine condition.

1910. AVIATION. Aeroplanes d'Artois. Monoplans, Aero-Torpilles, Aero-Marins. One large fold-out plate with 6 photographs of planes. Small 4to, 165 x 190 mm., bound in publisher's gray printed wrappers with a tipped on photograph in a new blue cloth folding box. Paris: Emile Dubonnet, 1910. A promotional brochure for the d'Artois aviation company, one of the pioneer manufacturers of aeroplanes. The cover is a photograph of the aviator Emile Dubonnet above the Place de la Concorde in 1910. A rare survival from the dawn of modern aviation. In fine condition.

1700. SCHENK, Petrus. Afbeeldinge der voornaamste Gebouwen van Amsterdam. Engraved title-page, index and 100 fine engraved views with captions in Latin and Dutch. Small oblong folio, 210 x 265 mm., bound in contemporary full English calf with red morocco spine label. Amsterdam: n.p., ca. 1700. A rare complete copy of this engraved survey of Amsterdam and its surrounding regions produced by the prolific engraver and map publisher Petrus Schenk the Elder (1660-1711). A fine copy with crisp, dark impressions. The work's importance is attested by several twentieth-century reprints. OCLC locates no copies of this edition in the U.S. However it is in fact a reissue of Den hoog-edelgeboren heer C. de Jonge van Ellemeet, heere van Ellemeet, etc. etc. etc. voor desen ontfanger generael vande unie, nu raed ende pensionaris der stadt Rotterdam, etc. etc. etc. word de Afbeeldinge der voornaamste gebouwen van Amsterdam of 1695, of which OCLC records copies at The National Gallery and Northwestern.… Read More

1937. MIRO, Joan. "Aidez l'Espagne." Pochoir print in Cahiers D'Art, Year 12, No. 4-5. Edited by Christian Zervos. Illustrated throughout. Folio, 320 x 250 mm, bound in original printed wrappers, preserved in a new blue cloth folding box with a red label. Paris: Cahiers D'Art, 1937. A fine copy of Miro's celebrated Civil War print, contained in an issue of Cahiers D'Art primarily devoted to Picasso's masterpiece Guernica, which had been displayed at the Paris World's Fair earlier in the year. Some insignificant wear to the cover, the print in pristine condition. Cramer, Joan Miró: The Illustrated Books, no. IV.

1926. MAZING, B and N.P.AKIMOVA. Akter Germanskogo Kino. 50 pp. With black-&-white illustrations throughout. 8vo., bound in original illustrated wrappers. Leningrad: Academia, 1926. An early Russian work on German film with a dramatic contructivist cover. A fine copy of this fragile pamphlet. Very rare. OCLC lists only 2 copies, in the British Library and Berlin.

1879. PARIS, Ministere de Travaux Publics. Album de statistique graphique. 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1885, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890-1891, 1892, 1893, 1895-1896. Each volume contains 12-26 colored plates of informational graphics, many folding. Folio, 330 x 255 mm., publisher's boards. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1879-1896. These splendid volumes were published by the French statistical bureau between 1870 and 1897, and are very much in the style established by Charles Josph Minard. On the outside they appear drab and undistinguished, but on the inside they are alive with a profusion of dazzling coloured charts. They have been called "the finest specimens of French graphic art in the century" (H.G. Funkhuser). All of the volumes are rare, and the series remains largely unknown. Some wear to a couple of bindings, and a few inoffensive library stamps, but otherwise sound.

1880. KATAGAMI STENCIL DESIGNS. A Collection of Meiji Period Original Kimono Stencil Plates. With 20 stencil plates. Stencil paper was constructed from the bark of mulberry trees then treated with persimmon juice; the sheets measure ca. 220 x 400 mm., the largest measuring 350 x 450 mm. Each in individual mylar sleeves laid into an archival box. [Japan: Meiji Period, ca. 1868-1912]. A rare collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Japanese stencils, created expressly for decoration of cotton, silk and crepe kimonos and yukatas. These stencils survive as artifacts from one of the most ancient crafts in Japan. The elegant beauty of the designs and the consummate skill displayed in the cutting of the stencils endow these original plates with a refined sensibility almost without parallel in the graphic arts. Some of the stencils are so finely cut that it is difficult to imagine they could withstand the multiple brushing of resist dyes. Many of the fragile stencils have the… Read More

1933. MUNARI, Bruno and Carlo MANZONI. Almanacco letterario Bompiani 1933. [42], 384 pp., illustrated throughout including photomontage and typographical elements. 8vo, 205 x 155 mm., bound in publisher's illustrated wrappers. [Milan: Coi Tipi Dell'Unione Tipografic, 1932]. This volume of the Bompiani Almanac features a little-known aspect of Munari's creative output in the form of 5 photomontages. There is also one by his friend Carlo Manzoni. A fine copy of this scarce wartime publication. OCLC lists only copies in Italy.

1905. ALPHABET BOOK. Alfabeto da Phosphatina Falières. 8 ff. With 12 colour-printed illustrations by Timoleon Marie Lobrichon. 8vo., stitched as issued in original illustrated wrappers. Paris: Phosphatine Falières, n.d. [ca. 1905]. The Portuguese edition of a charming "Abécédaire" which is not recorded in Gumuchian, or Osborne. The illustrations combine infants or children playing in or around letters of the alphabet, some of which are constructed from chairs, trees, lamps, bricks, ladders, diving boards, etc. The 12 colour-printed plates, with text in French and Portuguese, are executed after original designs by Timoleon Marie Lobrichon (1831-1914) who is "above all celebrated for his humorous portraits of children" (Benezit). The work was published by the Phosphatine Falières who also issued it with a French text, which is of equal rarity. In fine condition. Extremely rare with OCLC listing only the copy in the BN.

1846. DAUMIER, Honore. Alphabet Comique. 24 lithographs (74 x 120 mm.) mounted on strong paper. Small 8vo, contemporary stained vellum. [Paris: n.p., 1836]. BOUND WITH: ANONYMOUS. Anthropomorphic Alphabet. 25 lithographs colored lithographs (60 x 90 mm.) mounted on strong paper. 12mo, contemporary vellum. Paris: Aubert & Junca, [1835]. A sammelband of two extremely rare lithographic alphabets, the first being the legendary alphabet by Daumier which Segolene Le Men calls the most celebrated of French nineteenth century anthropomorphic alphabets. The second alphabet includes 25 lithographs (letters i and j on two separate plates), all brilliantly hand-colored at the time. Its author remains unknown, but: the names of the publishers Aubert and Junca may be seen on the plates of the letters U and Z. It was certainly published at the same time as Daumier's. A fine copy in contemporary vellum with the name "Sudre" painted on the front cover. Delteil, Catalogue raisonné de… Read More

1898. HEIM, Josef. American Commercial Specimens, Second Series. 24 ff., printed on one side only of which 17 are all or partly in colour. Folio, 320 x 240 mm., publisher's illustrated cloth-backed boards, Vienna: Josef Heim, 1898. A stunning and somewhat mysterious piece of Americana. The album was published in Vienna, but the plates were printed in Milwaukee by the Gugler Litho. Co. The work consists almost completely of reproductions of calling cards of American businesses. The only listing on OCLC is of a copy with the same pagination in St. Gallen, but with no mention of second series.

1833. BONAPARTE, Charles Lucien. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson. Four volumes . Illustrated with 27 hand- coloured engraved plates after T.R. Peale, A. Rider, and J.J. Audubon (one figure of plate 4) by A. Lawson, all hand-coloured by Rider. Folio, 397 x 305 mm, bound in contemporary American half red morocco gilt. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey (volumes 1-3), Carey & Lea, (volume 4) 1825-1833. First Edition, second issue of volume one. Charles Lucien Bonaparte was a nephew of Napoleon, and both a politician and a keen ornithologist. He moved to Philadelphia in 1823 and worked on revising and enlarging Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. These four volumes were intended as an independent supplement to the nine volumes of Wilson's American Ornithology, and is considered a complete work by itself. It remains a basic text for American bird species and represents Bonaparte's first… Read More

1931. TOLMER. Animaux a Fourrure. 4 pp. Illustrated with 24 black-&-white plates by Ray Bret Koch. Oblong 4to., loose as issued in the publisher's decorated boards. Paris: Tolmer, 1931. A disconcerting advertising piece for the fur coat firm of Jungmann, with the plates showing models wearing coats and then the animals whose fur had been used to make the coats. Despite some foxing, an acceptablle copy. OCLC lists only FIT and the BN.

1993. BRUSKIN, Grisha. Another Name / General Instruction. Poem by Lev Rubinstein. 224 pp., with 112 lithographs. Square 4to, 265 x 265 mm., half cloth over paper covered boards. New York: Christopher Sweet and Marlborough Graphics, 1993. Early artist's book by Russian Sots artist Grisha Bruskin with poems by the founder of Moscow Conceptualism, Lev Rubinstein. 1 of 50 copies, signed and numbered by the artist and signed by the poet. Immaculate copy. 1 copy worldwide listed on OCLC at Texas A&M University.

1930. VIACROZE DECORATION. Aphorismes sur la décoration. Numbers 1-10, all published. 8vo., in publisher's wrappers and cardboard folding case. Paris: Viacroze décoration, 1930-1931. A complete set of this scarce and little known Art Deco design periodical. Cardboard with some wear, otherwise immaculate. OCLC lists sets at Columbia, Metropolitan Museum, University of Illinois and Bibliotheque Nationale.