Books @ Bromer

Featured Item of the Week: Kingsport Press Miniature Books

2012-03-09T16:27:00.003-05:00

Bromer Booksellers is the leading specialist in miniature books, and whenever they are on display, the tiny volumes measuring under three inches always attract quite a bit of attention. People are often curious as to why someone would create books so small. One answer to this question is revealed in the history of the miniature books pictured above.

Among the smallest of our miniature books is this set of three leather-bound volumes published by the Kingsport Press, comprised of the Addresses of Abraham Lincoln (1929), Extracts from the Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge (1930); and Washington: His Farewell Address (1932). Measuring a mere 7/8 by 5/8 inches, the books are smaller than postage stamps; the Addresses of Abraham Lincoln was proclaimed "the smallest book in America" upon its publication.

The Kingsport Press was established in Kingsport, Tennessee in 1921 and grew to be one of the largest book manufacturers in the nation, attracting visitors from across the country. According to a letter to Percy Spielmann, the collector and bibliographer of miniature books, from the president of the Kingsport Press, when the Press first came to Kingsport, the people in the surrounding community who would potentially become the Press's employees, didn't have experience working in the graphic arts industry. Realizing that the company needed to train local people to be typesetters, platemakers, printers, and binders, and aware that a traditional apprenticeship program would not be feasible, the Press set up its own school for all new employees, known as the Kingsport Press Training Division.

In order to graduate, students were required to create a piece that demonstrated their mastery of the program. One student chose to create a miniature book as a final project, which attracted the attention of the Press's management. They thought that the miniature book could be used as a clever way to generate publicity, and a creative form of advertising. As a training exercise, the students of the Training Division produced an edition of 150 books of Lincoln's addresses for the company to distribute without any charge. In 1928, the students sent an exhibit of the book to the Employing Bookbinders of America convention in Boston, which won the prestigious first prize. The miniature book was also featured in several Graphic Arts trade journals at the time. These ventures were very successful in drawing attention to the Press and showcasing the skill of its employees.

An incredible amount of patience and work went into creating these books. The president of the Press describes all of the steps involved in the making of these tiny books in great detail in his letter to Spielmann. According to the president, "The making of a miniature book, which is just slightly more than half of the standard 7/8" x 1" postage stamp, starts in exactly the same manner as the manufacture of a standard book." The text was first set in 7-point Cushing type, which is smaller than what is normally used for the average book. However, after the pages were printed, the most perfect impressions were selected and sent to the photo-engraver, who reduced the text to miniature size. The sheets were folded using special hand-operated machines and then gathered, sewn, glued, and trimmed. They were bound in the same manner as full-size books, using leather and gilt decoration. The Press even invented and manufactured its own small gilding press to be used for the miniature books.

Because of the challenges inherent in working on such a small scale, making miniature books is a perfect training exercise for the production of full-size books. If a person shows the dexterity and skill necessary to print and bind a book that measures less than an inch, he or she is certainly well-qualified to work on full-size books. In the letter to Spielmann, the president of the Press writes, "The little book has proved to be a rich mine of experience for the students. Its size has emphasized rather than minimized all of the problems of book techniques and the noble text has been an incentive to the highest endeavor." He also writes that although the choice of Lincoln's addresses for the first book was mostly by chance, "Since then the appropriateness of the choice has been apparent to all...no author using the English language has ever excelled Lincoln in putting large amounts of human feeling within the compass of a few words."

The Kingsport Press incorporated the making of miniature books into their curriculum, and students from the Training Division produced the three miniature books in this set in 1929, 1930, and 1932. Today, miniature books are still approached as a challenge to book artists and are a true testament of their skill.

For more information on these and other miniature books, visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

For more on the Kingsport Press Training Division, see Miniature Book News, No. 39, and Louis Bondy's Miniature Books, pp. 144-145.
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By, For, and About Women

2012-03-08T17:01:00.002-05:00

To mark Women's History Month, every week in March we are going to highlight books and objects in our collection that were created by, for, or about women and girls. As you can imagine, we have quite a few.

Our first list contains items about women, including fairy tales and stories in which the heroine is female, biographical and bibliographical texts about female authors and artists, and artists' books illustrated with all-female subjects. We hope that you enjoy this four-part series of e-lists, and we thank you for reading.

View the e-list here

E-catalogue 22: Asian Influence

2012-03-07T10:36:00.002-05:00

The recent celebration of the Chinese New Year gives one a yearly occasion to reflect upon the traditions and influences of East-Asian cultures that reach across the globe. As we examine the artistic output of East Asia, one can certainly behold a worldview that is quite different from that which is familiar to European and American sensibilities. And yet, the mirror that reflects a culture can also be a piece of glass that shows its face to the world, and it is this duality that is the theme behind our latest e-catalogue.

The books selected for this catalogue range from 19th-century Chinese watercolors depicting the harvesting of tea and an album of paintings by Japanese artist Takeuchi Seiho, to works by artists in the West, who were influenced by East-Asian aesthetics and philosophy, such as Edmund Dulac, Morris Cox, and Mali Burgess. When gathering material together for this catalogue, we were surprised at the breadth of subjects that fit our theme. We hope you will find a few surprises here as well.

View the e-catalogue here

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

2012-03-02T11:50:00.000-05:00

First edition, first issue of The Cat in the Hat

A very happy 108th birthday to Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, who was born in 1904 and died in 1991. For more works by the good doctor, visit our website, www.bromer.com, and we hope you have a day filled with "lots of good fun that is funny!"

Langston Hughes: In His Own Words

2012-02-29T16:03:00.003-05:00

We wanted to close Black History Month by celebrating one of the great figures in contemporary African American history: Langston Hughes (1902-1967). Hughes was a writer, poet, and social activist who became the voice of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in the Midwest, and he lived there until he moved to New York City when he was 19 to attend Columbia College. He became deeply involved in the arts scene in Harlem, and he got to know many of the prominent writers, musicians, and artists, including Countee Cullen, Aaron Douglas, W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Heale Hurston, Louis Armstrong and Cora La Redd. Hughes left Columbia College in 1922 due to racial prejudice but stayed in Harlem, where he soon started publishing his poetry in Crisis and Opportunity magazines.

Through his writing, Hughes sought to represent African American life and culture as unique and valuable in its own right and not in need of change to imitate white culture. He wrote:

But in spite of the Nordicized Negro intelligentsia and the desires of some white editors we have an honest American Negro literature already with us. Now I await the rise of the Negro theater. Our folk music, having achieved world-wide fame, offers itself to the genius of the great individual American Negro composer who is to come. And within the next decade I expect to see the work of a growing school of colored artists who paint and model the beauty of dark faces and create with new technique the expressions of their own soul-world. And the Negro dancers who will dance like flame and the singers who will continue to carry our songs to all who listen -- they will be with us in even greater numbers tomorrow. (71)

He went on to issue a "declaration of independence" for African American artists, saying, "We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too" (73). Later in his life, this ardent support of African American culture would earn him the informal title "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race."

In 1956, Hughes co-wrote A Pictorial History of the Negro in America with Milton Meltzer. This was Meltzer's first book, having previously worked in broadcasting and public relations. As a result of their collaboration, the two became friends, and Meltzer wrote a biography of Hughes, published in 1968, which was a National Book Award finalist. Meltzer went on to write over 110 books on history for adults and children, most focusing on social justice, and won numerous awards for his writing, including the American Library Association’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the Catholic Library Association’s Regina Medal.

In 1964, Meltzer started a series of three books that revealed African American history through "letters, memoirs, autobiographies, articles, editorials, interviews, affidavits, eyewitness accounts, and testimony given at public hearings" (v). The series was called In Their Own Words: A History of the American Negro, and each volume covered a different period of time. The final volume focused on the years 1916 through 1966, and it contained two excerpts from essays by Hughes.

As a thank you to Hughes for giving permission to use his writings, Meltzer inscribed a first edition copy of the book to him on March 1967, writing, "For Langston, again with thanks for helping to make it! Milton." Hughes went on to underline his own name in red throughout the book, finding it in the acknowledgements, on the contents page, in the section introductions, reading list, jacket blurb, and index, in addition to his two contributions themselves. These lines were made two months before Hughes' death of complications after abdominal surgery related to prostate cancer on May 22, 1967. The perfectly straight red lines reveal something of the man who had seen his own mortality, but even without the words that had made him so famous, the lines also show a man who was viewing his legacy and the great contributions he had made to African American history and culture.

For more information about our copy of In Their Own Words: A History of the American Negro, 1916-1966, please visit our website. We thank you for reading, and wish you all the best on this last day of Black History Month.

"All Sails Up"

2012-02-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

"Toutes Voiles Dehors" ("All Sails Up"). A stunning Art Deco-style hand mirror designed by Erté, one of the most prominent French illustrators of the Art Deco period.

A Brush With Fame

2012-02-24T15:39:00.001-05:00

The Academy Awards are this weekend, and six of the Best Picture nominees are adapted from books. Take a look at this gallery of other Oscar-nominated books-turned-movies currently in our stock, and enjoy rubbing shoulders with true celebrities.

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. First American edition, translated from the German and published in 1929. This is the first novel published by the author. It is based on his own experiences as a young soldier in the first World War, and it stands as one of the most powerful works of anti-war literature ever written.

The book was adapted for the screen in 1930 and nominated for four Academy Awards, of which it won Best Picture and Best Director.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. First edition, published in New York in 1886, and preceded the London edition by three days. In the scarce original yellow wrappers.

The story was made into a play almost immediately after the book's release, and it has been adapted into numerous films beginning in 1908. The 1932 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Adaptation Writing, and won Best Actor in a Leading Role for Fredric March. The 1941 adaptation was also nominated for three Oscars.

L'Histoire Tragique de Romeo Montecchio & Giulietta Capelletta, by Matteo Bandello and published in 1947. From an edition of 242 copies, this is one of twenty-five copies with extra suites of the surrealist engravings and chapter headings, illustrated by Mario Prassinos. Bandello's tale, which was a principal source for Shakespeare's play, has been translated into French by Michel Arnaud.

Unfortunately, we do not have a first edition of Shakepeare's The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, but we do have this translation of the story upon which Shakespeare based his tragic romance. Shakespeare's work has been adapted for the screen many times, earning Academy Award nominations in 1936, 1968 (winning for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design), and most recently, in 1996 for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. First edition, first impression, published in 1861. One of 1,000 copies. Widely acknowledged as Dickens's masterpiece, Great Expectations was one of only two novels not published in monthly parts and published without illustrations, and it is the rarest of Dickens' larger books in that most of the first edition was purchased by libraries; those copies that survive, therefore, are usually not in good condition. This copy is fine in publisher's bright violet cloth.

There have been several film adaptations of Great Expectations, but only the 1946 version was nominated for and won Academy Awards. It was nominated for five awards and won for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.

The Marvelous Miniature Library, published c. 1925. A collection of classic texts, including Hamlet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and others, issued in a gilt-titled leather wallet-style binding, with snap closings, and housed in a gilt-titled snap-closed leatherette case. Each volume measures 2 1/8 by 1 9/16 (55x39mm).

As mentioned above, we do not have any first edition Shakespeare, but here is an interesting presentation of two of his works, which certainly takes up less room than a First Folio. In the movies, Hamlet has appeared frequently, garnering eleven nominations and winning four Oscars for the 1948 version, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Macbeth has also been adapted many times but has yet to receive an Oscar nomination.

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. First edition, published in 1947. This is Williams's most famous play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the year it was published.

Williams also wrote the screenplay for the 1951 film, which garnered fame equal to (and perhaps surpassing) that of the original play with defining performances by Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. However, many of the more sensitive aspects of the play, such as Blanche's rape and references to homosexuality, were altered or omitted in order to comply with the film industry's censorship codes. Nevertheless, the film was nominated for twelve Oscars, including all of the major categories, and won for Best Actress, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, and Art Direction.

27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other One-Act Plays, by Tennessee Williams. First edition, published in 1945. Contains eleven one-act plays by the master of modern drama.

27 Wagons Full of Cotton was adapted into the film Baby Doll in 1956 and garnered four Academy Award nominations, such as Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, published in 1965. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the author, printed on special paper, and specially bound in full black cloth. The story of the brutal murder of a Kansas family by two robbers is considered perhaps the greatest work of the New Journalism movement, which sought to incorporate literary techniques into journalistic reportage. Its most notable practitioners, in addition to Capote, were Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe.

In Cold Blood was adapted for the screen in 1967 and received four Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ulysses, by James Joyce. First edition printed in England in 1936. From an edition of 1,000, this is one of 100 copies signed by Joyce and specially bound in full calf vellum with gilt bow design on the front cover by Eric Gill. The text for this edition follows the second Odyssey Press edition. The ban on Ulysses was overturned in the United States in 1933, but British printers were still initially hesitant about publishing the book, fearing legal consequences. However, Joyce sensed that attitudes in England would soon change, and this edition was printed in Britain three years after that landmark decision. Following the text is an appendix with information about the trial and Judge John M. Woolsey's decision to lift the ban.

A film version of Ulysses was not made until 1967, and it is notable for how closely it follows the original text. It was filmed in Dublin, and most of the lines of the script were drawn directly from the book. Even three decades after the close of the obscenity trial, however, the film itself was censored, receiving an X rating in Great Britain and appearing at Cannes with unauthorized cuts in the French subtitles. Nevertheless, the film was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, in direct competition with In Cold Blood (the award went to A Man for All Seasons).

Ilias and Odusseia (The Iliad and The Odyssey), by Homer. Printed at the Bremer Presse between 1923 and 1924. Two volumes, each one of 615 copies printed in Greek with titles by Anna Simons.

Perhaps there is no such thing as the "first edition" of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but there have been many editions over the years and a multitude of translations. This edition is in the stories' original Greek language, and is beautifully printed. The epic poem, The Odyssey, has influenced numerous other works since its inception, in every facets of the arts, including Joyce's Ulysses, above, and the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, which was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2000.

If you would like any more information on the titles listed here, please visit our website. We hope you enjoyed this brief brush with celebrity, and we thank you for reading.

Senator Kennedy and His Glasses

2012-02-23T13:42:00.001-05:00

Despite his youthful and robust image, John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) was ill and in pain for most of his life. He suffered from Addison's Disease, which was not diagnosed until he was 30, and the resulting abdominal discomfort he endured was treated with corticosteroids as early as 1937. The effects of prolonged use of corticosteroids were unknown at that time, and Kennedy's treatment resulted in osteoporosis and degeneration of the bone in his lower back. By 1954, he had endured fourteen years of chronic and increasing back pain, despite medication, back exercises and manipulation under anesthesia, a back brace, and surgery. Finally, his pain had gotten so bad that he could not bend or climb stairs without crutches. His fifth lumbar vertebra had collapsed, and in October of 1954, while Senator of Massachusetts, Kennedy underwent surgery in New York to hopefully repair the damage.

Due to the hormone treatments Kennedy was receiving for his Addison's Disease, his immune system was compromised, and the surgery was extremely dangerous. Prior to that time, few, if any, patients with Addison's Disease had survived surgery. Indeed, after the surgery, Kennedy contracted a urinary tract infection, went into a coma, and was so close to death that he received Last Rites. Nevertheless, he had recovered enough by December to move to his family's home in Palm Beach, Florida. It was there that both he and Jacqueline Kennedy sent letters to their friend and Senator Kennedy's aide, Robert F. Morey, thanking him for checking on "Jack's" progress in New York and sending Kennedy a pair of glasses.

Robert F. Morey (1913-1996) was born in Charlestown, Mass. and was a prize fighter and shipyard electrician before becoming John F. Kennedy's chauffeur. He worked on Kennedy's 1946 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives and became his aide when Kennedy won a seat in the Senate in 1953. Morey was also an artist, and he encouraged both John and Edward Kennedy to paint, often painting with them. In 1961, Kennedy named Morey U.S. Marshal for Massachusetts, and in 1969, Morey's design was chosen over twenty others to become the official seal for the U.S. Marshals Service, a design that is still in use today.

Morey was working in Kennedy's office in the Federal Building in Boston when he received the Kennedys' letters from Palm Beach. Senator Kennedy's letter was a form letter on United States Senate letterhead and dated January 7, 1955. It is mostly typed, with a hand-written signature and note at the bottom of the page. The letter reads:

Mr. Robert Morey
1702 Federal Building
Boston, Massachusetts

Dear Bob:

Many, many thanks for your kind message
to me when I was in the hospital in New York. Hospitals
are gloomy places, I am afraid; and it makes a tremen-
dous difference when friends remember you as you did.

I am feeling much better and am looking forward
to getting back to Washington around the first of March.
Perhaps then I will have a chance to thank you again in person.

Until then, Jackie and I want to wish you and
all your family a very happy and successful New Year.

Sincerely,

Jack
John F. Kennedy

[Written] Many thanks for the glasses.
Hope to see you soon.

Jacqueline Kennedy's letter is entirely hand-written, signed simply "Jackie," and includes the envelope addressed by her and postmarked January 13, 1955. The letter reads:

Dear Bob

That was so kind and thoughtful
of you - to send Jack those glasses
in the hospital - and you can't imagine
how touched [he] was at your going to all
that trouble - or what a terrific help
they were. I never knew such things
existed - and they made all the difference
in the world as he would have gone
mad just lying there staring at the
ceiling not being able to read.

So many many thanks Bob - and
a very happy New Year from us
both.

Jackie

It is unclear what sort of glasses Morey sent, but, as Jacqueline Kennedy stated, they helped Senator Kennedy read while in the hospital in New York, and it was during this time that he wrote his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage.

Kennedy's back troubles did not go away because of his 1954 surgery. In February 1955, he had surgery again, this time to remove the metal plate that had been inserted the previous October, which had caused an infection. Despite his hope of "getting back to Washington by around the first of March," Kennedy did not end up returning to work until May. Even then, his back pain remained and persisted for the rest of his life.

As a result of his long absence from Congress, some of Kennedy's health problems were finally revealed to the public, something he and his family had worked hard to avoid throughout the years. However, the surgery and recovery period were spun as isolated events that did not affect his overall health. The public did not learn about his chronic ill health and Addison's Disease until many years after his death, and for the rest of his presidency, Kennedy remained a symbol of youth, vigor, and robust good health.

For more information about the Kennedys' letters to Robert F. Morey, please visit our website. For more about John F. Kennedy's health problems, see this article from The Atlantic or this website. Thank you for reading, and Happy President's Day.

Happy Birthday, Edward Gorey!

2012-02-22T17:42:00.003-05:00

In celebration of Edward Gorey, born February 22, 1925, here are a few highlights from our collection of works by this master of the macabre:

The Harvard Advocate. Cambridge, MA: Advocate House, 1950. Gorey's first published appearance as an illustrator, showing two Mr. Earbrass-style characters throwing sticks at two hooded heads on pikes.

The Eclectic Abecedarium. Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1983. Gorey's first miniature book, this copy is one of 300 comprising the regular edition, signed by Gorey.

The Sopping Thursday. NY: Gotham Book Mart, 1970. One of twenty-six deluxe lettered copies, signed by Gorey, with an original drawing laid in. The Sopping Thursday is the first of only three of Gorey's primary works that included original drawings with the deluxe editions. This title, therefore, is extremely rare in the deluxe state.

Q.R.V. Boston: Anne & David Bromer, 1989. From an edition of 400 copies signed by Gorey, this is one of 110 comprising the deluxe issue, with twenty-nine illustrations hand-colored by him in silver and gold metallic paint. This copy bears a presentation inscription on the colophon page and was very likely one of the copies set aside for use by the author and publisher.

Season's Greetings 1996 Bromer Booksellers. Boston: Bromer Booksellers, 1996. Features a previously unpublished, full-color cover design by Gorey, who created the artwork originally for a Nieman Marcus holiday catalogue. When the retailer rejected Gorey's work, choosing that of another artist instead, Bromer Booksellers happily acquired the illustration.

And for the truly macabre:

The Beastly Baby, by Ogdred Weary. (N.p.): The Fantod Press, (1962). One of 500 copies. First edition of Gorey's first publication from his Fantod Press, published under the name Ogdred Weary, one of his many anagram pseudonyms. Written by Gorey and illustrated with his black and white drawings, this is the story of a bloated baby with two left hands, a guilty conscience, malice in his heart, and a nose that appeared older than the rest of him.

For more works by Edward Gorey, go to our website. Thank you for reading, and we wish you a very Gorey day.

E-catalogue 21: Children's Books

2012-02-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

Tatters, the Puppy

Through the stories and images we encountered as children, the landscape of our minds has been peopled with characters that have become iconic in our culture: those who grew up in the era following the Second World War, for instance, have no trouble identifying an illustration by Dr. Seuss. Those from the era before that conflict are as well-versed in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its many sequels as the youth of today are with the story of Harry Potter.

The objects of childhood offer a view of life as it once was, because of their role in the shaping of young minds. Consider the moral message behind The Errand Boy from 1821, in which young Tom is rewarded for overcoming his laziness. Messages such as this are essential to building the character of society, but if there was not an element of wonder to these objects, they would not hold the interest of a child for long. Some of these books feature sumptuous illustrations that transport a young mind to the distant lands of the Arabian Nights, orprovide instructions on how to print illustrations using a potato, while othersoffer an interactive experience well before the age of cinema with moving andspeaking pictures.

It is in this spirit of wonder that we offer this selection of children's books and objects.

Come play for a while.

Introducing the New Bromer.com

2012-02-17T11:38:00.000-05:00

For the past year, we have been working to update and expandour website to provide the best possible experience for our customers. Ourentire stock is now listed and photographed for easy searching and browsing,and for the first time, items can be purchased securely through the website.See below for more information on the changes we have made.

Key features of our new website include:

Click to view larger image

Search or browse by specialties, such as Miniature Books andFine Bindings.
Sign up for email notifications when books are added withinselected specialties.
Explore interesting content, including videos, blog posts,event updates, and an ever-expanding list of resources and publications.
Come back to our homepage to view weekly featured items.
View e-catalogues and PDFs of our print catalogues.

Click to view larger image

Nearly every item in our stock is photographed.
Order items securely using a variety of payment options.
Sort search results by title, author, price, or date added.

For a tutorial on our website, including more of the site's features, watch this video:

If you are not already receiving emails from us and wouldlike to, please let us know. Thank you for your continued interest during this exciting time. We hope you enjoy our new website and look forward to hearing yourfeedback.

Aldous Huxley and Anita Loos in Hollywood

2012-02-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

Aldous Huxley, c. 1938

Though best known as a British author, Aldous Huxley spent the last twenty-six years of his life living in the United States. When he and his wife, Maria, left England for the United States in 1937, they did not plan to stay, but with the war in Europe heating up and their son's acceptance to an American school, they decided to settle in Los Angeles. It was there that Huxley renewed his acquaintance with Anita Loos, the author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Anita Loos (1888-1981) grew up in show business, starting out in stage productions in San Francisco when she was eleven and publishing plays when she was just out of high school. Her first screenplay to be produced was New York Hat in 1912, starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore and directed by D. W. Griffith. She eventually joined Griffith at the Triangle Film Corporation and became one of the first staff writers in the industry.

Loos did not remain in this position for long and moved to New York City where she socialized with such figures as William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, Marilyn Miller, Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, and H. L. Mencken. It was from Mencken and his many lady friends that she drew inspiration for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and its sequel, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was an instant success upon its publication in book form in 1925, selling out immediately and requiring multiple printings. Loos produced the Broadway play of the book, which was also a success, and a film version appeared in 1928.

Anita Loos

Despite her professional success, Loos's personal life was not happy, and by the 1930s, she and her husband, the director John Emerson, were living apart in New York. The stock market crash had depleted the couple's finances, and Loos was providing for both households, working on a stage production of But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. When MGM offered her $1,000 a week to write screenplays, Loos left New York and her husband to move back to California.

Huxley was a fan of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when it was published in 1925, and he wrote in a letter to Loos, "...I was enraptured by the book, have just hugely enjoyed the play, and am to be in America so short a time that I have no leisure to do things in the polite and torturous way" (Bedford 175). They met in New York when he and Maria visited the United States for the first time in 1926. When the Huxleys moved to Los Angeles in 1937, Loos introduced them to her contacts in the movie industry. Through this long friendship, Huxley would go on to write six screenplays (four of which were produced) in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.

As a mark of their friendship, Huxley inscribed a copy of his Texts and Pretexts for Loos, writing:

For Anita
To dip into when
the Women are
too much for her,
with love from
Aldous H.
April 26th '39

At the time, Loos was working on a film adaptation of the all-female Broadway hit The Women. The movie was released in September of 1939 and was a box-office smash, starring Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. The book also contains Loos's bookplate, which was created by African-American illustrator Frank Walts, whom she might have met in New York when she lived there in the 1920s and whose work appeared in The Crisis, The Masses, and The Liberator, as well as The New Yorker, Harper's Weekly, and Colliers. The smiling face on the bookplate is Loos's own, revealing the positive side of a woman whose life was consumed by work and too much personal strife.

Loos continued to write screenplays and articles for magazines until her death in 1981 at the age of 93. She and Huxley remained friends until his death in 1963.

For more information about Huxley and Loos, see Aldous Huxley: A Biography, by Sybille Bedford (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974) and Huxley in Hollywood, by David King Dunaway (New York: Harper & Row, 1989), or visit our website. Thank you for reading.

Bromer Booksellers on Love

2012-02-14T17:56:00.001-05:00

Check out our collection of the artifacts of love available from Bromer Booksellers in honor of Valentine's Day:

Almanach des Heroides. An almanac in a lovely embroidered and hand-painted binding with a design of a smiling cupid holding his bow and arrow on the front cover. For more information, go here.

May Sarton, Collection of Seven Manuscript Poems, Cambridge, 1930. A group of seven manuscript love poems written by Sarton and presented as a Christmas gift to her teacher, Anne Longfellow Thorp. For more information, go here.

The Love Books of Ovid, published in London in 1925. Ovid's treatise on erotic love, beautifully bound in painted vellum by G. G. Levitzky, with a cover illustration that depicts Cupid hovering above a seduction scene. For more information, go here.

Scherzi poetici e pittorici, published by Bodoni in 1795. A collection of poems concerning love and featuring Venus and Cupid, by the Italian poet de Rossi. For more information, go here.

Twelve of Hearts, published by Anne and David Bromer in 1982. A miniature manuscript consisting of twelve original watercolor designs by Robert Gould, showing hearts embellished with symbolic designs. For more information, go here.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets From the Portuguese, published at the Minia Press, c. 1945. This miniature book of poems about love lost and found is bound in cloth with a gilt heart motif. For more information, go here.

Cupidon Logicien ou les Pedagoges, A Cythere, 1792. This almanac is illustrated with 13 hand-colored engravings accompanied by love poetry and bound in an embroidered binding. For more information, go here.

Caresse Crosby, Crosses of Gold: A Book of Verse. Crosby's first book, this intimate book of romantic poems and short prose pieces is dedicated to Crosby's husband, Harry, and includes a few hand-drawn decorative devices. For more information, go here.

A Garland of Love. A pair of beautifully-bound examples of this collection of pretty mottoes, one a calligraphic manuscript by Francis Sangorski in a hand-painted binding and the other a rare printed version. For more information, go here.

Amish Valentine, 1860. A drawing of a young man and woman glancing shyly at each other, with their noses drawn in an angular fashion so as to point at each other. Below the figures is penned words “i cant [sic] stop long this time.” For more information, go here.

Le Calendrier de Minerve o le Joujou de L'Innocence. An embroidered binding with a title page showing cupid floating over a walled garden and 12 engraved plates accompanying moral verses. For more information, go here.

William Morris, Love is Enough. One of only two books printed in three colors at the Kelmscott Press, this book contains two woodcuts by Edward Burne-Jones that accompany Morris's poem about unchanging love. For more information, go here

Hiroshima Mon Amour: Synopsis. Colored papers capture the seriousness, sadness, and sensuality of the film about a French woman and a Japanese man who become lovers in Hiroshima 14 years after the atomic bomb. For more information, go here.

Carnet de Bal

2012-02-13T10:20:00.000-05:00

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot." ~ John Dryden

CARNET DE BAL. A nineteenth-century French gold and enamel dance card holder studded with diamonds and containing five bone leaves. First appearing around 1820, a carnet de bal was an accessory taken to balls by a lady to record the order of an evening's dances, as well as the name of her partner for each dance. The owner of the carnet de bal would use the gold-sheathed pencil topped with a rose-cut diamond to write the dance information directly onto the bone leaves, which could later be wiped clean in preparation for the next ball. This is the most beautiful carnet de bal we have encountered, an extraordinary bejewelled example, measuring only 2 15/16 by 1 7/8 inches (75x49mm).

Featured Item of the Week: Five Micrographic Biblical Passages

2012-02-10T17:56:00.001-05:00

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about a picture made up of a thousand tiny words? This week's featured item is a set of five Biblical scenes composed of the miniature writing known as micrography or micro-calligraphy. Not only do these scenes illustrate passages from the Bible, but the figures are actually made from the words of the Biblical verses being depicted.

The scenes illustrated in this set include Daniel in the lions' den, with text from Daniel 6; Samson slaying the lion, composed of the text from Judges 14; Samson pulling down the pillars of the Philistine temple and Delilah cutting Samson’s hair, both of which are drawn from sections of Judges 16; and the bearing of giant fruit from the land of the Canaanites, with the full text of Numbers 13. The tiny, handwritten text is at most 2mm high, and yet, the writing is clear, with a delicate precision. In the illustration of Daniel in the lions' den, strands of words form the lions' flowing manes and individual letters create the texture of Daniel's shirt. Some of the words are darker than others, creating subtle shading along the arch of the lions' backs or on the curve of a skull discarded in a corner of the scene.

These five examples of micrography date from the eighteenth century, but the origins of micrography can be traced as far back as the tenth century. The art form has its roots in Islamic calligraphy and calligrams, which are images created from words. In the beginning, micrography appeared primarily in Jewish biblical codices: the marginal notations in these codices became elaborate decorative elements, written in geometric and floral patterns. Micrography was also popular in Christianity and Islam because it circumvented the Second Commandment, which prohibited the depiction of “what is in the heavens above.”

As the technique spread throughout Europe around the thirteenth century, more elaborate motifs emerged, including depictions of humans, animals, and mythological beasts. According to the online exhibition of micrography presented by the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, "Bibles produced in France and Germany featured elaborate ornamental panels that introduce the individual biblical books." This is clearly exemplified by these intricate examples, which become full illustrations of the text itself.

The practice of micrography has evolved and changed over time, but is still in use to this day: many contemporary artists, calligraphers, graphic designers, and poets have explored the boundaries of this traditional art form.

For more information on this item, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

All That Nonsense

2012-02-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

There was an old man of Coblenz, the length of whose legs was immense;
He went with one prance from Turkey to France,
That surprising old man of Coblenz.

Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense was published anonymously in 1846 with 72 limericks, or, as Lear called them, "Nonsenses" (Noakes p. 167). A third edition of the book, published in 1861 and finally attributed to Lear, was expanded to include 112 limericks, though three from the first edition were removed. The limericks were originally written for children and were a form of "Nonsense writing." Indeed, the genre takes its name from the title of Lear's book (Noakes p. 165). In a similar vein to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Nonsense writing is perfectly correct grammatically but leaves the reader knowing not much more about the story, its characters, or their motivations than when he or she started reading. The story is not as important as the frivolity depicted by the words themselves.

In a time when children grew up too quickly and lived according to the rigid constraints of Victorian society, "Lear offered children the liberation of unaffected high spirits" (Noakes p. 13). This is apparent from the title page of The Book of Nonsense, which reads:

There was an old Derry down Derry [Lear himself],

Who loved to see little folks merry;

So he made them a Book,

And with laughter they shook,

At the fun of that Derry down Derry!

The verse is accompanied by one of Lear's drawings, which shows a grown man dancing, surrounded by excited children, one of whom is even standing on his head. From the start, it is clear that this book is different from the didactic or moralizing books prominent at the time.

There was an old man with a beard, who said "It is just as I feared!
Two owls and a hen, four larks and a wren
Have all build their nests in my beard!"

The Book of Nonsense, and limericks as a form of verse, became popular after the publication of the third edition in 1861. It is around this time that a fan of the book skillfully copied Lear's illustrations and verses in a sketchbook using pencil overlaid with pen and ink. Of the 112 limericks, the fan reproduced fourteen, in three lines each, on one side of each page of the book. The identity of the fan is unclear, but he or she imitated Lear's style to the last detail, after some correction based on the faint remnants of previous penciled attempts at the drawings. The end result is as frivolous and diverting as the original and a fitting tribute to Lear's hilarious nonsense.

There was an old man of the Cape, who possessed a large Barbary ape;
Till the ape one dark night, set the house on a light,
Which burned that old man of the Cape.

I hope you enjoyed this brief "liberation of unaffected high spirits" as much as I did. For more information about this sketchbook, go to our website. To view all of Lear's illustrations for The Book of Nonsense, see here. Additional information found in Edward Lear, 1812-1888, by Vivien Noakes, published 1985 in New York by Harry N. Abrams.

E-catalogue 20: Signed by the Author

2012-02-07T13:10:00.001-05:00

Wordsworth autograph verse, signed

There is something seductive about a book or a document that bears the signature, or better yet, the inscription of a well-known author. Publishers recognize this appeal and offer signed limited editions of works separately from their regular counterparts. Manuscripts and letters allow us to get even closer to the author, providing a snapshot of the creative mind at work. This offering contains a bit of both signed limited editions and original signed manuscripts. Also, in honor of the Charles Dickens bicentennial, it contains a small selection of books by the man who gave us Oliver Twist, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Pip, and many others, as well as items inspired by his work.

We thank you for perusing our literary offering. View the e-catalogue here.

Aula Veneris

2012-02-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

"Thou art not for the fashion of these times"

Aula Veneris. Sive Varietas Foeminini Sexus diversarum Europæ Nationum (The Court of Venus; or, Varieties of the Female Sex of the Different Nations in Europe). N.p., 1830.

Featured Item of the Week: The Original Printing Blocks for the Gogmagog Four Seasons

2012-02-03T18:02:00.003-05:00

Original printing block for The Four Seasons

On Thursday, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. However, here at Bromer Booksellers we have set our sights on spring, anticipating the change of seasons. This week's featured item is a complete set of the original printing blocks created by Morris Cox of the Gogmagog Press for his set of four books, The Four Seasons. An Impression of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter: a Landscape Panorama. Printed between 1965 and 1966, the Four Seasons are often considered the magnum opus of the Gogmagog Press. The blocks are not only the most important original materials for Cox's books, but are works of art in their own right.

Morris Cox first began the Gogmagog Press, a one-man operation, in 1957 as a way to publish his poems and artwork in limited editions. His approach to printing was unconventional and inventive, influenced by his early work as an artist creating woodcuts and linocuts. His process was often laborious, building up and subtracting layers of various colored inks, but the results are unlike the work of any other printer.

The process used to create the prints for the Four Seasons is a form of nature printing, described by Gogmagog Press bibliographer David Chambers as "embossed reverse/direct offset" printing. The tradition of nature printing, originating in the eighteenth century, is given "added life by being printed offset, with all the implications that this involved." He writes that "having an uneven surface, the blocks had to be impressed on to (and into) the offset sheet, from which the image was then transferred to the paper" (21).

This process required many steps. The blocks themselves are made of plywood with a layer of cardboard on top, and each is approximately thirty inches long by six inches in height. Natural materials, including seeds, leaves, and twigs, were added to the blocks along with gesso, creating a highly textured surface. These natural elements were then varnished for strength. Using an adapted office copying press, Cox would hand-ink the blocks and and transfer the ink onto a flexible offset-sheet of his own devising, made of plastic mounted on thin sheet rubber. The block was then wiped clean, and additional colors were added to the offset-sheet in stages. Once Cox was satisfied with the image, it was finally printed from the offset-sheet to the paper. The printing blocks still retain traces of the various colors of ink used in the prints.

Chambers writes that "Cox's way of making and using an offset-sheet... was the essence of his work. Its merit was that it enabled him to build up the surface of his blocks with almost any materials and, despite their irregularity, print them successfully" (17). The flexible rubber backing of the offset-sheet "enabled impressions to be taken from comparatively rough blocks," and "also allowed embossed prints to be made, since the block could be left in place when the image had been created, and the paper laid on top of it, so that the rubber-backed plastic forced the paper into the hollows of the block at the same time as it transferred the image to the surface of the paper" (19). The prints in the Four Seasons books are highly embossed with the shapes of the leaves and other natural materials affixed to the blocks, showing this technique at its best.

Each of the books of the Four Seasons begins with a poem by Cox, followed by three prints that have been seamlessly joined together into a panoramic strip, and then folded to create nine double-page openings. This creates a sense of continuity and progression throughout the book: the changing seasons appear in flowing images with delicate natural forms and subtle hues. Twigs and leaves in the blocks become trees and bushes in the prints, seeds become stones, flowers, and fruit. It is illuminating to compare the prints in the books with the blocks that were used to create them, giving the viewer a glimpse into the artist's creative process.

For more information on the printing blocks and other works by Morris Cox, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week. Additional information found in Gogmagog: Morris Cox & The Gogmagog Press, by David Chambers, Colin Franklin, and Alan Tucker. Published 1991 in Pinner, England by the Private Libraries Association.

The Death, by Embarrassment, of a Great American Novelist

2012-02-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

This letter always makes me laugh and offers an intimate glimpse into theworkings of John Steinbeck's sense of humor:

Page 1 of 13

It is an unpublished letter written by John Steinbeck on August 4, 1964 and addressed to his personal assistant, Nancy Pearson. It is accompanied by a reprint of “A Writer’s Credo,” Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and a printed letter from Steinbeck. The reprint and the letter are the reason for this 13-page letter, written in pencil on legal-sized yellow lined paper. Apparently, the reprint and printed letter were sent as mementos to those he met while on a tour of the Soviet Union in lieu of personalized correspondence. However, Steinbeck writes, "I should have known better ... Every person rushed to the local paper and demanded that his unique letter be printed. Then discovering that his or her letter was not unique, they all felt cheated.”

The remainder of Steinbeck’s letter sets out his strategy for attempting to deal with this gaffe and perhaps restore his reputation with his Russian friends. Noting that “The Russians do have a wonderful sense of humor, particularly if the joke is on someone else,” he asks Pearson to address a letter to Khrushchev’s son-in-law, Alexei Adzhubei, who headed the Soviet news agency, explaining, in a humorous way, what happened and asking him to distribute the story to all the major news outlets in the Soviet Union.

The offending document

He then asks Pearson to draft a letter to a contact in the Writer’s Union, "Al Poltorastsky" [Oleksii Poltorats'kyi] that should read as follows:

Dear Mr. Poltorascal [the name is spelled thus throughout the letter; possibly a pun on Poltorasts'kyi's name, Polto + rascal]:

As a friend and associate of Mr. John Steinbeck, I was present at the time of his passing. Since in extremis, your name was often on his lips, I am sure he would want you to know of his last moments.

When Mr. Steinbeck began to fail, very like a chicken with the soup, specialists were called in and to a man they diagnosed the sickness as embarrassment for which there is no cure. As the sickness approached its climax, the patient went into coma and in that state talked a great deal. I took down some of the things he said over and over.

"Poltorascal could have saved me," he repeated. "The noble Poltorascal, defender of Stalingrad, the Phoenix of Kiev, destroyer of mothers in law, my old comrade in arms, veteran and "ancient camel" of the battles of Borodin, Sebastopol, Lepanto and Pepper Vodka, he could have saved me. Why did he desert me. Didn't I laugh at his jokes? Didn't I prepare sex movies for him in Times Square? Oh! great Poltorascal, why did you desert me in my weakness and confusion? Why did you reject me with the virus of embarrassment? Why did you not invent an explanation like the excuse you use for not shooting your own mother in law."

Sir, there was much more in this vein. But then as the climax approached and the death struggle began, our friend seemed to explode with rage. He rose up in bed. His eyes glared with terrible anger and accusation. He pointed a finger like a bayonet and his voice became that of Boris Gudonov. He cried - "I know. Now at last I know. You are no Ukranian. You are a Nigerian, a Byleo russian, a Texan but you are no Kievian. That is the explanation. A man of Kiev would not desert his friend on the field of honor."

For several moments he breathed heavily and it was apparent that he was going. Then he said so softly that I had to bend close - "Poltorascal," he whispered "When we meet in Elysium, your anecdotes will have to be pretty damned funny before I will laugh."

And with that, he entered the ages. I tell you all this not to accuse you but only to inform you.

Yours very truly,
Nancy Pearson
(Sec'ty to the very late John Steinbeck)

Page 13

Steinbeck's letter to Pearson continues for another nine pages, closing by saying, "The reason you have had no more copy is that I am engaged in urgent work which is only slightly less top secret than atomic weapons, and I hope is more destructive."

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into Steinbeck's life (and death) as much as I did. For more information about the other contents of the letter, see our website.

An Album of the Twelve Zodiacal Signs

2012-01-30T14:57:00.002-05:00

Celebrating the Year of the Dragon

Seiho Junishi Jo (An Album of the Twelve Zodiacal Signs by Seiho). Kyoto, Geisodo Yamada Naosaburo, 1911.

Featured Item of the Week: Works by Gunnar Kaldewey

2012-01-27T17:04:00.000-05:00


Changing Waters. Part 1: The Hudson

Instead of having a single featured item this week, we have chosen to highlight the renowned publisher and book artist Gunnar Kaldewey, who printed his 75th artist book, titled "AT 75," this past year.

Asia America Europe

Kaldewey and the Bromers have had a long relationship. Kaldewey began his career as an antiquarian bookseller based in Germany and New York, but found his true calling as a printer and publisher. He has been producing unusual, often multi-media artist's books at his studio in Poestenkill, NY since the mid-1980s. In 1987, he designed a catalog for us showcasing a collection of miniature books in designer bindings, which garnered a certificate of merit from the Printing Industries of America's 1988 Graphic Arts Awards Competition.

Kaldewey's books often employ unusual typography, layers of various kinds of hand-made paper, and unconventional shapes and bindings. Asia America Europe (1994) explores three extremely tall buildings, one on each of the continents: The Longhua Pagoda of China, the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. In order to convey the sense of height, Kaldewey silk screened images of the buildings onto separate, hanging scrolls that can be unrolled alongside the text.

In an article about an exhibition of Kaldewey's work at Harvard's Houghton Library in 1990, Anne Anninger, former Curator of Graphic Arts, is quoted as saying that Kaldewey combines the tradition of the livre d'artiste, or artists' book, with fine letterpress printing. In doing so, "he creates a tension between the traditional mode and the very experimental mode," resulting in "something very handsome and exciting." In addition, many of his works incorporate sound recordings, creating a complete, multi-sensory experience. In The Desert (1987), seven black & white etchings of desert landscapes are accompanied by two tapes: one a recording of the sounds of the desert during the day, and the other of the desert at night (view a video of this book here). Kaldewey also recreated the atmosphere of a Japanese pachinko parlor in his book Pachinko: A Nine Minute Dream (1999), a video of which is included below.

Other works by Kaldewey focus more on the tactile experience of the book. In Insect Musicians (2001), each printed page is separated by a soft, transparent paper "netting" flecked with gold and silver leaf, which is decorated with little insects printed in black and brushstrokes of green and yellow. These "netting" pages layer over the text pages with a beautiful delicacy, allowing the text to become part of the illustration. A video of the book can be viewed at the bottom of the page. Using a different approach, Kaldewey brings together subject and form in Dreams of a Butterfly (1995), which, when opened, takes on the shape of the butterfly. Bun-Ching Lam, Kaldewey's partner, did the Chinese calligraphy and English translation of the text, which was written by the fourth-century Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu.

Dreams of a Butterfly

For more information about these items and other works by Gunnar Kaldewey, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing more of our hidden treasures with you next week.

Bromers Endow the Boston Athenæum’s Curatorship of Rare Books and Manuscripts

2012-01-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

From the Boston Athenaeum's press release:

(Boston, Massachusetts, January 25, 2012): Anne C. and David J. Bromer have made an important gift to endow the Anne C. and David J. Bromer Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Boston Athenaeum, the Athenæum announced today.

The Bromers are the proprietors of Bromer Booksellers, specializing in aesthetically significant rare books, located in Copley Square since 1980. They are noted authorities in such specialties as private press books, “fore-edge” painting, one-of-a-kind fine binding designs, early children’s books, and miniature books. Anne studied Library Science at Simmons College, and David holds three degrees, including a Ph.D., from MIT. They are longtime supporters of the Boston Athenæum.

“The Bromers are among the lucky few who found a way to turn a great passion into a successful business as well as an avocation and a scholarly pursuit,” commented Paula D. Matthews, the Boston Athenæum’s Stanford Calderwood Director and Librarian. “Their love, nurtured since their student days, has included a wide-eyed appreciation of the joys of books as physical objects and a deep empathy for the sensuous beauty books possess at their finest.”

L to R: David J. Bromer, Anne C. Bromer, Stanley Ellis Cushing. Photo: Megan Manton.

The first Bromer Curator will be Stanley Ellis Cushing, current curator of rare books and manuscripts and a staff member of the Boston Athenæum since 1971. Cushing isthe organizer of the exhibition, “Artists’ Books, Books by Artists,” which is on view in the Athenæum’s Norma Jean Calderwood Gallery until March.

“The Bromers’ gift and the appointment represent a true confluence of sympathies,” Matthews continued, “for the book as a magical thing with inks, textures, bindings, materials, and physical dimensions as well as words and pictures.

“Historically, most libraries have been the property of something larger: a private collector, a book-loving monarch, a government, school, or other larger institution, and subject to changes in their budgets, priorities, and tastes. Gifts like the Bromers help keep the Boston Athenæum independent, able to preserve its values and collections for generation after generation.”

“We are so honored to endow the Curatorship of Rare Books and Manuscripts, now and evermore,” said the Bromers. “That Stanley should be the present curator gives us even more pleasure. Books are more than just information. We feel the future of rare books, of books as beautiful objects, is with book-loving institutions like the Boston Athenæum. That future is in good hands with Stanley and Paula.”

“Our gift is a perfect fit with our interests in rare books and in the values and focus of the Boston Athenæum. It is also a way to honor the legacy of a half century of conducting a rare book business in our home city of Boston.”

Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenæum is Boston’s first cultural institution. Information about membership, programs, and hours can be found at www.bostonathenaeum.org.

E-catalogue 19: Oddballs

2012-01-24T11:08:00.002-05:00

Odd is interesting. Not only is this true in human society, in which the eccentric and extraordinary are examined as objects of curiosity, but it is especially true of the vehicles for human expression. The items found within our eccentric gathering work just a little harder than their straightforward counterparts in trying to gain our attention. Witness, for instance, the set of erotic porcelain lithophanes or the zoetrope, which seem odd to us now, but were some of the only forms of entertainment available to a world without electricity; or the book that lent its title to this catalogue - a beautifully printed and illustrated work by the Heavenly Monkey press on those characters from history whose personalities and antics keep us from averting our collective eyes.

We hope you enjoy our odd little e-catalogue and look forward to hearing from you.

Featured Item of the Week: Zoetrope, "The Wheel of Life"

2012-01-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

In honor of our latest E-catalogue, Oddballs, this week's featured item is an object that often elicits curiosity from those who visit our shop: the zoetrope. This nineteenth-century optical toy was a popular form of entertainment before the advent of cinema and television, and still continues to fascinate viewers today.

Our zoetrope, titled "The Wheel of Life," was produced by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company around the 1870s. The first modern zoetrope was designed by W. G. Horner in Bristol, England in 1833. He called it a "Daedalum," after the inventor and architect of Greek mythology, Daedalus. Zoetropes gained popularity around 1860 when the concept was patented in France, and then spread to the United States, where they were patented by Milton Bradley.

Along with flip books and thaumatropes, the zoetrope was a step towards the development of film and television. The zoetrope is comprised of a metal drum with evenly-spaced slots all around it. The drum is mounted on a spindle on a wooden base, which allows it to spin freely. The slots on the side of the zoetrope create a stroboscopic effect, in a similar manner to the shutter of a movie projector. The viewer looks through the slots while spinning the drum, creating the illusion of animation or continuous motion. This sense of movement is created by an optical illusion known as the Phi Phenomenon: the brain creates relationships between images seen close together and fills in the gaps, allowing us to perceive smooth, constant movement instead of a sequence of images.

As Blair Whitton writes in his book Paper Toys of the World, "The variety of designs of figures and animals that were produced for the zoetrope strips are a fascinating study in themselves. Some display the movements of dancers, jugglers, circus performers, boxers, all with a comic theme." Our zoetrope includes fourteen color-printed strips depicting silhouette figures (both human and animal) performing acrobatic feats: a dog catches a ball in its mouth, a gymnast does flips, and a frog juggles a ball on its hind legs. A few of the strips, one of which can be seen in the video below, feature stereotypical depictions of blackface characters, evoking minstrelsy as part of the theme of entertainment. Also included are four rare round sheets for the bottom of the drum, which are printed or hand-colored with bright, kaleidoscopic, carnival-inspired designs.

If you cannot come and visit us in Boston to experience the zoetrope for yourself, give it a virtual whirl by clicking on the video below. For more information on the zoetrope and our other optical and paper toys, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

Featured Item of the Week: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with an original drawing by Arthur Rackham

2012-01-13T15:42:00.000-05:00

As many of you may know, we recently released an e-catalogue dedicated to the work of Arthur Rackham, one of the most prolific illustrators of the early twentieth century. One of the items included is a deluxe copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a signed drawing on the limitation page. Rackham books with original drawings are fairly uncommon, and the fact that this title is the only one that Rackham did not sign in the deluxe issue in his lifetime makes this copy especially rare.

As an illustrator, Rackham was a perfectionist who paid careful attention to every detail of his commissions. However, a lighter side of the artist is revealed in the freehand illustrations that he occasionally made on the flyleaves of his books. These were often done at the request of a fan, or for a special presentation copy. According to James Hamilton's biography of the artist, "[Rackham] would willingly make flyleaf illustrations for owners of his books, making it clear that he was to be entirely free to do whatever suggested itself to him." The drawings are almost always lighthearted and humorous, done in a loose, freehand style. Rackham explains that this was because "the nature of the paper is such that there can be no preparatory drawing and no alterations," freeing him to create something spontaneous and whimsical: "a jeu d'esprit," as he describes it (Hamilton, p. 156).

For the drawing in our copy of Alice, Rackham drew inspiration from his illustration of Alice's encounter with the caterpillar. In the book illustration, the Caterpillar tranquilly offers his advice while Alice listens politely. However, in the watercolor sketch Rackham chose to depict Alice and the Caterpillar in the midst of an earnest, animated discussion.

Hamilton notes that Rackham took a lot of care with these small "commissions." Alice was apparently a very difficult title to decorate in this manner: Hamilton cites a letter in which Rackham explains to a client how the particular paper used for this title immediately soaked up even the slightest touch of moisture, like blotting paper, causing the paper to lose its shape a little and the ink to dry a different color than originally intended. Nonetheless, the drawing in our copy of Alice still perfectly captures the pink flowers on Alice's dress and the caterpillar's green hue.

For more information on this item, and about other works by Arthur Rackham, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

My Tiny Alphabet Book in The Microbibliophile

2012-01-12T16:38:00.000-05:00

An article written by our very own Shannon Struble appeared in the January issue of The Microbibliophile, a bimonthly journal about miniature books and the book arts. The full text of the article, discussing Bryce's My Tiny Alphabet Book, appears below. We hope you enjoy it!

LouisBondy wrote of David Bryce: “His contribution to the totality of miniaturebooks has been of the greatest significance and we do not hesitate to describethe Glasgow publisher as a giant towering over the world of dwarf books” (p.116). Bryce published miniature books on a variety of topics, includinglanguage, religion, literature, the sciences, and more. When one thinks of thepublishing house of David Bryce and Son, what comes to mind is usually his“Smallest Bible in the World,” set of Shakespeare, Koran, or even hisScotland-themed books, such as the Burns’ Family Bible. What is not so wellknown and does not fit so easily with Bryce’s other miniature publications isthe children’s book My Tiny Alphabet Book(1 1/8 by 7/8 inches), issued around 1900.

Asthe title suggests, it is an ABC book containing two separate alphabets, “TinyAlphabet of Animals” and “Tiny Alphabet of Birds,” each with its own title pageand followed by a page of numeric figures and arithmetic problems. Bothalphabets are delightfully illustrated with pictures of representative animalsand birds, 52 in total, and printed using color lithography. Bromer and Edisonnote that this volume “held the distinction of being the smallest book printedin color to that time” (p. 131).

Unlikemany Bryce publications, which were usually reduced versions of larger works,Spielmann indicates that My Tiny AlphabetBook was created specifically to appear in miniature format (no. 489).Bryce advertised the book as part of the Mite Series, and it was listed in thecontents of Bryce’s Bijou Bookcase, along with other volumes from the Mite,Thumb, and Pearl Series. There is some variation of bindings, but the onedescribed most often is gilt-stamped red leather, often with an advertisementfor Mellins Food on the lower cover. Some copies have a boy and a girl holdingABC books within the title “My Tiny Alphabet Book” on the front cover, whileBondy notes that others “show a horse and a bird in flight on both covers” (p.72). The version examined for this article is bound in black leather with onlythe boy and the girl stamped in gilt on the front cover.

Brycepublished additional books for children, but no others that fit the standarddefinition of a miniature book, that is, measuring less than three inches. Inaddition to a collection of folklore aimed at children that was just over threeinches tall, Bryce issued religious and moral tracts and instructional texts,all between 24mo and octavo in size. It is unclear how popular My Tiny Alphabet Book was with children;however, if there is one thing small people seem to consistently like, it isother small things, including books. Even when they are not able to read them,or when they are just starting to learn their ABCs, children like to hold tinybooks in their hands, look at the text, and especially look at theillustrations. Perhaps it is a sense of shared affinity, as if the miniaturebooks were made just for them, or the novelty of interacting with something ontheir scale in a world sized to adults, but children seem to connect withminiature books on a level that they might not experience with full-sizedbooks. For this reason, it makes sense that publishers like David Bryce and Sonwould produce miniature, or near-miniature, books especially for children, andthat those books would be read and well-loved by the young minds for which theywere produced.

MyTiny Alphabet Book.Glasgow, David Bryce and Son, (c. 1900). Top edge shows one spot of wear, elsea fine copy. A.e.g. $650

References:Bromer, Anne and Julian Edison. Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of TinyTreasures (New York: Abrams, 2007), 131; Bondy, Louis W. MiniatureBooks: Their History from the Beginnings to the Present Day (London:Sheppard Press, 1981), 72, 116; Spielmann, Percy Edwin. Catalogue of theLibrary of Miniature Books (London: Edward Arnold, 1961), 489; David Brycecatalogue, c. 1912.

Our thanks to Jim Brogan for permission to post this article here. The Microbibliophile is an excellent journal that publishes news about miniature books, miniature book publishers, and the book arts and related events. It is available from Mr. Brogan for a yearly subscription of $36 (in the US) or $7 for a single issue.

E-catalogue 18: The Godfather of Fantasy Illustrators

2012-01-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

Arthur Rackham was perhaps themost prolific book illustrator of the first half of the twentieth century.Beginning with The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch in 1896, for which hecontributed forty line drawings, Rackham illustrated over thirty-five works inthe course of a career that spanned over fifty years. Among the works for whichhe is best-known is Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- the first edition of thisbook to appear with illustrations other than those of John Tenniel. The deluxeedition is unusual in that it was never signed by Rackham; our copy is not onlysigned, it contains an original drawing of Alice and the Caterpillar.

We invite you to have a look at our select groupof books featuring illustrations by Arthur Rackham that are the focus of this catalogue.

Featured Item of the Week: Ebru Papers by Hikmet Barutçugil

2012-01-06T16:22:00.001-05:00

This week, as we begin what is traditionally one of the coldest months of the year in Boston, I would like to share a hint of spring. We have a small selection of colorful Ebru papers from Turkey by one of country's leading contemporary artists, Hikmet Barutçugil. Two examples, titled "Efsun Çiçegi" (Enchanting Beauty Flowers), are part of his series "Efsun Flowers," which was inspired by his wife, Füsun Hanim. This particular style of Ebru is known as Necmeddin Ebru, or "Flowery Ebru," was developed in the 20th century and is named after its creator, master marbler Necmeddin Okyay. Drawing on this tradition, Barutçugil developed his own technique for creating flowers within his marbled patterns.

Ebru, or marbling, is one of the oldest arts in Turkey. The earliest example found, thought to be from 1447, is held in the Palace of Topkapı. The art form traces its origins to Iran, and the name Ebru has its roots in the Persian words "Abru," meaning the surface of water, and "Ebri," which means cloud. To create Ebru, colors are floated on the surface of water thickened with sizing. Patterns can be created by dropping mineral pigment dyes onto the sizing, or by manipulating the colors using rakes, combs, or brushes in order to create intricate designs (view a video of this process here).

In contrast to Western paper marbling, which is used primarily in book binding and design, Ebru was often used as a background for calligraphy and can be considered high art. Ever since its fifteenth-century beginnings, artists in Turkey (and around the world) have experimented with Ebru marbling in order to create increasingly complex designs, which are works of art in their own right.

Hikmet Barutçugil has turned his historic Turkish mansion into a workshop and cultural center, using the house itself to showcase his art. Everything, from the draperies and decorations to the ceiling tiles, is marbled, highlighting the versatility and beauty of Ebru. In this inspirational environment, Barutçugil offers classes in Ebru and other traditional Turkish-Islamic arts in order to perpetuate and renew these arts for future generations.

To view other examples of Ebru marbling, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

Featured Item of the Week: Calendars

2011-12-30T10:25:00.000-05:00

New Year's is traditionally a time to look forward, and also to reflect on the past. In the spirit of the holiday, we would like to highlight four calendars from our stock, from very different time periods: A 1969 wall calendar commemorating the African American Civil Rights Movement with bold prints, a calendar of color woodcut illustrations published by the leading art journal of the Vienna Secession in 1903, an ornate Renaissance-inspired Italian calendar from 1899 accompanied by the original pen and watercolor drawings, and a luxurious embroidered almanack from 1792 small enough to be tucked in one's pocket.

The German artist Hans Christoph Schmolck created this calendar as a tribute to the African American Civil Rights Movement, titled Black Power: 1969, in 1968. Each month is illustrated with two pages of signed prints celebrating the African-American Civil Rights Movement: one with the name of the month in English, and the other in German. The English pages bear black & white prints of shadowy figures reminiscent of collages, and the German pages have large, bold linoleum cuts accented with color. The powerful images express rage, fear, pain, and strength, and many reference specific events, including the Orangeburg Massacre in February, 1968 and the Newark Riots of 1967. Several important figures are also depicted: April's linoleum cut is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., with the date of his assassination. The calendars list the dates in a vertical format, so that it can be used in any year; the artist writes on his website, "This calendar is perpetual as long as misanthropy and violence dominate the world."

Another calendar remarkable for its illustrations is the Ver Sacrum Kalender 1903, which has thirteen bright color woodcuts from various artists, including Karl Müller, Wilhelm List, and Max Kurzweil. The calendars and decorative borders were designed by Alfred Roller, whose lettering was a major influence on the psychedelic poster art of the 1960s. Ver Sacrum was the major publication of the Vienna Secession movement, a group of artists who banded together in Vienna at the turn of the century to challenge what they saw as the conservative, academic bent of the city's art establishment. The magazine was published from 1898 to 1903 and produced a calendar each year. This is the last calendar in the series.

This pre-Raphaelite example, Calendario dell'Anno, 1899, provides insight into how the artwork for a calendar was created: the finished, printed calendar is accompanied by twenty-one of Giuseppe Cellini's original watercolor and ink drawings, of which three were not used, and one is a duplicate.The printed calendar is illustrated with seventeen chromolithographed plates, which accompany a series of musical arrangements by Salvatore Saya, with lyrics by the Italian poet Ugo Fleres. In the original art, the panels for the months of the year have, in almost all cases, placeholder text handwritten by the artist that was replaced by type in the final version. These intricate calendar illustrations also clearly demonstrate the sway that the Renaissance aesthetic had on the Arts & Crafts movement, with elaborate floral and foliate designs, initials decorated with interlacing, and symbols for each sign of the zodiac, all in regal shades of red, blue, green, and gold.

This deluxe, near-miniature almanack from 1792, Cupidon Logicens ou les Pedagoges, a Cythere, is notable not only for its thirteen hand-colored engravings, but also for its richly embroidered binding. In a time before iPhones and BlackBerrys, almanacks were used to keep track of dates and appointments. Not merely calendars, they also include tables of useful information such as holidays, currency exchange rates, and the phases of the moon. In addition to the usual contents of an almanac, this tome contains tales of love told in rhyming verse and an acrostic poem based on the name "Sophie." Its lovely white satin embroidered binding with floral motifs in gold thread with sequins and metal plaquettes was intended to convey the status and sophistication of the book's owner.

For more information on these items, and several other almanacks and calendars, please visit our website. Thank you for reading, and all of us at Bromer Booksellers wish you a very happy New Year.

Featured Item of the Week: Ubu Roi

2011-12-16T17:45:00.003-05:00

One of our most unusual items is a copy of Alfred Jarry's surrealist play Ubu Roi: Drame en Cinq Actes, notable not only for its illustrations by the Chilean expressionist artist Roberto Sebastian Matta, but also for its bold designer binding by Georges Leroux. The book is accompanied by a reproduction of a 1950s Japanese toy robot, which served the inspiration for Leroux's design. Leroux chose to depict Father and Mother Ubu, the drama's main characters, as robots sculpted in relief on the front and rear covers, set against a background of bright vermilion calf. He incorporated a series of gears, springs, and clock wheels into the chest cavities of both figures, and added multi-colored wires, metal widgets, sheet plastic, and marbles. One of Father Ubu's most striking features is that his holographic eyes appear to spin in his head.

In The Art of Contemporary Bookbinding, Jan Van Der Marck writes, "Attracted to the incongruous, like the Surrealists, Leroux indulges his love of tinkering by analyzing, dissecting, and reproducing the most salient imagery and features of a given text and illustration," often using irony and "tongue-in-cheek visual rhymes." For Ubu Roi, he drew on Matta's bold color palette, and the spiral clock spring inside of Father Ubu's chest plays on the characteristic, distinctive spiral designs used both in Matta's illustrations and in Jarry's original depiction of the greedy ruler.

For more information and images of Matta's illustrations, please visit our website.

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing another of our favorite items with you next week.

E-catalogue 17: Remembering Christmas

2011-12-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

For our latest e-catalogue, we are remembering Christmas by highlighting materials that speak to the spiritual and communal nature of the coming Christian holiday. Certainly, the Bible is key to this, and so we have included a copy of Officina Bodoni's Gospels inscribed by Pope Paul VI, as well as a number of miniature Bibles and Psalters. In remembering Christmas, it is also important to recall the magic of the season as experienced by children: a wonder that can be found in the unfolding of an elaborate nineteenth-century pop-up Christmas card or a set of Dutton's chromolithographed Christmas Box Series in their original box labeled "To All Good Boys and Girls."

View the e-catalogue here.

More from the Boston Book Fair

2011-12-16T11:03:00.002-05:00

Check out a video from the 35th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, held this past November.

E-catalogue 16: Bound to be Enjoyed

2011-12-09T12:55:00.003-05:00

Our E-catalogue 16: Bound to be Enjoyed offers a choice selection of books attractively bound in leather. The books listed here represent all our specialty areas: from the first edition of Gay's fables to be illustrated by Thomas Bewick, to the earliest presentation copies of Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Revisited, to a miniature manuscript of FDR's inaugural address. All are in fine collector's condition; any one would make a welcome addition to the library of the discerning bibliophile on your gift list. View the e-catalogue here or visit our website for more information.

Miniature Books in Chronicle of Higher Education

2011-12-05T12:59:00.001-05:00

Anne Bromer and Julian Edison's beautifully presented book on miniature books, Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures, was featured in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, found here.

A deluxe edition of the book is available for sale on our website, a rare opportunity from an edition of 250 copies that sold out before the book was published. Each copy is signed by the authors and includes a facsimile of the book in miniature format, together in a specially designed slipcase. It is an award-winning design, having taken first place in the Gift Book category at the prestigious New York Book Show in March 2008. "[The] miniature book was a perfect touch," the judges commented. "Beautiful reproductions [and a] well executed, special slipcase."

For more information, see our website or contact us directly.

Featured Item of the Week: Culinaria by Laura Davidson

2011-12-01T17:52:00.000-05:00

After a brief hiatus, our featured item of the week is back again. This week, I've selected a book by a local Boston artist, Laura Davidson. Davidson's Culinaria is a collection of eleven drypoint etchings of practical kitchen utensils, including a whisk, corkscrew, and masher, delicately colored with ink washes. The illustrations are bound in brushed stainless steel covers, which have a brass-colored metal spatula attached to the front with small, strong magnets. The spine is a pink, white and green floral, vintage-style cloth, reminiscent of 1940s feed-sack prints. Davidson also made the cheerful, pink-checkered endpapers using original linoleum prints of knives, spoons, forks, and measuring cups.

Davidson is known for her tunnel books depicting some of her favorite places, from Fenway Park to Boston's Fort Point neighborhood, where she lives and works. Her work is currently on display at the Boston Athenaeum, as part of their exhibition of the outstanding artist's books in their collection, which was funded in part by Anne & David Bromer.

For more information, please visit our website or contact us. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to sharing another item with you next week.

Featured Item of the Week: Ett Hem

2011-11-04T14:15:00.000-04:00

As many of you may have heard, we recently acquired a large private collection of deluxe illustrated children’s books from the late 19^th and early 20^th century. In addition to works by Arthur Rackham, Alastair, and Dulac, the collection includes several large, oblong books by the Swedish illustrator Carl Larsson. One that particularly caught my eye was Ett Hem (A Home), an album of watercolors of Lilla Hyttnäs, Larsson’s cottage in Sundborn, Sweden.

Ett Hem was Larsson's second book. Due to its numerous large, full-color illustrations, this first edition of Ett Hem, published by the Swedish firm Bonniers, was only produced in a very small, expensive print run. As such, they are now uncommon. However, a German version of the book published in 1909 became an instant bestseller and brought the Larssons international recognition.

In the introduction to Ett Hem, Larsson describes how this country cottage gave him a sense of peace and seclusion that he had previously only felt while he was in the French countryside, where he spent time in an artists’ colony. Larsson’s father-in-law gave him the cottage in 1888, and he and his wife, Karin, immediately set about transforming it into their dream home. He writes that he wanted his home to be decorated exactly according to his taste, with every detail just right, otherwise he wouldn’t be happy and his work would suffer.

The results of this labor of love are documented in Ett Hem, which was published just over ten years later. The illustrations reveal a home that is practically a work of art in itself, and yet, is cozy, comfortable, and lovingly lived-in. In a painting of the living room, the family dog naps on a rumpled rug and newspaper pages are strewn on the sofa. The artist’s own studio is filled with orderly clutter: canvases in various states and rolls of fabric lean against the wall, and his work table is covered with papers, boxes of paint, and vases of fresh wildflowers. The Larssons’ home celebrates an Arts and Crafts-inspired handmade aesthetic, decorated throughout with bright murals and artwork on the walls, cheerful, homemade blue-striped slipcovers on hand-me-down furniture, and bold textiles designed, woven, embroidered, and printed by Karin, who also had a background in art. Larsson’s watercolors pay tribute not only to the cottage itself, but to his family (who appear in many of the illustrations, going about their daily activities), and the landscape and community surrounding them.

In a profile of the artist's home, Anna Hoffman, of Apartment Therapy, writes, "The Larssons' aesthetic owed a lot to the writings of William Morris, who also espoused a return to simplicity, to handcraft and to natural beauty. These qualities not only helped define the direction of Scandinavian design in the 20th century, but is still deeply influential today." Lilla Hyttnäs is now a museum, preserved as an example of ground-breaking Swedish interior design. The cottage still looks almost exactly as it was depicted in Carl Larsson's watercolors. However, Ett Hem captures something that no museum ever could: what everyday life was like for the artist and his family at home.

For more information on this book, please visit our website.

War and Innocence

2011-11-03T10:54:00.005-04:00

One of the reasons the Iliad and Odyssey continue to be relevant after 4000 years is because they depict the lengthy, fraught process of going to and returning from war. It is a process, to be sure: from the moment Iphigenia is sacrificed (all part of a mythology with which Homer's audience would have been familiar), the innocence of that society was lost. Achilles, he of the legendary brooding and rage, knew he could not return to life before; and Odysseus had to undergo a gradual shedding of his war-time instincts (his "dissembling") in order to reclaim his home and family.

Among the beautiful and significant illustrated books and other works that comprise our latest printed catalogue, there is a four-page letter with a drawing that was sent by a young soldier to an eight-year-old girl from western Massachusetts. The letter was sent in response to a care package that Agnes Isabelle Munson sent through her church in South Deerfield. Charles Kauffman, a soldier with the 2nd Heavy Artillery, 112th Pennsylvania Regiment, reveals in this letter that he had been serving in the Union army since the age of fifteen. And although Kauffman assures his reader that he was "not sick or wonded" (sic), he does describe the war as cruel, and his depictions of captured confederate soldiers indicate that he had grown up tremendously during his two-year enlistment.

When I spotted this letter at an antiques show over the summer, I did not immediately think of the siege of Troy, but because these works held such a prominent place in my literary background this may have been what compelled me to purchase it. This letter, written by a seventeen-year-old Union soldier just two months before the surrender at Appomatox, with its naive and strangely compelling drawing of a girl or young woman holding a rabbit, is nothing less than an act of rejoining society.

Announcing a New Catalogue

2011-11-01T11:32:00.000-04:00

Catalogue 137, with a selection of deluxe illustrated children's books from a recently acquired private collection, contains fifty-two items, including a copy of Arthur Rackham's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with an original ink and watercolor drawing; an extraordinary illuminated manuscript on vellum of The Song of Songs, from the collection of a prominent Talmudic scholar; a powerful German linocut calendar from 1969 that pays tribute to the African-American Civil Rights Movement; and much more.

Printed in full color, copies are available upon request, via email, phone, or mail. A PDF version, with links to item descriptions and photographs, is available on our website. Please let us know if you have any questions, and we hope you enjoy the latest offering from Bromer Booksellers!

Bromer Booksellers on boston.com

2011-10-31T12:27:00.000-04:00

Boston-area booksellers, including Bromer Booksellers, were featured in a recent piece by the Boston Globe, found here.

Featured Item of the Week: Oddballs

2011-10-27T17:16:00.001-04:00

Our much-anticipated copy of Heavenly Monkey’s latest publication, Oddballs, by Jim Westergard, arrived last week. Upon unwrapping the book, we were immediately drawn in by the quirky biographical sketches and humorous wood-engraved portraits of people who were “quietly or outlandishly out of the ordinary.”

On the Heavenly Monkey Blog, Rollin Millroy mentions how it was fun flipping through the book with customers at the Seattle Book Fair, “watching reactions and seeing how different oddballs stood out to different people.” In the same spirit, and after much debate, Phil, Shannon and I have chosen our own favorite oddballs:

Phil was drawn to the reclusive and eccentric brothers Homer & Langley Collyer (p. 34), who lived and died among the 140 tons of hoarded materials that they accumulated over decades in their three-story Harlem brownstone. These included years of newspapers that Langley claimed to be saving for the day when his brother Homer, who was blind, regained his sight. Langely was eventually done in by one of the booby traps that he had set up to guard against break-ins, while trying to reach his brother by tunneling through the refuse. While he hopes to avoid their fate, Phil nevertheless admires the obsessive focus that defined their oddity, and the touch of irony in their demise.

George Adamski, another Oddball

My oddball of choice has to be Pope Joan (p.72), who, according to Westergard, “deserves the prize for pulling off the grandest hoax.” I first encountered her extraordinary story when cataloging a leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle. In the 10^th century, Joan became the only female pope ever elected (unbeknownst to her electors at the time). As a young, intelligent girl, Joan dressed as a boy in order to obtain an education. After studying in Rome and becoming a priest, she ascended the church hierarchy, finally being named Pope John Anglicus. Legend has it that her true gender was revealed a few years into her reign, when she gave birth to a son while mounting a horse on a street in Rome. After this revelation, she was either killed or confined to a convent, depending on the account. The Nuremberg Chronicle includes a portrait of Pope Joan holding her baby son in her arms, but the portrait was defaced in many copies of the book.

Out of all the oddballs past and present, Shannon’s favorite is the frontispiece self-portrait of the author/artist himself. This portrait alone is worth the price of admission, capturing Westergard’s sense of humor and setting the tone for the rest of the book. In the Foreword, Westergard explains that he collects articles and stories about odd people and situations, which would sometimes become inspiration for prints or drawings.

According to the printer, the book’s glassine wrapper, which has an intricate spiderweb pattern, was only intended to protect the book and was not a deliberate part of its design. We are very fond of this jacket, though, and, like the Collyer brothers, we decided to keep it.

For more information, please check out our website. We hope you enjoyed the first post on our new blog!

Cheers,

Jessica
Cataloger