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Featured books

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(Illuminated Manuscripts) Alexander, Jonathan J. G. THE FARNESE LECTIONARY.
Facsimile with accompanying hardcover commentary Modena Franco Cosimo Panini 2008 folio red velvet binding (silver ferrules, clasp strips and coat of arms), clamshell case 64 pages, 6 plates
One of 550 copies. The majestic liturgical book known as the Lezionario Farnese, produced in Rome shortly after the mid-sixteenth century for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, represents a high point for the art of illumination. Given its size the work is of monumental proportions and the wealth of embellishments, we may consider the Lectionary a codex of exceptional merit. Splendid embellishments By commissioning this truly sumptuous work, Alessandro Farnese brought into being a codex which, for hundreds of years, served as one of the Missals used by the Popes and princes of the Church during the solemnities held at the Sistine Chapel. In its splendid full-page illuminations and wonderful gilded frames adorned with putti, masks and floral motifs we note the influences of the grand art of the Renaissance and, in particular, the work of Michelangelo and Raphael. A widely acclaimed illuminator With its impressive embellishments, the Lezionario Farnese represents one of the masterpieces of Giulio Clovio (1498-1578), the most widely acclaimed illuminator of the late sixteenth century. Clovio was praised by the Florentine historian, Giorgio Vasari, in the second edition of his Lives of the Artists, as the Michelangelo in little. Vasari cites the Farnese Book of Hours and the Lectionary as the most important of the works of Clovio, who, after leaving his native Croatia in 1516, achieved great renown as an illuminator. The Neo-Gothic binding The original binding went missing with the arrival of Napoleons troops. The codex was then re-bound in 1809-1810 in a red velvet Neo-Gothic cover of considerable beauty and refinement (the work of the London binders, Benjamin II and James Smith). We may note the wrought and gilded silver ferrules and clasps and, on the front cover, the polychrome porcelain coats of arms of the Towneley family, the last owners of this work. Patronage The Lectionary was a commission from Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589), the grandson of Pope Paul III Farnese (who ordained Alessandro as cardinal at the age of fourteen). In the early 1540s, Clovio entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, considered by historians the most important patron and connoisseur of the arts of mid-sixteenth century Rome. Clovio served the cardinal for the rest of his life, and bequeathed his fine collection of codices and artworks to his patron.

The Commentary: The work is accompanied by a book with commentary, edited by Jonathan J. Alexander, with writings by Jonathan J. Alexander, Nicholas Barker, Elena Calvillo and Clive Wainwright.

Facsimile with accompanying commentary with clamshell box.
Price: $ 17,500.00 other currencies Order nr. 105362

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(Illuminated Manuscripts) Mulas, Pier Luigi THE TORRIANI BOOK OF HOURS.
Facsimile with accompanying hardcover commentary Modena Franco Cosimo Panini 2009 Large Miniature Bound by hand (gilded silver binding covers and spine), clamshell case 30 pages, 333 pages
One of 980 copies. With its extraordinary binding and highly elaborate illumination work, while very small, this precious Book of Hours must be considered an absolute masterpiece.

The splendid binding The Torriani Book of Hours is just one of a small handful of manuscripts of this period which still have their original bindings. It is therefore an exceedingly rare item. The two binding covers, with their gilded silver filigree work, are adorned with cameos representing Saint Catherine and Saint Lucy. Inside the binding covers, we also find 14 enamel inserts representing the Kiss of Judas, the Way to Calvary and twelve busts of saints. The wealth, luxury and refinement of the times is clearly illustrated by the Torriani Book of Hours, alongside other devotional works of this kind produced by the jewellers workshops of Milan under the House of Sforza.

The refinement of the embellishments Thirty illuminations adorn this small devotional codex for private use. Twelve are Calendar illustrations. For the eighteen Offices of the Virgin we find six full-page illuminations and twelve pages with illuminated initials featuring architectural and floral motifs, putti, birds and rabbits.

A masters workshop The illustrations for the Torriani Hours may be ascribed to the Milanese bottega (workshop) of the master, Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis. This leading workshop operated in full awareness of the latest developments in the field of painting in Lombardy at the close of the fifteenth century, and, in particular, of the art of Leonardo da Vinci (with whom de Predis worked in 1483, on the Virgin of the Rocks). The embellishments of the borders, with their markedly naturalistic representations of animals, jewels and floral sprays, are the work of the young Matteo da Milano one of the leading illuminators of Milan who received commissions from the most important Houses of Renaissance Italy.

Patronage The codex was commissioned by the Milanese Della Torre or Torriani house, an illustrious family of Lombardy which, for some time, ruled over Milan. Further confirmation of the Milanese origin of the work is to be found in the inclusion of certain features such as local saints, in the Calendar, and the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Milans old cathedral, surmounted by a statue of Saint Ambrose (the Patron Saint of Milan). However, the identity of the lady for whom the codex was made, perhaps a lady of the court of Ludovico Sforza, is unknown.

The Commentary: The work is accompanied by a book with commentary, edited by Pier Luigi Mulas, with writings by Marco Collareta, Jean-Baptiste Lebigue and Monica Visioli.

Facsimile is present with the accompanying commentary and a clamshell case.
Price: $ 8,750.00 other currencies Order nr. 105361

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(Papermaking) Hunter, Dard PAPERMAKING IN SOUTHERN SIAM.
(Chillicothe Mountain House Press) 1936 (36) pages + 25 ff with plates and specimens
One of 115 copies, of which only 99 were for sale, printed on Hunter's handmade paper and signed by the author. Hunter was the first Occidental traveler to visit the Niltongkum family, who had been "making paper by hand along the small canals of Southern Siam for more than 200 years [in] ... the most interesting primitive paper manufactory in Asia ... This book not only describes in detail the making of the various kinds of Siamese paper from the bark of the khoi tree ... but also the journey from Singapore to Bangkok through the rubber plantations and jungles of the Malay peninsula." Contains a specimen of khoi bark and Siamese mould cloth, three additional full-page specimens of Siamese paper, as well as photogravures. Bound in quarter-black morocco with vellum tips and paper boards with a continuous design of Buddhas in black, red, and gold. Light wear to extremities, else a fine copy of this lavishly produced and beautiful book. The scarcest of all of Hunter's papermaking books. Small scratch to leather on upper board, with some foxing to frontispiece and some off-setting to page with mounted specimens. From the library of Babette and Herberrt Clayburgh with their bookplate on front pastedown (which has foxed the facing free endpaper). Prospectus loosely inserted. Overall a beautiful copy.
Price: $ 7,500.00 other currencies Order nr. 106994

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(Papermaking) Hunter, Dard A PAPERMAKING PILGRIMAGE TO JAPAN, KOREA AND CHINA.
New York Pynson Printers 1936 4to. half leather, paper-covered boards, slipcase. 148, (4) pages followed by 50 tipped-in specimens of paper.
First edition, limited to 370 numbered copies and signed by Dard Hunter and the designer, Elmer Adler. This landmark book on hand papermaking in these countries was printed on Japanese mulberry-bark handmade paper and contains 68 photogravure illustrations taken by Hunter on his trip. (See Hunter's My Life with Paper, pp.127-129 for further details of the trip). The book describes the trip and the processes of hand papermaking that Hunter discovered during his journey. The specimens show a wide variety of paper from these three countries and tie in nicely with the descriptions of hundreds of different kinds of paper that he had found, as well as the locations where they were produced. Slight wear to leather spine. Slipcase rubbed. Light foxing to some of the specimen pages.
Price: $ 4,000.00 other currencies Order nr. 5296

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Will Be Available Fall 2013

(Whittington Press, The) Randle, John and Patrick POSTERS FROM WHITTINGTON, 1996-2013.
Lower Marston Farm Whittington Press folio half calf and paper covered boards, chemise with ties 25 posters
Limted to 150 copies, of which this is one of 80 copies. In 1995 the Press published A Book of Posters from the Whittington Press, which contained (in the A edition) thirty-five of our posters printed between 1974 and 1995, in the same types and on the same papers as the originals - indeed some of them were from the original printings, as well be a few in this new collection.

At the time, in 1995, the Press had printed some 100 posters, and in the eighteen years since then another 150 have been added to the total, and thirty-five chosen here show off a great variety of typefaces on equally esoteric variety of papers from England (some over a century old), France, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan and Korea. They include illustrations from linocuts, wood-engravings, and in special copies, pochoir, among a dazzling array of the Press' extensive collection of founts.

Whittington Posters are produced as a distraction from more important projects, usually in small editions of 100 or 200 copies, and given away or sold on our open days, but have nevertheless become an important part of the Press' output in helping to spread the message about its activities. By their nature they are occasional and ephemeral, and the only time they will ever come together is in a collection such as this.

Also included in the collection are posters by Tom Mayo and Patrick Randle, which will add a radical note to our normal, more predictable, fare. An article describing the background and development of the Press' posters appeared in Parenthesis 20 (Spring 2011).
Price: $ 1,050.00 other currencies Order nr. 116888

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Will Be Available Fall 2013

(Whittington Press, The) Randle, John and Patrick POSTERS FROM WHITTINGTON, 1996-2013.
Lower Marston Farm Whittington Press folio half calf and paper covered boards, dropback box 35 posters plus additional suite
Limted to 150 copies, of which this is one of 60 copies. In 1995 the Press published A Book of Posters from the Whittington Press, which contained (in the A edition) thirty-five of our posters printed between 1974 and 1995, in the same types and on the same papers as the originals - indeed some of them were from the original printings, as well be a few in this new collection.

At the time, in 1995, the Press had printed some 100 posters, and in the eighteen years since then another 150 have been added to the total, and thirty-five chosen here show off a great variety of typefaces on equally esoteric variety of papers from England (some over a century old), France, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan and Korea. They include illustrations from linocuts, wood-engravings, and in special copies, pochoir, among a dazzling array of the Press' extensive collection of founts.

Whittington Posters are produced as a distraction from more important projects, usually in small editions of 100 or 200 copies, and given away or sold on our open days, but have nevertheless become an important part of the Press' output in helping to spread the message about its activities. By their nature they are occasional and ephemeral, and the only time they will ever come together is in a collection such as this.

Also included in the collection are posters by Tom Mayo and Patrick Randle, which will add a radical note to our normal, more predictable, fare. An article describing the background and development of the Press' posters appeared in Parenthesis 20 (Spring 2011).
Price: $ 1,750.00 other currencies Order nr. 116889

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