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Tag Archives: title page

Book of the week — Kuthan’s Menagerie Completed

18 Monday Apr 2016

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animals, anteater, booksellers, Canada, clamshell, colophon, debossed, endsheets, Felicity Reid, flamingo, folio, George Kuthan, Golden Hind laid paper, Heavenly Monkey, Japanese paper, landscape, linocuts, monkey, Nevermore Press, Paris, peacock, penguin, Perpetua, preface, racoon, Robert Reid, Simone Mynen, St. Armand handmade paper, Stephen Lunsford, title page, University of Prague, University of Utah, Vancouver, Vancouver Zoo, waste sheets, William Hoffer

“In the zoo we see, on a small scale, how different all animals are from each other…We have to live together whether we like it or not.”

NE1336-K87-A4-2003-Penguins

KUTHAN’S MENAGERIE COMPLETED
George Kuthan (1916-1966)
Vancouver: Heavenly Monkey, 2003

Descriptive text about six animals – a raccoon, flamingo, anteater, penguin, monkey and peacock – each representing a different part of the world and each viewed by the artist at the Vancouver Zoo. Illustrated with multi-color linocuts by George Kuthan. Kuthan studied art at the University of Prague and in Paris before he moved to Canada.

Kuthan’s Menagerie of Interesting Zoo Animals was first published in an edition of one hundred and thirty copies by Nevermore Press, a single private enterprise by Robert and Felicity Reid, in 1960. Sixty of these copies were bound in quarter leather and Japanese paper over boards. Kuthan and the binder both died soon after this first publication. The remaining sheets were left unbound and unsold. Vancouver booksellers Stephen Lunsford and William Hoffer bought the unbound copies from the original binder’s estate in the late 1980s.

Heavenly Monkey issued the remaining sheets within a sheet of yellow Japanese paper (which served as the endsheets for the bound edition). New content (a title-page, preface and colophon) was set by hand in 18 pt. Perpetua and printed on blank and waste sheets of the original Golden Hind laid paper. The whole is in an outer wrap of St. Armand handmade paper and housed in a custom clamshell box covered in red Japanese fabric, with printed debossed paper labels, designed and made by Simone Mynen. The work is comprised of sixteen sheets loose, printed landscape on one side and folded folio, plus three sheets of additional matter. Printer Robert Reid explained that the folded sheets helped solve two problems: the translucent quality of the paper and to add to the bulk of the book when bound. Edition of fifty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 7, signed by Robert Reid.

NE1336-K87-A4-2003-Monkeys

NE1336-K87-A4-2003-Raccoon

 

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Book of the Week – Walden; or, Life in the Woods

19 Monday Oct 2015

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American, Baker-Andrew, Boston, engraved, environmentalism, first edition, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), individualism, John G. Chandler, lithography, nature, S. W. Chandler & Bro., Samuel W. Chandler, self-reliance, Sophia E. Thoreau (1819-1876), Ticknor and Fields, title page, vignette, Walden, Walden Pond, wood engraving

PS3048-A1-1854-TitlePageWALDEN; OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854
First edition
PS3048 A1 1854

Embraced today as a precursor of the modern environmentalist movement, Walden is one of the most celebrated examples of American individualism and self-reliance. Thoreau’s writing emphasizes an appreciation of nature for itself rather than as a resource to be exploited – a sharp departure from the prevailing economic and religious views of the period. The engraved plan of Walden Pond inserted at page 307 was drawn by Thoreau, a professional surveyor, and lithographed by S. W. Chandler & Bro. (Samuel W. & John G. Chandler) of Boston. The vignette of Thoreau’s hut on the title-page was engraved in wood by the firm of Baker-Andrew after a sketch by Sophia E. Thoreau (1819-1876), the author’s youngest sister. Sophia adored her brother, encouraging and aiding him during his lifetime and later serving as his literary executor. Unfortunately, as an artist she was not particularly talented. Her sketch has been condemned as a feeble version of the actual structure. Eight pages of publisher’s ads (dated May, 1854) inserted between back endpapers. Original brown vertically-ribbed cloth, stamped in blind, spine ruled in blind and lettered in gilt. Original yellow coated endpapers. Edition of two thousand copies.

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Book of the week – Thomas More

06 Monday Jul 2015

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Act of Succession, Amerigo Vespucci, crime, Francis Bacon, Henry VII, historiated, History of Richard III, imprisonment, Latin, Plato, poverty, Raphael Hythloday, religious intolerance, Republic, Shakespeare, taxation, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas More (1478-1535), title page, Tower of London, treason, University of Utah, Utopia, war, woodcut, woodcut initials, Zangrius


THOMAE MORI ANGLI, VIRI ERVDITIONIS PARTIER AC…
Thomas More (1478-1535)
Lovanij: Apud Petrum Zangrium Tiletanum, sub fonte, Anno 1566
PA8553 A2 1566

This collection of Thomas More’s works includes the original Latin text of Utopia and is likely the fourth Latin printing of the work. It also includes History of Richard III, on which Shakespeare based his play, and a piece written during More’s imprisonment in the Tower of London.

Utopia, first printed in 1516, a satire on the administration of Henry VII, puts forward political and philosophical principles of a fictional ideal state. The literary form, most likely based on Plato’s “Republic,” was later adopted by Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. The title has become a word synonymous with an optimistic but impractical social reform. The book addresses, among other social ills, religious intolerance, extreme punishment for crime, unjust taxation, and disparity of wealth between social classes. The protagonist, Raphael Hythloday, discovers “Utopia” when travelling with Amerigo Vespucci. In Utopia there is no war, no crime, and no poverty.

Thomas More refused to subscribe to a new oath required by the Act of Succession (1534). For this, he was cast into the London Tower, where he was kept, tried for treason nearly a year later, convicted and beheaded.

Title-page carries Zangrius woodcut device of a fountain within a historiated fame. Woodcut initials throughout. University of Utah copy bound in seventeenth-century calf with preserved gilded spine.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Book of the Week – Martin Luther

15 Monday Jun 2015

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Albrecht Dürer, biblical commentary, Christ, copyright, Germany, halo, Hans Bauldung Grien, historiated woodcut, Holy Roman Empire, homilies, Johann Schott, Latin, lions, Martin Luther, Medieval Europe, Otto Brunfel, portrait, Postil, proprietary law, putti, Reformation, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic Church, sainthood, sermons, stags, Strasbourg, title page, title page border, unicorns, Wittenberg, woodcut border, woodcuts


XIII. PREDIG. NEWLICH…ANNO XXIII. ANHENGIG DEN…
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1523
Second edition
BR332 S3 1523

A copy from one of only two editions of this collection of thirteen sermons by Martin Luther. The collection of sermons was a supplement to “Twenty Seven Sermons” (1523). These two collections, along with “Fourteen Fine Christian Sermons” (1522) were part of one of the most important projects of Luther’s career: the creation of a Postil for the reformed church.

Luther wrote his sermons in a piecemeal fashion. His Postil was printed a few pieces at a time. “Thirteen Sermons” is from the early period of his Postil composition. The early printed sermons represent Luther’s own vision for the Postil. Editorial changes were made by reform Lutheran leaders after his death.

“Postil” was originally a term used in Medieval Europe for biblical commentary, derived from the Latin term “post ill verba textus” (after these words). “Postil” later referred to homiletic exposition as opposed to thematic sermonizing. By the mid-fourteenth century, the term was applied to an annual cycle of homilies.

In early sixteenth century Roman Catholic preaching, especially in Germany, postils were commonly used. Luther began publishing his Postil (that is, his suggested annual series of homilies) in Wittenberg in 1521, as replacements for those used by the Roman Catholic Church.

This edition is illustrated with a historiated woodcut title-page border, thought to be by Hans Bauldung Grien, a student of Albrecht Dürer, which includes printer Schott’s monogram, putti, unicorns, lions, and stags. A full-page portrait of Luther by Grien faces the title-page. A small image of Christ appears on the title-page. The penultimate leaf has a four-part woodcut border, also attributed to Grien. The portrait of Luther is of particular interest.

The original portrait, first published by Schott in 1521, included a halo surrounding Luther’s head (signifying sainthood). The fact that the halo was removed in a second edition printed only two years later suggests the swiftness of Reformation theological departure from Roman Catholic notions of the spiritual power of church leaders.

Printer Johann Schott was famous for using excellent woodcuts by noted artists of the day, including students of Dürer. In 1533, he took another printer to court over the reprinting of one of his illustrated books (Otto Brunfels’s herbal). The case is the first reprint suit documented in the Holy Roman Empire, an example of how the commerce of printing changed notions of proprietary law, i.e. copyright, for the written word and for art; authors and artists; and, of course, publishers.

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Book of the Week – Miscellaneous Poems

06 Wednesday May 2015

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"To His Coy Mistress", Andrew Marvell, Cornhill, English, engraved, frontispiece, Jesuits, London, Mary Marvell, Mary Palmer, Oliver Cromwell, poems, portrait, Robert Boulter, title page, Turks-Head, woodcut


 

“Had we but world enough, and time”

Miscellaneous Poems
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
London: [By Simon Miller?], 1681 for Robert Boulter, at the Turks-Head in Cornhill
First edition

This collection marks the first appearance of the majority of Andrew Marvell’s poems, including “To His Coy Mistress,” one of the most celebrated lyric poems in the English language. The collection was “taken from exact copies, under his own handwriting, found since his death among his other papers, witness my hand this 15th day of October, 1680. Mary Marvell.” So states the “Letter to the Reader.” However, the edition was published under mysterious circumstances.

There is no record that Marvell ever married. Mary Palmer was Marvell’s housekeeper. It is thought that friends of Marvell’s added the erroneous announcement, for reasons still hypothesized today. Some modern-day Marvell scholars accept that Mary Palmer was married to Marvell.

Leaves S1 and X1 are cancels, replacing thirteen leaves, necessitated by the suppression of three long poems in honor of Oliver Cromwell, the publication of which was thought to be impolitic. The suppressed leaves are missing in all but two known copies of the printed folio, these two copies being incomplete. Popular rumor attributed Marvell’s death to poisoning by Jesuits.

Illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait of Marvell. Woodcut publisher’s device on title-page.

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Book of the Week – Calendarium

17 Monday Mar 2014

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almanacs, astronomers, border, calendar, Calendarium, Easter, eclipses, Erhard Ratdolt, imprint, initial, instruments, Italian, lunar, Nuremburg, printer, printing, Regiomontanus, title page, Venice, woodcut

Mueller, Calendarium, 1482, First Page
Mueller, Calendarium, 1482, Solar Chart
Mueller, Calendarium, 1482, March Measurements

Calendarium
Johannes Mueller, Regiomontanus (1435 – 1476)
Venice; Erhard Ratdolt, 1482
CE73 M8 1482

Regiomontanus’ Calendarium was first printed at his own press in Nuremberg in 1474. In 1476, master printer Erhard Ratdolt published it in Venice, the capital of Italian printing, followed by this edition in 1482. Regiomontanus was one of the first publishers of astronomical material. His Calendarium represents the first application of modern scientific methods of astronomical calculation and observation to the problems of the lunar calendar, such as Easter, and the accurate prediction of eclipses.Regiomontanus’ almanacs contained planetary positions for a particular year as calculated from astronomical tables, freeing astronomers from performing the laborious task themselves.

This edition also contains verses by J. Sentius in praise of the author, and by Santritter in praise of the printer. Santritter would later become a printer himself. The last two leaves of this book are printed on four pages of thick paper pasted together to form astronomical instruments. The ingenuity of the instruments demonstrates Ratdolt’s technical skill in overcoming the challenges posed by early scientific publishing. This edition was not only technically innovative but artistically elegant as well. The title page is ornamented with an intricate border. The title-page initial is printed in red and black. Other woodcut initials are printed in black and white. Ratdolt included imprint details – that is, the information which tells us when and by whom the book was printed – at the end of the opening verses on the verso of the title-page.

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