Clearwater Books

MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ. Magdalena Abakanowicz. A monograph. Edited by Amm Coxon and Mary Jane Jacob. Tate Publishing, London 2022. First edition, the uncommon casebound issue. 4to. 207pp. Lavishly illustrated with 130 colour and monochrome photographs, including many full-page and double-spread presentations. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A monograph of the celebrated Polish sculptor and fibre artist, issued on the occasion of a November 2022 – March 2023 exhibition at the Tate Modern, London and subsequent two-venue tour. £50

NORMAN ACKROYD. Kevin Crossley-Holland. Moored Man. Poems of North Norfolk. With watercolours and etchings by Norman Ackroyd. Enitharmon Press, London 2006. The deluxe issue, of which 90 copies were printed, plus a further twenty-five hors commerce, each numbered and signed by both the poet and the artist (this being # xxv of the hors commerce examples, but without the original signed etching). This copy additionally inscribed: “For Alan [Byford] – with the greatest admiration and affection, and with so many thanks for helping me with early drafts of many of these poems. Kevin. Burnham Market, February 2007” (Alan Byford and Kevin Crossley-Holland were the co-founders of the Wells-next-the-Sea Poetry Festival). 4to. 62pp. Full cloth with an Ackroyd watercolour inset to the upper board. The title page printed in black and purple. Twenty-four poems accompanied by twenty-six etchings and watercolours, including ten magnificent double-spread presentations. A fine copy in virtually fine cloth-covered slipcase, with a single tiny blemish to one margin. No dust wrapper called-for. £750

EDWARD ARDIZZONE. Visiting Dieppe. With an introduction by Lynton Lamb. Warren Editions, London 1981. First edition, one of 125 numbered copies printed at the Curwen Press on St. Cuthberts’ Fourdrinier (this being #108; from a total edition of 175 copies). 4to. Unpaginated. Cloth-backed decorated paper-covered boards. Lavishly illustrated throughout with black and white Ardizzone pen drawings. A fine copy. No dust wrapper called for. A seven-page introduction precedes Ardizzone’s eleven-page holograph diary extracts of adventures in Normandy with his brother and Barnett Freedman. This account was originally published in a 1951 issue of the periodical Signature. This first bookform appearance was issued simultaneously with another, A Weekend in Dieppe by Glynn Boyd Harte, both of which recount similar visits to Dieppe separated by a period of thirty years. Alderson A13. £175

CARRY AKROYD. Found in the Fields (and other places…). Mascot Media Ltd., Norfolk 2017. First edition – this copy signed by the artist at the base of the title page. Landscape 4to. 176pp. Pictorial boards with decorated endpapers. Lavishly illustrated throughout with hundreds of Akroyd’s striking paintings, lithographs, linocuts and papercuts, at the core of which is her lithograph series ‘Found in the Fields’, sixteen images incorporating words from the poet John Clare, who remains a constant presence in her work. In fine state. No dust wrapper called for. £50

MICHAEL AYRTON. A Distraction of Wits Nurtured in Elizabethan Cambridge. An anthology selected and introduced by George Rylands, and with drawings by Michael Ayrton. Cambridge University Press 1958. First edition, of which 500 copies were produced as Christmas gifts for friends of the printer. 8vo. Unpaginated. Decorated paper-covered boards. With a title page decoration and eleven superb two-colour drawings by Ayrton. Edges and endpapers very lightly spotted, and with just a hint of wear to extremities. A virtually fine copy, no dust wrapper called for. £50

EDWARD BAWDEN. Dell Leigh. East Coasting. With a magnificent colour title-page design by Edward Bawden, plus eight colour headpiece drawings, several colour headpiece decorations and numerous black and white decorations (headpieces and tailpieces) also by Bawden. London and North Eastern Railway [1930]. First edition. Printed at the Curwen Press. Slim 8vo. 63pp. Stapled card wrappers, a little marked, handled and with some light corner creasing. Staples rusted. A short crease impacts the tips of the upper right corner of about half the leaves and a small area of staining affects the base of a single text leaf. A nice bright copy of an extremely uncommon item - a collection of essays on various aspects of the East Coast, published to attract tourists to the area, and beautifully illustrated by Bawden. £350

EDWARD BAWDEN. Decimus Magnus Ausonius. Patchwork Quilt. Poems by Decimus Magnus Ausonius, done into English by Jack Lindsay with decorations by Edward Bawden. Fanfrolico, London [1930]. First edition, limited to 400 numbered copies [this being #36]. A presentation copy, inscribed thus: “With best wishes to Allen Freer, Edward Bawden”. Tall 8vo. Unpaginated. Blue buckram lettered in gold at the spine with embossed diamond patterning to the upper and lower boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Bawden contributes a title page decoration, one full-page drawing and nine header pieces and decorations in the text. The backstrip a little faded, the corner tips very gently chafed and one of them knocked. Free endpapers very lightly browned. Very good indeed. No dust wrapper, almost certainly as issued. £500

Allen Freer, the recipient of Bawden’s inscription, was a noted collector of British twentieth century art, and a long-time friend and supporter of Bawden (he organised his 1986 exhibition at Manchester Cathedral). Freer’s extensive art collection, amassed over a period of sixty years, was auctioned at Christie’s in January 2020.

EDWARD BAWDEN. Denis Saurat. Death and the Dreamer. With drawings by Edward Bawden. John Westhouse (Publishers) Ltd., London 1946. First edition. 8vo. 150pp. Bawden contributes a frontispiece and ten full-page drawings. Just a touch of tanning to the slightly lesser quality wartime economy paperstock. Times Book Club inkstamp to the base of the rear endpaper. A very good copy in price-clipped dust wrapper reproducing in red one of the Bawden drawings, the wrapper tanned at the spine panel, rubbed with several tiny fractions of loss from the spine panel ends, lightly marked at the rear panel and creased at the upper edge. £75

EDWARD BAWDEN. Douglas Percy Bliss. Edward Bawden. A monograph by Douglas Percy Bliss with a full bibliography by Barry McKay. The Pendomer Press, Godalming [1979]. The deluxe issue of the first edition, designed by John and Griselda Lewis, and printed and bound by the Scolar Press on Glastonbury Book Antique Laid paper in an edition of 200 numbered copies (this being #190). This copy inscribed by the author on the half-title. 4to. 200pp. Quarter leather with patterned paper sides. Top edge gilt. Illustrated with scores of reproductions, many full-page and some in colour. A fine copy. No dust wrapper called for, but housed in the original slipcase which also houses a four-colour Bawden lithograph in a separate folding portfolio, signed, titled and numbered by the artist, and printed in an edition of 200 copies by the Curwen Studio. Folding prepublication prospectus laid-in. A superb copy of a delightful production. £500

CECIL BEATON. Time Exposure. With commentary and captions by Peter Quennell. B.T.Batsford Ltd., London 1946. The revised second edition, enhanced with considerably more photographs. Small 4to. viii, 136pp. Illustrated with over three hundred photographs grouped by Personalities, Beauties, Backgrounds, Travel, Ballet & Theatre, and The Last Year. Top edge spotted. Very good in the handsome Beaton-designed dust wrapper, a little rubbed and tanned, and chipped with several small areas of loss from the spine ends and several corner tips, and one further small area of enclosed loss from the spine panel. £35

PETER BLAKE. Peter Blake. A Retrospective. Edited by Christoph Grunenberg and Laurence Sillars. Tate Publishing, Liverpool 2007. First edition, issued to accompany a 2007 retrospective exhibition at Tate Liverpool. 4to. 214pp. Stiff decorated card wrappers with two cut-outs. With essays by Simon Faulkner, Marco Livingstone and the editors, and hundreds of colour reproductions. The spine lightly faded, and with a sliver of further vertical fading to one margin of the upper wrapper. Very good indeed. £25

PETER BLAKE. Marco Livingstone. Peter Blake. One Man Show. Lund Humphries, Farnham 2009. First edition - the casebound issue. 4to. 240pp. With pictorial endpapers and hundreds of colour reproductions throughout. A fine copy dust wrapper, marred only by the tiniest trace of creasing to the head of the spine panel and one further very light area of creasing. A super copy of this Blake monograph. Laid in is a hand-written card from Chrissy Blake, the artist’s wife, thanking the recipient for sending a related press clipping (an additional copy of which is also laid-in). £50

PETER BLAKE. Paris Escapades. With an interview by Marco Livingstone and commentaries by the artist. Enitharmon Editions, London 2011. First edition – this copy signed by the artist on the title page. 4tp. 132pp.  With a frontispiece and twenty-eight collages. A fine copy in fine  dust wrapper. 1,500 copies were printed. £125

FRANK BRANGWYN. William Edward Hayter Preston. Windmills. With text by Hayter Preston and illustrations by Frank Brangwyn. John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd, London 1923. First edition. 4to. 126pp. Decorated cloth. With two-colour patterned endpapers, a title page decoration, fifteen splendid colour lithographic plates and thirty black and white drawings in the text. Backstrip ends lightly bruised and with just a touch of spotting to the free endpapers and to the half-title. Very good indeed in the uncommon dust wrapper, chipped at the upper edge with four or five quite small portions of loss (not impacting the lettering). Magnificent lithographs of windmills in Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Belgium, France, Cologne, Sussex, Kent, Barking, Ramsgate, Crowborough and Winchelsea. £125

HUGH CASSON AND JOHN BETJEMAN. Sketch Book. A Personal Choice of London Buildings, Drawn 1971-1974. With an introduction by John Betjeman. The Lion and Unicorn Press, London 1975. First edition, limited to just 100 numbered copies, signed by both Casson and Betjeman on the first leaf (this being #9). Designed by Nigel Paige and produced and printed at the Royal College of Art, London. 4to. Unpaginated. Card wrappers with a wire spiral binding at the upper edge (and thereby resembling an artist’s sketchbook). Twenty-five watercolour sketches, originally commissioned by The Illustrated London News, with drawing captions and both Betjeman’s two-page introduction and Casson’s brief preface reproduced in facsimile of the authors holograph. The lower edges lightly spotted, encroaching just a fraction to occasional leaf margins, and with just a hint of very faint soiling to the upper wrapper. Very good indeed. Gammond 75S12 / Peterson B137. £300

CECIL COLLINS. The Vision of the Fool. Anthony Kedros Ltd., Oxon 1981. The deluxe issue of this new edition, limited to 100 numbered copies, each signed by the artist (this being #7). 4to. 10pp + xxx plates (four of them in colour).  Red unlettered cloth. A fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly chafed at extremities. Collins’ essay was originally published in 1947 and is accompanied here by a different selection of illustrations, a number of which are hitherto unprinted in bookform. £150

CECIL COLLINS. The Vision of the Fool and Other Writings. Edited with an introduction by Brian Keeble. Golgonooza Press, Ipswich 2002. The second, enlarged edition, expanded from the Golgonooza Press issue of 1994. A presentation copy, fondly inscribed by the editor: “To my friend Ken, lover and maker of good books – from Brian 11/10/2002”. Small 4to. 239pp. Illustrated with nearly fifty plates, half of them in colour, plus a number of reproductions and photographs in the text. A fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. An extensive (apparently ‘definitive’) collection of Collins’ writings, accompanied by reproductions of his artworks. £50

DODO [i.e. Dörte Clara Wolff]. Dodo. Leben und Werk / Life and Work 1907-1998. A monograph. Edited by Renate Krümmer.  Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2012. First edition. 4to. 215pp. Paper-covered boards. Illustrated with nearly 120 reproductions, in colour where required, predominantly presented full-age and with a number of double-spread presentations, and with texts (in English and German) by Adelheid Rasche, Miriam-Esther Owesle, Margitta Giera, Amnja Amsel and the editor. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper of this monograph on the noted German painter and illustrator of the New Objectivity movement. £95

EVELYN DUNBAR. Gill Clarke. Evelyn Dunbar. War and Country. Sansom & Co. Ltd., Bristol 2006. First edition. 4to. 176pp. Card wrappers (not issued in casebound format). Illustrated with scores of reproductions, including many in colour. Spine very lightly faded, else a fine copy. An uncommon account of the life and career of the noted artist and illustrator, particularly noted for her work recording the Home Front contribution of women in wartime (Dunbar was the only woman working for the War Artists' Advisory Committee on a full-time salaried basis). £50

WILLIAM EGGLESTON. The Democratic Forest. Selected Works. Edited by William Eggleston III and with text by Alexander Nemerov. David Zwirner Books, Steidl 2016. First edition, published on the occasion of a 2016 exhibition at David Zwirner, New York. 4to. Unpaginated. An eleven-page introduction, This Pretty World. William Eggleston’s Photographs, by Alexander Nemerov precedes sixty-eight colour photographic plates. Two tiny areas of very light marking to the cloth at the rear board, else a fine copy. No dust wrapper called-for. £200

MAX ERNST. A monograph issued upon the occasion of a 2006 exhibition of the artist’s work at The Helly Nahmad Gallery, London. First edition. 4to. 100pp. Decorated paper-covered boards. With thirty-eight colour reproductions of Ernst’s paintings and a brief memoir by his friend Werner Spies, all preceded by a selection of forty-eight culturally and historically relevant monochrome photographs and reproductions, some of the credited to Ernst. In fine state with the original unprinted acetate protector, partially defective. £35

ERTÉ. Eric Estorick. Erté. The Last Works. Graphics and Sculpture. With additional text by Ray Perman and David Rogath and photographs by Daniel Kramer. Dutton Studio Books, New York 1992. First edition. Folio. 207pp. Lavishly illustrated with 176 colour reproductions reproducing every print (71) and sculpture (105) created by Erté in his last few years of his life, nearly all hitherto unprinted. Felt-pen mark remainder mark to the bottom edge, else in fine state with dust wrapper, very lightly chafed and lifting at several extremities. Romain de Tirtoff, who worked under the pseudonym Erté (the French pronunciation of his initials), was a celebrated artist and designer who produced 250 covers for Harper’s Bazaar as well as fashion designs for some of the world’s most glamorous stars and costume & set designs for Hollywood and stage productions. £50

JOHN FARLEIGH. Monica Poole. The Wood Engravings of John Farleigh. Gresham Books, Oxford 1985. First edition. Folio. 122pp. With a colour frontispiece and over 150 reproductions including many full-page presentations and eight printed in red and black. The boards lifting a fraction at the upper edge, and with two very light scores to the upper board (probably a production fault). A very good copy in very slightly rubbed and soiled dust wrapper. A super copy of this catalogue raisonné, with appendices of books illustrated by Farleigh, his original prints, engravings from commissions, bookplates, his own publications, and other assorted graphical works. £50

LUCIAN FREUD. On Paper. Jonathan Cape, London 2008. First edition. Large landscape 4to. 29pp + clxxxi plates. A fine copy in just fractionally soiled dust wrapper. A comprehensive  catalogue of Freud’s drawings and etchings, with an introduction by Sebastian Smee and an essay by Richard Calvocorssi focusing on Freud’s little-known book illustrations. £55

ERIC GILL. Douglas Pepler. The Devil’s Devices or Control Verses Service. With woodcuts by Eric Gill. The Hampshire House Workshops, London 1915. First edition of the second book illustrated by Gill. 8vo. 123pp + i publisher’s advertisement. Lettered canvas-backed paper-covered boards featuring a wood engraving by Gill. With a title page wood cut (Dumb Driven Cattle, reproduced on the upper board) and a further ten wood cut illustrations and devices. Tips of corners rubbed, boards lightly chafed and backstrip lightly tanned. Very good. 1,500 copies were printed. Evan Gill 259. £165

ERIC GILL. Twenty-Five Nudes. Engravings. J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd., London for Hague & Gill Ltd., 1938. First edition. 8vo. Unpaginated. A virtually fine copy in somewhat toned and chipped dust wrapper, split into two parts at the spine panel – rear panel fold. A four-page introduction by the artist precedes twenty-five nude engravings, printed to rectos only, with a final non-nude engraving (“thrown in for good measure” – blurb), and one more printed in red and black as an introduction to the illustrations. £200

ERIC GILL. John Donne. The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. With an introduction by Hugh I’A.Fausset, and engravings by Eric Gill. J.M.Dent, London 1938. First edition thus, limited to 550 copies (500 of which were for sale), printed by Gill & Hague in High Wycombe in Gill’s Bunyan type (the first book to utilise this type) on Barcham Green handmade paper, and signed by Eric Gill. Tall slim 8vo. xiv, [25]pp. With four delightful Eric Gill engravings. Light partial toning to the free endpapers. A virtually fine copy in the gold dust wrapper, which is lightly soiled, rubbed and chafed, with several internally repaired edge-nicks but with nothing approaching significant loss. £350

ANTONY GORMLEY. Workbooks 1, 1977-1992. Xunta de Galicia / Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, [Santiago de Compostela] 2002. First edition, published on the occasion of the Antony Gormley exhibition held at the CCAG between January-March 2002. This copy signed by the artist in pencil at the base of the front free endpaper. 8vo. Unpaginated [960pp]. With text by the artist and hundreds and hundreds of reproductions including a few in colour. A hint of very occasional light marking to the cloth, else a fine copy of this catalogue raisonné. No dust wrapper called for. An analysis of twenty-five of Gormley’s projects (one per chapter), offering a comprehensive visual essay plus text by the artist which details the genesis, creation, and installation of each artwork. The text in English with a Spanish translation at the rear. Uncommon, and much more so with his signature. £350

GLYNN BOYD HARTE. A Weekend in Dieppe. Warren Editions, London 1981. First edition, one of 100 numbered copies printed at the Curwen Press on T.H.Saunders mould-made paper and signed by the author (this being #63; from a total edition of 150 copies). 4to. Unpaginated. Cloth-backed decorated paper-covered boards. Lavishly illustrated throughout with full-page colour lithographs by the author, plus further blue-stamped lithographs in the text. The author’s account of adventures in Normandy alongside Jonathan Gili [i.e. the publisher] and Ian Beck. A fine copy. No dust wrapper called for. This book was published simultaneously with another, Visiting Dieppe by Edward Ardizzone, both of which recount visits to Dieppe separated by a period of thirty years. £350

JOAN HASSALL. Sir Thomas Mallory. Lancelot and Elaine. Being the Eighth to the Twentieth Chapters of the Eighteenth Book of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. With engravings by Joan Hassall. Printed by Rene Hague and Eric Gill, Pigotts, near High Wycombe, 1948. The first edition with these illustrations. Small 8vo. 68pp. Red leather with gilt lettering and a blind-stamped border to the upper board. With a title page decoration, printed in red, a half-title vignette and two full-page engravings (other copies appear to include a total of five engravings, but this one only includes four, although the two full-page plates are present, as required). The text printed in red and black, and following exactly that printed by William Caxton in 1845, with the misprints not corrected. A touch of wear to the extremities of the leather. Former owner name and date neatly inked in red to the front free endpaper. Very good indeed. Laid-in is an Eric Gill-designed bookplate, created in 1915 for Joseph Thorp’s Decoy Press. The colophon states that 200 copies were printed, but in fact the book was never published, Rene Hague being dissatisfied with the quality of the printing; however some sets of sheets were given away if they deemed satisfactory, in all perhaps twenty to twenty-five sets, none of which were bound at the press. £250

JOAN HASSALL. Dearest Joana. A Selection of Joan Hassall’s Lifetime Letters and Art. Edited by Brian North Lee and with an introduction by John Dreyfus. The Fleece Press, Denby Dale 2000. First edition, complete in two volumes. One of 240 sets (out of a total edition of 300). Royal 8vo. 300pp (over both volumes). Quarter-cloth with paper spine labels and marbled paper sides (differently coloured for each volume). Illustrated throughout with numerous examples of the artists’ work, mostly printed from the original blocks, plus a number of colour plates, tipped-in colour reproductions and period photographs. Reproduction of a Hassall-designed bookplate to the front pastedown of the first volume. A fine set in fine cloth slipcase. £250

GERTRUDE HERMES. The Wood-Engravings of Gertrude Hermes. Edited with an introduction by Jonathan Russell and with essays by Simon Brett and Bryan Robertson. Scolar Press, Aldershot 1993. First edition. Tall 4to. 132pp. The tip of one corner fractionally bumped, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, marred only by a trace of dust soiling to the rear panel. A three-page introduction precedes the essays The Nature of Gertrude Hermes and Gertrude Hermes: The Wood Engravings, followed by over one hundred and fifty reproductions, predominantly full-page, plus a chronology, a selection of photographs, a list of exhibitions and a bibliography. Uncommon. £200

DAMIEN HIRST. I Want to Spend the Rest of my Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now. Booth-Clibborn Editions, London 1997. First edition of his first book. 4to. 334pp. Lavishly illustrated throughout, with photographs, cartoons, pop-ups, multi-media presentations, printed acetate and with various inserts including a sheet of stickers and a folding colour poster. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. £250

BARBARA JONES. Royal Occasions. With an introduction by D.M.Forest and illustrations by Barbara Jones. The Tea Centre, [London] 1953. First edition, printed at the Shenval Press. 8vo. 34pp. Stapled card wrappers featuring a design by Jones who also contributes a full-page drawing and another drawing at the head of the foreword leaf. A 340 item catalogue of an exhibition of royal souvenirs organised by Barbara Jones (with many pieces from her personal collection) as part of the coronation celebrations and held at The Tea Centre in Regent Street. A fine copy. Most uncommon. £95

ANISH KAPOOR. Anish Kapoor: Memory. Deutsch Guggenheim, Berlin 2008. First edition - published on the occasion of a 2008-09 exhibition at Deutsch Guggenheim, Berlin. This copy signed by the artist on the title page. Tall 8vo. 126pp. Paper-covered boards lettered in black at the spine and with a square cut-out to the upper board. Illustrated with scores and scores of colour photographs, plus a number of draft and plan facsimile reproductions, alongside essays by Henri Lustiger-Thaler, Sandhini Poddar, Gayatti Chakravorty Spivak, Steven Holl with David van der Leer, and Christopher Hornzee-Jones. Text in English. A tiny trace of wear to the lower margin of the upper board cut-out, a small indentation to the base of the rear board, and a hint of marking and chafing. Very good indeed. No dust wrapper called-for. Uncommon with the artists’ signature. Memory is Kapoor’s first piece in Cor-Ten (i.e. weathering steel), which is formulated to produce a protective coating of rust. The work is made up of 156 individual parts and weighs 24 tons. £225

JESSIE M.KING. John Milton. Comus. A Masque. With illustrations by Jessie M.King. George Routledge, ‘Photogravure and Colour’ series, London 1906. First edition with these illustrations, comprising eight tissue-guarded photogravure plates and three half-tone illustrations. 77pp. Pictorial red and green cloth. Top edge gilt, fore edge rough trimmed. A little wear to cloth at head and base of spine. Endpapers lightly browned and with a little spotting to one preliminary leaf and to tissue and (mostly margins) of plates. A lovely crisp copy. £200

CLARE LEIGHTON. Country Matters. With wood-engravings by the author. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London 1937. First edition. 4to. xi, 160pp. With a title page decoration, five full-page engraved plates and sixty-eight chapter header and footer decorations, and images in the text. Top edge lightly dust soiled. Several tiny areas of tape residue marking to the free endpapers. A little spotting to three or four preliminary leaves, and the binding just a fraction tender at a single gathering, yet still perfectly sound. Very good indeed in the correct first issue dust wrapper, toned at the spine panel, lightly spotted and soiled, with a small area of surface abrasion, a single small area of internal repair, and several tiny fractions of triangular loss from the head of the spine panel. A delightfully illustrated description of English country life, with chapters on the flower show, the cricket match, the pub, harvest festival, felling trees, etc. £75

SARAH LUCAS. I Scream Daddio. The catalogue of an exhibition. British Council, London 2015. First edition – issued on the occasion of Lucas’ May-November 2015 exhibition at the British Pavilion for the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. 4to. 151pp. Stiff card wrappers with French flaps. This copy inscribed by the artist on the front free endpaper, her text accompanied by a playful outline drawing of a pair of breasts, and with a handwritten letter to the same recipient laid-in (the recipient being “Tony” i.e. Anthony Astbury, founder of the Greville Press). With text by Sarah Lucas, photography and design by Julian Simmons, and over 150 colour and monochrome photographs detailing the creation and installation of her exhibits for the 2015 Venice Biennale. A fine copy of an uncommon catalogue, considerably enhanced by the artists’ signature. £150

GEORGE MACKLEY. George Mackley. Wood Engraver. Edited by Lewis H.Green. Gresham Books Ltd., Surrey 1981. First edition. 4to. 136pp. Contemporary presentation inscription from Ruari McLean to his business partner Fianach [Jardine] neatly inked to the tip of the front free endpaper. Top edge fractionally soiled, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly faded at the spine panel, and at the margins of the front panel. Essays by Hugh Casson, Monica Poole, Elizabeth Romyn, Ian Lowe, Patricia Jaffe and Mackley himself accompany 137 quite splendid reproductions. A lovely association copy. £150

JOHN MINTON. Alan Ross. Time Was Away. A Notebook in Corsica. Written by Alan Ross and with illustrations by John Minton. John Lehmann Ltd., London 1948. First edition, in the scarce first issue binding of yellow buckram, blocked in green at the backstrip with gilt lettering and decoration. Tall 8vo. xiv, 189pp. Minton contributes a frontispiece, a title page decoration, eight full-page colour plates, 42 full-page black and white plates, and 39 further black and white tail-pieces and drawings in the text. A very light scattering of spotting to the top edge, and a trace of bruising to the backstrip ends. Free endpapers and pastedowns spotted, and with a tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. Very good indeed in the magnificent double-spread pictorial colour dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at several extremities, with a short jagged tear to the base of the front panel, a three-inch tear to the front panel-front flap fold, and a minute area of enclosed loss from the spine panel. A quite wonderful production, and most uncommon in this correct first issue binding. £750

JOHN MINTON. Geoffredo Parise. The Priest Among the Pigeons. Translated from the Italian of Il Prete Bello by Stuart Hood and with a dust wrapper design by John Minton. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1955. First English-language edition, issued a year after the original Italian edition. 8vo. 256pp. Several tiny areas of slight discolouration to the backstrip where the dust wrapper is defective, and a crease to the corner of one text leaf. Very good indeed in pictorial dust wrapper designed by John Minton, lightly toned at the rear- and spine panels, with a little quite minor chafing and edge loss, one enclosed snag, and a strip of loss several millimetres deep from the head of the rear panel. Uncommon. £125

JOHN MINTON. John Minton: 1917-1957. A Selective Retrospective. The catalogue of a 1994 exhibition selected by Frances Spalding to accompany the publication of her biography of the artist. First edition. 4to. 67pp. Stiff pictorial card wrappers, lightly marked in places with just a touch of wear to the extremities. With a lengthy introductory essay by Spalding, a colour reproduction of Lucien Freud’s Minton portrait, thirty magnificent colour plates and forty-two further monochrome photographs and reproductions. A very good copy, internally in fine state. £50

DAVID NASH. An extensive printed archive of the noted wood sculptor. Various publishers, various places 1973-2009. An archive of over 100 items, from the collection of the late Julian Andrews, a long-term supporter and enthusiast of the artist, Head of the Fine Arts Department of the British Council and the author of the primary reference source The Sculpture of David Nash. The collection comprises over forty (primarily solo) exhibition catalogues from shows all round the UK, Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and Australia, and includes the catalogues for his first three solo shows, each written and designed by Nash; various studies and monographs; circa forty exhibition handbills and private viewing invitation cards; plus several books by Nash himself and various ephemeral bits and pieces. Seven of the items bear the artist’s signature or inscription. A signed copy of Julian Andrews’ exhaustive reference work is also included. A fascinating and wide-ranging archive which would now be virtually impossible to reproduce. A full catalogue of the archive is available upon request. £1,200

JOHN NASH. Edmund Spenser. The Shepheardes Calender. Conteyning Twelve Æglogues Proportionable to the Twelve Monethes. The Cresset Press, London 1930. The first edition with these delightful Nash stencil-coloured illustrations, limited to 350 numbered copies on Barcham Green handmade paper (this being #68) and printed at The Sign of the Dolphin. 4to. 133pp. Vellum-backed cream linen. With a full-colour title page decoration and twelve coloured header-piece illustrations. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Backstrip darkened and the base of the spine a little rubbed. A very good copy, lacking the dust wrapper and slipcase. £200

PAUL NASH. Martin Armstrong. Saint Hercules and Other Stories. With drawings by Paul Nash. The Fleuron Ltd., London [1927]. First edition, limited to 310 numbered copies printed on Zanders’ hand-made paper at the Curwen Press (this being #243). 4to. 65pp. Patterned paper-covered buckram featuring a handsome Nash design, and illustrated with five drawings, hand-coloured through stencils by the artist (a process he later called a “triumph of the hand over machine”). Spine ends and corner tips rubbed and with a little wear to the upper and lower gutters, and also to the hinges, yet the binding still perfectly sound. A lovely crisp copy, lacking the unprinted tissue protector. Three stories. £275

PAUL NASH. The Wood-Engravings of Paul Nash. A catalogue of the wood engravings, pattern papers, etchings and an engraving on copper. Compiled by Jeremy Greenwood. The Wood Lea Press, Woodbridge 1997. First edition, one of 490 standard copies (from a total edition of 550). Large 4to. 141pp. Cloth-backed patterned paper-covered boards. An eleven-page introductory essay by Simon Brett precedes a brief biography followed by a lavishly illustrated 108-item catalogue, with an illustration accompanying each entry and including eleven tipped-in colour reproductions. A fine copy. No dust wrapper called for, but housed in the original cloth-covered slip case, also fine. Laid-in are two copies of the addendum sheet, issued three years later and detailing one further Nash engraving brought to the attention of the editor since the original publication (Bibliographical Notes on T.E.Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom and Revolt in the Desert by T.German-Reed with a title page decoration by Nash). Also laid-in are pre-publication prospectuses for three further Wood Lea Press titles: John Nash’s Cats, The Graphic Work of Edward Wadsworth and The Complete Wood-Engravings and Linocuts of Margaret Bruce Wells. A flawless example of a very handsome production. £250

WINIFRED NICHOLSON. Christopher Andreae. Winifred Nicholson. A monograph. Lund Humphries, London 2009. First edition. Square 4to. 208pp. With over two hundred colour reproductions. A sliver of very light discolouration to the cloth at the upper margins, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, just fractionally toned at the spine panel. £125

JOHN O’CONNOR. Canals, Barges and People. With superb colour engravings by the author. Art & Technics Ltd., London 1950. First edition, of which 1,000 copies were printed. Tall 8vo. 95pp. Decorated paper-covered cloth. With a colour frontispiece, twenty-two captioned wood-engraved colour plates, one further coloured engraving and twenty-one wood engraved header and tail pieces and vignettes. A touch of light spotting to the endpapers, half-title and one or two preliminary and concluding leaves, and a small area of light miscellaneous staining to the corner of one text leaf. Very good indeed in handsome pictorial colour dust wrapper, a little dust marked and soiled with a touch of light edgewear, one short repaired tear and some internal reinforcement. Contemporary (1951) former owner name and date inked to the head of the front free endpaper. £125

MERVYN PEAKE. Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1945. The second edition of Peake’s first book (the vast bulk of the first edition, published by Country Life in 1939, was destroyed during the Blitz). 4to. Forty-seven unpaginated pages of text. Printed on alternating pink, blue, yellow and white sheets and copiously illustrated in colour by the author. A little damp marking to board edges and some resulting crinkling to head and base of preliminary and final leaves. Short tears to the base of five leaves. A very bright copy in very good internally reinforced pictorial dust wrapper, chafed with just a little loss to spine ends and with two or three minuscule edge tears. £125

JOHN PIPER contributes a colour cover design and a monochrome title page vignette to Sir Thomas Browne’s The Last Chapter of Urne Buriall. Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge 1946. First edition thus. Limited to 175 copies (125 of which were for sale), edited by John Carter and printed on pale blue paper and bound by Will Carter. Sewn card wrappers with integral dust wrapper. Thirteen unpaginated pages of text. Wrappers just a little darkened and dust marked. Internally in fine state. Uncommon. £200

JOHN PIPER. Adrian Stokes. Venice. Designed and with illustrations by John Piper. Lion and Unicorn Press, London 1965. First edition, one of a deluxe issue of 400 numbered copies (this being #183). 4to. 67pp. Black cloth with a Piper design embossed to upper board. Piper contributes a double-spread title-page design and twenty-four illustrations including a number of full-page and double-spread presentations, many presented in two colours. Cloth at backstrip fractionally faded, else a virtually fine copy. No dust wrapper required. Former owner bookplate to front pastedown. £250

JOHN PIPER. John Piper’s Stowe. With a foreword by the artist and commentary by Mark Girouard. Hurtwood Press in association with The Tate Gallery, London 1983. First edition, number 21 of 300 numbered copies, each signed by John Piper. Elephant folio (50” x 40”). 47pp. Original publisher’s marbled cloth. Printed on 100% rag Fourdrinier paper especially made for the edition at the Rives-Fure Mill of Arjomari-Prioux in France. With fifty colour and duotone plates showcasing Piper’s paintings of Stowe in Buckinghamshire, plus a ‘visual index’ of thumbnail reproductions. The merest hint of wear to the base of the backstrip, else in fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued. The first fifty copies – of which this is one – were issued with two additional signed prints, but these, alas, are no longer in situ. A quite magnificent book, produced under Rowley Atterbury’s Hurtwood Press imprint (Atterbury studied under Berthold Wolpe at Faber and went on to become a pioneer of colour printing and computer typesetting. This is one of a number of his projects which is now deemed to have set new standards in the field). Most uncommon. £1,000

PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD. William Holman Hunt. Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Macmillan & Co., London 1905. First edition, complete in two volumes. 8vo. xxviii, 512pp and xiv, 493pp. A handsome contemporary binding of quarter dark brown morocco with raised bands and gilt lettering to the spines. All edges gilt. Illustrated with 40 photogravure plates and with over 150 further reproductions in the text. A little wear and chafing to the backstrip ends, and a tiny hint of wear to the corner tips. A little offsetting from the photogravures to the facing leaves. The upper joint of volume two a little tender. A very good set in an appropriately fine binding of one of the most important studies of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, penned by one of its founders and most influential members. £500

GWEN RAVERAT. The Wood Engravings of Gwen Raverat. Selected and with an introduction by Reynolds Stone. Faber, London 1959. First edition. 4to. 135pp. With a frontispiece and over 250 reproductions of Raverat's magnificent wood engravings, in the most part printed from the original blocks. With a list of titles and a bibliography. Endpapers lightly and partially browned. In virtually fine state, marred only by a handwritten slip pasted to the front endpaper, and housed in a very slightly dust marked example of the dust wrapper, non-price-clipped but with a single short closed tear and a hint of chafing to several extremities. A superb production. £135

ERIC RAVILIOUS. Martin Armstrong.. Desert. A Legend. With woodcuts by Eric Ravilious (his first bookform illustrations). Jonathan Cape, London 1926. First edition. 8vo. 252pp. With a frontispiece and thirty-three woodcut illustrations, vignettes and decorations by Ravilious including two plates. Top edge lightly spotted, with a touch of fading to the backstrip cloth, a tiny nick to the head of the lower gutter and a short indeterminate white mark to the upper board. Free endpapers browned, and with some offset browning to two blank preliminary leaves, presumably from where a sheet of paper was once stored. A very good copy. Lacking the dust wrapper. £125

ERIC RAVILIOUS. Aaron Smith. The Atrocities of the Pirates; being a Faithful Narrative of the Unparalleled Sufferings Endured by the Author during his Captivity among the Pirates of the Island of Cuba; with an Account of the Excesses and Barbarities of those Inhuman Freebooters. Together with a Copious and Explicit Report of his Subsequent trial at the Old Bailey. With engravings by Eric Ravilious. The Golden Cockerel Press, Waltham Saint Lawrence 1929. First edition thus, limited to 500 numbered copies (this being #471). 8vo. v, 156pp. Buckram-backed boards with red paper-covered sides. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Illustrated with wood engravings by Eric Ravilious, which comprise a frontispiece, two header piece decorations and seven illustrations in the text. The tip of one corner knocked, and with a touch of light chafing to several other extremities. Some browning to the free endpapers, and a tiny pinprick or two of spotting to very occasional fore edge margins. A very good copy of this account of Smith’s capture by Cuban pirates and his eventual escape, plus an account of his subsequent Old Bailey trial for piracy (for which he was acquitted); originally printed in 1824 and here splendidly enhanced by these Ravilious engravings (his second Golden Cockerel Press contributions). £300

ERIC RAVILIOUS. For Shop Use Only. Eric Ravilious Curwen & Dent Stock Blocks and Devices.  With contributions by John Lewis, Enid Marx and Robert Harling. Garton & Co, Wiltshire 1993.  First edition, limited to 425 numbered copies (this being #61), published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Ravilious’ death. 8vo. 47pp. Cloth-backed paper boards featuring a repeated Ravilious design and with a paper spine label. With an original tipped-in wood engraving, and thirty-one Ravilious’ device designs, reproduced in actual size, and six more printed in red as header piece and a title page decoration. A sliver of discoloration to upper edge of front board, and upper- and fore edge of rear board, else a fine copy of a handsome production. No dust wrapper required. £95

PAULA REGO. John McEwen. Paula Rego. A monograph. Phaidon Press Ltd., London 1997. The revised and expended second edition, including three new chapters on works produced since the 1992 first edition of this study. 4to. 288pp. Stiff lettered card wrappers (this second edition was not issued in casebound format). Lavishly illustrated with colour reproductions. A shadow of toning to the head of the wrappers, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, with a light but lengthy crease to the margin of the over-sized rear flap. A colour reproduction of one of Rego’s paintings depicting a woman and a human-sized bird has been pasted to the half-title, and bears the artist’s signature. £200

JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Joshua Reynolds. The Creation of Celebrity. Edited by Martin Postle. Tate Publishing, London 2005. First edition, published on the occasion a of a major exhibition. 4to. 295pp. Card wrappers (there was no casebound issue). Lavishly illustrated throughout predominantly with full-page colour reproductions. A fine copy. £35

CERI RICHARDS. The catalogue of a 1960 retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. With a lengthy introduction by David Thompson. First edition. Stapled stiff card wrappers. 21pp. With a colour frontispiece, one full-page colour plate, and a further twenty-four full-page monochrome reproductions. Very good. £10

CERI RICHARDS. Drawings to Poems by Dylan Thomas. With a ten-page introduction by Richard Burns. The Enitharmon Press, London 1980. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 180 copies printed in Glastonbury Antique laid paper and bound in buckram with decorated paper sides (this being #6). 8vo. A fine copy in just fractionally marked decorated slip case. No dust wrapper called for. The numbered colophon is a laid-in slip. A reproduction of seventy pages of Ceri Richard's copy of Dylan Thomas' Collected Poems (1952) which has been embellished with forty hitherto unprinted drawings, all completed in a period of twenty-four hours in August 1953 after Richards heard news of the death of Dylan Thomas. “It is my belief that it presents new material which is crucial for a full understanding and enjoyment of both the poet and the artist” - from Burns’ introduction. £200

CERI RICHARDS. Mel Gooding. Ceri Richards. A monograph. Cameron & Hollis, Moffat 2002. First edition. 4to. 192pp. With photographic endpapers and over one hundred and sixty colour reproductions, many of them full-page. Just a touch of light spotting to the top edge. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, with just a single tiny closed edge-tear. The first major study of the life and work of Ceri Richards. £35

ALBERT RUTHERSTON. Sixteen Designs for the Theatre. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, London 1928. First edition, limited to 475 numbered copies (this being #309). Tall 4to. 16pp + plates. Buckram with bevelled edges. The buckram a little rubbed and marked in places, with a little fraying to the spine ends. Free endpapers very lightly toned. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. A four-page introduction by Rutherston precedes sixteen plates of costume designs and curtain scenes including a number of colour examples, and several full-page or folding examples, each with a captioned thin-paper protector. £75

RONALD SEARLE. Ronald Searle in Perspective. New English Library, Sevenoaks 1984. First trade edition. 4to. 224pp. Lavishly illustrated throughout with several hundred reproductions selected by the artist, presented in colour and monochrome. In fine state with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a tiny hint of rubbing to the tip of one corner. £50

RONALD SEARLE. More Scraps in No Particular Order. Unpublished Sketchbooks of Ronald Searle. With a foreword by Ippei Ito, and an afterword by Ben Shahn and Groucho Marx [Together with] Watteau Revisited. The Inky Parrot Press, Oxford 2008. First edition, printed on Zerkall mould-made paper and limited to 203 numbered copies, signed by Ronald Searle [from a total edition of 246 copies]. Slim Royal 4to. Two volumes [70]pp and [40]pp. Decorated card wrappers. Profusely illustrated throughout. Both volume in fine state and housed in the decorated cloth-covered slipcase which exhibits two small fox-spots. The second volume, Watteau Revisited, consists of drawings made by Searle in 1974 whilst working on a Watteau Memorial Medallion. The fifteen drawings were exhibited in France in 1977 but are hitherto unpublished. £200

STANLEY SPENCER. Elizabeth Rothenstein. Stanley Spencer. A monograph. Phaidon Press, ‘British Artists’ series, Oxford & London 1945. First edition. 4to. 25pp + plates. A fifteen-page essay by Rothenstein plus five tipped in colour plates and a further ninety monochrome reproductions. Top edge lightly dust marked. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, a little dust soiled and chafed, and with some light tanning to the spine panel. Contemporary former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the front free endpaper. £20

REYNOLDS STONE. Ralph Hodgson. The Skylark and Other Poems. Edited by Colin Fenton and with wood engravings by Reynolds Stone. Printed for the editor at The Curwen Press, London 1958. The first edition of this selection, and the first with these magnificent Reynolds Stone engravings. 4to. 94pp. One of 300 copies (out of a total edition of 350) designed by Will Carter, printed on Basingwerk parchment, bound in buckram and signed by Reynolds Stone. Stone contributes a title page decoration, five wood engraved plates and a small closing vignette; plus a small gilt decoration to upper board. Buckram just fractionally marked in one or two places, else a fine copy. Twenty-three poems (including the eleven-parter Flying Scrolls), six of which are hitherto unprinted with several others making their first bookform appearance. £125

C.F.TUNNICLIFFE. R.T.Gould. Communications Old and New. With wood-engravings by C.F.Tunnicliffe. R.A.Publishing, London for Cable and Wireless Ltd. [1945]. First edition. 8vo. 54pp. Stiff card boards featuring a Tunnicliffe design. With a title page engraving and twenty-eight illustrations by Tunnicliffe. Boards just a little soiled with some fairly light uneven tanning, a little minor chafing to the edges and a bump to the tip of one corner. A small area of  surface abrasion to the upper board where, probably, a sticker has been removed. Internally a lovely crisp copy of an uncommon item. £100

EDWARD WADSWORTH. Sailing-Ships and Barges of the Western Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. Illustrated with twenty-three superb copper engravings, nineteen hand-coloured and nineteen full-page. Frederick Etchells & Hugh MacDonald, ‘The Haslewood Books’ series, London 1926. First edition, of which 450 numbered copies were produced (this being #263). 4to. 79pp. Gilt lettered and decorated cloth. Printed at the Curwen Press on J.W.Zanders hand-made paper with the copper plates subsequently destroyed. With a four-page introduction by Bernard Windeler, who also provides a short introduction to each plate and hand-coloured most of the engravings. Fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Some fading to the publisher’s orange cloth at the upper and lower boards and with a short crease to the head of the backstrip. A tiny touch of non-invasive spotting to pastedowns and to occasional leaves. A very good copy of a superb production. No dust wrapper, as issued, but lacking the slipcase. £500 

ALFRED WALLIS. Sven Berlin. Alfred Wallis: Primitive. Poetry London / Nicholson & Watson, London 1949. First edition. 4to. 122pp. With fifty-six photographs and reproductions on glossy paperstock, twelve of them in colour. Includes W.S.Graham’s poem The Voyages of Alfred Wallis, reproduced from the pages of the periodical Life and Letters. A touch of light marking to the cloth. Very good indeed in somewhat chafed and chipped price-clipped dust wrapper, with two noticeable area of triangular loss from the upper edge of the rear panel, and several further much small areas of edge-loss. Berlin’s celebrated study of the naïve Cornish painter; completed shortly after Wallis’ death in 1942, publication was delayed by the Second World War, the book finally appearing nearly five years after it was originally typeset. £125

REX WHISTLER. The New Forget-Me-Not. An anthology. With four colour plates and various handsome decorations by Rex Whistler. Cobden-Sanderson, London 1929. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 360 numbered copies, signed by Rex Whistler (this being #142). 8vo. 143pp. Half-vellum with decorated paper sides. The vellum somewhat faded as is invariable the case, and with a little darkening and light spotting to the sides. The merest hint of darkening to the free endpapers, else in fine state internally. Tipped-in errata slip. No dust wrapper. Contributors include Siegfried Sassoon, Max Beerbohm, Ronald Knox, Hilaire Belloc, Rose Macaulay, Dorothy Wellesley, Clive Bell, Harold Nicholson, Cyril Connolly, Edmund Blunden, H.M.Tomlinson, Christopher Sykes, Lord Berners, Raymond Mortimer and others. £225

REX WHISTLER. Elizabeth Godley. Green Outside. With decorations by Rex Whistler. Chatto & Windus, London [1931]. First edition. 8vo. 56pp. With a colour frontispiece and various Whistler drawings throughout. The tip of one corner gently knocked. Handsome former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. A very crisp copy in the uncommon Whistler dust wrapper, quite considerably darkened at the spine panel, dust soiled, and with about a centimetre of loss from the head of the spine panel, a short jagged tear with some accompanying creasing and two areas of internal taped reinforcement. An uncommon collection of whimsical rhymes and verses for children, nicely enhanced by Whistler’s typically delightful drawings. £150

ANDY WARHOL AND SUZIE FRANKFURT. Wild Raspberries. Bulfinch Press, New York 1997. A facsimile of the original 1959 limited edition, with a new foreword by Jaime Frankfurt and a new preface by Suzie Frankfurt. 4to. Unpaginated. A fine copy. No dust wrapper called for, but with the original wraparound band which is very slightly soiled and with a short tear to one natural fold. A series of absurd recipes penned by Frankfurt, hand-lettered by Julia Warhola (Warhol’s mother) and accompanied by nineteen Andy Warhol illustrations, most of which are coloured or part-coloured. The publisher of this new facsimile edition, presumably fearful of future lawsuits, notes on the copyright page: “Wild Raspberries is first and foremost a work of art, and the ‘recipes’ contained herein are not for ingestion and should be read in the humorous spirit in which they were created”. £95

WOOD ENGRAVINGS. The Apocrypha. According to the Authorised Version. With fourteen wood engravings by Blair Hughes-Stanton, Gertrude Hermes, Leon Underwood, Stephen Gooden, René Ben Sussan, M.E.Groom, Eric Jones, Wladislaw Skoczylas, Hester Sainsbury, Frank Medworth, Eric Kennington, Eric Ravilious, John Nash and D.Galans. The Cresset Press, London 1929. First edition, printed at the Curwen Press and limited to 450 numbered copies on mould-made paper, plus a further thirty deluxe copies (this one of the 450 examples, but un-numbered). Large 4to. 406pp. Bound in full brown buckram with two red leather spine labels, lettered and bordered in gold (this binding unusual as the ‘correct’ binding should be white vellum; the fact that this example is un-numbered may suggest that it was intended as a trial or proof copy, or perhaps a file copy). Fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. A touch of very light spotting to the edges and endpapers, and to very occasional leaf margins.  Backstrip ends very gently rubbed. A very good copy of an uncommon and quite delightful production: a tour-de-force collaboration featuring some of the finest wood engravers of the post-Great War period, each one tackling one of the fourteen books classified as apocryphal by the King James Bible. £950