The Theory of Relativity
by Einstein, Albert
San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2005. Hardcover. New. 10-1/2 by 8 inches, eighty pages. Printed by letterpress from lead-alloy type cast in the Mackenzie & Harris typefoundry, the formulas were set by hand, as was the display type, while the prose was composed and cast in Monotype. The types are Modern for the text, with special characters as needed for mathematical symbols; Egyptian for the interspersed annotations, printed in blue; and Lining Gothic for display. The paper is... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
The Coffee Room
by Elkin, Stanley; McCurdy, Michael
Louisville: Contre Coup Press, 1987. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. McCurdy, Michael. One of 95 copies, octavo size, 51 pp., signed by Stanley Elkin and Michael McCurdy. Timothy Hawley's Contre Coup Press is the quintessence of a private press; very small print runs, printed on a real press (Timothy uses a vintage Vandercook SP20), using only the best materials, the resulting publication being a sparkling, luminescent gem. The Contre Coup Press began in St. Louis and in 1985 moved... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Alamos: A Philosophy in Living
by Elkus, Richard J.; Conrad, Barnaby (Foreword)
San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1965. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Elkus, Richard J.. No. 83 of 487 copies, elephant folio size, approximately [100] pp., signed by Richard Elkus, Robert and Edwin Grabhorn, with prospectus. The last major book of the Grabhorn Press, "Alamos" is a collection of photographs by Richard Elkus, capturing the poetry of the town of Alamos in Mexico; the photographs, a mix of landscapes and portraits, have a gritty serenity and a real sense... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Mind Fields; 34 Paintings, 33 Stories
by Ellison, Harlan; Yerka, Jacek (Artist)
(Beverly Hills, California): (Morpheus International), 1994. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Yerka, Jacek. One of 475 copies of the first printing, folio size, 72 pp., signed by both Ellison and Yerka, in slipcase. Harlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) was a prolific author, publishing over 1700 works. He was the winner of " numerous awards, including multiple Hugos, Nebulas, and Edgars" (n.b., per Wiki). This work, "Mind Fields", was made in collaboration with Jacek Yerka (b. 1952),... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Sweet Desserts
by Ellmann, Lucy
(New York): Viking, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. First US edition, first printing, octavo size, 155 pp., inscribed and additionally signed by the author. This Lucy Ellmann's (b. 1956) debut novel, the winner of the Guardian Prize for Best First Novel. She went on to further awards, including being longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction for her fourth novel, "Dot in the Universe" and shortlisted for the Believer Book Award (for the same novel); another... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
The Life of Musorgsky
by Emerson, Caryl
(Cambridge): Cambridge University Press, 1999. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, octavo size, 194 pp. "Modest Musorgsky is Russia's greatest musical dramatist. When he died in 1881 in St. Petersburg at the age of forty-two, in poverty and relative obscurity, he was known for a single opera, 'Boris Godunov', and a handful of eccentric 'realistic' songs. "In this brief biography, Caryl Emerson amends many of the canonical interpretations of Musorgksy as 'victim,', 'martyr,' and 'savage... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
![The Scientific Reinterpretation of Form; [Cornell History of Science Series]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/602/993/1598993602.0.l.jpg)
The Scientific Reinterpretation of Form; [Cornell History of Science Series]
by Emerton, Norma E.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, large octavo size, 318 pp. From the jacket flap: "The book traces the development of the concept of form - one of the most important and persistent elements in natural philosophy - from its origins in Plato and Aristotle to the beginnings of the nineteenth century." ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full blue cloth over boards, gilt lettering on the spine, a few black-and-white illustrations and charts;... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Unbuttoned
by Emily K. Brown, Nerissa Chiarapurk, Kim Cloward, Amelia Coplan, Katelin Jones, Jessie Norden-Hughes, Cindy Pujayana, Suzanna Schlesigner, Hama Silverstein
[Claremont, California]: Scripps College Press [Professor Kitty Maryatt], 2005. First and Limited Edition. Accordion. Near fine. One of 102 copies, folio size, [40] pp., signed by all contributors. Each semester, the students of the Book Arts and Typography Class at Scripps College arrive and work "toward a common goal of creating a cohesive artists' book." This book came about as a result of "a novel approach: various physical and emotional attributes of a major character were suuggested....[a]s individual... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Animated Nursery Tales; The Three Bears - The Three Little Pigs - The Three Little Kittens
by Julian Wehr (Paper Engineering)
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1943. Comb binding. Very good +/good. Quarto size, [22] pp., with dust jacket. Three favourite children's stories with the imaginative paper engineering of Julian Wehr (1898–1970), who was known as the "American Master of Animated Books" (n.b., quote from Wiki). ___DESCRIPTION: Illustrated paper-covered boards with a red comb binding, illustrated title page in green and black, the six moveable pages in full colour and the rest of the pages with green... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
![A Christmas Book [Cover title: Happy Christmas]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/519/551/1615551519.0.l.jpg)
A Christmas Book [Cover title: Happy Christmas]
by E., P. and J. Gill, D., S. and M. Pepler
Ditchling: S. Dominic's Press, 1921. First Edition. Wraps. Near fine. Gill, Eric. Duodecimo, [26] pp. From the bibliography, "[a] compilation of texts and nineteen wood-engravings by the Gill and Pepler children viz. Elizabeth, Petra and Joanna Gill, David, Stephen and Mark Pepler. The illustrations include two drawings by Elizabeth Gill engraved on wood by Eric Gill, P48 and P158." A charming little book with mostly Christmas-themed text and illustrations, but also with "The Story of a... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
General Chemistry of the Enzymes
by Euler, Hans; Pope, Thomas H. (translator)
New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1912. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Octavo size, 352 pp. First English edition of this work on enzymes. The author, Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin (1873-1964) was a Swedish biochemist, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929. Chapters include Special Chemistry of the Enzymes, Physical Properties of the Enzymes, Activators, and more. ___DESCRIPTION: Black cloth binding with blind-embossed rules on the front, spine and rear boards, brown... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
In Medias Res; Canto One of an Autobiographical Epic: "Dust Shall Be the Serpent's Food
by Everson, William; Killion, Tom (Illustrations)
San Francisco: Adrian Wilson, 1984. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Killion, Tom. One of 226 copies, elephant folio size, 25 pp., inscribed by Everson to Michael Neilson and signed at the colophon by William Everson, Tom Killion, and Adrian Wilson. William Everson (1912-1994), also known as Brother Antoninus, a name he adopted during his sixteen years serving as a Dominican monk, is considered an essential force of the San Francisco literary Renaissance that would become the Beat movement. Everson's... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Sparks From a Flint; Odd Rhymes for Odd Times
by E. V. L. [Lucas, Edward Verrall]
London: Howe & Co. / Saxon & Co, 1890. Hardcover. Very good. Twenty-fourmo size, 95 pp. English humourist, essayist, playwright, biographer, publisher, poet and novelist Edward Verrall Lucas' (1868-1938) first book; a collection of tongue-in-cheek verses, with numerous literary references. Much to Lucas' dismay, the publishers inserted a preface without his permission, and he was so upset with the offensive preface that years later he bought and destroyed as many copies as he could, the result being that... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Early Printing in California
by Fahey, Herbert
[San Francisco]: The San Francisco Club of Printing House Craftsmen, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, miniature book, 66 pp. A short essay on early California printing by San Francisco bookbinder and typographer, Herbert Fahey. This work was the genesis for his later important book published by The Book Club of Califronia, "Early Printing in California", in 1956. Dedicated to the Thiriteth Annual Convention of The International Association of Printing House Craftsmen, Inc., with the title... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
The Great Comforting Sermon; From the San Francisco Examiner
by Fahey, Rev. Martin E.; Nash, John Henry (Printer)
San Francisco: Printed for The Book Club of California by John Henry Nash, 1921. Limited Edition. No binding. Fine. Nash, John Henry. Single leaf folded once to make [4] pp. A lovely broadside printed by the San Francisco printer extraodinaire, John Henry Nash (1871-1947) with his characteristic mitred ruled border, this heavily decorated (as was his style) in light olive green, with a large gilt intial capital letter. The sermon is introduced thus (addressing the San Francisco Examiner):... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Sir Archibald
by Wolo [Wolf Erhardt Anton George Trutzschuler von Falkenstein]
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1944. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/very good. Quarto size, 41 pp., inscribed by Wolo. Mixing delightful illustrations with playful fantasy adventure, "Sir Archibald" is the story of a brave monkey who goes on a quest to retrieve the lion king's crown, travelling through harrowing wilderness and magical parts of the jungle. Wolf Erhardt Anton George Trutzschuler von Falkenstein (1902-1989) wrote five children's books under his pen name "Wolo"; after escaping Nazi... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice
by Feldman, Martha
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. First printing, quarto size, 507 pp. For any student of the history of Venice or the madrigal form, this scholarly work is indispensible to have a thorough understanding of such in medieval Venetian culture. ___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full green cloth over boards, gold lettering stamped onto the spine, endpapers a fascimile of an antique map of Venice, book replete with reproductions of photographs and maps, charts,... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Hitty; Her First Hundred Years
by Field, Rachel; Lathrop, Dorothy P.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good +. Lathrop, Dorothy P.. First printing, octavo size, 219 pp., in publisher's dust jacket. A delightful children's book which tells the tale of a hand-carved wooden doll and her many adventures. "As far as I can learn, I must have been made something over a hundred years ago in the State of Maine in the dead of winter..." (p. 3). Authored by Rachel Lyman Field... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Pocket-Handkerchief Park
by Field, Rachel (Author and Illustrator)
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Field, Rachel. 24mo size, 67 pp. Rachel Lyman Field (1894-1942) was a well-loved children's author, as well as a novelist and poet; she is best known for her Newbery Award-winning "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years". She was also awarded the Caldecott Medal, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and one of the inaugural National Book Awards. This is a sweet little story about a park... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Printer's Choice, A Selection of American Press Books, 1968-1978, Catalogue of an Exhibition Held at the Grolier Club, New York, December 19, 1978-February 3, 1979
by Fine, Ruth E. and Matheson, William (Selection of Books and Press Histories); Taylor, W. Thomas (Bibliographical Descriptions and Notes)
Austin: W. Thomas Taylor [Designed and Printed by David Holman at the Wind River Press], 1983. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. One of 325 copies, folio size, 100 pp. A catalogue published in connection with an exhibition held at the Grolier Club to explore and celebrate the then-current state of fine press printing in America; as is stated in the Introduction, "a primary goal of the exhibition was to feature a selection of lesser-known and younger printers -... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Death; Philosophical Soundings
by Fingarette, Herbert
Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, octavo size, 183 pp. An original essay by Professor Herbert Fingarette (1921-2018), whose work focused on issues of "issues in philosophy of mind, psychology, ethics, law, and Chinese philosophy" (n.b., quote from Wiki). Professor Fingarette's essay is followed by "twelve classic statements on death, from Tolstoy, Ionesco, Pascal, Chuang tzu, Hume, Camus, the Bhagavad Gita, Schopenhauer, Freud, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, and... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
The Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Early Christian Art and Archaeology
by Finney, Paul Corby (General Editor)
Eerdmans, 2017. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. First printing, large quarto size, 1750 pp., three volumes in slipcase. From the web site of the publisher: "More than 400 distinguished scholars, including archaeologists, art historians, historians, epigraphers, and theologians, have written the 1,455 entries in this monumental encyclopedia - the first comprehensive reference work of its kind." ___DESCRIPTION: This set consists of two text volumes and a third volume of "Plates and Color Maps"; all bound in black... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Fitzgerald, Edward (Translator); Vedder, Elihu
Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1894. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. Octavo, 120 pp., in publisher's dust jacket. While the Rubaiyat has captured the imagination of almost untold artists, surely the version with the drawings by Elihu Vedder ranks among the very best. Elihu Vedder (1836-1923) trained as an artist initially in New York, then in Paris and Italy. While he produced various works of art, including glassware, mosaics and statuettes for Tiffany, it would be his... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
![The Great Gatsby [deluxe edition]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/601/414/1606414601.0.l.jpg)
The Great Gatsby [deluxe edition]
by Fitzgerald, F. Scott; Graves, Michael (Artist)
San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1984. Limited Edition. Hardcover. New. Graves, Michael. 10 by 6-1/2 inches, 182 pages. The text is composed in Monotype Goudy Light with Piehler capitals and figures for display. The paper is French mouldmade Rives buff. Photo-engravings printed in terra-cotta, titling and chapter numbers in blue-green. The binding has a blue-green cloth spine and corners, with printed grey paper over boards, in slipcase with cloth edges and paper sides. Signed by the artist. Special... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books
Bouvard & Pécuchet
by Flaubert, Gustave; Polizzotti, Mark (Translator, Introduction)
San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2016. Hardcover. New. The Arion edition is set in a rare Czechoslovakian type named for its designer, Oldrich Menhart (1897-1962), a calligrapher, lettering artist, and type designer of over twenty faces. This is our first use of Menhart type. The paper is a mould-made sheet from the Magnani mill in Italy. The page format is 13-7/8 by 10 inches, 232 pages, printed in two colors throughout. The book is sewn by hand and... Read More
Offered by Swan's Fine Books