1894 · New York
by (VELLUM PRINTING). (GROLIER CLUB)
New York: [Printed at the De Vinne Press for] The Grolier Club, 1894. ONE OF THREE COPIES PRINTED ON VELLUM (and 312 on paper). 291 x 190 mm. (11 1/2 x 7 1/2"). 6 p.l., clxiii, [5], 84, 4, [6], 11, [3] pp. With an historical introduction, notes on the laws, and appendices by Robert Ludlow Fowler, Counsellor-at-law, and Bibliographical Note by Charles R. Hildebrun.
Restrained black crushed morocco by J. Franklin Mowery (stamp-signed with his gilt initials and "1975"on rear pastedown), covers with frame of small blind-stamped squares, gilt lettering on upper cover, raised bands, gilt lettering in one panel, vellum endleaves, two brass clasps with black leather straps. In a matching black morocco backed linen box with gilt titling and lined with padded citron silk. ◆Boards very slightly convex (as often with vellum books), occasional naturally occurring variations in grain of the vellum, but AN IMMACULATE COPY, the vellum smooth, creamy, and bright, and the binding unworn.
Issued 300 years after the original, this is a luxurious facsimile of the earliest edition of the Laws of New York (and one of the first New York books of any kind), printed by William Bradford in 1694 and characterized by colonial printing expert Charles Hildebrun as "the most precious work, historically and commercially, issued by the press of New-York." Of the original publication, only seven copies were known to exist in 1894, two of them in private collections. The facsimile was produced for the Grolier Club by club co-founder and official printer Theodore Lowe De Vinne, the leading commercial printer of the day. It includes extensive learned notes by legal scholar and judge of the Surrogate Court of New York, Robert Ludlow Fowler (1849-1936). Our copy was bound early in the career of J. Franklin Mowery, retired Head of Conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library and past president of the Guild of Book Workers. Mowery studied bookbinding under Professor Kurt Londenberg at the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste [Academy of Art] in Hamburg for four years beginning in 1971; our binding was created soon after he completed this course of study. This volume is surely the most desirable combination of luxury printing and an Americanum that we have ever offered for sale.. (Inventory #: ST19752)
Restrained black crushed morocco by J. Franklin Mowery (stamp-signed with his gilt initials and "1975"on rear pastedown), covers with frame of small blind-stamped squares, gilt lettering on upper cover, raised bands, gilt lettering in one panel, vellum endleaves, two brass clasps with black leather straps. In a matching black morocco backed linen box with gilt titling and lined with padded citron silk. ◆Boards very slightly convex (as often with vellum books), occasional naturally occurring variations in grain of the vellum, but AN IMMACULATE COPY, the vellum smooth, creamy, and bright, and the binding unworn.
Issued 300 years after the original, this is a luxurious facsimile of the earliest edition of the Laws of New York (and one of the first New York books of any kind), printed by William Bradford in 1694 and characterized by colonial printing expert Charles Hildebrun as "the most precious work, historically and commercially, issued by the press of New-York." Of the original publication, only seven copies were known to exist in 1894, two of them in private collections. The facsimile was produced for the Grolier Club by club co-founder and official printer Theodore Lowe De Vinne, the leading commercial printer of the day. It includes extensive learned notes by legal scholar and judge of the Surrogate Court of New York, Robert Ludlow Fowler (1849-1936). Our copy was bound early in the career of J. Franklin Mowery, retired Head of Conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library and past president of the Guild of Book Workers. Mowery studied bookbinding under Professor Kurt Londenberg at the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste [Academy of Art] in Hamburg for four years beginning in 1971; our binding was created soon after he completed this course of study. This volume is surely the most desirable combination of luxury printing and an Americanum that we have ever offered for sale.. (Inventory #: ST19752)