di pregio e libri d’artisti

Selections from the Rare Book Collections

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1958 Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). The comedy of Dante Alighieri, translated into English unrhymed hendecasyllabic verse by Mary Prentice Lillie. San Francisco, CA: The Grabhorn Press, 1958 xZ232.5 G7 D36 [Book gift-plate designed and printed by The Allen Press. Issued in slipcase. Edition of three hundred copies.]

1962 The Holy Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Verona: Editiones Officinae Bodoni, 1962 xBS2553 A3 1962 [The Officina Bodoni was founded in 1922 by typographer and printer Giovanni Mardersteig (1892-1977). The press, named after typographer Giambattista Bodoni, produced fine limited editions until 1977. The Holy Gospel is illustrated with reproductions of one hundred and fourteen of the woodcuts from the 1495 edition of Epistole et Evangelii et lectioni volgari in..., recut by Bruno Bramanti from the original designs for Bartolomeo de Giovanni. Title-page engraved in wood by Reynolds Stone. Printed in Mardersteig’s Renaissance-inspired Zeno type on Magnani mould-made paper. Bound in maroon morocco gilt. Edition of one hundred and fifty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 63.]

1963 Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824). A Venetian story. Kentfield, CA: Allen Press, 1963 xZ232.5 A5 B97 [This long, narrative poem was first published anonymously in 1818 under the title, Beppo, A Venetian Story. Lord Byron wrote the story in 1817, during a notorious three-year stay in Venice. Based on a presumably true anecdote, told to Byron by the husband of his lover, the anonymous poem, a lively, witty account of Venetians, became immediately popular. Printed damp on Rives mouldmade paper by Lewis and Dorothy Allen on their Acorn-Smith handpress. Illustrated with thirty-five large, full-page photolithographs from rare copperplate engravings selected by Eleanor Garvey and Philip Hofer. Hofer and Garvey selected images from different sets of illustrations originally published in 1720, 1741, and 1742. Loose leaves in purple Fortuny cloth folder housed in brown cloth shelfback box with purple single endpapers. Edition of one hundred and fifty copies.]

1972 Mirek. Le streghette. Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1972 xPQ4873 I7 S7 1972 [In Italian, with English translation. Printed on a Washington handpress from handset Horizon Light type by Richard-Gabriel Rummonds in January 1972. Paper is Fabriano, individually tinted by the artist and the printer. The paper was printed damp. Four of the linocuts are signed by the artist. Issued in slipcase. Edition of 81 copies, 69 numbered. University of Utah copy is no. 21.]

1979 Zanzotto, Andrea. Circhi e cene = Circuses and suppers. Plain Wrapper Poets, 2. Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1979 xPQ4851 A74 A22 1979 [Etchings by Joe Tilson. Printed by Gabriel Rummonds and Alessandro Zanella using an 1847 Washington handpress on handmade paper with Spectrum type. Edition of one hundred and fifty copies, signed by the poet and the artist.]

1980 Drucker, Johanna (b. 1952). Italy. Berkeley, CA: The Figures, c1980 xPS3554 R75 I8 1980 [From the author’s statement: “...Not precisely a travel narrative, it had been one of several ‘real accounts’ that established a strain of writing practice that continues to the present…Self in these projects is the place from which and through which observation is synthesized. Feelings are not what matters, though responses are registered…I am what I see, react to, know, smell, taste. Subjectivity is radically constituted in the process, and has no pre-existing shape except as a sort of calibrated filters…I wanted to have a ‘real’ book in print, a generic offset, edited and published work….” Edition of five hundred copies.]

Kafka, Franz (1883-1924). Lo stemma cittadino. Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1980 xPT2621 A26 S716 1980 [Translation of Das Stadtwappen. Letterpress printed.]

Santucci, Luigi. La donna con la bocca aperta. Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1980 xPQ4841 A67 D59 1980 [In Italian, with English translation. Illustrated with serigraphs by Emilio Tadini. Printed by Gabriel Rummonds. Issued in slipcase. Edition of 110 copies, signed by the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 106.]

1981 Ruskin, John (1819-1900). Verona e i suoi fiumi. Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1981 xPR5261 V47 18 1981 [Printed by Gabriel Rummonds and Alessandro Zanella. Edition of 40 copies.]

1983 Phillips, Tom (1937-). Dante's inferno/translated, illustrated, designed and published by Tom Phillips. London: Talfourd, 1983 xPQ4329 P45 1983 [Translated, illustrated and designed by Tom Phillips. This edition took seven years to complete. The project endured a studio fire and survived prohibitive production costs. Tom Phillips translation of Dante is blank verse of Dante’s Italian into contemporary English. Most of the plates combine textual content, in stenciled lettering or text balloons and images freely derived from sources ranging from magazines, postcards and Gustave Doré’s illustrations of Dante; and manipulations of Picasso and Michelangelo. In the last plate of the last Canto, a survivor of the 1978 fire, a book-shaped collage of seminal images from the plates floats above the billowing sunray-like pages of Dante’s book in a starry sky borrowed from Van Gogh. This is the first production from Talfourd Press, and was finished on April 30, 1983 “on the seven hundredth anniversary of the meeting of Dante and Beatrice on the Ponte Santa Trinita.” Illustrated with one hundred and thirty-nine prints (in lithography, etching, aquatint, soft-ground etching and silkscreen). Etchings proofed and editioned by Nick Tite and John Duffin at Talfourd; lithographs by Nick Hunter as Ashby Studio; screenprints by Chris Betambeau at Advanced Graphics, with the exception of two from Coriander Press. Letterpress printed from Walbaum type designed by Ian Mortimer on Somerset-type wove mould-made paper tinted at Inversk Mills to the artist’s specification and incorporating his signature as the watermark. Edition of one hundred and eighty-five copies.]

1985 Calvino, Italo. Prima che tu dica "pronto". Cottolonda, AL: Plain Wrapper Press, 1985 xPQ4890 A45 P713 1985 [The aesthetic and technical challenge of binding this edition inspired Craig Jensen to pursue edition binding over book conservation. It also marked the beginning of his work with printer Gabriel Rummonds. Illustrated with four multi-colored woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. Printed on an 1847 Washington handpress by Gabriel Rummonds and Alessandro Zanella. Some pages printed on double leaves. Type is handset in Post Medieval cast by H. Bertoldi. A.G. Paper handmade at the Cartiere Enrico Magrini, printed damp. Tan quarter leather with pastepaper sides by Anthony O’Hara. Binding is a tight, long-stitch style, bound in boards, with the printed pages held together with two brass rings. Edition of fifty copies.]

1985 Calvino, Italo. Prima che tu dica “pronto”. Cottondale, AL: Plain Wrapper Press, 1985 xPQ4809 A45 P713 1985 [The aesthetic and technical challenge of binding this edition inspired Craig Jensen to pursue edition binding over book conservation. It also marked the beginning of his work with master printer Gabriel Rummonds. Illustrated with four multi-colored woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi. Printed on an 1847 Washington handpress by Gabriel Rummonds and Alessandro Zanella. Some pages printed on double leaves. Type is handset Post Mediaeval cast by H. Berthold A.G. Paper handmade at the Cartiere Enrico Magnani, printed damp. Tan quarter leather with pastepaper sides by Antony O’Hara. Binding is a tight joint, in-boards style, incorporating a spine hollow and handsewn silk endbands. Housed in a cloth-covered, drop-spine3 box with the Plain Wrapper Press device set in a recess on front board. Edition of seventy-five numbered copies, signed by the poet and the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 4, printed for Tom and Elfie Rummonds.]

Guido delle Colonne (13th c.). Lyric (ancor chi l’aigua per lu focu lassi). Lincoln, NE: Blue Heron Press, 1985 xPQ4299 C7 A8313 1985 [Comprised of three loose sheets, printed on one side, each folded accordion-style into two double leaves, in a folder. Handset with Romulus Roman type. Paper is Twinrocker. Edition of twenty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 15.]

1990 Citino, David. Letter of Columbus. Ohio State University: Logan Elm Press, 1990 xPS3553 I86 L47 1990 [Poem adapted from the letter Christopher Columbus wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella on February 15, 1493, as he was returning to Spain from his first voyage to the “New World.” Illustrated with monoprints by Anthony Rice. Issued in paper-covered slipcase with inlaid cast paper bas-relief. Edition of one hundred and thirty signed and numbered copied. University of Utah copy is no. 11.]

1990 Minuet from Quintet in E by Luigi Boccherini. Fairfax, CA: Jungle Garden Press, 1990 xN7433.4 J8 M3 1990 ARC [A music box in the form of a book, the mechanism inset in hollowed-out pages. The winding key protrudes from the back cover. Illustrated with bars of music. Covers are tin.]

1991 Michelangelo Buonarraoti (1475-1564). Michelangelo: his sonnets. Greenbrae, CA: Allen Press, 1991 xZ232.5 A5 M53 1991 [Translated into English by John Addington Symonds. Printed in two colors on Barcham Green handmade paper, uncut. With a frontispiece photograph of a Michelangelo self-portrait cut in stone. Bound in quarter-cloth over Venetian Fortuny cloth. Edition of one hundred and fifteen copies. University of Utah copy accompanied by printer’s
announcement. ]

1992 Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375). The life of Dante. Greenbrae, CA: The Allen Press, 1992 xZ232.5 A5 B63 1992 [Boccaccio was born eight years before Dante’s death and therefore was writing a near-contemporary account of his life. Translated into English by Philip Henry Wicksteed. Illustrated with four wood engravings by John de Pol. Printed in Italian Old Style designed by Frederick Goudy on handmade Whatman rag paper. Bound in half-linen over hand-blocked Fortuny
fabric imported from Italy. Edition of one hundred and nine copies. University of Utah copy signed by Lewis and Dorothy Allen.]

1993 Faye, Jules Remedios. The mechanical dreamer = il sognatore meccanico: a fabulous tale of Italian dreams told in linoblocks cut during the Perseid meteor showers. Seattle: Street of Crocodiles, 1993 xN7433.4 F38 M4 1993 [Text is handset Futura with Granby Inline, letterpress printed on a Chandler & Price platen press. Linocuts are printed on a Vandercook 4. Paper is Mohawk’s Molino. Bound in blue and copper decorated paste paper covering boards, black cloth spine. Edition of one hundred and twenty-five, numbered and signed by the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 25.] 

Petrarca, Francesco (1304-1374). Phisicke against fortune. Berkeley, Foolscap Press, 1993 xPQ4496 E29 D45 1993 [Forty-six dialogues by the Italian poet. Translation by Thomas Twyne. Introduction by Lewis W. Spitz. Essay by William M. Ivins, Jr., with a section of notes explaining the symbolism. Woodcut illustrations by Hans Weidtz from a German edition of 1452. Bound in red silk over blindstamped cream paper boards, gilt lettering to spine. Edition of one hundred and seventy-five copies. Initials printed in red. Designed, printed and bound by Peggy Gotthold and Lawrence G. Van Vlezer. University of Utah copy is no. 76.]

1996 Gelli, Jacopo (1858-1935). The code: excerpts from the Italian code of…Bisbee, AZ: Pequeno Press, 1996 xCR4595 I8 G44 1996 [Translated by E. Bruno Magliocco. Jacopo Gelli describes the rules governing nineteenth century dueling. Designed and produced by Pat Baldwin. Illustrated in black and white with color borders and one pop-up at the opening. Miniature book bound in tan suede with set-in miniature guns on the cover, paper label on the spine. Edition of fifty copies, signed by the book maker. University of Utah copy is no. 17.]

1997 Lorenz, Angela. Binding ties. Bologna: Sintesi Edizioni, 1997 xN7433.4 L67 B55 1997 [Made with paper, silk, copper wire, and raffia, this book presents six vignettes in the history of international trade across six continents. The structure itself is built with cultural information emphasizing the importance of the textile trade from pre-history onward and reflecting a combination of Western businessmen and indigenous peoples. The poems are hidden within six silkscreened and die cut neckties representing military regiments sent to the colonial territories of Great Britain. The ties are bound in a panorama format. The word “pull” is visible at the top of each tie. As the tie is pulled up the text gradually appears. The materials used in the making of this book are all representative components of the meaning within the text. Copper, for instance, an African import, enabled the rise of electricity, which advanced trade via the telegraph. The back of each tie is silk-screened with blue ink, revealing the herringbone grain of the paper. The “seam” is printed with the same ink and is perforated by hand with a tailor’s sewing wheel used to mark patterns. The paper comes in tweed, plain, and pinstripe, and is made from recycled scraps from the garment industry, as well as new material. The case for the book is based on the envelopes in which ties are sold in Italy. It is titled in gold and covered with an outline of the continents with commodities traded in various areas. The book may be worn as an apron, with the raffia ties to secure around the waist, or as a sort of hat, tied around the crown of the head. The edition of thirty is symbolic of the Thirty Years War in seventeenth century Europe, when Croatian mercenaries fighting for France introduced a new form of neckwear on the battlefield. Returning home, French officers wore them at court and thus, the modern necktie was born. Edition of thirty copies, signed by the artist, plus A-L lettered series for non-commercial use.]

1999 Calvino, Italo. Invisible cities. San Fransisco, CA: Arion Press, 1999 xZ232.5 A7 C35 1999 [Twelve drawings of sites and artifacts by Wayne Thiebaud. Drawings from photopolymer plates on mylar. Edition of four hundred numbered copies for sale and twenty-six lettered copies for private distribution. Each copy numbered, lettered or signed by Wayne Thiebaud.]

2000 James, Henry (1843-1916). Siena. Bremen, ME ; New York : Red Angel Press, 2000 xPS2120 S45 2000 [Henry James’ story was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in June, 1874. It was later published (with revisions) in Transatlantic Sketches (1875) and then in Italian Hours (1909). The text for this edition is the 1874 version. Of Siena, James wrote, « It was void of any human presence which could recall me to the current year, and, the moonshine assisting, I had half an hour’s fantastic vision of mediaeval Italy. » Illustrated with a multi-color woodcut by Ronald Keller. Text is handset Bembo. Letterpress printed on dampened Fabriano Ingres paper. A single sewn signature of text in a box with a woodcut on the last four pages which folds out from the structure to depict Siena’s Piazza del Campo, including the sloped pavement. The image recreates the story’s description of the moon shadow cast by the Palazzo Pubblico on the piazza. A cast paper representation of the famous bronze sculpture of Romulus and Remus is inset on the front cover. Bound in cloth with letterpress on spine. Designed by Ronald Keller. Edition of one hundred copies, signed by the artist.]

2001 Sand, George (1804-1876). Vues de Venise. Octon, France : Verdigris, 2001 xPQ2412 A32 2001 [Reversible accordion fold binding with hand-marbles Venetian paper boards with the Sand letter printed in one direction and the Zola letter printed in the opposite. Edition of fifty copies, signed by the artist. University of Utah copy is no. 35.]

2002 Lorenz, Angela. The theater of nature, or curiosity filled the…Bologna, Italy: Novelties of Purpose, a division of Angela Lorenz Artist’s Books, 2002 First trade edition xN7433.4 L67 T44 2002 [A pop-up museum housed in a magic lantern introduces the reader to the history of museums from ancient Greece through the 18th century. Hand drawn copperplate etchings, based on old engravings depict the earliest museums in Europe. Two accordion-fold illustrated texts printed on both sides. Issued in long folding case. The trade edition is a facsimile of a limited edition of ten copies.]

2008 Maret, Russell. Mediaeval in Padua. New York City: Russell Marat, 2008 xNK3630.8 I8 M37 2008 [Illustrations printed on double leaves. Designed and letterpress printed by Russell Maret. Photographs were printed offset by Artale Graphics. Paper is Mohawk Superfine. Text is set in a new type designed specifically for this book by the author. The face is closely based on John Baskerville’s Great Printer typeface. Handsewn paper case binding with an extended spine hollow and printed dust jacket. Edition of two hundred and twenty-six copies. University of Utah copy is no. 53, signed by the author.]

Palladio, Andrea (1508-1580). Excerpts from the four books on architecture. Bremen, ME: Red Angel Press: 2008 xNA2515 P253 2008 [Andrea Palladio designed some of the most beautiful buildings of his time, including the Villa Almerico-Capra. The text for this edition is taken from chapters of his book Four Books on Architecture, on the construction basics of classic architecture – sand, stone, timber, and metals – giving a precise analysis of them. Printed on Fabriano Artistico paper. Title-page is printed in brown and black with Caslon. Text is set in Bembo. Text illustrated with two architectural renderings by Palladio. Includes paper cast rendering of the Villa Almerico-Capra mounted on the back of the cover. The front cover is split in the center of the book and the pages open both to the left and right, the two facing gatherings to be read sequentially across both gatherings opening by opening. As the pages are turned, the leaves are trimmed narrower, gradually revealing the cast paper bas-relief image of the façade of La Rotonda on the inside back cover. Bound in tan cloth with the title “Palladio” printed in deeper brown to the left of center. Edition of fifty copies, signed and numbered by the designer/artist/publisher, printer, Ronald Keller.]

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2013 October 09 compiled, annotated and edited by Luise Poulton luise.poulton@utah.edu

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