Nine folding leaves. 8vo (207 x 145 mm.), orig. wrappers (a little worn & frayed), new stitching. [Japan]: from the first & final page in trans.: “Information provided by Asaemon Shimizu near Imabari Castle [in today’s Ehime Prefecture]…on an auspicious day in September 1796.”

This rather slight manuscript is of considerable interest, as it lists 35 medical conditions, along with names of pressure points and methods of treatment. These illnesses include heart disease, skin problems, tumors, dental matters, throat and lung diseases, intestinal problems, reproductive issues, communicable diseases like cholera and gonorrhea, obstetrical problems, and diseases of children. There is... More

12 columns per page, 21 characters per column. Text block: 233 x 170 mm. 28; 39; 40 folding leaves. Three vols. Large 8vo (277 x 192 mm.), orig. persimmon-stained wrappers (wrappers somewhat worn), new stitching. [Probably Kyoto]: according to Kawase, “mid-Genna”(ca. 1620).

One of the great rarities of Japanese movable type printing; according to Kawase, this is the second-earliest printing of Aesop’s Fables in kanji and hiragana characters. All movable type editions of this text are very rare; WorldCat lists no copy preceding the 1659 woodblock edition.

“Western books were first imported to Japan by Portuguese missionaries, who printed copies... More

Black & white illus. 35 pp. Square 4to, printed wrappers, staple-bound. Maastricht: Agora Studio, 1975.

Scarce catalogue for a traveling exhibition undertaken by the artist-run space Agora in three South American locations. With a foreword by Willem K. Coumans in Dutch and English. The exhibition took place at the centro di arte y communication (Buenos Aires), Estudio Actual (Caracas), and Sao Paulo’s Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. The cover was designed by Klaus Groh.

Artists in the catalogue: Peter van Beveren, Michel Cardena, Ulises Carrión, Guglielmo Achille Cavellini, Albrecht D., Michael Gibbs, Groh, Raul Marroquin, Yoshio Nakajima, Maurizio Nannucci, Marjo Schumans... More

88, [4] pp. Small 4to, orig. blue cloth, uncut & unopened. Tokyo: Noda Shobo, 1936.

First separate edition, limited to 170 copies, originally published in 1918 in two newspapers. Akutagawa (1892-1927), is today most famous for having written the story “In the Grove” which was the basis for the classic film Rashomon by Kurosawa. The theme of the present story is concerned with artistic obsession. It was dramatized by Mishima in 1953 and made into a movie — Portrait of Hell — in 1969.

Fine copy in the original slipcase. This limited edition is printed on fine handmade paper with... More

Each title within an elaborate woodcut pictorial border, two full-page engravings, & numerous woodcuts & maps in the text, woodcut initials and head- & tailpieces. First title printed in red & black. 6 p.l., 449, [15] pp.; 4 p.l., 205, [6] pp. Two vols. in one. Folio, cont. vellum over boards (binding a little soiled, light browning throughout as is always the case). Dresden: “durchaus auff Schreibpappir gedruckt,” 1589-90.

First edition, and a fine copy, of this early mining book, splendidly printed on special paper (“Schreibpappir”). “This work is of great importance in connexion with the early history of mining... More

Six folding engraved plates. lxviii, 260 pp.; vi, 290 pp.; xlviii, 263 pp. Three vols. 4to, cont. mottled calf (lower cover of Vol. II a little wormed), spines gilt, red morocco lettering pieces on spines. Paris: David, 1754-54-56.

First edition. “Devoted primarily to the motion of the moon (Volume II included a new set of lunar tables), it was written at least partially to guard d’Alembert's claims to originality against those of Clairaut. As was so often the case, d’Alembert's method was mathematically more sound, but Clairaut’s method was more easily used by astronomers.”–D.S.B., I, p. 114.

Clairaut’s anonymous and... More

Engraved vignette on title, one engraved headpiece, & two folding engraved plates. 4 p.l., xxviii, 194, 138 pp. 4to, cont. mottled calf (head of spine with a small chip, several signatures browned or foxed), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: David l’aîné, 1747.

First edition (?). This and the Berlin edition of the same year (with Latin text only) are both variously claimed as the true first edition, and it is perhaps logical to suppose that a prize-winning essay should appear first under the imprint of the prize-giver. However, the imprimatur of the French Académie des Sciences... More

One finely engraved head-piece. 4 p.l., LXXX pp. 8vo, attractive early 19th-century calf-backed marbled boards, flat spine gilt, orange & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. [Venice, ca. 1776].

[bound with]:

(PINELLI, Maffeo). Catalogo di Quadri raccolti dal fu Signor Maffeo Pinelli, ed ora posti in vendita in Venezia 1785. viii, 125 pp., one blank leaf. 8vo. [Venice: July 1785].

[bound with]:

(GRIMANI COLLECTION). [Drop-title on p. 3]: Pitture e Scolture nel Palazzo di Casa Grimani a S.ta Maria Formosa. Engraved frontis. Titles & text in double columns in Italian & French. 13 pp. 8vo. [Venice: ca. 1790].

A fascinating... More

Printed on both sides. Large card. Antwerp: Wide White Space, 1971.

Announcement card for Andre’s third solo exhibition with Wide White Space. The artist’s handwriting, describing the sculpture, is reproduced on the reverse.

“[Weathering Piece], which by its very definition was meant to be exposed to the elements, was exhibited on the floor of a covered terrace on the first floor of a gallery.”–Wide White Space: Behind the Museum.

In fine condition.

❧ Y. Pettitallot, ed., Wide White Space: Behind the Museum, 1966-1976 (1995) Exhibitions no. 44 (pictured). More

Periodic table printed on recto. Card. New York: Dwan Gallery, 1969.

Announcement card for Virginia Dwan’s second solo presentation of Carl Andre (b. 1935). The artist exhibited: 144 Pieces of Magnesium (1969), 144 Pieces of Lead (1969), and 144 Pieces of Copper (1969).

In excellent condition.

❧ J. Meyer, ed., Dwan Gallery: Los Angeles to New York, 1959-1971 (2016), p. 357. More

Black & white illus. on recto, details on verso. Pictorial postcard, mailed. Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1971.

Postcard invitation to Carl Andre’s third show with Konrad Fischer. The recto illustration shows the artist’s preparatory sketches of the four works to be shown in Fischer’s famously narrow gallery at Neubrückstrasse 12.

In fine condition. Mailed to curator Judith Cahen (b. 1938).

❧ D. Fischer, ed., Ausstellungen bei Konrad Fischer: Düsseldorf Oktober 1967-Oktober 1992 (Edition Marzona: 1993) 53 (pictured).

S. Leiber, curator, Extra Art: A Survey of Artists' Ephemera, 1960-1999 (2001) 528. More

53 fine plates on 30 sheets. 2 p.l., xxxix, 99, [4] pp. 4to, cont. Spanish green morocco, cover with gilt fillets round sides, flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine, characteristic Spanish marbled endpapers, a.e.g. [Madrid: en la Imprenta Real de la Gazeta, 1781].

First edition — and a superb copy in contemporary Spanish green morocco — of one of the most beautiful and influential of the Spanish writing books; this work and that of Palomares, published in 1776, made Spain an 18th-century center for calligraphy and fine handwriting.

The calligraphic world of later eighteenth-century Spain was formed... More