13 black & white illus. 77 pp. & one leaf of “Addendum” laid-in. Small 4to (175 x 126 mm.), orig. pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. [Philadelphia: 1973].

The important exhibition catalogue for the pioneering shows of artists’ books, which were held at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, and then the University Art Museum, Berkeley. Vanderlip, later a museum curator at the Denver Art Museum, writes in the Foreword: “This exhibition attempts to survey the many different types of books made by artists from 1960 to the present. For the purpose of this Exhibition the definition of ‘book’ is very flexible. If the artist conceived his work as a book... More

66, [10] pp. ads & index. Tall 8vo (200 x 110 mm.), pink printed wrappers, two glue-bound gatherings laid-in wrappers as issued. [Antwerp: 1976].

The scarce catalogue issued by the curator and publisher Schraenen (1948-2018), which lists hundreds of early artists’ books; one of 500 copies printed. At the beginning, it contains contributions by Schraenen, Carrión, Kostelanetz, and Klaus Groh. It then lists the works of Beuys, Burroughs, Cage, Carrión, Degottex, Downsbrough, Ehrenberg, Filliou, Ginsberg, Higgins, Jacks, Kostelanetz, Rot, Shiomi, Tuttle, Vostell, E. Williams, etc. There are also long listings of records, magazines, and posters. This catalogue was published to accompany events held in Brussels, Antwerp... More

28 folding engraved plates. 74; 86; 60; 35 folding leaves. Four vols. Oblong 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Tokyo: Government Publication issued under the Author’s name [Yosoda Masayoshi, a pen name for Tanabe], 1869.

First edition in Japanese, translated from an unidentified French text, which, according to the Preface, was issued in 1863, with a sequel in 1867. Tanabe also states that this work includes information gained from the French military mission of 17 men (four officers, ten non-commissioned officers, and two soldiers, led by staff captain Charles Sulpice Jules Chanoine), who came to Japan in early... More

23 pp. 8vo (210 x 135 mm.), partially stitched (edge of title-page expertly repaired), uncut. Paris: Félix & Pérignon, 1825.

The surprisingly rare auction catalogue of Regnault-Delalande (1762-1824), one of the most prodigious Parisian dealers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; WorldCat records no copy in North America. Regnault presided over a number of famous sales from the period, foremost among them those of the expert Basan, Count Potocki, Rigal, and the influential critic Saint-Yves. The introduction claims that Regnault-Delalande produced more than 300 sale catalogues (the Getty Provenance Index records approximately 222). This memorial concludes (in trans.): “This historian of... More

34 folding leaves. Small 4to (237 x 166 mm.), contemporary wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: at end of orig. Preface & end of scribe’s introduction: “1813.”

Tongue and lip diagnosis has been a vital tool used in traditional Chinese medicine for both assessing the current health of a patient and providing a basis for prognosis. Our text is based on a portion of Zhongjing Zhang’s late 2nd-century work Shanghan lun. “Zhang is known to have compiled this text after an epidemic swept through his hometown of Changsha (in present-day Hunan province), killing numerous family members and decimating the general population. Over the next two centuries... More

Some illus. in the text. 86; 64; 57 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo (237 x 164 mm.), orig. wrappers (some worming), orig. manuscript title-labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: on final leaf of third vol.: “1786” & “1791.”

A most unusual manuscript: a collection of texts, both Chinese and Japanese, entirely devoted to moxibustion, its theories, and its practices. Most Japanese manuscripts and books include acupuncture along with moxibustion. What is particularly interesting to us about this manuscript is that many of the texts by these authors seem not to have been published but passed on by word of mouth.

Moxibustion, or the burning of moxa, comes under the rubric of counter-irritation. It is the process burning of a combustible plant, usually mugwort, on or against certain areas of the skin. More

Eight full-page drawings & one illus. in the text. 17 folding leaves. 8vo (243 x 165 mm.), orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers (some dampstaining to upper portion of each leaf). [Japan: mid-Edo].

Kagawa (1683-1755), a member of the medical family dynasty, studied in Kyoto with Ryozan Goto and Jinsai Ito, from whom he learned moxibustion and the therapeutic value of the waters of hot springs. Kagawa established the successful Ippondo medical school and was one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of moxibustion of his time. There is another manuscript of this text at Kyoto University, attributed to Kagawa. Some of the illustrations are very different. More

Seven red & black ink illus. in the text, two full-page black & red illus., & one full-page illus. with two images in several colors. 39 folding leaves. Oblong 8vo (163 x 230 mm.), orig. blue wrappers (wrappers a little frayed), new stitching. [Japan: n.d., but mid-Edo].

An usual, well-illustrated, manuscript on acupuncture; a detailed and extended text on how to handle and apply the needles to acupuncture loci. This explicit account is the first such text we have encountered.

The manuscript is divided into two parts; the first (leaves 1-13) is entitled “Kyusho ken” [“Manual Book of our School of Acupuncture”]. This section contains... More

Many illus., mostly in black but some in red, pink, gray, green, yellow, blue, etc. Ca. 1821 folding leaves of text. 1083 chapters in 50 parts in 54 vols. (parts 14 & 15 in one vol., parts 24, 34, 42, & 47 in two vols. each, plus one vol. of table of contents). 8vo (266 x 188 mm.), orig. blue wrappers, orig. manuscript labels on each upper wrapper, new stitching. [Probably Kyoto: written in 1690 & this is a mid-Edo copy].

A rare and extremely important text, finely illustrated and complete in 50 parts; it remained unpublished until 1936. WorldCat lists no copy of this manuscript in North America (the NYPL’s copy is a microfilm). This... More

Woodcut frontis., woodcut vignette on title, 14 plates, & one folding floor-plan. 2 p.l., [iii]-xxiii, 390 pp. & 36 pp. of ads. Small 8vo, orig. patterned green cloth (corners just a tiny bit worn, minor foxing), sides stamped in gilt with an image of Curzon walking through the desert in Arab clothes in search of manuscripts on upper cover & a view of Jerusalem on lower cover, spine gilt. a.e.g. London: J. Murray, [second title]: New York: G.P. Putnam, 1849.

First American edition of “a great classic of the literature of travel, and one, moreover, which has book-collecting for its main theme.”–Munby, Phillipps... More

36 pp. Small 8vo (170 x 105 mm.), late 19th-century brown morocco-backed marbled boards, spine gilt. Paris: Chariot & Joullain, 1775.

A scarce priced auction catalogue, which is, according to the Getty Provenance database, incorrectly attributed by Lugt (and the inscription on the present book’s title-page) to Lempereur (1701-79), a Parisian jeweler — not to be confused with his son, the collector Jean Baptiste Denis (1726-96). This anonymous sale very probably consisted of the estate of a man with a similar surname (see Lugt Marques, 1740). A contemporary annotator has added all prices.

The catalogue describes 252 lots, including 18 paintings (by Lemoyne, H. Robert, Largillière, etc.), 169 drawings (by Maratti, Rubens, Jordaens, C. Vanloo, Greuze, Fragonard, Callot, Watteau, etc.), 56 lots of prints and books of prints, and nine sculptures. More

12 black & white illus. pasted on leaves. 32 unnumbered pages. 8vo (214 x 135 mm.), orig. blue cloth over boards (spine sunned), title in gilt on upper cover & spine. [Manchester: The Cloister Press, Ltd., 1943].

An exceedingly rare Epstein exhibition catalogue, signed by the artist; WorldCat records only the BL copy. As explained on the verso of the title-page, 50 percent of sales from this exhibition were to be given to the Merchant Navy Comforts Service. Epstein writes a brief introduction about the works he has selected: “The works in this collection which date from so early as the ‘Marcelle’ 1920 to the Chinese Girl... More