Boston Book Company Newsletter

July new additions

2009-07-09T13:55:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to check out the July New Additions page at www.rarebook.com - some new local history and Americana, as well as a striking 19th century Richard Morris Hunt architectural photograph.

20th Century East Asian Books

2009-06-18T16:24:00.005-04:00

click here for catalogue

The creation of useful organizing elements in the field of Japanese illustration is often quite arbitrary. May we plead guilty to that fault in creating this list of Japanese illustrated books of the 20th century. Lumping together books created in various media, books deriving from sources as disparate as Ukiyo-e and the European avant-garde and many schools and traditions in between may confuse as much as it orders, but there it is - the 20th was a messy century. What unites the books is their essential Japanese aesthetic. They play well together, at least as we see them.

Charles Vilnis

A Textiles and Dyeing List

2009-06-12T13:07:00.002-04:00

We have compiled a selection of textile and dyeing sample cards and books, from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Many of these include dyed samples of cloth plain and patterned, thread or yarn, or even leather. Some of the materials provide the dyestuff "recipe" for each color. If you have an interest in the history of dyeing or textiles, please take a look: click here for the illustrated list.

New Additions for June

2009-06-06T12:42:00.004-04:00

We have updated our New Additions page for the first part of June. To visit, go to our website and click on New Additions in the upper left corner. Enjoy browsing, or use our search feature to locate more titles.

Classic Ehon, Illustrated Books and Maps

2009-05-26T15:39:00.004-04:00

Click for catalogue: http://www.rarebook.com/ehon1.html

Greetings,

Spring brings rain, flowers and, at the Boston Book Company, catalogues.

Following up on our design book list which we published a few weeks ago, we have created a catalogue of traditional ehon, and included maps, botanicals [birds and flowers], fairy tales and original paintings currently in our inventory. There are some true rarities and icons of the illustrated book genre, works we are all familiar with from their appearance in the wonderful books done by Jack Hillier, Roger Keyes and others - kyokabon such as the Utamaro insect book in an early, lovely edition, painting manuals such as the Taigado Gahô and pure picture books like the Sekien Gafu, the Sônan Gafu and the Kiyonaga Ehon Muchi Bukuro. There are Kabuki classics like the Nendaiki, fan and scroll paintings by Shijô school masters and a wonderful set of small sliding doors painted by Keibun. Besides the Edo era material, there is a large triptych painting of Sapporo in a Nihonga style, as well as transitional works by Seihô and others which round out the traditional aesthetic in its 20th century manifestation.

There is really too much to discuss in this brief introduction. Please enjoy the accompanying list, which is being issued as a web catalogue, as well as a printed text. We will be happy to provide more information or images, should you be interested in any of the items within.

We are off to London for the ILAB Book Fair at Olympia next week, so do get back to us as soon as you are able.

Best wishes,

Charles Vilnis

Olympia 2009 in London

2009-05-26T11:59:00.002-04:00

We will be exhibiting at the 52nd Antiquarian Book Fair, Olympia 2009, in London, from June 4 - 6. Please stop by and see us if you are in the area.

New Additions update

2009-05-16T10:35:00.001-04:00

We have updated our New Additions page at www.rarebook.com. We hope you enjoy browsing these new selections. If you are looking for an item that was previously on the page and does not appear, check our other categories, use the Advanced or Quick Search features, or feel free to contact us.

New East Asian Design list online

2009-05-08T13:10:00.006-04:00

We are pleased to announce our new online list of East Asian Design books.

A message from Charles Vilnis:

Hello,

Besides my interest in classic ehon picture books and Japanese botanicals, I have been pursuing Japanese design books of the 20th century for many years now, focusing on a few main areas.

There are the kimono-oriented hinagata-bon, largely done in Kyoto from 1890-1935, printed in color and published by Unkindô, Unsôdô, Happôdô, and a few other high-quality printing houses. They restored the heritage of hinagata-bon kimono design works from the 17th and 18th century, which had been created then by such important Kansai ukiyo-e artists as Moronobu and Sukenobu.

In the 20th century, Kamisaka Sekka, Furuya Kôrin, Kaigai Tennen, Tsuda Seifû, Nishida Ungai and many others, besides contributing to the kimono design works, also produced "pure design" albums [zuancho] with collections of wonderfully creative designs for design's sake, largely printed in color woodblock by Unkindô, Unsôdô, etc..

Finally, there are the design books which stray from the dominant medium of color woodblock to employ lithography, stencil, silkscreen, linoleum printing and every imaginable hybrid technique possible, printed largely in Tokyo on every conceivable paper surface, from washi handmade paper to newsprint. I have found wonderful treasures of design, albums by Sugiura Hisui, Yamana Ayao, Fujii Tatsukichi and many others, as well as guides to industrial design and advertising art from the Taisho and early Showa periods of the 'teens, 20's and 30's. All in all, the works present a wonderful vade mecum to a world that is only now being recollected some 65 years after its utter destruction.

We have put together a list of items in stock that you might like from those three areas. Enjoy.

May Day

2009-05-01T12:42:00.001-04:00

We are pleased to offer, in honor of May Day, a list of thirty-two May Sarton titles: click here for list and images. Many of these are inscribed by Ms. Sarton, and we even have multiples of a few titles. Celebrate May with May!

New Additions page

2009-04-30T15:33:00.000-04:00

Check out our new feature at www.rarebook.com, New Additions, located at the top of the navigation menu on the left. We will update the page throughout each month. If you have seen something on New Additions that no longer appears, consult our other category pages or use the Advanced or Quick Search features. You can always contact us as well. Happy browsing!

Graduation Gifts: Four Harvard Histories

2009-04-25T14:38:00.000-04:00

We are offering four Harvard histories, each bound in half crimson morocco with matching red cloth boards:

1. MORISON, Samuel Eliot. THREE CENTURIES OF HARVARD 1636-1936. $175.00.
2. MORISON, Samuel Eliot, ed. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY SINCE THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT ELIOT 1869-1929. $200.00.
3. [HARVARD UNIVERSITY] THE TERCENTENARY OF HARVARD COLLEGE: A CHRONICLE OF THE TERCENTENARY YEAR 1935-1936. $175.00.
4. MORISON, Samuel Eliot. HARVARD IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 2 VOLUMES. $200.00.

Details here. In addition, we have a Tufts album from the class of 1888, lovely sets of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Isaac Newton's Mathematical Papers, Emerson's Essays, Chesterfield's Letters, and some handsome individual volumes of Thoreau, Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth. Let us know what you are looking for for your graduate - contact us.

Kôrin Moyô

2009-04-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

We are pleased to offer:

[DESIGN BOOK] FURUYA Kôrin, artist. KÔRIN MOYÔ. No colophon: [Kyoto: Yamada Unsôdô, c. 1907] 25 x 35.5 cm, oblong folding album printed in color woodcut, in cloth over board covers with paper label. Covers titled in the usual hentai-gana. Preface by Furuya. The album consists of 21 oblong spreads lavishly printed in colors and metallic inks. This would seem to be a variant issue of the 2 volume KÔRIN MOYÔ, published by Unsôdô in 1907, where the 25 double page spreads in 2 volumes were folded in half and issued as small orihon albums. Fairly well printed and overprinted in metallic inks and bold colors. A good example of the Neo-Rimpa style, here available in a full page, unfolded version. A very unusual format for this important work. [Ryerson p.363] $1,400.00 Contact us to order or enquire.

New York Antiquarian Book Fair, April 3-5

2009-03-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

We will be exhibiting at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, April 3 - 5, 2009, at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street, New York, NY. Details at http://www.sanfordsmith.com/bookfair.html. We will be bringing a broad selection of rare Western books, Japanese woodblock print books and several Japanese kakemono (hanging scrolls). Please stop by and visit with us if you are attending.

Association for Asian Studies, Chicago March 27-29

2009-03-20T13:10:00.000-04:00

We will be exhibiting a selection of Japanese books at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, March 27 - 29, 2009, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Chicago -
http://www.aasianst.org/annual-meeting/index.htm. We hope you will visit with us if you are attending.

New Lincoln political memorabilia

2009-02-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

Four items of Lincoln ephemera

We are pleased to offer two sets or collages of Lincoln political ephemera, in recognition of the bicentennial of his birth. Both sets are described in detail on our website in the Americana section.

The first is a matted collection of four items: original printed Democratic and Republican party tickets, an original Lincoln carte-de-visite photograph, and a Union Victory ribbon. The collection: SOLD.

The second is a matted collection of six original items: an Ohio Union Presidential ticket, a Union Presidential ticket with woodcut illustrations, a California Union Presidential ticket, an 1864 Lincoln Presidential campaign token, and two anti-Copperhead campaign propaganda cards. The collection: SOLD.
Contact us for more details.

Six items of Lincoln ephemera

Book Fairs in California - and New Website!

2009-02-03T15:44:00.000-05:00

Westward! We will be exhibiting at the Codex International Book Fair in Berkeley, Feb. 9 - 11, and the 42nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco, Feb. 13 - 15, 2009. We hope to see you there.

Also, check out our newly redesigned website and let us know what you think.

Reading with the President

2009-01-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

President Obama's reading habits have recently been examined by the New York Times (see here and here). We have copies of some of the 44th President's favorite books, and books by some of his favorite authors:

John Steinbeck's IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, $30.00 (Modern Library edition with dust jacket)
Toni Morrison's SONG OF SOLOMON, $95.00 (First British edition)
W. E. B. Du Bois' THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK, $2,500.00 (First edition, first printing)
R. W. Emerson's LETTERS AND SOCIAL AIMS, $125.00 (First edition)
and for children, the D'Aulaires' illustrated life of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, $975.00 (First edition)

Please contact us for details - and welcome our new President by reading along!

Catalogue 39A Japan and Asia now online

2009-01-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

We are pleased to announce our new Catalogue 39A Japan and Asia, featuring 104 items. Please feel free to visit and enquire. Additional images are available upon request.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

We will be closing at 2:00 pm in Jamaica Plain on Wednesday, December 31st, and will be closed Thursday, January 1st. Regular hours resume on January 2nd.

Christmas Week Hours

2008-12-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

We will be closing at 2:00 pm in Jamaica Plain on Wednesday, December 24th, and will be closed on Christmas, Thursday December 25th. Regular hours resume on the 26th. We hope you will stop by and visit us for your holiday book-shopping ... merry, happy, etc., etc., from all of us at Boston Book Company.

Children's Christmas Books

2008-12-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

The Doll's Christmas by Tasha Tudor

We have some illustrated children's books that are especially appropriate for the Christmas season. Here is a selection:

TUDOR, Tasha. THE DOLLS' CHRISTMAS. Illustrated by the author. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. $200.00 #84141

NASH, Ogden. THE UNTOLD ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown, (1964). First edition. $65.00 #72641

BRINE, Mary D. CHRISTMAS RHYMES AND NEW YEAR'S CHIMES. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1889. $425.00 #84604

DULAC, Edmund, introduction. CHRISTMAS PICTURES BY CHILDREN. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1922. First edition. $375.00 #80453

D'AULAIRE, Ingri & Edgar Parin. CHILDREN OF THE NORTH LIGHTS. New York: The Viking Press, September 1935. First edition. $300.00 #82506

ROOSEVELT, Eleanor. CHRISTMAS. Illustrated by Fritz KREDEL. $60.00 #84184

Please contact us for ordering details. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Rhymes and New Year's Chimes

Christmas Pictures for Children

Snow - closing early today

2008-12-19T13:01:00.000-05:00

Due to the impending snowstorm, we will probably be closing early, sometime this afternoon. Please call ahead if you are planning a visit.

A selection of Prang Victorian Christmas and Holiday Cards

2008-12-09T15:51:00.000-05:00

We are pleased to offer:

[PRANG, Louis, et al.] A SELECTION OF AMERICAN PRANG VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS CARDS AND COLLECTOR'S SCRAPBOOK. 28 original Prang (and other) Christmas and holiday cards from the Victorian era, together with scrapbook pages, collector's manuscript notes and articles from various periodicals and newspapers about holiday cards. The cards are all in very good condition, a few with slight creasing or wear to corners, or label adhesion to reverse. There are 20 small Christmas cards, 4.5 x 5 inches or smaller; three large Christmas cards, 5.5 x 6 inches or larger; one large fringed Christmas card, 4.25 x 5.5 inches; one large fringed Easter card, 4 x 5.25 inches
(this card has a faint horizontal crease); two small New Year's cards, 2.25 x 3.5 inches or larger; and one large 3-D folding Valentine (not by Prang), 8.75 x 6 inches, with light creasing at the top. All sizes are approximate, and except for the Valentine, all are square or rectangular. One of the large Christmas cards has
a light dusting of white glitter.

Also included are nine loose scrapbook pages, with ten articles about cards affixed, one dated from the 1930s, the other looking a bit later. There are six loose articles, and seven pages of handwritten notes, some excerpted from "Riding a Christmas Hobby" by Mary D. Hudgins.

22 of the cards are by Prang, and some are late 1870's; most that are dated are 1880's. Prang introduced chromolithographed Christmas cards to the American marketplace in 1874. Prang was a master lithographer and his Christmas cards were wildly popular through the 1890's. Offered at $450.00. Contact us for ordering details.

A sale at our sister store on Beacon Street

2008-12-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

It's December, and it's time for our December Sale at the Boston Book Annex, 906 Beacon Street, in Boston. Starting Monday, Dec. 1st, through New Year's Eve, Dec. 31st, all of the following sections will be 20% off:

Art, Architecture & Photography
Cookbooks
US History
Political Science
Music
Our Collectibles Sections (specifically marked throughout the store)
Biography
Literary Criticism
Foreign Language
Nature & Gardening
Film

As an extra incentive, during the same period, we will be extending an additional 10% when you buy more than $100 in books.

Unfortunately, no holds during the sale, or dealer discounts on sale books.

Please note, this sale is only in effect at the Book Annex, not at our Jamaica Plain shop.

We would be happy to see you at either location, and to assist you in finding the perfect literary gift for the holidays. Happy December!

No holiday carols yet, we promise

2008-11-18T14:16:00.001-05:00

Thanks to all who stopped by the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. We are back in the shop and unpacking the trunks. It's always good to see new people at the booth - thanks for coming! If you missed the fair but would like to know more about what we brought, please email us.

We will be closing early at both locations on Wednesday, November 26th (please call ahead if you're thinking of visiting), and both shops will be closed on November 27th, Thanksgiving Day. Best wishes to all for a happy holiday.