Loved Anew

Such beautiful old books out in the world waiting to be loved anew.

Eric Pape — The Geste of Duke Jocelyn — 1920

Alive and Well

From an old old textbook, when they knew how to keep a school boy's interest in history alive and well.

Bathsheba — circa 1900

Long Ago Volume

This image is from one of those long ago volumes that a Victorian gentleman would keep on the highest shelf in his library, or perhaps in a cabinet under lock and key. This volume was a survey of sexual customs from around the world. Now that I've posted this I will replace the volume back to its high shelf.

Beauty of Words and Adornment

Think what you will about the profundity and validity of The Bible in the context of our society, but the beauty of words and adornment of pages in various editions is unmistakable.

Illuminated Page from the Gutenberg Bible

'The Gutenberg Bible, traditionally accepted as the first book printed from movable type, was issued at Mainz, Germany, about 1454. The page, above, shows page one of the Proverbs of Solomon. The pages are illuminated to give the effect of a hand-copied manuscript, as desired by the printers, who did not wish their invention discovered. The book was probably printed in 10 sections on 6 presses working simultaneously. Of nearly 300 copies, only 45 are known to be in existence today.'

Adventurous Book

Willy Pogany had a style that seemed to oscillate between each adventurous book that he illustrated —the same basic style, but on slightly different frequencies — always with classical composition and graphic impact. So many of his books were wonders to behold.

The book below has a number of pen & ink illustrations, but here are the color plates.

Willy Pogany

The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy — 1918

The Judgement of Paris

The Fair Helen

Achilles Victorious

The Princess Threw the Ball

The Sorrowing Odysseus

Circe

The Sirens

Penelope Unravelling the Web

Full-of-Time Tales

H.J. Ford is one of my favorites for illustrating timeless tales, or maybe full-of-time tales, such as those of Troy and Greece. This is a book fairly available on-line and elsewhere, but these are my scans before I lovingly set this volume free into the world via trade credit.

H.J. Ford — Tales of Troy & Greece — 1910 edition

High Adventure

W.T. Benda was fascinated by masks and created a number of his own, so it is totally fitting that he illustrate the cover of this book.

Book jackets of the '30s evoked high adventure!

WT Benda — The Mask of Fu Manchu — 1932

Ah, Venice

Something interesting going on here . . .

. . . just - don't - know- what . . .

Georges Lepape — 1929

for L'Initiation vénitienne by Henri de Régnier

published by the Société des amis du livre

Child of Nature

Charles Louis Hinton — The Child of Nature — 1901

all four images

Emerald City

The last of our little green theme, the paperback reprint cover:

John R. Neill — The Emerald City of Oz

Poems by Shelley

. . . weak - in - the - knees . . .

H. Granville Fell — Poems by Shelley — ca 1900

The Song of Songs

Some books make me go weak in the knees . . .

H. Granville Fell — The Song of Songs — ca 1900

Little Jewel

Edmund Dulac was one of THE classic illustrators of the Golden Age of illustration. Over time his style evolved to a simpler, more antiquarian effect. But even into the mid-century when other artists' styles had taken divergent paths, Dulac's was distinct with an aura of the Golden Age.

This little jewel of an edition was commissioned by The Limited Editions Club for The George Macy Companies and was the last of Dulac's books published prior to his death in 1953.

Edmund Dulac — The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche — 1951

Broadway Manners

Here it is, late Sunday morn. How many of you are dealing with a

Hangover — 1929

I'm sorry to say that my only hangover is that I worked till 4 in the morning and then had to get up at 8 to let the dog out, have some breakfast and now it's back to work. Hi Ho!

A Savage Celtic Queen

The Pagan Queen