Leaf Book (71 results)

cloth. Leaf Book (illustrator). 8vo. cloth. frontispiece portrait, (iv), 76 pages. First edition, limited to 804 copies of which 747 contain one original imprint from the St. Ignatius Print of Montana dated 1880 (Leaf Book - Chalmers 115). A fine copy. With a number of illustrations and even a tipped-in facsimile of a printing bill. A history and bibliography of imprints of the Jesuit Mission presses from 1876 to 1899. A fine work designed and printed by Lawton Kennedy. Tipped in plate of Father Joseph Giords, S.J.

cloth, paper spine label. Leaf Book (illustrator). 4to. cloth, paper spine label. ix, 22, (4) pages. Introduction by Bernard M. Rosenthal. With an Original Leaf from Hugo Ripelin's COMPENDIUM THEOLOGIAE VERITATIS (c.1478-81). NOTE: THIS COPY IS LACKING THE LEAF. Limited to 159 copies printed by Patrick Reagh and each containing a leaf. Aside from lacking the leaf, it is in near fine condition. First separate printing of the fullest and most up-to-date study of this early Ulm, Germany, printer, Johann Zainer and his press. Johann Zainer (1472-1493) established the first printing press in Ulm during the last quarter of the 15th century where his press printed over 150 editions. He eventually became one of the most important printers of the 15th-century. The book became one of the most widely circulated theological works of its time. With three plates reproducing other works by Zainer. Printed on 80-lb Mohawk Superfine paper in Aldine Bembo types by Patrick Reagh, Printers, Glendale.

First edition, limited to 804 copies. Designed and printed by Lawton Kennedy. 8vo, 75, [1]pp. Mounted portrait frontis, facsimiles, photographs. Pages partially uncut. Original title leaf from "Szmimeie-s Jesus Christ: A Catechism of the Christian Doctrine in the Flat-Head or Kalispel Language" from St. Ignatius Print, 1880 laid in. Red cloth boards with vignette hand press illustration on front cover, spine lettered in gilt. Bumped lower corners else near fine.

cloth, slipcase. Leaf Book (illustrator). thick 8vo. cloth, slipcase. xxii, 650, (2) pages. Edited by Marcus A. McCorison from the Second Edition. Reprint, with rearrangements, of the second edition of 1876 (S-K for binding references; Leaf Book - Chalmers 155). Spine lightly faded, else a fine copy in near fine slipcase. Limited to 1950 numbered copies. With an original page from the first edition of 1810 tipped-in.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Limited edition. [3] leaves, 37 pp., 2 full-page illustrations, original leaf mounted at rear, octavo, half red morocco and gray boards, publisher prospectus laid in. Original leaf is page 359/360 (misnumbered 380) from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter XXIII. Limited edition of 395 copies.

Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Illustrated. (illustrator). 24 page staple bound booklet including covers. Very nice condition, paper wraps, reprint, later edition. Book.

hardcover. Condition: Gut. Seiten; Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! BD9737 Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 500.

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1971. 4to, 86 pp. With illustrations and two original leaves inserted. Quarter blue cloth and paper boards with gold decoration on front & back covers; leather & gilt title label. Bookplate. Very good with original prospectus laid in. § Limited to 500 copies designed and printed by Grabhorn-Hoyem. Illustrated with a matched pair of original leaves from A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, A.M. (1755), and An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, LL.D. (1828), "Sla-Sle" allowing comparison of the men's definitions of Slattern, Slave, and Sleep, among other words.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Limited edition. [3] leaves, 37 pp., 2 full-page illustrations, original leaf mounted at rear, octavo, half red morocco and gray boards, publisher prospectus laid in. Original leaf is page 405/406 from the Book of Romans, Chapter XI. Limited edition of 395 copies.

hardcover. Condition: Gut. Seiten; 9783791302829.3 Gewicht in Gramm: 500.

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. (vi), 23, (xxxv1) pp., spiral bound in pictorial paperboard. Light shelf wear, fine copy with illustrations in colour. 33 x 22 cm. Number 129 of 150 copies. OH.

Hardcover. Limited edition. Folio, [23] pp. Quarter cloth over decorative floral boards. Printed paper title labels to spine and front cover. Text printed in red and black. Seven printer's devices of Wynkyn de Worde reproduced in text, one on title page and front cover. Original leaf (folio Cxvii) tipped in at begining of text is from "The Lyfe of Saynt Peter. Printed in 2 columns it represents a fine example of the printer's art. 375 copies printed by Robert Grabhorn on French hand-made paper. BCC #486 Soine label toned, small exlibris paper label to front free endpaper, else fine.

From the publisher, Rollin Milroy: "The focus of Labour Vertue Glorie, however, is not the content or interpretations of the two authorsĠ emblems, but the production and form of the books from which these sample leaves come. To that end, the book reprints three of WitherĠs prefatory notes from A Collection: one about William MarshallĠs engraved frontispiece, one about the game of lots included in the book, and ÒTo The ReaderÓ in which he discusses at length the bookĠs creation and intent. Each of these is appended with comments from a variety of sources, discussing and sometimes disputing the authorĠs words. The comments also provide some insights to how Wither adopted, and more importantly adapted, RollenhagenĠs original work for his own purposes. While not exact facsimiles, the reprinted texts follow the originalĠs use of swash characters and seemingly random combinations of roman, italic, and majuscule types. But only the reprinted texts; the rest of the book is set in a more traditional, and calming, manner." Quarto. 63, (ii)pp. . Series 3, with a leaf from both Rollenhagen'a Nucleus Emblematum Selectissimorum and Winter's Collection of Emblemes, Ancient & Moderne. Series 1 contained four leaves, including leaves containing the same engravings from Rollenhagen and Winter; Series 2 contained a leaf from Rollenhaben paired with the same plate on a Wither leaf. With illustrations, ornaments, and decorative initials. Bound in cream-colored paper over boards at the HM Studio. A fine copy. One of forty-eight copies, done in three different formats. Series 3 is one of twenty-four copies out of a total edition of forty-eight copies.

287 x 212 mm. (11 1/4 x 8 1/2"). xiv pp., [1] leaf (blank), 325, [1] pp., [1] leaf. Publisher's green buckram, cover and spine lettered in gilt. In original (slightly creased and torn) glassine and gold-speckled deep green slipcase with paper label. Section titles with illustrations by T. O. Duncan. WITH SIX LEAVES FROM SPORTING BOOKS. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the limitation page. De Hamel & Silver, "Disbound and Dispersed" 205. Except for small problems with the glassine jacket, as new. This thorough bibliography of sporting book series published by 24 different publishers in the United States from the mid-19th century to the 1990s contains original leaves from six included works. Our author is bookseller, collector, and bibliographer Matthew L. "Duke" Biscotti, a noted sporting book enthusiast who has published six works on the topic. In 2010, he donated his extensive collection of sporting periodicals and ephemera to the National Sporting Library in Middleburg, Virginia. The six leaves here are from the following works: 1) Roosevelt, Theodore, and George Bird Grinnell, editors. "American Big Game Hunting," New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 1893. 2) Holder, Charles. "The Big Game Fishes of the United States." New York: Macmillan Co, 1903. 3) Cook, Carroll Blaine. "Lake and Stream Game Fishing." Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd Company, 1917. 4) Connett, Eugene V. "Any Luck?" New York: Windward House, 1933. 5) Clark, Roland. "Pot Luck." New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1945. 6) Allen, Durward L. "Pheasants in North America." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Co. (Wildlife Management Institute), 1956. This book is not rare, but it is seldom found, as here, in its original glassine dust jacket. FIRST EDITION. No. 176 OF 300 NUMBERED COPIES (and 30 deluxe lettered copies).

A Leaf Book. Pp. [16](last colophon, blank), pictorial title page, 4 full page illustrations, the title page printed in blue & black; white stiff paper wrappers printed in blue, very slightly soiled; within the orignal printed envelope; The Golden Key, Orinda, California, 1959. Hamel 217. *A keepsake (limitation not specified), printed on the 174th anniversary of the publication of Typographia for presentation to members of the Roxburghe and Zamorano Clubs; each copy with an original leaf from Johnson's Typographia tipped-in. The original leaf in this copy, tipped-in after the title page, includes illustrations and descriptions of such typographic tools as the frisket, ink-block, brayer, ball stocks and ball racks.

No. 37 OF 126 COPIES. 75 x 50 mm. (3 x 2"). 2 p.l., 23 [1] pp., [1] leaf. Tan paper, with a paper label over a 17th century printed fragment. WITH THREE LEAVES FROM MINIATURE BOOKS: one leaf from the "thumb Bible" "History of the Bible," (New London: W & J Bolles, 1831); one from "The Shakespeare Glossary," (Glasgow: Bryce Stokes, 1904); and one from "Dew-Drops," (New York City: American Tract Society, ca. 1847). With an additional fragment of a larger leaf tipped in at the front. As new. This delightful entirely handmade production features a list of miniature leaf books and three original leaves from miniature books published between 1831-1904. Since the 1970s, our collaborating husband-and-wife book artists Peter and Donna Thomas have been making paper, printing with a hand press, and hand binding books. The present book was assembled between 1997-2005 and then printed, the Thomases humorously tell us, "on a cranky old Pearl treadle press," using Joe Halton's linotype and Neuland types. All paper was handmade by Peter Thomas; as an artistic choice by the bookmakers, the endpapers include fragments of paper from the 1686 book "Keble's Reports," the same work from which the fragments on the cover and frontispiece originate. The three leaves included here provide an excellent representation of the charming miniature books of the 19th century. They include a leaf from a "Thumb Bible," the miniature volumes containing biblical excerpts that enjoyed considerable popularity during the period; a leaf from an "Ellen Terry" book issued by Glasgow printer David Bryce Jr., who produced these books using the relatively new technology of photographic reduction and named them after the most famous actress of the day; and an American example, produced by the non-denominational American Tract Society, which published several miniature religious books through the mid-19th century. This publication is made especially charming by its size, which, of course, is entirely appropriate for the volume's contents.

First work: 185 x 130 mm. (7 1/4 x 5 1/4"); second work: 265 x 175 mm. (10 3/8 x 6 3/8"). 1 p.l., 19 pp., [1] leaf; 3 p.l., 6 pp., [1] leaf. Two separately published works. Poetica Typographia Johnsoniana in publisher's brown paper wrappers, front cover printed in black. "A Leaf from John Johnson's Typographia" in publisher's light gray cloth, front cover with a paper label. Poetica Typographia Johnsoniana with wood engravings after those in Johnson. EACH VOLUME WITH A LEAF FROM JOHNSON'S 1824 "TYPOGRAPHIA" TIPPED IN. Disbound and Dispersed 122 & 174. See also: Bigmore & Wyman, pp. 371-73. Both volumes in fine condition; the tipped-in leaves near fine (one just a bit foxed, the other with a faint dampstain). This duo of leaf books celebrates John Johnson's classic work on the history and art of printing, notable for its small type and unusual formatting. According to Bigmore & Wyman, "Of the few standard works on the art of printing in the English language, this is perhaps the most familiar . . . . It abounds with information of a very useful character, spiced with conceits manifesting the originality, humour, and freshness of the author. . . . The type, never larger than brevier, sometimes is as small as pearl, and the intricacy of the composition evinces the wonderful patience of Johnson." Bigmore & Wyman conclude that "Whatever its defects and shortcomings, it has long since become, and deservedly, a printer's classic, and one in which the youngest apprentice as well as the most experienced journeyman finds matter of an amusing as well as useful nature." First published in 1824, the "Typographia" was issued simultaneously in four formats: 32mo, 16mo, 8vo, and royal 8vo, also known as the "Roxburghe Edition," having been distributed to members of the exclusive bibliophilic group known as the Roxburghe Club. The first leaf book offered here, printed in 1959, contains a specimen leaf from the 32mo edition (without the typographic borders), as well as excerpts from the original work coupled with a series of woodcut vignettes; the second item, published in 1982 on the occasion of the Zamorano Club meeting in October of that year, contains a specimen leaf from the 16mo edition (with the typographic borders), as well as an essay by Carey S. Bliss, former head librarian of the Huntington Library. Both leaf books are in lovely condition and make an excellent pairing. ONE OF 75 COPIES (of the first work); ONE OF 200 COPIES (of the second work).

260 x 170 mm. (10 1/4 x 6 3/4"). 17, [1] pp., [1] leaf. Publisher's sage green paper boards, cover with title printed in black. WITH A LEAF FROM THE 1865 BIELEFELD "DER KORAN." In fine condition. This charming and attractively printed leaf book served as the ultimate bibliophile's Christmas card. William P. Barlow, Jr. (1934-2021), was a dedicated Bay Area book collector who for many years served as president of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco. Along with collecting, Barlow printed under the Nova Press imprint, putting out a smattering of pamphlets and "cards," such as the present volume. This tongue-in-cheek production gently pokes fun at the norms of the bibliophilic world even as it celebrates them, as evident in the limitation statement: "A moderate number of copies printed and distributed by the Nova Press, Piedmont, and its proprietor, Wm. P. Barlow, Jr., as a form of Season's Greetings to members of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco and other friends. To the latter I apologize for a rather parochial parody and a somewhat un-Christmassy Christmas card; to the former I need apologize only for the way in which it has been done, as they are used to getting all sorts of strange things at Christmas." The leaf included in this book is from the 1856 Bielefeld edition of Ludwig Ullmann's influential German translation of the Qur'an, which was first published in 1840. The print run of this work must have been a good deal less than "moderate," as copies seem not to be readily available.

EACH ONE OF 125 COPIES. 47 x 38 mm. (2 x 1 1/2"). 18 pp., [1] leaf. Two copies of the same work, sold separately. Deep brown half morocco over marbled paper boards, flat spine lettered in gilt. WITH A LEAF FROM the Newberry Bible. De Hamel and Silver, "Disbound and Dispersed," 168.5. As new; one copy with the inserted leaf a bit browned with a small open tear to the margin (not affecting the text) but still excellent; the other with a very fine leaf, just a bit browned at the edges. These two copies of this delightful publication feature a leaf of the famed 1780 Newberry "Thumb Bible," accompanied by an essay written by one of the 20th century's most noted collectors of miniature books. It is a charming tribute on the bicentennial of the publication of one of the world's smallest Bibles. The Newberry Bible, fully titled "The Bible in Miniature, or a Concise History of the Old & New Testaments" was produced by Elizabeth Newberry, the niece of John Newbery, pioneering children's book publisher and the namesake of the Newberry Medal. Ruth E. Adomeit (1912-96) was a lifelong miniature book enthusiast: along with being known for her personal library, she wrote the leading bibliography of thumb bibles, was editor of "The Miniature Book Collector" from 1960-62, and was active in the Miniature Book Society. This publication is made especially charming by its size, which perfectly fits the tiny leaf it contains.

Dust Jacket Condition: dj. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1977. Folio, 28 pp. Illustrated, original cloth, dust-jacket. A fine copy with the original prospectus laid in; the original plain wrapper has one short closed tear on the rear panel and has been lettered by hand on the spine panel. § Limited to 385 copies, printed by Grant Dahlstrom. A fine copy with the prospectus. The leaf is in fine condition and has two wood engravings of Cyprus and one of Phillyrea.

Dust Jacket Condition: dj. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1977. Folio, 28 pp. Illustrated, original cloth, dust-jacket, bookplate and owner's signature on front pastedown. A fine copy in the original plain wrapper, very lightly edgeworn and titled in pencil on the spine panel. Prospectus laid in. § Limited to 385 copies, printed by Grant Dahlstrom. A fine copy with an especially good leaf with six large botanical woodcuts depicting Chondrilla (Skeletonweed), and five varities of Hieracium (Hawkweed), long used for diseases of the lungs.

ONE OF 125 COPIES. 420 x 290 mm. (16 3/4 x 11 1/2"). [iv], 7, [1] pp., [1] leaf. Gray paper wrappers, spine with paper label, in (worn but still solid) marbled paper slipcase. WITH A PLATE FROM the 1755-59 memorial edition of "Fables Choisies" illustrating Fable CXCI, "La Tortue et les Deux Canards." Early (original?) tissue guard. Front pastedown with E. H. H. book label of E. Harold Hugo. De Hamel & Silver, "Disbound and Dispersed," 130. Ray, pp. 16-20 (plate). Wrappers, text, and engraving in fine condition, with the plate very richly impressed. This attractive and generously proportioned fine press production includes an original plate from the sumptuously illustrated memorial edition of La Fontaine's "Fables." Ray cites that work as one of the three most beautiful illustrated French books between 1700-1914 and "one of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books." Its 276 plates were finely engraved with a surprising degree of consistency (especially given the large number of burins at work); they are always detailed and delicate, and they are frequently alive with light. In Ray's words, the illustrations, which feature a comprehensive view of the French countryside of the 1730s, offer a fertile world "to which the reader may return again and again for delight and instruction." The compositions are the work of Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), the greatest animal painter of his age, who was ideally suited to illustrate La Fontaine; as Ray says, his "rendition of animals is hardly to be surpassed." The very dramatic plate included here, which accompanied the fable "La Tortue et les Deux Canards" ("The Turtle and the Two Ducks"), depicts the turtle clinging to a stick borne between the two flying ducks, but about to fall, Icarus-like, to its death. Oudry's skill with animals is evident here, in the muscles of the ducks straining as they fly with their burden and the careful detail of the wriggling reptilian legs of the tortoise. This leaf book was produced by Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles booksellers who began publishing in 1949. Printed at Saul and Lillian Marks' Plantin Press, the production demonstrates the quality of printing for which they were well known. Our copy is from the library of scholar-printer E. Harold Hugo (1910-85), who ran the Meriden Gravure Company from 1962-75 and sat on the board of the Stinehour Press from the time of its founding. He was known throughout his career as an advocate for fine printing, leading to numerous awards for himself and his company.

ONE OF 60 COPIES. 65 x 45 mm. (2 1/2 x 1 3/4"). 20 pp., [1] leaf. Quarter red leather over patterned paper boards, flat spine lettered in gilt, Dutch gilt endpapers. With a leaf from the Kleine Print miniature bible, containing an excellent engraving of Jezebel and Jehu from 2 Kings 9. DeHamel and Silver, "Disbound and Dispersed," 196.5. See also: Welsh 938; Spielmann 280. The book in mint condition (the inserted leaf just slightly browned at edges, but fine and fresh). This charming little leaf book pays tribute to a very rare miniature Bible published around 1750 in The Hague. Composed entirely of engravings printed on one side only, the work is a masterpiece of small-scale printing. In the words of the Spielmann Catalogue, "Many of the scenes depicted [in the original Bible] are of astounding beauty, considering the tiny scale upon which the artist had to work." The genesis of the present leaf book was the acquisition by the noted miniature book collector Ruth E. Adomeit (1910-96) of a fragment of 61 leaves from this Bible, which she obtained during a European trip in 1953. Our copy contains an engraving showing the meeting between the military commander Jehu and the wicked Queen Jezabel, which ends with Jezebel's being thrown from a window by her eunuchs. We see her mid-fall and upside down in the present image, while Jehu watches triumphantly from his chariot. Not surprisingly, given its small print run, this item is not commonly seen for sale.

490 x 325 mm. (19 1/4 x 13"). viii, 23, [1] pp., [1] leaf. Publisher's quarter vellum over gray paper boards, covers with device in gilt, smooth spine lettered in gilt. In (just slightly chafed) black buckram slipcase. WITH A MAP FROM THE ORIGINAL 1619 ATLAS bound in, with period hand coloring. (Map 293, "Tarvisina Marchia Et Tirolis Comitatus"). De Hamel & Silver, "Disbound and Dispersed" 186. One corner a bit bumped, otherwise the main volume flawless; the map edges a bit browned and just slightly frayed, a few light spots, but still excellent, with good color and strong general appeal. This attractive oversized production includes an original map of an important region of northeastern Italy, taken from the 1619 edition of the Mercator-Hondius atlas. A pioneer in commercial cartography and a founder of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography, Mercator (1512-94) produced maps used around the world that were informed by his brilliant "Mercator Projection," which allowed the round Earth to be accurately depicted on a flat map. Near the end of his life, he began work on an ambitious cosmography that would contain an account of the creation of the world, a description of the universe, descriptions of the countries and oceans of the world, genealogies and political histories of the several countries, and a chronology of the cosmos. Only the account of creation, the chronology, and maps of the known regions of the world came to fruition. Mercator having died before the work came to press, it was completed by his heirs and published in 1595 with 107 maps. Leading Amsterdam map publisher Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) acquired the plates in 1604 and issued the first Mercator-Hondius "Atlas" in 1606, with 37 maps he had engraved added to the original 107. Teacher and Hondius' brother-in-law Pieter van den Berg wrote the introduction and the descriptive text that appears on the versos of the maps. A 1611 edition increased the number of maps to 150, and another six were added in 1619. The hand-colored map included in our copy depicts the South Tyrol and Veneto regions, including Lake Garda, Verona, Padua, and Venice. It is accompanied with an essay by Norman J. W. Thrower (1919-2020), UCLA geography professor and cartographer, describing the historical background of the atlas. Joel Silver, in "Disbound and Dispersed," tells us that "the physical production of this leaf book is superb, from the design by Vance Gerry to the presswork of Patrick Reagh.". ONE OF 89 COPIES in quarter vellum (of a total edition of 115).

San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1949. Folio, (14), 42, (1, colophon) pp. Title and vignettes printed in red. Original quarter linen with rose pink papered boards, gilt device on upper board. Small white spot on upper board, patch of sunning on lower board, toning to front free endpaper, bookplate; very good. § Limited to 390 copies (including 50 de luxe) printed at the Grabhorn Press, this is one of the most pleasing leaf books issued by the club both for content, quality of leaves, and design. This copy has leaves from the Galeni de Affectorum (1512), Eusebii Pamphili (1545), and Dionis Cassii (1592). Some copies had leaves from other books. Chalmers, A Checklist of Leaf Books, 101.

Monograph by Frances J. Brewer. With a leaf from the Memorial Edition of the Fables Choisies, illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Oudry and printed in Paris by Charles-Antoine Jombert 1755-59. Pp. [viii]+10(last colophon), the title page printed in red & black; post folio; stiff grey paper wrappers with printed paper title label on backstrip, the wrappers very faintly damp marked near the backstrip and a trifle foxed; uncut; within marbled papered slipcase, lightly worn at edges, with a portion missing from both fore-corners; endpapers faintly foxed; Dawson's Bookshop, Los Angeles, 1964. Edition limited to 125 copies, printed by Saul and Lillian Marks at the Plantin Press, each containing an original leaf from the Memorial Edition of La Fontaine's Fables, 1755-59. Hamel 130. *From the library of David Levine, Sydney, with his book label on upper pastedown. Loosely inserted within a bound-in folded sheet at the front of this copy is a text leaf (pp. 19/20, Fable VI) and a plate illustrating the same fable, Le Loup et les bergers, from the illustrated edition of La Fontaine's Fables printed by Charles-Antoine Jombert at Paris, 1755-59. Issued just over 50 years after La Fontaine's death, that edition was published as a memorial to him, and is regarded as one of the most important accomplishments of book production during the time of Louis XV. The engravings are from paintings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who took five years to create them. Both leaves in this copy are a trifle foxed and soiled, with a couple of marginal damp stains. The text leaf features a large tailpiece ornament on the verso.

191 x 140 mm. (7 1/2 x 5 1/2"). Single column, 16 lines, in an elegant gothic book hand. Rubrics in gold, line-fillers with color foliate and geometric designs on burnished gold ground, two one-line initials and three two-line initials in blue or pink enclosing colored vines with foliage on gold ground, one four-line initial in blue with white decoration, enclosing a lattice pattern, each compartment with an orange or blue leaf on gold ground, BOTH SIDES WITH A DENSE RINCEAUX BORDER consisting of colorful acanthus, flowers, and many hairline vines terminating in gold leaves, ivy and seed pods, and with numerous gilt bezants. With just a couple tiny scuffs to paint and with slight rubbing to some of the small gold details, but in lovely condition. This is an opulently decorated leaf from a Book of Hours, offered in fine condition with glittering rinceaux borders, delicate initials, and luxurious gold rubrics. These sumptuous details and the high quality of the work indicate that this leaf was part of a costly manuscript commissioned by a wealthy patron. Other leaves from the same parent manuscript were sold at Bloomsbury on 6 December 2017, lots 63 and 64. One of these leaves showed St. Genèvieve leading the female saints in the Litany, pointing to Paris as the place of origin.

197 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/8"). Single column, 28 lines, gothic typeface. Ruled in red, each leaf with several one- to three-line initials painted gold on red or blue ground, and A LOVELY, ANIMATED FULL BORDER DONE IN MANUSCRIPT, with trompe-l'oeil flowers, a moth, a fly, and a bird, on painted gold ground. Light soiling and a couple small stains to vellum, one initial a bit smudged, but in excellent condition overall. This beautifully embellished leaf from a printed Book of Hours demonstrates the enduring demand for manuscript illumination in the incunabular period and beyond. While the text here was completed on a printing press, the initials and border were done entirely by hand, adding luxury and luster to an otherwise unadorned page. Although this leaf likely belonged to a Book of Hours printed in Paris (possibly an edition printed for Nicolas Vivien in or around 1503), the trompe-l'oeil style seen in the border was particularly popular among Flemish and Netherlandish illuminators of the period. The large blossoms and acanthus here seem to pop off the page because of the artist's use of subtle shading to indicate shadows, and there is additional pleasure to be found in the small creatures--a bird carrying a small flower, a moth, and a housefly--that share the space.

165 x 115 mm. (6 1/2 x 4 1/2"). Single column, 18 lines, in a gothic book hand. Rubrics in red, two one-line initials and one two-line initial in blue or pink on burnished gold ground, verso with panel border of colorful flowers, acanthus, gilt bezants, and a small bird, recto with A SEVEN-LINE MINIATURE OF ST. MARK, and a three-quarter border of acanthus, flowers, gilt bezants, a bird, and a monkey sampling grapes. Minor soiling to vellum, miniature with light chipping in a couple places, one corner clipped (not touching decoration), but a very well-preserved leaf in excellent condition overall. This charming little miniature is an intimate portrait of St. Mark writing his Gospel, accompanied, as usua by his attribute, the lion, standing at his side. St. Mark's facial features here are excellent, with molding and shading that produce convincing three dimensionality and emotional resonance. The leaf contains another especially delightful detail: a small monkey perched in the border, eating grapes from a nearby vine. Modern commentators are generally unsure why such whimsical additions appear so inappropriately in Medieval manuscripts which feature sober spiritual content. But we can say with some certainty that monkeys were often used to suggest improper behavior, foolishness, and even the devil. In the present case, the monkey could be seen as Mark's foil: whereas the saint is depicted as a model of industry and conviction, the monkey puts earthly appetite above the sober production exemplified by the Evangelist.

165 x 115 mm. (6 1/2 x 4 1/2"). Single column, verso with 18 lines, in a gothic book hand. Rubrics in red, one three-line initial in blue filled with foliage on burnished gold ground, verso with panel border of colorful flowers, a vase, and acanthus, recto with A MINIATURE OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD flanked by two angels, framed by gold and painted bars on three sides and A FULL BORDER of acanthus, flowers, a vase, and gold bezants. Minor soiling to vellum, but in excellent condition, the miniature especially well preserved. This especially intimate and tender scene shows the so-called Virgo Lactans (or Nursing Madonna), the Virgin suckling the infant Christ; it accompanies the text for "Obsecro te," a popular Marian prayer appealing to the Virgin for protection and intercession. The prayer is not always accompanied by a miniature, and the present illustration, being rather large and skillfully done, is a particularly appealing example. The Virgin's facial features are especially excellent, with beautiful molding and shading that give her visage deep complexity and emotional resonance. The use of gold in this miniature adds to its richness; delicately highlighted garments, tresses, and angel wings catch the light and seem to shimmer as one moves the page. The high-quality illumination, liberal use of gold, and robust borders all suggest that the original manuscript must have been the product of an accomplished workshop.