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Rare and Antiquarian Books

Illustrated Books

Illustrations are a natural accompaniment to the written word. Ancient Egyptians illustrated the papyrus scrolls of the Book of the Dead that they would bury with mummies. Early in the 13th and 14th Centuries, monks dutifully reproduced holy books and often added elaborate pictures in ink and gold leaves. Similar to the history of bookbinding, the more modern tradition of book illustrations began with wood boards and block printing. As technology advanced and as Gutenberg introduced the world to typography and the printing press, illustrated books grew in number and popularity. In addition to wood boards, steel-engraving and lithography also became widely accepted methods for illustration. And of course, photography was introduced to the literary world in the 19th Century when photos could be reproduced in books.

Results 1 - 15 of 1084
QUALITY STREET. A comedy in four acts

QUALITY STREET. A comedy in four acts

by THOMSON, HUGH. Illustrates. ; BARRIE. J. M

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
London, Greater London
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This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$320.08
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Hodder and Stoughton. London. 1913. LIMITED DELUXE EDITION, SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. One of 1000 numbered copies. 4to.(12.5 x 10.3 inches). 22 mounted colour plates, each with a printed tissue guard. Publishers full vellum binding with elaborate gilt decoration to front board,within double gilt and triple blue ruled borders. Spine lettered and decorated in gilt. Top edge gilt,others untrimmed. As often with these deluxe editions the silk ties are missing from the boards. Overall a very good copy of this highly decorative and beautiful book.
Item Price
$320.08
$18.00 shipping to USA
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

by BROWNING. ROBERT.; Butler-Stoney. T. Illustrates

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
London, Greater London
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$160.04
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Nister & Co.Ltd.,Circa 1906. FIRST EDITION WITH THESE ILLUSTRATIONS. Oblong Large 12mo. (10.8 x 8.3 inches). 12 fine colour plates. A lovely copy in publishers glazed boards. The front board in full colour. Green cloth spine. In the rare original dustwrapper which is split along the spine and in two pieces, held together by a wrapper protector. Thumb sized piece missing from the middle of the spine and front panel but overall the wrapper is in very good condition. A rare survivor.:
Item Price
$160.04
$18.00 shipping to USA
MANSFIELD PARK. With an introduction by Austin Dobson
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MANSFIELD PARK. With an introduction by Austin Dobson

by AUSTEN. JANE. ; Thomson. Hugh. Illustrates

  • Used
  • Hardcover
Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
London, Greater London
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Item Price
$416.10
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Macmillan and Co. London. 1908. Reprint. 8vo.(7.7 x 5.3 inches). 40 full page line illustrations. A very good copy bound in fine quality early twentieth century leather binding. Half red calf. Spine with raised bands, twin brown labels and compartments fully gilt. Red cloth on boards. Red marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. Binding by Young and Sons of Liverpool. Aside from some minor rubbing to the edges this is a very good, clean copy of this classic, beautifully illustrated, edition in an attractive fine early binding.:
Item Price
$416.10
$18.00 shipping to USA
Le Premier Tome de lArchitecture.
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Le Premier Tome de lArchitecture.

by Philibert de L'Orme.

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
First Edition. First Issue.
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
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$25,000.00
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THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More
Item Price
$25,000.00
$20.00 shipping to USA
La Chasse de Kaa
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La Chasse de Kaa

by KIPLING, Rudyard

  • Used
Condition
Used
Edition
Limited Edition
Seller
Sydney, New South Wales
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$5,174.72
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Paris: Javal and Bordeaux, 1930. Limited Edition. JOUVE, Paul. Illustrated by one of the leading painters in France, this superb work brings Kipling's classic Jungle Book story into the realm of fine 20th century French publishing. Limited edition of 125 copies, bound in snakeskin-style folding case, protected by matching slipcase (some wear), 340 mm x 265 mm, 130 unbound pages as issued, 21 plates, printed on imperial Japan paper, an excellent copy.
Item Price
$5,174.72
$19.50 shipping to USA
Moby Dick
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Moby Dick

by Melville, Herman; Kent, Rockwell [Illustrations]

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Signed
Condition
Used - Near Fine
Edition
First Edition Thus
Seller
Portland, Oregon
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Item Price
$18,500.00
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New York: The Lakeside Press, 1930. First Edition Thus. Near Fine/Very Good. First edition thus, limited to 1,000 copies. Three volumes in publisher's acetate jackets, in aluminum slipcase. Presentation copy signed by Rockwell Kent on the front free end paper of Volume I, "Inscribed with affectionate friendship to Putzie - Rockwell Kent, 1950." Volumes II and III bear Rockwell Kent-illustrated bookplates of Marie Luise Hinrichs. Near Fine. Narrow strips of sunning to spine cloth at ends, light rubbing to cloth at extremities and light abrasions to black topstains. Pages toned and with offsetting from illustrations. Acetate wrappers are wrinkled and shrunken with age, as is typical, and show a bit of chipping and edge wear, with some separation starting between the acetate and a paper flap on both volumes II and III; acetate on volume II with light staining. Aluminum slipcase is lightly worn, bumped at top and bottom edge. A stunning presentation copy, inscribed by Kent, and with bookplates designed… Read More
Item Price
$18,500.00
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Treasury of Stories, Jingles, and Rhymes
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Treasury of Stories, Jingles, and Rhymes

by Humphrey, Maude

  • Used
  • good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Good
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Salem, Oregon
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This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$1,000.00
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MAUDE HUMPHREY: Treasury of Stories, Jingles, and Rhymes. Frederick A. Stokes, undated. Circa 1894. FIRST EDITION. ILLUSTRATED BY MAUDE HUMPHREY. Written by Mary Rice Miller and Elisabeth S. Tucker. SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY. 242 pages. Maroon boards with gold titling and ornamentation. Good condition front paper paste-down label of a little girl wearing a red feather in her blue hat. Please see our photos. Used. Good/ No DJ. A solid copy with intact gutters. "Humphrey was one of the first great American women illustrators paving the way for Jessie Willcox Smith, Grace Drayton and the many other women illustrators of the early 20th century. Humphrey is also known for being film star HUMPHREY BOGART'S mother (and in fact she used her son as a model for many of her pictures)." QUITE RARE. A NICE FIND. We consider offers.
Item Price
$1,000.00
$5.00 shipping to USA
Le Spectacle de la Nature
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Le Spectacle de la Nature: Ou Entretiens sur les particularites de l'Histoire Naturelle qui ont paru les plus propres a rendre les Jeunes Gens curieux, et a leur former l'esprit.

by Noel-Antoine Pluche

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
1st
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Tokyo, Tokyo
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Item Price
$500.00
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Description:
Complete set of this portable edition of Abbe Pluche's popular work on natural history for children, first published in 1732 and reprinted many times. First edition in 12mo, published in An 11 of the French Revolution (1803).With 61 fine copperplates by Jacques de Seve, including 2 frontispieces, 4 folding celestial maps (illustrator). Plates engraved by Duhamel, Letellier, Racine and Bigani. Vol. 1: 359pp, frontispiece, 5 plates of insects and shells; Vol. 2: 300pp, 5 plates of birds, animals, fish and plants; Vol. 3: 353pp, 7 plates of botany; Vol. 4: 336pp, 10 plates of botany and equipment; Vol 5, 347pp, 21 plates of fish, ships and shells; Vol. 6, 344pp, 3 plates of gems and astrology; Vol.7, 364pp, 8 plates (4 folding) of astrology; Vol. 8, 231pp, frontispiece.With half titles, tables of contents and list of illustrations in each volume. Elaborate gilt decorated spines with red title labels and volume numbers. Some scuffing to boards, but interior fresh and all plates present and free of… Read More
Item Price
$500.00
FREE shipping to USA
A Child's Garden Of Verses
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A Child's Garden Of Verses

by Jessie Willcox Smith

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition Thus
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Salem, Oregon
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$300.00
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Description:
Stevenson, Robert Louis: A Child's Garden of Verses, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 1905, Charles Scribner's Sons FIRST EDITION THUS. Copyright page States BB2C-1.58 [H]. Yellow topstain. Used. VG/Good- original price-clipped purple dust jacket. RARE THUS. A nice, solid copy. CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED CLASSICS SERIES.
Item Price
$300.00
$5.00 shipping to USA
Domestic Japan. ; Illustrated descriptions of articles used in Japanese daily life. First volume...
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Domestic Japan. ; Illustrated descriptions of articles used in Japanese daily life. First volume - Kitchen Utensils. [All published]

by NARUMO, Kinjiro

  • Used
  • first
Condition
Used
Edition
First Edition
Seller
Sydney, New South Wales
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Item Price
$2,142.40
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Japan: Yokohama Seishi Bunsha, 1895. First Edition. Rare English-language guide to Japanese domestic wares, with 76 fully-illustrated items. Its publication came at a time when Japan was experiencing a dramatic shift from the conservative, isolationist policies of the sh gun-dominated Edo period to the rapid and widespread drive to modernise and engage with the rest of the world that characterizes the Meiji Restoration. This booklet focuses on a traditional domestic interior and features a beautiful double-page plate showing the layout and arrangement of a Japanese period home, showing respective zones for food preparation, cooking and the entertainment of guests. Items specifically illustrated and described include lacquer wares, a charcoal-burning stove, lanterns, wooden buckets and items used in the tea ceremony. A beautiful copy of a scarce work published for the English market. Bibliography: Not in Cordier or Nipponalia.; Rogala Jozef 'A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English', 783.… Read More
Item Price
$2,142.40
$19.50 shipping to USA
Naturalist's Pocket Magazine
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Naturalist's Pocket Magazine: or Compleat Cabinet of the Curiosities and Beauties of Nature

by Anonymous

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Good-
Edition
1st
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Tokyo, Tokyo
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Item Price
$4,500.00
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Six volumes only of this rare eight-volume set. (Vol. VIII was discontinued after only 4 issues with 12 plates.)With 352 hand-coloured engraved plates (of 360).Incomplete set of this rare handy pocket-sized edition of 18th century natural history describing many newly discovered species.Text and plates copied from accounts published by Count Buffon, George Edwards, George Shaw, James Bruce, Thomas Pennant, Maria Sybilla Merian and others. Includes the extinct dodo and sukotyro, endangered animals and birds (Siau Island tarsier, white rhinoceros, polar bear, Indian bustard, great green macaw, wild water buffalo, banded cotinga, Russian mink, African grey parrot). Also notable for the early images of plants and animals discovered in New South Wales, Australia (short-beaked echidna, kangaroo, black swan, eastern quoll, waratah, Banksia, etc.).Half contemporary calf with red and black morocco gilt spine labels, marbled boards scuffed, front board off Vol. VI. Some plates loose or trimmed, foxing and… Read More
Item Price
$4,500.00
FREE shipping to USA
The HOLY BIBLE Containing the Old and New Testaments, According to the Authorised Version. With...
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The HOLY BIBLE Containing the Old and New Testaments, According to the Authorised Version. With Illustrations by Gustav Dore

by Dore, Gustav; Illustrator

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Thus
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Bloomington, Indiana
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$2,500.00
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Description:
London and New York: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1885. Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament. have separate title pages, are paged separately, and plates are listed separately. Title pages printed in black and red. 3 volumes bound in 2 (968 pages ; pages 969-1116, 188, 346 pages, [238] leaves of plates). Vol. 1. Old Testament. Genesis to Lamentations -- Vol. 2. Old Testament. Ezekiel to Malachi. Apocrypha. New Testament. No date, circa 1885. Two volumes bound in contemporary embossed pebbled calf, backs with five raised bands and gilt lettering, marbled end papers with wide intricate gilt roll-tooled doublures, all edges gilt. Very Good, Vol.I with hinge open at t.p., front joint opening 2" at top edge, 1" tear p.965 at left margin, both volumes with wear at at joints, edges and corner with loss of leather at corners, small tears to calf at spine ends. Still, a solidly bound set with none of the heavy foxing this book is prone to,a quite clean and lovely set, the illustrations… Read More
Item Price
$2,500.00
FREE shipping to USA
British Ornithology
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British Ornithology: History of Every Known Species of British Birds

by George Graves

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
Second
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Tokyo, Tokyo
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Item Price
$2,000.00
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Complete set with 144 fine bird plates drawn, engraved and hand-coloured mostly by George Graves, (A few plates after Samuel Howitt and Sydenham Edwards, and engraved by Weddell and Warner.)A nice set of this study of British birds, with many songbirds, game birds, owls and hawks, divers, waders, and sea birds.Second edition of first two volumes (originally published in parts from 1811 and 1821), but first edition of the complete set (the third volume first appearing in 1821).With the title typo: British Ornithology, Being the History, with a Coloured Representation, of Every Kown [sic] Species of British Birds.George Graves (1784-1839), FLS, was an English publisher, artist, engraver and colourist who worked on botanical and ornithological works. Apart from British Birds (1811-1821), he also wrote and illustrated Ovarium Britannicum (1816), The Naturalist's Pocket Book (1817), and A Monograph on British Grasses (1822). From 1817, he oversaw the hand-colouring and publishing with William Jackson… Read More
Item Price
$2,000.00
FREE shipping to USA
The Aesop For Children With Pictures By Milo Winter
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The Aesop For Children With Pictures By Milo Winter

by Aesop; Milo Winter (Illustrator)

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Salem, Oregon
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Item Price
$624.89
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Description:
DUST JACKET ONLY. NO BOOK IS INCLUDED The Aesop For Children (1919 unclipped Rand McNally Dust Jacket Only) QUITE RARE. 27 X 11 7/8 Orange/Red First Edition unclipped DUST JACKET ONLY. dimensions are: 27 X 11 7/8 . Original price $2.00, from Rand McNally & Company. USED. Good condition. Orange dust jacket ILLUSTRATED BY MILO WINTER. SHOWS SOME WEAR. A NICE FIND.
Item Price
$624.89
$5.00 shipping to USA
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. And what Alice found there.
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THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. And what Alice found there.

by CARROLL. LEWIS. ; Tenniel. John. Illustrates

  • Used
  • Hardcover
Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
London, Greater London
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Item Price
$672.16
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Macmillan and Co. Limited. London. 1894. The Peoples edition. Twenty-third thousand. 8vo. (7.3 x 4.9 inches). Illustrated with fifty line illustrations by John Tenniel. Some foxing to the plain tissue paper guard over the frontispiece and a few minor spots throughout but overall a very clean and bright copy in a fine late 19th century leather binding. Full red calf, the spine with five raised bands, each with double rope design in gilt. Compartments ruled and fully decorated in gilt. Dark green morocco title label, gilt. Leaf and rose roll gilt borders on boards. Decorative gilt design on board edges. Decorative blind stamped inner dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. Red silk page marker bound in. Grantham School arms stamped on the front board in gilt. Previous owners neat name stamp to top of the first leaf after title page. Aside from a small area of loss to the leather on the front board and another on the lower spine hinge this is a very good copy in a fine quality leather binding.… Read More
Item Price
$672.16
$18.00 shipping to USA