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An Arts & Crafts Poster For A Bookbinder
by Stephen J. GertzModernist poster madness continues on Booktryst; the goodies at Swann Galleries' recent sale keep piling up. TH. H. Molkenboer (1871-1920) designed this poster for Amsterdam...
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Dust Jacket Designer Philip Grushkin From Comps To Final
by Stephen J. Gertz Philip Grushkin working in his Englewood, NJ home studio, c.1950s.A major archive of renowned dust jacket designer, Philip Grushkin, "whose work made him the standard-bearer...
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Réne Magritte, Poster & Sheet Music Artist
by Stephen J. Gertz"Ceci n'est pas une pipe." Yes, it's not a pipe, it's a poster. By Réne Magritte (1898-1967), known for his excursions into surrealism and "the treachery of images," his 1929...
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The Bookplate Society Holds Super Summer Auction
by Stephen J. GertzMorton Stephenson (c.1885 - ?) was a British cellist and composer for orchestra and the theater. The Bookplate Society, the international association of collectors, bibliophiles,...
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The Girl & The Faun, A Bookbinder, And Citizen Hearst's Last Word
by Stephen J. GertzFront cover.It is written, though the story may be apocryphal, that on his deathbed on August 14, 1951 - just eleven days before I was born - legendary newspaper baron William...
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William Burroughs' Intro To Naked Lunch At $175,000
by Stephen J. GertzCalling Dr. Benway:The first and final draft corrected typescripts of William S. Burroughs' Introduction to the first American edition (NY: Grove Press, 1962) of Naked Lunch (Paris:...
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Three Visually Arresting Modernist Judaica Posters
by Stephen J. GertzDesigner Unknown."M". c. 1931.We revisit the Swann Galleries Modernist Poster sale held May 13, 2013.The linocut poster above is for the original release of film director Fritz...
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The Small Press / Mimeograph Revolution 1940s - 1970s
by Stephen J. GertzJim Schock. Life is a Lousy Drag. Unicorn Publishing, Co., 1959.A remarkable research collection of small press magazines and other printed matter representing the growth and...
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Judy Garland Spots James Mason In Rare 1805 Book
by Stephen J. GertzThe original, unsigned and undated, artwork for a series of satirical prints, Symptoms of Drilling, signed on the published prints as "Designed & Etched by H.B.H. Esq. 1805"...
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Mr. O'Squat And The Widow Shanks Schlep To London
by Stephen J. Gertz Published 1822 (titlepage; 1823 imprinted on outer drum plate).The misadventures of the recently married Mister O'Squat and the Widow Shanks, whose honeymoon journey to London,...
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A Glutton Of Literature Hungry For Learning But Starved Of Wisdom
by Stephen J. GertzIsaac D'Israeli (1766-1848). The following is excerpted from Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, originally published in 1791 and expanded to multiple volumes in 1793, 1807,...
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Communism Never Looked So Good
by Stephen J. GertzIn 1884, after artist-poet-designer-printer William Morris compulsively read his copy of the first edition in French (1872-1875) of Karl Marx's Das Kapital until its flimsy binding...
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Common Sense Costs $545,000 In 21st C. America
by Stephen J. GertzAn extraordinary association copy of the scarce first edition, first issue, of Thomas Paine's iconic anti-monarchical pamphlet, Common Sense (Philadelphia: Robert Bell, 1776), sold...
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Laptop Computer Discovered On Ancient Greek Vase
by Stephen J. Gertzμήλο φορητό υπολογιστήEvidence that ancient Greek civilization possessed advanced technology beyond the Antikythera mechanism, the earliest complex mechanical instrument, used for...
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Caution: These Books Are Too Hot To Handle
by Stephen J. GertzCover art by Lou Marchetti.Stories that scorch the visual word form and Exner's areas, the reading centers of the brain…Plots that burn…Books that ignite the senses, singe the eyes,...
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Alan Turing Takes Off At Christie's
by Stephen J. GertzA copy of Alan Turing's On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the entscheidungsproblem (1936), the foundation of modern digital computing and Turing's most important and...
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A Feast Of Fine Bindings
by Stephen J. Gertz[Church of England]. The Book of Common Prayer…London: W. and J. Wilde, 1699.Binding by Richard Balley.We've pulled out the white linen tablecloth, set the table with sterling...
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Ernest Hemingway's Typewriter Comes To Auction
by Stephen J. Gertz One of the most important literary relics of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway’s fully documented typewriter, on which he typed his last book, is being offered by auctioneer...
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Photographers On Reading
By Alastair JohnstonWho doesn't love a good book? And in our image-saturated society, who doesn't love a good photo of someone else reading? The Hungarian photographer André Kertész (1894-1985)...
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John Quincy Adams, The Sleeping-Pill Poet
by Stephen J. GertzAmerican diplomat, Harvard professor, Secretary of State, member of the House of Representatives, Senator, son of a President, and himself President of the United States, sure. But...
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