Search Results: Authors starting with G from Ursus Books

1931. KRULL, Germain. Confort. Text by G. Lenotre, Paul Reboux, Marcel Prevost & Pierre Mac-Orlan. Illustrated with 30 black-&-white photographic plates attributed to Germaine Krull. 4to, publisher's wrappers, in a new cloth folding box. Paris: Soc, pour la Société générale de fonderie, 1931. A fine copy of this rare and stunning trade catalogue with photographs attributed to Germaine Krull in the Bibliotheque Nationale catalogue. The texts consist of Le Confort au Palais et dans les appartemens, qui contient beaucoup de particularitez de l'histoire de Louis XIV, by Lenotre; Le Confort, ou la Toilette de Julie by Paul Reboux. Lettre a Francoise sur le confort by Marcel Prevost and Confort 1931 by Pierre Mac-Orlan. Gernaine Krull is listed as the photographer in OCLC.

1810. GAITTE, Antoine Joseph. Recueil des plus belles Maisons et des plus belles Edifices de la Ville de Paris. 24 numbered leaves with 136 engraved oval or circular views, the whole surrounded by an engraved neoclassical frame. Oblong folio, 401 x 280 mm., contemporary half green vellum over paste paper boards. Paris: n.p., [ca. 1810]. The only edition of this interesting suite of twenty-four plates, illustrating 136 views of public buildings, squares, and gates in Paris. The most important component of this suite is the series of 45 engraved views of the barrières, or toll-gates, which once surrounded the city of Paris. These barrières were designed by Claude Nicolas Ledoux, the visionary French architect, and built from 1785 to 1789 according to an act passed by the Fermiers-Généraux. At each entry to the city, Ledoux planned one or sometimes two dignified pavilions which were simultaneously Neoclassical in form and Romantic in spirit. Of the 45… Read More

1747. GARCIA BERRUGUILLA, Juan. Verdadera Práctica de las Resoluciones de la Geometría sobre las tres Dimensiones para un perfecto Architecto: con una total Resolución para medir y dividir la Planimetría para los Agrimensores. Title, [30], 135 pp., illustrated with 18 folding engraved plates. 8vo, 225 x 150 mm., bound in contemporary vellum. Madrid: En la Imprenta de Lorenzo Francisco Mojados, 1747. First edition of this rare and richly illustrated manual on applied geometry for the use of architects and land surveyors. It also deals extensively with the instruction of drawing architectural plans and perspective. The book consists of six short treatises, each dealing with a given problem and its solution, all nicely illustrated with 18 engraved plates. OCLC lists just two copies in the U.S. at Columbia and John Carter Brown. Some scattered, minor marginal wear and staining, plate 15 with some repairs, overall a fine, unsophisticated copy.

1903. [GEFFROY, Gustave]. La Vie Artistique. Préface d'Edmond de Goncourt. Eight volumes (all published). xvi, 375; 396; xx, 395; xviii, 334; 408; 462; 368; 483 pp. With an original etched frontispiece to each volume (by Carrière, Rodin, Renoir, Raffaelli, Fantin-Latour, Pissarro, Vierge, and Willette). 12mo, 167 x 110 mm., bound contemporary silk over boards, original wrappers preserved. Paris: Dentu [and Floury], 1892-1903. Only edition, a beautiful unique and complete set of La Vie Artistique which was one of the most influential of the late nineteenth-century art periodicals. Volumes 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are inscribed from Geffroy to the noted poet, art critic and journalist Leon Roger Miles. Geffroy (1855-1926) was one of the earliest supporters of the Impressionists. A founding member of the Academie Goncourt, he was, in the words of Edmond de Goncourt, "dispensateur d'une culture nouvelle." All of his writings about Impressionism are significant and remain… Read More

1989. GERZSO, Gunther. The Besieged/El Sitiado. By Octavio Paz, translated by Eliot Weinberger. With an etching by Gunther Gerzso. 4to., cloth covered board in cloth covered slipcase. San Francisco: Limestone Press, 1989. Gunther Gerzso has created a stunning frontispiece color etching for Octavio Paz's poem. Printed in letterpress, Paz's poem is presented in both English and Spanish. The English is printed in black while the Spanish is printed in scarlet red creating a very dramatic visual effect since the two languages are each printed on the same page. Signed on the colophon by Gerzo and Paz. One of an edition of 200.

1900. J. G. SCHELTER and Giesecke. Schriften nebst Zierat fuer Anschlaege, grosse Druckarbeietn usw... 126 pp., including 3 a/b and 96/ab. Folio, bound in publisher's decorated cloth. Leipzig: J.G. Schelter and Giesecke, [ca. 1900]. A magnificent turn of the century type specimen book. Marginal staining to the title-page, but overall in excellent condition. Schelter and Giesecke were one of the great German type founders and survived from 1819 until 1951 when the firm was merged with several others. Slight bowing to the binding but otherwise a fine copy. Rare with OCLC listing only Yale and Newberry in the US.

1985. GILMAN COLLECTION. Photographs from the Collection of the Gilman Paper Company. Curated by Pierre Apraxine, with plates by Richard Benson, and notes to the plates by Lee Marks. 480 pp. Illustrated with 199 offset lithographs after photographs plus offset lithographic frontispiece. Large folio, bound in original half maroon calf over linen covered boards, in a slipcase. [Verona: Stamperia Valdonega for] The White Oak Press, 1985. A superbly printed book, presenting, for the first time, two hundred images from one of the world's important photography resources. These images, selected by Pierre Apraxine, curator of the Gilman collection, illustrate the work of over one hundred photographers. The scope ranges from the experimental daguerrotype of the early 1840's (by Samuel F. B. Morse et al.), to the pioneering photographs by Robert Frank and Diane Arbus of the mid 1950s and 1960s. The edition was limited to 1200 copies, and has been described as "a tour-de-force of… Read More

2021. GOGOL, Nikolai. The Nose. Illustrated by William Kentridge. Oblong 4to., Publisher's cloth-backed boards and clamshell box. San Francisco: Arion Press, 2021. This edition of The Nose is a new original translation by scholar and author Stanislav Shvabrin. William Kentridge provided 16 altered and collaged images for the book, composed on tear sheets of the 19th-century tabloid The Illustrated London News, which have been reproduced in full-color offset lithography on tinted backgrounds. One of an edition of 190 copies.

1944. GOLDFINGER, Erno and Ursula BLACKWELL. Planning your Neighbourhood for Home, for Work, for Play. 20 colored pictorial boards. Folio, 490 x 355 mm., loose, in a new cloth folding box. [London: Air Ministry Directorate of Educational Services, 1944.] A spectacular set of designs by the Hungarian-born architect Erno Goldfinger and his wife Ursula Blackwell, assisted by Martin Cobbett, with cartoons by Sheila Hawkins and landscaping by Peter Shepheard. They were prepared for exhibitions put on by the Army Bureau of Current Affairs and depict plans for the rebuilding of the East End of London after the war. The set is made up as follows: the first plate is the title-page, 2 and 3 contrast village and town life, 4-10 describe what planning means: "Shops, Schools, Work and Recreation within east reach of our home." 9 and 10 are about different types of homes (houses, flats or maisonettes) and the space needed to supply accommodation for different sized families. 11-20 show the site… Read More

2007. GOLDYNE, Joseph. The Invisible Collection. By Stefan Zweig. Illustrated with an original etching by Joseph Goldyne. 8vo, 230 x 140 mm., bound in original black morocco-backed sepia-coloured paper over boards. New York: Ursus Books, 2007. A handsome new edition of this classic fable about collecting. Zweig's story, set in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War, is timeless. It eloquently evokes the magic of collecting, the excitement of dealing and the pleasures and complexities of ownership. Joseph Goldyne, the distinguished California artist who is himself a renowned collector, has thoughtfully produced an illustration which successfully solves the problem of how to illustrate a book, which on first reading would seem to defy the concept of illustration. Peter Koch has designed and printed as elegant a version of Zweig's story as one could hope for. One of an edition of only 50 copies elegantly printed by Peter Koch in San Francisco, and containing a signed etching by… Read More

GONCOURT, Edmond de. Portrait for La Galerie Contemporaine by Nadar. Woodburytype print with artist's information printed on mount, matted and framed in polished dark wood. [Paris: Nadar, ND]. A visually arresting portrait of Edmond de Goncourt by famed portrait photographer Nadar (Gaspard-Felix Tournachon 1820-1910). "Nadar's notoriety in photography came after successful careers first in writing and publishing and then in caricature. Nadar's turn to portrait photography appears to be a natural progression from his work in caricature." "Galerie Contemporaine, stands out due to its ambitious scope, as well as for the quality of the photographic imagery it contained. Underpinned by a certain patriotic sentiment and a more sophisticated approach to celebrity, the subtitle Litteraire Artistique declares the work's focus of interest to be high art. In fact Galerie Contemporaine evolved into the most impressive set of celebrity portraits published in… Read More

1915. GOVONI, Corrado. Rarefazioni e Parole in Libertà. 50, [4] pp., illustrated throughout with various typographical elements and drawing reproductions. Folio, 320 x 245 mm., bound in publisher's printed wrappers, preserved in a new cloth folding box. Milan: [Edizione Futuriste di "Poesia"], 1915. First edition. One of the rarer and more unusual works of Futurist poetry and typography by poet Corrado Govoni (1884-1965), who only briefly experimented with the movement. Rarefazioni e Parole in Libertà emphasizes Futurism's interest in the freedom of childhood with its mixture of the usual typographical elements in concert with naive illustrations throughout. The result is both charming and arresting. An exceptionally fine copy. The Avant-Garde Applied 1890-1950, L50.

1849. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Les Etoiles. By Joseph Mery. [4], xvi, 252 pp.; [4], 186, [2] pp. With 15 hand-colored engravings. 8vo., 255 x 176 mm, bound in the original publisher's wrappers, in a new blue half moocco folding box. Paris: G. de Gonet, [1849]. A fine copy of this charming work, Grandville's last book of illustrations, preserved as issued in the original illustrated wrappers.. It actually consists of two parts, each having its own title-page, but the parts are always found together. There are fifteen steel engravings by Grandville, all with delicate original hand-coloring. Despite occasional foxing, the impressions are extremely clean--an unusual state for French books of this type from this period. "The compositions of the `last fairy-tale,' brilliantly engraved on steel by Charles Geoffroy and delicately colored, form a fitting memorial to Grandville. They show that his powers remained unimpaired to the end of his short career" (Ray). Despite damage… Read More

1842. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux. Two volumes. [8], 386, [6]; [4], 390, [6] pp., with 201 engraved plates and 120 vignettes illustrating the text. Large 8vo, 261 x 180 mm., uniformly bound in contemporary black half morocco. Paris: Hetzel et Paulin: 1842-1844. A splendid copy of a Grandville masterpiece, accompanied by two original watercolours by Grandville and a long autograph letter from the publisher, Hetzel. A fantastic example of anthropomorphic illustration and an important precursor of surrealism. These illustrations represent some of Grandville's most memorable creations. Many of the plates are of single figures, but there are also satirical scenes of everyday life, monsters, animals looking at politicians caged at the zoo, etc. The texts contained herein were written by such notable authors as Balzac, Charles Nodier, George Sand, Louis Viardot and even J. Hetzel, the publisher (under the pseudonym of P.J. Stahl). Hetzel was… Read More

1856. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Voyages de Gulliver dans des Contrées Lointaines par Swift. Four parts in one. 448 pp., with a frontispiece of the gigantic Gulliver above an arch, 6 section-titles, and numerous wood-engraved vignettes by Grandville throughout. 8vo, 212 x 125 mm., in the publisher's polychrome binding. Paris: Garnier Freres, 1856 $ 2500.00 A later issue but preserved in the publisher's polychrome binding and with the interior bright and free from foxing. With 450 original wood-engraved vignettes by Grandville, which comprise some of his best work. "Swift's text, with its pattern of logical development from impossible premises, fitted Grandville's mind better than any other to which he applied himself" (Ray pp. 271-2). Indeed, Beraldi claimed that the Voyages de Gulliver became the definitive visual rendering of Swift for French readers and remains one of Grandville's best works. Ray, Art of the French Illustrated Book, 192. Beraldi VII, 206. Brunet… Read More

1843. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Petites Misères de la Vie humaine, par Old Nick [Paul-Émile Daurand Forgues] et Grandville. [4], viii, 392 pp. Illustrated woodcut frontispiece and 49 full-page woodcut plates and woodcuts in text throughout by Grandville. 8vo., 230 x 145 mm, bound in publisher's gilt-stamped cloth. Paris: H. Fournier, 1843. A fine copy in the rare publisher's cloth of one of Grandville's lesser known works, but one that contains intimations of his masterpiece Un Autre Monde of the following year. Presumably because the surreal illustrations which were to become his trademark are in the distinct minority that this books has not been given the credit it is due. Occasional foxing, but overall a clean copy.

1854. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Les Métamorphoses du Jour. [4], xxviii, 283 pp., with 70 hand-coloured wood engravings after designs by Grandville. Large 8vo, 262 x 163 mm., bound in publisher's illustrated polychrome boards. Paris: Havard, 1854. First edition in book form, comprised of 67 designs from the excessively rare 1829 suite, 2 lithographs from La Silhouette and 1 woodcut from the Musée Philipon. The Métamorphoses du Jour was the work which established Grandville's reputation as a brilliant satirical critic of social manners, institutions and prejudices. "Throughout the series Grandville's choice of beastheads is inspired, and the force of his conceptions and the wit of his captions rarely falter. Occasionally he produces a design of universal application that calls Goya to mind" (Ray). Charles Blanc described the Métamorphoses du Jour as "the most original and most remarkable series in Grandville's oeuvre." The text for this… Read More

1845. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Cent Proverbes. With text by Amadee Achard, Taxile Delord, Emile Forguesvand Arnould Fremy. [4], 398, [2] pp., illustrated with wood engraved frontispiece, 50 full page wood engravings hor-texte, plus head-and-tail pieces by Grandville. 8vo, 228 x 140 mm., bound in publisher's polychrome cloth binding. Paris: Fournier, 1845. A fine copy of this delightful Grandville work, preserved in the scarce publisher's polychrome binding. While this book lacks the surreal qualities of Un Autre Monde, the presence of a substantial number of anthropomorphic illustrations in the manner of those which had appeared in Scenes de la vie privee et public des animaux, elevate it above the typical "romantique" book, and make it a worthy addition to the Grandville oeuvre. An exceptionally clean copy. Renonciat 178-183.

1842. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux. Two volumes. [8], 386, [6]; [4], 390, [6] pp., with 201 engraved plates and 120 vignettes illustrating the text. Large 8vo, 261 x 180 mm., uniformly bound in publisher's green cloth with gilt vignettes of Grandville designs on the covers and spine. Paris: Hetzel et Paulin: 1842. First edition of a Grandville masterpiece, bound in the publisher's gilt-stamped cloth. A fantastic example of anthropomorphic illustration and an important precursor of surrealism. These illustrations represent some of Grandville's most memorable creations. Many of the plates are of single figures, but there are also satirical scenes of everyday life, monsters, animals looking at politicians caged at the zoo, etc. The texts contained herein were written by such notable authors as Balzac, Charles Nodier, George Sand, Louis Viardot and even J. Hetzel, the publisher (under the pseudonym of P.J. Stahl). Hetzel was the… Read More

1844. GRANDVILLE, J.J. Un Autre Monde. Transformations, visions, incarnations... et autres choses. By Taxile Delord. [4], 295, [1] pp., half-title and title page printed in red, a black and white frontispiece, 133 woodcut vignettes, 15 full-page woodcuts, and 36 hand-coloured plates. Large 8vo, 265 x 180 mm., bound in original illustrated wrappers, laid down on slightly later boards. Paris: H. Fournier, 1844. First edition, a rare copy preserving the fragile publisher's wrappers, the front cover of which bears one of Grandville's most celebrated illustrations. One of the spectacular, surreal illustrated books of the nineteenth century. "In this remarkable book, of the boldest possible originality, Grandville dared to reveal his dream world to the public" (Ray). The illustrations expose an incredible imagination which was unlike anything that appeared in print before. Ray points out that the designs of Grandville certainly influenced Tenniel when he created the characters for… Read More