Search Results: Authors starting with S from Ursus Books

1897. U.S. NAVY. Regulations governing the Uniform of Commissioned Officers, Warrant Officers, and enlisted Men of the Navy of the United States. 26, [2] pp. With 52 full-page chromolithographic plates of military costume + 1 full-page chromolithograph of an American Eagle. 8vo., 234 x 143 mm, bound in original publisher's blue cloth. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1886. The plates are divided into two series, the first for the Commissioned officers and the second for enlisted men. Note: Plates 20 and 21 of the second series relating to enlisted men were not issued and were omitted in the numbering. The volume was reprinted in 1897 by the Government Printing Office, with revisions; the present volume documents the early version of the Regulations. Slightly worn at binding extremities. Quite scarce.

1863. [MEXICO]. U.S. GOVERNMENT. The Present Condition of Mexico. 802 pp. 8vo., bound in recent half morocco. Washington, D.C.: [Government Printing Office], [1863]. Important series of dispatches between various American, British, Mexican, French and Spanish emissaries. This period was particularly significant in Mexican history: Maximilian had just assumed power as Emperor of Mexico, Juarez and the democratic government of Mexico was desparately trying to stay afloat, the major European powers were circling like vultures, while the United States was deeply involved in the Civil War of its own. Stamp on top edge noting the book is from the Library of the House of Representatives.

2007. SAINT-AUBIN, Gabriel. Placets de l'officier Desbans. Preface by Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum. 62 pp. Illustrated with 15 facsimile drawings by Gabriel Saint-Aubin, plus a few head- and tail-pieces. Folio, 360 x 235 mm, bound in full red silk over boards, with the gilt-stamped coat-of-arms of Marie-Antoinette on both covers. Paris: 1775 (i.e. London: Roxburghe Club, 2007). Privately printed for members of the Roxburghe Club. This is a facsimile edition of an original French eighteenth-century manuscript produced in Paris in 1775. Edme-Louis Desbans, born 1728, wrote his own text and orchestrated the production of this superlative manuscript as a petition for his advancement in the French Army. It was intended for two readers only: Marie-Antoinette, the new Queen of France, and her husband Louis XVI. Desbans flatters the new Queen as a patron of a new taste in the arts, architecture, fashion, music (as supporter of her fellow Austrian composer Gluck), and symbolic… Read More

1540. SARAYNA, Torelli. De Origine et amplitudine civitatis Veronae. 70 leaves including illustrations, erratic pagination (see below). Illustrated with woodcut printer's device on the title, woodcut portrait of the author and 26 woodcut plates, many double-page or fold-out plates, with several in-text woodcuts designed by Giovanni Caroto. Verona: Ex Officina Antonii Putelleti, 1540. BOUND AFTER: GIUSTIANI, Petrus. Rerum Venetarum ab urbe condita historia. [24], 488 pp. Small folio, 310 x 210 mm, bound in contemporary blind stamped alum tawed pigskin. Preserved in a blue half morocco folding box Venice: Comin da Trino 1560. Ad 1. First Edition. A Renaissance guide to the antiquities of Verona with illustrations designed by the artist Giovanni Caroto including a handsome woodcut portrait of the author, Torelli Sarayna, signed with Caroto's monogram. The large-scale woodcuts illustrate buildings, plans, inscriptions and details of the extensive Roman ruins plus a woodcut map of the… Read More

1969. SASSON, Renee. Esmaltes. With text by Walmir Ayala. Containing six different enameled pieces by Sasson, each on a linen mount signed and numbered on the verso by the artist, with a small paper pamphlet containing Ayala's poem. 4to., 215 x 215 mm, housed in publisher's linen chemise and slipcase. Sao Paulo: Julio Pacello, 1969. A delightful work by this little-know Brazilian artist who created a series of enamels to illustrate the text of her fellow Brazilian, the polymath Walmir Ayala. Loss to spine label (peeled off and worn, the fragment housed inside the box slipcase). One of an edition of 50 copies.

1700. SCHENK, Petrus. Afbeeldinge der voornaamste Gebouwen van Amsterdam. Engraved title-page, index and 100 fine engraved views with captions in Latin and Dutch. Small oblong folio, 210 x 265 mm., bound in contemporary full English calf with red morocco spine label. Amsterdam: n.p., ca. 1700. A rare complete copy of this engraved survey of Amsterdam and its surrounding regions produced by the prolific engraver and map publisher Petrus Schenk the Elder (1660-1711). A fine copy with crisp, dark impressions. The work's importance is attested by several twentieth-century reprints. OCLC locates no copies of this edition in the U.S. However it is in fact a reissue of Den hoog-edelgeboren heer C. de Jonge van Ellemeet, heere van Ellemeet, etc. etc. etc. voor desen ontfanger generael vande unie, nu raed ende pensionaris der stadt Rotterdam, etc. etc. etc. word de Afbeeldinge der voornaamste gebouwen van Amsterdam of 1695, of which OCLC records copies at The National Gallery and Northwestern.… Read More

1746. SCHEYB, Franz Christof von. Theresiade, ein Ehren-Gedicht. Two parts in one volume. [369] pp. Engraved allegorical portrait frontispiece, engraved title-page vignette, engraved dedication leaf, 13 historiated engraved initials, and 29 engraved vignettes by Salomon Kleiner after his own designs and those of Preissler and Buch. Each leaf is enclosed by a narrow ornamental woodcut border. 4to., 300 x 214 mm, full contemporary speckled calf. Vienna: Joh. Jacob Jahn, 1746. First Edition of one of the high spots of German Baroque book production. "In his Theresiade, Scheyb created the last great Baroque encomium, very impressive and luxuriously executed in twelve books comprising nearly eight thousand lines ...in all, a laudatory poem which entangles its subject in a net of allegory" (Faber du Faur). In addition to the fine frontispiece portrait of the Empress, the work contains numerous vignettes by Kleiner. The latter have been highly praised by Lanckoronska for their… Read More

1929. SCHWITTERS, Kurt. Ausstellung Karlsruhe Dammerstock-Siedlung. Die Gebrauchswohnung. Veranstaltet von der Landeshauptstadt Karlsruhe vom 29 September bis zum 27. Oktober 1929. 63 pp., profusely illustrated with ground plans, facades and cross sections. Typography by Schwitters. Oblong 4to, 210 x 295 mm., bound in original wrappers, cover design in black on pink stock by Schwitters, in a new cloth folding box. Karlsruhe: C.F. Müller, 1929. Catalogue of the Dammerstock Housing Colony, built under the supervision of Walter Gropius, with the participation of Wilhelm Riphahn, Otto Haesler, Hans Detlev Rösiger, Alfred Fischer and others. Catalogue designed by Schwitters, who was responsible for all the graphic work connected with the exhibition (letterheads, invitations, etc.) Printed in two columns, set (at Gropius' request) entirely in lower-case type, this catalogue represents one of the most remarkable examples of Schwitters' graphic work. Landesmuseum Wiesbaden, 1990: Kurt… Read More

1833. [VEVEY]. [Fête des Vignerons, 1833]. Continuous panorama scroll, containing 30 consecutive lithographs (numbered 1-30) from the 1833 Festival of the Vignerons at Vevey, hand-coloured at the time of publication, backed with linen and conjoined to form a continuous scroll of 14.4 meters long. Plate size: oblong folio, 170 x 470 mm., in a new cloth folding box. Lausanne: Lithographie de Spengler & Cie, [1833]. An extremely rare, complete copy, in contemporary hand-colouring of this remarkable series of plates in scroll format depicting the 1833 Festival of the Vingerons at Vevey, Switzerland -- since 1791 this ancient festival has been celebrated five times per century. The scroll shows the entire procession in panorama format; the procession moved in three groups: Herds and Flocks (plates 1-8), the Harvest (plates 9-18), and Winemakers (plates 19-30). The festival celebrates the vineyards and wine production in the Vevey area. The artist of the work was Christian Gottlieb… Read More

1933. SEDEL'NIKOV, Nikolai. Karatel'naya politika kapitalisticheskih stran: Sbornik statei. [Punitive Policies of the Capitalist Countries]. 196 pp., illustrated throughout with photomontage. 8vo, 223 x 141 mm., publisher's illustrated boards and photomontages by Sedel'nikov. Moscow: Sovetskoe zakonodatel'stvo [State Institute for the Study of Crime], 1933. Illustrated with 7 photomontages by Sedel'nikov who also designed the striking cover. Despite some wear to the fragile covers, this is a fine copy of an extremely rare book. Not listed on OCLC.

1967. MASSON, André. Briques et Tuiles. By Victor Segalen. 68, [4] pp. With a signed etched frontispiece by Masson. Small folio, loose in publisher's wrappers. [Montpellier]: fata morgana, 1967. Masson contributed an aquatint of his own version of Chinesee calligraphy. One of 50 copies on Japon with a signed etching by Masson. Saphire and Cramer, ANDRE MASSON: The Illustrated Books.No. 75

1903. [JAPANESE EXHIBITION]. Tokyo Seihansho. Dai-Gokai Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai. No text, illustrated with 24 black and white collotype prints. Oblong folio, 255 x 368 mm., bound in the Japanese style in green, white and red printed paper wrappers with gilt emblem on building from exposition, bound by purple and white tassels. Tokyo: Tokyo Seihansho, [1903]. Images from the Fifth Japanese Domestic Industrial Exposition held in March through July, 1903, in Osaka, Japan. The Exposition showcased the latest technology from home and from the colonies. The 24 collotypes show crowd scenes, various buildings at the exposition by day and night and inside the exhibition halls. Each image has a Japanese caption. No copies found in OCLC. Scattered marginal stains, else fine.

1908. SEKKA, Kamisaka. Cho senshu. 2 volumes, each with 25 double-page plates of coloured woodcuts depicting butterflies by Sekka. 8vo, 248 x 178 mm. folded, bound accordion-style (orihon) in green silk over boards, in a new green cloth box. Kyoto: Yamada Unsodo, 1903. A fine copy of the first printing of this landmark of twentieth century Japanese design. "Kamisaka Sekka was a genius; effortlessly, prodigiously, boundlessly imaginative; tirelessly inventive, spontaneous, and free. In One Thousand Butterflies (Cho senrui, 1903 [the book is commonly misdated; it was published in 1904]) he took a single subject and drew dozens of pictures, each in a different style. There was nothing academic about his approach. Each drawing was fresh and new; many were arresting and some mirrored new developments in European art. "Sekka loved design. He began to paint under Suzuki Zuigai when he was sixteen and studied textiles in his early twenties. He was doubly fortunate that Yamada Naosaburo, the… Read More

1902. SEKKA, Kamisaka Furuya Korin and others. Shin Bijutsukai. 7 volumes. A total of 720 plates on 360 leaves. 8vo, 239 x 150 mm., publisher's decorated wrappers, in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Unsodo, 1902-1905. A splendid complete set of this legendary publication, here consisting of the plates from the 70 issues bound up separately by the publisher. The set is a veritable encyclopedia of Japanese design in the first third of the twentieth century. Unsodo is a large Japanese publishing company with branches in both Tokyo and Kyoto. Founded in 1891, this company is still in existence today. From the 1890s through the 1930s, the Unsodo publishing house was involved in printing high quality pattern books for various crafts including textiles and lacquer. A corner of one double-folded page in volume three is torn, with loss, affecting a small portion of 2 plates. A true masterpiece of design, and of great rarity.

1932. SEMIONOVA, E. URSS en Construction. L'Aviation Soviétique Civile. 15th Year Number 6. [34] pp. Illustrated with a plethora of Russian photomontage images throughout. Folio, 415 x 300 mm, bound in original wrappers. Moscow: Editions d'Etat des Beaux-Arts, 1932. A fine copy of one a typical issue of this landmark periodical, this one devoted to Soviet civil aviation. As Martin Parr says "from 1930-1940 URSS en Construction employed the best Soviet photo-journalists and graphic designers. Amongst the photographers were Max Alpert, Arkadi Shaikhet, Georgi Zeima, Boris Ignatovich, Semen Fridland and Georgi Shaikhet. Designers included El Lissitzky, Sophie Kueppers, Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, and Nikolai Troshin who designed this issue and over forty others. All the visual strategies of the propaganda photobooks, designed by Lissitzky, Rodchenko and others -- the elaborate photomontages, innovative photography, fold-out pages, transparent overlays… Read More

1942. TOKYO NICHINICHI SHINBUNSHA. Teikoku kaigun no iyo. 36 ff., illustrated throughout with photomontages. Oblong 4to., 350 x 255 mm., bound in publisher's illustrated blue cloth stamped in silver and original printed cardboard slipcase. Tokyo: Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbunsha, 1942. A spectacular photo book on the Japanese Navy in World War II. It is two parts, the first one covers naval training, and the second part deals with the unfolding course of the war, recording of Japanese successes from Pearl Harbor, Malaya, New Guinea, and other parts of South East Asia. This book is one of the first to have an extended pictorial account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It also includes numerous Soviet-style photographic plates of naval guns, battleships, military planes, as well as photographs of operations in China, Java, Borneo, Philippines, New Guinea, and other areas in South-East Asia. None of the images are credited to a particular photographer but it includes work by Matsugi Fujio and… Read More

1933. SHAKESPEARE, William. Venus and Adonis. 8vo, bound in gilt-stamped three-quarter red morocco. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1933. The entire poem Venus and Adonis extracted from perhaps the most satisfying edition ever printed. T.E. Lawrence describes his admiration in a glowing letter to the publishers: "We turn over to the Nonesuch Shakespeare. There you have created a most marvellus pleasure. I have handled it ever so many times, and read The Tempest right through. It satisfies. It is final, like the Kelmscott Chaucer or the Ashendene Virgil. And it is a book which charms one to read slowly, an art which is almost gone from us in these times. Every word which Shakespeare uses stands out glowing. A really great edition. The tact and grace of your editor have been surpassing. I think I like the size and shape and binding almost as much as the text. The paper, too, is just right. Altogether a triumph. One of the best things is that it can not be done again. Nobody… Read More

1928. SHESTAKOV, F.K. Soglasovanie tsvetov dlia koloristov, khudozhnikov, khudozhnikov-prikladistov i dlia studentov i uchashchikhsya spetsial'nykhuchebnykh zavedenii. [Colour matching for Colourists, Artists, Applied Artists and for Students of Special Educational Institutions]. 79 pp., illustrated throughout with diagrams. Tall 8vo, bound in publisher's green and blue printed wrappers in new green cloth folding box. Ivanovo-Voznesensk: Osnova, 1928. First and only edition of this rare Soviet work on colour theory, light and the human eye. A provincial publication, initially intended to be part of a larger text book that was never published. Not listed in OCLC. One of 1500 copies.

1933. SHIKO, Iida. Hoen Cho. 13 leaves, illustrated with 24 mounted colour woodcut plates, on double leaves folded accordion style (orihon). Oblong folio, 390 x 295 mm., publisher's cloth covered boards, in a contemporary chitsu case, preserving the label. [Kyoto: Unsodo, 1932]. A magnificent series of large decorative woodcuts all centered around a circular motif. There is no publisher indicated, but the extremely high quality of the work suggests it might be that of Unsodo, who published other works by Shiko in the thirties. Some of the plates have occasional insignificant spotting. Some wear to the case. A rare book, with no listing on OCLC.

1921. SHIMIZU, Yoshiyasu. Tokaido panorama chizu. [Panoramic Map of Tokaido]. Folding panorama, 230 x 7070 mm unfolded. 8vo., 230 x 90 mm, bound in publisher's illustrated boards. Tokyo: Kanao Bun'endo, 1921. A charming panorama depicting Tokaido (the East Sea Road), the route connecting Kyoto to Tokyo. Travel, particularly along the Tokaido, was always a very popular topic in art and literature and a great many guidebooks of famous places were published and distributer the years, of which this is a good early twentieth century example. Some wear to the binding, but otherwise fine.