Search Results: Titles starting with S from Ursus Books

1942. DALI, SALVADOR. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. 400 pp., profusely illus. 4to, cloth and illustrated dust jacket in a new cloth folding box.. New York, Dial, 1942. With an elaborate double page inscription cum drawing by Dali. From the library of the photographer Arnold Crane with his signature on the front endpaper.

1948. FONTAINE, Jean de la. Selected Fables. Illustrated by ALEXANDER CALDER. 88 pp. text, including numerous line drawings. Folio, 350 x 224 mm., cloth, in a new purple half morocco folding box. New York: Quadrangle Press, 1948. This is the trade edition of Calder's illustrations of La Fontaine's Fables embellished with a full page drawing by Calder inscribed by him to Curt Valentin who was his dealer and the publisher of Calder's book, Three Young Rats.

1996. CLERGUE, Lucien. Saint- John Perse. Poete devant la Mer. Temoinage et Photographies de Lucien Clergue. Illustrated with photographs by Lucien Clergue. Folio, bound in original wrappers in a cloth slipcase. Biarritz: J & D Editions, 1996. $675.00 A handsome tribute to the poet Saint-John Perse which contains texts by various scholars and poets accompanied by an introduction by Clergue together with his photographs. One of an edition of 50 copies containing an original photograph of Perse, signed by Clergue, who also signed the colophon. There were 450 regular copies.

1934. MANCHURIA. Saishin Manshu shashincho [The latest Manchuria photograph album]. By Kin'ichiro Yamazaki. Illustrated with two fold-out colour maps and 86 photographic plates (some hand-coloured) printed on various coloured papers interleaved with descriptive text in Japanese and English. Oblong 8vo, 135 x 195 mm., bound in publisher's pictorial cloth, two-hole binding with string ties. Wakayama: Kobun-Do-Shoten, 1934. A fine copy of this very scarce guide book to Manchuria under the Japanese occupation. Among other things, the guide covers the main sites in the major cities of Mukden, Dairen, Harbin, and Port Arthur. By printing the guide in a slightly larger format than is usual for such works, the publishers were able to illustrate it with larger and better photographs than are usually found in works of a similar nature.

KIMURA, Gyokusen. Saisho shitsu. 48 plates, of which 24 are kimonos and 24 are designs. 300 x 218 mm. N.p.: Happodo, n.d. A stunning collection of designs by Gyokusen Kimura. The 24 plates showing the kimonos are spectacular. The silk covering of the boards is worn, but the book is internally clean. Rare and not listed on OCLC.

1959. LE CORBUSIER. Salubra. La Deuxieme Collection. 12 pp. Illustrated with 14 double-page wallpaper samples, 20 single-page monochrome wallpaper samples, and a "Clavier de Couleurs" laid down on rear inside cover. Oblong folio, 360 x 240 mm, bound in original publisher's cloth-backed illustrated boards. Basel: Salubra, 1959. Le Corbusier designed two collections of colours for the Salubra wallpaper company, the "Clavier de Couleurs" of 1931, with 43 colours, and this the 1959 collection, with 20 colours. In this second collection, reflecting the changes in his views, the 20 single colours are assembled on a single clavier. In the first collection he organized the tones on 12 sample cards in such a manner that one could use a slider to isolate or combine different sets of three to five colours. Each of these cards contained a different chromatic atmosphere, intended to produce a particular spatial effect. Thus Le Corbusier not only created a useful tool but… Read More

1941. RUSSIAN TOY CATALOGUE. Sat'amashoebis laboratoriis ek'sponatebis albomi. [Album of Toy Laboratory Exhibits]. 80 pp., illustrated with photographs and coloured diagrams. 180 x 276 mm., bound in original cloth with lettering and decoration on the front cover. Tbilisi: Zaria Vostoka, 1941. This album showcases toys and educational materials for kindergarten children produced by the Georgian scientific-research institute, and provides a unique insight into Soviet pedagogy. The work is particularly important as it promoted the toys which later became mainstream. The album is divided into four parts: "Educational Toys" (20 ill.), "Construction Toys" (6 ill.), "Folk Toys" (4 ill.) based on the famous Georgian folk tales, and "Outdoor Toys" (5 ill.). Each article is supplemented with the illustrations giving a valuable insight into the process of learning in Soviet Georgian kindergartens. The photos date back to the late 1930s. The album features 4… 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

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

2017. BENTLEY, William. Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor. With 20 artworks by John Baldessari. Oblong 4to. Bound in a leatherette 3-ring binder with decorative stamping and a photograph of the author and the artist. San Francisco: Arion Press, 2017 This imaginative project is unusual in that the artist first produced the artwork, which served as the inspiration for the writer. The illustrations are based on publicity stills from old movies with the actors faces removed with die-cut circles. Bentley wrote scenes that were not in the movies at all, but are to be read as rejects, the ribbons of film that ended up on the curving-room floor. One of an edition of 300 copies, signed by Baldessari and Bentley.

1825. CHILDREN'S BOOK OF TRAVEL IN NORTH, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA TAYLOR, Rev. Isaac. Scenes in America for the Amusement and Instruction of Little Tarry-At-Home Travellers. viii, 120 pp. With a folding map and 28 plates. 8vo., 169 x 105 mm, bound in original publisher's printed boards. London: John Harris, n.d. (ca.1825). Fine copy in original boards. First published in 1821, the work proved popular and was reprinted again in 1822 and 1824. With chapters on, and illustrations of, Columbus, Cortez, Balboa, Pizarro, Patagonia, Brazil, West Indies, North American Indians, Hearne's journey, Hudson's Bay, Canada, and the United States. Binding extremities worn, but a very good, tight copy. Sabin 94469. Osborne I, 190 & II, 813. Gumuchian 5535.

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.

1950. WRIGHT, Frank Lloyd. Schumacher's Taliesin line of decorative Fabrics and Wallpapers. 5 leaves of text and 26 Sheets of Wallpaper designed by Wright. Folio, 450 x 345 mm, bound in publisher's illustrated tan cloth. [Chicago: E.W. Bredemeier & Co., ND 1950's]. A scarce salesman's sample book for a line of wallpapers designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In addition to the 26 original sheets of wallpaper designed by Wright, there are 6 pages of photographic plates illustrating rooms with the products in use, demonstrating Wright's ideal of the close relationship between architecture and decorative design. This is a rare book presumably issued in a small edition, and with most copies having been dismembered for the original wallpaper samples,.

1971. MUNARI, Bruno. Scultura da Viaggio. 390 x 100 mm. when folded, preserved in the original envelope. Milano: Giorgio Lucini, 1971. WITH: MUNARI, Bruno. Scultura da Viaggio. Small yellow printed portfolio containing a black square base and a foldable black sculpture, 150 x 150 mm. when folded. [Lugo]: Exit Edizioni, 1991. These magical small objects are among the least known works of this prolific artist who produced work in a wide variety of media. He exhibited his Sculture da Viaggio [Travel Sculptures], portable and foldable sculptures made from coloured cardboard for the first time in 1958, and continued to produce them in paper, pear tree wood, metal and in plastic. He stated: 'as long as art stands aside from the problems of life it will only interest a very few people.' These light sculptures: small enough to pack in a suitcase and take on any journey, so that we can all recreate a connection with our cultural world, even in the most anonymous of hotel rooms." Both… Read More

1900. STECHER. Seed Bags and Supplies. 2 pp. Index and 35 chromolithographic plates. Folio, bound in original illustrated wrappers (a small piece missing from the cover). Preserved in a half green morocco box. Rochester, N.Y.: Stecher Litho Co., n.d. A marvelous example of the work done by Stecher for various nurseries in the nineteenth century. This particular format is unusual because each sheet is comprised of 9 illustrated samples of fruit and vegetables, as opposed to the single sample per page that is normally found. The German-born Frank A. Stecher (1849-1916), first set up business in Rochester in 1871, and by 1886, "Stecher was a leader in the chromolithographic industry in Rochester. An 1888 guide to the industries of Rochester noted that the firm [Stecher Lithographic Company] employed 100 people and had machinery valued at $125,000" (Kabelac). No copies found in OCLC. Kabelac, "Nineteenth- Century Rochester Fruit and Flower Plates" in University of… Read More

1858. SHIGEMASA, Kitao and Katsukawa SHUNSHO. Seiro Bijin Awase Sugata Kagami. Three volumes. Xylographically printed and illustrated throughout, including mostly double-page woodcut illustrations. 4to., 175 x 280 mm, bound alike in original gray-green wrappers in glassine, sewn Japanese-style, together in a new patterned silk chitsu box. Tokyo: Yamakazi Kinbei and Tsutaya Juzaburo, 1858. Later edition of one of "the finest of all [Japanese] colour-printed picture-books" (Hillier). A Mirror of the Forms of Rival Beauties of the Green Houses is a behind-the-scenes study of geisha life, the "crowning achievement in books" of ukiyo-e artists Shigemasa (1739-1820) and Shunsho (1726-1793). Best known for geisha paintings, haikai (poetry), and shodo (calligraphy), Shigemasa primarily created books, though he did produce separate prints. He may have been a pupil of Nishimura Shigenaga but little else is known about his education. Katsukawa Shunsho, Shigemasa's… Read More

1873. HASHIZUME, Kanichi. Sekai Shobai Orai. 26 leaves, illustrated throughout with small woodcuts in text. 8vo, 180 x 118 mm., bound in Japanese style original blue wrappers in a new blue cloth folding box. Tokyo: Seizando, 1873. A handy bilingual vocabulary of world trade giving the English, with Japanese explanations, of a wide range of terms, place names, goods, and so on. Hashizume, who specialized in handbooks on trade and on foreign languages, produced several of these guides for merchants with similar titles.

1935. KEIGETSU, Omachi and Ryukyo HIGUCHI. Senpa banpa. [Thousand waves, ten thousand waves]. 2 volumes. Folding book, all colour illustrations. 350 x 220 mm., publisher's decorated silk over boards. Kyoto-shi: Uchida Bijutsu Shoshi, 1935. An exceptional set of woodcut designs, combining imaginative mis en page with a variety of traditional designs and an exceptional array of delicate colours. OCLC lists FIT, Stanford,LC and the National Diet Library.

1922. CHINESE EASTERN RAILWAY. Severnaia Manchzhuriia i Kitaiskaia Vostochnaia Zheleznaia Doroga [Northern Manchuria and the Chinese Eastern Railway]. ix, 692, xxiii, iii, [2] pp., with photo-illustrations, maps, charts and graphs throughout. 4to, 292 x 213 mm., bound in publisher's blue cloth. Harbin: Tipografiia Kitaiskoi Vostochnoi Zheleznoi Dorogi, 1922. A splendid account of this railway whose interest is hugely increased by the mass of elaborate charts and illustrations, which in many ways prefigure the use of isotypes a few years later. A fine copy of a rare book, with OCLC listing copies in the U.S. at Harvard, Yale, U Mass Amherst and Johns Hopkins.

1938. VILENSKII, E.S. Shestnadtsat' dnei na poliuse. [Sixteen Days at North Pole]. 127 pp., illustrated with 39 photographic plates, of which 9 are portraits. 4to, bound in publisher's illustrated cloth. Moscow, Leningrad: Tsentral'nyi komitet vsesoiuznogo leninskogo kommunisticheskogo soiuza molodezhi, izdat. detskoi literatury, 1938. A fine copy of this rare account, made for young people, of the celebrated Russian expedition to the North Pole of 1937-38. OCLC lists only three copies.