1. Sendak, Maurice (1928 – 2012).

Collection / Archive of two very rich and personal, handwritten & signed letters on cards by Sendak, plus a rare, multi-folded, advertising-leporello of Maurice Sendak’s publications, together with a wonderful collection of fourteen (14) loose gicleé prints of original drawings by Maurice Sendak in colour or black and white: ‘A Kiss for Little Bear’ x 2 (26.5 cm x 34.5 cm) / ‘Zlateh the Goat’ x 2 (24 cm x 30 cm and 37.5 cm x 30 cm) / ‘Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present’ x 1 (33.4 cm x 41.5 cm) / Lullabies and Night Songs’ x 2 (35 cm x 26.5 cm and 44.5 cm x 33.5 cm) / ‘Hector Protector’ x 1 (46 cm x 26 cm) / ‘In the Night Kitchen’ x 4 (50 cm x 36 cm) / Higglety Pigglety Pop x 2 (28 cm x 35.5 cm). The two cards are addressed to “Minnie” [that is “Minnie Kate”] and were written at Christmas 1986 and Christmas 1987. According to a colleague in the trade, who helped us to identify the recipient “Minnie”, Minnie Kate, together with her mother, maintained a long friendship with Maurice Sendak by sending him colored stones or rocks that they sourced from local beaches in the northwest of the United States (Washington Statel). Most of Maurice Sendak’s correspondence with Minnie Kate and her mother, is preserved at the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia. Both cards are similar in content. One of the cards featuring Sendak’s art from the cover of Nutcracker and addressed to Minnie, reading in part “I worked all year on a picture-book – a Grimm tale (my first book in 8 years !!). I am in love with it and it gets published next year….my wild things celebrate their 25th anniversary. I hope i enjoy it all. Am hoping for a quiet year ahead illustrating a Grimm tale and staying put – I am tired of travelling and theatre projects. And look forward to creeping back into my old role as book illustrator” / “The rocks arrived while I was away working in England. They are wonderful, of course, and very much appreciated. Thank you again and again. My animals. I have but one. My darling Golden Retriever, Io, had to be put to sleep 2 weeks ago. She was 15 1/2 and I held her and stayed with her to the end. It is so sad, naturally, but the memory fills me with a kind of joy. I have a 3 1/2 year old German Shepherd named Runge after a German painter (19th century). It was anything but a lazy year – too full! This coming year will be lazy-ish”.

Letters: 4 pages on two cards / Gicleé prints: 15 sheets (unsigned). [New York], 1986 – 1987. Very good condition.

2. Sendak, Maurice (1928 – 2012).

Collection / Archive of three (3) very large gicleé prints of original drawings from the book “Where the Wild Things are” by Maurice Sendak of which one is beautifully signed by Maurice Sendak. The collection includes: ‘Off to Bed without their Supper’ (signed) / ‘Let the Wild Rumpus Start’ (I and II).

Gicleé prints. [New York], [Harper and Row], c.1975. Two prints measure: 37 cm x 60 cm / The signed print measures: 28 cm x 50 cm. Very good condition.

3. Gogol, Nikolai.

Das Bildnis. Eine Novelle. Mit Zeichnungen von W. Masjutin. Ins Deutsche uebertragen von Alexander Eliasberg.

Stuttgart, Verlag Julius Hoffmann, 1920. Quarto. 96 Seiten. Hardcover / Modernes Halbleder mit Rueckenschild in neuem Spezial – Schuber mit eingebundener Originalbroschur. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear.

4. [Anonymous] Dante Alighieri / Cockerell, Douglas / North, John William / Ashendene Press Circle /

[La Divina Commedia / The Divine Comedy – Manoscritto dell’inizio del XX secolo della Divina Commedia di Dante – con strofe manoscritte da “L’Inferno / Inferno” – “Purgatorio” – “Il Paradiso / Paradiso”] – The Manuscript is titled: “Pictures Illustrating The Pilgrimage of the Divine Poet Through The Realms of Punishment of Penance and Peace” – Illuminated Devotional Manuscript of section of “L’Inferno / Inferno” – “Purgatorio” – “Il Paradiso / Paradiso” – with excerpts of Dante’s Divina Comedia, in the style of medieval illuminated manuscripts. The manuscript is a strictly themed Dante Devotion and is of magical quality if one considers the fantastic, original calligraphy artwork, the composition of the manuscript and the coded meaning to the composer of this manuscript. The Folio – size manuscript is massive and has 216 pages, of which 109 pages are with illuminated, original watercolour-paintings in the style of the medieval masters, sometimes collages with watercolour and original etchings, engravings etc. The miniature paintings are juxtaposed with 105 vintage 19th century photographs of famous Italian Art – pieces that are somehow related to Dante’s world or have an allegorical assoziation. Besides the early photographs other juxtaposed artwork or integrated artwork to the illuminations are: an original watercolour depicting the dying Dante, a sensational copper-engraving, depicting an allegorical Dante-scenario, possibly referring to the Divine Comedy, a small photograph of the famous Michelino Fresco encapsulated in one of the illuminations, an artprint attributed “Burne-Jones”, two lithographs, a large steel-engraving, a smaller steel-engraving. Most of the photographs show allegorical sculpture or art by famous italian artists like Giotto, Carpaccio, Andrea Castagna, Luca delkla Robbia, Bellini, Titian, Dosso Dossi, Orgagna, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Angelico, Paul Veronese, Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bonifazio, Neri dei Bicci, Francesco Traini, Benozo Gozzoli, etc. etc. and other juxtaposed refer in code to Dante’s Divina Comedia or even depict himself in artform. The photographs also include some breathtaking 19th century Albumen prints of Verona, Lake Garda, Mantua and other Italian landscapes.

England, [Douglas Cockerell / John William North], no year [c.1910]. Folio (34 cm wide x 42.5 cm high). 216 pages. Hardcover / Binding in full green morocco with lettering and Dante’s head as bronze sculpture per inlet to front cover. Binding by Douglas Cockerell, signed “WHS”, during his directorship of W.H.Smith & Son (1905 – 1914). The manuscript is on excellent paper, watermarked O.W.P. & A.C.L. [O.W. Paper & Arts Co. Ltd., established by English painter John William North (1842-1924) in 1895]. The binding rubbed and with some small damages, in need of some minor restoration but overall still very good. The interior, the paper and the artwork all in excellent condition besides one of the juxtaposed photographs (Filippina Lippo) removed from the manuscript with some residue of the photograph remaining and some of the photographs with some dogears and minimal discoloration. All the original artwork in spectacular and fresh condition. The manuscript is a spectacular find and the quality of its execution is of utmost interest for any lover of rare books, manuscripts and special bindings. The circle of Douglas Cockerell, his involvement in one of the most beautiful books ever printed: the Ashendene Press Dante, as well as Cockerell being the binder of this unique manuscript, the fantastic paper used for the manuscript by one of the idyllist movement’s central figures, John William North, and the wonderful Dante – theme of the manuscript with illuminated poetry from the Divine Comedy and the unique style of collage art, lets us rightfully dream that the anonymous composer of the manuscript was an important or at least peripheral member to either the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Ashendene Press or it was someone who worked in the style of the calligraphy schools that were inspired by William Morris or even earlier epigones like Owen Jones.

5. Milton, Johann [Milton, John].

[Das verlorene Paradies] Das Verlohrne Paradies, aus dem Englischen Johann Miltons in Reimfreye Verse übersetzt, und mit eignen sowohl als andrer Anmerkungen begleitet von Friedrich Wilhelm Zacharia. Mit Kupfern.

Zweyte, durchaus verbesserte Ausgabe. Zwei Teile in einem Band (vollständig). Altona [Hamburg], David Iversen, Koenigl. priviligierte Buchhandlung in Holstein, 1762-1763. Octak (16,5 cm x 23.5 cm). Portrait-Frontispiz Miltons, [12], 266, 248 Seiten mit 12 ganzseitigen Kupfertafeln (plus Frontispiz). Portrait Miltons von C. Fritzsch. Die 12 blattgrossen Kupfertafeln von C. Fritzsch und Meil nach Haymann. Hardcover / Originaler, zeitgenoessischer Pappband mit handschriftlichem Rueckenschildchen. Bindung firm und sehr gut erhalten. Die gesamte Ausgabe in wunderbarer Erhaltung mit nur ganz geringen Anzeichen von vereinzelten Stockfleckchen. Stempelchen auf Titelblatt. Kleines, ganz dezentes Namensetikett des Vorbesitzers auf dem hinteren Vorsatzblatt.

6. Crane, Walter.

The Baby’s Opera – A Book of Old Rhymes with New Dresses / The Music by the earliest Masters. Engraved & Printed in colours by Edmund Evans.

London / New York, Federick Warne and Co., c. 1877. Octavo. 56 pages. 11 full-page illustrations by Crane. Original, illustrated Hardcover. Poor condition with stronger signs of external wear. Pages detached. But all illustrations in very good condition. Cover stronger worn ! Inscribed: “Chrissie Begg – All good wishes for Christmas from Florence Miller”.

7. Stevenson, Robert Louis / Olver, Kate Elizabeth.

A Child’s Garden of Verses. With an Introduction by Laurence Alma Tadema. Illustrated by Kate Elizabeth Olver.

London & Glasgow, Collins’ Clear-Type Press, no year [c.1910]. Small Quarto (19 cm x 23.5 cm). 191 pages with six full-page-colour illustrations by Kate Elizabeth Olver and numerous beautiful black-and-white-illustrations throughout the text. Hardcover / original, illustrated publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering and ornament on spiena and board. Excellent, firm condition with only minor signs of external wear. The binding a little faded. Interior excellent with only two or three signs of foxing. All the colour-plates in place and in excellent condition.

8. Dun, Major T. I. / Saad, Nahmia (School of Fine Art, Cairo).

From Cairo to Siwa – Across the Libyan Desert with Amoured Cars [mainly with woodcuts by Nahmia Saad]. A Narrative Followed by Illuminated pages of the History and Customs of the Inhabitants of that Country, A Photographic Brochure, A Map. Foreword by Field Marshall W. R. Birdwood of the XIIth Royal Lancers.

One of 750 copies of a limited edition (overall 1,000 volumes printed). Cairo, Messrs E. & R. Schindler, 1933. 26 cm x 34 cm. Frontispiece, IV, 110 pages. Black and white photographs at rear. Fold-map of the route described in book at rear. Map of Cairo at rear also. Text in black and red. Hardcover [publisher’s original brown cloth]. Label on spine. Elaborately illustrated boards. Bookplate on front pastedown with inscription reading “The Old order changeth, yielding place to New.” Beautifully illustrated pastedowns and endpapers. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Spine with stronger abrasion but the binding overall firm and strong. Interior is bright and clean. Two images with issues: Ugly residue of paper of the preceding page on the tipped-in colour-plate depicting Queen Nefertari and the photograph of the Dunes of Cairo !

9. De Brunhoff, Laurent.

Serafina The Giraffe.

London, Methuen & Co Ltd, 1968. 21.5 cm x 28.5 cm. [26 pages] Abundant colour illustrations by author throughout. Hardcover [publisher’s original richly illustrated orange cloth] lettering to spine. Good- condition. Minor rubbing to board corners. Cracks along length of both gutters between pastedowns and endpapers and at hinge of spine. Binding is tender at hinges but textblock is solid. Interior bright and clean with hint of foxing to edges. Ownership stamp of Charles U. Kruger, Educational Consultant’, in Switzerland on rear endpaper.

10. Cooke, Arthur O.

At the Zoo. Pictures by Winifred Austen.

London, Edinburgh and New York, Thomas Nelson and Sons, no year. 22 cm x 29 cm. Frontispiece, 152 pages. 12 colour illustrations including frontispiece on separate plates. Numerous illustrations within text. Hardcover [publisher’s original cream cloth] with title and pictorial on front baord with tooled bordering. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Very minor foxing to an otherwise clean and bright interior.