Ha Bun Shu: a Japanese Book of Wave and Ripple Designs (1919)
Wonderful selection of wave and ripple designs produced by the Japanese artist Mori Yuzan, which would have found their way onto swords and associated paraphernalia…more
Books
Book of French Textile Samples (1863)
This delightful book features a collection of nineteenth-century textile samples — in the form of watercolour copies — from the Robert Maison company….more
The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky (1877)
True to the ideas held within — that blue light is bearer of unique and special properties — this book is entirely printed with blue ink on blue paper….more
Manual Training — Play Problems (1917)
This charming book from 1917 presents a manual training in what the author William S. Marten terms constructive-play, full of how-to guides for making all manner of…more
The Funny Alphabet (ca.1850)
A delightful little alphabet book in which the letters are made up from acrobatically contorted bodies, and the accompanying text from often as equally contorted rh…more
Bible Symbols (1908)
As the subtitle eloquently explains “The choicest passages of God’s word put in the fascinating garb of pictures”….more
A Pack of Cavalier Playing Cards (1886)
A facsimile with explanations of a “very curious Pack of Cards” which used to belong to Lord Nelson and date from around 1660. The cards feature various satirical a…more
On the Writing of the Insane (1870)
A book of observations on the peculiarities of writing styles as shown by asylum patients, by G. Mackenzie Bacon, a medical superintendant at Cambridgshire County A…more
Manuscript Handbook of Firework Design (1785)
Beautiful hand-written and illustrated treatise on firework design and manufacture, including ‘blue-prints’ for the devices and explosive recipes….more
The Proper Art of Writing (1655)
A 17th century German book on the art of writing. A great range of different styles are represented seemingly increasing in elaborateness, and also illegibility, as…more
Catalogue of the 68 competitive designs for the great tower for London (1890)
A catalogue showing the entries for a competition to design a new tower for London. The year previous, 1889, saw the hugely successful Eiffel Tower go up in the cen…more
The First Six Books of The Elements of Euclid (1847)
Oliver Byrne’s version of ‘Euclid’s Elements’ which used coloured graphic explanations of each geometric principle, remarkable for its innovative graphic conception…more