Friday, November 11, 2011

A nest of robins.   A book in 4 boxes by Joe D'Ambrosio.
Unpacking the contents of this bookshelf has already led to several surprises and this is one of them.  This amazing work has been fun to study and research.  I was acquainted with D'Ambrosio's work through several keepsakes, and knew he had produced other more elaborate miniature books. My research led me to a wonderful illustrated article about D'Ambrosio in the California State Library Foundation Bulletin, No. 96, 2010.  Gary E. Strong wrote "Memories of Joe d'Ambrosio, Artist of the Book" which appears on pages 14-17. At the top of the article is a photograph of this work. 
Copy #7 (of 50) is listed for auction by PBA Galleries later this month.
World Cat lists several copies in library catalogs.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The tomato in prose & prosody by G. K. Chesterton was a good choice to follow the herb garden book, but turns out to be a "bit of learned spoofing" on the pronunciaton of tomato - and quite delightful if sometimes over my head in literary references. It was privately printed by Wallace Nethery in 1986.  So far the items from the bookcase have yielded almost all of the miniature books by Nethery listed in Bradbury, plus a good number printed by him for Dawson's Book Shop to be dealt with at a later date. There are three copies of the tomato item as pictured above.  See the list in progress on WorldCat  
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/miniaturebookshelf/lists/2905654