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22 BOURKE-WHITE, Margaret. Eyes on Russia. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1931 the first Western professional photographer permitted into the Soviet Union First edition of Bourke-White’s first book, an important presentation copy, inscribed by her to the US newspaper reporter who was instrumental to her gaining entry into the Soviet Union, making her the first foreign photographer to do so. The inscription reads: “To Fred[erick Kuh] – one of the characters in this book. Without whom I might never have gotten into Russia at all, or succeeded in getting my films out again. Gratefully, Peggy”. A woman of many firsts, Margaret Bourke-White (1904– 1971) was a path-breaking US photojournalist who became the first woman photographer for Fortune and Life magazines and the first female US war correspondent (working in WW2 combat zones). Bourke-White’s legacy was cemented in the 1930s, during which she carried out various photo-essay projects in Germany, the Dust Bowl (capturing the impact of the Depression in the American midwest), and, as reflected in the present book, the Soviet Union. Born in Chicago, Frederick Kuh (1896–1978) was a journalist and diplomatic correspondent who spent most of his career working in Europe. Considered one of America’s most resourceful reporters during the Second World War, he was also regarded as a master of the “scoop” in international news stories. Bourke-White makes reference to him in chapter III: “Daily consultations with an American newspaper correspondent in Berlin, who was guiding my activities in connection with my visé”. Kuh cabled a friend of his, an American newspaper man in Moscow who was “in good standing with the officials”, to assist Bourke-White in obtaining her visa. Octavo. Original tan cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black. With dust jacket. With 38 plates. Cloth lightly rubbed, contents bright and clean, a very good copy in the scarce but tattered jacket, spine sunned, creased and rubbed in places, with some loss to spine and front panels. ¶ Margaret Bourke-White Papers at Syracuse University. £3,500 [145429]
23 BRADDON, Mary Elizabeth. Gerard. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1891 Countering those who “might protest that no one person could possibly have written ‘so much and so well’” First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To the Author of the Queen of Bohemia, with an old friend’s kindest regards. Richmond, August 6. 92”, and further signed by her on the title page. The recipient was her friend of 20 years, the author and journalist Joseph Hatton. As Braddon’s fame increased, her relationship with the publisher John Maxwell in 1861, whose wife was confined to a mental institution, became fodder for the press, and later reviews accused her of immorality both in her fiction and life. Hatton (1837–1907) had risen through the ranks of local journalism in Bristol to become the editor of the Sunday Times , a position he held from 1874 to 1881. He and Braddon had been personal friends for a long time, and he approached her with the idea of formal interview, a still-novel American style of reporting that was regarded as invasive by much of the British press. Hatton’s interview, published in London Society in 1888, gave contemporaries a glimpse of Braddon in her own environs. The article portrays a successful and mature author whose coffee-table is full of contemporary reading, her walls hung with tasteful art, and her shelves stacked with her own morocco-bound manuscripts: “the evidence to confound any future doubter who might protest that no one person could possibly have written ‘so much and so well’”. Three volumes, octavo. Original green cloth, spines lettered in gilt and ruled in blind, double fillet in blind on covers, yellow endpapers. Each volume housed in a custom green cloth chemise, together in a black morocco-backed green cloth slipcase. Spines darkened, a few spots of wear to extremities with some expert recolouring, vols I and II neatly recased with a little bubbling to spines and chips to head, vol. I opened a little roughly, joints of vol. II expertly repaired, vol. III cracked but firm to a few gutters. A very good set, cloth and contents bright. ¶ Joseph Hatton, “Miss Braddon at Home, a Sketch and an Interview”, London Society , Vol. 53, 1888. £4,500 [152388]
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21 BONHOMME, Yolande (printer); BOOK OF HOURS. Les presentes heures a lusaige de Paris toutes au long sans tiens requerir. Paris: Yolande Bonhomme, veuve de Thielman Kerver, 1530 (with additions, 1545) printed by the first woman to publish the bible The French printer and seller of liturgical and devotional books in Paris, Yolande Bonhomme ( c .1490–1557), was one of a small number of important female book printers in Paris during the first half of the 16th century. She was the daughter of Pasquier Bonhomme, himself a printer and one of four appointed booksellers of the University of Paris, and the wife of another printer, Thielmann Kerver, who had moved to Paris from his birthplace in Coblentz to work as a bookseller at the Sign of the Unicorn. Yolande began printing on her own following her husband’s death in 1522, but continued to use his name and printer’s device on many of her books, as here. In 1526, she became the first woman to publish the Bible. The book is in two parts. The first part, the Book of Hours, with the parts itemized in the title, is dated 1530 both on the title page and in the colophon. The second part is an assembly of additional devotional pieces, including two part-titles, with two colophons dated 1545. The highly attractive silver filigree binding is most likely Dutch, although such bindings are notoriously difficult to date and place. There is no substantial European filigree of any kind before the second half of the 17th century. There were plentiful French speakers in the Netherlands in the 17th century, where
the language had cachet among the classes rich enough to afford bindings like this. The design at the centre of the binding suggests a chalice and there is a stylized flower that might be a tulip. Figural motifs like this are more common at an early date. One minor puzzle is that the clasps hinge on the upper cover and close on the lower, which is atypical of Netherlandish and German binding practice. Octavo (171 × 103 mm). Encased in a silver filigree book binding, probably Dutch, late 17th century, with clasps, elegant filigree finials at head and tail of spine, white silk over wooden boards, pale blue silk-covered endpapers (the endpapers perhaps a later addition), gilt and gauffered edges (these perhaps French from a previous binding). Housed in a custom black morocco-backed folding case, spine lettered in silver, by J. & S. Brockman. Collates complete: A–X8; +8, +[red]4, A–C[red]8; aa8; A–M8; A8, B4; A–B8; aa–bb8. Printed in black with some red printing, ruled in red. Thielman Kerver’s woodcut device to title and last leaf verso, woodcuts in the text. Provenance: Maggs catalogue no. 456, 1924, item 211; with the typed bookseller’s description of James F. Drake, Inc., New York, c .1930s, laid in. Two small pieces of filigree lost at foot of rear cover and lower edge split in same place, in excellent condition overall. ¶ Bohatta 336; Catalogue de la librairie A. Fontaine (1878–1879) , 17, no. 54; Renouard, ICP , III, 2133. £25,000 [151483]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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