name does not appear. Among them are the incomparable "Pierrot of the Minute" with its exquisite 18th century ornaments, "The Song of Roland," a folio printed by hand; "The Centaur" with its wonderful paraphrase of the 15th century letter of Jensen, considered by many experts the finest example of modern printing; and "The Account of the Strawberry Hill Catalog."

In addition, most of the famous typographers of the world are represented by all or many of their works. Updike, De Vinne, Goudy, Rollins, the Grabhorns, Nash, Adler, Gillis, Pierre Chaignon de la Rose, and E. R. Weiss are some of the more famous

ones.

Also among the beautiful samples of press work is a Dante from Olschki in Florence in a unique binding which gives one a distinct idea of the time in which the book was written. It is a folio and is bound in full leather elaborately blindtooled and is ornamented with corners in metal which are almost embattlements. In the center is the well known head of Dante set in a medallion. The back has rasied bands of leather, and protection spikes, and it is fastened together with leather buckles and gun metal clasps. The collection also contains a Chinese press book and a lovely little duodecimo from Stozär in Prague, whose book mark alone is a gem, a graceful ship with a tall mast embossed on the last page in European style. The book is by K. G. Machu and is called "Upominka.' It is bound in a silky dull blue leather with just a hand-tooled gold initial in the center.

The end sheets are plain white with the initial of the publisher in an odd red shade on the verso page and the initials of the author on the recto page. The type is Didot and the book is embellished with exquisite woodcuts.

There is not space enough to mention any more of these lovely things. Suffice it to say that there are representative books from the Chiswick, Eragny, Essex House, Riccardi, Vale, Shakespeare Head and Westminster presses in England, the Officina Serpentis in Berlin, Poeschel and Trepte in Leipzig; Hegner in Hellerau; the Officina Bordoni in Verona and all the great university presses in this country and abroad.

on

Among the Knopfs's delightful weaknesses in the book line is their interesting faiblesse for illustrations. They have volumes volumes that are nothing but illustrations, books that are unknown except for their illustrations and good books well illustrated. Their taste runs to figures and the collection is especially rich in French books, the nation that to-day stands at the top of book illustrating. There are among other fresh and invigorating samples of the art, Henri Focillon's "Ile Oubliée," illustrated by Alfred Latour with woodcuts typically French in their setting of rivers and small towns, Paul Claudel's "Protée" with its French conceits in the woodcutter's art, Daudet's "Sappho" illustrated by Carlégle, and the work of Herman-Paul, the Frenchman with a German name and a German way of drawing.

Then there are the strange powerful figures of Alastair of unknown nationality, the pessimistic woodcuts of the great German, Masereel who works almost magically with splotches of black and white, and the quaint colored conceits of Schnackenberg and Hohlwein. Others that one never forgets are “Omar Khaiyam," its Persian character beautifully brought out by full-page illustrations in color by Hamseh Carr; the dainty "Rogues in Porcelain" illustrated by John Austin and the Czechoslovakian Nadai Pal's "Assonyi Pompa" with its exquisitely delicate lithographs in dull brick red contrasting boldly with the lovely print of the text, and books that are nothing but illustrations by Rockwood Kent, Beerbohm, Daumier, Pennell and many others too numerous to mention.

Mr. and Mrs. Knopf have the works of most of the famous foreign authors com

plete in the original, one very interesting example being the first edition of Marcel Proust specially bound in three-quarter calf. One of their pet fancies is that of keeping their collection of books that have been inscribed to them by their authors in a group by themselves. The inscriptions are most interesting especially those by H. L. Mencken which are invigoratingly original.

They have also had numbers of books. bound especially for themselves, books of all sorts and kinds and from all countries and peoples, having only one thing in common, that of beauty. They have had them bound mostly in Germany and they are daily expecting a new consignment which they sent there for that purpose. When they come, there will be another individual and unique group to add to their library, a library of which this description is but a fragmentary sketch.

"C

ROSBY GAIGE announces How many times has that familiar by-line accompanied a play thru the tempests and calms of a Broadway theatrical season? To playgoers the name of Crosby Gaige needs no introduction. His name has appeared over, under, around, or behind many of the successful hits seen in the last few years. To Broadway, Mr. Gaige is the producer extraordinaire, and his announcements are news.

Those notices that have been appearing now and then in the daily press of recent months, however, tell of Crosby Gaige in a new role. They announce that "Mr. Gaige has just published a fine limited edition of Liam O'Flaherty's"; that "James Branch Cabell will soon appear under the imprint of Crosby Gaige"; or that "Mr. Gaige has just acquired the last prose fiction of the late Thomas Hardy." And it seems they are all true. Mr. Gaige was

quite serious when he said some time ago that he would like to start a publishing house for the issuance of fine limited editions. In fact, it had been his great ambition long before he became a familiar

figure at the auction rooms and at the bookshops where first editions and rare volumes abound.

The private publishing enterprise of Crosby Gaige, Esquire, has been in existence not quite a year. It was last November that Mr. Gaige gave out the official notice of the founding of the first "fine-printing" house in America devoted exclusively to new or unpublished books. The idea of presenting only famous contemporary authors in fine editions found some of the hard-boiled executives in the publishing business rather skeptical. It certainly was a grand idea. They wished him luck, however, and turned to making in the usual format somebody's "Tendencies in the New South."

Soon after the notice of his publishing existence, came the announcement of Mr. Gaige's first list. On it were over twenty authors whose names read like a Who's Who, and which included essays, stories, and poems by James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, AE (George Russell), Seigfried Sassoon, Edward Arlington Robinson, Walter de la Mare, James Stephens, George Moore,

AT FIRST SIGHT

A Novel

BY

WALTER DE LA MARE

NEW YORK: CROSBY GAIGE

1928

Frederic Warde's title-page for "At First Sight"

Richard Aldington, Joseph Conrad, James Branch Cabell, Humbert Wolfe, and Philip Guedalla. In addition he promised for later publication items from Thomas items from Thomas Hardy, John Drinkwater, Edward Arlington Robinson, John Galsworthy, Robert Frost, William McFee, and Aldous Huxley. He promised representation of the younger lesser known writers of the day by the first appearance in book form of the poems of Helene Mullins and Rolfe Humphries. From his own private library he would also produce 150 letters of Joseph Conrad to Richard Curle, never before published.

The response both in America and Great Britain has, with the appearance of each new book, permitted the widening of the scope of the activities beyond expectations. No other proof is needed to show that the original ideas were sound. Mr. Gaige started his publishing with the belief that he could produce really good books, and to this end he has employed such craftsmen as Bruce Rogers, Frederic Warde, W. A. Dwiggins, Elmer Adler, and Frederick Goudy. As the books began to appear he seemed to have been right. One by one the skeptics began to take their tongues out of their cheeks. His handiwork was pleasing to look upon.

Mr. Gaige's volumes are more than fine bookmaking, however. Before he started

Mr. Gaige knew the exigencies of the limited edition field which he was entering. He believed that the book-buying public was a bit confused at the number and styles in which limited editions were being published. He believed that only worth-while material should be between handsome covers and he resolved that he would publish nothing but fundamentally good books. To the maintaining of this program Mr. Gaige attributes any success that his efforts may have won, and books with the Crosby Gaige imprint are both good first editions of a prominent author, and collector's items of typographic excellence.

In Mr. Gaige's organization, as in every other successful publishing group, there is a man who is responsible for his excellent books a gentleman who fills the requirements of literary observer, executive, merchant, typographer, printer, and distributor, and does it all very well. He sits behind a large Queen Anne desk in Mr. Gaige's extraordinary office, and works very quietly. He is often seen coming in with a bundle of manuscript under his arm. He knows everybody in the bookstalls. Twice a year he goes to England to confer privately with James Stephens, Walter de la Mare, or

LETTERS

JOSEPH CONRAD TO RICHARD CURLE

EDITED

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY R.C.

"I suspect that you keep my letters and may some day deliver them to the printer's devil."

J. C. to R. C., August 20th, 1916

NEW YORK: CROSBY GAIGE

1928

Bruce Rogers created the above title-page for Crosby Gaige