About John Windle

John Windle has been dealing in rare books, manuscripts, and book-related prints and paintings since 1967. After training with Bernard Quaritch Ltd. in London and John Howell-Books in San Francisco, he opened for business in San Francisco in 1974. John is a member of the Grolier Club, the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, the Caxton Club, the Book Club of California, the Colophon Club, the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America), the ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers), and the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, and serves on several boards and committees.

After a distinguished corporate career in human resources with Bank of America, Levi Strauss, and lastly as senior vice-president with Charles Schwab, Chris Loker retired to join John in the book business and also serves on the boards of the Bring Me A Book Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to children's literacy, and The World Federation of Right to Die Societies, a nonprofit global organization of 38 right to die organisations from 23 countries. She is a member of the Grolier Club and the Book Club of California, and the ABAA and ILAB. Her specialities include children's books, calligraphy and illumination, poetry, and fine bindings. In 2006 she opened her own shop next door to John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller, the Children's Book Gallery (www.childrensbookgallery.net)

John Windle issues one or two printed catalogues a year, one devoted to specialised subjects depending on current inventory, and the other a general catalogue of rare books and manuscripts. These catalogues will be sent upon request. Currently available are Catalogue 42: Blake Prints, and Catalogue 43: Children's Books. Appraisals are also undertaken for Institutions and private collectors, and bids are accepted for auctions worldwide on a standard commission basis. Please enquire for full details of these services.

The shop, located in downtown San Francisco at 49 Geary Street (between Grant Avenue and Kearny Street) two blocks from Union Square, is open Monday-Saturday 10-6 but an appointment is strongly advised to avoid finding the shop closed by chance. Enter by the Christmas tree, under the colorful orange flags!

John Windle has published a fine facsimile of the first book on California grapes to be illustrated in color -- The Grapes and Grape Vines of California -- and written bibliographies of Thomas Frognall Dibdin and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (mother of Mary Shelley and author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman), as well as an essay on collecting William Blake and a study of the commercial history of the Kelmscott Chaucer accompanied by an original leaf from Morris's masterpiece.

Windle, John. An Essay on the Commercial History of the Kelmscott Chaucer by John Windle. With an original leaf from the Chaucer. San Francisco: John Windle, 1994. Each leaf is contained in a cloth-backed boards portfolio with an inserted 4-page essay printed at the Arion Press. The leaf is loose so it can be removed for framing or display. The essay studies the value of the Kelmscott Chaucer from publication until today and compares prices over that century with the Nuremberg Chronicle, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Shakespeare?s first folio, and the King James Bible. The edition was limited to 100 copies. Out of print, though copies are occasionally available.

Bosqui, Edward. Grape Vines. Grapes And Grape Vines Of California. [San Francisco: Edward Bosqui, 1877] San Francisco: John Windle, 1980. Folio, [64] pages, 10 color plates with text. New quarter calf lettered in gilt, or loose leaves in portfolio. Limited to 60 copies; this exact facsimile of the first California ampelography to show the grapes in superb color printing by the renowned printer Bosqui was reissued by John Windle from one of the 12 known perfect copies (now at the Lilly Library). It is the rarest of American color plate books and this wonderfully accurate facsimile has an introduction by Kevin Starr. Now out of print.

Windle, John and Karma Pippin. Thomas Frognall Dibdin 1776-1847: A Bibliography. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 1999. 8vo., 285 pages, illustrated. Blue cloth stamped in gilt. First edition. This is the definitive bibliography of one of the most influential figures in the annals of 19th-century book collecting. Dibdin was the self-proclaimed "father of bibliomania" and founder of the legendary Roxburghe Club. With his great love for books, he visited and studied the foremost collections in Great Britain and Europe. Dibdin's writings give today's collectors a unique window into early 19th-century collecting. Dibdin's books have appealed to many of the greatest of English and American collectors, especially inspiring the giants of 19th-century collecting to high levels of enthusiasm for early books and manuscripts. If it were not for this interest, many of these works might not have been saved and preserved, and the world of book collecting would certainly be very different today. A growing interest in books by Dibdin has reached levels where collectors need to know if copies under consideration are complete, since Jackson gives little or no bibliographical detail. Despite a viciously personal and petty attack by one pseudonymous reviewer, kinder and more balanced reviewers were appreciative of the huge amount of time and effort that went into the making of this bibliography and agreed that the book will prove most useful to collectors and dealers trying to collate Dibdin's massive works. In print at $85.

Essick, Robert N. and John Windle. A Troubled Paradise. William Blake's Virgil Wood Engravings. With an Afterword on Collecting William Blake by John Windle. San Francisco: John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller, 1999. Large 8vo., paper-covered label, cord-tied, Echizen Washi paper wrappers. 49 pages. First edition. Designed and printed by Marianne Hinckle at the Ano Nuevo Island Press, bound and hand-sewn by Taurus Bookbinders. This essay on the 1821 edition of Robert John Thornton's The Pastorals of Virgil offers insight into the inspiration and creation for Blake's wood engravings for Thornton's work and is illustrated with six plates of Blake's wood engravings. Windle's essay describes twenty of Blake's major books and prints with points for collectors and dealers to be aware of. It is a quick reference that saves recourse to numerous complex bibliographies. In print at $35. 13 de luxe copies had an original woodcut by Blake; please enquire as these are occasionally available.

Windle, John. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1759-1797) A Bibliography of The First and Early Editions with briefer notes on later editions and translations. Second Edition, newly edited by Karma Pippin. Revised and greatly enlarged to include a bibliography of books about Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and a chronology of her life. With a color frontispiece and 16 plates. Published in February 2000 from Oak Knoll Press. This edition vastly expands the original monograph printed in 1988 and includes by permission Claire Tomalin's general bibliography of books about Mary Wollstonecraft and her chronology of Mary's life. In print at $37.50