Publications

The following titles are published or distributed by John Windle. They include bibliographies, fine facsimiles, and essays on book collectingTo purchase any of the items below, please call (415) 986-5826 or email sales@johnwindle.com.

We also offer the Grolier Club publication "One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature" curated by Chris Loker, edited by Jill Shefrin, and with bibliographical descriptions of the one hundred books by John Windle. John Windle also contributed the essay on the history of leaf books for the de luxe edition. Both original editions are sold out but the trade printing in stiff wrappers with the full text and illustrations in color ios available for $65.

 

 
Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book: First Facsimile Edition of the Cotsen Copy
Immel, Andrea and Brian Alderson (eds.) Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book, The First Collection of English Nursery Rhymes, A Facsimile Edition with a History and Annotations. Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 2013. Three miniature full-color photo-facsimiles, 55mm by 90mm, bound in silk with gilt titles on the upper covers, with Nurse Lovechild's Legacy, 121 pp., 170mm by 215mm, illustrated in color and bound in purple cloth with a gilt title on the upper cover. The four books are housed in a fine folding box covered in matching purple cloth. 

§ Limited to 500 copies. Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book is known in only two copies, yet its tenuous existence--and its diminutive size--are in direct contrast with its importance in the history of children's book publishing. It is the earliest surviving collection of English nursery rhymes and one of the very first books printed specifically for young children. The Cotsen Children's Library's copy has never before been microfilmed or digitized and this facsimile edition creates an unprecedented opportunity for scholars and collectors to experience the book in full and "life size." The accompanying commentary volume written by Andrea Immel and Brian Alderson offers a new analysis of the Pretty Song-Book's cultural and commercial significance.

In print, $300. Available on our website.
 
The definitive bibliography of the "father of Bibliomania"
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 provide today's collectors with a unique window into early 19th-century collecting. Dibdin's books have appealed to many of the greatest of English and American collectors, inspiring the giants of 19th-century collecting to high levels of enthusiasm for early books and manuscripts. If it were not for Dibdin's 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 the level where collectors need to know if copies under consideration are complete, since William A. Jackson's 1965 preliminary checklist gives very little detail. This book is essential for those collectors and dealers interested in Dibdin's massive works.

In print, $85.
 
An essay on The Pastorals of Virgil with an afterword on collecting
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 Año 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, pointing out particulars that collectors and dealers should know before making a purchase. It is a quick reference that saves recourse to numerous complex bibliographies. 

In print, $35. Thirteen deluxe copies included an original woodcut by Blake; please inquire as these are occasionally available.
 
An expanded bibliography of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
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 by Oak Knoll Press.

§ This edition vastly expands the original monograph printed in 1988 and includes Claire Tomalin's general bibliography of books about Mary Wollstonecraft and her chronology of Wollstonecraft's life. 


In print, $37.50.

The first book on California grapes to be illustrated in colour.
Bosqui, Edward. The 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 colorplate books and this wonderfully accurate facsimile has an introduction by Kevin Starr. The edition was featured in the new "Zamorano Select" publication.

Occasionally available, please inquire.
 
With an original leaf from the Kelmscott Chaucer
Windle, John. An Essay on the Commercial History of the Kelmscott Chaucer. With an original leaf from the Chaucer. San Francisco: John Windle, 1994. 

§ Each leaf is contained in a cloth-backed board 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.