$4,200
La Shelle, Kirke. Poker Rubaiyat. Phoenix: Bandar Log Press, 1902. Hand-numbered 244 of 274 copies. Publisher’s illustrated wrappers. With colored woodblock plates by John Francis (Frank) Holme, and playing card motif rubrication, on hand-made paper. 4to. Short tears in the wrapper, else very good. Together with the publisher’s prospectus and an enclosure naming its officers, directors, and stockholders. Scarce. This was the first and perhaps the most ambitious of the nine works published by Bandar Log. Lacking more sophisticated equipment, and operating out of a “printing shack” in Arizona (still a decade away from achieving statehood), the illustrations were cut with a jackknife by the press’s founder, Holme (1868 – 1904), who also designed the book and, according to the prospectus, “scratched out” the key-blocks for the initials. According to the University of Arizona Library, which houses a special collection of his works, Holme, a newspaper artist, also founded the School of Illustration, Chicago.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2015-06-27
