Silk Books

Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle. Norwalk: The Easton Press, 2013. Illustrated by Dennis Lyall. Limited Edition, Number 392 of 500. Signed by Vonnegut on the limitation page. Large 8vo. Original pictorial blue leather stamped in black and gilt. Raised bands to spine, all edges gilt, and silk moiré endpapers. Presented with its original and matching pictorial slipcase. Presented is a signed, limited edition printing of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. The book was published by Easton Press in 2013 in a limited edition of 500 copies, of which this is hand-numbered 392 of 500 on the limitation leaf. The book is signed and inscribed by Vonnegut on the limitation page, in blue felt-tipped ink pen. Beautifully bound, the book is presented in its original pictorial blue leather boards, stamped in black and gilt, with raised bands to the spine, silk moiré endpapers, and all edges gilt. The book is illustrated throughout by Dennis Lyall. Cat’s Cradle was first published in 1963 by Holt, Rinehart & Winston and was Vonnegut’s fourth published novel. The book explores and satirizes issues of science, technology, religion, and the arms race, written in Vonnegut’s whimsical yet biting specific brand of dark humor. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best. Cat’s Cradle was chosen by Modern Library as one of the best 100 novels of the 20th century. “Vonnegut’s 1963 novel might be slim but it fits in everything that’s best in his work: his science fiction-ish imagination…his deep reserves of humanity, his ability to temper irony with sentimentality, and his way with a fast quip. Clearly inspired by cold war fears – it was published the year after the Cuban missile crisis – this is a lively and deathly comedy, a pocket epic in which the world ends to the tune of the false religion of Bokononism. Along the way there are riffs on the gaps outside science, the uses of art, the value of other people and the importance of keeping going in the face of a world that can only make you ask: ‘My God – life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?’”(John Self, The Guardian, 2022). Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–2007) emerged as a novelist and essayist in the 1960s and penned the Classic books...

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse–Five; or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty–Dance with Death. Norwalk: The Easton Press, [2007]. Illustrated by Dennis Lyall. Limited Edition, Number 312 of 850, Signed by Vonnegut on the limitation page. Large 8vo. Original pictorial red leather stamped in yellow and gilt. Raised bands to spine, all edges gilt, and silk moiré endpapers. Presented with its original and matching pictorial slipcase. Presented is a signed, limited edition printing of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. The book was published by Easton Press in 2007 in a limited edition of 850 copies, of which this is hand-numbered 312 of 850 on the limitation leaf. The book is signed and inscribed by Vonnegut on the limitation page, in blue felt-tipped ink pen. Beautifully bound, the book is presented in its original pictorial red leather boards, stamped in black, yellow and gilt, with raised bands to the spine, silk moiré endpapers and all edges gilt. The book is illustrated throughout by Dennis Lyall. Slaughterhouse-Five, an American Classic, is one of the world’s great anti war books. The book was first published on March 31, 1969 by Delacorte Press. Centered on the awful firebombing of Dresden during World War II, and pulled from Vonnegut’s own experience of the Dresden bombing, the novel combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim. A barber’s son turned draftee, turned optometrist, turned alien abductee, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a prisoner of war, as well as non-linear time travel. Slaughterhouse-Five turned Kurt Vonnegut into a cult hero in American literature, despite the book being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. “But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the Frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it” (Penguin Random House). George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.” More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment and postwar anxiety reads as relevant, darkly humorous, and as profoundly affecting as ever. The book was selected by The Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time and is also listed in TIME’s “100 Best Novels.” Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–2007) emerged as a novelist and essayist in the 1960s and penned the Classic books...

Melville, Herman. Moby Dick, Or The Whale. Norwalk: Easton Press, 1977. The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written. Collector's Edition. Illustrations by B...

An extremely rare example of a leather-bound cased set of the book of “Common Prayer” and “Church Hymnal” enclosed within their original leather silk lined case which bears the insig...

4 volumes. Quartos. Special copy; Extra-illustrated! With original memoirs and notes by Sir Harris Nicolas. Bound in full brown Morocco with silk doublunes. By Baynton, all edges gil...

40 volumes bound in full brown Morocco with lather and silk doubloons. By Stikeman, top edges gilt, raised bands, gilt on covers and spines. Extra-illustrated by George Cruikshank & ...

The Analects of Confucian. No publisher or date. This is a deluxe collectible silk edition of the Analects of Confucius in three volumes including an English translation. It is print...

Joan Crawford, My Way of Life, 1971, second printing. Simon & Schuster, NY Joan Crawford signed and inscribed "For Dante* With Much Gratitude Joan Crawford, 1974" Encased in cus...

GOAT - The Greatest of All Time is a tribute to Mohammad Ali with art by Jeff Koons. A "Sumo" style book. This is number 08469 of the edition of 10000. Signed by both Ali and Koon...

This is a rare illuminated Livre d'Heures. The title page is translated Book of Hours, or Offices of the Church, illustrated according to the manuscripts...