November 2011 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Lowry-James Rare Prints & Books

Catalogue Review: Lowry-James, #7

When I think of Lowry-James, I think of flowers. That may sound odd, but it's because when I visit them at book fairs, their both is filled with beautiful prints of flowers and fauna. And at one fair last year, Priscilla Lowry-Gregor showed me a manuscript herbarium that was so sweet, it made me wish I collected in that area (and perhaps I will one day!).

As you might imagine, Lowry-James of Whidbey Island, Washington, established in 1986, specializes in natural history books, but also cartography, literary women, and British culture. This fourteen-page catalogue is devoted to wood engravers and wood engravings.

A Lakeside Press prospectus featuring wood engravings by Rockwell Kent to announce the publication of "Four American Books:" Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and Walden by Henry David Thoreau ($245). It would be an excellent acquisition of any number of collectors--publishing historians, Lakeside Press aficionados, completists for any of the authors, etc.

Three artists in particular loom large. There is quite a selection of Paul Landacre engravings, including the evocative Sapling Slim and Shadow Naked ($950) and many California landscapes, such as Hills and the Sea … Malibu Coast ($950) and Monterey Hills ($950). Winslow Homer is also well represented here with his Harper's Weekly Civil War scenes. His drawings from the battlefield were engraved in boxwood for the magazine's illustrations. William Nicholson's 'alphabets and sports' round out the catalogue, with color-printed lithographs (originally rendered as woodcuts) such as W is for Waitress ($325) and November: Boxing ($350).

Check out all these beauties by clicking here.

p.s. Lowry-James also makes homemade candles during the holiday season. A great gift idea.