[Pontificale Romanum.] Nine leaves, Rome: Plannck, 1485.
Pontifical Vespers complete, in bright hand rubrication; traced to a bishop and a saint’s festival of 1593.
Enquire
narchival
narchival
Rare Books
an·ar·chi·val, adj. — of a book long at large.
Improbable survivals. Overdue introductions.
Anarchival — Rare Books — MMXXVI
Who we are
We love the troublesome books. The ones with an uncanny knack for evading our best efforts to find and catalogue them. We’re an American antiquarian bookseller, hunting around the world for these literary miscreants. Our work is finding them, establishing what they actually are, and describing them honestly — faults and all — so their stories continue with new owners to care for them. Every book here is curious. Every so often one turns out to be genuinely outstanding, and that becomes a podcast episode. Come follow along.
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Recently found
Zenker, Wilhelm. Lehrbuch der Photochromie. Berlin, 1868.
The first direct colour photograph issued in a book. The only copy known in private hands.
Enquire[Anon.] Adoulzin, ou Les Dangers d’une Mauvaise Éducation. “à Paris,” 1787.
A false Parisian imprint, unrecorded and unread for two centuries — and a trail that leads toward Marie Antoinette’s private library at the Petit Trianon. The only copy known in private hands.
EnquireAlso —
narchival:A Rare Book Podcast
One book an episode: how we found it, what it turned out to be, and the mystery behind it.
All episodesNo. 1.
Vesalius, Andreas. Epitome (German). Basel: Oporinus, 1543.
A profoundly improbable find from a closing bookshop, now consigned to Christie’s at an estimate of £20,000–25,000. The second known copy in private hands in the world.
Audio forthcoming
In edit. Approx. 47 minutes.
The Prospectus
New stock and new episodes, by post. Occasional dispatches; nothing else.
☞ Entered in the ledger. Confirm by the link we have just posted you, and No. 1 will follow.
That did not go through. Write to books@anarchival.com and we will enter you by hand.