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([tag]Bird & Bull Press[/tag]) Remondini and Rizzi: A Chapter in Italian Decorated Paper History. By Tanya Schmoller. Oak Knoll Books. New Castle, Delaware. 1990. Printed by Henry Morris at the Bird & Bull Press. 57p. 10" x 7.5". Printed on heavyweight mouldmade Johannot paper. Quarter bound by Campbell-Logan in maroon cloth and paste-paper printed sides based on a Remondini design; title in gilt on leather spine label. Each copy contains 9 original samples of decorated papers and one large original sample of a "pictorial" paper. One in an edition of 215 copies. Fine. Very scarce. Prospectus laid-in. (Errata slip laid-in explaining why the colophon says an edition of 175 copies). The work contains historical information on both firms, several illustrations of various woodblocks and engravings, a  3-color facsimile of the charming 18th-century Remondini woodcut ‘Il Cane Barbino’ and a full size fold-out facsimile of the document which granted a virtual monopoly to Remondini in 1765. Italian block-printed papers were the start of the collection of decorated papers that Tanya Schmoller and her husband Hans gathered together for over twenty years. The use of woodblocks to transfer designs to cloth and paper can be traced back in Europe to the fourteenth century. In the region of what is now Italy there were several firms supplying these colorful papers, the most eminent of which was Remondini, established in 1650. This work traces the history of the Remondini enterprise and later the Giuseppe Rizzi enterprise, which took over the Remondini woodblocks after 1861. It examines the sales techniques and production methods of these two firms and contains actual specimens of Rizzi decorated paper. Such samples are rarely found today and they are usually very expensive. The illustrations include a three-color facsimile of a Remondini woodblock and a fold-out reproduction of a decree authorizing the sale of gilt paper. Also included are four pages of genuine Rizzi paper samples.

Related items: Catalogue 40- Spring-Summer 2011, Fine Printing & Private Press, Bird & Bull Press, Henry Morris, Tanya Schmoller