Books with Story
About the Company
Founded in January 2023, Fold the Corner specialises in rare, beautiful, and eclectic books and manuscripts, mostly between the 18th to 2oth centuries. My scope of interest is wide, and I seek out the unusual, the unique, and the curious. Specialisms currently include Philosophy, Counterculture, Modern First Editions (from 1900 to the present day), Revolutionary and General Literature. I also work closely with the Canadian writer and illustrator Charles van Sandwyk, carrying a constant supply of his books, artworks and etchings, and am one of the few dealers in the UK to do so.
As well as continuously updating my stock, I travel widely, exhibiting at fairs and connecting with customers and other members of the trade throughout Europe. With many years of experience of books and the trade, I pride myself on my friendly, approachable style and attention to detail, with each individual book treated with the due respect, time and care it deserves.
Fold the Corner currently operates as a predominantly online business, although our books can always be viewed at the many book fairs I exhibit at throughout the year, as well as by prior appointment by contacting me directly using the email address books@foldthecornerbooks.co.uk. I accept all major credit cards and ship worldwide.
Proud member of both the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, I subscribe to their code of good conduct. For further details, please see my terms and conditions.
Highlights
THAMES TUNNEL; BRANDON, R.
An Explanation of the Tunnel under the Thames
[London]: R Brandon, [c. 1843]
A concertina peepshow book, folding to a small oblong 8vo (18 x 11cm approx); comprised of pale blue cloth over marbled card covers; paper ‘The Thames Tunnel’ label affixed to upper cover; four handcoloured scenes enclosed between folding paper sections; the first, showing the Wapping entrance, affixed onto blue card with two ‘peepholes’; printed description to inner cover; the scenes extending to approximately 50cm in length; card covers rubbed, nicked and beginning to peel in places; some stains to the cloth backstrip; even mottling to inner description; some marking, bubbling and creasing to the scenes, but still very good overall; contained within a custom-made red cloth flapcase with ‘Thames Tunnel - 1848’ in gilt to backstrip.
A scarce example of this paper peepshow showing Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, described at the time as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the world’.
It was in 1818 when Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849) invented the tunnelling shield, a revolutionary advance in tunnel construction which would allow for a large protective structure to surround diggers and thus allow the excavation of a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping. Securing investment from a number of high-profile figures including the Duke of Wellington, construction began in 1825, and after a number of setbacks including floods, fires and leaks of methane and hydrogen sulphide gas, the project was finally completed in November 1841, opening to the public on the 25 March 1843. Fitted with spiraling staircases, it became a hugely popular tourist destination, with over two million visitors in the first year alone, each paying a penny to pass through the famous archways.
The tunnel soon became one of the most popular subjects for British paper peepshows, with the two foremost sellers being Bondy Azulay and Brandon, as in the present example. Intended as a souvenir or gift item, the work itself is rather crude, with the V&A identifying the pasted figures as being taken from a construction sheet in the Noble Collection at the London Metropolitan Archives, and calling it “cheap touristic tat”. Nonetheless, these peepshows proved extremely popular, and came with enclosed information describing facts and figures of the tunnel and its construction.
Ephemeral items such as these are hard to find, with just two institutional holdings located, both in the UK.
![The British Almanack of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for the Year of our Lord 1879, being the third after Bissextile [bound with] The Fifty-Second Year. Companion to the Almanack](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64258653108d5c20dda8b5d7/18fc5d24-ba36-45b6-88be-eb9832325b71/20260204_161256.jpg)
[QUEEN VICTORIA]
The British Almanack of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for the Year of our Lord 1879, being the third after Bissextile [bound with] The Fifty-Second Year. Companion to the Almanack; or, Year-Book of General Information for 1879.
London: The Company of Stationers, 1879
8vo., bound by Harrison & Sons in full period roan, double ruled with elaborately decorative floral borders, fully gilt to spine in compartments and lettered direct to second and third; embossed in gilt with the cypher of Queen Victoria to the centre of both boards; all edges gilt and edges of boards similarly stamped; pale yellow endpapers; pp. [iii], 2-287, [iii]; an excellent, fresh and near-fine example, the edges of boards ever-so-slightly rubbed, particularly along the spine; some faint offsetting, spotting and marks to endleaves and prelims; and a couple of scratches to the gilt edges; otherwise clean.
A fabulous example of this late 19th century almanack, bound for Queen Victoria, Britain’s second longest reigning monarch. Printed towards the end of her 63-year reign, the almanack contains tables of sun rises and sun sets, tidal and moon charts, government, peerage, army, navy, and church figures lists, and a host of other information including London cab fares and museum opening times. The companion volume, which would have been bound contemporaneously, contains additional longer articles on world events such as the Paris Universal Exhibition, developments in Electrical lighting and the telephone, and scientific discoveries from the previous year, such as comet observations, arctic expeditions, and the artificial production of precious stones. As with all almanacks of this period, the information contained would have proved invaluable, especially to a Queen who was still in relative seclusion following her husband Albert’s death. 1879 was the year that the Queen turned 60, and became a grandmother. It was also a turbulent time for global politics, marked by both the Anglo-Zulu War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Founded in 1790 by James Harrison, Harrison & Sons traces its history as far back as the 16th century, though by 1879 the firm had risen to prominence as one of foremost printers, publishers and book binders of the period, holding government and royal contracts as well as maintaining private presses at both the foreign and war offices.
A smart and well preserved binding for a British monarch, by one of the most prominent binders in Victorian Britain.
“Like a ghost ship from the fairytale book ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, this air giant glides across the earth. A dream dreamt decades ago has thus become reality…”
[AIRSHIPS]
Graf Zeppelin D-LZ127
[Nuremberg]: [c.1930]
Oblong shape book ( 20 x 40cm approx) showing full colour illustrations of the Graf Zeppelin D-LZ127 to both boards; backed in blue cloth; pp. [xii], with text and illustrations in black and white throughout, including to inside covers, as well as a further six wonderful illustrations in full colour, all by Curt Junghändel; boards ever-so-slightly warped, very minimal scuffing to edges; with some very tiny bubbles and scratches to the lower board, and a couple of red marks to the same; the internal pages lightly and evenly toned, as is common, but else exceptionally near-fine.
A wonderful, and genuinely rare children’s shape book dating from the 1930s. Inside the illustrated boards are facts and figures about the ship’s construction (explaining that the ship is 236 metres in length, contains 10 cabins, etc.), and depictions of all of its parts, including the control room, the kitchen, the passenger compartment, travels over the ocean, and the evening landing approach at Lakehurst, near New York after a stormy journey over the ocean (and showing it, in several illustrations, sailing above the Capitol building, the White House, and the Woolworth building which was, at the time, the tallest building in the world). This publication would also have been used as a very limited, promotional publication to encourage travellers to purchase tickets for international travel.
The Graf Zeppelin was the first commercial transatlantic passenger flight service, with its first flight being the 18th September 1928, after 21 months of construction. Printed just a few years before the outbreak of the Second World War, the publication heralds a machine which has “built a bridge from us to the people across the ocean, a bridge that contributes to the understanding and reconciliation between nations”. Sadly, that was not to be, and when the Nazis came to power, this machine was used as a propaganda tool. It was finally retired in 1937 and scrapped for military aircraft production after 590 flights totalling almost 1.7 million kilometres.
Predating this time, however, this c. 1930s publication represents a time of great excitement for the German people, and the book is greatly enhanced by the enigmatic illustrations carried out by C. Junghandel, a German illustrator and graphic artist who worked during the late Weimar Republic, a time of great momentum and change in the world of speed and modernity, specifically in regards to aviation technologies. His illustrations here are typical of his work, with flowing shapes, stylised landscapes and a sense of scale - showing the giant ship sailing above tiny towns, boats, and coastal scenes. Often commissioned to produce images of Zeppelins, this approach made the ships look heroic, as well as approachable and friendly - ideal for children growing up at the time in a country fascinated by the progression of technology.
Seldom found in commerce, especially so in this condition. This is only the second copy this bookseller has handled.
“It is arranged in layers, as a working model of my mind.”
Delve into the world of Wolf Hall by exploring the desk at which Hilary Mantel wrote the majority of her novels
Rebekah Cron
Owner and Founder
Rebekah grew up in her grandfather’s library, surrounded by medieval manuscripts, incunables, and Horace the human skull - a family heirloom, who had pride of place in the heart of the collection. After completing her BA in Philosophy at the University of Exeter, and stints at Bernard Quaritch and Robert Frew, she gained an MA in the History of the Book from the University of London in 2016. In 2018, she joined Henry Sotheran, where she worked as Head of Literature for six years before founding Fold the Corner in 2023.
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