I've discovered the answer to this one, it does seem a function wordpress should have built in (limit posts by page). anyway:

found via this how-to

the snippet we're interested in is:

<?php
query_posts($query_string.'&posts_per_page=5');
if (have_posts()) :
    echo "<ul>\n";
    while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

just edit posts_per_page=5 to whatever number you'd prefer to show... you will need to add something like the following to the header to make this function (see the how-to for more information):

<?php /*
Template Name: Author Page
*/
get_header();
	global $wp_query;
	$curauth = $wp_query->get_queried_object();
?>

thought i'd share that finding. using it on my new venture: leithermagazine.com do check it out once we're up and running. thanks!