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William Shakespeare, with a Preface by Robert Graves, illustrations by Clarke Hutton, and book design by Edward BurrettBiblio.com

The Sonnets a presentation copy of the finely bound illustrated limited and numbered edition signed by the poet Robert Graves the illustrator Clarke Hutton and the book designer Edward Burrett accompanied by the original publisher's prospectus and order form and with a lengthy gift inscription from Edward Burrett and his wife

réf. 007866London: The Swallow Press 1975. Full leather. This is an exquisite finely bound strikingly unconventionally illustrated edition of The Sonnets by poet playwright dramatist and primus inter pares William Shakespeare. 300 copies were produced thus of which this is number 44 signed on the colophon by Robert Graves who contributes a substantive Preface Edward Burrett the book designer and Clarke Hutton the illustrator. A troika of features distinguish this copy. First is exceptional condition. Second this copy is accompanied by the original publishers prospectus and order form. Third this is a designers presentation copy evidenced by a lengthy signed and dated 1975 gift inscription by Edward Burrett and his wife Cecile on the recto of the blank preceding the half title. Edward Burrett 1909-1995 was a noted specialist and connoisseur in book design a founding member of the Society of Typographic Designers and founding proprietor of the Penmiel Press. This large volume measures 10 x 14 inches 25.4 x 35.6 cm bound in full Niger Morocco goatskin by Sangorski and Sutcliffe the contents printed on laid paper with each of the one hundred and fifty-four Sonnets allocated a single page. The volume is housed in a felt-lined purple and gold paper-covered slipcase featuring an interlocking pattern of swallows which is mirrored on the pastedowns of the book. The Sonnets features 40 illustrations on various tinted papers by Clarke Hutton 1898-1984 one of the most eminent and influential book illustrators of his time. Hutton adds something unique to Shakespeares work which so often comes accompanied by traditional engravings rather than modernist line work. The colophon features the signatures of Robert Graves Edward Burrett and Clarke Hutton below the limitation number 44. The signatures of the book designer Edward Burrett and his wife Cecile are also found beneath their autograph gift inscription. Laid in are the large and beautifully printed publishers prospectus featuring a specimen page and extensive information about the edition. Also laid in is the publishers order form. The volume is in truly fine condition with no appreciable wear or flaws to either the binding or contents. The slipcase remains bright and fully intact with superficial overall scuffing. William Shakespeare 1564-1616 left a cultural and literary legacy whose continuing influence is difficult to overstate. His stature so dominates English letters that it verges on biblical proportion. To the point Shakespeare is often assumed to have been born on 23 April St. Georges Day so that Englands national poet and her patron saint share the same day of celebration akin to how Christs birthday is asserted onto the winter solstice. Shakespeares plays are the most conspicuous aspect of his literary legacy but as Robert Graves states in his Preface Shakespeare built up a double reputation in literature; as a classic English playwright and as author of the Sonnets his profound meditations on love. In the plays we are frequently aware of Shakespeare the poet; in the Sonnets we recognize his role as dramatist. The author of the Sonnets became incomparably greater than his contemporaries precisely because he needed to see himself and his beloved in dramatic and human terms. Robert Graves 1895-1985 was an English poet novelist critic and translator perhaps best known today as a pioneer and master of the historical fiction genre for his Claudius series compellingly fictionalizing the Roman Emperor. Born to a middle-class family with an Irish Gaelic scholar father Gravess early life shaped his love for myth and poetry even as boxing shaped his repeatedly broken nose. In 1913 he received a scholarship to study classics at St Johns College Oxford. However he did not take his place at the university until after WWI; in 1914 he enlisted almost immediately after the outbreak of war joining a regiment which included fellow war poet Siegfried Sassoon. The Swallow Press hardcover

Churchill Book Collector · États-Unis1 250,00 $US≈ 1 116,77 €

William H Harrison; Florence Claxton [cover design]ABAA

The Lazy Lays and Prose Imaginings Inscribed to American Medium Mary Hollis Billings

1877réf. 30067London: William H. Harrison 1877. Very Good. London: William H. Harrison 1877. First Edition. Octavo 18.5cm.; publisher's purple pictorial cloth designed by Florence Claxton elaborately embossed in gilt and black all edges gilt black glazed endpapers; iv5-156pp. Cloth a bit scuffed and worn along extremities with brief exposure at corners and spine ends spine cloth faded brief split to rear joint rear hinge cracked but holding textblock slightly shaken in binding else a Very Good bright example. Inscribed on front flyleaf to the American medium "Mrs. Hollis Billing With the kind regards of The Author / November 1879. London." Scarce collection of humorous poems and vignettes by the British author and editor of The Spiritualist. Running in the London Spiritualist circles Harrison would presumably have made the acquaintance of the inscribee American medium Mary Hollis Billing and her husband who served on the 1877 Committee of the Theosophical Society in London. Contents only glancingly Spiritualist though true to form the imprint provides the publication date based on different calendars: A.D. 1877 Popular Chronology; A.M. 5877 Torquemada; A.M. 50800077 Huxley. Like many Spiritualists of the day Harrison was especially interested in photography and several pieces in this volume relate to the art and science of the form. Notably "The Lay of the Photographer" describes in nineteen stanzas the chemical transformations of pyroxylin iodine and silver to develop photographs. Needless to say the poem is not very good. Advertisements for the present work attribute the cover design to British illustrator cartoonist and fringe Pre-Raphaelite Florence Claxton 1838-1920. One contemporary reviewer aptly describes the book as "handsomely-bound and griffin-guarded" Liverpool Daily Courier. William H. Harrison unknown books