Private Press | 12 volumes

Private Press

12 volumes, comprising:

(i–iii) W. Russell Flint (illustrator)—Geoffrey Chaucer. Canterbury Tales. Riccardi Press, 1913. COPY NUMBER 467 OF 500 COPIES ON HANDMADE RICCARDI PAPER, 3 volumes, 4to, original buckram-backed grey boards, paper labels to spines and upper boards, top edges gilt, others uncut, housed in a modern fitted slipcase, very slight staining to upper board of first volume

(iv) William Lawson. A New Orchard and Garden, or Best Way for Planting, Grafting, and to Make Any Ground Good

for a Rich Orchard. Cresset Press, 1927. Small 4to, NUMBER 28 OF 50 COPIES ON ARNOLD HAND-MADE PAPER (of a total edition of 650 copies), illustrations, publisher's limp vellum gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut, silk ties, housed in a modern fitted slipcase

(v) George Sitwell and John Piper. On the making of Gardens. Dropmore Press, 1949. SIGNED LIMITED EDITION, COPY NUMBER 12 ONE OF 100 SPECIALLY BOUND COPIES, 8vo, lithographed frontispiece printed in colours, 5 further lithographed plates printed in colours by and after Piper (of which 3 double-page), original crushed green morocco gilt, upper board with gilt design after Piper, lower board with gilt publisher's device, spine lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut, slight transfer onto title-page, spine very slightly darkened

(vi) Isaac Walton. The Compleat Angler. London and New York, 1930. ADAMS EDITION, COPY NUMBER 156 OF 450 COPIES, NUMBERED AND SIGNED BY THE ARTIST, title-page printed in red and black, portrait frontispiece and illustrations by Frank Adams, original vellum-backed boards, top edge gilt, others uncut, modern blue cloth case with old paper label (from original case) mounted to inside cover, upper board slightly bowed

(vii) Jean Genet. Journal du Voleur. Paris, [1949]. NUMBER 289 OF 400 COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, large 8vo, loose as issued in original wrappers, glassine dust-jacket, original slipcase

(viii-ix) Alexander Pope (translator)—Homer. Iliad [Odyssey]. Nonesuch Press, 1931. Limited to 1450 and 1400 copies, 2 volumes, 8vo, text in English and Greek, publisher's crushed tan morocco gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut, dampstain on upper cover of Odyssey

(x) Robert Fagles (translator)—Homer. The Iliad. Viking, 1990. 8vo, publisher's cloth gilt, dust-jacket

(xi) Sylvia Plath. Crystal Gazer and other poems. London: Rainbow Press, 1971. Number 76 of 80 copies (numbered 21–100) in full Cape Goat Leather in a slip case of a total edition of 400 copies, folio, frontispiece illustration after a drawing by the author on japanese paper, original red morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe with matching slipcase

(xii) Edmund Gosse (translator), Allen Lewis (illustrator)—F. De La Motte Fouqué. Undine. New York: [Harbor Press for] Limited Editions Club, 1930. Number 1264 of 1500 copies signed by the illustrator, folio, original decorated sienna cloth, top edge gilt

PROVENANCE:

(v) Sale, Christie's South Kensington, 30 November 2005, lot 333; (vi) Andrew Van Blarcom, named on limitation; Jeffrey Norton, bookplate pasted onto case; (viii-ix) sale, Bonhams, 19 October 2004, lot 330; (xi) Brian & Margaret Buckley of Kenilworth, booksellers, 25 January 1990; (xii) Reginald Charles Reed, bookplate