1893 · Hammersmith
by (KELMSCOTT PRESS). TENNYSON, ALFRED
Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1893. ONE OF 500 COPIES ON PAPER (and five on vellum, not for sale). 120 x 143 mm. (8 1/4 x 5 1/2"). 2 p.l., 69 [1] pp.
Original limp vellum, original blue-green silk ties, flat spine with titling in gilt, some edges untrimmed. IN ORIGINAL GREEN PAPER SLIPCASE (slipcase somewhat worn and lightly soiled, but still very much intact). Initial opening with elaborate woodcut title page and border around first page of text, large woodcut initials with decorative marginal extensions, printer's device at the end. Printed in red and black in Golden type. Peterson A-17; Sparling 17; Tomkinson, p. 112. Rear endpaper with faint offsetting from ties, otherwise (and not considering slipcase) a pristine copy inside and out.
This is an outstanding copy of the lovely Kelmscott Press edition of a particularly haunting work. A poem of some 1,300 lines, "Maud" originally appeared, with other verse, in 1855 in the first volume of poetry Tennyson published as Poet Laureate. The germ of the poem was a lyric entitled "Oh! That 'twere Possible," composed more than 20 years earlier, in 1833-34, soon after the devastating passing of the poet's close friend Arthur Hallam. Extremely emotional, the poem deals with the hopeless yearning to make contact with the dead. With some alterations and additions, "Possible" became lines 141-238 in the second section of "Maud." Sparling notes that the borders here were designed specifically for this book (though they were later used once more), and he calls the woodcut title page, the first such for a Kelmscott octavo, "one of Morris' loveliest." Although Kelmscott books can still be found in very fine condition, the present copy is simply sparkling, and perhaps a cut above even one's most sanguine expectations.. (Inventory #: ST20180)
Original limp vellum, original blue-green silk ties, flat spine with titling in gilt, some edges untrimmed. IN ORIGINAL GREEN PAPER SLIPCASE (slipcase somewhat worn and lightly soiled, but still very much intact). Initial opening with elaborate woodcut title page and border around first page of text, large woodcut initials with decorative marginal extensions, printer's device at the end. Printed in red and black in Golden type. Peterson A-17; Sparling 17; Tomkinson, p. 112. Rear endpaper with faint offsetting from ties, otherwise (and not considering slipcase) a pristine copy inside and out.
This is an outstanding copy of the lovely Kelmscott Press edition of a particularly haunting work. A poem of some 1,300 lines, "Maud" originally appeared, with other verse, in 1855 in the first volume of poetry Tennyson published as Poet Laureate. The germ of the poem was a lyric entitled "Oh! That 'twere Possible," composed more than 20 years earlier, in 1833-34, soon after the devastating passing of the poet's close friend Arthur Hallam. Extremely emotional, the poem deals with the hopeless yearning to make contact with the dead. With some alterations and additions, "Possible" became lines 141-238 in the second section of "Maud." Sparling notes that the borders here were designed specifically for this book (though they were later used once more), and he calls the woodcut title page, the first such for a Kelmscott octavo, "one of Morris' loveliest." Although Kelmscott books can still be found in very fine condition, the present copy is simply sparkling, and perhaps a cut above even one's most sanguine expectations.. (Inventory #: ST20180)
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