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SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE.
(London: Printed for the Florence Press by Chatto & Windus, 1909). 254 x 178 mm. (10 x 7"). ix, [1], 209, [1] pp., [1] leaf (colophon). No. 240 OF 650 COPIES printed on handmade paper (and 12 copies on vellum).
IN A VIVID ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE BINDING OF MULTI-COLORED MOROCCO BY KERSTIN TINI MIURA, exterior with all-over design featuring undulating swaths of lavender, blue, and violet above a base of black morocco, (these areas resembling trees silhouetted against hills), then at bottom an animated line of pearlized white morocco onlays and bubble-like dots of cream and lilac rising from them (suggesting foaming sea waves); flat spine with gilt titling, burgundy polished calf doublures and endleaves, top edge gilt, other edges gilt on the rough. In the original leather-lined, morocco-trimmed chemise and matching slipcase, all contained in a second blue cloth slipcase with paper label on upper cover. Tomkinson, p. 85. For the binding: Shoseki, "A Master's Bibliophile Bindings: Tini Miura 1980-1990" 157. ◆In virtually mint condition.
This is a desirable private press publication offered in a binding of notable richness characteristic of the work of one of the world's leading contemporary female bookbinders. European by birth, Kerstin Tini Miura (b. 1940) studied bookbinding techniques and design in Germany, Switzerland, and France, before choosing to concentrate on French technique. She has taught bookbinding in Sweden and Japan, was a founder and faculty member at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, Colorado, for 10 years, and has authored "My World of Bibliophile Binding" (1980). She has been entrusted with the binding of numerous books of very considerable value. Now based in Long Beach, California, she continues to bind books, give lessons, and undertake special projects, including designing Nobel Prize diplomas. As can be seen here, her bindings generally feature abstract shapes that often suggest elements of the natural world and that, above all, are memorably vivid in color. This attractively printed work from the Florence Press is a collection of poems calling for the overthrow of political and ideological despotism of all sorts, prompted by the struggle of Swinburne's hero, the Italian patriot Mazzini. Founded in 1908 by the London publishers Chatto & Windus and operated by Philip Lee Warner, the Florence Press produced "beautiful books in the choicest types," but in somewhat larger and less costly editions than Kelmscott and the other more celebrated English fine presses. Florence books are readily distinguishable by their special type, designed by Herbert P. Horne after 15th century Italian faces that are elegant, simple, and easily readable. (ST12772)
Price: $7,000.00