Browse Similar Items
THE HISTORY OF REYNARD THE FOXE.
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1892). 295 x 215 mm. (11 1/2 x 8 1/4"). v, [1], 162, [1] pp. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. ONE OF 300 COPIES on paper (and 10 on vellum).
Original limp vellum, flat spine with gilt titling, yapp edges, six original silk ties. In a modern felt-lined maroon linen chemise with calligraphed paper title label on spine, in matching slipcase. Elaborate woodcut title, elaborate border on first page of text, decorative woodcut initials and marginal decoration on most pages, woodcut device in colophon. Printed in red and black in Troy and Chaucer types. Peterson A-10; Sparling 10; Tomkinson, p. 110. Mild darkening to spine, four or five leaves a little less bright than the rest, small (printer's thumb?) smudge to tail edge of title page, but quite an excellent copy, clean and fresh internally, in a clean, well-preserved binding.
This is quite a pleasing copy of one of five Caxton books (four of them in large format) printed by the Kelmscott Press, its enduringly popular translation being particularly admired by Morris. In a note for a Quaritch catalogue, Morris wrote that "Reynard" was "one of the very best of [Caxton's] works as to style; and being translated from a kindred tongue as delightful as mere language. In its rude joviality, and simple and direct delineation of character, it is a thoroughly good representative of the famous Beast Epic." Reynard the Fox is the hero of a number of popular fables or "bestiaries," first put into a collected form entitled the "Roman de Renart" in 13th century France. Reynard and his animal friends (typically including, among others, a wolf, lion, cat, cock, and rook) mimic human behavior with all its follies, supplying obvious pleasurable edification to the reader. In a typical tale, the fox represents the man who victimizes others and is brought to judgment, yet escapes punishment through the use of his cunning. Finding genuinely agreeable copies of the "Reynard" and the other Kelmscott quartos bound in vellum and silk ties is more and more difficult now. (ST20545)
Price: $12,500.00