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ROS ROSARUM EX HORTO POETARUM: DEW OF THE EVER-LIVING ROSE GATHERED FROM THE POETS' GARDEN OF MANY LANDS BY "E. V. B."
(London: [Printed at the Chiswick Press for] Elliot Stock, 1885). 181 x 111 mm. (7 1/8 x 4 3/8"). xxvi, [ii], 274 [i.e. 276, including text leaf marked as pp. 223*-224*], [2] pp. FIRST EDITION.
ANIMATED CONTEMPORARY OLIVE BROWN MOROCCO, ELABORATELY GILT AND INLAID, covers with two climbing roses with 70 gilt and inlaid blossoms of wine red or salmon pink morocco and dozens of tiny heart-shaped leaves rising from the lower corners and winding up the sides before curving toward the center of the board in a heart shape, the branches on a pointillé ground accented with tiny droplets, upper cover with monogram of Eleanor Vere Boyle, raised bands, spine panels with rose branch featuring three inlaid blooms on a pointillé ground, gilt lettering, wide turn-ins with gilt rose sprays at corners, yellow watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt. With original front wrapper bound in at rear. (Front joint replaced with great skill.) With floral vignettes on title and half title, decorative headpieces and initials, and 11 full-page wood engravings by Boyle, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with 28 engravings by Eisen, Mariller, Gravelot, and many others. Spine lightly sunned to a hazel brown, some extra-illustrations a little foxed, occasional light to moderate offsetting from plates, but the contents in excellent condition, clean and bright throughout, and the binding with only the most negligible signs of wear.
The subject here is roses--on the extremely charming and exuberant binding, in the text, and in the illustrations. They were the favorite flower of author and illustrator Eleanor Vere Boyle (1825-1916), who planted them on a large scale in her garden at Huntercombe Manor. The popular illustrator of 14 children's books, Boyle used most of her income to support charitable works in the parish where her husband was vicar. In her 50s, she turned from illustrating to writing, focusing primarily on nature and gardens as her subjects. Here, she has collected English poems as well as translations in English of excerpts from poems in Greek, Latin, Persian, Italian, and French, all of them celebrating the rose. Her illustrations show either close-ups of a flower or an adorable cupid, accompanied by the flower of Venus. The press work in the present volume is first rate, as one expects from the Chiswick Press, and the binding is a riot of floral glimmering. Although the binding is unsigned, the animated, unconventional design is reminiscent of the work of the Guild of Women Binders, while the execution is of exceptional quality, equal to the productions by leading London workshops like Riviere and Zaehnsdorf. (ST20626-1)
Price: $7,500.00