Browse Similar Items
THE ROMANCE OF SIRE DEGREVAUNT.
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896 [but issued in 1897]). 215 x 150 mm. (8 1/2 x 6"). 2 p.l., 81, [1] pp. Edited by F. S. Ellis. ONE OF 350 COPIES on paper (and eight on vellum).
Original holland-backed blue-gray paper boards, edges untrimmed, in a later (?) blue-gray linen slipcase (with thumb cut-out area to help pull out the volume). Woodcut frontispiece designed by Edward Burne-Jones, elaborate woodcut borders of vines, flowers, and tendrils around frontispiece and first page of text, decorative woodcut initials (mostly three-line) throughout. Printed in red and black in Chaucer type. Peterson A-47; Sparling 47; Tomkinson, p. 120. Covers with small faded area where the slipcase thumb cut-out area has let in light, but the binding otherwise unusually clean and pleasing, especially for a book that is often found grubby; A PRISTINE COPY INTERNALLY, the text entirely fresh, clean, and bright.
This is an especially well-preserved copy of one of three bustling Medieval romances William Morris chose for Kelmscott publication (the others being "Syr Ysambrace" and "Syr Percyvelle"). A wealthy and reputable knight minding his own business, Degrevaunt finds his life disrupted by a neighboring Earl who kills both his deer and his foresters. Unable to obtain formal satisfaction, our hero exacts revenge upon the Earl by killing some of his knights. The plot thickens when Degrevaunt and the Earl's daughter Melidor fall in love. The superior (in every way) Degrevaunt defeats the Earl's forces, captures the Earl himself, and wins the day when his captor becomes his now-repentant father-in-law. Edited by F. S. Ellis, this edition draws primarily from the Cambridge manuscript (as printed by J. O. Halliwell), with rich additionsand variations from the Thornton Romances housed in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral. The romance even inspired Edward Burne-Jones to paint The Wedding Procession of Sire Degrevaunt on the walls of Red House, Morris' celebrated home. Because Burne-Jones' frontispiece was not printed until 18 months after the text was ready, the book was published later (on 12 November 1897) than the date of the colophon (14 March 1896). The beautiful Kelmscott handmade paper looks like new here, attesting to the wisdom of Morris' embrace of 15th century papermaking techniques. The original cloth-backed boards used by the press have typically proved to be less durable, so volumes like ours without fraying spines and worn edges are getting increasingly difficult to find. (ST20852)
Price: $4,000.00