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THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.
([London]: Essex House Press, 1899). 152 x 111 mm. (6 x 4 3/4"). 2 p.l., 426 pp., [2] leaves. No. 508 OF 750 COPIES.
Publisher's stiff vellum, yapp edges, title in black on flat spine, edges untrimmed and ENTIRELY UNOPENED. In a 20th century glassine jacket (a little frayed and torn, but very well preserved). One full-page woodcut, printer's device at end. Printed in red and black. Ashbee 7-12; Ransom, p. 264; Tomkinson, p. 68. A PRISTINE COPY INSIDE AND OUT.
This is an extraordinarily fine copy of the 17th century Christian allegory that was issued as the third production of the Essex House Press, founded by C. R. Ashbee in 1898 as an addition to the several crafts practiced at his Guild of Handicrafts located at Essex House in London's Mile End Road. Ashbee purchased the presses and other production equipment (though not the type) formerly owned by the Kelmscott Press, which had shut down at the death of William Morris, and he printed books for 12 years with vellum, ink, and paper identical to that used by Kelmscott, in an effort to carry on the tradition Morris had established. But the Essex House Press, because it was conceived of and continued as part of a larger enterprise involving various artisans at work in a group of workshops, always had its own special identity, a fact which Cave reflects when he calls it the "Arts and Crafts press par excellence." While this title appears on the market with some regularity, copies perfectly preserved--and obviously unread--like the present one are less and less easy to find. (ST21091)
Price: $850.00