Prior, Matthew:

$1,100 · Offered by William Reese Company

SELECTED POEMS OF MATTHEW PRIOR. First edition of this selection, edited with an introduction and notes by Austin Dobson. This is copy #36 of 50 copies printed on large, handmade paper by Charles Whittingham, and signed by him. With the bookplate of Philadelphia collector Joseph Harrison Brazier on the front pastedown. This copy has been extensively illuminated in colors, by hand, with approximately 25 illuminated borders, initials, and tail-pieces, most notably on the half-title, title, and the opening pages of the preface, the introduction and the sectional title. When this item appeared as item #84 in George D. Smith's 1902 catalogue of Rare Americana, Historical Bindings, Extra Illustrated Works... [&c], the illuminations was attributed to man of letters and artist, William Cushing Bamburgh, as were illuminated editions of Chaucer (lot #57, to which Bamburgh also contributed an Introduction) and Shakespeare (lot 311). A subsequent owner, George B. Clothier, has noted on the verso of a blank binder's endsheet that he acquired this volume at the Henkels Feb. 1926 sale of Brazier's library. We note the appearance of a similar book illuminated by Bamburgh at Christie's London, 4 Feb 1994, Symonds, Wine, Women and Song (1884), with the illuminations dated October 1902.

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