Thomas, Sir; Aubrey BEARDSLEY ( illustrator ). [Le Morte Darthur.] The Birth Life and Acts of King Arthur of His Noble Knights of the Round Table …

by MALORY

£2,000 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

Beardsley's First Big Commission MALORY, Thomas, Sir; Aubrey BEARDSLEY ( illustrator ). [Le Morte Darthur.] The Birth Life and Acts of King Arthur of His Noble Knights of the Round Table … [ Edinburgh: Turnbull Spears for ] London: J.M. Dent . June 1893–November 1894. Twelve parts in two volumes, 4to. Publisher’s cream cloth ( see below ), gilt floral designs by Beardsley to spine and upper board, spine lettered in gilt, top-edges gilt, the others uncut, multicoloured cloth place-markers (that of vol. I detached); vol. I: pp. lxiv, 456; vol. II: pp. [8], lxv–xc, 457–990, [2 (colophon, blank)]; photogravure frontispieces to both vols and 18 wood-engraved plates by Beardsley (of which 5 double-page with tissue guards); numerous wood-engraved borders, initials, chapter headings, and ornaments by Beardsley, woodcut Dent device to title; light soiling and spotting to boards, vol. I with a few small chips to foot of spine and short splits to joints at head (very neatly repaired at an early date); vol. I lightly browned throughout, occasional light offsetting from plates, short closed marginal tear to pp. 391–92; a very good set; 1898 ownership inscription of M.L. Sumner to front pastedown of vol. II. First edition to be illustrated by Beardsley, one of 1,500 ordinary-issue copies, of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. ‘The Morte d’Arthur is the most famous version and the first in English prose of all the legends which have collected about King Arthur. It is the only true English epic […] Th

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.