KELMSCOTT PRESS.

£12,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Sire Degrevaunt. First Kelmscott Press edition, one of 350 copies printed on paper. This copy is in a fine binding by Alfred de Sauty, one of the most talented bookbinders of the arts and crafts movement, renowned for his minute onlays and delicate pointille designs. The Middle English romance of Sir Degrevant was a favourite in William Morris's circle. In the summer of 1860, Burne-Jones did a wall-painting of The Wedding Procession of Sire Degrevaunt in the drawing room of Red House, Morris's home. The text of this edition was based on the Camden Society's Thornton Romances, edited by James Halliwell in 1844.De Sauty (1870-1949) began bookbinding in the final decade of the 19th century, inspired by the work of Cobden Sanderson. He became associated with Frank Karslake, producing fine bindings for the Hampstead Bindery and the Guild of Women Binders. He was also a friend of Douglas Cockerell and eventually took over his teaching position at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. In 1908, he emigrated to Chicago, where he managed the bindery of R. R. Connelly. Prideaux noted that de Sauty's work "is of considerable merit. The inlays are distinguished for the taste shown in the association of colours, and his finishing has some of the brilliant qualities of the French school, seen particularly in the finely studded tooling of which he seems particularly fond" (Prideaux, p. 48).

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