Fin De Siècle Art & Literature by the Aesthetes & Decadents of the 1890S

Fin De Art & Literature By The Aesthetes Siècle & Decadents Of The 1890s

JONKERS RARE BOOKS

1 Fin De Siècle Art & Literature By The Aesthetes & Decadents Of The 1890s

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2 Aubrey Beardsley

3 4 Le Morte Darthur Commissioned when Beardsley was just twenty years old, Le Morte Darthur is his first major work, and is still considered one of his finest.

The work was issued by subscription in twelve parts between June 1893 and Novem- ber 1894 in a deluxe edition of 300 copies on Van Gelder paper (Item 1), in addition to 1,500 copies on ordinary paper (Item 2). On completion of the serialisation, subscribers were encouraged to have the work bound by the publishers “in a specially designed case for binding at 3s per volume” (Item 3).

The enduring popularity of his edition of the Arthurian classic is demonstrated by Dent issuing new editions of the work with additional illustrations erroneously omitted from the first edition in 1909 and 1927. Item( 4). A limited edition portfolio containing these omitted drawings was also issued in 1927.

5 LARGE PAPER ISSUE IN ORIGINAL PARTS 1. Le Morte Darthur BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; MALORY, Sir Thomas Dent, London, 1893-1894. First edition, deluxe issue. Number 101 of 300 sets printed on large Dutch handmade paper. Twelve original parts, each in original light grey card wrappers with design by Beardsley in brown to the upper covers. Two photogravure frontispieces and eighteen full page wood engravings (including five double-page), numerous text illustrations, and approximately 350 designs for chapter headings and borders, all by Aubrey Beardsley. A fine set, with the wrappers of each volume exceptionally clean and crisp and free from all but the most trivial wear. Internally some plates show oxidisation and corresponding offsetting as usual, but the text exceptionally clean and for the most part, unopened. Housed in early custom boxes. An extraordinary set. The work was issued by subscription in twelve parts between June 1893 and November 1894 in an edition of 1500 copies on standard paper and 300 copies on Van Gelder paper. On completion of the serialisation, subscribers to the large paper issue were encouraged to have the work “be bound in Vellum, as being handsomely in keeping with the style of the edition and very strong.” (publisher’s notice tipped in to the final volume of this set). The small limitation of the deluxe issue makes it under- standably scarce in any form. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence of copies seen in the publisher’s binding and those in original wrappers, would suggest that most copies were either bound up or have since perished. [39709] £15,000

6 IN ORIGINAL PARTS 2. Le Morte Darthur seldom encountered in its original wrappers. The classic combination of Aubrey Beardsley’s distinctive drawings BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; MALORY, Sir Thomas and the Arthurian legend. One of the most iconic books of the fin de Dent, London, 1893-1894. siècle. First edition. Twelve original parts, each in original green paper The anecdotal evidence of copies seen in the publisher’s binding (not wrappers with design by Beardsley in brown to the upper covers. infrequently) and those in original wrappers (seldom), would suggest Housed in publisher’s black cloth boxes blocked in gilt to spine that the vast majority of copies were either bound up or have since and upper covers to match the blocking for the books. Two pho- perished. Certainly the surviving parts sets usually show significant togravure frontispieces and eighteen full page wood engravings, damage to the wrappers. numerous text illustrations, and approximately 350 designs for This set owes its remarkable survival to the publisher’s boxes, seem- chapter headings and borders, all by Aubrey Beardsley. A near ingly commissioned, probably around 1909, by an early owner, one J fine set with trivial wear to some of the oversized parts ofthe Pollet, who has laid a note in stating, “The only Case made + stamped wrappers and a little light chipping to the paper at the head of with the gold design of the original issue in 2 volumes 1893”. the spine on part III, but is an exceptionally well preserved set, [39586] £8,500

7 8 9 IN PUBLISHER’S VELLUM 3. Le Morte Darthur headings and borders, all by Aubrey Beardsley. A near fine set, with clean vellum and bright gilt, with just a little spotting to BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; MALORY, Sir Thomas the edges. Internally fresh. Dent, London, 1893-1894. The work was issued in parts and then bound in cloth for the standard First edition. Two volumes, both bound from the parts in the edition of 1500 copies and in vellum for the 300 copies of the large pa- publisher’s deluxe binding of full vellum blocked in gilt to per edition on Van Gelder paper. However, it was possible to request spine and upper cover after a design by Beardsley. Top edge gilt, to have the standard issue bound in vellum (as here), though evidence other’s uncut. Two photogravure frontispieces and eighteen full suggests that very few copies were bound thus, with only three copies page wood engravings (including five double-page), numerous being offered at auction in the last 45 years. text illustrations, and approximately 350 designs for chapter [39593] £6,000

10 IN THE DUSTWRAPPER 4. Le Morte Darthur the first time having been accidentally omitted from previous editions. A fine copy, bright and fresh, in a near fine dustwrap- BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; MALORY, Sir Thomas per which has a touch of wear to the spine ends, and a shade of Dent, 1927. toning to the spine. Third Beardsley edition, one of 1600 copies. Black cloth with A handsome, beautifully produced edition of Beardsley’s magnum Beardsley design stamped in gilt on the covers, in the pictori- opus, notable for being the first edition to include all of the artist’s al dustwrapper. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A total of 365 de- illustrations. signs by Beardsley, including twenty-two full page plates (six of Lasner 22C which are double-page), decorative borders, initials, and chap- [39043] £1,950 ter headings, the chapter heading on p. 368 published here for

11 The Savoy

The ultimate periodical testament to the spirit of the fin de siecle in Lon- don, The Savoy ran for eight issues between January and December 1896, following Beardsley’s sacking from The Yellow Book.

1896 was, as R. A. Walker has put it, Beardsley’s Annus Mirabilis, and in the Savoy he produced some of his finest illustrations, his style having reached maturity. Alongside these illustrations, and under the guid- ance of Beardsley, Arthur Symons and its publisher Leonard Smithers, the list of contributors is a Who’s Who of literary and artistic life in the ‘90s, featuring Max Beerbohm, Joseph Conrad, Ernest Dowson, George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and James McNeil Whistler.

The Savoy, true to its age, had its own tragic fall and was discontinued after the December issue. The content of the final issue is contributed entirely by Beardsley and Symons, with the latter writing: “Our first mistake was in giving so much for so little money; our second, in abandoning a quarterly for a monthly issue... And then, worst of all, we assumed that there were very many people in the world who really cared for art, and really for art’s sake.”

12 EXCEPTIONAL SET IN ORIGINAL BOARDS & WRAPPERS 5. The Savoy An Illustrated Quarterly BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; SYMONS, Arthur Leonard Smithers, 1896. Eight volumes, being the complete run. The first two volumes bound in the original pink paper-covered boards, the remaining six in the blue paper wrappers, all as issued. Beardsley’s illustrated Christmas card laid into the first volume, and Smithers’s notice of The Savoy’s discontinuation laid into volume six. Advertisements to the rear of each volume. Housed in three custom green slipcases and chemises. Cover illustrations to each volume by Aubrey Beardsley, with further illustrations by some of the great artists of the 1890s including James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Walter Sickert. An exceptional set, in fine, bright condition. There are minor traces of wear to the margins of the wrappers and very occasional slight browning to the spines, but overall far better than usually encountered. There is a little tenderness to the second volume’s upper hinge, and a couple of light spots to the wrapper of the sixth volume. That said, the overall brightness and crispness of the blue wrappers is particularly noteworthy. It is rare to find sets complete and as issued, and in such nice condition. [39624] £5,500

13 ANTHONY POWELL’S COPY 6. Aubrey Beardsley BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; SYMONS, Arthur Unicorn Press, 1898. First edition. Small 4to. Grey paper covered boards over white cloth, lettered in gilt. All edges untrimmed. Three black and white portraits of Beardsley. Six full page illustrations by Beard- sley, one in colour. Two illustrations, Le Debris d’un Poete and The Mirror of Love are published here for the first time. A very good copy, spine darkened and spine gilt dulled, but gilt on the upper cover bright. Powell had a life long admiration of Beardsley and his works, and the artist was “one of those he would have invited to his ideal luncheon party”. (Michael Barber - Anthony Powell A Life) Lasner 130. PROVENANCE: From the library of Anthony Powell, bookplate on pastedown. [34106] £225

14 ROBBIE ROSS’S COPY 7. Under The Hill the meeting in his 1898 eulogy, published in Volpone: “Though prepared for an extraordinary personality, I never expected And Other Essays In Prose And Verse the youthful apparition which glided into the room... He brought a BEARDSLEY, Aubrey portfolio of his marvellous drawings, in themselves an earnest of ge- John Lane, 1904. nius, but I hardly paid any attention to them at first, so overshadowed First edition. 4to. Publisher’s blue cloth, block in gilt after Beard- were they by the strange and fascinating originality of their author... sley’s cover design for Salomé. Robbie Ross’s copy, inscribed for He was an intellectual Marcellus suddenly matured.” him on the front endpaper by the publisher “Robert Ross from The pair would remain friends for the rest of Beardsley’s life. Later John Lane”. Seventeen black and white plates, three of which Ross urged John Lane to commission the artist to provide illustrations had not before been published. A very good copy, toned to spine for the English edition of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé (1894), on which with a little wear to the lower joint. Beardsley’s reputation as a decadent artist without peer largely rests. An exceptional association copy linking two major figures of the Dec- PROVENANCE: Robbie Ross (1869 - 1918), presentation in- adent movement. scription from the publisher. Robbie Ross first met Beardsley on Valentine’s Day, 1892, and records [39602] £3,500

15 8. An Issue Of Five Drawings Illustra- tive Of Juvenal And Lucian BEARDSLEY, Aubrey [Leonard Smithers], 1906. First edition. Number 40 of 120 sets. Five loose plates printed on japon, preceded by a title leaf, colophon leaf and contents leaf. All housed in the original brick-red paper portfolio. Five drawings are reproduced, with three plates illustrating Juve- nal’s ‘Sixth Satire’ and two unused illustrations from Lucian’s True History. A near fine set. Small marks to the bottom edge of a few sheets, but nothing affecting the images which are clean. Bookplate to the inside of the portfolio. An uncommon set, collected, printed and issued anonymously by Leonard Smithers, who introduces them on the colophon leaf: “This issue contains five exceedingly brilliant Drawings by the late Aubrey Beardsley which have been regarded as too free in design for general circulation... These Drawings are printed from the original blocks, and as only a few engraver’s proofs have previously been pulled, the impressions are perfectly clear, and may be regarded as proofs.” This set of illustrations represent Smithers’s last publication of the artist, having “sustained and enhanced Beardsley’s posthumous reputation” (James G. Nelson, Publisher To The Decadents, 2010) [39613] £800 9. In Memoriam [BEARDSLEY, Aubrey] [c1923]. Single card with design printed in black, a pastiche of Beardsley characters standing around the death bed of the artist. Although the drawing uses figures from Beardsley’s work it is not drawn by Beardsley. Underneath the illustration is printed, “In Memo- riam : Aubrey Vincent Beardsley : 1878 - 1898.” Card size 12.5 x 18cm, image size 20.7 x 14.3cm. In very good condition. Unidentified artist, probably drawn for a magazine article. Lasner 224 [34404] £350

16 “THE GODS BESTOWED ON MAX THE GIFT OF PERPETUAL OLD AGE” - OSCAR WILDE 10. The Works Of Max Beerbohm BEERBOHM, Max Heinemann, 1922. Ten volumes. Limited edition of 780 sets with volume one numbered 456 and signed by Beerbohm. Original harlequin buckram cloth with paper labels on the spine. A bright set with some fading to the spines, particularly the purple volume (as usual), otherwise a near fine, crisp set. Beerbohm came of age in the 1890s and was at the heart of its literary culture. His contribution to the first volume of The Yellow Books, an essay entitled ‘A Defence Of Cosmetics’ and written while he was still an undergraduate, earned him the title of decadent and gave the magazine a good deal of the notoriety on which its reputation rests. [6003] £1,200

17 A HIGHLIGHT OF 1890s BOOK ILLUSTRATION 11. Spenser’s Faerie Queen A Poem in Six Books, with the fragment mutabilitie. CRANE, Walter George Allen, 1894-7. Six volumes. One of 1000 sets printed on hand made paper. Edited by Thomas J. Wise. Each volume large 4to. Beautifully presented in publisher’s white cloth bindings with gilt embossed decoration and red lettering. Top edges are gilt and others are untrimmed. Wonderfully illustrated by Walter Crane, with decorative title pages, 88 full page illustrations plus head and tail pieces and decorative initials. A very good set indeed. A truly marvellous production and a striking example of Crane’s work. This work wonderfully displays the principles of the Arts and Craft movement with good quality paper and beautifully engraved, elegant decoration. Crane was closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, influenced by the teachings of John Ruskin he served an apprenticeship under William James Linton, an engraver favoured by Rossetti. [35934] £2,250

18 19 20 12. Thirty-Four Decorative Designs By Francis Crease with a Preface by Evelyn St John Waugh CREASE, Francis; [WAUGH, Evelyn] Privately Printed [1927]. First edition, sole printing, limited to sixty copies “for private circulation”. Folio. Original marbled paper covered boards with one of the Crease designs stamped on the front board. Pictorial title page plus 33 further Beardsley-esque designs by Francis Crease. A near fine copy. Francis Crease was Evelyn Waugh’s private art tutor while at Lancing, teaching him painting, calligraphy and graphic design. Waugh called him “one of two characters who were equal and opposite influences on my adolescence... a secret man” (A Little Learning). He also had some regard for Crease as an artist as a letter to Dudley Carew of 1922 attests, “...a wider outlook has given me a far larger realisation of Crease’s designs. I am convinced now that that man is a great artist. Before I hung my admiration on his character & did not understand his work fully. It is really great Carey. I am now convinced of that.” [39723] £2,500

21 13. Klosterheim Or The Masque, by The English Opium Eater [DE QUINCEY, Thomas] William Blackwood, T. Cadell, 1832. First edition. 12mo. Contemporary petrol blue morocco style cloth, with paper title label to the spine. Blue silk page marker present. A very good copy indeed, lacking terminal adverts. Some spotting to the preliminaries and bookplate to the front pastedown. De Quincey’s only original novel, a Gothic romance influenced by his early love of the works of Ann Radcliffe. In 1907 his daughter, Emily, wrote “The novels of his youth were of the Mrs Radcliffe order full of mysteries, murders, highwaymen, mysterious people and dark corners.“ De Quincey’s work, particularly his Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater, and the grotesque underworld it often recorded, proved a major inspiration for a number of writers in the decadent movement, and can be said to have played a significant role in the formulation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray. [36435] £225

22 14. Rund Um Berlin 55 Ansichten nach Momentaufnahmen in Photographiedruck KING, Jessie M. Globus Verlag, [1900]. First edition. Oblong folio with cloth spine and paper covered boards. The upper cover with a wirework design by Jessie M King, printed in green, blue, yellow and pink. Internally illustrated with a series of 55 pages of black and white photographs of Berlin, two of which are double page panoramas. A very good copy, some rubbing to the edges and colour loss to the corners. Ownership inscription of Carl Probst, an Austrian artist, on the title page. Rare in any condition. The cover design is the same as that used for the Centennial Edition of the Album von Berlin, which was probably one of the covers forming JMK’s first commission for Globus. When Globus decided that demand for the Centennial Album von Berlin was lessening they used the remaining stock, with new banner headings and contents, for the Rund um Berlin. It is suggested that initial demand exceeded the stock of wirework covers available and it was subsequently printed with an armorial cover, making this edition very scarce. [32835] £500

23 15. Little Miss Muffet Nursery Postcard KING, Jessie M. Miller and Lang, 1903. An original Jessie M. King postcard. Colour lithograph with metallic pigment on card stock. The colourful image is printed on textured card to give it a moire silk look. 14 x 9cm. Printed in pinks, greens and yellows heightened with gold, the image depicts Little Miss Muffet in a billowing dress, with Jessie’s trademark calligraphic lettering below, “Little Miss Muffet, Sat on her Tuffet, Eating her Curds and Whey.” A very good example of this rare postcard. Some minor marking to the borders and stamp and greeting to the rear. Keen to profit from the popularity of German postcards Glasgow printers Miller and Lang established the “National” series and commissioned Jessie King, as the foremost Scottish illustrator, to produce a series of six nursery rhyme watercolours. They were to be her first foray into full watercolour illustration. The endeavour proved costly

and Miller and Lang did not repeat their commission. Due to their ephemeral nature the postcards are rarely encountered. [39621] £150 16. Little Boy Blue Nursery Postcard KING, Jessie M. Miller and Lang, 1903. An original Jessie M. King postcard. Colour lithograph with metallic pigment on card stock. The colourful image is printed on textured card to give it a moire silk look. 14 x 9cm. Printed in pinks, greens and yellows heightened with gold, the image depicts Little Boy Blue with a Pre-Raphaelite maiden in atten- dance, with Jessie’s trademark calligraphic lettering below, “Little Boy Blue Come Blow Your Horn, The Cows in the Mead- ow, The Sheep in the Corn.” A very good example of this rare postcard. Some minor marking to the borders and stamp and greeting to the rear. [39623] £150

24 25 A JESSIE M. KING NECKLACE DESIGNED FOR LIBERTY 17. A Liberty Necklace Of Platinum, drawings were mainly based around floral patterns and drew heavily on her drawings for the headings and borders of her illustrations Moonstone And Diamonds for ‘The Defence of Guenevere’ published in 1904. “Necklaces of gold KING, Jessie M. wire, annealed and twisted into loops and flower heads... became the Liberty [c1905]. solid equivalent of the fine line drawings. Fasces of briars were easily A beautiful platinum necklace designed by Jessie King for Lib- translated into wax patterns for casting.” (Colin White, The Enchanted erty. Five pendants set with moonstones within decorative floral World of Jessie M. King). roundels. The design is sprinkled with small diamonds and the The great period of original Liberty designs in gold, silver and pew- chain is an intricate design so typical of the artist’s work. Housed ter for objects and jewellery lasted from the late 1890’s to about 1912, in the original velvet lined Liberty box. In excellent original con- during which time it established the look of English Art Nouveau (Ar- dition, with just a few small scratches to the moonstones. A gem was). Liberty’s designers worked anonymously, as the firm wished to of Art Nouveau jewellery and Glasgow design. promote its own brand rather than individual artists, so none of the A rare original Jessie M. King necklace in its original Liberty box. designs are marked. In some cases it is not possible to identify the art- Jewellery was one of the craft skills Jessie M. King was encouraged to ist, but as Jessie M. King was among one of the great British designers develop at the Glasgow School of Arts, where casting, enamelling and working for Liberty many of her designs have been catalogued. This swageing were on the curriculum. In the early 20th century Liberty necklace features in Victor Arwas’s book ‘Art Nouveau in Britain: were commissioning new designs for their jewellery catalogues and in From Mackintosh to Liberty - The Birth of a Style’, page 184. Its design 1905 Jessie, who was already providing fabric designs for them, sent a is typical of Jessie’s work in that period. number of sheets of jewellery designs for the firm’s consideration. The [39485] £12,000

26 18. Walking In The Woods KING, Jessie M. Unpublished, [c1910]. A detailed original drawing in pen, ink and wash on vellum. 27cm x 17cm. Signed in full in the lower left hand corner. Image in excellent condition. This image is an excellent example of Jessie King’s detailed and imaginative early style. With a fairy tale feel, the image includes bluebirds, a rabbit and a ha- loed figure. [29193] £8,500

27 19. Notre Dame KING, Jessie M. [c.1913]. A detailed original illustration by King. Pen and ink drawing on vellum, approximately 22.5cm x 15.5cm. Signed in full on the lower right hand corner of the image, with distinctive title lettering in the lower left hand corner. In addition there is an ink dedication by King below the image which reads, “To WF Forrester Esq with greetings from the ART- IST, Jessie M King”. A charming study of Notre Dame in Paris done for one of Jessie’s Paris sketch books. The image is in lovely condition with the vellum clean and fresh. Between 1911 and 1914 Jessie King and her husband, E. A. Taylor, lived and worked in Paris. During her time there Jessie made detailed sketch- es of some of her favourite Paris landmarks. She had hoped to make a book of them and indeed one or two were published in “Paris Past and Pres- ent”, which was published by the Studio in 1915 and edited by E. A. Taylor. [14489] £4,000

28 THE FIRST KELMSCOTT PRESS BOOK 20. The Story Of The Glittering Plain Which has been also called The Land of Living Men or The Acre of the Undying MORRIS, William Kelmscott Press, 1891. One of 200 copies. Original vellum, yapp fore-edge and ribbon ties. Hand made paper. Pictorial title page with ornamental borders. Wood cut initials. A very good copy indeed, very slight dustiness to the vellum. The first book to come from Morris’s Kelmscott Press. The printing of the 200 copies was completed in April and completely sold out by July. The story is a fantasy novel, which not only influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, but which remains accessible to modern day readers. [31650] £3,750

29 21. The Collected Works Of William Morris With Introductions by his Daughter, May Morris MORRIS, William Longmans, Green & Co, London, 1910 - 1915. Twenty-four volumes. 8vo. Limited to 1,050 numbered copies (of which 1,000 only are for sale), this set is number 720. Original hol- land-backed blue boards with printed paper labels on spines. All edges uncut. Spare labels tipped in at front. Each volume with a photogravure frontispiece. Plates include facsimiles (one colour) and examples of Kelmscott type and borders, folding map at end of volume 8. A very good set indeed, with slight chipping to some labels and marginal browning to the spines. The overall appearance is attractive, each volume being clean and tight. This is a lovely set of the definitive edition of Morris’ work, printed on good quality paper and with a large, bold type. The set includes the poetical works, prose romances and essays on art and politics as well as Morris’s translations from the classics, Early English, French and Icelandic Sagas. His daughter’s introductions to each volume chart the development of Morris’s literary, aesthetic and political passions. [17145] £2,500

30 22. Bohemia In London RANSOME, Arthur Dodd, Mead & Company, 1907. First US edition. Original brown pictorial cloth, lettered and decorated in green, beige and black. Top edge gilt others untrimmed. Sixteen black and white plates and further illustrations in the text by Fred Tay- lor. A very good copy indeed, the spine ends slightly rolled, and a little offsetting from the frontispiece. Described by Cowen as “Ransome’s first major work”, ‘Bohemia In London’ was written when Ransome was just 22 years of age, having recently moved to London and been introduced to bohemian life. It was published in the UK in September 1907, followed by this US edition two months later. PROVENANCE: From the collection of John Cowen, Ransome collector and scholar. [36739] £300

31 Oscar Wilde

32 23. Salome Drame En Une Acte WILDE, Oscar Librairie De L’Art Independant; London, Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893. First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s original purple paper wrappers, lettered in silver to the upper cover. A very good copy, with some browning to the margins of the wrappers but internally fresh. A couple of very small stab holes to the lower wrapper. The first appearance of Wilde’s play in print, published in Paris where it was first performed, having had its licence in London withdrawn by the Lord Chamberlain due to its depiction of biblical characters. Mason 348. [39609] £2,000

33 ONE OF 50 LARGE PAPER COPIES 24. Lady Windermere’s Fan A Play About Good Women WILDE, Oscar Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893. First edition, large paper issue, limited to 50 copies printed on hand made paper. 4to. Publisher’s brown buckram titled in gilt to the spine with gilt decoration to the covers designed by Charles Shannon. A near fine copy, with the spine and edges inevitably darkened, but the boards free from wear and the gilt bright. Internally, offsetting to the endpapers, but exceptionally fresh. The first of Wilde’s comic plays, which were to make his fortune and establish himself as the pre-eminent playwright of the 1890s. His previous plays, Vera, The Duchess of Padua and Salome, all tragedies, had either flopped or been banned. Wilde’s move to comedy enabled him to make use of a ready wit to create a play of manners which subtly pokes fun at its audience. This edition de luxe, uncommon by dint of its limitation, is now very seldom encountered in nice condition. [39389] £8,750

34 ONE OF 50 LARGE PAPER COPIES 25. A Woman Of No Importance WILDE, Oscar John Lane, 1894. First edition, one of 50 large paper copies printed on handmade paper. 4to. Original caramel buckram, with five gilt vignettes by Charles Shannon to each board and lettered in gilt with like vignettes to the spine. Fore- and bottom-edge untrimmed. A very good copy indeed, spine tanned as often and a trace of wear to the corners, but a crisp copy. Internally exceptionally clean and fresh. A Woman Of No Importance, written following the success of Lady Windermere’s Fan as Wilde’s fame rose to its highest pitch, was performed first at the Haymarket Theatre on April 19th 1893, having been composed while staying at Babbacombe, Torquay for the previous summer season. This limited edition of fifty copies was published simultaneously with the trade edition towards the end of 1894, in anticipation of the opening of An Ideal Husband the following January. Mason 365. [37889] £6,500

35 FIRST EDITION OF WILDE’S COMIC MASTERPIECE 26. The Importance Of Being Earnest A Trivial Comedy for Serious People WILDE, Oscar Leonard Smithers, 1899. First edition. Original mauve cloth with gilt decoration to the covers and spine. A very good copy indeed with a little spotting to the edge of the front board and a trace of general dustiness, but still showing good colour and bright gilt. Some scattered foxing to occasional pages. A well preserved copy. The author’s most famous play and comic masterpiece. The first edition is limited to only 1000 copies which, due to the light colour of the cloth, are seldom now found in nice condition. [38008] £3,500

36 De Profundis is the only literary work Wilde produced while in prison, and it is remarkable that he was able to produce it at all. Reflecting on the conditions of his sentence after his release, Wilde would write “deprived of books, of all human intercourse, isolated from every humane and humanizing influence... the wretched man who is confined in an English prison can hardly escape becoming insane” (CL 1047).

Fortunately for Wilde, he was visited by the Liberal MP Richard Haldane who“arranged for Wilde to be sent fifteen volumes, including Augustine’s Confessions and De Civitate Dei, Pascal’s Pensees, [and] Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua and Grammar of Assent” which all “constituted important models for the long confessional letter that Wilde was to compose in the last six months of his sentence” (Frankel).

Wilde began writing what became De Profundis, then a letter addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas, in the last months of 1896 and worked on it until April 1897. The twenty sheets of manuscript, each folded twice to make eighty pages, were never sent to Douglas, but given instead to Robert Ross in Dieppe, the day after Wilde’s release from prison in 1897, with the intention for Ross to one day publish it.

Ross published the letter with Methuen in 1905, with a special limited edition of 50 copies on Japon (Item 27), and a further limited edition of 200 copies on large handmade paper (Item 28). The result was a heavily redacted ver- sion of the original manuscript, with all controversial reference to Douglas carefully removed to such an extent that when Douglas came to review this edition in 1905 he was unable to discern the work’s origin as a letter to himself.

Ricketts’s designs for the cover vignettes, reproduced here, are particularly apt, showing first a bird behind prison bars, then a bird flying free and finally, at the foot of the cover, a star shining above the “great waters” that Wilde describes in the final, cathartic paragraph of the work.

37 ONE OF 50 DELUXE COPIES 27. De Profundis WILDE, Oscar Methuen and Co., 1905. First edition. One of fifty large paper copies printed on japon. Original publisher’s limp vellum binding with overlapping fore edges, decorated in gilt with vignettes by Charles Ricketts. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A near fine copy, with just a touch of spotting to the covers and dulling to the spine. Bookplate to front pastedown. The rare deluxe limited edition of the only literary work Wilde produced while in prison, limited to 50 copies in this format, and published by Robert Ross five years after his death. Mason 390. [37527] £15,000

38 ONE OF 200 LARGE PAPER COPIES 28. De Profundis WILDE, Oscar Methuen and Co., 1905. First edition. One of two-hundred copies printed on large handmade paper. Publisher’s original white buckram, decorated in gilt with vignettes by Charles Ricketts. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A very near fine copy, uncommonly clean and bright with just a couple of small marks to the buckram. Internally it is wonderfully fresh. Bookplate to front pastedown. The first edition of the only literary work Wilde produced while in prison, limited to 200 copies in this format, and published by Robert Ross five years after his death. Mason 389. [39601] £5,000

39 SIGNED BY JESSIE M. KING 29. A House Of Pomegranates WILDE, Oscar; KING, Jessie M. Methuen, 1915. First edition illustrated by Jessie M. King. 4to. Royal blue cloth covers with elaborate design in orange by JMK. Top edge gilt. Signed by Jessie M King on lower plate mount at page 2. Pictorial endpapers with a King design printed in striking silver. The sixteen colour plates are very striking, some in bold, bright colours and others in soft pastel shades. A very good copy indeed, some light foxing and occasional marks to the pages. Four Fairy Tales which were originally told by Wilde to his children. [37464] £2,250

40 W.B. Yeats

41 30. The Countess Kathleen And Various Legends and Lyrics YEATS, W.B. T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. First edition. Publisher’s quarter parchment over olive green boards, titled to spine with the ‘Cameo Series’ emblem to the upper cover. Engraved frontispiece by T.J. Nettleship. A near fine copy with just a little toning to the spine and pushing to the corners, but an exceptionally clean, crisp copy of a fragile book. Internally fresh and mainly unopened. One of 500 copies. The Countess Kathleen is the title of Yeats’s first play, but this also contains, as the title suggests, some of his best early verse including “Apologia addressed to Ireland in the coming days”, described by Yeats’s biographer, R.E. Foster as “the most powerful poetic rhetoric which he had yet written... Pace, inventiveness, rhythm and audacity struck the note already identified as uniquely Yeatsian; it also announced his arrival as a frankly political poet.” - (W. B. Yeats: A Life) [38288] £1,250

42 31. Poems YEATS, W.B. F. Fisher Unwin, 1895. First edition, one of 750 copies. 8vo. Original light brown cloth with gilt designs by H. Granville Fell. Decorative title page design by H. Granville Fell. A very good copy indeed, slightest of dustiness to the cloth and small mark to the top edge. Hinges tight and paper clean. [38236] £1,950

43 32. The Secret Rose YEATS, W.B. Lawrence & Bullen, 1897. First edition, first issue with Lawrence & Bullen at the base of the spine. Original dark blue cloth with elaborate gilt design by Althea Gyles to the upper cover and spine. Seven full page plates after pieces by Jack Yeats. A very good copy indeed, with light rubbing to the spine ends and neat ownership inscription on the front endpaper. One of the author’s best known works of prose, drawing upon Celtic mythology. It takes its title from the love poem that Yeats prefaces the book with. [27545] £1,250

44 33. Collected Works In Verse and Prose. Imprinted at the Shakespeare Head Press. YEATS, W.B. Chapman & Hall, 1908. First collected edition. Eight volumes. Large 8vo. Publishers’ primary (deluxe) binding of quarter vellum over grey cloth boards. Titles stamped in gilt and top edge gilt. Frontispiece portraits of W. B. Yeats by John Sargent, Jack B. Yeats, A. Mancini and Charles Shannon. A near fine set, clean and bright with a little dustiness to the spine of volume II and wear to the cloth of volume VIII. Selected and arranged by Yeats himself, this Collected Edition was printed in a small print run of only 1060 sets. Yeats was extremely pleased with the production, commenting that “I think nobody of our time has had so fine an edition – I believe it will greatly strengthen my position”. [33934] £3,000

45 34. Autobiographies Reveries Over Childhood And Youth And The Trembling Of The Veil YEATS, W.B. Macmillan, 1926. First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s green cloth lettered gilt and stamped in blind after a design by Thomas Sturge-Moore, in the decorative dustwrapper. Frontispiece portrait of the author after a drawing by his father J. B. Yeats, Memory Harbour by Jack B. Yeats reproduced in colour and tipped in on a black plate, lettered gilt, with three further plates - two after illustrations by J. B. Yeats and one after Charles Shannon’s portrait of W. B. Yeats. A fine copy, with a little spotting to the page edges, in a fine dustwrapper. [39047] £350

46 35. The Tower YEATS, W.B. Macmillan, 1928. First edition. Original green cloth, with a design by Thomas Sturge Moore blocked in gilt of the titular Tower, Yeats’s Ballylee Cas- tle, reflected in a pool of water, in the original pictorial dustwrapper of the same design. An immaculate, fine copy, with all but one gathering unopened, in a fine dustwrapper which is remarkably clean and fresh, with just a small scuff to the head of the spine and a very short closed tear to the lower panel. An exceptional copy of a work that contains “the greatest poetry of Yeats in his difficult later manner... [It] constitutes a peak in English poetry” (Connolly, 100 Key Books Of The Modern Movement) Wade 158. Connolly 56. [39600] £5,000

47 36. The Poems Of W. B. Yeats YEATS, W.B. Macmillan, 1949. First “definitive” edition of Yeats’s collected poems. 8vo. Two volumes. Number 142 of 375 sets printed on Glastonbury Ivory Toned Antique Laid paper and signed by the author. Publisher’s green buckram, lettered and decorated gilt. Top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait to each volume, the first by John S. Sargent and the second by Augustus John. A near fine set, spines slightly faded and spotted. The glassine jackets are creased and chipped, but have preserved the books very well indeed. “For some time before his death, W. B. Yeats was engaged in revising the text of this edition of his poems, of which he had corrected the proofs.” (Wade) The limitation sheets, signed by the author before his death in 1939, were retained by the publisher until the publication of this edition following the end of the Second World War. [38779] £2,500

48 49 JONKERS RARE BOOKS

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