Eric Gill, cranach press (10 results)

Vellum-backed Boards. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Only Edition. pp 60, [4], title page and initial letter by Eric Gill printed in red, teg, no. 271 of 450 copies, dw with spine slightly faded, slipcase with spine faded also, slight trace of mark on fep where bookplate removed, a very nice copy. Size: 8vo.

Gill, Eric (illustrator). Tall octavo. 31, (1)pp. From an edition of 268 copies, this is one of 200 copies on handmade Maillol-Kessler paper. Printed in red and black and illustrated throughout with wood engravings and decorated initials by Eric Gill. This ancient dialogue between the Bride and Groom is one of the most lyrical love passages of all time. Bound in half vellum and plain boards with original dust wrapper and slipcase. T.e.g. A fine copy with the usual slight foxing to the fore-edge and some to vellum on spine. Bifolium listing previous Cranach Press publications laid in, along with another bifolium Christmas greeting, featuring a wood engraving from the book. A book of distinction, sought after as a major illustrated, private press book and one of the outstanding efforts from the Cranach Press. It is perhaps worth noting that this book appeared at a time when the effects of the Great Depression were really being felt. This was not lost on Kessler, who remarked in a letter to Gill that "one must hope that a sufficient number of people and fortunes have survived the crisis and will continue to buy fine books and thus make their production possible." (Müller Krumbach 56; Gill 284; The Artist & the Book 121).

[Text in Latin]. Pp. 32+[2](colophon, blank), text printed in red & black, 11 wood-engraved illustrations (7 full page), and 18 decorative initials by Eric Gill; narrow roy. 8vo; qr. vellum, spine lettered in gilt, buff papered boards with vellum corner tips; t.e.g., others uncut; plain dust wrapper, slightly foxed, edges lightly rubbed, the backstrip slightly browned; within papered slipcase matching the dust wrapper, slightly soiled, edges lightly rubbed and faintly browned; book label of David Levine, Sydney, on the upper pastedown, outer leaves and edges slightly foxed; Cranach Press, Weimar, 1931. Latin version; one of 200 numbered copies thus (total edition 268). Gill 284; Brinks 91 (and also pp. 146-167). *One of the last books from the Cranach Press; issued in three versions: French, German and Latin. Although located in Germany, Count Harry Kessler's press was directly inspired by the English private presses.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Aristide Maillol / Eric Gill (illustrator). 336x256mm (leaves 330x251mm), [8], [1-3], 4-110, [10] pp. With 43 original woodcuts by Aristide Maillol, initials by Eric Gill and ornamented by Maillol. Copy 18 of 225 (264) of the Latin / English edition on Maillol-Kessler handmade paper, bound in quarter-holland over blue paper-covered boards, paper title-label to the backstrip, spare title-label tipped-in to rear endpapers. One of the most celebrated Press books of the 20th century. 'For me this work of the Cranach Press is the unrivalled highlight of the Modern Art of the Book' (Georg Alexander Mathey, quoted by Brinks), Edward Gordon Craig's Hamlet notwithstanding. The project was very long in its gestation (1914 - 1927) and involved a multinational group of talents including Kessler himself, Maillol, Eric Gill and the printers J H Mason (ex-Doves Press) and Harry Gage-Cole (ex-Kelmscott, Doves and later at Ashendene). If one includes the matter of type design, the list grows to include Emery Walker, Edward Johnston and the punchcutter Edward Prince - essentially a roll-call of the early Private Press movement. As always with the Cranach Press magnum opi (ie the Hamlet, the Eclogues and the Song of Solomon), the variants are complex. Firstly the book was offered in Latin/German, Latin/French and Latin/English editions (as befitting the international mix of the principal contributors), this copy being from the English edition. The limitations for this edition consisted of either vellum (six copies), Imperial Japon (33 copies) and finally 225 copies on the specially-made 'Maillol-Kessler' paper made from hemp and linen as here, which was the subject of much experimentation and perfectionism. Neither Brinks nor Muller-Krumbach record full details of the binding of the Maillol-Kessler paper copies, but it seems likely that only the English edition was offered in quarter-holland over blue boards, as here. Typical of private press books of the period, such bindings were only ever intended as a basic and temporary measure prior to a customer commissioning his/her own more permanent binding. Somewhat ironically, surviving copies in these bindings are now generally regarded as desirable examples of the as-issued state. Perhaps reflecting the reverence with which the Cranach Press is held in the Anglophone bibliophile world (and a limitation smaller by about 30 copies), the English edition appears to be scarcer today compared to its German and French cousins. A most pleasing, original and authentic copy therefore, with the additional attraction of the larger of the two paper sizes recorded by Brinks, and overall Very Good indeed. Condition: Internally bright, crisp, no inscriptions, the small blind-embossed stamp of Dr Trevor Weston of Neatham Mill, proprietor of The Clarion Publishing Company, to the lower corner of the final endpaper, a few scattered foxing spots present on around twenty pages but none impinging on the images or text (as is often seen, this copy being better than average in our experience - despite the care taken with its formulation the Maillol-Kessler paper seems more susceptible to foxing than many of its handmade contemporaries). The binding with a little browning around the edges of the upper board, crushes to foredge foot corners, cloth evenly darkened, a hairline tear and a small loss to a corner of the title-label (although the original spare is bright and intact, so could now be used as intended). Brinks 67, Muller-Krumbach 43.

Hardcover. First edition. 31 pages, 26 x 13.5 cm. Limited edition, copy 180 of 200 designed by Count Harry Kessler: printed in red and black in Jenson Antiqua on hand-made Maillol Kessler paper with watermark of the Cranach Press. 11 wood engraved illustrations (seven are full page) and 18 initials by Eric Gill. Laid-in, "Former Publications Of The Cranach Press." which lists three tittles -- The Ecologues of Virgil, Hamlet & The Duinese Elegies. An almost as new copy save for a few small toned fore-edge spots. THE ARTIST AND THE BOOK. 121. EVAN GILL 284. Quarter vellum and gilt lettered tan parchment boards. Fine in fine plain wrapper in matching fine board slipcase.

First edition, first printing; limited edition, number 197 of 230 copies on handmade Maillol-Kessler paper and signed by the translators; large 8vo; text in English and German, designed by Count Harry Kessler, printed in red and black in Edward Johnston italic cut by E. Prince & G.T. Friend, wood-engraved initials by Eric Gill, occasional scattered spotting; publisher's vellum-backed boards, the odd spot to covers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Kessler established the Cranach Press to produce finely printed translations of classic non-German literature. So when the Woolfs decided to produce a translation going in the other direction they decided it would be natural to commission Kessler to print the edition for them. The result was one of the triumphs of the press and coincidentally one of the Sackville-West's enduring contributions to world literature. Cross & Ravenscroft-Hulme A25; Woolmer 268.

No 42 of 250 copies on hand-made paper of the French edition (the total edition was 292, and there were also English and German editions). 43 woodcut illustrations by Aristide Maillol, head-line of the title page and initial letters cut by Eric Gill with ornament by Maillol. Italic type designed by Edward Johnston and the punches for the main type were cut by Edward Prince, supervised by Emery Walker, based on Jenson type designed in Venice in 1473. Hemp and linen paper made by Gaspard Maillol and known as Maillol-Kessler paper. Printed under the supervision of Count Kessler and J.H. Mason at the Cranach Press. Folio, loose as issued in the original brown printed paper wrappers with image by Maillol printed on the front and housed in the original quarter parchment portfolio with linen edges, lettering printed in sanguine on the upper cover and spine and with the original linen ties. A remarkably fresh and clean copy, the portfolio has some wear, dust soiling and rubbing with some wear to the fold-ins but it has done its job in protecting the book. The first and as the Press's historian Brink writes "arguably the greatest book of the Cranach Press", dedicated by Harry Kessler to "the master of book-printing, the friend and adviser of William Morris, Emery Walker". The Cranach Eclogues had a long slow birth having been interrupted by the First World War. Most of the designs were done by 1914 and printed began early that year. It was then put on hold during the war, in which the pressman Erich Dressler was killed, and resumed in June 1925. The English edition was printed even later in 1927. Many see it as the most beautiful book of the Cranach Press, even taking into account the striking Hamlet, and Kessler wrote about deeply moved he was when looking at Maillol's Eclogues woodcuts "here an art has been created which answers in the affirmative to the world as a whole, and which restores to this world its innocence and its bliss, which is devoted to it in awe and in bliss, and therefore is an art which is religious in the Greek sense".

Gill, Eric (illustrator). Tall octavo. 32, (2)pp. From the French edition of 164 copies, this is one of 50 on Japon. Printed in blue and black, and illustrated throughout with eleven wood engravings and decorative initials by Eric Gill. This ancient dialogue between the Bride and Groom is one of the most lyrical love passages of all time. Bound in full orange morocco by Otto Dorfner, with gilt tooling and titling to covers. T.e.g. Small spot of discoloration to upper cover, otherwise a fine copy of a book of distinction, sought after as a major illustrated private press book and one of the outstanding efforts of the Cranach Press. It is worth noting that this book appeared at a time when the effects of the Great Depression were really being felt. This was not lost on Kessler, who remarked in a letter to Gill that "one must hope that a sufficient number of people and fortunes have survived the crisis and will continue to buy fine books and thus make their production possible." Housed in a fleece-lined drop-back box. (Müller Krumbach 56; Gill 284; The Artist & the Book 121).

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. First edition of this translation and first edition in English. Translated from the German by V. Sackville-West and Edward Sackville-West. Large octavo. 132pp. Quarter vellum gilt and lavender paper-covered boards, topedge gilt. Text in English and German on facing pages. Small owner name stamp and Johannesburg bookseller ticket on front pastedown, a little scattered foxing else a near fine copy in very good or better spine-tanned original unprinted dust jacket and original unprinted slipcase with a bit of browning and moderate wear. Copy number 179 of 230 numbered copies Signed by Vita and Edward Sackville-West. Beautifully designed and produced, Count Harry Kessler planned the format of this volume, Eric Gill designed and cut the initials on wood, and printed for the Hogarth Press by the Cranach Press on handmade Maillol-Kessler paper with the watermark of the Cranach Press. Seldom found in dust jacket and box.

One of only 50 de luxe copies printed on japon with roman numerals, this L or no.50, of a total edition of 158. There were other editions in Latin and German. 11 original woodcuts and 13 initials by Eric Gill, with headlines across each page printed in red. Tall thin 4to., in a fine binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe of full red crushed morocco with gilt rules round each side and using Gill titling on the upper cover, spine in compartments with raised bands, turn-ins with gilt fillet and signed by S&S on the front turn-in, top edge gilt, others uncut. A superb copy. The book was the last to come from Kessler's Cranach Press and was a triumph. Kessler himself expressed his enthusiasm for Gill's engravings in a letter to the artist "I think it is one of the most beautiful series of illustrations produced in modern times". Cave, the Private Press experts, believed that the Song of Songs was one of the three exceptional items printed by the Cranach Press, the other two being the Hamlet and the Eclogues. Sangorski & Sutcliffe had made all the morocco bindings for the vellum copies of this French edition. There are variants of the japon de luxe edition with blue lettering.