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Hake, Thomas Gordon, Arthur Hughes (illus.), and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (cover design), PARABLES
AND TALES (London: Chapman & Hall, 1872). First edition,
18 x 12cm (8vo), in publisher's dark aqua fine net-grain cloth w/gilt
design by Rossetti to fr. cover & gilt title (by Hughes?) to spine,
a.e.g., [i-viii], [1] 2-98, [99-104 publ. cat.] pp. w/frontis & 8
full-page wood engravings by the Dalziels after Hughes. Printed
at the Camden Press, London. From the collections of Stanley
Scott (small label to rear pastedown) & Alan
Clodd. Binding Very Good (corner tips sl. bumped & worn,
& lt. tidemark to fr. ep. & fore-edge of rear cover); contents
Very Good (recto of half-title & final advert page browned, &
lt. tidemarks to upper fore-edges of 1st 13 leaves). Rossetti
p.43, White 171, Reid 92, Fredeman 48.6 & 93.33, Ray 166D (binding
repr. p.102) & 180, Ball 59 & 161, Colbeck 2, de Beaumont 123,
Goldman 242. (Inv. #804) C$2,000 By 20 Sept. 1872 Rossetti had sent Hake a sketch for the design, "a simple piece of floral decoration."* However, Hake replied that he was hoping for a design more representative of his poems, so Rossetti began work on the new design & ca.29 Sept. advised Hake's son Alfred that he was trying "to afford a sort of joint symbol - the cradle & spade for birth & death, the Lily of the Valley & Deadly Nightshade as the symbols chosen by the poet to represent the influences affecting them, the crown of thorns for such sacredness as may attend the struggle, & the stars finding their way thence into the cradle."* On 8 Oct. Rossetti wrote to Hake: "Today at last I am sending you the design for the cover.... The colour used for the binding should be the precise deep greenish blue which Ellis uses for his publications - i.e. Swinburne's, some of Morris's, & my books. By rights the design should be stamped in gold on both sides, which makes the thing far more complete, but if this is not done, then the obverse side should be left blank, not stamped with the design ungilt, which is barbarous. I will write on the sketch itself a few explanations for the man who is to cut it. Much the best man is one who rejoices in the name of De Lacy, & who cuts for Ellis."* On 18 Dec. Rossetti received a proof for the binding, & expressed his reservations to W.T. Watts-Dunton: "The cloth is an approach to the right colour, but not the right one, & the gilding is not nearly deep & coppery enough in tone."* Happily, the trade issue conforms to Rossetti's original binding instructions. There has been some discussion about which binding is less common, the decorated or plainer one: Fredeman states that "a very few copies were issued with a cover design by Rossetti,"* while Ray (166D) suggests that the plain one is rarer. We have seen at least 10 copies with the Rossetti design, but only 3 without--in any case this book is decidedly uncommon in either binding. * W.E. Fredeman, "'Woodman Spare That Block': The ... Illus. & Book Designs of DGR" (JPRS Spring 1996). |
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Hake, Thomas Gordon, and Arthur Hughes (illus.), PARABLES AND TALES
(London: Chapman & Hall, 1872). First edition, 19 x 12.5cm
(8vo), in publisher's green fine linen-texture cloth w/gilt ruling
& circular device to fr. cover & gilt title to spine, a.e.
untrimmed, [i-viii], [1] 2-98, [99-104 publ. cat.] pp. w/frontis &
8 full-page wood engravings by the Dalziels after Hughes. Printed
at the Camden Press, London. From the collection of Alan
Clodd. Binding Very Good (extremities sl. rubbed, & small
stain & vertical string-mark to rear cover); contents Near-Fine
(recto of half-title & final page of adverts browned). White
171, Reid 92, Fredeman 48.6 & 93.33, Ray p.103 ("the decorated
cover seems to be commoner than the plain cloth binding"--but he
neglects to mention that the plain-bound issue, w/its untrimmed edges,
is sl. larger in format), de Beaumont 123, Goldman 242. (Inv.
#805) C$800 Home Page |