67 pages, Title page printed in red and black and with two initials designed and woodcut with a laurel leaf border by Charles Ricketts, text printed in red and black, several sections unopened.
Bound in full red morocco by Riviere and Son with an arts and craft design of rules and circles, with gilt turn-ins, stamped HR at the bottom of the rear turn-in and stamped with the initial V.P. (Vale Press) and the base of the spine.
A fine copy.
The colophon reads, 'The End of the Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney: The text carefully prepared from the earliest editions by John Gray; the ornaments designed & cut on the wood by Charles S. Ricketts, under whose supervision the book has been printed at the Ballantyne Press.'
Sold by Messrs. Hacon & Ricketts, at the Sign of the Dial, 52 Warwick Street, Regent Street.
London m.d.ccc.xcviii.
210 copies. (8 on vellum)
A vignette V/P on the page preceding the colophon page (illustrated below).
Cave (Roderick) The Private Presses, (Faber and Faber, London 1971), page 150, 'Purists have objected that the Vale Press (as it was called) was not private with even more vigour than they have about Kelmscott. The original intention had been that Ricketts should set up his press in the Vale, Chelsea, but planning regulations forbade him starting what was technically a shop in a residential quarter. He therefore arranged for a press and workmen at the Ballantyne Press (a commercial firm of printers) to be reserved to work exclusively on Vale Press book under his personal supervision. Part of the purist' objection no doubt stemmed from the fact that Vale Press books were advertised and sold with considerable efficiency. John Lane acted as publisher, Ricketts's partner W.L. Hacon supplied financial backing, leaving Ricketts himself free to concentrate upon the design of the books. He was no mere follower of Kelmscott; though he admired Morris's work he was not uncritical of it, and for his own books he had thought out his own aesthetic which he applied with fastidious care.'
- Overall Condition: A Fine Copy
- Size: 8vo (235 x 157 mm)
- Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
- Contact Person: Paul Mills
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 021 794 0600
- Preferred Payment Methods: Visa & Mastercard via PayGate secure links and Bank transfers.
- Trade Associations: ABA - ILAB, SABDA
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