Publisher's quarter red leather binding with gilt titles on spine, beige coarse cloth boards, Edmund Caldwell's gilt embossed monogram on front panel, and the publisher's device in blind stamp on the rear panel. All page edges dyed red.
This fine example of Rhodesian book production was limited to 250 copies only. The volumes were numbered by hand with volume I being signed by Frank Read and volume II by his widow.
The limitation page reads:
'This art folio, Jock - the Art of Edmund Caldwell is printed in a numbered, limited edition of Two Hundred and Fifty copies. Numbers One to Two Hundred and Forty are Subscribers copies - Numbers Two Hundred and Forty One to Two Hundred and Fifty are Presentation copies. The number of this Folio is 193. This is a Hand Made Book.'
Frank Read's signature follows in ballpoint pen over the publisher's device directly below the limitations advice.
Both volumes still have their original packaging with the subscriber's postal details printed on a label that has been pasted on the cover. Both boxes have the number 193 written on the cover in black ink. The name of the receiver appears on the list of subscribers in both volumes.
VOLUME I: 260pp
VOLUME II: 218pp
In the foreword to volume I written by Cecily Niven, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick's daughter and last living child, she shares a few valuable memories about Caldwell who she knew as a child and who she saw working on the Jock illustrations. When referring to the Frank Read Press Folio Edition she assures the reader that "it will give endless pleasure to everyone fortunate enough to own a copy".
Cecily Niven writes in the foreword to volume II, published four years later, that "after Read's sudden passing this work was finished and prepared for publication by his wife Dora". She also noted that it was very surprising to find such a sophisticated publishing centre as the Frank Read Press in the middle of the African bush.
- Binding Condition: Fine
- Overall Condition: Fine
- Size: 45,5 x 32,5cm
