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Hard cover, small 8vo (measuring 5 x 7 7/8 inches), in half calf with hand-printed, paper-covered boards, the design rolled and mono-printed. Embossed and stained banding vertically and horizontally on the calf side of the boards; the spine with similar banding. The title, author and floral decoration on the spine done in blind, heightened with flecks of gilt. Hand-made laid paper, with the page edges sponged a dark green. Satanick typeface. Small pencil signature of a prior owner to ffep. **Originally bound in yapp-edged chamois, this item has been rebound (20th century) in a beautifully proportioned, fine binding by "R.A. Smith, Washington D.C." whose undated stamp is on the verso of the ffep.** Letter-press printed in black and red with original, hand carved wood borders and initial capitals of a floral "frittillaria" design used throughout. This item is considered among the best of the early works of Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Press, an American take on British Craft printing. Hubbard travelled to England and met William Morris in 1892 and came back to New York greatly impressed by the works of the Kelmscott Press. Condition: Very Good Plus. There is very minor wear to the leather of the top board. Inside, there is a re-glue apparent along the gutter of pp. 41-42. A few small spots of glue appear on a few other pages. Some small marks of soiling appear symmetrically at pp. 42-43--probably the remains of a pressed flower. Generally, though, this is a beautiful item, bright and fresh and unique. Tennyson's "Maud" first published in 1850, a chivalric love poem, taking place in a garden. See Susan Otis Thompson, Plate 92, p. 174. in "American Book Design and William Morris," Oak Knoll, (1996). Ransom, R 125: No. 43.
Ref: USAC 8806
$245.00