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Hard cover, 8vo, blocked in sinuous octopus-like gilt pattern upon buff colored publisher's cloth with titles within a double ruled frame of gold to upper right of the design and with the cover design signed "LH" near title. Cover design spans both boards, with title in gold to spine. All edges gilt. Cream endpapers. Illustrated title page by Housman in a British Art Nouveau style with attenuated figures of fairies hovering over a sleeping prince, upon a field of Tudor roses. 8 full page and 6 chapter header or footer decorations. Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, with their colophon rear page. [4, w. half title, blank, title, blank], 77, [78], [2]pp. CONDITION: Overall, at least Very Good Plus. Spine is darkened and with some moderate scuff marks. Boards are clean, with some light marks of manufacturing glue soak-through perhaps at the front joint. Tips are crisp. Head and tail of spine have light rubbing. Gilt remains bright. Light foxing to front and rear flies, and to some page margins (in the area near gilding.) Book over-opened in one place (p. 49). **Irish Author JANE BARLOW (1857-1917) creates a socialist fable in verse about worker-fairies being mistreated by the rather despotic King Oberon in construction of his masterpiece of modern fairy-world construction, Elfintown, (built with natural materials such as flower-stem plumbing) but also subject to the continual destructive powers of rain and wind. Strike actions and negotiations ensue. Notes of Jonathan Swift social satire might be found.**The intriguing black and white pen and ink illustrations (and cover design) of the LAURENCE HOUSMAN (1865 -1959) make this a very special book. Known latterly as primarily an author playwright and social reformer, Housman began his career in art, trained at the Lambeth School of Art and Royal College of Art in London. This work adopts an art nouveau style which pays some homage perhaps to the work of Aubrey Beardsley or Jessie M. King. It has been noted that his artistic output only spanned about ten years, after which he focused solely on his writing. His friendship and financial support of contemporary Oscar Wilde through the latter's legal troubles of the 1890's was noted in his autobiography: "... what I admired most was the quiet uncomplaining courage with which he accepted an ostracism against which, in his lifetime, there could be no appeal." (L. Housman, "The Unexpected Years," London: Jonathan Cape, 1936.) This compassion extended to other causes including feminism, women's suffrage, gay rights and secular humanism, all causes to which he actively organised. Barton: Watson, 1908, J. Sutherland, (1989), p. 44, 308. (AMJ)
Ref: EIRE 9668
$725.00 $580.00