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Fifth Edition, of 1896 original. Hard cover, 8vo, in green cloth , the boards blocked in gilt with design by Will H. Bradley in a twining, Art Nouveau depiction of a young woman's face in profile, repeated among twining organic flowering vines to front board and along spine. Rear board is plain. Printed on laid paper, top edge gilt, other page edges untrimmed. 307pp plus 1897 dated publisher's catalogue in 16pp. Printer's colophon of John Wilson and Son, University Press. **CONDITION: Very Good Plus, with one lightly bumped corner upper right board and one small dent at fore edge board. Head of spine lightly crimped, as seen. Otherwise very lightly age toned, gilt remaining bright. Some bookseller notations in pencil to paste downs. Joints and hinges in order. **This turn of the century "romantic novel" is actually a rather comic and modern satiric take on a thirty-year old English bachelor's belated quest for romantic fulfillment. Starting out with the highest of ideals and a poetic bent, he literally hits the road, rather in Don Quixote style, to wander along the byways of Sussex in search of this mystical dryad, the woman of his dreams. At an inn, he accumulates some personal remnants of a young lady named Sylvia Joy, around whom he builds a fantasy of perfection and devotes himself to finding her. Along the way, though, he happily partakes in some casual affairs, and encounters various couples who begin to temper his Romantic expectations of the perfection of the marital state, in a story with almost Shakespearean levels of coincidence and humor. He will, in the end, find his intended, after a few brushes with some radical modern thinking, and meeting several " New Women" liberated from traditional mores. (In this, the work has been described as a bridge between the Romantic and Decadent movements.) It is a wonderful read, all the more so because written by a "moonstruck" male.**Liverpool-born AUTHOR and poet RICHARD LE GALLIENNE(1866-1947), had a complex personal life, with several marriages as well as an early affair with the writer Oscar Wilde. He was associated with The Rhymers Club, Yeats and would publish books of poetry, biography as well as novels, and contributed to the Yellow Book. His travels took him to New York, France and Monaco. He was also father to celebrated actress Eva Le Gallienne. Massachusetts typographer and graphic designer WILL H. BRADLEY's (1868-1962) work is very collectible. He worked earliest in his career at the University Press, Boston, thereafter at his own Springfield, MA Wayside Press, and later at New York's William E. Rudge. Very reminiscent of the book cover design work of Laurence Housman: See our items Nos. 9729 and 9668 for these cover designs. Some of Bradley's original designs were sold on to be used by other publishers, such as tJohn Lane and The Bodley Head. Bambace p. vii). REF: A. Bambace, "Will H. Bradley: His Work, A Bibliographical Guide," (Oak Knoll, New Castle DE, 1995.) A14. Morris and Levin (2000) No. 70. (AMJ)
Ref: FICT20 9735
$235.00