“A SIMPLE ROMANTIC NARRATIVE TRANSMUTED BY SHEER GLOW OF BEAUTY INTO A PROSE POEM”

HUDSON, W(illiam) H(enry). Green Mansions. Mount Vernon: Peter Pauper Press, [1943]. Tall octavo, contemporary three-quarter burgundy morocco gilt, raised bands, top edge gilt. $300.

Illustrated edition of Hudson’s “romance of the tropical forest,” with 12 full-page lithographic illustrations by John de Martelly, as well as historiated initials and page numbers. Handsomely bound.

"The animistic overtones of the book, and its intimations of love and death, made a deep impression… by the time of his death Hudson was generally recognized as a masterly writer on the natural world" (Drabble, 416, 480). Published when Hudson was 63, Green Mansions remains his best-known and best-loved work. First published 1904. Ransom, Selective Check Lists of Press Books, Peter Pauper Press 82. Evidence of bookplate removal.

Fine condition.