Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #83691
Cost: $450.00

Shelley

Francis Thompson

"TO THE LAST, HE WAS THE ENCHANTED CHILD": LIMITED MOSHER EDITION OF THOMPSON'S ESSAY ON SHELLEY, 1912

(SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe) THOMPSON, Francis. Shelley. An Essay. Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1912. Slim quarto, contemporary full blind-stamped burgundy morocco, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut and partially unopened; pp.67. $450.

Limited Mosher edition, one of 900 copies, of poet Francis Thompson's renowned posthumous essay on Percy Shelley, an especially elegant copy bound in full crushed morocco.

In this beautiful Thomas B. Mosher edition of poet Francis Thompson's posthumous essay on Percy Shelley, Thompson passionately celebrates Shelley's genius, noting: "For astounding figurative opulence he yields only to Shakespeare." To contemporary critics, Francis Thompson's own poetry richly displayed "the disembodied passion of Shelley" (Fortnightly Review). To G.K. Chesterton, Thompson, like Shelley, was simply "a great poet" (Chesterton, All Things Considered, 277). Limited edition, one of 900 copies, printed on Van Gelder hand-made paper. Initially issued in The Dublin Review, 1908; first published in book form in 1909. Also included in this volume is a poem dedicated to Thompson, "The Quiet Singer," by Charles Hanson Towne, prefaced by Mosher. Title page printed in red and black; with ornamental head- and tailpieces. Bookplate of bibliophile Abel E. Berland, whose famous library included over 500 literary treasures. When interviewed by Nicholas Basbanes for his book, A Gentle Madness, Berland said of his prized collection: "The most important thing I can say to you about these books is that I never take them for granted."

A fine copy.

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