FIRST EDITION OF KIRKCUDBRIGHT, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED BY JESSIE M. KING
KING, Jessie M. Kirkcudbright. A Royal Burgh. London & Glasgow: Gowans and Gray, 1934. Slim octavo, original white paper wrappers, original pictorial glassine. $600.
First edition, with illustrated title pages and 17 beautiful full-page pen-and-ink illustrations by Jessie M. King, in original color pictorial glassine.
A member of the Glasgow School and the preeminent book illustrator of the Glasgow movement, “Jessie M. King evolved a highly individual Art Nouveau style which derived, not from Beardsley, but from Botticelli” (Ray, 203). In this book, King provided an illustrated guide to the town of Kirkcudbright, Scotland, where she lived with her husband, fellow artist E.A. Taylor.
Text generally clean, light occasional foxing and discoloration to fragile pictorial glassine. A lovely copy.