COMUS: A MASK

275 x 178 mm. (10 7/8 x 7"). 5 p.l., 25, [3] pp. EXCELLENT ORIGINAL DUN-COLORED MOROCCO DESIGNED BY BLAIR HUGHES-STANTON AND BOUND BY GEORGE FISHER AT THE GREGYNOG BINDERY, covers with side panels composed of dense vertical lines ruled in gilt and blind, upper cover with a small panel ruled in gilt with title and author lettered in blind, raised bands, gilt-ruled compartments, titling in blind, wide turn-ins with panels matching the covers, top edge gilt, others plain. Housed in a fine matching box backed in tan morocco by Delrue. With wood-engraved frontispiece, title vignette, five plates, and one illustration by Blair Hughes-Stanton. Printed in Baskerville type on Japanese vellum. Pastedown with bookplate of Mary Priscilla Smith; front free endpaper INSCRIBED to Lascelles Abercrombie BY GWENDOLINE DAVIES, and SIGNED BY GWENDOLINE AND MARGARET DAVIES. Accompanied by several Gregynog Festival Programmes and Orders of Service published in the 1930s, and a prospectus for Abercrombie's "Lyrics and Unfinished Poems," published in 1940, all housed in a green cloth drop-back box. Harrop 19; Hughes-Stanton 10. Just barely perceptible rubbing to spine bands, otherwise a pristine copy. With extremely important inscriptions and provenance, this is one of the special Gregynog copies of Milton's famous masque, offered here in the first binding designed by artist Blair Hughes-Stanton; and, in Harrop's words, it is one of six Hughes-Stanton creations that "remain for many collectors the most exciting and sought after of all the Gregynog bindings." Our binding was executed by George Fisher, who noted that Hughes-Stanton's designs "afforded [him] ample opportunity to display [his] skill as a finisher." Fisher (1879-1970) apprenticed at Riviere, began doing bindings for the Gregynog Press in 1924, and rose to the top of the finishing craft. Relatively few in number, his volumes are among the most outstanding products of early 20th century binding art. In addition to designing the present binding, Hughes-Stanton created the woodcuts for "Comus." Art critic John Gould Fletcher declared the illustrations "delicious," admiring the artist's deft use of "black and white with fullest freedom and variation into a range of greys that continually suggests, if it does not state, color." This skillful creation of tone and texture is especially effective in the woodcuts depicting characters from the play, with diaphanous gowns, delicate lace, and detailed fabrics expertly rendered. From 1931-34, Hughes-Stanton (1902-81) produced woodcuts for six memorable books issued by the Gregynog Press; his engravings--which placed considerable demands on Gregynog pressmen--have a delicacy and fineness of line that was at once revolutionary and breathtaking. Although Eric Gill is the more readily recognized of these two central figures in the English wood engraving revival, he never approached Hughes-Stanton in terms of intricacy. The Gregynog Press was founded by two unmarried sisters, Gwendoline (1882-1951) and Margaret (1884-1963) Davies, who inherited the remarkable sum of ?500,000 each from their industrialist grandfather. In 1922, they moved to Gregynog Hall near Newtown, Wales, and set out to establish a center for the arts. With the help of Robert Ashwin Maynard, they founded the Gregynog Press, which produced 42 works between 1923 and 1942, eight of them in Welsh. Cave says that the books printed by the Gregynog Press "more than bear comparison with the work of any other private press," and "in the design and execution of bindings, the Gregynog Press was far superior to any, the Doves Press included." Our volume is distinguished by its presentation inscription, penned by Gwendoline: "To Professor Lascelles Abercrombie to remind him of the Second Festival of Music & Poetry at Gregynog. June 15-18. 1934. From Gwendoline P. Davies/ Margaret S. Davies." Abercrombie was a poet and critic, and presumably a fan of the Festival of Music and Poetry, Wales' oldest clas.…