Catullus, Tibullus et Propertius: [Opera]

Pickering miniature edition. 48mo (8.5 x 5cm), pp. [iv] 61, [1], 46, 93, [1], incl. engraved titlepage vignette, head- & tail-pieces + single engraved frontis by Stothard. In Latin. Full tan calf, four gilt-ruled spine bands, red morocco title label lettered in gilt, single gilt-ruled border to boards. All edges red. Yellow endpapers. Rubbed at joints and extremities. Red stain bleed to edges of endpapers, circular heraldic ex libris of Hornsby Wright to front pastedown, pencil POI by Phillida Gili to ffep, pen inscription to rear pastedown: "38 VE 49," blind stamp to title page, a few occasional fox spots, else, clean, tight and bright. Very good An important association copy of this finely bound 1824 Pickering edition of Latin poets Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius, from the libraries of Valentine Ackland and British artist Phillida Gili, featuring a miniature memorial inscription to its rear pastedown commemorating the resumption of VA's relationship with Elizabeth Wade White in 1949: "38 VE 49". Likely, then, a gift to VA from her lover to mark their reunion? VA and Sylvia Townsend Warner likely met Gili through her parents, Reynolds Stone and Janet Woods, who themselves became friends through VA's antiques business, which sheran from the long sun-parlour of their Frome Vauchurch home in the 1950s. VA, whose shop "was especially popular with collectors of dolls' houses and miniature objects" (Bingham, 2021), evidently also appreciated miniature books herself. One of a collection of four miniature books from VA's library that we have handled (with yet another featuring a gift inscription from the first period of their affair: "V.A from E.W.W 1:1:39,"), these items suggest, perhaps, that miniature books were a lover's currency of sorts between the two women. They certainly travel compactly and can be packaged easily, a consideration for such a long-standing transatlantic affair. In an odd parallel with VA, EWW also went on to trade in antiquarian and collectable objects, running White & Holahan, Books with her lover Evelyn Holahan from their Connecticut home, the Patch, from the 1940s. Upon her death in November 1969, VA, whose success as an antiques dealer had derived in part from her "sense of objects as individual things, relics of people and containers of their love" (ibid), bequeathed many of her own books to friends, hence, Phillida Gili's inscription: "left to me by Valentine Ackland, December 1969". Keynes, p.56; Frances Bingham (2021) Valentine Ackland: A transgressive life (Bath: Handheld Press).…