Coila's Whispers

Number 6 of 50 copies printed. Small quarto (8 1/4 x 6 inches; 210 x 152 mm.). [ii blank], vi, 160, [i], [3 blank]. Etched half-title drawing by William M. Thackeray. Five full-page etchings on india paper by George Cruikshank. Bound ca. 1920 by Rivière & Son (stamp signed on verso of front endpaper) in full dark blue crushed levant morocco. Both covers richly decorated in gilt with triple borders, each surrounding one hundred and seventy nine floral tools in a geometric design; spine with five raised bands, richly decorated and lettered in gilt with the same floral tools; double-ruled gilt board edges, decorative turn-ins, all edges gilt. Front and rear outer joints repaired. "Sir William Fraser (1816-1898) was a genealogist, archivist, and Scottish historian. Trained as a solicitor, his professional involvement with peerage cases began a lifetime of research into the genealogy of Scotland's most prominent landed families" (Edinburgh University Library). His Colia's Whispers is a collection of poetry inflected by Victorian tastes for historicism and revivalist styles. The text is accompanied by five George Cruikshank etching on India paper, are five out of eight compartments of a large plate etched by G.C. for Sir William Fraser, in 1870, for Poems by the Knight of Morar. "Only fifty numbered copies were issued of this edition, and consequently it is scarce" (Cohn). George Cruikshank (1792-1878) was one of the most famous British caricaturists and illustrators during the Regency period. He would form a friendship with Charles Dickens, illustrating many of his books, and later in life would be active in the temperance movement. "The Riviere Bindery was one of the most notable and prolific shops in London's West End from about 1840 through 1939" (Princeton). Bath-based Bayntun Bindery acquired the firm in 1939, transforming into the "Bayntun-Riviere bindery," which is still in existence and family owned.…