THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE

Limited edition, number 422 of 500 copies printed. Quarto. Publisher's original limp vellum with titles in gilt to the upper board and spine and with green ribbon ties. Top edge gilt, the others untrimmed. Illustrated with 20 tipped-in colour plates with red-captioned tissue-guards by Keith Henderson and Norman Wilkinson (10 by each). pp. [7], 103, [2]. Contemporary owner's inscription in pencil to the front free endpaper. A very good copy, the binding firm with a minor crack to the foot of the font hinge and the odd minor mark to the vellum. The contents with occasional light foxing, mostly to the blank margins of the plates and tissue-guards, slightly heavier foxing to the endpapers, and with offsetting from the plates are otherwise in very good order. A beautifully illustrated edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's translation of the medieval French allegorical poem Le Roman de la Rose with striking colour plates by the Scottish artist Keith Henderson (1883-1982) and the artist and stage-designer Norman Wilkinson of Four Oaks (1882-1934).…