Stones of Rimini

Faber & Faber, 1934. Faber & Faber. 264pp, 21 x 15 cm, many b&w plates, Lithographic dustjacket by Ben Nicholson, lightly worn with a number of creases and tears, more significant tear at head of rear panel, small losses at spine edge and at base of front panel, flaps clipped at either end as designed, spotting visible inside; Dust Jacket very brittle and MUST be very carefully handled, presumably the reason scarcity of jacketed books. Greyish cloth boards lightly rubbed at edges, with some minute staining on each board, black lettering intact; Top gilt edge tarnished in places but bright for majority, bottom and fore-edges age-toned, spotting throughout prelims and index, including on end papers. Otherwise clean with no ownership marks, binding tight. Overall a sturdy First Edition copy which is very scarce in this jacket. Nicholson was commissioned by his friend, the artist, Adrian Stokes, to design the dust jacket. Nicholson had created in December 1933 the first of his abstract geometrical low relief paintings for which he later became famed as one of Britain s leading twentieth-century artists. He also elucidated with circles the plane on which they lie when designing the cover of Stones of Rimini.…