The Passionate Neatherd

Jack Lindsay

Published by Fanfrolico Press, Sydney Australia (never formally published), 1926

The Passionate Neatherd, by Jack Lindsay, Fanfrolico Press. From the colophon Here ends the Passionate Neatherd a book of lyrics by Jack Lindsay written May 2024 with decorations by Norman Lindsay. Typography & binding arranged by John Kirkley, hand set & printed on Zanders hand made paper January 1926, pressman John Kirtley, compositors Jack Lindsay & Philip Lindsay. This copy is #74 of an edition of 75 copies and is signed by Jack Lindsay. This book was never published and most never bound, and most copies cannot be traced or found. It was a victim of Jack Lindsay s departure for London where the great majority of the Fanfrolico books were published. This copy has the following presentation inscription To Wal Stone with compliments from friends JKM & JK Nov 1954, signed by John Kirkley. Walter W. Stone s bookplate is pasted inside the front cover. This book was likely bound at this time and is in full brown leather. This was the second book to carry the Fanfrolico imprint. A history of the press The Fanfrolico Press; Satyrs, Fauns & Fine Books, by John Arnold was published by the Private Libraries Association in 2009. Here is some commentary from that history relating to this book The book was never bound nor formally published, the copy at the National Gallery of Australia being possibly bound after Kirkley and Linday left Sydney for London in February 1926. Kirkley in a letter to Harry Chaplin, 13 April 1963 wrote Len Gilmour, a Sydney bookseller, was going to take 35 or 50 copies, but he changed his mind. We only finished it on the eve of our London departure & my mother had two copies bound experimentally in dark boards & linen back. The rest remained unbound. Copies #20 and #22, held in the National Library of Australia and State Library of Victoria are bound and these may be the two copies that Kirkley s mother had bound. Note that Lindsay did a partial reprint of this title in London in 1929 with two of Norman Lindsay s drawings. This book has 22 full-page & vignette illustrations by Norman Lindsay This book, 78 pages is in near-fine condition. The only fault is some spotting on the blank endpapers, and very lightly on the title page and facing limitation page. Norman Lindsay s drawings for this book are exquisite and some quite risqué, as normal for this famous Australian artist. No one know how many copies of this book exist and it is very likely the rarest of all the Fanfrolico books. Seller Inventory # 2489e

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Passionate Neatherd
Publisher: Fanfrolico Press, Sydney Australia (never formally published)
Publication Date: 1926
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)