John Buckland Wright (1897-1954)
John Buckland-Wright led a cosmpolitan life. Born in New Zealand, he was educated in England and lived in Brussels and Paris. He abandoned his chosen path as an architect in order to devote himself to painting and engraving, subjects in which he was entirely self-taught. He was strongly influenced by abstract and surrealist art and believed that his art should reflect the literary content that he was illustrating. Although best known in this country for his work with the Golden Cockerel Press, he also had a strong following on the continent. Campbell Dodgson sums him up in these words: "Among many excellent wood-engravers of our time, none, I venture to say, surpasses John Buckland-Wright in the beauty and finish of his work."
APULEIUS, Lucius. The XI. Bookes of the Golden Asse containing the Metamorphosie ... interlaced with sundry pleasant & delectable tales, [translated by William Adlington], [Waltham St. Lawrence]: GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS, 1923, 4°, limited to 450 copies on Van Gelder paper, printed in black and blue, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 74 ORIGINAL PEN, INK AND WASH DRAWINGS BY JOHN BUCKLAND WRIGHT, 24 full-page, each dated, later burgundy morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, gilt-lettered spine, raised bands, t.e.g., slipcase. [Chanticleer 15]
Details
APULEIUS, Lucius. The XI. Bookes of the Golden Asse containing the Metamorphosie ... interlaced with sundry pleasant & delectable tales, [translated by William Adlington], [Waltham St. Lawrence]: GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS, 1923, 4°, limited to 450 copies on Van Gelder paper, printed in black and blue, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 74 ORIGINAL PEN, INK AND WASH DRAWINGS BY JOHN BUCKLAND WRIGHT, 24 full-page, each dated, later burgundy morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, gilt-lettered spine, raised bands, t.e.g., slipcase. [Chanticleer 15]
The colophon leaf is inscribed by the artist "Embellished with seventy four drawings in pen, chinese ink & wash, made from nineteen forty one to nineteen forty seven by JBW."
The colophon leaf is inscribed by the artist "Embellished with seventy four drawings in pen, chinese ink & wash, made from nineteen forty one to nineteen forty seven by JBW."