Details
MORRIS, William (1834-1896) and Alfred John WYATT, translators. The Tale of Beowulf. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895.
4° (290 x 210mm). Printed in Troy type (text) and Chaucer type (side notes etc.), woodcut title page, woodcut foliate initials and borders by Hooper after Morris, section headings and side notes in red, printed 'note to reader' slip loosely inserted. (A few leaves with occasional light spotting.) Original limp vellum with green silk ties by J. and J. Leighton, yapp edges, spine lettered in gilt (corners slightly warped at outer edges).
LIMITED TO 308 COPIES, THIS ONE OF 300 ON PERCH PAPER. A FINE COPY, retaining the note to the reader slip. The Kelmscott Beowulf was a particular labour of love for Morris; he began his own translation of the poem in 1893, based on a prose summary by Wyatt, and described it as 'the first and the best poem of the English race, [with] no author but the people' (Peterson). Morris was later to claim that the Beowulf, one of the more expensive productions of the Kelmscott Press, lost money. The borders in the book were only used in one other Kelmscott publication, The Life and Death of Jason, published some 6 months after the Beowulf. Peterson A32; Tomkinson 'Kelmscott' 32; Ransom 'Kelmscott' 32.
4° (290 x 210mm). Printed in Troy type (text) and Chaucer type (side notes etc.), woodcut title page, woodcut foliate initials and borders by Hooper after Morris, section headings and side notes in red, printed 'note to reader' slip loosely inserted. (A few leaves with occasional light spotting.) Original limp vellum with green silk ties by J. and J. Leighton, yapp edges, spine lettered in gilt (corners slightly warped at outer edges).
LIMITED TO 308 COPIES, THIS ONE OF 300 ON PERCH PAPER. A FINE COPY, retaining the note to the reader slip. The Kelmscott Beowulf was a particular labour of love for Morris; he began his own translation of the poem in 1893, based on a prose summary by Wyatt, and described it as 'the first and the best poem of the English race, [with] no author but the people' (Peterson). Morris was later to claim that the Beowulf, one of the more expensive productions of the Kelmscott Press, lost money. The borders in the book were only used in one other Kelmscott publication, The Life and Death of Jason, published some 6 months after the Beowulf. Peterson A32; Tomkinson 'Kelmscott' 32; Ransom 'Kelmscott' 32.
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