Lot 233
Private press and wood-engraving
Large collection of works including limited editions
Auction: Other Properties | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255
Description
Whittington Press. Matrix. Number One [and:] Number Two. [Andoversford], 1981-2. One of 350 copies and 450 copies respectively, 2 volumes, 4to, original wrappers, volume 1 wrappers sunned, volume 2 wrappers creased at foot;
Ibid. Lost Days. Poems by Jim Turner. With seven wood-engravings by Miriam Macgregor, 1981. One of 100 copies signed by the author and artist and with the plates hand-coloured, 4to, original patterned cloth, slipcase;
Ibid. Stubble Burning. Poems by Roland Gant. With five wood-engravings by Howard Phipps, 4to, original flax canvas, one of 175 copies signed by the author and artist;
Clover Hill Press. The Chester Play of the Deluge. The Chester Play of the Deluge. With ten wood-engravings by David Jones, 1977. One of 250 copies on Barcham Green mould-made paper, 4to, original cloth-backed marbled boards, dust jacket sunned and nicked and with tear to rear panel;
Castlelaw Press, West Linton. [Four limited editions:] Edwin Muir, a Brief Memoir by George Mackay Brown, 1975. One of 160 copies, 4to, original quarter cloth; Platen, Selected Poems … Translated by Edwin Morgan, 1978. One of 150 copies, signed by Morgan, 4to, original quarter cloth; Edwin Morgan, Glasgow Sonnets, 1972. One of 125 copies signed by Morgan, 8vo, original wrappers; Twelve Songs by Edwin Morgan, 1970 (one of 400 copies, 4to, original wrappers);
Hassall, Joan (illustrator). Cranford by Mrs Gaskell [and:] Our Village by Mary Russell Mitford. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1940-47. 2 works, 8vo, contemporary blue quarter morocco;
Jansson, Tove. Who Will Comfort Toffle?. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1960. First edition in English, 4to, original red boards lettered and decorated in white, dust jacket (with overprice sticker to front flap), colour illustrations throughout, retaining the laid-in slip of Moomin notepaper as issued;
and approx. 40 other items, including: William Nicholson, London Types, 1898; 4 Scottish chapbooks; 5 Whittington Press catalogues, 1980s, 2 further Whittington Press limited editions (Lost Days, 1981, and Other Days, 1979); works by small private presses (e.g. College Press, Glasgow, 2 works, Grian-aig Press, Greenock, 3 works; Malaprop Press; Tragara Press; John Morris (Wood Letter Book, 1981, annotated ‘Retrée copy, 15/14’, q.v.;); a morocco onlay binding by a Glasgow School of Art student, 1960s; a folder of private press ephemera (Inky Parrot Press, Chilmark Press, etc., mainly specimen pages and similar); wood-engraving, typography and bookbinding reference; and similar (approx. 50)
Provenance
From the collection of the late John Morris (1934-2006), assistant keeper of rare books at the National Library of Scotland; thence by descent. John Morris also ran his own printing press at his home in Portobello, Edinburgh, and an example of his work is included with the lot.