The Faerie Queene (2 Volume set)
J.M. Dent: London, 1897. Limited Edition. Quarto. Item #028708
In two volumes limited to 1250 copies after which the type was distributed. Continuous pagination. This beautiful set was published by J.M. Dent in 1897, following their 1893 edition of Malory's Morte D'Arthur, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley. This was a major work issued as a companion to the Beardsley Malory which was now pictured and decorated by Louis Fairfax-Muckley whose magnificent illustrations recall Beardsley's though lacking the erotic images in the borders. Some of the decorative vegetation Faix fax-Muckley used, for instance, is reminiscent of that found in Dent's Morte D'Arthur though his illustrations are also more consistent with the depiction of the characters in the text (see the image of the Redcross Knight as he fights the dragon). In addition to the border, nicely populated by dragons, the image is partially enclosed by a form of the Gothic bracket that the manuals describe. Bound by Birdsall in ¾ brown Morocco over cloth, raised bands lettered and fully decorated in gilt, top edges gilt, all others uncut. The original gilt decorated covers were bound in at the rear of the book.
Price: $2,500.00