British Myths & Legends (Complete in One Volume)
London: The Folio Society, 1998.
Illustrated by John Vernon Lord. First Edition Thus. Hardcover.
First Printing of the Folio Society edition. Introduction, selected and adaptation by Richard Barber; Illustrated by John Vernon Lord. This single volume contains five parts (The Origins; The Early History of Britain; Marvels and Magic; Heroes and Saints; & History and Romance).
The text of this edition is selected from a variety of 20th century sources. Set in Ehrhardt with Charlemagne display at The Folio Society. Printed in Great Britain by The Bath Press, Bath, on St. Ibis Wove paper and bound by them in quarter leather with cloth sides printed with a design by the artist. The lettering hand-drawn by John Andrew.
From the Editor’s introduction: “These are tales of gods and heroes and marvels, the antithesis of sober history, reaching back into the beliefs of our distant forebears. The usual distinction between myth and legend is the presence of a supernatural element in the former, and an historical basis in the latter; if we add to this the catergory of 'wondertale', this gives us the starting point for this book.
Very Fine. Item #9010536-3/4 x 9-7/8”, one-quarter burgundy textured morocco, gilt decoration and titles, pictorial gilt decorated cloth over boards, burgundy top-edge, burgundy endpapers, 708pp, epilogue, index of persons, index of places, tri-color frontis. illus. + 16 tri-color illustrations in text.
A crisp, bright copy, very fine in publisher's slip-case with a bit of bumping to edges of slip-case.
Price: $85.00