Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$260.00 + shipping
Description: 216 x 130 mm. (8 1/2 x 5"). x, 631, [1] pp.Edited by Geoffrey Keynes. Original russet morocco with central gilt medallion containing initials I. W., raised bands with gilt titling, top edge gilt on the rough, all other edges untrimmed, ENTIRELY UNOPENED. (Lacking original marbled slipcase.) With six black & white plates and 12 color in-text illustrations by Thomas Poulton and Charles Wright. Dreyfus 61. âLeather slightly dulled from leather preservative and some subtle darkening in places, a hint of offsetting from plates, otherwise in fine condition, obviously never read. Produced with the aim to unite the popular, disparate perceptions of Walton produced in readers who have only read one or another of Walton's well-known works, this collection was edited "with a discreet efficiency which allows Walton to speak for himself." (F. Meynell in a letter to G. Keynes) Included, of course, is his classic work on the art of angling, complete with wise fish lore, written by an indomitable angler who knew every haunt of fresh water fish in the south of England. Also present are Walton's famous biographies of Donne, Herbert, Hooker, Henry Wotton, and Bishop Robert Sanderson. Though Walton knew all of these worthies except Hooker, and although he attempted to make his biographies factually accurate, he nevertheless "guilelessly transforms his subjects into his own image, that of a staunch, heart-of-oak traditionalist who views men and life with the eyes of an Anglican archbishop." (Day) His miscellaneous writings and Keynes' "Life of Walton" round out the collection. The publisher's morocco is pleasant, and our unopened copy ensures that the volume is internally pristine. First Collected Edition. No. 1,245 of 1,600 copies.
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo, 8 1/4 x 5 1/8 inches (210 x130 mm); pp. [6] x, 631 [5]. 6 copperplate engravings by Charles Sigrist (portraits of Walton, Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson) with tissue guards, but some offsetting to adjoining pages; 10 drawings of fish from in-line blocks, water-colored with stencils. Monotype Poliphilius on Pannekoek mould-made paper. All edges untrimmed, t.e.g. on the rough; bound in full natural morocco, headband and tailband, turn-ins with gilt fillets, marbled endpapers; "I.W." within gilt frame on front cover and gilt title on spine, raised bands; spine slightly wrinkled, but binding is firm and book is internally bright and clean. Housed in a marbled paper slipcase matching the endpapers, somewhat discolored and corners worn. Number 1577 of 1600 copies, in ink on the limitation page. [Dreyfus 61]. The first edition of Izaak Walton's (1593 - 1683) complete writings, this volume contains Walton's most famous work, the Compleat Angler from the edition of 1668 - with the variants of 1676 as an appendix [Satchell p. 5] - in which Walton celebrates the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse, as well as the Lives; Love and Truth; and miscellaneous Poetry and Prose, as well as a Life of Walton and bibliographical notes, compiled by the editor. [John Dreyfus. A History of The Nonesuch Press. London: 1981; p. 212] The NONESUCH PRESS was a private press founded in 1922 in London by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel, and their mutual friend David Garnett who was a bookseller in Soho's Gerrard Street, in the basement of which the press began. It was unusual among private presses as it used a small hand press to design books, but had them printed by commercial printers, in order to produce book designs with the quality of a fine-press but available to a wider audience at lower prices. Meynell also wanted to demonstrate that "mechanical means could be made to serve fine ends." He believed that the production of exquisitely designed and produced books was not the preserve of the private press predicated upon the example established by William Morris's Kelmscott Press, which emphasized the primacy of the hand press printed book.
Seller: Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC, Middletown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: Poulton, Thomas, & Sigrist, Charles. Number 1253 of 1600 copies. With illustrations by Thomas Poulton and Charles Sigrist. 1 vols. 8vo. A beautifully produced volume (the title page alone went through 27 revisions), and the first edition of Walton's complete writings. Dreyfus 61 Original full brown niger morocco, spine and adjoining portion of covers slightly darkened, else fine in original slipcase. Provenance: Ashley Montagu With illustrations by Thomas Poulton and Charles Sigrist. 1 vols. 8vo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.