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Morris, William. [Morris, William] The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems. Bell and Daldy, London, 1858.

Price: US$250.00 + shipping

Description: First edition. Original brown fine wove cloth, gilt lettering on spine. re-cased with original cloth laid down on spine, though it has wear as well. 248pp.

Seller: Nudelman Rare Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.

WILLIAM MORRIS.. The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems.. Bell & Daldy, London, 1858.

Price: US$650.08 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition of the author's first book, of which 500 copies were printed at the Chiswick Press. 8vo. viii, 248pp. Re-cased with a new backstrip and endpapers, but retaining the original textured cloth boards. With a title page decoration and different decorative headers introducing each poem. A little wear to the corner tips and one or two other extremities, and the cloth a little marked in places. A very good copy of Morris' first book, and the first volume of Pre-Raphaelite poetry to be published (Morris largely self-funded the project, but it was not deemed a successful venture and he waited for nine years before publishing another work). Thirty poems, with a printed dedication to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Most uncommon.

Seller: Clearwater Books, London, United Kingdom

Morris, William. The Defence of Guenevere and other poems.. Bell & Daldy, 1858.

Price: US$910.12 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: . 1858, 1st ed, of which 500 copies printed at Chiswick Press,noted at rear, original brown cloth, lettering to the spine in gilt, head & tail of spine chipped, corners bumped, & covers lightly scuffed, bookplate on inner board,front hinge slightly exposed, one section hinge cracked, text clean & bright, owners neat name on prelim, no other markings, Professional booksellers since 1981 Professional booksellers since 1981

Seller: GREENSLEEVES BOOKS, Oxford, United Kingdom

MORRIS, William.. The Defence of Guenevere and other poems.. London: Bell and Daldy, 1858, 1858.

Price: US$1170.15 + shipping

Description: First edition of the author's first major published work, containing 30 poems, published when Morris was 24 years old, and dedicated to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Buxton Forman notes that Morris "had what I cannot doubt to have been a genuine misprision of this delightful little book" since he "refused to revise it", and it was "with difficulty that he was persuaded, by the year 1875, to allow it to be reprinted" (by Ellis and White). The text would eventually appear as the fifth Kelmscott Press book in 1892. Buxton Forman 4; LeMire A-2.01 Octavo. Original brown cloth, lettering to spine in gilt, double-ruled borders to covers in blind, brown endpapers. Bookplate of noted bibliophile Walter Hirst, and bookseller's label to front pastedown. Extremities slightly bumped and rubbed, some minor marks to covers, inner hinges cracked but firm, abrasions to rear free endpaper, some gatherings slightly shaken, else clean and bright. A very good copy.

Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom

Morris, William. The Defence of Guenevere. Bell and Daldy, London, 1858.

Price: US$1200.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition. 248 pp. with errata slip present. Publisher's brown pebbled cloth ruled in blind, spine lettered in gilt. Binding variant with tail in ornament below author's name turning to the left. (LeMire A-2.01) Very Good+, corners slightlybumped, rubbing, spine sunned. Large bookplate and bookseller's ticket to front pastedown; internally generally clean and bright. The British polymath associated with the Arts and Craft movement's first book, a collection of poems.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.