Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Shakespeare (William) The Sonnets, preface by Robert Graves, number 59 of 300 copies signed by Graves, the designer and the artist, full-page illustrations by Clarke Hutton on different coloured papers, original tan morocco with 'shining eye' motif in gilt on upper cover, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine gilt, t.e.g., 1975
Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands
SHAKESPEARE, William.. The Sonnets.. The Swallow Press, London., 1975.
Price: US$834.12 + shipping
Description: First edition thus: nine-page Preface by Robert Graves. Quarto. Unpaginated. Illustrated by Clarke Hutton with forty full-page geometric drawings. The design of the book is by Edward Burrett. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full Niger with gilt motif to front, gilt decorated endpapers, top edge gilt.Number 91 of 300 copies signed by Graves, Hutton and Burrett.Fine in near-fine. slightly rubbed slipcase whose paper design matches that of the book's endpapers.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
SHAKESPEARE WILLIAM. THE SONNETS. THE SWALLOW PRESS, 1975.
Price: US$1206.27 + shipping
Description: FOLIO, LIMITED TO 300 NUMBERED COPIES, THIS BEING NUMBER 115. FULLY BOUND IN NIGER LEATHER BY SANGORSKI AND SUTCLIFFE, PUBLISHED BY THE SWALLOW PRESS, DESIGNED BY EDWARD BURRETT WITH DRAWINGS BY CLARKE HUTTON, WITH A PREFACE BY ROBERT GRAVES. SIGNED BY ROBERT GRAVES, EDWARD BURRETT AND CLARKE HUTTON. A FINE EXAMPLE OF A SCARCE BOOK. COMPLETE WITH ORIGINAL SLIPCASE (WORN).
Seller: Hawkridge Books, Bakewell, United Kingdom
Shakespeare, William & Robert Graves. The Sonnets. The Swallow Press, London, 1975.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: Full tan polished morocco. Preface by Robert Graves. Spine very slightly sunned, still fine in near fine publisher's slipcase with some minor rubbing and small creases to top and bottom edge panels. Number 127 of 300 copies, signed by Robert Graves, Edward Burrett & Clarke Hutton.
Seller: THE HERMITAGE BOOKSHOP, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: This is an exquisite, finely bound, strikingly unconventionally illustrated edition of The Sonnets by poet, playwright, dramatist, and primus inter pares, William Shakespeare. 300 copies were produced thus of which this is number 44, signed on the colophon by Robert Graves (who contributes a substantive Preface), Edward Burrett (the book designer), and Clarke Hutton (the illustrator). A troika of features distinguish this copy. First is exceptional condition. Second, this copy is accompanied by the original publishers prospectus and order form. Third, this is a designers presentation copy, evidenced by a lengthy, signed, and dated 1975 gift inscription by Edward Burrett and his wife, Cecile, on the recto of the blank preceding the half title. Edward Burrett (1909-1995) was a noted specialist and connoisseur in book design, a founding member of the Society of Typographic Designers, and founding proprietor of the Penmiel Press.This large volume measures 10 x 14 inches (25.4 x 35.6 cm) bound in full Niger Morocco goatskin by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, the contents printed on laid paper with each of the one hundred and fifty-four Sonnets allocated a single page. The volume is housed in a felt-lined, purple and gold paper-covered slipcase featuring an interlocking pattern of swallows, which is mirrored on the pastedowns of the book. The Sonnets features 40 illustrations on various tinted papers by Clarke Hutton (1898-1984) "one of the most eminent and influential book illustrators of his time". Hutton adds something unique to Shakespeares work, which so often comes accompanied by traditional engravings, rather than modernist line work. The colophon features the signatures of Robert Graves, Edward Burrett and Clarke Hutton below the limitation number "44". The signatures of the book designer, Edward Burrett, and his wife, Cecile, are also found beneath their autograph gift inscription. Laid in are the large and beautifully printed publishers prospectus, featuring a specimen page and extensive information about the edition. Also laid in is the publishers order form.The volume is in truly fine condition, with no appreciable wear or flaws to either the binding or contents. The slipcase remains bright and fully intact, with superficial overall scuffing. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) left a cultural and literary legacy whose continuing influence is difficult to overstate. His stature so dominates English letters that it verges on biblical proportion. To the point, Shakespeare is often assumed to have been born on 23 April, St. Georges Day, so that Englands national poet and her patron saint share the same day of celebration, akin to how Christs birthday is asserted onto the winter solstice. Shakespeares plays are the most conspicuous aspect of his literary legacy, but, as Robert Graves states in his Preface, "Shakespeare built up a double reputation in literature; as a classic English playwright and as author of the Sonnets, his profound meditations on love. In the plays we are frequently aware of Shakespeare the poet; in the Sonnets we recognize his role as dramatist. The author of the Sonnets became incomparably greater than his contemporaries precisely because he needed to see himself and his beloved in dramatic and human terms." Robert Graves (1895-1985) was an English poet, novelist, critic, and translator perhaps best known today as a pioneer and master of the historical fiction genre for his Claudius series, compellingly fictionalizing the Roman Emperor. Born to a middle-class family with an Irish Gaelic scholar father, Gravess early life shaped his love for myth and poetry, even as boxing shaped his repeatedly broken nose. In 1913 he received a scholarship to study classics at St Johns College, Oxford. However, he did not take his place at the university until after WWI; in 1914 he enlisted almost immediately after the outbreak of war, joining a regiment which included fellow war poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1539.92 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Number XVI of XL (300) copies specially bound with an original drawing by Clarke Hutton, mounted and contained within a separate folder. Designed by Edward Burrett and signed by him, Clarke Hutton and Robert Graves. Handset in Monotype Perpetua and printed on Antique Laid paper by W.E. Baxter, Ltd, with the 40 Clarke Hutton illustrations inserted and printed by lithography on various tinted papers. Full niger morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, titled and blocked in gold, slipcase, portfolio and endpapers in gold and purple to a design by Clarke Hutton. A fine copy the prospectus loosely inserted. An attractive book with the sonnets printed one to a page, though experience suggests that not all copies were bound up. The binding of the standard copies was either as the special or quarter mauve cloth with gilt spine lettering, brown buckram sides.
Seller: Collinge & Clark, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$1539.92 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Folio. Nine page preface by Robert Graves. Illustrated with 40 full page drawings by Clarke Hutton. Full tan Niger morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London, stamped in gilt with a vignette of a sunburst, t.e.g.; purple and gold patterned endpapers. 154 pp. Enclosed in a matching purple and gold board slipcase. signed by Robert Graves, Edward Burrett and Clarke Hutton. Printed by W.E. Baxter of Lews, Susssex. No.124/300 copies, this copy with the additional original drawing by Clark Hutton for the illustration at page 65, this being one of 40 copies with an original drawing, the drawing in matching window mount and cloth-backed patterned portfolio with ties. The drawing is signed and dated '1974' by Hutton in pencil.
Seller: Roe and Moore, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$1732.41 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Number VI of XL (300) copies specially bound with an original drawing by Clarke Hutton, mounted and contained within a separate folder. This, one of just 8 copies separately reserved by the publishers, with an additional leaf at the rear signed by the directors of Maitland & Thorold, the paper maker, printer and bookbinder. Designed by Edward Burrett and signed by him, Clarke Hutton and Robert Graves. Handset in Monotype Perpetua and printed on Antique Laid paper by W.E. Baxter, Ltd, with the 40 Clarke Hutton illustrations inserted and printed by lithography on various tinted papers. Full niger morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, titled and blocked in gold, slipcase, portfolio and endpapers in gold and purple to a design by Clarke Hutton. A fine copy with the prospectus loosely inserted. Original pen-and-ink drawing, signed in pencil, by Clarke Hutton, in the accompanying portfolio with prospectus. From the library of Clarke Hutton, although without marks of ownership.
Seller: Collinge & Clark, London, United Kingdom