Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Flint, Sir William Russell. The Lisping Goddess: A Figurehead Fantasy. Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1968.
Price: US$257.69 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardback, quarter morocco and cloth. 113pp [4]. 2 colour and numerous monochrome illustrations. Signed by Flint on the copyright page. Number 173 of a total edition of 275 copies, numbers 26 to 240 were bound in quarter morocco and cloth by Mansell. Marbled end-papers. Spine a little age-discoloured and stained and a few small spots to rear boards. Contents clean and unmarked.
Seller: Besleys Books PBFA, Diss, United Kingdom
William Russell Flint. The Lisping Goddess. Stanbrook Abbey Press, Worcester, 1968.
Price: US$322.12 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 36x22cm, 113pp. With a large initial by Margaret Adams reproduced by line-block in maroon, collotype reproductions of two watercolours and 26 pencil drawings, text printed in black and blue Cancelleresca Bastarda on W S Hodgkinson handmade paper. Copy D (see below) of 215 (270) signed by Russell Flint and bound in quarter-blue morocco over white canvas-covered boards, t.e.g., gilt rule and gold device blocked to front board, gold title and device to backstrip, in a slipcase with paper covers printed with a reproduction of a marbling pattern in red, blue, green and grey, also marked 'D' at the foot. Undoubtedly Stanbrook's most lavish book, privately printed for the artist Sir William Russell Flint - although the subject matter (prose fantasies inspired by the collection of ship's figureheads on the 'Cutty Sark') and collotype illustrations are rather untypical of the Press. However, the magnificently laid-out and printed Cancelleresca Bastarda in blue and black on W S Hodgkinson handmade paper is quintessentially the SAP style, and the availability of this face was the motivation behind Russell Flint's asking SAP to produce the book. Russell Flint himself designed the marbled paper used (in reproduction) for the endpapers and slipcase. David Butcher records that Russell Flint found Dame Hildelith to be broad-minded when it came to producing a book with 'watercolours of nubile young ladies'. Sought-after by both SAP and Russell Flint collectors. This copy is of particular interest, since its identification as copy ‘D’ places it outside Butcher’s bibliographic account of the book and its various limitations. Nevertheless, this copy has no variant points from the ordinary binding as described by Butcher, the copy numbers of which which ran from 26 to 240. The letter ‘D’ in Russell Flint’s hand perhaps points to an unrecorded small limitation of the ordinary binding, outside the main numbering scheme, reserved for his own use. Butcher B11 also records two specially-bound limitations: copies 1-25 in full blue morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, and copies 241-275 in full red morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, the latter reserved for private distribution by Russell Flint (of which we are currently selling a copy, see separate listing). It may be that the creation of the 35 ‘red’ copies was a relatively late idea which then superseded the intended purpose of the lettered copies of the ordinary binding (and consigned them to unrecorded obscurity). Certainly the change of binder between the two special limitations (from S&S to Bayntun, although the designs are virtually identical) and the red copies’ placement at the end of the numbering scheme both suggest that they were perhaps not part of the original plan. Very Good (backstrip moderately sun-faded, shaded areas on pp92-93 probably from offset from a previously laid-in leaf, scattered small foxing spots on a few other pages as often seen) in a Very Good (light shelf wear to edges, neatly repaired splits to the foot) slipcase. Butcher B11
Seller: Woodbridge Rare Books, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Price: US$386.54 + shipping
Description: First edition (hardback), limited to 275 copies, of which this is copy number 229. 4to (35cm by 21cm), 115pp. Illustrated in colour and b&w by the author. Bound by Mansell in quarter blue moroccowhite cloth boards, gilt tlitling to the spine, gilt design to the front board, top edge gilt, marbled slipcase. There is some very minor spotting, else the book is in very good condition. The slipcase is in good to very good condition (some rubbing, light chafing to one panel). Signed and inscribed by the author.
Seller: Cornell Books Limited, Tewkesbury, United Kingdom
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: No. 140 of 215 copies signed by W. Russell Flint (total edition 275). Folio. 113p. Illustrated by W. Russell Flint's drawings in collotype, the first two in full color. Printed 0n Hodgkinson's Wookey Hole Mill handmade rag paper. The printing layout is art unto itself. Quarter bound in gilt-titled blue morocco over white canvas boards, t.e.g., the upper cover with vignette in gilt of a woman in a boat holding up a dolphin. Fine in marbled slipcase. Slipcase with some minor wear No. 140 of 215 copies signed by W. Russell Flint (total edition 275).
Seller: First Folio A.B.A.A., Paris, TN, U.S.A.
Price: US$773.08 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: One of 240 (275) copies bound by Mansell in quarter blue morocco with canvas, gold-blocked 'Three Mermaids' device on the front board, marbled endpapers, t.e.g., others uncut. Handset in 20-point Van Krimpen Cancellaresca Bastarda, with a line-block reproduction of an initial by Margaret Adams, printed in black, red and blue on Hodgkinson hand-made paper, signed by the artist/author. Illustrated with collotype reproductions of 26 pencil drawings and two water colours. A few leaves slightly foxed, marbled paper-covered slipcase, a very good to fine copy. The text consists of a series of prose fantasies inspired by the old ships' figureheads on the 'Cutty Sark'. The marbled papers, in different patterns, were Russell Flint's first designs for marbling.
Seller: Collinge & Clark, London, United Kingdom
William Russell Flint. The Lisping Goddess. Stanbrook Abbey Press, Worcester, 1968.
Price: US$837.51 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 36x22cm, 113pp. With a large initial by Margaret Adams reproduced by line-block in maroon, collotype reproductions of two watercolours and 26 pencil drawings, text printed in black and blue Cancelleresca Bastarda on W S Hodgkinson handmade paper. Copy 270 of 35 (275) signed by Russell Flint and bound by Bayntun-Riviere in full scarlet morocco, t.e.g., gold device blocked to front board, gold title and device to backstrip, double gilt rule to turn-ins, five raised bands, with the pencil inscription in Russell Flint's hand to the ffep 'W Russell Flint First bound copy received from Bayntun Nov 25 1967', in a slipcase with paper covers printed with a reproduction of a marbling pattern in red, blue, green and grey, with silk ribbon pull. Undoubtedly Stanbrook's most lavish book, privately printed for the artist Sir William Russell Flint - although the subject matter (prose fantasies inspired by the collection of ship's figureheads on the 'Cutty Sark') and collotype illustrations are rather atypical of the Press. However, the magnificently laid-out and printed Cancelleresca Bastarda in blue and black on W S Hodgkinson handmade paper is quintessentially the SAP style, and the availability of this face was the motivation behind Russell Flint's asking the Press to produce the book. Russell Flint himself designed the marbled paper used (in reproduction) for the endpapers and slipcase. David Butcher records that Russell Flint found Dame Hildelith to be broad-minded when it came to producing a book with 'watercolours of nubile young ladies'. This example is from the very scarce limitation of 35 copies (number range 241 to 275) printed for private distribution, where the luxurious scarlet full-leather binding adds a truly sumptuous air to the book. In our experience this variant is even more elusive than the 25 copies in full blue leather, and this copy is further distinguished by Russell Flint's ownership inscription identifying it both as his own copy and as the first copy thus-bound by Bayntun (although it does not carry the gilt signature of Bayntun-Riviere called-for in Butcher B11). A superb copy of a book sought-after by both SAP and Russell Flint collectors. Near Fine (Fine other than a scattering of light foxing spots to p20 (blank), p21 (text only) and two isolated spots to p111 (Sources of Quotations) - some degree of foxing seems inevitable in this book but this copy has got away lightly - and some unpaginated pages with their numbers lightly pencilled-in at the foot, perhaps by the binder), in a Near Fine (a little rubbing to the corners) slipcase. Butcher B11
Seller: Woodbridge Rare Books, Suffolk, United Kingdom