Michael Pyron, Bookseller

Spenser, Edmund | edited by W. L. Renwick; woodcuts by Hilda Quick and initials by Joscelyne Gaskin. THE WORKS OF EDMUND SPENSER (8 Volumes, Complete w/ Prospectus). Oxford: Printed by Shakespeare Head Press for Basil Blackwell, 1930-1932. Quarto. Vol I: [8], 307 (signature "t" repeats pp. 137-144, as issued), [1 (blank)]; II: [8], 252; III: [8], 221, [3 (blank)]; IV: [8], 241, [7 (blank)]; V: [8], 262, [2 (blank)]; VI: [8], 416; VII: [8], 241, [3 (blank)]; [12], 280 pp., bifolium prospectus with 4 printed pages, one of which is a specimen page with hand-colored headpiece. Limited Edition, number 108 of 375 copies (350 for sale) on Batchelor's Shakespeare Head handmade paper; printed in black 16 pt. Caslon with initials in blue and headlines in blue and red. Backed in Hermitage calf with Cockerell marbled paper over boards and corners tipped in vellum. A beautiful set with only light shelf-rubbing to the covers; calf spines show slight variation as volume I-III are a bit sunned and volume III is a trifle soiled--leather remains supple on all volumes. Contents are very clean but for some foxing to the textblock edges; volumes IV-VIII are unopened. An impressive production of well over 2,000 hand-set pages generously adorned throughout by Hilda Quick's hand-colored decorations as well as woodcut headlines and initials by Joscelyne Gaskin; hand-colored frontispiece map of Ireland and accompanying vignette title page for volume VIII, "A Vewe of the Present State of Ireland" were drawn by Macdonald Gill. An ambitious and beautifully designed work by Bernard Newdigate who was among the most important book designers of the twentieth century and under whose artistic direction, the Shakespeare Head Press produced some truly stunning works. Along with Froissart and Chaucer, The Works of Spenser is one of the highpoints of the Press--a perfect use of Caslon type and hand-colored decorations that are beautifully suited to the text. Ransom 67; Rogerson 115; B.H.N. p.45; Roderick Cave, The Private Press; Colin Franklin, The Private Presses.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. LYRICAL POEMS OF SHELLEY. London: Vale Press | Hacon and Ricketts at the Sign of the Dial, 1898. 16mo. 54, [2] pp. Limited Edition, one of 210 copies on paper. As issued, in gray paper over boards with printed paper labels on the spine and front board. Printed in the Vale typeface in black with red opening border and ruling around the facing contents page. Light rubbing to the extremities, but a very nice copy of a fragile binding; minor offsetting to the endpapers; a few leaves with some very light soiling; largely a clean copy. Housed in modern cloth clamshell with marbled paper floors, this is a lovely and uncommon Vale Press title. Watry B19.

Smith, John. THE TRUE TRAVELS, ADVENTURES AND OBSERVATIONS OF CAPTAINE JOHN SMITH, IN EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICKE, AND AMERICA .... (2 Volumes, Complete). Richmond: Franklin Press; William W. Gray, printer, 1819. Octavo. Vol 1: [14], 247; Vol 2: xii, 282 pp. First American edition. As issued in marbled calf with red morocco title labels on the spines; both frontispieces are present, one is a portrait of Smith, the other his coat of arm; both folding maps as well as the folding plate are present, making this set complete. Expected foxing and toning to the pages, at times heavy; the folding maps and plates are in remarkably nice condition, neatly folded with virtually no edgewear; boards have been discreetly reinforced with Japanese tissue and toned to blend; spine leather is darkened and somewhat desiccated; bottom corner of the front board of Volume 1 is bumped with some loss to the board behind the leather. Neverthelesss, the set presently quite nicely. This is the first edition of Smith's work published in America, taken from the London 1629 edition. A. L. Rowse remarks in an introduction to another edition, “There are few books of the Jacobean age that have left such an impact on history.... Captain John Smith's history of Virginia, with its stories of Pocahontas, has deeply influenced the American conception of the country's earliest days and made an indelible impression upon American folklore and popular belief, not to mention history.” A remarkable set. Sabin 82852; Shaw & Shoemaker 49438.

Hunton, Eppa. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF EPPA HUNTON. Richmond: The William Byrd Press, 1933. Octavo. xx, 268 pp., frontispiece and 2 additional portraits. First Edition, number 59 of 100 copies, signed by Eppa Hunton, Jr. on the limitation page. Additional inscription by Hunton, Jr. on the front pastedown, dated 1938. As issued, in blue cloth with title in gold on the front cover and spine. An exceptionally bright and well preserved copy. Very Good+ or better. One page has very light pencil marginal note, otherwise, clean. Harwell notes in In Tall Cotton, “Even if this book had not been printed in a very small edition so that it is a special desideratum of collectors of rarities it would be of importance as a record of soldier life as seen through the eyes of the colonel of the 8th Virginia Infantry.” Harwell 99; Dornbusch II, 2806; Howes H-826; Nevins I, p. 109; II p. 66.

Tucker, [Nathaniel] Beverley | edited by Thos. A. Ware. THE PARTISAN LEADER: A NOVEL. And an Apocalypse of the Origin and Struggles of the Southern Confederacy. Richmond: West & Johnston, 1862. Octavo. [2, blank], viii, 220, [4, ads], [2, blank] pp. Confederate Imprint. Stitched into printed wrappers. Covers are a trifle soiled and contents are variously foxed/toned, at times moderately to heavily. Nevertheless, remarkably well preserved in Very Good condition. In the introduction, Ware touts Tucker's novel as predictive of the Civil War, though written 25 years earlier. In "In Tall Cotton," Harwell calls this, "the grandfather of Civil War novels. It was written as an anti-Jackson and Van Buren document in the guise of fiction and published surreptitiously in Washington in 1836, with a fictitious imprint date of 1856. It describes a war centering in the southwestern mountains of Virginia in which the South is victorious. It was republished in New York in 1861 as anti-Confederate propaganda and then in Richmond in 1862 as pro-Confederate propaganda." Crandall 3112; Howes T-394 "aa"; In Tall Cotton 182; Parrish & Willingham 6586.