AN EXCEPTIONAL ASSOCIATION COPY: THE VALE PRESS DAPHNIS AND CHLOE, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND—"THIS BOOK WAS BOUND BY MCLEISH FOR COLONEL T.E. LAWRENCE… IT WAS GIVEN BY HIM TO ME AT ALL SOULS COLLEGE"
(LAWRENCE, T.E.) LONGUS. Daphnis and Chloe: A Most Sweet and Pleasant Pastoral Romance for Young Ladies. (London: Vale Press, 1893). Quarto, contemporary full black crushed morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine and covers, raised bands, top edge gilt, uncut. $15,000.
An exceptional association copy: the finely printed and beautifully illustrated Vale Press Daphnis and Chloe—one of only 210 copies, 200 of which were for sale, with 36 charming woodcuts in the Italian style by Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon, with "T.E.L."—likely in T.E. Lawrence's hand—faintly penciled in the upper right corner of the front free endpaper and a note from recipient Charles Francis Bell describing the circumstances in which Lawrence presented this copy to him. Beautifully bound in full morocco-gilt by C. & C. McLeish.
"There are works which will never cease to be reprinted, and which artists will ever love to illustrate according to their own individual fancies" (Jules Claretie, Preface). This classical Greek work, whose author Longus has not been fully identified, has been dated to the 2nd or early 3rd century CE. Described by one scholar as "an unknown best seller" (Giles Barber), Daphnis and Chloe is considered "the original, or earliest survivor" of the idyllic/pastoral romance (Hardin, Love in a Green Shade, 1). This large-format illustrated edition is one of the Vale Press' most impressive books. It uses the quaint 17th-century translation of Thornley, designed to convert the lascivious tale into reading matter for young ladies. (One homosexual passage is left in the original Greek.) In the Art Nouveau style, the illustrations by Ricketts and Shannon effectively capture Longus' combination of decadence and sweet innocence.
Born in 1859, binder Charles McLeish was apprenticed to Andrew Grieve in Edinburgh, then came to London in 1890 to work for Riviere. When Cobden-Sanderson founded the Doves Bindery in 1893, he hired McLeish as the firm's finisher. McLeish held that estimable position until 1909, when he left to go into partnership with his son, Charles, who had apprenticed under Roger de Coverly. Although the senior McLeish was no longer in the employ of Cobden-Sanderson, all of the bindings that were signed "Doves Bindery" between 1909 and 1921 were actually done in the McLeish workshop. The work produced by the McLeishes was beautifully designed and impeccably executed, as evidenced in the present volume. With publisher's scarce four-page prospectus bound in at rear.
Bookplate of recipient, art historian Charles Francis Bell, with his handwritten note regarding the circumstances of Lawrence presenting this copy to him tipped to the front free endpaper: "This book was bound by McLeish for Colonel T.E. Lawrence whose initials in pencil in his own writing are in the top corner of the opposite endpaper. It was given by him to me at All Souls College, Oxford on November 16, 1920. C.F. Bell." Bell (1871-1966) was curator of the Department of Fine Art in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where he met Lawrence, when the latter had brought fragments of pottery into the Ashmolean for identification. The two became friends, and frequently discussed their shared enthusiasm for Medieval art and architecture. Although the brevity and faintness of the initials on the front free endpaper make it difficult to verify it as being in Lawrence's hand, it is consistent with Lawrence's known practice of initialing his own books.
Mild offsetting from woodcuts; offsetting from morocco turn-ins partially obscuring penciled initials in upper corner of front free endpaper, binding beautiful and fine. An excellent association copy, with distinguished provenance.