124. Musaeus. Hero & Leander, translated by F.L.Lucas, number 31 of 100 specially-bound copies signed by the translator and artist and with an extra engraving , from an edition limited to 500, engraved frontispiece, pictorial title and illustrations by John Buckland Wright, most full-page, additional engraving of ‘Leander drowning’ loosely inserted (with light marginal staining from glue on verso where previously mounted), original pictorial vellum, gilt, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, t.e.g., others uncut, cloth slip-case, [Cock-a-Hoop 183], 8vo, Golden Cockerel Press, 1949.
est. £400 – £600
“John used to laugh at the thought of what the worthy Dr Arnold would have said about this love-book translated and illustrated respectively by two old Rugby boys. A neo-puritan reviewing for a literary weekly advised its readers not to suppose for one moment that the engravings had any value as art. Some literary pundits are rather jaundiced in their appreciation of graphic artists’ work, philistine in their judgements of it, and terrified by nudity in any form.” Cock-a-Hoop