13. BRASHER, Rex Spring Long Shore [Meriden, CT: The Meriden Gravure Company, c.1930s]. 4to (320 x 260 mm). 7 printed and illustrated sheets, each with at least one illustration by Brasher mounted to larger sheets, original printed cream wrappers, glassine. Condition: plates detached from mounting, residue from possible bookplate; small crease to corner of upper cover. A POSSIBLY UNIQUE ILLUSTRATED TEXT BY BRASHER ON THE SHORES OF LONG ISLAND; INSCRIBED WITH A SMALL DRAWING TO BIRDS AND TREES OF NORTH AMERICA PUBLISHER HAROLD HUGO. The poetic text begins: These mosaics of a vanished beach. Changeless may be the sea but not the shore it touches. Every tide leaves its impress scarcely noticeable on rocky coasts but where the Lond Island Shore points into the sunset its impetous hands work wonderous alterations … Gone too the charm of isolation which lingered when nearly five miles of beach country cradled only the life-savings station and few oystermen's shacks. Hugo, the publisher of Brasher's masterwork, The Birds and Trees of North America, could have possibly commissioned this never published work, or perhaps it was printed privately as personal gift from Brasher. The fine illustrations and poetic text offer a new insight into Brasher's work.
est. $700 – £1000