Wadsworth, Edward

London: Frederick Etchells & Hugh Macdonald, 1926. Limited Edition. Small folio — 30.8cm, 81 pp. plus colophon. Quarter cream buckram with scarlet cloth covered boards with de-bossed bright gilt nautical device on front cover, bright gilt spine titling. All edges uncut. Title-page, full-page map, 4 head and tail-pieces (two hand-coloured). 17 full-page engravings of ships and barges; printed recto only, and all but one coloured by hand. All by Edward Wadsworth. Copper plates destroyed after 450 copies printed.

An elegant and most impressive publication featuring a series of copper plates engraved in the line manner by Edward Wadsworth and coloured by hand. Introduction and brief descriptions by Bernard Windler. Number 187 of 450 copies set in Koch Kursiv type and printed at the Curwen Press (recto pages only) on Zanders hand-made paper. There is such a harmonious elegance between the typeface (Koch Kursiv) and the engravings that one must agree with Peter Tucker when he says “It was one of the most beautiful books to come from the Curwen Press in the 1920s, or indeed at any other time. ” Wadsworth’s only original book and completely successful. An especially fine copy clean unmarked very slight bumping at head and tail but with wear and aging to the original publisher’s slipcase. A lovely publication complete and its original state.

$1250.00 -