The Diary of a Dead Officer; Being the Posthumous Papers of Arthur Graeme West

Monmouthshire: The Old Stile Press, 2014. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Abell, John. Special Edition, number II of XII, of a total edition of 150, oblong elephant folio, [64] unnumbered pp., signed by John Abell, with a separate suite of prints and an actual linocut block. The only book published by English author and war poet Arthur Graeme West (1891-1917), with the first edition published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd., and printed at the Pelican Press in 1919. Being the grim journey of a young Balliol scholar who enthusiastically enlists in the army in 1914, who becomes quickly disillusioned when faced with the horrors of war, eventually losing his faith in both the army and God. The illustrations are by Welsh artist John Abell, a young artist who lives and works in Cardiff and Bristol; he was Wales Artist of the Year runner-up in 2013 and the recipient of the Curwen Studio Residency awarded by the Josef Herman Foundation Cymru in 2012. His illustrations for this book evoke the overwhelming, gruesome intensity of the story in the form of intricate linocuts that fill the pages; these are made extremely tactile in this Special Edition with its actual linocut block.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter natural linen stamped with red lettering on both boards and backstrip, the boards covered with paper printed with linocut images by the artist, top-edge speckled with black, fore- and tail-edges uncut, blood red endpapers, half-title text in grey with small illustration of a grinning skull, frontispiece a full-page illustration, title page text in red and navy green, text pages all in navy green, numerous linocut illustrations throughout, some interspersed with the text and others full-page; Bodoni type, Vélin Arches paper, oblong elephant folio size (11 1/8" by 15 3/8"), [64] unnumbered pp., Special Edition, this number II of XII, signed by artist John Abell. Housed in a fall-down-back box of green cloth, with a spine label of matching linen cloth stamped with red lettering, lined with red 'velvet', together with a portfolio of heavy green paper containing nine prints which do not appear in the book, signed and numbered in pencil by the artist; placed into a compartment at the base of the box is an actual lino block used in the printing of the book, for the illustration on page 46.

___CONDITION: A fine copy; the binding clean and without wear, the corners straight and unrubbed, the binding tight with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, as new. The separate suite of prints, and the portfolio containing them, also fine, clean and without wear; the box also fine, strong and sturdy and without wear. A stunning example of art that has arisen out of the ashes of "the Great War".

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is an extremely large and heavy book, and therefore additional postage will apply. We are happy to ship at cost to both domestic and international customers, please inquire for details.

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