Fifty Songs

London: Printed at the Ballantyne Press for Hacon & Ricketts [Vale Press], 1896. Hardcover. Very Good. London, Printed at the Ballantyne Press for Hacon & Ricketts [Vale Press], 1896 (first thus). Demy octavo, lxi pages with wood-engraved borders and ornaments. Original quarter contrasting plain blue and yacht-patterned blue-and-white papered boards, with the printed paper title-label along the spine; all edges uncut; covers lightly marked, with the rear bottom corner slightly bumped and the spine a little sunned; endpapers and the tips of a few uncut edges browned; faint offsetting; edges a little dusty; an excellent copy. One of only 210 copies of this elegant publication from the Vale Press. The colophon states: 'Chosen by John Gray, the border and decorations engraved by Charles Ricketts, under whose supervision the book has been printed at the Ballantyne Press'. In his 'Bibliography of the Books issued by Hacon & Ricketts', Ricketts elaborates: 'Printed in the original spelling. With border of violets designed and cut on the wood by Charles Ricketts ... Two hundred and ten copies printed at fifteen shillings and sixpence. Bound in paper (the ship) designed by Charles Ricketts'.