Their Hearts' Desire. 1909 First Editions, Two Variant Bindings. Glassine Jacket. Harrison Fisher Illustrations.

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1909. First Edition . Decorative Cloth. Near Fine. 9.5" x 6. Fisher, Harrison. Near Fine. See scans and description. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1909. Two copies, in two variant bindings, of Frances Foster Perry's "Their Hearts' Desire", illustrated by Harrison Fisher, both first editions, one still retaining the very scarce glassine jacket. 9.5" x 6", 152 pp. Cover illustrations (both variants) and six interior color plates show Fisher's unforgettable work. Gilt and lavender margin decorations on each page by Theodore B. Hapgood. Two variant bindings (see scans). One copy bears a Fisher cover illustration of a left-facing brunette, the other of a right-facing blond. Both covers are in ornately gilt decorated lavender cloth with pale blue floral accenting (see scans); spines also lavender, similarly decorated; both also with lavender and gilt floral-and-trellis pattern endpapers. See scans. Brunette example still accompanied by its original glassine jacket in rather remarkably unharmed condition for such a fragile item (the jacket would fit either copy, of course). Blond example shows micro-touching of corners and has a Christmas gift inscription, dated December 25, 1910, by George W. Wilson Jr., believed to be (with no provenance to that effect) the son of George W. Wilson, a U.S. Congressional Representative from Ohio from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897. Near Fine. Brunette example shows a couple of foxing spots on a front end paper, is virtually Fine, technically Near Fine because of those and a small cover rub. See all scans. A short romantic story by Frances Foster Perry, more collectible yet for its status as one of the early twentieth century finely bound and decorated books featuring beautiful women of the era drawn by the likes of Harrison Fisher [in this case], Howard Chandler Christy and others. Eyecatchers; as near fine as near fine gets. Scarce pair. L7n