The Immortal Hour

The First UK printing of this illustrated edition published by City of Birmingham School of Printing, College of Arts and Crafts, Birmingham, UK in 1939. The BOOK is in near Fine condition. A hint of pushing at the spine ends otherwise the decorated covers are in exceptional condition. Internally clean. The printed paper label to the front cover is in fine condition. Profusely illustrated with B/W illustrations by Bernard Sleigh (1 full page). One full page colour illustration and a colour illustration to the title page. The book was printed under the direction of Leonard Jay at the Birmingham School of Printing. This book has a plain unprinted paper wrapper but I am unclear as to whether the book was originally issued with such but it has protected the book very well. The title 'The Immortal Hour' has been penned to the spine of the paper wrapper. ''The Immortal Hour' is a 1899 play by Scottish playwright Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym of writer William Sharp, loosely based on the Irish myth 'The Wooing of Etain'. It was first published complete in the November 1900 issue of The Fortnightly Review and posthumously published in book form in 1907 (US) and 1908 (UK)' (Wiki). 'William Sharp (1855 1905) was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. He was also an editor of the poetry of Ossian, Walter Scott, Matthew Arnold, Algernon Charles Swinburne and Eugene Lee-Hamilton' (Wiki). Leonard Jay was a master printer-craftsman and the first head of the Birmingham school of Printing from 1925-1953. 'Bernard Sleigh was an English mural painter, stained-glass artist, illustrator and wood engraver, best known for 'An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth', which depicts numerous characters from legends and fairytales. He was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists between 1923 and 1928. As a young man, Sleigh was greatly inspired by the work of George MacDonald and William Morris' (Wiki). A very handsome production in exceptional condition. More images available on request. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact.