Morte Darthur. - 1927

London: J. M. Dent and Co.,, 1927. A monument to decorative book illustration First edition thus, and third overall, one of 1,600 unnumbered copies, retaining the scarce jacket. This was Dent's final edition, entirely reset, and enlarged with two drawings (pp. xj and lvj) and one additional chapter heading (p. 530) never before printed. This edition also includes a new foreword by the Scottish newspaper editor Aymer Vallance (1892-1955). First published in two volumes in 1893, Morte Darthur was Beardsley's first major commission and the book that launched what has come to be known as the "Beardsley look" (Gillon, p. IV). In 1892, seeking to emulate the books of the Kelmscott Press, John M. Dent commissioned the 20-year-old Beardsley to produce an edition of Le Morte D'Arthur. The 351 designs appearing in the first edition required 18 months for the artist to complete. Bored with the project, Beardsley at last refused to complete Dent's original commission of 500 drawings. Of this work, John Lewis states: "In Le Morte D'Arthur Beardsley learnt his job, but the result is no bungling student's work... If he had never illustrated another book, this edition of Morte D'Arthur could stand as a monument of decorative book illustration" (Lewis, pp. 148-9). Large quarto. Original green cloth over bevelled boards, spine lettered in gilt, spine and front cover stamped in gilt with floral patterns, top edge gilt, largely uncut. With dust jacket. Frontispiece, 21 plates, illustrations in text throughout. Cloth and gilt bright, a few spots of foxing to lower edge; the jacket with minor fading to spine panel, small chip and couple of short tears to edges, overall a remarkably clean and fresh example, unclipped; a near-fine copy in like jacket. Edmund Vincent Gillon, Illustrations for Le Morte D'Arthur, 1972; John Lewis, The Twentieth Century Book, 1984.