[Shakespeare Head Press] NOBLE & JOYOUS BOKE ENTYTLED LA MORTE DARTHUR BY SYR THOMAS MALORY by Malory, Sir Thomas | woodcuts reproduced from Wynkyn de Worde's edition of 1498 - 1933

Oxford: Printed by Shakespeare Head Press for Basil Blackwell, 1933. Full Leather. Near Fine binding. Quarto. [4], xxviii, 316; [4], 373, [3] pp. Limited edition, number 107 of 350 copies; printed in red and black Caslon with woodcuts reproduced from Wynkyn de Worde's folio of 1498. The edition was variously bound in half morocco or much less commonly in full morocco, this copy is one of the few in full morocco; Cockerell marbled endpapers; top edge rough gilded, fore- and bottom-edge left untrimmed. This is a remarkably bright copy with only a very faint scuff to the spine of Volume II and a softened top corner at the rear cover of the same volume. Begun in 1904, Shakespeare Head Press took its mature shape with the design of Bernard Newdigate who joined the Press in 1920. Newdigate was undoubtedly among the most important book designers of the twentieth century, and Malory's La Morte Darthur is an excellent example of his abilities. Colin Franklin writes, "Newdigate must stand as the best user of Caslon in the history of book design, of pure type as adequate in itself. What makes the page his, when that appears to be the whole of it, is hard to tell. Yet it was his own way, detectable any day...." And in this, he quietly stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of William Morris, Cobden-Sanderson, and Hornby, having a mature and clear vision as a book designer. This is an exceptional copy of one of the high points of the Shakespeare Head Press. Ransom 77; Rogerson 122; Franklin, "The Private Presses" p. 147-51.