1897 Arts and Crafts binding - Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age
Author: Edited by A. H. Bullen.
Title: Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age.
Publisher: London, Lawrence and Bullen, Ltd., 16 Henrietta St., Covent Garden, 1897.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7 x 4.5 inches.
Pages: xxxiii, 233 pages.
Binding: Very attractive and very good original vellum and rose-pink cloth binding with decorative floral gilt ornamentation to the spine and contrasting red title panels. A remarkably elegant late Victorian Arts and Crafts style binding with marbled endpapers. Light natural mellowing and minor handling wear to the vellum as shown, but remaining exceptionally fresh and highly decorative overall (hinges fine) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content with pages generally clean, bright, and well preserved. Small chip to the outer edge of the first free endpaper page as shown. Light scattered foxing and age toning in places. Period armorial-style bookplate of Leila Paget to the front pastedown and an early 1910 gift inscription to the front endpaper. A handsome and well-preserved example.
Estimate: (USD 250–350).
The book: A beautifully produced late Victorian anthology celebrating the lyrical richness of Elizabethan song and verse. Edited by the noted scholar and bibliographer A. H. Bullen, this refined collection gathers poetry and lyrics drawn from the great song-books and musical publications of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, including works associated with Thomas Campion, John Dowland, Byrd, Wilbye, and other celebrated composers and poets of the English Renaissance.
Issued in the closing years of the nineteenth century, this elegant edition reflects the Arts and Crafts movement’s fascination with Renaissance literature and fine book design. The striking vellum and rose-pink cloth binding, delicate floral gilt ornamentation, and refined typography give the volume an unmistakably aesthetic character, making it both a literary anthology and a highly decorative collector’s piece.