1912 Rare First Edition - Tennyson Guinevere by Pre-Raphaelite Florence Harrison
Title: Guinevere and Other Poems.
Publisher: London, Glasgow & Bombay: Blackie & Son Ltd., 1912. First Harrison-Illustrated Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 10 x 8 inches.
Pages: xiv-156 pages
Binding: Attractive and very good lovely original publisher’s cream cloth, richly decorated in gilt with an elegant Art Nouveau illustration of Queen Guinevere beneath an ornamental banner. Gilt decoration and titling to the spine, with heart motifs and Harrison’s distinctive aesthetic touches (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. Upper edge gilt. Overall, a clean, bright, and unusually well-preserved binding, significantly better than typically seen for this pale cloth production.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing - as shown, some illustration tissue guard sheet lightly creased - as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with 24 wonderful tissue-guarded tipped-in color plates mounted on green cards. Twelve full-page b/w illustrations and other decorations by Florence Harrison. Harrison’s work here is among her finest—lyrical, mystical, and strongly Pre-Raphaelite in influence, with flowing lines, jewel-like color palettes, and emotionally charged figure compositions.
Estimate: (USD 600 - USD 700).
The book: Attractive and Beautiful Rare First Edition of Tennyson's Guinevere and Other Poems with illustrations by the famous Pre-Raphaelite illustrator FLORENCE HARRISON. 26 of Tennyson's most loved poems including Guinevere, Sir Galahad, St. Agnes' Eve, The Lady of Shalott, Morte D'Arthur, etc.
The illustrator: Florence Susan Harrison (1877–1955) was an English Australian Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite illustrator of poetry and children's books. Many of her books were published by Blackie and Son. She illustrated books by notable Pre-Raphaelite circle poets Christina Rossetti, William Morris and Sir Alfred Tennyson. Harrison has often been confused with Emma Florence Harrison, an English artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887. Florence Harrison was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1877 to Lucy and Norwood Harrison. From 1922, she lived in the London area. Around 1940 she moved to Brighton, England, to live with her cousin Isobel. She remained there until she died in 1955.
The author: Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson FRS (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.