1926 Rare Book bound by Bayntun - The Crock of Gold by James Stephen & illustrated by Thomas Mackenzie.
Author: James Stephen. (Illustrated by Thomas Mackenzie).
Title: The Crock of Gold. With 12 full-page illustrations in colour and decorative headings & tailpieces by Thomas Mackenzie.
Publisher: London, Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1926.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9 " X 6 ".
Pages: vii-227 pages.
Binding: Attractive and fine binding by Bayntun-Riviere finely bound in polished calf, the covers tooled in gilt with a double fillet border and a large block of a Crock of Gold on the front. The spine divided into six panels with raised bands and double gilt compartments (hinges fine). Under a protective removable mylar cover. An elegant and beautiful binding!
Content: Very good, near fine content (bright, tight, and clean). All edges gilt.
Illustrations: Complete with the 12 full-page illustrations in colour and decorative headings & tailpieces by Thomas Mackenzie.
The book: Rare and beautiful edition illustrated by Thomas Mackenzie of Crock of Gold in a Bayntun Riviere wonderful binding.
The Crock of Gold is a comic novel written by Irish author James Stephens, first published in 1912.
A mixture of philosophy & Irish folklore, it consists of six books, Book 1 – The Coming of Pan, Book 2 – The Philosophers Journey, Book 3 – The Two Gods, Book 4 – The Philosophers Return, Book 5 – The Policemen, Book 6 – The Thin Woman's Journey, that rotate around a philosopher and his quest to find the most beautiful woman in the world, Cáitilin Ni Murrachu, daughter of a remote mountain farm, and deliver her from the gods Pan and Aengus Óg, while himself going through a catharsis.
Arthur Rackham was to have illustrated it, but died before he could. Instead, it was illustrated by the artist Thomas Mackenzie (illustrator).
The illustrator: Thomas Mackenzie (1887 – 1944) was an English artist and illustrator.Mackenzie was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and became an artist producing illustrations for books, and watercolours. His earliest commissioned works were for Ali Baba and Aladdin and illustrations for James Stephens's The Crock of Gold , Arthur Ransome's Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp in Rhyme, Christine Chaundler's Arthur and His Knights and James Elroy Flecker's Hassan. He failed to make a career as a painter in France and died in 1944. Mackenzie's illustrations are reminiscent of the work of his Art Nouveau peers, including Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke and Kay Nielsen. His images for Arthur and His Knights, in particular, are stylistically similar to those of Nielsen in East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The author: James Stephens (9 February 1880 – 26 December 1950) was an Irish novelist and poet.
The binder: George Bayntun was born in 1873 in Bath, England. After an apprenticeship, he began his own bookbinding business in Bath in 1894, binding books by hand with great craftsmanship. Although many binders were using machines in their process, Bayntun refused to use modern techniques.
In 1920, George Baynton purchased the business of George Gregory, Bookseller. The shop was frequently visited by Queen Mary throughout his final years.
In 1939, the George Bayntun firm acquired the Rivière Bindery, and Bayntun passed away the following year. The firm has continued throughout the years under different managers through the family line and was granted the appointment of Bookseller to Her Majesty in 1950. The Bayntun-Rivière Bindery firm has been in residence on Manvers Street in Bath since 1939. Their books are still bound by hand, and the firm is world-famous for its fine bindings, restoration, and conservation work.