Le Morte D'Arthur by FLINT, William Russell, illustrator; MALORY, Sir Thomas; RIVIÈRE & SON, binders

London: Medici Society Ltd., 1929. Le Morte D'Arthur Illustrated by William Russell Flint In a Fine Full Green Calf Binding by Rivière & Son FLINT, William Russell, illustrator. MALORY, Sir Thomas. RIVIÈRE & SON, binders. Le Morte D'Arthur. The History of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Malory, Knt. London: Medici Society, [1929]. Thin Paper One-Volume Edition. Octavo (8 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches; 212 x 137 mm.). xliv, 531 (1 blank) pp. Twenty-four full page color plates. Handsomely bound by Rivière & Son ca. 1930 (stamp-signed in gilt on front free end-paper). Full dark green calf, front cover quadruply ruled in gilt with decorative corner pieces and letterd in gilt. Lower cover with similar quadruple gilt border, spine with five raised band, decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments, red and green calf labels lettered in gilt, gilt decorated board edges, and turn-ins, decorative green end-papers, all edges gilt. Some light foxing to plain end-papers, otherwise near fine. Imprinted after the text of William Caxton as modernized, under the editorship of Alfred W. Pollard for the Medici Society in London. Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement and by the stylized neoclassical art of the Renaissance, W[illiam]. Russell Flint (1880-1969) was educated at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh. He began his career on the staff of Illustrated London News 1903-1907 but "from this period onwards...turned increasingly to watercolour, particularly for the illustration of colour books. He was strongly influenced by the illustrations of Rip Van Winkle by Arthur Rackham and between 1905 and 1924 produced a whole series of brilliant luxury editions for the Riccardi Press of the Medici Society. His figures are finely modeled and contain elements of a Burne-Jones influence by way of Byam Shaw" (Houfe). His illustrations for the Medici Society/Riccardi Press editions of The Greek Heroes, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the volume under notice are considered to be his best and most beautiful work.