The Story of Cupid and Psyche [One of 100 portfolios with a set of 40 Proof Sheets designed by Edward Burne-Jones, mostly engraved by William Morris, sold separately]

London and Cambridge: Clover Hill Editions with Douglas Cleverdon, 1974. Limited First Edition. Publisher's blue cloth clamshell box with leather title to spine. . Very Good+. 14 1/4" × 10 1/2" × 1 1/4" (36.2 × 26.7 × 3.2 cm) . Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. Illustrated by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. Printed by Designed & Printed by Will and Sebastian Carter at the Rampant Lions Press. Publisher's blue cloth clamshell box with leather title to spine. Printed on fine, J. Barcham Green paper. Uncut, deckled edges. William Morris (1834–1896) and Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) began the plans for this magnificent illustrated edition of Morris's poem about Cupid and Psyche, in the 1860s. Morris engraved more than forty wood blocks of Burne-Jones's illustrations. But their ambitious plans were never brought to completion as a whole. These 44 wood engravings survived and are here printed for the first time with the text of the poem. Original tinplate cover with colored paper cover, leather backplate and head gold cut. Some of the original Troy types from the Kelmscott Press (now in the Cambridge University Press Collection) were used, along with additional types cast at the foundry of the Oxford University Press from the original matrices in the possession of the Cambridge University Press. Text design and printing by Will and Sebastian Carter. "The Story of Cupid and Psyche" is considered the masterpiece of the press by Will and Sebastian Carter, it is the first book that has been printed since 1898 in this way. "William Morris engraved on wood at least 35, and possibly 40, of the 'Cupid and Psyche' scenes. A number of his helpers engraved the remainder, fewer than ten. Both May Morris and S.C. Cockerell recorded the attributions, which will be found on pages 19–20 and in note 67 on page 34 in Volume One: they differ slightly, but Morris's major contribution is not in doubt." (Statement in Vol. II).This publication, the eighth of the Clover Hill Editions, consists of: 130 copies, numbered I to CXXX, each with a portfolio containing a set of collotype prints of the 47 original "Cupid and Psyche" drawings and a set of proofs of the 44 wood-engravings. 270 copies numbered 1 to 270. 100 portfolios numbered i to c, each containing a set of proofs of the 44 wood-engravings. This copy is No. lxiii of c copies. One portfolio. Original card wrappers. Contents very well-preserved. Clean and bright. Clamshell box very good with light wear to extremities. Condition overall: Very Good+.