[Swan Press] FUMIFUGIUM, OR, THE INCONVENIENCE OF THE AER, AND SMOAKE OF LONDON DISSIPATED TOGETHER WITH SOME REMEDIES HUMBLY PROPOSED BY JOHN EVELYN Esq. to his Sacred Majestie and to the Parliament Now Assembled by [Private Press] Evelyn, John | historical note by Joan Evans - 1929

Chelsea: Swan Press, 1929. Hard Cover. Very Good+ binding/near Good dust jacket. Small octavo. [2], 49, [5] pp. Limited edition, number 54 of 100 copies on paper, besides 10 on vellum. Printed in black Baskerville type in handmade paper. As issued, backed in cream cloth with gray paper over boards and in publisher's dust jacket with title printed on the front panel and later manuscript title in ink on the spine. Dust jacket is quite rough, toned, soiled, and worn but complete except for a small loss at the tail of the spine; still scarce in any dust jacket. The binding is quite bright; light rubbing to the extremities; offsetting to the endpapers, else clean. Originally issued in 1661, Eveyln's tract addressed to Charles II is thought to be the earliest English work on pollution. The work was well received, in fact the King invited Evenlyn "to discourse . . . about my book, inveighing against the nuisance of smoke of London and proposing expedients how, by removing those particulars I mention'd, it might be reform'd'; commanding me to prepare a bill against ye next session of Parliament, being as he said resolv'd to have something don of it." In 1662, "Sir Peter Ball, the Queen's attorney, made the draft of an Act to control the smoke nuisance," Evans writes, "but royal interest in the scheme was not maintained, and the Bill was not brought forward." Here is a beautifully made type facsimile of the 1772 reprint issued by B. White in London but without the preface in that edition and with a short historical note at the end by Joan Evans. Founded in 1926 in Chelsea by L. D. O. Walters, M. H. H. Walters, and M. P. Eyre, the press operated for less than 10 years producing small editions of finely printed works. Type was handset and the press employed the exceptional printer H. Gage-Cole as pressman. Gage-Cole printed for some of the most important presses of the time including, Doves Press, Ashendene Press and Count Kessler's Cranach-Presse. While on one hand, Swan Press books are humble, they are nevertheless remarkable examples of craftsmanship and very much a part of the artist movement in Chelsea in the early 20th century. Roake, Margaret. "The Swan Press Collection." Sybil Campbell Library Monograph Number 4. 2005; DNB.