SYR PERECYVELLE OF GALES by (KELMSCOTT PRESS). MORRIS, WILLIAM - 1895

Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895. ONE OF 350 COPIES on paper (and eight on vellum). 213 x 150 mm. (8 1/4 x 5 7/8"). 2 p.l., 98 pp., [1] leaf (blank). Edited by F. S. Ellis after the edition by J. O. Halliwell. Original holland-backed blue paper boards, edges untrimmed and UNOPENED. Woodcut frontispiece by Edward Burne-Jones, elaborate wide border on frontispiece and first page of text, one page with half border, decorative woodcut initials, device in colophon. Printed in red and black in Chaucer type. Peterson A-33; Sparling 33; Tomkinson, p. 116. Tiny tear to tail edge of front board and small dent to its fore edge, trivial spotting to paper boards, hint of fraying to head of spine, faint mark (from printing process?) to one margin, but a very well-preserved, unread copy, quite clean, fresh, and bright internally. This 14th century verse romance telling of the childhood of one of Arthur's knights is the first book in the series of Kelmscott Medieval romances, which also included "Syr Ysambrace" and "Sire Degrevaunt." According to Cockerell, "they were all reprinted from the Camden Society's volume of 1844, which was a favorite with Morris from his Oxford days." This fragile volume is now infrequently found in condition nearly as good as seen here.