Wood Flower

Madison, NJ: Brayers Club. Near Fine. (1947). Limited Edition. Softcover. Tiny nicks to the head edge of the front wrap.; This tiny book contains a facsimile of the holograph manuscript of Wood Flower, a 2-verse poem by Richard Le Gallienne. The narrator finds a flower growing in the woods and wishes to pluck it. Comparing the flower to "The old wild-wood's fairy daughter," the narrator falls under a spell that prevents a hand from taking the flower, so delicate that it might be broken by a touch. Born Richard Thomas Gallienne, the author affected the surname Le Gallienne in early adulthood. A prolific author, his life was tumultuous, encompassing affairs with Oscar Wilde, actor/playwright Wilson Barrett and numerous women, and three wives who dealt with his debt-ridden, alcoholic, womanizing, unstable life. "The frontispiece is printed direct from the silk of a milk-weed seed without any plate or mechanical means of reproduction, on a Washington hand press by Arthur Rushmore at The Golden Hind Press, Madison, New Jersey." Rushmore supervised production at Harper & Brothers, was a talented book designer, and in 1927, with his wife Edna, established The Golden Hind Press in their residence. The Brayers Club device on the title page states "1946," but curiously the tipped-in print of milk-weed silk is signed in pencil with its printer's initials "awR / '47", for Arthur Wisner Rushmore 1947. This copy is one of a limited edition of 400 printed by John Anderson's Pickering Press, Philadelphia, for distribution by the members of The Brayers Club, Madison, New Jersey. Printed on light cream paper and string-bound into stiff, brown marbled wraps with the title on a framed, paper label. This example of fine press work is clean and Near Fine.; Monochrome; 16mo 6" - 7" tall; 4 pages .