The Birds and Beasts of Shakespeare
Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1990. Limited edition. Hardcover. Fine. Item #23467 .
Folio (16 by 10x17½ inches). (3),111,(3)87,(4)pp., the text leaves hinged at the top and printed on one side only. Copy XXI of 100 specially bound copies (from a total printing of 155), signed by the artist and with extra illustrative material. A fine copy together with the portfolio of extra material and the publisher's clamshell case.
Full red morocco, gilt titles on upper board, raised bands, leather hinges, marbled endpapers. With two portraits of Shakespeare and 54 woodcuts of animals in the text. With an original suite of signed plates as well as an original watercolor in the separate portfolio. Original prospectus laid-in; it had been folded once else is in fine condition.
The deluxe version of a handsome production by the Cheloniidae Press. The illustrator Alan James Robinson holds an MFA in printmaking from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Finely printed by Harold P. McGrath, who also printed for Gehenna and Pennyroyal. Text by Arthur Kinney explaining the significance of each bird or beast and provides quotations from Shakespeare.
The watercolor is unusual and not known in other copies; it is not called for in the prospectus.
Price: $5,500.00