Comus

by John Milton

illustrated by Arthur Rackham 

First edition.  London:  William Heinemann, and New York:  Doubleday Pace & Co., 1921  

Hardback is overall in GOOD+ condition.

• Dark green covers have gilt illustration and titles. 
• Boards show some wear, smudges, scuffing, edgewear.  Corners are worn, frayed, with exposed board.  See photos.  
• Spine has gilt text effaced and is darkened, with crushed, chipped ends.
• Binding is fragile, with front cover off at head, some signs of splitting at back cover, stitches visible at some openings.  See photos. 
• Light blue end papers/ pastedowns illustrated in white silhouette have some staining, wear. 
• Frontispiece is present and has intact tissue guard.  
• Illustrations are bright and clear, plates are tipped-in, with marginal age-toning.
• Interior exhibits marginal toning, mounting sheets beneath plates are toned.  
• Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
• Text block edges have traces of gilt at head, are darkened. 
• PS2025.0910

76 pages. 7.25 x 9.75 inches

First edition, publisher's dark green cloth with gilt ornament and title.  Condition is Good Plus, As Is with top board partially separated, and boards showing wear to extremities and scuffing at back cover.  Interior shows toning to the backing sheets of the plates, with plates bright and cover sheets with captions intact.  Text block is clear, with dark ink.

The text is John Milton's mythological Comus of 1634.  Comus is a masque in honour of chastity, first presented on Michaelmas, 1634, before John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, at Ludlow Castle.  

The poetry provides a pretext for the illustrative genius of Arthur Rackham.  Rackham (1867-1939) is considered the leading illustrator of the Golden Age of British book illustration at the turn of the 20th century.  The monsters on the top board wear Elizabethan ruffs designed by Rackham.  The pictorial end papers in light blue depict nymphs in silhouette being chased by sprites in the wood.  The plates, all present with their tissue guards, combine the ethereal with the monstrous. 

First edition.  Published in London and New York; printed in Great Britain.

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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