MALORY, Sir Thomas; BEARDSLEY, Aubrey, illustrator; FOLIO SOCIETY

[Le Morte d'Arthur] The Birth Life and Acts of King Arthur

London: The Folio Society, 2003. Item #06639

“Beardsley and Malory - The Arthurian Legend in Its Most Enchanting Modern Form”
No. 30 of 1,000 Copies - A Luxurious Folio Society Facsimile

MALORY, Sir Thomas. The Birth, Life and Acts of King Arthur… Le Morte Darthur. Embellished with designs by Aubrey Beardsley. London: The Folio Society, 2003.

“This Facsimile Edition.” Limited to 1,020 copies, of which 1,000 were for sale; this example no. 30.

Folio (11 3/8 x 8 5/8 inches; 288 x 218 mm.). [i-v], vi–xxxii, [1]–538, [4, blank], [1, limitation], [1, blank] pp. Inserted photographic frontispiece. Illustrated throughout with Beardsley’s iconic black-and-white designs. Printed by The Bath Press, Avon, on Camelot Laid paper specially made for this edition at the James Cropper Mill, Cumbria, and supplied by John Purcell Paper. Binding design redrawn by Frances Button from the celebrated 1927 edition.

Finely bound by Smith Settle, Otley, Yorkshire, in full black Nigerian goatskin over beveled boards, covers and spine richly stamped in gilt, handmade laid endpapers from the Fabriano Mill, all edges gilt.

[With:]

Thomas Malory, the Morte Darthur and Aubrey Beardsley. Essay by Anthony S. G. Edwards. London: The Folio Society, 2003.

Octavo. 16 pp. Original gray printed wrappers.

Together housed in the original black cloth clamshell case, spine with black morocco label lettered in gilt. A mint, as new example.

A magnificent modern facsimile of the great Beardsley-illustrated Morte Darthur, itself a landmark of early twentieth-century book design, rooted in the text first printed by William Caxton at Westminster in 1485. This Folio Society edition faithfully captures the typographic richness and decorative intensity of the original, while elevating it through the use of specially commissioned laid paper and sumptuous goatskin binding.

eardsley’s illustrations - at once sinuous, decadent, and hauntingly medieval - represent one of the defining achievements of Art Nouveau book art. His stark black line, charged with eroticism and symbolism, reimagines Malory’s chivalric world with a distinctly fin-de-siècle sensibility, transforming the Arthurian legends into a work of striking visual modernity.

Price: $1,100.00