Whistler, Rex ~ Engravings By Rex Whistler For Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

London: Harrison & Sons for H. M. Fletcher : 1970

Published by London: Harrison & Sons for H. M. Fletcher, (1970). Limited Edition. 2 page Introduction by Anthony Rota. Number 8 of only 100 sets printed on handmade paper from the original plates with 12 plates coloured by hand according to the artist's directions (74 sets were for sale with one set on vellum). Folio. 14.5 X 10.75 ins. Original half green morocco with paper covered boards. Interior drop-back box holding title page, 2 text pages, Colophon and 25 plates. Gilt title on the spine. A Fine set housed within a Very Good++ drop-back box which has some fading of the colouring to the spine and some light rubbing to the edges. The Gilt titling remains very bright. The 1930 Cresset Press edition of 'Gulliver's Travels', illustrated by Rex Whistler, is 'one of the most handsome books ever to be published in this country (England). And the illustrations are ravishing.' ('The Twentieth Century Book' by John Lewis). The illustrative style of Rex Whistler (1905–1944), which eschewed the experimentalism of the 1920s, found its inspiration in the 17th and 18th centuries and so was well matched to Swift's classic. Whistler employed his favourite device of setting most of the illustrations within a highly decorative rococo marginal frame. A beautiful set of plates. Very scarce.

CONDITION: Fine
Box: Very Good++