Book Description
Published at the Shorthorn Press in Wensleydale in 1986 this is one of the initial 25 handmade copies of the Piers Browne illustrated edition of A. E. Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad”. Published in a limited edition of only twenty five, this is copy number four signed by Piers Browne. A large elephant folio size measuring 16.5 inches by 13.75 inches approx., bound in full green leather titled in gilt to upper cover and spine, and housed in a handmade slipcase with a hand painted illustration , internally fitted with marbled endpapers, and printed on fine quality handmade paper with deckled edges, Finely illustrated with forty of Piers Browne’s etchings, plus the etched title page which is made up of fourteen etched vignette illustrations the etchings range from full page to smaller etchings, plus one large double page scene of The Clun Valley in Shropshire, some in monochrome, but many in vibrant colours the etchings from “A Shropshire Lad” will be well-known to collectors of Piers Browne’s work, as a number of the ones used in this book were also sold as limited editions, this book contains many more etchings that were not made available separately the book has to rank as one of the most beautiful books created in this country it’s a joy to browse through, either to just admire the stunningly beautiful illustrations, or just to read the classic poetry of Housman
Dealer Notes
When the book was originally published, the twenty five copies sold very quickly, one copy was donated to The National Trust in Shropshire, and it was raffled off, raising £5000.00, the money was used in conservation work on Wenlock Edge because of its very limited numbers, it is very rare to ever find a copy for sale so this is a scarce opportunity to purchase one of these highly sought after copies Piers Browne has produced a few books since this one, some of which are still available directly from the artist, the leather bound issue of his “Sonnets For a Siren” retailing on his website at £4750.00 the slipcase has some light spotting to rear else is in good condition, a few minor spots to the leather, with some very minor knocks else in good condition, internally some creasing to a few of the protective tissue guards, with some foxing spots to the tissue guard protecting the title page, a small area of surface abrasion to a blank area of one page, possibly an original paper fault (pictured) a few minor foxing spots else contents generally nice and clean, the book does have a slight musky odour, but that maybe because it has been left in its slipcase for long periods, this should disappear , there are some effective and quite simple methods of dealing with odours in books that can be found online, this is a very large heavy book, overseas shipping will be quite a bit more than the basic standard quote A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN ONE OF THE LIMITED EDITION COPIES OF THE PIERS BROWNE ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF “A SHROPSHIRE LAD” ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY FINE ETCHINGS
