Keats, John ~ Ode To Psyche : Unique Copy Printed By The Shakespeare Head Press

The Shakespeare Head Press : 1927

A unique 'single copy' printed by the Shakespeare Head press in 1927. The BOOK is in near Fine condition with original limp vellum with silk ties. Lettered in gilt on the upper board with untrimmed page edges. Five leaves of text plus title and colophon pages, printed on handmade paper. Blank endpapers with ten blank leaves to the front and five blank leaves to the rear. Free from inscriptions. Some very faint creasing to the blank end-papers. The binding is tight and the covers have only a few light age related markings. The Colophon reads : 'This single copy of Ode To Psyche by John Keats has been printed at The Shakespeare Head Press Stratford-Upon-Avon June MCMXXV111'. This copy was presumably printed as a private commission. Although it bears no markings, the book was previously in the possession of the Turbutt family [Gladwyn M.R. Turbutt discovered the original Bodleian copy of the first folio of Shakespeare ('The Turbutt Shakespeare')]. This copy is not mentioned in either Ridler or Franklin. Loosely inserted is an undated catalogue description from the bookseller 'Henry Sotheran Limited' detailing this copy. The Elizabethan scholar A. H. Bullen established the Shakespeare Head Press in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1904. His original aim was to produce a good edition of Shakespeare's works, and his ten volume 'Stratford Town Shakespeare' was completed by 1907. After Bullen died, the Press was acquired by a partnership including Basil Blackwell, the Oxford bookseller. Bernard Newdigate was appointed as typographer and under his direction the Press worked within the Morris tradition. This copy was clearly printed in the early years of the Press under the new ownership and the Morris tradition. Sir Basil Henry Blackwell was born in Oxford and was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell, founder of 'Blackwell's Bookshop' in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwell family's publishing and bookshop empire, and is still located to this day on Broad Street in central Oxford. A very handsome unique production.

BINDING: Limp Vellum
CONDITION: Near Fine