ONE OF JUST 105 COPIES, WITH BEAUTIFUL BEARDSLEY-LIKE PLATES.

STEVENSON, Robert Louis; E .R. HERMAN [Illus.] ~ Fables.

LIMITED, LARGE PAPER EDITION. Longmans, Green & Co., London: 1914.

Folio., original limp vellum covers, lettered with decorative device to upper cover and backstrip; upper edge gilt, else untrimmed; containing 20 fine black and white plates by E. R. Herman, mounted behind captioned tissue guards; numerous decorative devices, initials and head/tail pieces in text; title page in red and black; title page in red and black; THE BOOK very good, vellum spotted with some small dark stains to covers, a little nicked at spine tips; the fore-edge a little darkened and the spotting extending sporadically to the text block throughout; early bookseller sticker to rear paste-down; very good, and scarce thus. The book is protected in a removable mylar cover. LIMITED EDITION, this copy no. 61 of just 105 copies comprising the large paper issue. This copy additional comes together with the very scarce publisher's prospectus containing the contents, two specimen pages and a specimen plate, contained within a mylar sleeve. A wonderful deluxe edition of Stevenson's fables, which include 'The Sinking Ship', 'The Devil and the Innkeeper', 'The Distinguished Stranger', and 'The Tadpole and the Frog'. The first entry, 'The Persons of the Tale', acts as an introduction to the book, beginning “After the 32nd chapter of Treasure Island, two of the puppets strolled out to have a pipe before business should begin again, and met in an open place not far from the story …”. Captain Smollett and Long John Silver, resting between chapters, therefore set the tone for the following tales, discussing subject as extensive as existence, morality, and what the Author might intend. It was not until after Stevenson's death in 1894 that these allegorical folk tales first appeared, first seen together with an edition of Jekyll and Hyde by Longmans, Green and Company, and secondly in a pocket edition in 1906. This publication is undoubtedly the most beautiful. Intended by Stevenson to be “tail foremost moralities”, tales such as 'The Sick Man and the Fireman' and 'The Devil and the Innkeeper' explore themes of selfishness, duty, and the nature of evil, while others such as 'The Tadpole and the Frog' are Aesopian in tone: "Be ashamed of yourself," said the frog. "When I was a tadpole, I had no tail." "Just what I thought!" said the tadpole. "You never were a tadpole...." Strange, eerie, sometimes provocative and other times humorous, they are here accompanied by the striking and beautiful illustrations by little-known illustrator E R Herman, who was noted for the use of Art Nouveau drawings in a complimentary style to Aubrey Beardsley. Here, the illustrations include a wonderful portrait frontis which sees Stevenson reclining in a chair reading some papers and smoking a cigarette, while his Treasure Island protagonists are seen deep in discussion alongside him. This is followed by a series of striking, dreamlike images; devils, imp and goblin-like characters, politicians, starry skies and hidden faces and, in one particularly charming example, a frog in a crown with long stripy shoes. A scarce edition, particularly so with the prospectus.

BINDING: Softcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine