SPAIN, G.L. Jottings from a Corner of the Moors : Originally Written for “Our Quarterly Record”, by G.L. Spain. Illustrations from paintings by Walter J. James. Newcastle-on-Tyne:

IN FINE MARSHALL BINDING EXTRA ILLUSTRATED

Mawson Swan & Morgan, 1910. Crown octavo. pp. 249, [3], 4 (leaves of plates), 11 (original photographs). Handsomely bound by Marshall of Newcastle in contemporary full brown crushed levant morocco. Covers framed with a wide gilt border of acanthus gilt roll and berries, inlaid with red morocco. Spine divided into six panels by five gilt raised bands, title and author in gilt direct in the second and third; fore-edges ruled in gilt; wide doublures ruled in gilt; marbled endpapers. From the library of Walter Henry James with his armorial bookplate on front pastedown. All edges gilt. A superb example of late-Victorian binding artistry on a charming tome.
Spain’s sketches of people, places and seasons originally written for Our Quarterly Record. Spain’s “jottings” move easily between parish anecdote, natural history and topographical note, shepherds and schoolchildren, heather and peat, chapel teas and market days, preserving a corner of the high country at the turn of the century with a quietly observant eye. The publisher’s four plates are taken from paintings by Walter J. James and are well printed on coated stock. This copy is distinguished further by eleven contemporary photographs (each captioned in ink) bound in at the end: views and local scenes that deepen the sense of place and make the volume, in effect, an extra-illustrated example.
Provenance: The book comes from the library of Walter Henry James (armorial bookplate), father of the illustrator Walter John James, the etcher and painter who succeeded as 3rd Baron Northbourne. Copies are scarce JISC records four locations only. An amazing copy, with distinguished provenance and in a sumptuous morocco binding by M. Marshall.

[Cat 162]