SWINBURNE POEMS. Selected Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne, with Illustrations and Decorations by Harry Clarke and an Introduction by Humbert Wolfe.

WITH HARRY CLARKE'S MOST EROTIC ILLUSTRATIONS

[SWINBURNE POEMS] Selected Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne, with Illustrations and Decorations by Harry Clarke and an Introduction by Humbert Wolfe. London: John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., 1928. Royal octavo. First edition. pp. xxxiii, 219, 11. Untrimmed. Magenta cloth. Designs and titling in gilt. Upper cover with a design of woman with a serpent at her feet; spine with a design of woman with two serpents at her feet. Spine evenly sun-tanned. Previous owner's stamp on verso of front free endpaper. A very good copy.

Steenson  A9.a

The plates for this work are by far the most erotic of Clarke's published work. One plate went too far for the publishers and was omitted. In his introduction (p. xxvii) Humbert Wolfe explicitly disassociates himself from Clarke's interpretation. The book is very scarce and appears not to have been marketed in Ireland. There are  eleven photogravure plates and twenty-five vignettes. Also an illustration of a puppeteer at end.