Fifteen Sonnets of Petrarch.

Houghton Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1903

Limited edition to 430 copies of which this is No. 131.

Description: Quarter-vellum with dark petrol blue paper-covered boards, with gilt titles on spine. Octavo 19 × 11 cm; pp. xiv, 31, [1]. Printed from ‘Caslon’ type in red and black. Pages uncut and unopened.

Ref.: Warde 40; Kelly 18

Condition: Boards showing a few marks of usage, rubbed on corners. Internally some noticeable light age toning to edges, else in near fine condition.

Notes: A fine example of the influence that the books of the famous British publisher William Pickering (1796–1854) had on Bruce Roger’s early work at Riverside. Pickering was known for title pages with architectural borders and the distinctive use of decorative rules and ornaments. Alfred W. Pollard in Modern Fine Printing in England stated: (The title-page) “worked up into a truly Italian design full of music and sunshine and graceful architecture”.