Beschreibung:

Whistler (Rex) Engravings...for Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels Printed from the Original Plates, Introduction by Anthony Rota, out-of series copy (not for sale) from an edition limited to 100 copies on hand-made paper, this one of 26 unnumbered copies with one of the original copper plates, engraved title-vignette and 25 engraved sheets comprising 12 plates, 5 maps, 4 head- & 4 tail-pieces by Rex Whistler, the 12 plates hand-coloured, loose as issued, with copper plate in recessed panel inside rear board and printer's original paper wrapping featuring the engraving mounted inside front board (soiled), a little oxidisation to plate and loose from panel, together in original half viridian morocco drop-back box, slightly rubbed at edges, large 4to, Harrison's for H.M.Fletcher, 1970. ⁂ Whistler's illustrated version of Swift's Gulliver's Travels was his magnum opus. It was first published by the Cresset Press in 1930 with 195 copies on hand-made paper and 10 on vellum, and is one of the most magnificent English illustrated books of the 20th century. Whistler's elaborate rococo frames incorporating Baroque architecture were apparently inspired by Richard Bentley's Designs for Six Poems by Mr T.Gray of 1753. The original copper plates were bought by bookseller H.M.Fletcher who issued this suite of the illustrations in 1970. The copper plate is for 'The King commands him to bring one of his chairs out of the Box and sit down upon the top of the cabinet' from the Voyage to Brobdingnag.