THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES CALLED GENESIS

London: [Riccardi Press] Philip Lee Warner for the Medici Society, 1914. No. 288 OF 500 COPIES ON PAPER (and 12 on vellum). 272 x 205 mm. (10 5/8 x 8"). xv, [i], 88 pp., [2] leaves.
Original linen-backed pale blue paper boards, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. In the original blue-gray printed dust-jacket. Woodcut Riccardi Press device on final leaf, title vignette and 10 color plates with captioned tissue guards, after F. Cayley Robinson. Ransom, p. 395; Tomkinson, p. 149. ◆Dust jacket a little darkened and with minor chips and tears around edges, a couple light stains and a little rubbing to lower edges of binding, light browning to part of the pastedowns, but a nearly fine copy, the often-missing dust jacket generally quite well preserved, and the text and plates with only isolated trivial blemishes.

This is an attractive printing of the first book of the Bible, in the august language of the Authorized Version, and with ethereal color plates by Frederick Cayley Robinson depicting key events from the text. Painter, set designer, and book illustrator Robinson (1862-1927) studied art in London, Paris, and Florence, and was much influenced by Edward Burne-Jones. Rendered in pale tones, the plates here include one of Robinson's finest works, "Death of Abel," which captures (in DNB's words) "the horrific moment after the fratricide—the 'frozen moment' held for eternity." DNB says further that our volume represents Robinson's "finest achievement as a book illustrator." Founded by Herbert Horne, the Riccardi Press was adopted as the imprint of the Medici Society in 1909 and issued books until 1933. According to Tomkinson, "the books have nearly all been printed at the Chiswick Press (under the supervision of Charles T. Jacobi until his retirement in 1922) and published by Philip Lee Warner, who was Publisher to the Medici Society until his death in 1925. . . . The aim of the Press has been to produce finely printed books at reasonable prices and for sale through the ordinary channels of trade. . . . All editions are strictly limited, and the type is distributed after the edition has been printed.".