Love's Dilemmas (Will H. Bradley book design)

Chicago: H.S. Stone & Company, 1898 Hard cover, 8vo, in medium tan cloth blocked in brown graphic designs by Massachusetts graphic artist Will H. Bradley (1868-1962) of flowering cornucopias, a cachepot of flowers above the orangey-red titles, below which are two putti flanking a tall, flower-filled jardiniere within an elaborate, neoclassical frame. Rear board has an image of a large, square-shaped floral display in a footed stand. 193 pp., First Edition. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. The rubricated title page and historiated capitals at the beginning of each story also designed by Bradley. Printer's colophon at rear states: "Love's Dilemmas, by Robert Herrick, Arranged and Printed for H.S. Stone & Co., by Will Bradley at the University Press, Cambridge U.S.A." **CONDITION: Very Good. Spine a bit darkened. Light foxing within.** Massachusetts-born Author Robert Welch Herrick (1863-1938) wrote a number of novels around the turn of the twentieth century, while teaching English at the newly formed University of Chicago. His work is often described as American Realist fiction, dealing with frought, alienated marital relationships, which critics have described as a reaction to the pressures of modern industrialized life. The author's many travels abroad are used as fictional fodder; The story, "A Temporary Infidelity" written in 1897, is set in a series of Italian hotels, and describes the "Boston marriage" of two women, one of whom must see off a male rival for her lover. Author Robert Herrick would eventually change careers, becoming Secretary to the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. in the 1930's. (Univ. Chicago Library Centennial Catalogues) Bambace [A36] p. 39.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine. Illus. by Will H. Bradley (book designer).