PALMER, Samuel (1805-1881). An English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil. London: Seeley & Company, 1883.
Folio. Half-title and title printed in red and black. 14 plates by Palmer including 5 original etchings. Original full parchment vellum stamped and lettered in gilt, uncut (light rubbing at extremities, some spotting endpapers, else fine). Provenance: Richard D. Friedlander (etched bookplate).
LIMITED EDITION, number 67 of 135 LARGE-PAPER COPIES with the balance of the plates in the first state before letters (see Lister, Catalogue of Palmer’s Etching pp. 108-112). Samuel Palmer began his translation in 1856; on the advice of publishers, he created etchings to accompany his translation. After his death in 1881, his son, A.H. Palmer, completed the work. “Although a contemporary of the Pre-Raphaelites and their successors, Palmer remained a Romantic in the tradition of Blake” (Artist and the Book 218).
[With:] PALMER. The Shorter Poems of John Milton. London: Seeley & Company, 1889. Folio. Half-title and title printed in red and black, 12 full-page etchings after paintings by Palmer (few plates with very minor marginal spotting). Original full parchment vellum stamped and lettered in gilt, uncut. (Light spotting to half-title, else fine). LIMITED EDITION, number 67 of 135 LARGE-PAPER COPIES. Prepared by A.H. Palmer as a companion to the Virgil, this “stately volume contains twelve facsimiles of drawings by Palmer. They rank with his best work, and three notable etchings were inspired by them…” (Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England, 223). AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE COPY, rare in this condition.