Pear Tree Press.- Guthrie (James) Frescoes from Buried Temples. A

Pear Tree Press.- Guthrie (James) & Gordon Bottomley. Frescoes from Buried Temples. A Portfolio of Drawings by James Guthrie with Poems by Gordon Bottomley, number 7 of 55 copies signed by the author and artist, designed and hand-printed throughout by James Guthrie with decorative intaglio half-title and pictorial colophon printed in colours, woodcut pictorial title in turquoise and black, woodcut part titles, woodcut or intaglio plates and intaglio calligraphic text after Helen Hinkley, many printed in colours or gold, 2 plates double-page, a few plates printed in light colours on black paper and tipped in, very occasional light offsetting from previous or following plate but generally clean and bright, loose as issued in original wrap-around woodcut pictorial wrapper printed in blue/grey and black depicting Adam and Eve and the serpent, with the rare prospectus dated 1924 stitched in original grey wrappers with intaglio title and decoration to upper cover loosely inserted, also a proof of the prospectus on different paper dated 1923 (folded sheet marked "Proof only" in pencil at foot of final leaf) and list of prints in the volume printed on grey paper, wrappers lightly creased and reinforced at spine ends, original cloth slip-case with decorative intaglio label to upper cover and printed label to spine (slightly rubbed and marked, spine faded), folio, Flansham, Pear Tree Press, 1928. *** An excellent copy of James Guthrie's masterpiece, using an extraordinary variety of printing media. The prospectus stated that 55 copies would be produced; in reality the figure may be rather less and, due to the unusual printing method where each plate is coloured and printed individually, each copy is unique. Colin Franklin regards the work "as among the three or four monumental achievements of private presses in the twentieth century; and by its originality in concept and content, the highest." (Private Library, Spring 1976).

Estimate:$3,959.43

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