Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

This edition consists of two hundred and fifty copies on verge d'arches creme a la forme numbered and signed by the author, of which this is number 61.

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 4to. 11.25 x 7.5 inches. [6] + vi + [ii] + 61 + [1] pp. colophon. Bound in ivory vellum, gilt, with gilt borders. Rough cut borders. Some staining and spotting of boards, especially front. Flyleaves and page edges browned, but otherwise a very good copy. 1943 inscription on first free endpaper. Decorated by title page and endpiece vignettes. Limited private press edition of the collected satirical verse satires of Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1949), poet and journalist. The 'Boysie' who was the former lover of Oscar Wilde later became a Roman Catholic. In the 1920s he maintained an anti-Semitic stance in his writings and was involved in several libel actions, resulting in a spell of imprisonment, after which he became more sympathetic to Wilde, whom he had turned against. The Fortune Press was founded by Reginald Ashley Caton (1897-1971) in 1924, originally specialising in gay erotica before widening its scope and publishing some of the early works of Philip Larkin.