ASHENDENE PRESS. ~ The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach commonly called Ecclesiasticus.
This text compiled by A.D. Power from the various versions of Ecclesiasticus. One of 328 copies on large Batchelor 'Bugle' paper, 25 copies were printed on vellum. Red, blue and green initial letters hand drawn by Graily Hewitt. and his assistants Ida Henstock and Helen Hinkley (who also did a great amount of work for the Pear Tree Press). Printed in Subiaco type with the shoulder-notes and wood-engraved colophon printed in red. 4to., original limp orange vellum with ties, untrimmed, housed in the original marbled paper slipcase. An extraordinarily fresh and bright copy with only a mere trace of fading to the spine.
The Ecclesiasticus is a remarkable piece of press work by The Ashendene Press, printed after the death of Faulkner under the guidance of the great printer Gage-Cole, whose pevious triumph was the fabulous Cranach Press Hamlet. Even Hornby himself was pleased with the book: “in my humble judgment it is one of the most satisfactory of the books of the Press.” The first use of green by Hewitt for his initials since his first Ashendene work, Dante's Inferno.