GILL, Eric. ~ Clothes. An Essay upon the Nature and Significance of the Natural and Artificial Integuements Worn by Men and Women.
10 wood-engravings by Eric Gill, some full-page, some in the text, one repeated in red on the dust jacket. First edition. 8vo., original blue cloth, spine and edges slightly faded, in the original torn dust jacket with some loss, copy of Gill’s wood engraving ‘Mellors’ pasted in on the rear pastedown.
Large calligraphic inscription on front free endpaper in Gill’s beautiful hand “P.P. from e.g. June, 1931.
P.P. was Prudence Pelham to whom the book is dedicated. She was a young and very beautiful sculptor who was apprenticed to Gill and to whom he was deeply attracted. At the beginning of her apprenticeship she was only 18 and innocent. Gill stimulated her interest in art, and introduced her to the male anatomy...As Fiona MacCarthy wrote in her biography of Gill, he “found her stimulating and provocative as well as beautiful...”. She often visited Pigotts at this time, staying often for a week or two and working in the workshop.
This copy was dedicated the month before the actual publication of Clothes which appeared on July 6th 1931. The engraving ‘Mellors’ was, according to Gill, his self -portrait in the nude which may explain Prudence pasting it into the back of her copy.