CRESSET PRESS. WARNER, Sylvia Townsend. ~ Elinor Barley.
One of 30 copies on hand-made paper of the deluxe edition, this one signed by the author and marked ‘out of series’ (there were also 350 ‘ordinary’ copies). First edition. 5 drypoint prints and title page vignette by I.R. Hodgkins with an additional suite of 7 signed drypoints in a pocket at the rear including the title page and the cover. Pp. viii, 108. 27.5 x 18.5 cm. Tall thin 4to, in the deluxe binding of full vellum over boards by Wood of London, the upper board with a drypoint illustration by I.R. Hodgkins, turn-ins with a single gilt fillet, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Very slight bowing to upper cover, otherwise a very good copy.
The Cresset Press was an imprint founded by Dennis Cohen who published several finely printed and illustrated books over a 4 year period between 1927 and 1931. He used the best printers, presses and illustrators of the time and this book is a prime example of his enormous skill as a commissioning publisher.
The first edition of Townsend Warner’s story about a woman who murders her husband and her explanation of why she did it written in the hours before her hanging.