An interesting item was auctioned at Swann Galleries in New York this past week - a copy of The Deserted Village, by Oliver Goldsmith, which was published by the Roycroft Press in 1898. This particular copy has sketches by W. W. Denslow sprinkled throughout the book, on the page borders.Roycroft issued various titles with hand illumination as well as extra illustrations, but it's great fun - and quite a rarity - to see one done by Denslow. This was produced in the first year he traveled to East Aurora to work with the Roycrofters.
Unfortunately I didn't win this book at the auction, but I think it's a fascinating Denslow piece!
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3 comments:
I was coveting this and didn't win it either--hammer price was way out of my league. Did you notice that the initials aren't filled in in this image? I asked for extra photos, and two of them show Denslow penciled-in initials that are very different from what was used in the regular limited series. Definitely an unusual one-off copy.
I was wondering about the lacking of initial - it strikes me as an unfinished copy. I know these were produced in very limited quantities and wondered if the expected number of copies was never completed - perhaps slow sales? I'm not very familiar with how Roycroft worked on these items.
Wow, would love to flip through this!
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