KELMSCOTT PRESS. MORRIS, William. Of the Friendship of Amis and Amile. Hammersmith, Kelmscott Press, 1894.
16mo. Original holland-backed boards, lettered in black on the upper cover; pp. [iv], 67; decorative woodcut title-page and border to first page of text, woodcut initials, text printed in black and red in Chaucer type; minor marking to covers, still a very nice copy, internally unusually clean and fresh.
500 copies were printed, plus 15 on vellum. The colophon states 'the Story of Amis & Amile, done out of the ancient French into English, by William Morris'. - 'The tale, probably of Oriental origin, was introduced to the West by way of Byzantium and found its way into French literature through Latin (hence the characters’ names: ‘Amicus’ and ‘Amelius’ in Latin). It became attached to the web of Charlemagne legends in the late 12th-century' (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Peterson A23.
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