{"product_id":"sassoon-siegfried-charles-sigrist-engraver-vigils","title":"SASSOON, Siegfried; Charles SIGRIST ( engraver ). Vigils.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eEngraved Sassoon\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSASSOON, Siegfried; Charles SIGRIST (\u003ci\u003eengraver\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Vigils. [\u003ci\u003eBristol: Privately printed for Douglas Cleverdon\u003c\/i\u003e]. 1934.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Contemporary tan niger morocco by John D. Gray \u0026amp; Son Ltd, Cambridge (front free endpaper signed in gilt), spine lettered directly in gilt, turn-ins ruled in blind, top edge-gilt; ff. [25], copper-engraved throughout; paper watermarked ‘1399’ with image of Sudarium (Barcham Green \u0026amp; Co, Maidstone), scythe and hourglass to title; slight offsetting to endpa-pers, else a near-fine copy; contemporary ownership inscription of L. C. Kempson to front endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, no. 207 of 272 copies signed and numbered by the author (from a total edition of 303); the trade edition followed the next year. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConceived after Sassoon sought the advice of his friend (and later bibliographer) Geoffrey Keynes on issuing a limited edition of his poems, the work was beautifully copper-engraved throughout in a script derived from Sassoon’s distinctive hand. Keynes writes in his mem-oirs that although ‘publication seemed to be an invasion of [Sassoon’s] privacy, he disliked being ignored [...] Any publication was therefore an ordeal, which could be mitigated by the preliminary issue of an inconspicuous private edition. I formed the notion of presenting these serious and reflective poems in a novel and attractive form by having the entire book engraved on copperplates’ (Keynes, \u003ci\u003eThe Gates of Memory\u003c\/i\u003e (1981), p. 233).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe title-page, bearing a scythe and hourglass, was designed by Stephen Gooden. Two hundred and twelve copies were bound in tan niger, as here, and a further sixty (of which fifty in boards) were for presentation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: With the ownership inscription of Lucy Caroline Kempson (1874–1958), great-granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood II, alumna of Somerville College, Oxford, and friend and correspondent of Dorothy L. Sayers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKeynes A39a\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2125257\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57400441831801,"sku":"2125257","price":550.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2125257.jpg?v=1780915144","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/products\/sassoon-siegfried-charles-sigrist-engraver-vigils","provider":"Sotherans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}