The Forsyte Saga

London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1933. Later printing. Octavo (7 1/8 x 4 5/8 inches; 180 x 117 mm.). [ii, Miss Currie signed limitation, verso blank], [i]-xvi, [1]-1104 pp. Including folded "Forsyte Family Tree". Inserted limitation leaf at front "This is No. 172 of the Books/with Fore-edge Paintings/by/Miss Currie/The Painting under the gold/is a view from/Richmond Hill./Signed/ C.B. Currie". Bound ca. 1933 by Rivière & Son for Henry Sotheran. Full dark blue straight-grain morocco, covers elaborately bordered in gilt and blind enclosing a diamond-shaped gilt lozenge, spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled in gilt and blind, and lettered in gilt in compartments. Gilt -ruled board edges, gilt decorated turn-ins, gray endpapers, all edges gilt. A very fine example. Housed in a custom made felt-lined black cloth clamshell case with black leather label on spine lettered in gilt. With a very fine fore-edge painting by Miss C.B. Currie of Richmond Hill from The Forsyte Saga.

John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, is a multi-novel & short story series following the tumultuous lives of a wealthy English family as they navigate relationships and changing times in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Here the fore-edge painting features a building central to many of the character's lives.

The artist Miss C.B. Currie [Caroline Billin Curry] (1849-1940) was one of the most beloved book painters of the 20th century, who spent the majority of her carrier working for Henry Sotheran Booksellers, in London. "She became famous for her miniature paintings applied to two art forms. First on ivory, mounted on Rivière bindings and named by her employer as "Cosway" bindings. Later she expanded her work into the art of painting on the fanned edge of a book -- called a fore-edge painting. Most of these paintings were signed and numbered by the artist. Whereas fore-edge painting history is replete with unknown artists, Currie is a notable exception... In the book world, the name Miss C.B. Currie is widely recognized, yet her personal life and real name remained guarded and unknown until now. It turns out her name was, in fact, partly a pseudonym. Though her work is highly prized, there is no known published biography. Her correct full name was recently discovered to be Caroline Billin Curry. During her entire artistic career Curry used the slightly altered version of her name "Currie". Her true full name is not to be found in any published record of her work from Sotheran's" (Weber).

Provenance: Sotheran's catalogue 819 supplement, item 1688 or 1689; Chas. J. Sawyer, Ltd., Catalogue 154, item 127 (1929?) -- said to have passed to an Akron, Ohio institution -- unknown Ohio bookseller -- Mosher Books (2008); Sold to Randall Moscovitz (2008).

Weber. Annotated Dictionary of Fore-Edge Painting...Catalogue Raisonné, no. 172.