Art Nonsense and Other Essays,

London: Cassell & Co., LTD. & Francis Walterson, 1929 First trade edition. A limited edition of 100 copies bound in maroon cloth was also published. Blue buckram with gilt-lettered spine and bevelled edges. Octavo. Binding extremities lightly rubbed. Spine has some light toning and fading. Bookplate of Merle Armitage on front pastedown. Pages untrimmed. Holographic Eric Gill letter written to Merle Armitage and dated 6/3/31 laid in. Gill writes: "I would sign your book for you with / pleasure if you wd. send it. But this / seems a large trouble for so small an / advantage... / Why not cut out the above [signature] & stick it in?" A very good copy and a wonderful association In Art-Nonsense and Other Essays, Gill opens with an "apology" to the reader, in which he writes, "Two primary ideas run through all the essays in this book: 'that art is simply the well making of what needs making' and that 'art is collaboration with God in creating.' Written at various times and for various occasions, I was sometimes moved by the one, sometimes by the other. One essay will appear in consequence to contradict another. This seems unavoidable, but apology is offered for the gymnastics to which the reader is compelled. After all, life is full of these apparent contradictions, and a robust mind is one that is not disturbed thereby."