signed first edition
1892 · London
by Payne, John [intr.]
London: Privately Printed for the Villon Society, 1892. First edition. First edition. Original publisher's full vellum over boards with large gilt decorated band extended through both covers onto spine, gilt lettering on spine. #116 of 157 copies printed on handmade laid paper, top edges gilt, others uncut. A fascinating copy with an extra set of 32 pages erroneously (hence an error by publisher) bound in between pages 38 and 39, with an autograph note signed [Sutton, 1894] explaining the error. Bookplate of James Torr Harmer, railroad magnate and noted collector. The poems are "now first done into English verse, in the original forms, with a biographical and critical introduction by John Payne." With newspaper clippings mounted at very end relating to Villon. A superb copy. Only copy found in original binding.
(Inventory #: 3078)