Limited Editions Club, 1944. #179/1100. With Monthly Letter, clamshell case, and advance announcement. Near Fine book, Very Good case. Designed by Bruce Rogers, and signed by him on the colophon. Text set in Rogers' own Shakespeare typeface, which is based up Janson. Garamond used for essay titles, with large decorated initial to open each essay. Printed on specially made Worthy paper by William Edwin Rudge. Bound by Russell-Rutter with a linen spine, and paper covered boards with a printed design by Rogers, with the boar from Bacon's crest in the center. The design is based upon a tapestry that hung in Elizabeth's throne room. 8-3/4" x 12-3/4."
Book is Near Fine. Clean interior. Tight binding, cover design well preserved. Slightly faded spine. One unopened fold.
Clamshell case is overall sturdy, with sunning and shelf wear. The flap over the fore edge bows out away from the case, but the book is still fully covered when in the case and has protected the book very well for 80 years.
In the Monthly Letter, George Macy said "These Essayes are among the three most beautiful of written works in the English language." Shakespeare and the King James Bible are the other two.
One of the rarer Bruce Rogers works for the LEC, as reduced demand during the war years cut the number of subscribers down to 1100 from the normal 1500 of the Macy era. The choice of cover design is similar to the Bruce Rogers designed LEC Shakespeare set, where he chose to cover the books to match the wallpaper found in a house Shakespeare stayed at. For this work he used an Elizabethan tapestry.
LEC Bibliography #157, Fifth book in the Fifteenth Series.