SPARE, Austin Osman, & Vera Wainwright ( with a check signed by Spare & a an original holograph letter from Wainwright to Spare ).

Drawings by Austin O. Spare for V.S.W.; Poems & Masks. Poems by Vera Wainwright, Masks by Austin Osman Spare [and] The Poetry & Art: Vera Wainwright and Austin Spare ( 3 Volume Set ).

[Thame]: NP [Mandrake Press Ltd. / I.H.O. books], 2008. First Edition. Hardcovers. Oblong quartos, Landscape format (8.5 ins x 12ins). Three large volumes. Attractively bound in black faux leather with gilt titles & blind -stamped with a simple Spare line drawing on upper boards. Extensively illustrated in both color and b/w. Ribbon markers. Edition limited to 59 numbered copies with a numbered bookplate loosely inserted in each volume (there were also Eleven Presentation sets for private distribution by the editor/publisher). Enclosed is an original handwritten letter from Wainwright to Spare and also a cheque signed by Spare. The volumes comprise: (a) "Drawings by Austin Osman Spare for V.S.W.": a drawing book of 24 images drawn by Spare for Vera in 1944 when Spare visited her in Helston, Cornwall. These drawings previously published only in a very limited edition of 24 portfolio folders, each one containing one of the original drawings. Biographies of Spare and Wainwright at rear together with an interesting Prologue. (b) "Poems and Masks", 44pp. Includes an illustrated 5pp personal acount of Vera Wainwright by Eileen White, a member of the community of Mappowder in Dorset where Wainwight spent the last years of her life. Poems and Masks was first published by the Toucan Press in 1968, and the biographical note and introduction to that edition plus that of the second US edition are reproduced as are the poems. This edition includes 8 additional poems plus previously unpublished. Also reproduced are Spare's illustrations from the 1968 edition, together with other relevant vignettes and illustrations. (c) "Poetry and Art" 80pp. Includes a number of short stories by Wainwright, art by both Spare and Wainwright - much of it in colour, as well as a further section which reproduces Spare's drafts for Poems and Masks. Also included in this volume are drawings with notes that Spare gave to Wainwright which are instructive concerning his composition of pictures. Fine condition (the volumes were issued without dust jacket). Item #54214

Price: $925.00