The Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillane

Oxford: Printed for the Limited Editions Club at the University Press, 1937. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. Austen, John. Two volumes (complete), one of 1500 copies, quarto size, 700 pp., in slipcase, signed by John Austen. Alain-Rene Le Sage (1668-1747), French novelist and playright, had an immense influence over later authors such as Jonathan Swift, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This work, originally published between 1715 and 1735, was instrumental in laying the foundation for 18th and 19th century novels. The protagonist is born in poverty and misery, undergoes hardships (truncated) and eventually, through his adaptability and quick wit, becomes a favorite of the king and enjoys a fortune and a hard-earned honest life.

With artwork by English illustrator John Austen (1886-1948), who illustrated many books such as "Hamlet", "Tristram Shandy", and "Madame Bovary"; his style was at first influenced by Aubrey Beardsley and was later shaped by the Art Deco movement.

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in quarter grey cloth with gilt lettering and decorative borders on the spine, blue cloth-covered sides, decorated endpapers, a different frontispiece in each volume, these being two of the twenty full-page Austen illustrations hand-coloured by Daniel Jacomet bound in throughout, with additional black-and-white illustrations in-text; monotype Fournier on William Nash special paper, designed, printed, and bound by John Johnson at the Oxford University Press, quarto size (11 1/2" by 8"), pagination: Vol. I, [i-v] vi-xxvi [1] 2-329 [1, blank]; and Vol. II, [i-v] vi-xi [1, blank] [331] 332-660 [1, colophon, signed by John Austen] [1, blank], this set number 631 of 1500. In jackets of light blue heavy paper, illustrations on the front panels and spines by Austen in black and dark blue, black lettering on the front panels and spines. Housed in the publisher's slipcase of heavy cardboard covered in the same patterned paper as the endpapers, light blue paper spine label with black lettering and another small illustration by Austen in black and dark blue.

___CONDITION: Volumes fine overall, with clean boards, straight corners without rubbing, strong, square text blocks with solid hinges, the interiors clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; light offsetting to the endpapers, and two very light, stray marks on the spine of Vol. I, else fine. The dust jackets a bit better than very good, the panels and spines clean and without noticeable wear, the spines showing sunning, scattered old dampstains, with light wear at the heads and tails. The slipcase very good, still strong and sturdy, the paper with overall light sunning and soil with noticeable wear around the opening, one seam split, a prior owner affixed cello tape to that and one other seam.

___CITATION: LEC Bibliography, no. 98.

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is an unusally large and heavy set and additional postage may apply; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help. (Inventory #: 33330988)