The Vicar of Wakefield

Edition deluxe limited to 500 copies, this being number 143, signed by the illustrator at limitation page. Quarto. With 16 coloured plates, including the frontispiece, 48 single-leaf illustrations, and chapter head-pieces, all by Edmund Sullivan. Handsomely bound in olive green, burgundy and blue calf with gilt decorations, spine discoloured to brown, with twin labels in black and red, raised bands, gilt fillets around compartments with roundels at corners. The design of the boards is repeated on verso. Half-title present. A spectacular copy of a notable edition of Goldsmith's sentimental masterpiece. E.J. Sullivan (1869-1933) was a British book illustrator who worked in a style which merged the British tradition of illustration from the 1860s with aspects of Art Nouveau. He was one of the most striking and confident illustrators of his generation. His work ranged across many moods and media, and he became a particularly influential teacher. Apart from Goldsmith's 18th century classic, he also illustrated "The Compleat Angler", "Tom Browne's Schooldays", and "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" among many other works.