VENICE (SIGNED COPY)

1904.

Number 148 of the de Luxe edition limited to 500 copies, signed by the author to the limitations pages. Quarto (11 x 9 ins); pp x + 222. With 100 coloured illustrations executed by Menpes and reproduced from the original watercolours, each with captioned tissue-guard. Publisher's original white boards decorated in blue and gilt in a Romanesque style cloth, gilt title to upper board and backstrip, bevelled edges. Top edge of text block gilt, others edges untrimmed. Spine slightly faded, tips of corners slightly bumped. Silk bookmarker present and complete. With the exquisite bookplate of Elizabeth Steele, which depicts a luscious hedge in full flower beside a elegant walk that leads down to a balustrade overlooking undulating parkland. A near fine copy of this spectacular pictorial record of the Water City. Menpes was an Australian-born British painter who was pupiled in Chelsea by Whistler and indeed for a while shared a flat with him in Cheyne Walk. Among other works he illustrated for Black are titles on Japan, the Delhi Durbar, Paris and China.