[MALORY, SIR THOMAS]. The Birth Life and Acts of King Arthur of his Noble Knights of the Round Table Their Marvellous Enquests and Adventures the Achieving of the San Greal and in the end Le Morte Darthur With the Dolourous Death and Departing out of this World of Them All. The Text as Written by Sir Thomas Malory and Imprinted by William Caxton at Westminster the Year MCCCCLXXXV [1485] and now Spelled in Modern Style, Embellished With Many Original Designs by Aubrey Beardsley. [London]: J.M. Dent & Co., MDCCCCIX [1909].
SECOND EDITION. Cloth-bound, hardcover, thick quarto (30 x 22 x 5.5cm), pp. liv, 624. English text, edited by John Rhys. Bound in publisher's original decorative cloth, the spine and boards intricately gilt with the iconic Beardsley water-lily designs, top page edges gilt, other edges rough cut, initial and terminal blanks plus half-title present, frontispiece with tissue-guard, title-page with decorative head-piece and publisher's device, with 20 plates, 5 double-page illustrations and 15 single page plus many partial page designs and ornamental borders by Beardsley. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight, secure and square, with the hinges and joints intact. Covers generally well-preserved with a few marks to rear, the spine ends slightly bumped. The interior complete and very well-preserved, without previous ownership markings. Exquisite.
Notes: This is the second edition of Le Morte D’Arthur, with Aubrey Beardsley’s designs (now issued in a single volume – previously two volumes). It is limited to 1000 copies for the United Kingdom (published by Dent) and 500 copies for America (published by Dutton).
