Samuel Taylor Coleridge — The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Limited Editions Club, 1945
Signed by Illustrator Edward A. Wilson
Limited Edition #988 of 1500
Full Ostrich-Skin Leather Binding with Chemise & Slipcase

A beautiful 1945 Limited Editions Club edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson and signed by Wilson at the limitation page.

This edition was issued in a limitation of only 1500 copies for members of the Limited Editions Club. This copy is numbered 988 and is signed by illustrator Edward A. Wilson in red ink.

A particularly attractive example, bound in full russet-brown ostrich-skin leather, with gilt lettering to the spine. The binding is in excellent shape overall, showing only slight wear to the corners. The volume is housed in its original cork-pattern chemise and matching slipcase, which are in fair condition, slipcase showing edge wear and one cover of the chemise cleanly detached.

This is one of the more distinctive Limited Editions Club productions of the period. The edition was designed by Carl Purington Rollins, one of the major American book designers and printers of the 20th century. The text was printed at the Printing-Office of the Yale University Press, and the illustrations were hand-colored from the designs of Edward A. Wilson. The book is printed in a handsome letterpress style on quality laid/textured paper, giving the pages a fine-press feel with generous margins, crisp typography, and a pleasing tactile surface. Wilson’s dramatic maritime illustrations, including the striking hand-colored plates and decorative endpapers, pair especially well with the poem’s supernatural sea imagery.

Bibliographic Details:

Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Title: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Publisher: The Limited Editions Club
Place: New York
Date: 1945
Illustrator: Edward A. Wilson
Introduction: John Livingston Lowes
Designer: Carl Purington Rollins
Printer: Printing-Office of the Yale University Press
Limitation: #988 of 1500 copies
Signed: Signed by Edward A. Wilson on the limitation page
Binding: Full ostrich-skin leather binding
Extras: Original cork-pattern chemise and slipcase

Condition:

Excellent condition overall. The full ostrich-skin leather binding is especially attractive, with bright gilt spine lettering and only slight wear to the corners. Boards remain clean, handsome, and well-preserved. Interior pages are clean and bright with mild natural age toning. Illustrated endpapers are vivid. Limitation page is clean and clearly signed by Edward A. Wilson. The original cork-pattern chemise and slipcase show their age: one board on the chemise is detached, and the edges of the slipcase show wear. 

A very desirable signed Limited Editions Club copy of one of Coleridge’s most famous works, in a distinctive ostrich-skin leather binding and with the original chemise and slipcase.