The Testimony of the Suns
San Francisco: Printed for The Book Club of California by John Henry Nash, 1927. Wilke, William. Limited Edition. Hardcover. One of 300 copies, folio size, 47 pp. Near fine. Item #22062607
John Henry Nash (1871-1947) was one of the pre-eminent printers in the early part of the 20th century, printing high-quality editions at his printshop in San Francisco. He quickly gained a reputation for exceptional precision and attention to detail from his earliest years as a printer, when he was in complete charge of design and production for Paul Elder under the Tomoye Press imprint, and later formed a part of the firm Taylor, Nash and Taylor. By 1916, he was ready to "become his own master" (n.b., Harlan, p. 23) and produced some of the most technically-proficent books of the time.
As with many other printers of this era, with most of America being (ast least somewhat) religious, Nash produced several outstanding works with a religious theme. In this work, he presents, in his usual inimitable style, the long poem by George Sterling (which would be his first published work). In 1902 Sterling sent the manuscript to Ambrose Bierce, "his one-man court of final judgment", who would make many substantial edits - most of which Sterling incorporated into the final form (n.b., quote from the book's Introduction, p. 5). With the facsimile of the corrected manuscript included, one can easily see how influential was Bierce on the then-young poet.
___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full marbled paper boards with a paper spine label lettered in black, each page of text surrounded by red ruled and mitred borders, elaborate title page decoration by William Wilke, the Introduction and Memory both with three-line initial capitals; handset Caslon roman and italic (Old Style per the BCC entry) type on Worthy Signature paper, folio size (14 1/2" by 9 1/2"), pagination: [1-3] 4-33 [1, blank] [1, divisional title] [12 pages of facsimile manuscript]; limited edition of 300 copies, this no. 181.
___CONDITION: About near fine, the boards clean, straight corners (the bottom corners lightly rubbed), a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; light wear at the head and tail of the spine and offsetting to the free endpapers.
___CITATIONS: Harlan, Robert D., "John Henry Nash, The Biography of a Career"; O'Day, p. 56; BCC 100, no. 29.
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Price: $175.00