1910s Illustrated Quarto Volume Set, Elihu Vedder's the Digressions of v. Written for His Own Fun and That of His Friends - 2 Books

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Vedder, Elihu. The Digressions of V. Written for His Own Fun and That of His Friends.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, … Read more Vedder, Elihu. The Digressions of V. Written for His Own Fun and That of His Friends.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1910, first autographed edition, number 251 of an unspecified number [525 copies]. 2 volume set. 4to: V1. [xxii] 249 pp., V2. [ix] 250-521 pp. Publisher’s full Japanese vellum, gilt lettered spine and decorated front cover, slight handling and shelf wear at extremities, bookplate adhered to front pastedowns, invoice laid-in V1 front endpapers (dated 1977), Vedder signed on limitation, text interspersed with Vedder’s illustrations, includes some tissue guarded full-page plates in black and white and color. Ex-Libris. Very good.

Provenance: Ex. Justice Edward W. Hatch (1852-1924) of New York, Ex John Alan Walker (1942-2003), Art history consultant and bookseller, Ex John H. Garzoli (1935-2015), early 20th century California and American art collector and dealer.

Elihu Vedder, “I am not a mystic, or very learned in occult matters. I have read much in a desultory manner and have thought much, and so it comes that I take short flights or wade out into the sea of mystery which surrounds us, but soon getting beyond my depth, return, I must confess with a sense of relief, to the solid ground of common sense; and yet it delights me to tamper and potter with the unknowable, and I have a strong tendency to see in things more than meets the eye … There is another thing – the ease with which I can conjure up visions.” See less