Folio, half-bound boards, India Proofs, 21s.
Blake (William):
Etchings from his Works. By W. B. Scott. With descriptive Text.
In Illuminated Cover, crown 4to, 6s.
Birthday Flowers: Their Language and Legends.
By W. J. Gordon. Illust. in Colours by Viola Boughton. [Shortly.
This sumptuous and elegant Birthday Book is the first in which our floral treasures have been laid under really effective contribution. It has been produced at immense cost, and in it we have one of the most accurate and beautiful Masterpieces of Chromo-lithography yet issued from the press. Within its sixty-four fully-coloured pages, each lithographed in fourteen printings, we have a noble Series of lovely Bouquets, depicting in all their wealth of grace and beauty the most famous of our field and garden jewels; as a different flower is taken for every day in the year, there are no fewer than three hundred and sixty-six separate selections. The legends and the sentiments ascribed to each of the chosen blossoms have formed the theme of some fifteen hundred lines of Original Verse, and there is thus given one of the fullest "Languages of Flowers" in existence, and the only one which is free from duplicates. An unusual amount of thought and labour has been expended on the work, and the publishers congratulate themselves that in a literary and artistic sense the result has been fully commensurate thereto. Such a collection of flowers, so complete and compact, has never before been offered. As a Book of Birthdays and Family Records it is unsurpassed. The addition of the scientific names to the minutely accurate delineations of plants renders its pages invaluable to the botanist and every lover of leaf and bloom. The legends which form the burden of its verse will delight the scholar and archæologist and all students of song and folk-lore; while the copious floral meanings, completer than in any other "language of flowers" yet available, will render it the constant companion and most treasured gift of a much more numerous section of the community—the whole world of Sweethearts of the English-speaking nations.