Pasiphaë by GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS / Swinburne, Algernon C - 1950

London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1950. Limited Edition. Fine. John Buckland Wright. 8vo; 9 x 5 3/4 inches (228 x 144 mm); 40 pp., 13 pt Bembo type. 6+1 copper engravings by John Buckland Wright, with tissue guards. This is copy no. 96 of 100 special numbered copies with one extra engraving facing the title page. Bound by Sandorski & Sutcliffe, London (stamped in gilt on inside front cover) in wine coloured vellum boards, gilt title and gilt image of Horus with the sun between the horns; gilt fillet on turn-ins; t.e.g, rest uncut; spine slightly faded, as expected by the publisher (see comments below)

[Cock-a-Hoop 185]. «Among the greatest poets of antiquity Euripides, Propertius, Virgil, and Ovid all found in the legend of beautiful, tortured Pasiphaë, who loved a bull, a subject to evoke sublime verse, and Swinburne when he chose this theme was thus in noble company. Ignored by editors and critics, the poem is nevertheless comparable with his finest work, and it gave me much satisfaction that ours was the first correct printing of the text, carefully copied from the original manuscript in the British Museum.... he dyed vellum bindings of the specials I find very charming, though the dye has a tendency to wear off a little with time and use.» David Chambers, Cock-a-Hoop: The Bibliography of the Goldern Cockerel Press, 1950-1961.

The GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS was founded by Harold Midgely Taylor in 1920 with the object of publishing new works of literary significance by young authors and to print and publish fine editions of books of established worth. When Mr. Taylor retired in 1924 it was purchased by Robert Gibbins, known as an illustrator and woodcutter (Tomkinson, p .93) "Golden Cockerel books are amongst the most popular and desirable private press items." (Ransom p. 106).