Examples of San Bernardino of Siena; Chosen by Ada Harrison / Illustrated by Robert Austin
London: Gerald Howe, 1926. Limited edition. Octavo (9 inches tall), original white paper boards, git spine and front board, original ribbon marker, top edge gilt, uncut. Mild spotting to spine, else Fine. Item #1071
"LET IT BE THEN THAT YOU WILL SAY A PATER NOSTER AND AN AVE MARIA FOR ME EVERY DAY"
Limited edition of the selected sermons of St. Bernardino of Siena—beautifully illustrated by Robert Austin and signed by him on the limitation page. An exceptional copy of a beautiful book in a deluxe paper vellum binding.
The medieval Franciscan preacher was known for his prolific and "simple sermons delivered in the vernacular to the common people of days." The selected "examples" were chosen by Ada Harrison and illustrated throughout by her husband Robert Austin—perhaps best known as the artist responsible for the 1928 illustrated edition of G.K. Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse. Here, Austin prepared a frontispiece, illustrated title page, three full-page plates along with initial letters, bordered vignettes, limitation page, and colophon leaf. With Harrison's extended Introduction (in four parts): I Bernardino in his Times, II. The Life of Bernardino, III. Bernardino the Franciscan, IV. Bernardino the Preacher. Wth a special scorn for the "domestic vices," Bernardino gained a reputation for his austerity: "Preaching on 'All things of this world are vanity,' Benardino again chastizes with scorpions. Fine houses, easy living, above all fine clothes, come straight from the devil and lead inevitably back to him." Deluxe issue: one of 105 copies printed on fine handmade paper (with another 1050 copies printed on laid paper) by Walter Lewis at the Cambridge University Press.
Price: $150.00