The Mysteriousness of Marriage; With Illustrations from Drawings by Denis Tegetmeier
Capel-Y-Fin: Francis Walterson, 1928. Limited edition. 12 mo. (7 7/8 inches tall), original blue paper boards, gilt black cloth spine, uncut. Bookplate and ink inscription. Interiors fine, minor toning to boards, lower corner bumped. Very good indeed. Item #1281
"MARRIAGE IS THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD"
Limited edition of two sermons by Jeremy Taylor—with modern illustrations by Denis "TEG" Tegetmeier. A "presentation copy"—inscribed at Easter for Joanna Gill—with her original bookplate (designed by her father Eric Gill) pasted to the front endpaper.
Departing from Ditchling, Eric Gill moved to Pigotts in 1928 where he established a compound for himself and "his two sons-in-law and their families: Denis Tegetmeier, engraver on copper and wood, married to Petra, and Rene Hague, married to Joan" (Tom Burns). Gill had created bookplates for his daughters Petra and Joanna in 1922. Joanna's bookplate (P206) is placed opposite the inscription to the blank flyleaf: "J.B.M.G./ from / D.A. / Easter / 1928." The inscription is thought to be by Donald Attwater, a friend of the family and later the author of a profile (Eric Gill: Workman). Gill would later name his Joanna typeface in honor of his daughter.
"From the literary point of view, Taylor is one of the great artists of seventeenth century prose, with scarcely an equal in his love for a beautiful expression and a recondite reference" (Frank N. Magill). Taylor's preaching on the sacrament of marriage ("the first blessing from the Lord") is contrasted with Tegetmeier's illustrations—a frontispiece and five additional drawings—imbued with decidedly satirical view of modern marriage and family life, Referring to Jeremy Taylor as "the Chrysostom of the Church of England," Francis Walterson's brief preface notes that in the seventeenth century, "the baby of Christian Matrimony had not yet followed the water of Popery out of the Protestant bath." Walterson concludes with a comment on the contemporary illustrations by Tegetmeier: "It is always difficult, and in this instance it is superfluous, to illustrate a sermon. But, if comparisons be odious, contrasts are often salutary and so it has seemed good to the publisher to supplement Taylor's words by a pictorial record of the practice which, 300 years later, follows from contemporary thought. / F.W. " Numbered in ink on the limitation page, this is #13 of only 300 copies printed on laid paper by Walter Lewis at the Cambridge University Press. Burns. The Use of Memory: Publishing and Further Pursuits. Magill. Masterpieces of Christian Literature, Skelton. Eric Gill: The Engravings, P206.
Price: $300.00