Helmet & Cowl; Stories of Monastic and Military Orders
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, c.1913. Quarto (11 inches tall), original printed paper boards with mounted color illustration, brown cloth spine lettered in black, brown endpapers. Slight scuffing to mounted illustration, small stain to bottom front board. A near-fine copy. Item #1330
"COULD YOU BE A MONK AND A KNIGHT AT ONCE?"
First American edition of these illustrated Tales of Knights and Monks for young people.
Combining Military and Monastic history, Helmet and Cowl was printed in a large type-face on thick brown paper and illustrated throughout by the Scottish artist Stephen Reid with both color plates (printed separately and tipped to the page) and numerous vignettes printed in black. The color plates include an illustration of a Knight mounted on the front board of the binding, a color frontispiece of Francis of Assisi (with tissue-guard), and 10 additional pages of double-paned color plates. Besides Francis, the portraits include Saints Anthony, Jerome, Benedict, Bernard, Louis of France, Catherine of Siena, John of God, along with the Red Cross Knights, the White Cross Knights, and others. Dedicated by the authors "To the Memory of Our Father / Ernest Frederick Letts / Sometime Rector of Newton Heath, Manchester." First published in England, the American edition was issued by Frederick A. Stokes, known for publishing fine art and children's books.
Price: $150.00