Beasts and Saints; Translations by Helen Waddell Woodcuts by Robert Gibbings
London: Constable and Company Ltd, 1934. Small quarto (8 1/4 inches tall), original blind-stamped red cloth illustrated in black, red top edge, original dust jacket. MInor wear to jacket. A near-fine copy. Item #1373
"THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SPRING OF MERCY IN MANKIND"
First edition of these legends of the "mutual charities" between animals and the early Christian Saints—translated from the Latin by Helen Waddell and splendidly illustrated by Robert Gibbings. A handsome copy, complete as issued with the original dust jacket.
Translated by the medieval scholar Helen Waddell, "without sophistication from the original Latin" and illustrated by Gibbings with 31 woodcuts (including the binding, frontispiece, title page, and the now scarce dust jacket). The text is divided into three sections: The Desert Fathers, The Saints of the West, The Saints of Ireland. With Waddell's Translator's Note: "For if the dark places of the earth have always been full of the habitations of cruelty, there has always been a spring of mercy in mankind. These are stories of the mutual charities between beasts and saints, from the end of the fourth to the end of the twelfth century." A list of the Sources consulted is appended after the text.
Price: $200.00