The Latin Year; A Collection of Hymns for the Seasons of the Church from Medieval and Modern Authors
London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1873. First edition. Four volumes. Contemporary blind-stamped cloth (7 1/2 inches tall) in four colors, gilt titles to front boards, marbled endpapers, uncut. Small Roman numerals inked to spines, minor edge-wear and modest soiling to cloth, slight tanning to half-titles, interiors clean, corners sharp, gilt bright. A near-fine copy. Item #1376
"HYMNS FOR THE SEASONS OF THE CHURCH"
First edition of this collection of illustrated "Hymns for the Seasons of the Church"—printed in Latin and beautifully illustrated throughout by Robert Bateman.
Compiled by William John Loftie, the Irish-born Anglican priest and antiquary, who was, at this time, assistant chaplain at the Chapel Royal Savoy. A short preface by Loftie and (printed in Gothic type) states: "the chief object of this book is to provide a short but complete series of hymns for the private devotions of those to whom the long-neglected sweetness of the rhyming Latin is in itself, like strains of solemn music, a direct source of religious feeling." Printed at the Chiswick Press—with their engraved Dolphin-and-Anchor colophon to all four volumes—and bound in colored cloth boards. The four Parts: Part I. Lent and Easter (beige), II. Ascension and Whitsuntide (red), III. Trinity (green), and IV. Advent and Christmas (blue) are supplemented in the last volume with an Index (with Authorities, Corrections, and Notes). This set is essentially extra-illustrated with an additional half title, engraved title page, engraved part title I: Lent and Easter, and full page woodcut ("Ecce angeli accesserunt") bound at the end of the last volume. Published by Basil Montagu Pickering (the son of William Pickering, the prominent bookseller and publisher), this four volume set was suceeded by a single volume edition in 1877.
Price: $350.00