The Hound of Heaven
London: Burns & Oates, Ltd., circa 1915. Stitched in original paper wrappers (7 inches tall), decorated front panel, uncut. Early owner signature to blank flyleaf, mild edge-wear, faint soiling and blemishes to wrappers, final leaf of text misopened. Very good indeed. Item #1397
"THE GREAT POETRY OF IT TRANSCENDED, IN ITSELF AND IN ITS INFLUENCE, ALL CONVENTIONS"
"New Edition" of the Hound of Heaven—a posthumous paperbound printing of Francis Thompson's masterpiece of the Catholic Literary Revival—illustrated with a "Death Mask" frontispiece of the Poet and ornamented with a title page initial in red.
First published by Burns and Oates in 1890, this "new" edition is undated but was printed for Burns by the Arden Press after Thompson's death in 1907. The text is prefaced with "Of 'The Hound of Heaven'" by Francis Meynell: "The great poetry of it transcended, in itself and in its influence, all conventions; so that it won the love of a Catholic Mystic like Coventry Patmore; was included by Dean Beeching in his Lyra Sacra among its older high composers; and gave new heart to quite another manner of man, Edward Burne-Jones." Printed in black-and-red on laid paper and supplemented with a facsimile of Thompson's handwriting from the original manuscript, a publisher's catalogue of Thompson's works, and contemporary reviews.
Price: $40.00