Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity
Oxford: The Daniel Press, 1894. 12mo. (5 5/8 inches tall), contemporary full crushed brown morocco, gilt spine, marbled endpapers with gilt dentelles, top edge gilt, uncut. Early owner signature (dated, "Christmas 1894"), very slight wear to corners and edges. About Fine. Item #1767
"BUT SEE THE VIRGIN BLEST / HATH LAID HER BABE TO REST"
Limited edition of John Milton's Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity—one of of only 200 copies printed in Oxford by The Daniel Press for Christmas 1894. A small elegant printing of Milton's Christmas poem—decorated with an ornamental woodcut border on the title-page and a woodcut printer's device on the colophon—in a fine contemporary binding of full brown morocco, stamp-signed in gilt by Morley of Oxford.
Amateur hobbyists, known as "parlour printers," were the precursors of the Private Press Movement. "By far the most important of these Victorian printers for pleasure was the Reverend C.H.O. Daniel." The son of a vicar, Charles H.O. Daniel was inspired by the literature of the seventeenth century, which lead to his part in resurrecting the Fell types of Oxford University Press.
"The Daniel Press is significant for two reasons: the excellence of the texts selected for printing...allied to the charm of the production. Daniel Press books were quite unlike other private press books produced at the turn of the century. There is nothing of the pseudogothic or would-be renaissance spirit about them. Although they are unmistakably of their time, Daniel's deep interest in seventeenth century literature made him produce a series of books that hark back to the printing of the period in a very refreshing manner" (Roderick Cave. The Private Press).
Price: $500.00