Item #681 The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P. Eric Gill, Francis Thompson.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.

The Mistress of Vision; Together with a Commentary by the Rev. John O'Connor S.T.P. and with a Preface by Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.

Ditchling, Sussex: Douglas Pepler, 1918. First edition. Quarto (10 1/2 inches tall), original cloth spine, gray paper boards, original dust wrapper. Book about-fine, very good original wrapper re-margined and made complete. A wonderful copy. Item #681

"LEND ME, O LEND ME / THE TERRORS OF THAT SOUND, / THAT ITS MUSIC MAY ATTEND ME, / WRAP MY CHANT IN THUNDERS ROUND, / WHILE I TELL THE ANCIENT SECRETS IN THAT LADY'S SINGING FOUND"

First St. Dominic's Press edition of Francis Thompson's Marian poem—one of two issues printed at Ditchling "in days whose feet are rumorous on the air." Complete with the rare original dust wrapper with an extra illustration (Sedes Sapientiae) by Eric Gill. An excellent copy, still the only time I've seen the original wrapper.

Francis Thompson knew "the exultant surge of resurrection, not partial, not momentary, as was the case with so many others, but a triumphant entering into the full spirit of Catholicism out of which arose his best poetry" (Calvert Alexander). Thompson's troubled life and brief career influenced a generation of Catholic artists and writers, perhaps none more than Eric Gill. When Thompson died of tuberculosis in 1907, the Meynell family helped Gill to secure a commission to carve Thompson's altar tomb at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green. This experience apparently affected Gill greatly during the final approach to his own conversion in 1913.

The Mistress of Vision first appeared in The Works of Francis Thompson, published by Burns Oates shortly after Thompson's death. First issued in the same year in gilt black paper wrappers, this second Ditchling issue features three wood-engravings by Eric Gill—including Paschal Lamb (P92)—with an additional engraving, Madonna and Child (P216) appearing on the front of the dust wrapper. "It is one of the most pleasing of the Press's books and is printed on the last sheets of a thin hand-made paper by Batchelor for William Morris." Describing Our Lady Saint Mary as "the Queen of Poesy and of Paradise," Father O'Connor's running commentary appears opposite the verse for each of the 26 stanzas.

Father Vincent McNabb, the early mentor and spiritual guide to the lay Dominicans working at Ditchling, provides a Preface: "To Francis Thompson, the Catholic poet, the world of life, of science, of history, of literature was one because God thought of it, and it lasteth and forever shall because God loveth it." The colophon notes that this was "printed 'in days whose feet are rumorous on the air' by Douglas Hilary Pepler at Ditchling Sussex, in the year of Our Lord MCMXVIII, and completed on the Feast of Our Lady of Ransome." A Catalogue of Books (and tracts, catalogues, and wood engravings) published by Pepler appears at the rear. Calvert Alexander, The Catholic Literary Revival; Christopher Skelton. Eric Gill. The Engravings; Evan Gill, Bibliography of Eric Gill, 366; Taylor & Sewell. Saint Dominic's Press: A Bibliography, A29.

Price: $450.00

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