Complete Set of 14 Printer's Proofs, each Signed by Parrish, One of 27 Sets
Proofs of the Illustrations by... for "Mother Goose in Prose" By L. Frank Baum.
Chicago: Way & Williams, Dec 1897.
Price: $40,000.00
About the item
Parrish, Maxfield. Number 5 of 27 copies. Each plates signed, 14 plates and colophon. 1 vols. folio. In damaged original portfolio, In qiuater red morocco slipcase and matching cloth chemise. Kraus, Way & Williams, #34; OCLC: Yale.
Item #373417
Kraus, "Twenty-seven sets of proofs of the illustrations printed on Japanese vellum were issued in a portfolio according to Coy Ludwig, Maxfield Parrish, New York: Watson-Guptill 1973) p. 216. each proof was signed in pencil by Parris and there was a limitation leaf signed by Baum. No copy located." (Although we can locate one copy, at the Beinecke.)
Very rare complete set of the 14 printer's proofs for the rare first published book by both Baum and Parrish—a landmark in the publishing history of children's books. This is set number 5 of only 27 produced, each proof page signed in the lower margin in pencil by Maxfield Parrish. As many of these signed proofs have been sold individually over the years, very few complete sets remain intact. "The artist and first-time writer were aptly matched… Mother Goose in Prose codified the characteristics of Parrish's fairy-tale phase, with its requisite medieval castles and costumes, into a visual language that he would employ in a wide range of future commissions" (Yount, 46-47). "Imaginative in concept and executed with confidence and originality, the illustrations for Mother Goose in Prose brought Parrish immediate recognition as a young book illustrator of ability. An expression of strong individuality, the illustrations portray a bygone era that is the unique domain of the nursery rhyme or fairy tale" (Ludwig, 25). Light wear and splitting to fragile cloth hinges of original portfolio. A few pencil signatures lightly smudged, most quite clear and sharp and all bold and perfectly legible. An excellent set, very rarely found complete and in the original portfolio.
