Maggs Bros Ltd. Rare Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and first editions.

Illustrated with photographs by the author. First edition, one of 500 copies printed, this one of 20 special copies bound by Douglas Cockerell. 4to., original full brown morocco, elaborately decorated with an allover design of blind fillet arranged in a zig zag pattern, giving an appearance of lozenges, a central gilt diamond shape pattern made of roseate, leaf, and dot tools, within a simple diamond shape border of dots and dashes, and a more elaborate diamond shaped border of leaf and dot tools. Spine lettered in six panels, similarly decorated with a geometric arrangement of fillets and dots. London, printed by A. Smith and Co., 30 Sangley Road, London SE6.

A charming bit of local history written by the pre-eminent Nova Scotian historian, distinguished by its unexpectedly de-luxe production. Morse was a bibliophile and travelled frequently to England, where he befriended Douglas Cockerell: Morse's papers and much of his rare book collection, including Cockerell's own collection of historic bindings (sold to Morse in 1936 to fund an expansion of the bindery), are in Dalhousie University.Morse was introduced to Cockerell by William Dalton, who taught printing at Camberwell School of Art, and the colophon of present book reads "Designed by W.B. Dalton and W.H. Amery with the Assistance of the Artistic Typography Class of the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London."A manuscript colophon on the front free endpaper in Morse's hand reads "Special binding by Douglas Cockerell, Bookbinder, Letchworth, Herts, England. Only 20 copies de luxe & each special design."Spine very slightly faded, and an early ink deletion of part of the copyright notice on the verso of the title page has bled through to the title itself.

COCKERELL, Douglas - binder Stock Code: MO52946