Hunting Poems and Verses by G. J. Whyte-Melville, 1st Edition, Rare Binding

First Edition in Rare Binding,

HUNTING SONGS AND VERSES.
By G. J. Whyte-Melville.

George John Whyte-Melville was a Scottish novelist much concerned with field sports, and also a poet. Whyte-Melville lost his life in 1878 while hunting with the Vale of White Horse Hunt, falling as he galloped over a ploughed field at Bradon Pond, Charlton, Wiltshire. The Dublin Evening Mail said that it was "strange that he, so gallant and accomplished a horseman, who had dared danger with a light heart so often, should have perished, not while jumping a difficult fence, but simply while galloping across a ploughed field." He, a skilled horseman, had often boasted that he had only fallen once in the twenty years from 1847 to 1867.

Illustrated with sixteen, tipped-in and tissue guarded watercolour illustrations with numerous in-text vignettes by painter, Godfrey Douglas Giles.

Godfrey Douglas Giles was a painter of horses, military scenes and battles, many experienced firsthand while on service with the British Army in India, Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa. He produced numerous caricatures for the magazine Vanity Fair.

Published MDCDXI (1911) by T. N. Foulis, Edinburgh & London. First Edition.

T. N. Foulis was a British publisher founded in Edinburgh in 1903. During its first ten years, the firm became well known for producing "highly original, beautifully illustrated books", with contributions by "artists of considerable merit" such as Jessie M. King, H. M. Brock, Hannah MacGoun and Walter Crane. Works published included classics of poetry and prose, gift books, and nonfiction books, many with a Scottish theme.

The firm published more than 400 books in the years 1903–24. Its books were "produced to the most exacting of standards". In its 1913 catalogue, the firm announced:

Each Foulis book is the particular outcome of much personal thought and consideration. The more mechanical methods of modern publishing, which pours out wholesale, indiscriminately bound, or with featureless uniformity, have no attraction for Mr. Foulis and his fellow craftsmen.

Bound in brown suede, yapp edges, blind stamped title with horse and rider illustration to front board, gilt title on spine. Gilt page edges.

The book measures 14cm x 21cm.

CONDITION:

There are various signs of age, use and wear. The leather binding has some edge wear along the yapp edges, a few nicks and spots of fraying. Spine a little sunned, gilt title a little rubbed. Hinges/joints strong, no splitting. Mild age toning of the text block, slight foxing in parts. All tipped in illustrations present, attached and in good condition. Text block firm, no loose or missing pages. Gilt edges a little rubbed and scratched. One ribbon page marker present but well worn and almost detached. No previous owner inscriptions, highlighting or notes. 

Overall a charming edition, some typical signs of age and use, in a scarce binding rarely seen. 

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