ANIMALIA - 1926 Signed, limited to 28 copies - LEON UNDERWOOD modernist bestiary

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ANIMALIA - 1926 Signed, limited to 28 copies - LEON UNDERWOOD modernist bestiary:
$995.00

Animalia; or, Fibs about Beasts, Engraved on Wood and Ensnared in Verse. By Leon Underwood. New York : Payson & Clarke, Limited, (1926.) 1st edition. Limited to just 28 signed and numbered copies on Van Gelder paper. This is number 13. Specially bound and illustrated with proofs printed by the artist from the original woodblocks.

A modernist bestiary, inspired by African art and expressed in the bold style of the Art Deco era. Containing vivid representations from the animal kingdom and fanciful verse on the facing pages. Complete with all 22 tipped-in proofs, 20 of them full-page, plus two smaller vignettes tipped to the frontispiece and title page. A beautifully produced artist\'s book by Leon Underwood (1890-1975), acclaimed British sculptor and scholar who worked in multiple artistic disciplines during his versatile career. Please click HERE for more on his life and work.

(48) pages, consisting of 24 double leaves, joined at the top edge. A large hardcover volume, 13 by 10 inches. Parchment vellum spine and beveled boards covered in a terra cotta colored paper. Paste-on cover illustration that repeats the title page vignette. Not issued with a dust jacket. Signed and dated by Leon Underwood in ink on the half-title page. Hand-numbered on the colophon page in the rear of the book.

Clean and only lightly worn. Binding sound and tight. Some spotting, browning of the parchment at the extremities. Light, even fading at the top of the front board. One print (\"Monkeys\") is creased/wrinkled at the left margin. One text page with a short edge tear of less than 1 inch in the blank margin. Offsetting from the prints to the facing pages containing the verses. Text pages and prints clean and umarked otherwise. Glue marks on the front pastedown, evidently from a bookplate that became detached and is no longer present. No other ownership marks. A very nice copy overall. Scarce, by virtue of the small number of copies produced for the signed, limited edition. Three other copies located for sale elsewhere online, at prices ranging from $2,000 to $3,000.