Occult & Esoterica
[SPARE, Austin Osman; WAINWRIGHT, Vera] Drawings by Austin O. Spare for V.S.W.; Poems & Masks; [and] The Poetry & Art (3 Volumes, Complete)
[SPARE, Austin Osman; WAINWRIGHT, Vera] Drawings by Austin O. Spare for V.S.W.; Poems & Masks; [and] The Poetry & Art (3 Volumes, Complete)
Full titles: Drawings by Austin O. Spare for V.S.W.; Poems & Masks. Poems by Vera Wainwright, Masks by Austin Osman Spare [and] The Poetry & Art: Vera Wainwright and Austin Spare
Thame, UK: Mandrake Press Ltd. / I-H-O Books, 2008. First Edition. Hardcovers, issued without dust jackets. Oblong quartos, landscape format (8.5 x 12 inches). Three volumes, complete. Each volume limited to 59 numbered copies and each with a numbered bookplate loosely inserted (all volumes are No. 53). The three volumes are uniformly bound in black faux leather with blindstamped Spare line drawing to right side of each front panel, and left side of each back panel, titles in gilt to front (spines blank). All volumes illustrated. A folded sheet with Caduceus Books letterhead is laid in. It has a short inscription plus a scribbled "signature" of Ben Fernee, proprietor of Caduceus Books. Details on each volume below. A fine set! Quite uncommon.
Vol 1: "Drawings by Austin Osman Spare for V.S.W.": This volume reproduces a drawing book showing 24 images drawn by Spare for Vera in 1944 when Spare visited her at her home in Helford, Cornwall. At the end of the volume are short profiles of Spare and Wainwright followed by a publisher's prologue which discusses the number 59 (the number of copies of this edition) and the word "One" with a point in the circle of the letter "O". There is no additional text in the book.
Vol 2: "Poems and Masks". 44 pages. This volume begins with an illustrated 5 page personal acount of Vera Wainwright by Eileen White, a member of the community of Mappowder in Dorset where Wainwight spent the last years of her life. There are several b&w and sepia images (and one in color) of Vera. This is followed by the introduction to the original 1968 edition of this work published by Toucan Press, plus the introduction to the second US edition. The poems (and Spare's illustrations) from the original edition are provided, plus 8 previously unpublished poems with additional Spare illustrations. At the end of the volume is a short biographical note on Spare by Wainwright, a bio of Wainwright by J. Stevens Cox, and a publishing history of this work.
Vol 3: "The Poetry & Art". 80 pages. This volume begins with a short essay on Spare called 'The Mask' by Francis Marsden. Includes a number of short stories by Wainwright, art by both Spare and Wainwright - much of it in colour, as well as a further section which reproduces Spare's early designs and drafts for Poems and Masks. Also included in this volume are drawings with notes that Spare gave to Wainwright which are instructive concerning his composition of pictures, and extracts from letters concerning painting and landscapes.