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1 of 253523 objects
Eros and Psyche: a poem in XII measures 1935
29 x 23 x 3 cm (book measurement (conservation)) | RCIN 1121523
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones 1935
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Robert Bridges (1844-1930) was a poet, but trained and worked as a doctor until 1882, when a lung condition forced him to retire. After this he devoted himself to literary research and writing poetry. He was appointed poet laureate in 1913 and held the position until his death in 1930. He was also a member of the Order of Merit.
This book is an edition of his poetic version of the classical love story of Eros and Psyche. The book was printed posthumously by the Gregynog Press in 1935, but Bridges had input into its creation, requesting that Edward Burne-Jones' woodcut illustrations of the story be printed with the poem.
Burne-Jones (1833–1898) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter and a friend of the designer, author and visionary socialist William Morris (1834–1896). When Morris published his own retelling of Eros and Pysche as part of his poem collection 'The Earthly Paradise', he commissioned Burne-Jones to create a set of woodblock prints to illustrate the edition of the text printed at the Kelmscott press in the 1860s. By the 1930s these woodblocks were worn out, but the Gregynog Press, another Private Press with many of the same ideals as the Kelmscott Press, recreated the woodblocks from Burne-Jones' original drawings.
The Gregynog Press was set up by sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies in Gregynog in Wales in 1922, as a way of promoting fine printing and binding, of printing Welsh material, and of providing training and work for local young people. The book is bound in cream pigskin, tooled in gold, and printed on hand-made paper. This, in the words of the poet and advisor to the Press Loyd Haberly, was 'entirely the manual work of young Welsh country boys and girls.' Not only were the illustrations specially recreated for the work, but the typeface was also recreated by Haberly from a 15th-century German edition of Dante.
This, the 100th of only 300 copies printed, was presented to Queen Mary by the Press, and bears her signature.
Provenance
Presented to Queen Mary by Loyd Haberly, 1935.
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Measurements
29 x 23 x 3 cm (book measurement (conservation))
31.5 x 4.0 cm (book measurement (inventory))
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Alternative title(s)
Eros & Psyche : a poem in XII measures / by Robert Bridges ; with wood-cuts from designs by Edward Burne-Jones.