Boccaccio's Olympia

London: At the Florence Press, Chatto & Windus, 1913. Edited with an English rendering by Israel Gollancz. Neatly inscribed on FFEP by I. Gollancz to Dr Beeching: 'With all good messages' 21 XII 1915. Also on FFEP and pastedown, a poorly effaced ink description of Gollancz. A bibliographic notice on newsprint(?) affixed to pastedown. There is wear to the corners of the boards, spine ends frayed, and some (bleachlike) stains to the cloth backing material. There is a slight waviness to the bottom of the pages, but they don't seem to have been dampened. The pages are beautiful and the presentation is an apt medium for subject and author. Number 281 of 550. Facsimile of ms. on frontispiece. Letterpress on handmade Aldwych paper. Untrimmed. From the description on the pastedown: 'Rubricated text. 'Olympia' may be read side by side with 'Pearl.' In addition to the poem there are translations of Boccaccio's references to his little daughter, 'Olympia,' who died when five and a half years of age. The Angel Child returns to him in the poem with many beautiful assurances.' In a postscript Gollancz writes: 'The date of 'Olympia' is about 1361, some two or three years after the child's death at the age of five and a half.' 'Olympia: The wood's delights / Who can recount? Who tell in words? Not one! / First must he put on wings, as bird, by flight / To seek and see the heights; else all is vain.' . Limited/Numbered. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.