The Earthly Paradise : A Poem [3 volume set] : Vol. I: Parts I and II; Vol. II: Part III; Vol. III: Part IV

Boston: Roberts Brothers [through 1871], 1870. First Edition thus. Decorative Cloth. Fine. First and Early Printings of the first American edition of this Victorian reworking of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, four parts in three volumes (as issued), the complete Author's Edition, with title pages dated as follows: Volume I (1870); Volume II (1871); Volume III (1871). Crown 8vo: [8],430,[2]; [8],382,36,[6]; [6],401,[1]pp. Uniformly bound in publisher's emerald green cloth, spines stamped in gilt, beveled edges, top edges gilt, coated chocolate-brown end papers. Elegant owner's signature on first fly-leaf of each volume, dated 1871; contemporary calling card laid in with message on verso: "Returning your book for which I am very greatly obligated to you." Minor bubbling on several covers (binding defect), pages of Volume I marginally toned, else a superb set, apparently unread and virtually pristine. Printed in editions of 500, 500, and 1000 copies, respectively. Pye 2b.3, 3b.2, 5b.1. Forman, p. 58 (noting this edition was printed from advance sheets [from the third London edition] supplied by Morris's publisher, F. S. Ellis. But according to Pye, the book was issued with both imported and domestic sheets. Our copies are from the domestic sheets.). A series of twenty-four tales, two for each month, with twelve from classical sources and twelve chiefly from medieval Latin, French, and Icelandic originals. In the mid-1860s, "Morris entered a vigorous new poetic phase which established him as one of the most popular poets of his period, on a par with Browning, Tennyson, and Swinburne. . . . The poem that made Morris famous, The Earthly Paradise, is a large, highly coloured, hugely energetic sequence of narrative poems, a Victorian reworking of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. . . . The framework is the story of a band of late fourteenth-century Norsemen, fleeing the black death, setting sail in search of the reputed earthly paradise 'Where none grow old'. Failing to find it, they arrive at 'a nameless city in a nameless sea' where they are welcomed by the elders. . . . " (ODNB) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. Orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).