The Gathered Lilies. The Original Poem by F.H.

London H. Hering, [n.d., 1857] First edition. Undated, but the December 12, 1857 issue of Bent's Literary Advertiser lists the book as recently published. The identity of the poet is unclear, though a children's phonic reading book published in 1876 reprints the poem and attributes it to a Frances S. Hodgson (not to be confused, of course, with Secret Garden author Frances E. Hodgson Burnett). Publisher's color-printed white pictorial boards with blue cloth spine. Pale yellow endpapers. . Oblong quarto. . Richly color printed on every leaf. Illumination inspired by the work of Owen Jones and Noel Humphreys. The designs incorporate medieval illumination-inspired initial letters and decorative bands. Text in Gothic script. Foxing to boards and some edgewear. Contemporary ink ownership signature (Eliza Maude Widdas) to front flyleaf and twentieth century bookplate (Edward J. Law) to front pastedown. Very clean and bright throughout. A very good copy of a scarce book. We could not locate much information on Elizabeth Howard-Vyse, née Seymour (1815 – 1892) and Fanny Lucy Cecilia Greville (1831 – 1912) in the sources available to us. Howard-Vyse also published a travel account, A Winter in Tangier and Home Through Spain (1882). This appears to be Greville's only published book. Howard-Vyse was married to Lt. Col. George Howard-Vyse at the time the present work was published; the couple lived in Windsor, which was likely also the home of Greville, who was the daughter of a Vice-Admiral in the British Navy. Henry Hering (1814 – 1893) was a publisher, society photographer, and the last in a family line of bookbinders. Though his primary business venture was not printing, he did dabble in printing religious texts and gift books (often with his partner Remington) and was a promoter of Achille Colas' relief printing process.