THE SECRET ROSE

New York & London: Dodd, Mead / Lawrence & Bullen, Ltd., 1897. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo, 265 pages, dark blue cloth, extra extra-gilt spine and cover, untrimmed, two pencilled names. The gilt design is complete but dulled, head of spine slightly snagged,

This is the American issue of the British sheets of Yeats' 4th book, a collection of short stories, with 6 plates of illustrations by Jack Yeats. A stylized rose became her central symbol for Irish poet, Althea Gyles, who designed the cover for this volume, which appears on both issues. The design was influenced by Aleister Crowley and his Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which both Gyles and Yeats were exploring then. Yeats wrote that " Miss Althea Gyles may come to be one of the most important of the little group of Irish poets who seek to express indirectly through myths and symbols, or directly in little lyrics full of prayers and lamentations, the desire of the soul for spiritual beauty and happiness. She has done... a small number of poems full of original symbolism and spiritual ardour, though as yet lacking in rhythmical subtelty. Her drawings and book-covers, in which precise symbolism never interferes with beauty of design, are as yet her most satisfactory expression of herself." Prefaces & Introductions.