A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY

LIMITED EDITION, Designed by Eric Gill and Illustrated by Denis Tegetmeiter, one of 1500 hand-numbered copies SIGNED BY BOTH GILL AND TEGETMEIR. With eight full page etched plates and plus smaller etchings on the titlepage and colophon by Denis Tegetmeiter, the book printed in a new type [Bunyan] designed by Eric Gill expressly for this book. Tall 4to, publisher's original tan linen both upper and lower covers with a fanciful design around a mongram "LS" in red and blue, the spine gilt lettered, t.e.g., still in the original glassine jacket, which were rarely retained, and in the original slipcase of blue moire paper-covered boards with paper label printed in red. vii, [2], 136, [1] pp. A very fine copy, the condition is as mint and for all purposes perfect, the text and binding pristine, the rare glassine in wonderful state of preservation being soft and supple, not brown and brittle as is typically found, the slipcase is also as fresh and unworn as if it were new. A smashing example.

Edizione: the fine limited eric gill designed edition of this famous work by laurence sterne, a sentimental journey. is one of the great books of eighteenth century english literature and one of the most influential. this beautifully rendered edition of only 1500 copies is an outstanding example of what the limited editions club was able to produce.<br> sterne travelled through france and italy as far south as naples, and after returning determined to describe his travels from a sentimental point of view. the novel can be seen as an epilogue to the possibly unfinished work the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman, and also as an answer to tobias smollett's decidedly unsentimental travels through france and italy. sterne had met smollett during his travels in europe, and strongly objected to his spleen, acerbity and quarrelsomeness. he modeled the character of smelfungus on him.<br> the novel was extremely popular and influential and helped establish travel writing as the dominant genre of the second half of the 18th century. according to drabble; "[sterne] is generally acknowledged as an innovator of the highest originality, and has been seen as the chief begetter of a long line of writers interested in the stream-of-consciousness ."<br> in the field of printing eric gill was as great an innovator as sterne was for literary styles. the oxford dictionary of national biography describes gill as "the greatest artist-craftsman of the twentieth century: a letter-cutter and type designer of genius." this book was printed at his hague and gill press on lovely barcham green hand-made paper.