Champ Fleury by Geofroy Tory
New York: Printed by William Edwin Rudge for the Grolier Club, 1927. Full Leather. Very Good+ binding. Item #9186
Quarto. [6], xxiii, [1], 208, [2] pp., illus. Limited edition, one of 390 copies. This copy bound by Don Glaister in full crimson goatskin with typographic design referencing Rogers's type design throughout the volume—a stylized A on the front cover and Z on the rear tooled in blind and gold transitioning to painted lines. Glaister employs slightly raised and recessed areas beneath the leather with occasional light sanding, all to offer subtle dimensionality, a suggestive nod to the raise aspects of type. Crimson cork endpapers, gold and crimson silk headbands accent the original gold top-edge. Signed in blind on the rear pastedown with date and gold dot, "Donald Glaister 2025." Fine in clamshell.
This edition, designed by Bruce Rogers is the first English translation of Tory's landmark work begun in 1523 and published 1529. Tory's influence on 16th century typography was immeasurable—moving French printing away from gothic types towards the roman faces, a movement that would define modern typography. D. B. Updike calls Tory's Champ Fleury "one of the important books in the history of letter design" (I, p. 188). A beautiful edition that took decades for Rogers to bring from a proposal to the Grolier Club to a printed edition. And of all he designed, it was among Rogers's favorite (#24 in BR Thirty). Tory's groundbreaking and forward-looking work had long been a classic text by the time Rogers designed this edition 400 years later. Now 100 years further on, Glaister adds his voice to this typographic tradition, and in his distinct style, takes these now-classic letterforms and nudges them into modernity. Haas 413. Grolier 361. Updike, Daniel Berkeley. Printing Types. 3rd ed. (1966).
Price: $5,800.00