Books

Limited numbered pirated edn (30 of 300). Tall 8vo (10 x 8 ins). Bound in half maroon crushed levant morocco by C. Walters, top edge gilt (outer joints rubbed - otherwise bright VG). Pp. 32 printed on Japan vellum, with original wrapper bound-in at rear, versos alternately illustrated with a head of a sphinx or Christ on the cross (Richard Le Gallienne bookplate on front paste-down and catalogue entry from John C. Tomlinson sale of January 17-18 1918 tipped-in on front free endpaper; bookplate of Morton Burr Stelle on rear paste-down).

The Sphinx is a one-act play written by Oscar Wilde. It's a dramatic monologue by a woman who laments the absence of her lover, who has died. The richness of the symbolic imagery intertwines themes of love with the mystery of the Sphinx.