lamdha books - Catalogue of books on the Pre-Raphaelites, Symbolists and Decadents

43235 Beaumont, Barbara (ed.) The Road of Decadence: From Brothel to Cloister Selected Letters of J.K. Huysmans. Ohio State University Press, Columbus, 1989. Hardcover, 273pp. Page edges lightly toned. Dustwrapper lightly worn at edges. Very good. [Hardcovers with dustwrappers are professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film, where appropriate.] Huysmans' letters form a sustained commentary on his artistic career and, taken as a whole, are an important documentary source for many aspects of French intellectual life, and the development of fin-de-siecle literature known as the Decadent period. Click here to order $24

32252 Delevoy, Robert L. Symbolists and Symbolism Skira; Macmillan, London, 1978. Hardcover square folio, 247pp., 83 colour and 228 monochrome illustrations. Foxed, spotted prelims; page edges slightly stained; boards solid and clean, with some wear, one superficial split to upper spine, few stains; dustwrapper clean and bright, few creases, fraying at corners. Overall very good in like dustwrapper. [Hardcovers with dustwrappers are professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film, where appropriate.] Symbolism was less a school than the atmosphere of the period. It is this atmosphere and the spirit of the artists who created it, from Vienna to London, that the Belgian art historian Robert L. Delevoy evokes in this comprehensive study of Symbolism. Aided by hundreds of fine reproductions of Symbolist paintings, watercolours and drawings, the author has succeeded in the difficult task of synthesising the overall significance of this far-reaching movement. Click here to order $120

56279 Eemans, Nestor Fernand Khnopff Le Ministere de L'Instruction Publique, Antwerp, 1950. Quarto hardcover, 15pp., and 24pp., illustrations in b&w and frontispiece in colour. Little foxing, wear; near fine in dustwrapper worn at edges; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The artist's name in written in pen on the spine section of the wrapper and a number to the top of the inner fold. Click here to order $25

61112 Holman-Hunt, Diana My Grandfather, His Wives and Loves Columbus Books, London, 1987. Paperback, 307pp., b&w plates. Page edges browned and spine of cover discoloured/faded. Otherwise, very good to near fine. William Holman Hunt is a key figure in the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, that Victorian rebellion against what they considered the frivolity of contemporary artists. With his mane of red hair and exuberant beard, Hunt looked suitably like an Old Testament prophet, and his major canvases calculated to appeal to wide audiences, seemed part of the man. Sin and guilt, retribution and redemption, were recurring themes in his work. Like Rossetti, he fell victim to a femme fatale, a resplendent model called Annie Miller, whom he attempted to reform and then marry, failing in both objectives. The sincerity of Hunt's aims and the lapses of his behaviour continue to intrigue us. Click here to order $12

36513 Jackson, Holbrook The Eighteen Nineties Capricorn Books, New York, 1966. Paperback, 304pp., b&w illustrations. Owner's name on endpaper. Cover slightly worn and discoloured with wear along edges and corners. Good. Written not long after the "Yellow Nineties", this book remained the best and most readable survey of the British literary and artistic movements that flourished in the last decade of the nineteenth century. It moves from a general survey of the period, its movements and leading figures, to specific discussions of the more notable examples - from Decadence, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley to William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Click here to order $9

66789 Julian, Philippe Dreamers of Decadence Phaidon, London, 1974. Paperback, 272pp., with b/w and colour photographs. The illustrated wraps are lightly scuffed otherwise a very good copy. While public attention was preoccupied with the Impressionists, others reacted in a very different way to the grim horrors of the new industrial society around them. The roots of the Decadents lay in the poetic visions of the English pre-Raphaelites but developed in many ways, in the vast unfinished works of Gustave Moreau, the great master of symbolist art Odilon Redon, the Viennese Klimt, the Belgian Khnopff, and others more obscure. The book also includes a short anthology of Symbolist themes drawn from the writers (Poe, Baudelaire, Swinburne, Wilde et al) who often inspired them. Click here to order $22

41131 Lang, Mrs A., Armstrong, Walter, Zimmern, Helen, and Robinson, Lionel. The Life and Work of Sir F. Leighton, Sir J.E. Millais, L. Alma Tadema and J.L. Meissonier The Art Annuals. Art Journal Office, London, 1887. Folio. Bound issues. Foxed prelims, moderate wear. Tenderness to front hinge, split rear finge. As is. Engravings. Contemporary biographical and critical writings on artists with strong Royal Academy of Art pedigrees, two of whom, Leighton and Millais, were also associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Click here to order $80

62610 Lucie-Smith, Edward Symbolist Art Thames & Hudson, London, 2001. Paperback, 216pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Remainder, new. Click here to order $15

34537 Moreau, Gustave Magic and Symbols Abrams, New York, 1999. Remainder, new. Small format paperback, 127pp., colour and b/w illustrations. Uniting a passion for mysticism and mythology with an exquisite craftsmanship, Moreau's complex and decorative style inspired a generation of Symbolist painters, poets and writers. This book explores his life and artistic sources with a wealth of documents, letters and photographs and more than 120 paintings, drawings and watercolours. Click here to order $8

43510 Morris, WIlliam The Defence of Guenevere and other poems John Lane, London, 1904. Hardcover, 310pp., b&w engravings. Inscription on endpaper. Endpapers and page edges toned and spotted. Red cloth boards with gilt title and decoration on spine and front and rear covers; fading to lower front corner and upper rear corner; scuffing to lower edges and rear spine hinge; bumped corners with some fraying; spine sunned with head and tail bent. Very good. Medieval by aspiration, Morris' treatment poetic and artistic of the Romance subjects of Guenevere, Arthur and Galahad, as well as divers knights and fair ladies. Click here to order $600

7603 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (Jan Marsh, ed.) Collected Writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti JM Dent, London, 1999. Hardcover, large 8vo, 531pp. Page edges lightly toned, with mark on fore edges. Dustwrapper lightly worn at edges. Very good. [Hardcovers with dustwrappers are professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film, where appropriate.] Leading light of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Rossetti produced original verse and an acclaimed translation of Dante as well as his drawings and paintings. Bringing together everything published in his lifetime, from romantic ballads of betrayal and revenge through intricately wrought love sonnets to boldly erotic odes. There are simple lyrics, dramatic monologues, historical narratives and several poems written for pictures, painted by Rossetti himself and other painters. Also included are the early Pre-Raphaelite tale Hand and Soul, his critical defence of his 'fleshly' poems, as well as his Italian translations. Entering the world of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, this work studies the interaction between verbal and visual art and assesses Rossetti's place in the canon of Victorian literature. Click here to order $25

32209 Shrewsbury, H.W. Brothers in Art Studies in William Holman-Hunt and John Everett Millais. Epworth Press, London, 1920. Hardcover, 197pp., 21 photogravure illustrations. First edition. Inscriptions to endpaper. Foxed, spotted page edges throughout; boards rubbed at edges, corners and spine ends bumped, but solid and clean; dustwrapper heavily creased, numerous chips, section missing from spine panel. Fair in like dustwrapper. Professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The story of two artists whose friendship resulted in a new departure in the history of British Art, and whose work influenced their contemporaries and artists of subsequent generations. This work traces the evolution of some of their most famous paintings and in pairing their pictures provides a keynote interpretation, whether of affinity or contrast of thought. Click here to order $12

52355 Swinburne, Algernon Charles Laus Veneris The Golden Cockerel Press, London, 1948. No. 306/750 copies, 28 pp. Light foxing. Water and mildew stains to lower edge of boards and page edges, not however impinging on text, top edges of pages gilt, water staining to lower portion of cloth spine. Quite a good copy otherwise and very sound. Click here to order $100

61039 Wilton, Andrew & Upstone, Robert (eds.) The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones & Watts Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910 Tate Gallery Publishing, London, 1998. Quarto hardcover, 304pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear only, near fine in like dustwrapper and protected with superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Published to accompany the exhibition at the Tate Gallery, this catalogue examines some central themes of Symbolist art, and includes important works by Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Watts, Whistler, Beardsley, Moreau and Khnopff. Click here to order $65