FLORA'S FEAST A MASQUE OF FLOWERS.
Penned & pictured by Walter Crane.
Cassell & Company, London/Paris/Melbourne, 1895
In-8 p. (mm. 250x183), cartonato editoriale (dorso in tela azzurra con lievi abrasioni alle cuffie), bella decorazione a carattere floreale ai piatti, pp. 40,(1),8 (catalogo editoriale), interamente illustrato a colori dagli eleganti disegni di Walter Crane (1845-1915). Crane returned to the refined use of colour for these designs which represent Flora calling out the flowers season by season from their winter sleep. Each flower is personified and attired appropriately and poetically, from the yawning spring flowers to the opponents of King Frost with their narrow leaf lances. The drawings, which enjoyed universal appeal, were lithographed with great accuracy, delicate watercolour hues being laid in afterwards on the outline proofs. The text is handwritten in Gothic characters, with motifs and colours from the drawings repeated in the illuminated initials (Engen, Walter Crane as a book illustrator, p. 15).Cfr. Engen, p. 100 (in nota alla prima edizione del 1889): This book's popularity allowed Crane to follow it with other flower books such as "Queen Summer", 1891 and "A floral fantasy", 1898 but "Flora's feast" was the most successfulManca un risguardo anteriore, altrimenti esemplare ben conservato.
