The Bibelot: A Reprint of Poetry and Prose for Book Lovers, Chosen in Part from Scarce Editions and Sources Not Generally Known, in Twenty-One Volumes [Vols. I-XX Plus Index]

Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1895. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 0x0x0. All volumes lack slipcases and jackets. Spines toned, boards lightly toned and foxed, front joint of index volume splitting. 1895 Hard Cover. Complete in twenty-one volumes, originally published monthly 1895-1914, and here collected in its entirety with a new index. This series of literary chap-books, with much of its content gleaned from Mosher's own extensive personal library, is credited with introducing William Butler Yeats to American readers, and establishing, improving, or restoring the reputation of several other authors (e.g., William Morris and Oscar Wilde). From the preface: "To bring together the posies of other men bound by a thread of one's own choosing is the simple plan of the editor of The Bibelot. In this way those exotics of Literature that might not immediately find a way to wider reading, are here reprinted, and, so to speak, resown in fields their authors never knew. The Bibelot does not profess to exploit the new forces and ferment of fin de siecle writers; it offers the less accessible 'things that perish never,' - lyrics from Blake, Villon's ballades, Latin Student songs, - Literature once possessed not easily forgotten of men. Besides this, to more widely extend the love of exquisite literary form, it must be shown by example that choice typography and inexpensiveness need not lie far apart. That there is the most intimate connection between Literature and the printed page is a truism. And yet nothing on the lines of The Bibelot has so far been attempted in a regularly monthly issue. We are, however, at the turn of the tide: already there are signs of better appreciations. The success of a quarterly like Modern Art, the demand that has gone out for The Chap-Book, the publisher's own experience with his Bibelot Series, all favor the belief that such beautifully gotten up affairs have created a republic of their own. To this Republic of the book-lover The Bibelot is now come.