The High History of the Holy Graal. Translated from the French.

London: J. M. Dent,, 1903. King's "most important achievement" (White) First King edition, one of 225 "sumptuously produced" large paper copies, this number 54 of the English issue. This edition was the first to feature illustrations by Jessie Marion King (1875–1949) and showcases her fine and delicate work. King's frontispiece for the present work was commissioned by Dent earlier in 1903 for Lady Charlotte Guest's translation of The Mabinogion, and its success there led to this more substantial undertaking. King's drawings, which "stressed the fantastic elements in the story" are reminiscent of those done for the grail story by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, both of whom were intimate friends of the translator (White). The work features a form of double frame which became distinct in King's work, "giving the reader a suspended glimpse of a land and time remote from reality... allowing access to the same ancient truths from which the legends had grown" (ibid.). "Influenced by a Gaelic-speaking nursemaid with a fund of folklore, Jessie believed herself gifted with 'second sight' and her art was inspired by fantasy, while its minuteness derived from close, myopic vision" (ODNB). From 1899 to 1907 she taught book design at the Glasgow School of Art, worked for the book binder Cedric Chivers, and designed fabrics and jewellery. Since the first retrospective shows in the 1970s, King's art has steadily risen in critical and commercial favour and is now listed alongside other Golden Age illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, Kate Greenaway, and Laurence Housman. This translation, first published in 1898, retells a version of the old French romance of Perceval le Gallois. Alongside translating from medieval French, Latin, Greek and Italian, Sebastian Evans (1830-1909) was a political activist, artist, and poet. As a poet "he combined a taste for medievalism with humour" which is evident in his translation work. Evans published an academic study of this text, In Quest of the Holy Graal, likewise in 1898. Large octavo (250 x 177 mm). Rebacked with white morocco, spine lettered in gilt, original vellum over bevelled boards, front cover illustrated and lettered in blue, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, plain endpapers. Title page printed in red and black. Frontispiece, illustrated title page, and 22 plates printed in red and black on India paper and mounted with tissue guards, decorative head- and tailpieces. Slight rubbing to board edges, vellum a little soiled, illustration faded and lightly rubbed, minor ripple to front pastedown, light occasional foxing to plates, contents fresh, a very good and attractive copy. Colin White, The Enchanted World of Jessie M. King, 1989, B35.