HORACE WALPOLE'S CAT. [ Illustrated by Richard Bentley, William Blake and Kathleen Hale.]

UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE-/FINE-.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,matt.wrap-around grey background with a superimposed illustrated smaller,central panel of colour pictorial artwork by Kathleen Hale,illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with capitalised,black lettered title and black lettered lower case+capitals author's name; spine/backstrip with similarly coloured +lettered author+title as front and publisher's black illustrated colophon to foot of same,rear panel with full size colour pictorial artwork illustration by William Blake and a panel with black lettered text of captioned poem. Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present.The front panel of dw/dj with 5 minor,minimal indents with concomitant penetration to front board beneath.Top+fore-edges bright,crisp,unblemished - no foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean,soild and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread,other than my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original repeated grey+white marbled paper-covered boards and faux off-white illustrated/coloured blind spine with bright,crisp,capitalised,black lettered title and other black lettered author name and black illustrated publisher's colophon to foot of same,and immaculate repeated plain grey endpapers.UK, slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn,6-79pp [paginated] includes a Prologue, 9 chapters/sections,illustrated with three sets of designs inspired by the poem: R. Bentley's Rococo Gothic images (1753), W. Blake's watercolors (1797 - commissioned by the Neoclassical sculptor Flaxman as a present for his wife); and Kathleen Hale's never-published drawings (1944 - reproduced here for the first time and in actual size) - 32 illustrations,15 in full color and numerous other b/w thumbnail contemporary illustration reproductions throughout the text and the book,Notes on the illustrations,a Select Bibliography and an Index as the last page,which has a colour painting detail from William Hogarth's portrait painting of 'The Graham Children' (1742 - painted five years before the death of Selima) that has become best-known image of a cat in the history of British art.Plus [unpaginated] half-title with a contemporary b/w portrait reproduction of Horace Walpole to its reverse,title page,and a Contents list/table. Visually the exterior appearance is more than acceptable,and particularly internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/ state of preservation and presentation [for a book of its 14-year-old age (at 2023).It is only the exterior faults described that prevents a slightly higher grading.Despite that,it really is still an exceptional, exemplary copy for its cleanliness and brightness. One day in February 1747 Horace Walpole's cat Serlima fell into a large Chinese porcelain goldfish tub and drowned.Walpole was naturally uset (though he actually preferred dogs to cats) and his close firend the poet Thomas Gray wrote an elegy to console him. Not that it was much of a consolation,because its tone was more of a gentle mockery,exaggerating the accident into a tragedy with a moral lesson: 'All that glisters is not gold.' The 'Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat,Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes' is,however,one of the most perfect,and best loved, poems in the English language,and it conferred immortality upon the unfortunate Selima.Christopher Frayling has made her fate the focus of a piece of literary research that involves Walpole himself (author,connoisseur,one of the most cultivated - and the richest - men in the country), Thomas Gray (sensitive but reticent genius), Richard Bentley (gifted dilettante), Dr Johnson,Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Christopher Smart (cat-lovers), James Boswell (cat-lovers), William Blake (visionary poet) and finally Kathleen Hale (of 'Orlando the Marmalade Cat' fame).All contribute to this book of charm and erudition lightly worn,that adds seriously to our appreciation and enjoyment of 18th-century manners,and our understanding of people and their household animals. Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.