The Essay on Friendship

Book courtesy of Dick Blacher. Pictures and description by Paul Jackson.

The Essay on Friendship

by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Binding by Louis Herman Kinder

Unlimited edition, not in McKenna

This book measures 7 7/8" x 5 3/4" and has 53 pages. The text body is set in Caslon and 925 copies of the regular edition were printed on Roycroft handmade paper. The book above is from an edition of twenty-five copies which was printed on Japan Vellum and bound full Levant or paper over boards. There is an edition of fifty copies of this book which were illumined and bound in suede. Fifty copies of the regular edition were supposed to have been illumined or illustrated by Lawrence Mazzanovich, but I have never seen one. Two copies of the edition printed on Japan Vellum were bound in 3/4 Leather. The printed decorations in this book were designed by Samuel Warner.

The variants I have seen are as follows:
1. Unlimited edition bound in suede and printed on Roycroft water-marked paper. This variant is not listed in McKenna.
2. Edition of 25 bound in full Levant or paper over boards, printed on Japan vellum with hand illumined illustrations.
3. Edition of 50 bound in wallet edged suede printed on Roycroft water-marked paper, and signed by the illuminator.
4. Edition of 50 bound in paper over boards, printed on Roycroft water-marked paper and illumined. The difference of this book other than binding is the title page, page 9 chapter head "Friendship" is not solid black print and it is illumined and the date 22 Nov. 1899 vice 10 July 1899. This book was a special printing for; "The delectation of the Society of Friends."
5. Edition of 925 bound in suede, printed of Roycroft water-marked paper and illumined.

All of the  above variants with the exception of #4 have statements saying the book completed on 10 July 1899.

The 1902 catalog offers a full Levant Essay on Friendship in a Kinder binding for $50.00

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