THE BOOK OF TOBIT

First edition. Publisher's original cream paper covered boards with pictorial vignette and title in black to the upper board and titles in black to the spine. Printed at the Botolph Printing Works, Kingsway, London. Illustrated with a series of wood engravings by Anne Gillmore Carter. A near fine copy, the binding square and tight with a little marking and toning to the extremities and a slight bump to the foot of the spine and bottom corners. The contents with a touch of foxing to the endpapers are otherwise clean and bright throughout. An excellent example of a rare title.

One of the scarcest titles from the short-lived Mandrake Press, forming the Book of Tobit from the third / early second century BC, superbly illustrated with a series of wood engravings by British-Australian artist Anne Gillmore Carter, her work clearly showing the influence of Eric Gill. A small operation, founded by Edward Goldston and P.R. Stephenson in 1929, the Mandrake Press published works by D.H. Lawrence, Liam O'Flaherty, Rhys Davies, Aleister Crowley (notably publishing 'Moonchild'), Peter Warlock and others. In 1930 the company found itself in financial problems; a consortium led by Crowley formed Mandrake Press Ltd., however this was then itself dissolved in December 1930. An exhibition and catalogue documenting the output of the press was curated by Cambridge University Library in 1985. Anne Gillmore Carter, also know as Ann Gillmore Rees (1900-1982), attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in the mid to late 1920s, where she studied wood engraving with Noel Rooke. Shortly after her marriage in 1937 she moved to Sydney, Australia, where she exhibited with the influential Society of Artists.