Folio Archives 207: Incognita by William Congreve 1951
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1wcarter
Incognita or Love and Duty Reconcil'd by William Congreve 1951
Written by Congreve when he was about 17 years old, and first published in 1692, this was probably his first novel. It is a classic Renaissance romance set in Florence, with lots of humorous and intricately interwoven twists and turns. It is a light (and somewhat predictable) book to read in an hour.
In the years when the Folio Society was a member only organisation, a free presentation volume was given to members who pre-ordered at least four books in any one year. Incognita was the second ever presentation volume. These volumes have always been in a slightly different style to the standard FS fare, and often of a higher quality.
In its early years, the FS also gave away bookplates to members, which could be attached to the book and inscribed with the owner’s name. My copy has one of these bookplates glued to the flyleaf.
The book is introduced by Alan Pryce-Jones and there are six delightful leaves of hand coloured engravings by Ru van Rossem bound in. The endpapers are plain white.
The 71 page book measures 25.3x15.6cm. and is quarter bound in dark blue leather with cream cloth boards printed with a design in blue and orange by van Rossem. It was issued with no dust-jacket, and no FS books had slipcases at this time.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Written by Congreve when he was about 17 years old, and first published in 1692, this was probably his first novel. It is a classic Renaissance romance set in Florence, with lots of humorous and intricately interwoven twists and turns. It is a light (and somewhat predictable) book to read in an hour.
In the years when the Folio Society was a member only organisation, a free presentation volume was given to members who pre-ordered at least four books in any one year. Incognita was the second ever presentation volume. These volumes have always been in a slightly different style to the standard FS fare, and often of a higher quality.
In its early years, the FS also gave away bookplates to members, which could be attached to the book and inscribed with the owner’s name. My copy has one of these bookplates glued to the flyleaf.
The book is introduced by Alan Pryce-Jones and there are six delightful leaves of hand coloured engravings by Ru van Rossem bound in. The endpapers are plain white.
The 71 page book measures 25.3x15.6cm. and is quarter bound in dark blue leather with cream cloth boards printed with a design in blue and orange by van Rossem. It was issued with no dust-jacket, and no FS books had slipcases at this time.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2overthemoon
A nice find: I like the "Printed for Members".
3laotzu225
Ahhh, those were the days.
Thanks for this. I'll keep an eye out for a copy since it is a title previously unknown to me.
Thanks for this. I'll keep an eye out for a copy since it is a title previously unknown to me.
4BionicJim
This is a very nice book and I appreciate the excellent pictures you’ve provided of it. I must laugh at the “hand-colored” illustrations because they seem more like artistic use of color blots that kinda sorta fit where they belong. Though I laugh, I like it anyway and am interested in the method used.
From reading about the pochoir method in a lot of LEC books, I understand they are stencils (sometimes elaborate) and this could definitely be done that way. The doubling of colors such as the red over beige here gives it a different hue, so this works great. So is that what is meant by hand-colored for this book? I’m curious.
From reading about the pochoir method in a lot of LEC books, I understand they are stencils (sometimes elaborate) and this could definitely be done that way. The doubling of colors such as the red over beige here gives it a different hue, so this works great. So is that what is meant by hand-colored for this book? I’m curious.
