'The Starlit Mire' by James Bertram and F. Russell. First edition. Large octavo. pp viii, 62, [2] adverts. Pub. John Lane, London, 1911. Frontispiece and nine tissue-guarded plates featuring delicious, darkly decadent drawings by Austin Osman Spare.Green cloth with gilt satyr design on front, top edge gilt. One of only 350 copies. £1500.
While there's much that could be said about some of the outrageous, out-dated aphorisms (e.g. "When Woman looks upwards she sees Man. When Man looks upwards he sees the sky") there is also much to amuse and entertain in this collection, not least because it features ten of Austin Osman Spare's rich, sexually dreamy drawings where nothing is quite as it first seems. A rare beautifully-produced book, limited to 350 copies and dotted with some of Spare's finest work.
