"Includes a selection of illustrations and ornaments by Walter Crane, first published in 1894, 1895, and 1896 by George Allen, London, for the six books of The Faerie Queene and the "Mutabilitie Cantos" (part of a seventh book of The Faerie Queene)"--T.p. verso.

The magnificent illustrations and decorations in the medieval style comprising this anthology were created by famed artist Walter Crane in the 1890s to illustrate a sumptuous limited edition of The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser's 16th-century allegorical epic poem. A tribute to Queen Elizabeth I, the poem celebrates holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, and other virtues in verse tales of knightly adventure, courtly love, and acts of gallantry. Crane's illustrations number over 300 images -- including a variety of full-page plates, headpieces, tailpieces, borders, vignettes, and decorative initials -- depicting dashing knights, lovely maidens, dragons, unicorns, angels, and a host of decorative elements. Rendered in the rich 19th-century style of neo-medievalism made famous by William Morris and his Kelmscott Press (with which Crane was associated), this is both a fine art book and a pictorial archive, with superb designs that will delight any admirer of Crane's dazzling linear style. All the exquisite typography that appeared within the borders and other areas of the designs has been retained, providing a wealth of inspiration and immediately useable graphics for artists and illustrators.