[Merrymount Press- D. B. Updike, Scarce and Important Folio in Original Box with Extra Suite of Plates] A Description of the Pastoral Staff belonging to the Diocese of Albany, 1900

New York: D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, 1900. First Edition. First Edition. LARGE FOLIO, unpaginated [2], 6, [2] leaves. Book measures 17. 5 x 12.5 inches. FINELY BOUND in quarter brown crushed morocco with five superb emblems emanating from spine bands onto the covers (over two inches), light brown paper-covered boards with calligraphic black lettering at the top. IN THE ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S STRONGLY BUILT TWO-PART BOX (paper over cardboard). The book is printed on thick card paper in red and black with the famous doubles-spread illustrated title-page and frontispiece, the latter bearing a large woodcut illustration by Goodhue, and both pages with all-over red illustrated panels also by Goodhue, along with decorative initials throughout in red, all by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1869 - 1924), an American architect celebrated for his work in Gothic Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for the Merrymount Press. The book features six unnumbered leaves (tissue-guarded) of photogravure plates which appear at the back, AND AN EXTRA SUITE OF SIX PLATES are laid into the box. This outstanding example of the very best of American Printing was entirely assembled and printed by Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860 - 1941), American printer and historian of typography, who founded the Merrymount Press, in 1896. A most beautiful, fine copy of an early book from the Merrymount Press, whose first spread contains a Kelmscott-like elaborate red-stamped border and the photogravure plates depicting the staff itself are strikingly beautiful, detailed and providing a unique appearance of texture and quality. This is number XVII (17) of 150 limited copies. A Merrymount Press rarity, with just two auction sales in the past half century, and none in commerce as of this listing. To round out this splendid offering, there is a laid-in printed presentation card "With the compliments of Anna Parker Pruyn. Albany, MDCCCC," printed on a large card sheet. Pruyn was a socialite and the last wife of Albany politician and businessman John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn. Anna and her husband were noted book collectors, and it seems she played a serious role in having this book produced.