1905 JOHN BUNYAN / BYAM SHAW. Pilgrims Progress - Superbly Illustrated in Monogramed Binding.

A very nice first edition of Pilgrim's Progress to be accompanied by 30 watercolor illustrations by one of the most significant craftsmen from the Golden Age of Illustration, Byam Shaw.

The complete suite was created for fine edition, as here, and to be published by Jack in Edinburgh and Caxton, Cheap editions, often omitting about half the illustrations, were produced regularly during the succeeding 25 years.

The object of the original publication was ambitious. With the arrival and popularization of the photograph, artistic movements had been forced to become something more than representational in function; and they had. A range of new artistic expressions and styles in the late 19th century provided creative languages for illustrators to engage in work that was more symbolic, metaphorical, better suited to evoke spiritual and emotional realities. And this made them perfectly suited to illustrate a sweeping allegorical narrative like Bunyan. 

And Byam Shaw, as he was known, was the perfect choice. A significant representative of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, he had been deeply influenced by John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Indeed, his painting The Queen of Hearts is considered one of the the true masterpieces of the movement.

It was his allegorical approach to illustrations that so perfectly suited him for the Pilgrim. For over two centuries, Bunyan's text had been illustrated primarily via traditional woodcuts or stark moralistic engravings, such as those by William Blake or David Scott. Rather than rendering Bunyan's characters as plain, austere 17th-century Puritans, Shaw infused them with an intense psychological and symbolic presence. Shaw modernized the visual language of the book for an early 20th-century audience, blending formal clarity with the decorative and symbolic language of the new art movements. 

His is a true tour de force, demonstrating the powers of the Pre-Raphaelite's symbolist approach to art when brought into the service of the Christian story. This inimitable suite of illustrations sits comfortably and equitably alongside contemporaries like Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac.

Bunyan, John [Byam Shaw]. The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a dream: wherein is discovered the manner of his setting out, his dangerous journey and safe arrival at the desired country. London. T. C. & E. C. Jack; New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. Nd. c.1920. 393pp.

A good + example in elaborate period binding, monogramed. Some light rubbing at extremities as usual, cloth split at rear hinge. Textually very bright and clean. Endpapers a bit toned, just one small section of pages with a few marginal notes. Early personal ownership inscription.