Wharton / Maxfield Parrish: Italian Villas 1907 in VNF! Parrishs Classic, VERY RARE in such Great Condition! Start Price USD 399.00 Current Price USD 399.00 Time Left - Bid Count 1 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, September 05, 2008 End Time Monday, September 15, 2008 Location Winsted, CT See more about 'Wharton / Maxfield Parrish: Italian Villas 1907 in VNF!' Description   ~ IN AN AMAZINGLY CLEAN & NEAT  STATE OF PRESERVATION ~ Wharton, Edith: Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Illustrated with Pictures by Maxfield Parrish and with Photographs. New York: The Century Co., 1907; early (3rd) issue after the November 1904 first and the 1905 2nd issue. Tall Imperial Octavo, 10.75" x 7.25" (slightly larger than the first issue's 10.5" x 7-1/8"); xii + 270pp. Bound in midnight bluegreen cloth, with elaborate design to cover in pale blue, medium green, brown and white; titles blocked in in heavy gilt frames. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Tissue guards to plates. With 52 illustrations: 19 b&w photographs & 7 line drawings; and 11 lovely b&w illustrations and 15 magnificent color plates by the master Maxfield Parrish. Wharton and Parrish traveled together to Italy to create this monumental work, showcasing Parrish's extraordinary abilities in architectural illustration. The Italian gardens personify the three qualities of stone, water and greenery against the sky. One of the top six of Parrish's most important and collectible books: Knave of Hearts, Poems of Childhood, Wonder Book / Tanglewood Tales, Arabian Nights, Golden Treasury of Songs & Lyrics, and this, the Italian Gardens. VERY RARE in this condition REGARDLESS of what year of publication! We find records for later issues occuring in  1905, 1907, 1910 and 1920. ALL of them start at about $400 ~ $500 for decent condition ~ and most of those listings still mention all sorts of condition issues like scuffed boards, loss of gilt, stains, cracked hinges, foxing, missing plates, wear, etc. The fact is, the original binding wasn't quite up to supporting the weight of the textblock; copies are often loose, shaken or split-hinged. Furthermore, the gilt is often faded; and old white printer's ink is NOTORIOUS for flaking. This copy has NONE of those problems. For better condition examples or later-than-first issues like this, available dealer listings start at around $750 and work their way up to $1400 ~ again, REGARDLESS of actual date of publication. Of course, the dozen or so first issue listings continue up into the $2500 range...and beyond. Those of you who do your homework will bear us out on all we've said here. And now, Gentle Reader, what you've been waiting for: CONDITION: Tips lightly rubbed, yet still sharp, but for lower front tip which shows slight bump. Four extreme corner areas of spine show similar light rubbing. Rear cover shows three tiny nits and a few short hairlines. Small neat owner's inscription on front free endpaper dated Christmas 1910. Nit to front hinge. THAT'S IT. That's all the bad news. THE GOOD NEWS: Textblock solid, binding firm, endpapers intact with NO splits. All plates fresh, clean and mounted. Gilt top brilliant. Covers are incredibly clean; NO smudges, stains or other issues but for the nits described above. Spine clean as a whistle; NO splits to the head & tail. All gilt still brilliant. ~THIS COPY BEATS OUT A CLEAR MAJORITY OF OTHER LISTINGS ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR SHEER CONDITION ~ Winning bidder please add $4.50 secure shipping with Delivery Confirmation in USA; Canada and overseas extra, please inquire! Thanks for looking!   Place a Bid!