FERNAND

8pp., 12mo. On two bifololiums with mourning borders. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed to 'monsieur Townsend'. From the papers of Captain Cecil William Townsend of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, Dunsterforce and Norperforce, and the British Military Mission to South Russia. Gampert is still at college as he writes, and the reference to the 'boches' dates the letter to the First World War. Gampert begins by explaining the reason for the delay in writing, with reference to 'Mlle Trithen'.

Landscape bifolium card on good-quality paper. Leaf dimensions 18.5 x 27.5 cm. In good condition, on slightly-aged paper, with a couple of small light patches of coffee staining. Printed in black and yellow. Elaborate design showing a winged youth (something of a cross between Jack Frost and Mercury), with winged heels, clutching a bouquet of flowers, flying over a buiding of modern design surrounded by fir trees. Signed in pencil 'luc simon' in bottom right-hand corner, with the limitation 'H. C. 15/100' in pencil in the bottom right.

Beautifully printed bifolium on thick wove paper. Dimensions of leaf roughly thirteen inches by ten; dimensions of illustration roughly nine and a half inches by eight. Tissue guard. Recto of first leaf and verso of second blank. Letterpress on verso of first leaf reads 'Fernand De Nobele, libraire pres St-Germain-des-Pres, vous adresse ses meilleurs voeux pour l'annee 1969. | [L'abbaye en 1368]'. Illustration signed at foot 'Josephine Beaudouin', with the limitation '190/200'. For De Nobele - President of ILAB between 1965 and 1967 - see Anthony Rota's 'Books in the Blood' (2002).